John 20:19-31: “The Post
Resurrection Appearances Of Jesus Christ To His Disciples”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study we looked at verses 1-18 of chapter 20.
1.1.1.
Having already seen Jesus die on the cross for the
sins of mankind, we saw in that study that Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the
third day, just as He promised us that He would do, and we looked at more
prophesy that was fulfilled in this event as well.
1.1.2.
We saw
that in having risen from the dead, Jesus Christ stands alone among all of the
men who have ever lived. Chuck Missler in one of
his news letter wrote the following concerning the upcoming Easter holiday and
the resurrection of Christ, “Mohammed,
Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha), Confucius, Jesus Christ. To many, these names
are all of equal value; they represent great teachers who spoke words of wisdom
and enlightenment. They are the leaders of major religions, and their words and
ideas live to this day, each having won the loyalty of millions and even
billions of followers. All four of
these men died and were buried. However, three still lie in the grave.”
1.1.3.
We looked at the evidence that exists to prove that
Jesus Christ in fact did raise from the dead, and we saw that God went to
incredible extents to give us proof of this validity of this event.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at verses
19-30 of chapter 20.
1.2.1.
In this study, we will look at Jesus’ various
appearances to His disciples after He had risen from the dead
1.2.2.
On the Christiananswers.net web site it states, “Death
is man's greatest enemy, and every man, no matter how great, eventually dies.
The whole world -- physical, biological and social -- is under the reign of
death, imposed by God's Curse on man's dominion when he first rejected God's
word and brought sin into the world (Genesis 3:17). But Jesus Christ, the
eternal Son of God and the world's promised Redeemer, has conquered death,
bearing the Curse Himself (Galatians 3:13), and thus opening the way to God and
everlasting life.”
1.2.3.
In our
previous study, we also considered the importance of the resurrection and we
considered that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important
truth and central fact in the New Testament.
I would even go so far as to say that the resurrection of Jesus Christ
is the most important event of all of history.
We pointed out previously also that all of the original sermons preached
by the apostles in the book of Acts had the resurrection of the Jesus Christ as
their central theme, as Acts 4:33 infers, “33 And with great power the apostles were giving testimony
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.” The scripture even tells us that believing
that Jesus Christ raised from the dead is one the essential truths a person
must believe if there are to receive eternal life: Romans 10:9, “9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
1.2.4.
The New Testament tells us that Jesus Christ made
numerous appearances to His individuals after raising from the dead, and the
total of the appearances He made may equal 17, including the following:
|
Possible
Chronology Of The Post Resurrection Appearances Of Jesus: |
|||
|
No. |
Who |
When |
Verses |
|
1 |
Mary Magdalene |
Very Early on 1st Day |
Mark 16:9; John 20:16-18 |
|
2 |
The Women |
Early on 1st Day |
Matthew 28:5–10 |
|
3 |
Simon Peter |
Afternoon of 1st Day |
Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5 |
|
4 |
Two disciples on the Road to Emmaus |
Late Afternoon of 1st Day |
Luke 24:31 |
|
5 |
Eleven minus Thomas |
Early Evening of 1st Day |
Mark 16:14; Luke 24:33-39; John 20:19 |
|
6 |
The Eleven |
1 week later: The Sabbath Day |
John 20:26 |
|
7 |
Seven Disciples at the |
During 40 days |
John 21:1 |
|
8 |
500 brethren |
During 40 days |
1 Corinthians 15:6 |
|
9 |
James, brother of Jesus |
During 40 days |
1 Corinthians 15:7 |
|
10 |
The Eleven in |
During 40 days |
Matthew 28:16-17 |
|
11 |
The Eleven in |
During 40 days |
Mark 16:14-15 |
|
12 |
The Eleven |
During 40 days |
Luke 24:44; Acts 1:4 |
|
13 |
The 12 |
During 40 days |
Acts 1:3–8 |
|
14 |
The Ascension witnesses |
After 40 days |
Luke 24:50; Acts 1:9–12 |
|
15 |
Stephen when being martyred |
Years later |
Acts 7:55 |
|
16 |
Saul on road to Damsascus |
Years later |
Acts 9:5; 1 Corinthians 15:8 |
|
17 |
John the apostle on the island of
Patmos |
Many years later |
Revelation 1:12-18 |
1.2.5.
