JOHN CHAPTER TWENTY

 

The Resurrection
John 20:1-10

We now have the distinct privilege of hearing the truth about the single most important occurrence in all of history as told to us directly by God and written down by His servant John. Throughout Christ’s ministry He had restored life to a number of people who had died, but in each case He did so before they had been buried. So never before in all of history had anyone been physically raised from the dead after being in the grave for several days, with the exception of Lazarus who had been brought back to life by Jesus perhaps seven to ten days earlier. As we meditate on the verses surrounding each of these events we have come to know that Jesus may have raised Lazarus for a number of very good reasons. One of those reasons could very well have been to prepare His followers with a first-hand witness that resurrection from the dead was well within the power of Jesus Christ. S.T. Nichols gives us a very interesting story:

“A number of years ago, and I cannot be certain of the exact date, but would assume it occurred toward the end of the 19th century, a man named Brown was hanged in Philadelphia. In ten minutes after he was legally dead he was resting on a table in the physiological laboratory. Around the table were three of the most famous physiologists of the scientific world. Could motion and life be restored to that inanimate body? Science waited anxiously for an answer to the question.

“A sharp wire, charged with electricity, was applied to the various nerve centers of the body and brain. A superstitious layman would have been horrified at the result. Brown raised first his right hand and then his left. His head moved. His mouth twitched in a convulsive grin. The cords of his neck swelled and the mouth opened as if he would complete his unfinished sentence on the scaffold. The hands drew up and then extended. Unceasingly the electric wire prodded center after center in the nervous organism. At a fresh touch from the plying needle the body sat upright. There seemed to be breath, for the respiratory organs were agitated. Would he walk? Would he talk?

“Science was anxious; another stroke and it had found the secret of life. But placed on the floor, the body fell over limp—dead. Science had demonstrated wonders, but had failed to raise the dead.”
—S. T. Nicholls[fn]
                                                                                          
As smart as mankind considers itself to be and as hard as they try, they will never be able to create life from nothing. Only God can do that. As smart as they think they are and as capable as they believe themselves to be, they seem to conveniently forget that everything they do is the result of utilizing the gifts and materials God gave them.

1. God gave them the mathematical perfection of the universe.
2. God gave them the minds with which to figure out these complex formulas.
3. He provided them the materials and know-how with which to use these scientific principles.
4. He gave them bodies with physical characteristics to implement those things their minds figured out.
5. He gave them a world that supported their physical needs in order to accomplish those things they are capable of accomplishing.
6. And you know we could go on like this page after page.

 

And what has mankind given to God in thanks for such precious gifts? They have thanked Him by being selfish and hoarding as much as they can for themselves. They have been openly disobedient to God’s manual for living a good and happy life. They have made false gods for themselves that make them most comfortable by continuing in their sins and disobedience. They insult, humiliate, degrade, and blaspheme God in every imaginable way, and they take for granted all that they have been given. They have a feeling of entitlement that says “I deserve all these things and I shouldn’t have to work for them.”

Now before we get too far off track here we want to re-emphasize that only God can create life and it is only God who can restore physical life to one who is physically dead. Let us now read John chapter twenty.

John 20:1-10 NLT:
 1 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb.
4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in.
6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there,
7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings.
8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—
9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.

John 20:11-31 NLT:
11 Mary[Magdalene] [fn]was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.
12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying.
13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him.
15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.
20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!
21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came.
25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said.
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book.
31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

We would like to tell you one more story before we transition into some detailed study of
this chapter.

“In Tewin churchyard, a short distance from King’s Cross Station, in England, stands a great four-trunked tree growing out of a grave. Its presence there has given rise to much speculation among the residents of that section. The grave from which it grows is that of Lady Anne Grimston.

“Is the tree a monument to a woman’s disbelief or did it happen to grow there merely by chance? Nobody knows.
Lady Anne Grimston did not believe in life after death. When she lay dying in her palatial home, she said to a friend, ‘I shall live again as surely as a tree will grow from my body.’

“She was buried in a marble tomb. The grave was marked by a large marble slab, and surrounded by an iron railing. Years later the marble slab was found to be moved a little. Then it cracked, and through the crack a small tree grew.

