What joy, what freedom are suggested by these words! They were the utterance of our risen Lord as He met the women who had been to His empty sepulcher. (Matt. 28:) There is no tinge of sadness or shadow of foreboding; for were they not from the lips of the One who had been in the grave -after having borne our judgment on the cross- and who was now forever beyond its gloom? He is breathing, if we may so speak, the air of freedom, of eternal peace and joy, and from that plane sends this greeting to His beloved redeemed people. It tells us that for us too judgment and wrath have gone; that the grave has lost its victory, and death its sting. Faith sees as Christ sees-and exalts in the liberty wherewith He has made us free.

We are not of the world. In it, indeed, and often feeling the pressure of it, but these words of greeting tell us we are in the truest sense beyond all that has power to drag us down.

But if this be so, let it be a practical reality. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Col. 3:i). That is not mere sentiment, but something definite and real. It tells of a treasure in heaven-something valued above everything else; it tells of truth to engage the mind and thus to bring us into communion with our risen Lord.

On the other side these words admonish us to have done with sin-"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth." If there is anything that tells of our shame, it is lofty pretension coupled with a carnal walk. The Lord give us, beloved brethren, to walk with Him. What joy, liberty, holiness that means. But do not His words invite us in such a walk ? Let the joy of this greeting stimulate us afresh to a simple, steadfast walk with Him.