In our previous
study, we looked at a number of evidences that demonstrate that Jesus Christ
indeed did raise from the dead, and we also considered the various theories
that skeptics have posed to try to explain what happened to the body of Jesus
Christ on this day. In this study we
will look at some more evidences for Christ raising from the dead, this time
from the many post resurrection appearances that Jesus Christ made. Professor Thomas Arnold, the author
of History of Rome and a chair
person in modern history at Oxford has said (as quoted by Josh McDowell),
"I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times,
and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and
I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and
fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than
the great sign which God bath given us that Christ died and rose again from the
dead." Brooke Foss Westcott, an English scholar, said: "raking all
the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic
incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.
Nothing but the antecedent assumption that it must be false could have
suggested the idea of deficiency in the proof of it."
1.2.6.
Josh
McDowell in “Evidences For the Resurrection” has written about how that the
fact that there were many witnesses to Jesus Christ’s resurrection gives us
incontrovertible proof that He raised from the dead, “Christ
appeared alive on several occasions after the cataclysmic events of that first
Easter . When studying an event in history, it is important to know whether
enough people who were participants or eyewitnesses to the event were alive
when the facts about the event were published. To know this is obviously
helpful in ascertaining the accuracy of the published report. If the number of
eyewitnesses is substantial, the event can he regarded as fairly well
established. For instance, if we all witness a murder, and a later police report
turns out to he a fabrication of lies, we as eyewitnesses can refute it.
…Several
very important factors arc often overlooked when considering Christ's
post-resurrection appearances to individuals. The first is the large number of
witnesses of Christ after that resurrection morning. One of the earliest
records of Christ's appearing after the resurrection is by Paul. The apostle
appealed to his audience's knowledge of the fact that Christ had been seen by
more than 500 people at one time. Paul reminded them that the majority of those
people were still alive and could be questioned. Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi,
associate professor of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, emphasizes:
"What gives a special authority to the list (of witnesses) as historical evidence
is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren being still alive.
1.2.7.
Henry
Morris on the Institute For Creation web site has written the following, “It is a
well known rule of evidence that the testimonies of several different
witnesses, each reporting from his own particular vantage point, provide the
strongest possible evidence on matters of fact when the testimonies contain
superficial contradictions which resolve themselves upon close and careful
examination. This is exactly the situation with the various witnesses to the
resurrection. The only other possible
device for explaining away the post-resurrection appearances is to assume that
they were all merely hallucinations, or visions, perhaps induced by drugs or
hypnosis or hysteria. Such an absurd hypothesis is surely its own refutation. Such hallucinations, if this is what they
were, are quite unique in human history and warrant the most careful psycho
logic scrutiny. They were experienced by a large number of different
individuals, all seeing the same vision, but in different groups, at different
times, both indoors and outdoors, on a hilltop, along a roadway, by a
lake-shore, and other places. Furthermore, they were not looking for Jesus at
all. Several times they didn't recognize Him at first, and at least once
actually believed it was a ghost until He convinced them otherwise. He invited
them to touch Him and they recognized the wounds in His hands (John 20:27; Luke
24:39). They watched Him eat with them (Luke 24:41-43). On one occasion, over
five hundred different people saw Him at one time (I Corinthians 15:6), most of
whom were still living at the time when that evidence was being used. The vision theory is thus quite impossible
and therefore the numerous appearances of Christ must be regarded as absolutely
historical and genuine. This fact, combined with the evidence of the empty
tomb, renders the resurrection as certain as any fact of history could possibly
be.”
1.2.8.
Not only were there the four biographical writers of
the gospels who recorded the historical details of Jesus Christ and His
resurrection, plus the many post resurrection appearances of Jesus to various
people mentioned throughout the New Testament.
There were also a number of non-Christian historical accounts of Jesus’
Christ’s resurrection, including:
Flavius Josephus the first century historian, Cornelius Tacitus, Lucian
of Samosata, Maimonides, and the Jewish Sanhedrin.