“The tree continued to grow, tilting the stone and breaking the marble masonry until today it has surrounded the tomb with its roots, and has torn the railing out of the ground with its massive trunk. The tree at Lady Anne Grimston’s grave is one of the largest in England.
Was it mere chance that caused the tree to grow there? Perhaps God the Almighty took her challenge.”[fn]

John 20:1 AMP:
1 NOW ON the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been removed from (lifted out of the groove across the entrance of) the tomb.

It is the first day of the week following the Jewish Sabbath. While still dark some women left whatever shelter they had been provided for the night, "bringing the spices which they had prepared."[fn] They came in order that they might anoint the corpse “with sweet-smelling spices.”[fn] Who were these women? Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James (or simply "the other Mary") are mentioned by name in the other Gospels.[fn] Mark adds Salome.[fn] Luke adds Joanna, and seems to indicate that there were others.[fn]

John probably assumes that the readers are acquainted with the other gospels and confines his story to Mary Magdalene. However, he implies that other women had accompanied Mary (John 20:2). As they made their way to the tomb they were worried about how they would move the huge stone that had been placed over the entrance (Mark 16:2, 3). They certainly could not anoint Jesus’ body if they could not get in. By the time they reached the tomb the sun had risen.

As they approached the tomb they saw that the heavy stone had been rolled away. Now our first thought might be, “Wow, Jesus came back to life, rolled away the stone by Himself, and escaped into the night.” As Paul Harvey might have said: “That is only part of the story, but now let’s hear the rest of the story.” However Jesus rose from the dead, whether it was by the assistance of the Holy Spirit or a combination of the work of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the bottom line is that it was a God thing, and we could probably never understand how it worked anyhow.

Now we believe that God allows us some discretion to read between the lines of Scripture as long as we stick to the script and do not in any way alter the meaning that God intended. With that understanding we might want to read the passage again and think very carefully about the information that we have already been given. So considering everything we have been told, why do you think the stone was rolled away from the entrance to the tomb?

It certainly was not necessary for the stone to be rolled away in order for Jesus to get out,  because if we look ahead a few verses to John 20:26 (AMP), John tells us this: “Eight days later His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, though they were behind closed doors, and stood among them and said, Peace to you!” This makes it clear that the resurrected body of Jesus does not need doors to enter or leave a room, or a tomb, or anything else.

However, the stone needed to be removed in order for those who came to the tomb to see that it was empty. This confirmed that Jesus had risen and was alive again. Now some skeptics will say that Jesus’ disciples stole Jesus’ body during the night and made up the story that He had risen from the dead. That is simply absurd. Pilate had placed a number of guards at the tomb and sealed it, which means it was in effect locked so no one could enter without a considerable amount of work. Now, can you imagine Jesus’ disciples sneaking up on the tomb in the middle of the night and removing the seal and rolling back the stone while a dozen or so Roman soldiers stood there cheering them on? Even if the soldiers were asleep, all the commotion would certainly have awakened them. Then the disciples would have had to throw Jesus’ body over their shoulders and run down the road hoping that they would not be seen. There is no way that it could have happened that way.

It may also have been God’s intent to show that with the resurrection of Jesus, death had been conquered and everlasting life could be had by those who believe in what He did and why He did it.

While the mother of James the Less, the mother of James and John, Joanna, and the other women entered the tomb but did not find the body of Jesus (Luke 24:3), Mary Magdalene started to run away in order to get help for she did not know what to do. She may well have thought the Romans took the body and threw it on the garbage dump, or perhaps she thought the Jewish leaders could have done the same thing.

John 20:2-5 AMP:
2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus [tenderly] loved, and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him!
3 Upon this, Peter and the other disciple came out and they went toward the tomb.
4 And they came running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and arrived at the tomb first.
5 And stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not enter.

Mary was obviously stunned when she saw that Jesus’ tomb was empty (Mark 16:8), so she ran to find Peter and John and told them that someone had taken Jesus’ body from the tomb and no one could tell them where it was. Peter and John did not expect the resurrection. They must have thought that Mary had seen the stone rolled away, panicked, and ran for help. But nevertheless they ran to the tomb. John, being younger and faster, arrived first. The entrance was probably low requiring anyone who wanted to look in to stoop. As John stooped and looked, he saw the linen bandages, but he did not go inside. He may have remained outside the entrance out of reverence for Jesus’ burial place or perhaps just out of shock. What John saw, however, must have convinced him that Jesus had risen from the dead.

