to be conformed to the body of Christ's glory, is incongruous with,
and incapable of entrance into, the conditions of this earthly life.
As is the environment, so must be the 'body' that is at home in it.

Further, the facts of our Lord's eating and drinking after His
Resurrection are not easily reconcilable with the contention that He
was then invested with the glorified body.

We must, then, think of transfiguration, rather than of resurrection
only, as the way by which He passed into the heavens. He 'slept' but
woke, and, as He ascended, was 'changed.'

II. The renewal of the old bond by the tokens of His unchanged
disposition.

Recall the many beautiful links with the past: the message to Peter;
that to Mary; 'Tell My brethren,' 'He was known in breaking of
bread,' 'Peace be with you!' (repetition from John xvii.), the
miraculous draught of fishes, and the meal and conversation
afterwards, recalling the miracle at the beginning of the closer
association of the four Apostles of the first rank with their Lord.
The forty days revealed the old heart, the old tenderness. He
remembers all the past. He sends a message to the penitent; He renews
to the faithful the former gift of 'peace.'

How precious all this is as a revelation of the impotence of death in
regard to Him and us! It assures us of the perpetuity of His love. He
showed Himself after His passion as the same old Self, the same old
tender Lover. His appearances then prepare us for the last vision of
Him in the Apocalypse, in which we see His perpetual humanity, His