1.2.9.
In our last study, we saw how that Mary Magadalene had
been the first one to come to Jesus’ tomb, finding it empty and that she had
ran to the Peter and John at that point to tell them this news. Dr. William Lane Craig has pointed out how
amazing it is that the gospels tell us that women were the first to come to
Jesus’ tomb and find it vacated as well as how that they were made by the Lord
to be the first ones to proclaim that Jesus had risen from the dead, “When
you understand the role of women in first-century Jewish society, what's really
extraordinary is that this empty tomb story should feature women as the
discoverers of the empty tomb in the first place. Women were on a very low rung
of the social ladder in first-century
2.
VS
20:19 - “When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were
shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their
midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be
with you’.” - Jesus
appears to His group of disciples gathered together and greets them with
wishing them ‘peace’
2.1.
This is
the account of Jesus’ appearance to the eleven disciples minus one, Thomas, on
this evening of the day in which Jesus raised from the dead.
2.2.
The gospel writers indicated that after Jesus was
crucified, that all of the disciples were scattered and went each to his own
home. They each also went back to the
career and life that they had known before they had met the Lord. In the next chapter John tells us that Peter
even went back to his profession fishing, and then Jesus came and met him and
called him once again.
2.3.
Each of Jesus’ disciples went back to that flesh life
that they had always known and from which there was a certain amount of
comfort. However, they have come
together on Sunday evening and Jesus is now going to appear to them and tell
them that now they are just beginning to fulfill His plans for their lives for
they are to go and fulfill that calling which He had originally chosen and
appointed them for.
2.4.
As the disciples came together on this Sunday the day
of Jesus’ resurrection, they surely were discussing the various occurrences of
Jesus’ visiting some of them: Mary
Magdalene, the two on the road to Emmaus, Peter, etc. Plus, Mark had mentioned that the angels had
told Mary Magdalene and the women with her that Jesus was going to go before
them into Galilee, and that they were to wait for Him there. So,
2.5.
The disciples on this day had shut and most likely
bolted and barricaded the door for fear that the Jews might decide to persecute
them in the same way that they had killed the Lord. We see from this that before the disciples
had received the Holy Spirit that they were in ‘fear.’ After they receive the Holy Spirit we will
see that the Lord replaces their fear with boldness.
2.6.
Some say that Jesus opened the door and came in among
the disciples, but most believe that He simply materialized before their
eyes. With the door most likely bolted
and barricaded this may have been the only way for Jesus to be able to
enter. Materializing before the
disciples seems to be the most logical interpretation of the readings is
consistent with the other appearances which Jesus made over the period of 40
days before His ascension up to heaven.
During that time before His ascension, Jesus demonstrated that He is not
bound to the saw laws of physics that we are, and that He is not limited to the
same time/space dimension which we humans on earth are limited.
2.7.
Because the disciples had all fled from Jesus and
failed Him in so many ways on that last night before His crucifixion, they were
probably not sure where they stood with the Lord and to a certain degree may
have been fearful of Him. Certainly they
were dejected and disappointed in themselves.
To allay His disciples’ fears and assure them of His acceptance of them,
Jesus greets them with the everyday Jewish greeting of ‘peace.’
2.8.
Jesus’ disciples had turned back to their BC (before
Christ) lives just as Christians sometimes do.
It is said that some commanders leading their men into battle have
ordered that as they advanced that men would come along behind the troops and
burn the bridges where they could retreat.
This was to impress upon the men that they must win this battle and that
no matter what there was to be no turning back.
In Luke 9:62 it is written, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having
put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the
2.9.
I would also encourage you not to plan your
alternative routes to take if the Lord does not come through for you in the
ways you have hoped or prayed for.
However you do it, you must burn the bridges for retreat to the old life
in the flesh since otherwise when times get tough it is so easy to take your
escape route.
3.
VS 20:20 - “And
when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they
saw the Lord.” - The Lord
shows His disciples His hands and His sides where the nails and the sword
pierced Him, and the disciples rejoice
3.1.