John 20:6-7 AMP:
 6 Then Simon Peter came up, following him, and went into the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there;
7 But the burial napkin (kerchief) which had been around Jesus’ head, was not lying with the other linen cloths, but was [still] rolled up (wrapped round and round) in a place by itself.

Then Simon Peter arrives and also sees the linen cloths and the wrapping that was around Jesus’ head. J. Vernon McGee comments:”

“Remember that Joseph and Nicodemus had wrapped the body in the linen and had sealed it with the myrrh and aloes, which made a sort of glue to seal in the body. How could the body get out of such an encasement without unwinding all that linen?”[fn]

Do you remember that when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus came forth from the grave all wrapped in the grave clothes and Jesus had to tell them to loosen Lazarus from those grave clothes? When Lazarus came out his body was wrapped in the old grave clothes. The body of Lazarus would have to die again. However, Jesus Christ came forth in a glorified body which will never see death. This is the Resurrection![fn]

Jesus’ body was obviously no longer there. They knew that the disciples had not removed it, nor had any enemy of Jesus removed it. They would have taken the wrapped body and made a quick get-away. In either case the bandages would have remained on the body and would no longer have been present.

John 20:8-10 AMP:
8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, went in too; and he saw and was convinced and believed.
9 For as yet they did not know (understand) the statement of Scripture that He must rise again from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went back again to their homes (lodging places).

Peter must have been stunned as well. Looking at the linen cloths, however, laid out so neatly, he must have quickly come to the understanding that only God had the power to remove the body from those cloths in such a manner. Peter may have called to John to come in as well. Can you imagine yourself there with them, first looking at the clothes, then one another, then back to clothes, and one of them or perhaps both of them in unison saying, "He is risen!"  Scripture says, "They saw and believed," even though they did not understand. "For as yet they did not know the statement of scripture that He must rise again from the dead." But they had sufficient proof to believe that He had risen, so “then the disciples went back again to their own homes," in order to consider what had happened and plan what they would do next.

Can you imagine what they must have said to one another as they huddled together in someone’s home? What would you think if one day you and others buried a dear friend or family member, and early the next morning you came for a memorial service and found the grave dug up, the coffin opened, and the body missing, with your friend’s clothing laid out just as they were when he/she was in them? Did some sick prankster do this? Or perhaps some local politicians looking for gold fillings? No, that would be impossible because the family had hired a security firm to place guards around the grave for several days after burial. What then could have happened? There could only be one conclusion. Not only must the friend have risen from the dead, but was also able to do so undetected by the guards. Therefore he/she must have taken on a new form of body that could make it invisible.

The ramifications of the Resurrection are huge and we will look more closely at them as we proceed through this chapter. But keep in mind that we serve a living and powerful Lord. That fact should give us hope and strength as we face our daily challenges.

What follows in this story should be very interesting to us because whatever qualities Jesus’ shows us with His resurrected body will be available to us as well when we go through the process of resurrection. So we hope you will anxiously await “The rest of the story.”

 

Jesus Appears To Mary
John 20:11-18

Creating life in a laboratory, or altering it in some way has long fascinated the imagination of many people. A mad scientist created the fictional character, Frankenstein, hoping to create a life that would serve him and do his bidding. But something went haywire and Frankenstein turned out to be a monster. In modern laboratories the creation of new forms of life is allegedly becoming possible through “genetic engineering.” The process takes the gene for a specific characteristic out of one organism and transplants it into another for a desired change. It would supposedly revolutionize food production, diagnose and cure diseases, and alter forms of life such as giving a cat a bark and dogs hooves instead of paws.[fn]

The genetically engineered DNA technique developed in the early 1970s allows scientists to identify a characteristic from the DNA molecule of one species and to transplant it into another. This literally permits them to “recombine” genetic characteristics into hybrid forms of life unique in nature. At the time of this writing over eighty university laboratories in the U. S. are working in this new dimension in science, together with at least nine private companies. The result has included such foods as genetically engineered rice and corn, which supposedly have greater food value or shelf life.[fn]

On the negative side, however, there are grave risks involved. This recombination process is tricky and could cause some pretty catastrophic results. If deadly and recombined organisms escaped from the lab, they could irreversibly cripple life on earth.  For instance, E. coli bacteria, which are most often used by scientists, are commonly found in nearly all mammals, including man. The name E. coli probably strikes terror to your heart because it has been the source of so many deadly food poisoning outbreaks over the last few years. Yet scientists experiment with some strains they consider helpful. If an altered E. coli should escape, it would find a ready home almost any place, possibly spreading contagious, uncontrollable diseases across the land.[fn] There are equally disastrous results with the use of embryonic stem cells because they have a mind of their own and even the best intentions can result in another Frankenstein. Even apart from that possibility, there have been dangerous results from combining the genes of one food with the genes of another food.

