And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord - Joh 20:20.

When the Lord of glory left his Father's bosom, and came into this world, we are sure it was for a purpose suited to his divine nature. Christ came to make men glad. It was said of him, 'The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD hath appointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek' Isa 61:1. Ah! sure, he must be a good Saviour that was to bind up broken hearts, and to make all men glad. Therefore, when he came, he said, 'That your joy might be full' (Joh 16:24). And you see in the verse before our text, his first words to his disciples -were, 'Peace be unto you.'

But the devil wants you to believe that we want to take away your mirth and joy. He is a liar, and he was a liar from the beginning. Jesus came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them; so do we. We come to break your false joy, to awaken you from your dream, before you be dashed into the burning lake. Ah! we come to give you fulness of joy that cannot wither, joy that cannot die.

True, believers have sorrow; they have a poor, frail body, and they may have false friends. They may have ungodly children; they have temptations and persecutions. The world knows nothing of these sorrows. But they have a joy that the world cannot give or take away. They have a joy to balance all their sorrows; they have 'joy unspeakable and full of glory' (1Pe 1:8). It is a joy that will never die. It will be brighter and brighter throughout an endless eternity.

But let us consider what it was that made the disciples glad: first, what it was not, and then what it was.