Jesus’ body still showed all of the marks of His
crucifixion, and that in itself was ample proof that He had indeed
supernaturally been resurrected from the grave.
For all of eternity the resurrected body of Jesus will shows the marks
by which He won His kingdom.
3.2.
It is interesting here that John mentions that Jesus
showed to His disciples his hands where the nails had pierced Him, and His side
where the sword had pierced Him, yet did not mention Jesus’ feet where the nail
had pierced Him. Perhaps by mentioning
Jesus’ hands John was inferring that Jesus also showed them His feet. In Luke’s account of this encounter of Jesus
with His disciples, Luke 24:39, he states that Jesus showed them His hands and
feet.
4.
VS 20:21 - “Jesus
therefore said to them again, ‘Peace be
with you; as the Father has sent Me, I
also send you’.” - Jesus again
wishes His disciples peace and commissions them to go out just as the Father
had commissioned Him to go out
4.1.
Jesus again repeats His greeting of peace to His
disciples, but this blessing had a different intention than the first blessing
of peace. The first time Jesus conferred
this blessing when He first came into the room, and He was speaking of the
peace of God that occurs in a person’s life when the enmity between them and
God has been removed through the finished work of Christ. This blessing here though is the peace of God
that Jesus’ disciples know experientially in their hearts, the peace of God
that passes all understanding, as the scriptures refer to it.
4.2.
Jesus reveals that His coming to them and
demonstrating to His disciples that He had indeed raised from the dead was not
just to comfort their hearts and subdue their fears, rather He immediately
re-commissions them for the mission for which they had been called. Now that Jesus had been raised, it was the
disciples calling to go out and preach the gospel to all the world, and to
teach all that Jesus had commanded them.
4.3.
We Christians need to take seriously the calling which
we have as the body of Christ to take His gospel to all peoples. We need to always keep the perspective that
the Lord has chosen and appointed us to our specific tasks relative to this
commission which the disciples were given 2,000 years ago. We must never have the “country club”
mentality which is exclusive and cliquish, but rather we are to be reaching out
to all around us with the wonderful life-changing word of Christ to salvation.
4.4.
Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 6:19-20, “Do you not know that
your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received
from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore
honor God with your body”. With
Christ’s death upon the cross, He purchased our lives for all of eternity, and
we are not our own and not to do our own will but His bidding.
5.
VS 20:22 - “And
when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy
Spirit’.” - Jesus breathes on His
disciples and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit.
5.1.
The disciples received the Holy Spirit as Jesus
breathed upon them and told them to received Him. In order to prepare them for the work, they
must receive divine enabling. This was a
work which they were not able to begin to accomplish in the flesh.
5.2.
I want to ask you the rhetorical question of when it
was that Jesus’ disciples actually were born again? When did the Spirit of God enter into
them? Jesus forgave repentant sinners of
their sins yet to this point it appears that none of Jesus’ disciples had yet
been born again. So, I think that this
was the place when the disciples were actually “born-again,” as that is
what happens when someone receives the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8:9 Paul tells us that if a person
does not have the Holy Spirit within them that they do not belong to God, so
this must have also been the point at which Jesus’ disciples were truly saved,
“9 However, you are not in
the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
5.3.
I have to believe also that when the Lord tells
someone, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” that they receive the Holy
Spirit. In a couple of weeks these same
disciples will be baptized, or “immersed” in the Holy Spirit when He
comes into their lives in power, as Acts 1:8 tells us. However, this is the first occasion upon
which Jesus’ disciples receive Him into their lives. After this day, the disciples’ lives are never
the same. They now begin to be in step
with God and understand spiritual things.
Mark tells us that they left this meeting with Jesus filled with joy. I imagine that after the two who were on the
road to Emmaus told the twelve about the stuff that Jesus taught them from the
scriptures about how that the Christ had to come and suffer for the people,
that they began to study their Old Testament scriptures. This explains how that in 40 days when the
day of Pentecost comes and the Holy Spirit falls upon the disciples that Peter
is able to expound from the scriptures so clearly and concisely. He had been studying for 40 days and nights I
would guess. Then, when the Holy Spirit
fell he was prepared in heart and mind and delivered the gospel message with
great power.