A retired psychologist who was dying of cancer decided to have his body preserved by freezing for later revival if possible. He therefore provided $4,200 for a steel capsule and for liquid nitrogen to keep his body frozen at 200 degrees below zero centigrade. The Cryonics Society of California helped. The body was flown to Phoenix where the professor’s remains are kept in liquid-nitrogen storage. His underlying hope was that when cures for cancer are discovered, the body could be thawed out, cured, and restored to healthy life.[fn]

“But although some of the lower forms of life, such as bacteria, can survive freezing and thawing, no higher animal can, and certainly not man. Not even a single major human organ can be thus preserved.”[fn] But the achievement of restoring a live organ is still young and experimental. There have been some recent experiments of taking a living person’s own DNA from a specific organ, growing a new organ outside the body, and then transplanting that organ into the original person, but the person has to be alive to start and to complete this prospect. “So the prospect of restoring functions to a whole lifeless body with dozens of organs and cell types is even more remote.”[fn]

Another story takes us to an underground storage site near Los Angeles where a dozen men and women lie in capsules that look like giant vacuum flasks. Their bodies are wrapped in tinfoil. Remove the foil and a thin layer of frost covers their faces. An icy mist of liquid nitrogen clings to each body.[fn]

These people have been dead for some years. But centuries from now, attempts may be made to bring them back to life again. They chose this odd method of entombment in the hope that, at some time in the future when medical science has improved far beyond today’s standards, they will be thawed from their deep-frozen state and cured of the disease that killed them. Some of the corpses have been there since 1967. They could be there for hundreds of years because, if the person died from a particular form of cancer, it could take that long before an effective cure is found.[fn] I seem to recall that Walt Disney was one of the first to commit himself to this kind of experiment.

So it seems that there are an awful lot of people who would like to go on living as long as is possible, and there are a lot of other people who would like to change their, or perhaps even their unborn children’s, genetic makeup. Parents might want a child that looks like a movie star, throws a football like Tom Brady, or perhaps has the mind of an Einstein.

Some people are willing to do almost anything to be anything but what they are, and it is a crying shame that they feel that way. If they could only come to know the Savior, Jesus Christ, they would find the kind of peace in the body they have instead of looking for a body that they would probably not be satisfied with anyway. God made you special according to His very unique plan for you. He made you just the way you should be to find maximum peace and happiness with the skills He developed especially for you. You are not going to be happy if you try to change His perfect design. You might even destroy any opportunity you had for happiness by messing with the perfection of God’s design and special plan for your life. Instead of looking for your identity by changing your physical appearance or by adopting certain habits and practices of the culture, you will find the most satisfaction and fulfillment in following God’s ways and being the person He wants you to be. When you have found your identity in Him, you have found your true identity.

No matter how good you are to your body, God has designed it so that one day it is simply going to wear out. The mortality rate on this earth is 100% and it will continue to be 100% right up until the day Jesus returns. So you are going to die sooner or later and your days are numbered by God alone. He planned the exact year, month, day, hour, and second that you were born, and He has also planned the exact year, month, day, hour, and second you will die and there is nothing you can do about either.

Now, of course, some people take their own lives but that is just stupid. Because if you are a Christian, you are going to severely reduce the reward that God would have presented to you had you lived according to His plan until He took you home. And if you are not a Christian, you will go from misery in this life to a far worse misery in Hell for eternity.

Now if you would simply put your trust in God, when your time comes, you will immediately find yourself in Heaven. You will then take a form that we do not really know any details about, but we do know that everything in your world will be perfect beyond your wildest dreams. Then when Jesus returns, all believers throughout all of history will receive a new physical body that will be perfect in every way. You will not stand in front of the mirror wishing you had a smaller nose, or smaller ears, or a different color hair. You will not worry about having washboard abs, or being too fat, or too dumb. You will be perfect in every way and that is exactly the way you will feel about yourself.

As we return now to the story of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead we begin to see what it will be like to live in a new resurrected body. It is our hope  and prayer that by the time we finish studying this section of John, you will rejoice in how special God has made each of you and how much more special you are going to be when you get to Heaven.

