28:16 {4} Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
(4) Christ appears also to his disciples, whom he makes apostles.
28:16 The eleven disciples went away into Galilee. The time when they went to Galilee is not stated, though we learn from Joh 20:26 that they remained in Judea for over a week after the resurrection. Of the appearances in Galilee we have three accounts: the brief one here, which describes the official meeting of the Lord with the entire body of disciples: the one by the sea, described in Joh 21:1, and the reference by Paul in 1Co 15:6. The eleven went into Galilee because the Lord had commanded them to do so.
Into a mountain where Jesus had appointed. The Revised Version says, the mountain, which is correct. The Lord had named the mountain where he should meet them, and had probably also appointed the time. The object of the appointment was probably to secure a general meeting of his disciples.
28:16 To the mountain where Jesus had appointed them - This was probably Mount Tabor, where, (it is commonly supposed,) he had been before transfigured. It seems to have been here also, that he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once.
28:16-20 This evangelist passes over other appearances of Christ, recorded by Luke and John, and hastens to the most solemn; one appointed before his death, and after his resurrection. All that see the Lord Jesus with an eye of faith, will worship him. Yet the faith of the sincere may be very weak and wavering. But Christ gave such convincing proofs of his resurrection, as made their faith to triumph over doubts. He now solemnly commissioned the apostles and his ministers to go forth among all nations. The salvation they were to preach, is a common salvation; whoever will, let him come, and take the benefit; all are welcome to Christ Jesus. Christianity is the religion of a sinner who applies for salvation from deserved wrath and from sin; he applies to the mercy of the Father, through the atonement of the incarnate Son, and by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, and gives up himself to be the worshipper and servant of God, as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons but one God, in all his ordinances and commandments. Baptism is an outward sign of that inward washing, or sanctification of the Spirit, which seals and evidences the believer's justification. Let us examine ourselves, whether we really possess the inward and spiritual grace of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, by which those who were the children of wrath become the children of God. Believers shall have the constant presence of their Lord always; all days, every day. There is no day, no hour of the day, in which our Lord Jesus is not present with his churches and with his ministers; if there were, in that day, that hour, they would be undone. The God of Israel, the Saviour, is sometimes a God that hideth himself, but never a God at a distance. To these precious words Amen is added. Even so, Lord Jesus, be thou with us and all thy people; cause thy face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.