5.4.
We Christians need the Holy Spirit to fill and baptize
us in order for us to be equipped to carry His gospel to the world, and live
holy lives. We ought to always ask for “fillings”
and “baptisms,” expecting that God desires to first empower us before He
sends us out to do His work.
6.
VS
20:23 - 23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their
sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they
have been retained.” - Jesus tells the twelve that if they forgive the
sins of any that their sins have been forgiven them and that if they retain the
sins of any that their sins have been retained them
6.1.
This
statement by Jesus has been greatly debated.
The Catholic doctrine has taught that the priest has the ability to forgive
sins. However, when we read the
scriptures we see that God alone has the prerogative to forgive sins, as we see
mentioned by the Pharisees in Mark 2:7, “7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who
can forgive sins but God alone?””
6.2.
Likewise,
there is not a single place in the New Testament where any of the apostles are
seen absolving anyone of their sins.
Instead it is always the case that they pointed people to God to forgive
them of their sins, just as Acts 10:43 tells us, “43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His
name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”” If it were the case that the apostles were
given the authority to absolve people of their sins as the Catholic priests are
today, then it would be the case that we would find something mentioned about
this in the New Testament, some incident of this occurring, etc. But, we do not.
6.3.
So, it
must be the case that these disciples (apostles) were given the ability to
discern whose sins the Lord had absolved, and whose He had not. In other words, they were given special
discernment to understand the true nature of men’s hearts, and thus they could
also declare the state of men’s hearts.
We see this discernment by the apostles all throughout the book of
Acts. For instance, notice Peter’s
remarks to Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8:17-23, “17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and
they were receiving the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through
the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that
everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you,
because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your
heart is not right before God. 22 “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray
the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in
the bondage of iniquity.”” Likewise, in Acts chapter 5 Peter is given
discernment that Ananias and his wife Sapphira have lied about donating all of
the proceeds from the salve of their house to the church, and both of them were
slain by the Holy Spirit on the spot and buried.
6.4.
This gifting of the 12
apostles was not passed down through apostolic succession to succeeding
generations, for this concept of succession has no support in scripture.
7.
VS
20:24 - “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them
when Jesus came. The other disciples
therefore were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I shall see in
His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the
nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe’.”
- John tells us that Thomas was not with
the twelve at this time and that even though the other disciples told him about
seeing Jesus’ wounds that he determined that he would not believe that Jesus
had raised from the dead until he was able to put his hands into those wounds
7.1.
Thomas (who is called a twin or ‘Didymus’here)
was always prone to being dark and gloomy.
I wonder if Thomas had a twin brother or sister or whether this name of
twin revealed that he could sometimes be very negative and unbelieving and at
other times he could be positive and cheerful?
7.2.
Thomas was slow to have faith and believe from the
beginning. He had earlier said, “Let
us go to
7.3.
After Jesus’ crucifixion, Thomas had evidently
retreated to be miserable by himself instead of hanging together with the
brethren, and this turned out to be very unfortunate for him. I can imagine him after Jesus’ resurrection
coming to his home and pulling the drapes shut putting out the fire in the fire
place and just sitting by himself hour after hour in the dark (maybe even with
a bottle of wine). By pulling away from
the disciples, He had become hardened of heart.
7.3.1.
Whenever we Christians miss the gathering together of
the body of Christ, we miss out on what the Lord is doing and what He wants to
show us. I wonder what wonderful things
the Lord might have done in our lives if we had made full use of all the
opportunities we have passed up to meet with His body?
7.3.2.
Furthermore, our hearts as Christians can be made
hardened to the Lord by isolating ourselves from the fellowship, worship, and
teaching of God’s word. I wonder how
many needless hard times we have brought upon ourselves just because we did not
make full use of the opportunities available for us to meet with Christ’s body.
7.3.3.
Those instances when we as Christians have the most
difficult time bringing ourselves to be with the body in fellowship are the times
when we most need to be there.
7.4.
