I. The first thought that these words of the angel messenger, and the scene in which we find them, suggest, is this: The dead are the living. Language, which is more accustomed and adapted to express the appearances than the realities of things, leads us astray very much when we use the phrase "the dead" as if it expressed the continuance of the condition into which men pass in the act of dissolution. The dead are the living who have died. Whilst they were dying they lived, and after they were dead they lived more fully. All live unto God. How solemnly sometimes that thought comes up before us, that all those past generations which have stormed across this earth of ours, and then have fallen into still forgetfulness, live yet! Somewhere at this very instant, they now verily are! Death is no state; it is an act. It is not a condition; it is a transition.
II. This text indeed, the whole incident may set before us the other consideration: Since they have died, they live a better life than ours. In what particulars is their life now higher than ours? (1) They have close fellowship with Christ. (2) They are separated from the present body of weakness, of dishonour, of corruption. (3) They are withdrawn from all the trouble and toil and care of this present life. (4) They have death behind them, not having that awful figure standing on their horizon waiting for them to come up with it.
III. The better life which the dead are living now leads on to a still fuller life when they get back their glorified bodies. "Body, soul, and spirit" the old combination which was on earth is to be the perfect humanity of heaven. The spirits that are perfected, that are living in blessedness, that are dwelling in God, that are sleeping in Christ, at this moment are waiting, stretching out expectant hands of faith and hope; for that they would not be unclothed, but clothed upon with their house which is from heaven, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
A. Maclaren, Sermons preached in Manchester,1st series, p. 97.
Christ, a Quickening Spirit.
I. Observe how Christ's Resurrection harmonises with the history of His Birth. David had foretold that His soul should not be left in hell (that is, the unseen state) neither should the Holy One of God see corruption. In the angel's announcement of His Birth His incorruptible and immortal nature is implied. Death might overpower, but it could not keep possession it had no dominion over Him. He was, in the words of the text, "the Livingamong the dead. The grave could not detain Him who had life in Himself. He rose as a man awakes in the morning, when sleep flies from him as a thing of course.
II. Jesus Christ manifested Himself to His disciples in His exalted state, that they might be witnesses to the people; witnesses of those separate truths which man's reason cannot combine, that He had a real human body, that it was partaker in the properties of His Soul, and that it was inhabited by the Eternal Word. They handled Him; they saw Him come and go, when the doors were shut; they felt what they could not see, but could witness even unto death that He was their Lord and their God: a triple evidence, first, of His Atonement; next, of their own resurrection unto glory; lastly, of His Divine power to conduct them safely to it. Thus manifested, as perfect God and perfect man, in the fulness of His sovereignty, and the immortality of His holiness, He ascended up on high to take possession of His kingdom.
III. As Adam is the author of death to the whole race of men, so is Christ the origin of immortality. Adam spreads poison; Christ diffuses life eternal. Christ communicates life to us, one by one, by means of that holy and incorrupt nature which He assumed for our redemption: how, we know not; though by an unseen, still by a real, communication of Himself. How wonderful a work of grace! Strange it was that Adam should be our death: but stranger still and very gracious, that God Himself should be our life, by means of that human tabernacle which He has taken on Himself.
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons,vol. ii., p. 139.
References: Luke 24:5; Luke 24:6. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xix., No. 1106; C. Kingsley, All Saints' Day,p. 85; Homiletic Magazine,vol. viii., p. 63; Preacher's Monthly,vol. v., p. 166; A. Maclaren, Sermons in Union Chapel,p. 113; J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,9th series, p. 74.Luke 24:6. W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiii., p. 273; C. Kingsley, Village Sermons,p. 128. Luke 24:8. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons,No. x.