Baltimore Catechism No. 4 (of 4) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 464 pages of information about Baltimore Catechism No. 4 (of 4).

Baltimore Catechism No. 4 (of 4) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 464 pages of information about Baltimore Catechism No. 4 (of 4).
Lord’s agony.  He allowed them to see the Transfiguration, so that when they should see Him suffering as man, they would remember that they saw Him on the mountain glorified as God. (2) Agility; that is, a glorified body can move rapidly from one place to another, like the lightning itself.  After His resurrection Our Lord was in Jerusalem, and almost immediately He appeared near the village of Emmaus to two disciples going there. (Luke 24).  They had left Jerusalem after the Crucifixion, probably through fear, and were going along together talking about what had happened during the days of Our Lord’s Passion.  Suddenly Our Lord came and walked and talked with them, but they did not know Him.  They asked Him to stay that night at their house, for it was growing dark.  He did not stop with them, and at supper they knew Him, and then He vanished from their sight.  An ordinary person would have to get up and walk away; but He vanished, showing on this occasion the second quality of His glorified body—­agility. (3) Subtility; that is, such a body can go where it pleases and cannot be resisted by material things.  It can pass through closed doors or gates, and even walls cannot keep it out.  It passes through everything, as light does through glass without breaking it.  At one time after Our Lord’s resurrection the Apostles were gathered together in a room, for they were still afraid of being put to death, and the doors were tightly closed.  Suddenly Our Lord stood in the midst of them and said:  “Peace be to you.” (John 20:19).  They did not open the door for Him; neither wood nor stone could keep Him out:  and thus He showed that His body had the third quality. (4) His body had the fourth quality also—­impassability, which means that it can no longer suffer.  Before His death, and at it, Our Lord suffered dreadful torments, as you know; but after His resurrection nothing could injure or hurt Him.  The spear could not hurt His side, nor the nails His hands, nor the thorns His head.  Shortly after His resurrection Our Lord appeared to His Apostles while Thomas, one of them, was absent. (John 20:24).  When Thomas returned, the other Apostles told him that they had seen the Lord risen from the dead; but he would not believe them, saying:  “Unless I see the holes where the nails were in His hands and feet, and put my finger into His side, I will not believe.”  Now Our Lord, knowing all things, knew this also; so He came again when Thomas was present, and said to him:  “Now, Thomas, put your hand into My side.”  Thomas cried out:  “My Lord and my God!” He believed then, because he saw.  Now if this body of Our Lord’s had been an ordinary body, it would have caused Him pain to allow anyone to put his hand into the wound; but it was impassable.  It seems very strange, does it not, that Thomas would not believe what the other Apostles told him?  God permitted this.  Why?  Because, if they all believed easily, some enemies of Our Lord might say the Apostles were simple men that believed everything
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Baltimore Catechism No. 4 (of 4) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.