Thomas should have believed that Jesus would raise
Himself from the dead just as He had said that He would do, however he was a
man who had difficulty in believing God.
Certainly Thomas should also have believed the testimony of the rest of
the 10 disciples who each bear credible witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. However, Thomas refused to accept their
testimonies.
7.5.
Further, Thomas came to test the Lord by refusing to
believe in Him and His resurrection unless he actually could see and touch the
Lord’s very wounds, and it is only by the grace of God that Jesus was willing
to grant Thomas’ request and appear to him and show Him His wounds.
7.6.
Thomas certainly must have been a pain for the other
disciples to be around, however they still accepted him as their brother, and,
rather than condemn or shun him because of his obstinate unbelief they reached
out to him trying to get Him to believe the Lord.
7.7.
Because the grace which the Lord demonstrates to
Thomas is incredible, it brings out in him the greatest adulation towards the
Lord that anyone to that point had uttered.
7.8.
By the way, this is the only instance in the New
Testament where we are definitively told that they used nails to fix Jesus’
hands and feet to the cross. The 10
disciples had evidently told Thomas about how that the marks that the nails had
made in Jesus’ hands and feet were still visible, and then Thomas tells them
that unless he sees Jesus’ wounds made by the nails and sword that he will not
believe.
7.9.
Many people today are like Thomas in that they are not
willing to believe in the Lord without first seeing. They are not willing to take God’s word by
faith. If you are not willing to believe
God in anything until you see it, though the Lord may have grace upon you and
eventually reveal Himself to you, none-the-less because of your refusal to
believe you are going to experience little of God in your life because of your
lack of faith. God expects us to trust
and believe in Him and when we do He will reveal Himself to us.
7.10.
If Thomas had said that even though he had seen the
nail prints in Jesus’ hands and feet and the sword wound in His side that he
would not believe in Jesus, Jesus never would have revealed Himself to
him. But because Thomas said that he
would believe if he saw, Jesus used that window and opportunity to reveal
Himself to Thomas and create faith in Thomas to believe in Him.
8.
VS
20:26 - “And after eight days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas
with them. Jesus came, the doors having
been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, ‘Peace be with you’. Then He said
to Thomas, ‘Reach here you finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My
side; and be not unbelieving, but
believing’. Thomas answered and said to
Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to
him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are
they who did not see, and yet
believed’.” - John tells
us that eight days later the Lord again came into the midst of the disciples
and this time Thomas was there, and Jesus asked Him to reach in His hands and
see and handle His wounds
8.1.
Jesus was raised on the first day of the week,
appeared to the ten disciples that evening (minus Thomas), and here He appears
to the eleven disciples a week later on Sunday.
It states here that this was the eighth day after Jesus’ resurrection,
but the Jews reckoned time differently than we do. To them any part of a day they reckoned to be
a day. Therefore, because of that fact
as well as all of the other references to Sunday worship in the early church we
believe that this must have been another Sunday appearance. Evidently, after Jesus appeared to the
disciples on that first day of His resurrection the church constantly ever
after met on Sunday instead of Saturday and considered these appearances by
Jesus on subsequent Sundays as confirmation that the Lord would have His church
to meet on Sunday.
8.2.
Jesus way of appearing is described identical to the
way He appeared to the disciples the week before. Jesus materialized before His disciples.
8.3.
Jesus’ greeting of ‘peace’ to the church was as
it had been on the previous Sunday appearance also.
8.4.
After appearing, Jesus immediately addresses Thomas and
his terms upon which Thomas had told the other disciples he would believe that
Jesus had raised from the dead. The way
in which Jesus addressed Thomas on this day reveals yet again Jesus’
omniscience, always knowing everything that is going on everywhere and in each
and every life. Jesus knew that Thomas
had said that he would not believe unless he saw and touched the resurrection
wounds of Jesus.
8.5.
Jesus tells Thomas to put his hand into His side and
touch with his finger the nail prints in His hands. If Thomas could reach his hand inside Jesus’
side via the wound which the Roman spear had made, this wound must have left a
very large hole.
8.6.
