The first part of the text relates to the time following the Lord’s resurrection. Jesus had been put to death as a human being, a perfect man, and was raised a glorious spirit being of the highest order, of the Divine nature. In his highly exalted spiritual state endowed with glory, honor and immortality, it was appropriate that the Lord should manifest a greater measure of dignity, in order to impress upon the minds of his followers the change that had taken place. He who had been the meek and lowly Nazarene, so poor that he had not where to lay his head, after his resurrection would be so no longer, but the all-powerful Divine Christ, next to the Heavenly Father in power and authority. During the 40 days from the time of his resurrection to the time of his ascension into heaven, he manifested himself and talked very rarely with his disciples. The “prince of this world,” Satan, was coming in the sense that he would triumph over the world of mankind and bring it into subjection to his own evil sway and dominion until the time for the Lord to set up his own kingdom at his second coming. See 2 Corinthians 4:4.