Jesus tells Thomas to handle Him and His wounds but to
do so in faith, ‘not unbelieving but believing.’ This was both ‘a rebuke’ to Thomas for
not believing in Him as He should have and also ‘an exhortation’ to have
faith as he examined Jesus’ wounds.
8.7.
We do not know whether or not Thomas actually touched
the wounds of the Lord or whether seeing and hearing Jesus was enough. The text does not say that Thomas actually
reached in His hands.
8.8.
Thomas’ heart was forever changed by Jesus’ appearing
to Him and knowing exactly what He had told the 10 disciples about his terms
for believing in Jesus. Because of this
change in his heart, Thomas invokes the greatest declaration of any disciple in
worship to Jesus, saying, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Thomas
acknowledged Jesus’ lordship over all aspects of his life, and he was
the first one to call Jesus, ‘God.’
8.9.
When Cornelius the Gentile fell down at the
feet of Peter and would worship him in Acts 10:26, Peter told him to stand up
for he was just a man. Likewise, in Acts
14:15 when the people in Lystra were going to make a sacrifice for Paul
after he had performed a miracle, Paul tore his shirt and begged them not to do
this for he was a man of like passions as they were. John the apostle in his Revelation
vision fell down at the feet of an angel to worship and in Rev. 22:8-9 the
angel forbid it. However, Jesus did not
correct or rebuke Thomas for calling Him, “God,” nor did He refuse the
worship of this disciple. Jesus’
reaction is proof that He is in fact the eternal Son of God who is equal with
God.
8.10.
Jesus does however issue a rebuke to Thomas saying
that He has believed because he has actually seen, and then Jesus utters the
last beatitude which John includes in this gospel, ‘Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’ John records another beatitude in the book of
Revelation. There is a greater blessing
to be had than what Thomas experienced in seeing Jesus, it is in believing
without seeing. Peter wrote the
following in 1 Peter 1:8 about the blessing that comes to those who believe not
having seen Jesus, “And although you have not seen Him, you love Him, and
though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy
inexpressible and full of glory.”
8.11.
The Lord is gracious and forbears each of us during
the times of our unbelief. And if we
will do as Jesus told Thomas to do, and in faith ask the Lord to reveal Himself
to us, He will be faithful to do just that for us. I have not yet seen a time when a person
would ask the Lord in faith to reveal Himself to him, that the person has not
had the Lord do a supernatural miracle in revealing Himself to that
person.
8.12.
Sometimes we Christians need to ask the Lord for
encouragement or assurance of our faith, or even just for wisdom or
direction. And if we will ask the Lord
in faith, He will hear and answer that prayer that is prayed sincerely in faith. The Lord desires to reveal Himself to us and
give us the encouragement and assurance that we need. That is not to say that we become dependent
upon the Lord to do some miracle before we will make a move in obedience, but
there are times when the Lord is forbearing with each of us in our unbelief,
and when we need that special diving assistance.
9.
VS
20:30-31 - “Many other signs therefore Jesus also
performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this
book; but these have been written that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His
name.” - John tells
us that Jesus performed many more attesting miracles that are even recorded in this
book, but that what has been written has been written so that we might believe
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and have life in His Name
9.1.
In
referring to ‘other signs’ which John tells us in this verse that Jesus
performed, he is probably speaking of further appearances and signs performed
after Jesus had raised from the dead. I
say this because John says that that the signs he is referring to were ‘performed
in the presence of the disciples,’ while Jesus’ miracles were performed
amongst the multitudes.
9.2.
John could only include so many stories and teachings
in His book, and He working with the Holy spirit selectively included just what
was needed that people might be able to read the book and believe in Jesus as
the Messiah and Son of God, and that they might have ‘life in His name.’
10.
CONCLUSIONS:
10.1.
Our hearts can rest in the assurance that Jesus Christ
has raised from the dead, for the evidences for His resurrection cannot be
denied. In fact, the very existence of Christianity
today is evidence of Jesus having raised from the dead.
10.2.
Do you believe that Jesus procured salvation for you
by dying on
10.3.
Do you serve a living Savior?