John 20:11-18 NAS:
11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;
12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.
13 And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."
14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away."
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.' "
18  Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her.

Mary Magdalene remained at the tomb after Peter and John left. Mary was probably hoping to get some kind of clue as to what had happened to Jesus. She then approached the opening of the tomb, stooped down and saw something that Peter and John had not seen only moments before. She saw two angels. This is the same thing that had happened to the other women who went to the tomb as we see in Luke 24:22, 23 NAS:

22 "But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning,
23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.

Ordinarily if a person had seen an angel they would be thrilled to death, but Mary matter-of-factly told them why she was weeping when they asked her, but then turned away before hearing anything about Jesus rising from the dead. Listen to the account Mark gives us of this same event.

Mark 16:1-11 NLT:
 1 Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene and Salome[fn] and Mary the mother of James went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body.
2 Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb.
3 On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
4 But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.
5 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked,
6 but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.
7 Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead
of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”
8 The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened. Then they briefly reported all this to Peter and his companions. Afterward Jesus himself sent them out from east to west with the sacred and unfailing message of salvation that gives eternal life. Amen.
9 After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons.
10 She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened.
11 But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn’t believe her.

The account of Mary Magdalene remaining alone in the garden resonates with Proverbs 8:17: I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.” Mary loved Jesus and came to the garden early in the morning to express that love. Peter and John had gone home by the time Mary got back to the tomb, so they were not able to tell her what conclusion they had reached from the evidence they had examined. Mary still thought that Jesus was dead. This brings to mind another verse: Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

When Mary looked into the tomb, she saw two men in white. Mary apparently was not at all affected by seeing these men. Maybe she did not even realize they were angels. The few words she exchanged with them apparently had no effect on her. She had one thing and one thing only on her mind, and that was to find the body of Jesus. Why did Mary turn away and not continue her conversation with the two strangers? Did she hear a sound behind her? Why then did she not recognize Jesus? It was still early and perhaps dark in that part of the garden. Her eyes may have been blinded by her tears as well. Or maybe there was another reason.[fn]

All Jesus had to do was to speak her name, and Mary immediately recognized Him. Think of the gentleness and love that Mary must have heard in His voice as He spoke Mary’s name. Surely, Jesus calls all of us to Himself with that same tone of voice. John 10:3 tells us “His sheep hear [recognize] His voice and He calls them by name.” All Mary could say was, “Rabboni—my Master, my Teacher.” The Jews recognized three levels of teachers: rab (the lowest), rabbi, and rabboni (the highest).

After seeing the empty tomb, Mary first went to Peter and John, sobbing uncontrollably while informing them that someone had taken away Jesus’ body. After Jesus came back to life early on Sunday, He appeared first to Mary from Magdala, from whom He had forced out seven demons. She went and told His friends, who were grieving and crying. They did not believe her when they heard that He was alive and that she had seen Him (Mark 16:9-11). Her devotion to Jesus was unquestionable. While the disciples remained hidden from view, fearful of the soldiers, Mary boldly ventured to the graveside to make a carefully prepared anointing of her Lord’s body. Unafraid of the political nonsense that had brought Jesus to His death, she boldly declared her loyalty by demanding to know the final location of Jesus’ body. Her grief was real; her devotion to Jesus was genuine. Jesus rewarded her unselfish devotion by approaching her first.

Jesus asked her the same question that the angels had asked, “Why are you weeping?” Then He added, “Whom are you seeking?” Jesus knew that Mary’s heart was broken and that she was confused. He did not criticize her, but lovingly revealed Himself to her.

Apparently Mary’s first impulse, in her joy at seeing Jesus, was to put her arms around Him. Jesus did not rebuke the other women for holding His feet (Matthew 28:9), for this was an act of worship. Later, He did not shrink from inviting Thomas to touch Him (John 20:27).

So why did He say to Mary, “Do not cling to Me”? Mary needed to know that she did not have to cling to Him physically in order to know He was present with her. Later, after His ascension to Heaven, she would have His constant presence through the Holy Spirit. At the moment, Mary needed to know that Jesus was now glorified, as is the Father in Heaven, even though He was willing to remain with His followers for a time. When Christ gently told Mary, “I am not yet ascended,” the meaning seems to be that she would be able to touch Jesus in some sense after His Ascension. She would be able touch Him by faith through the Holy Spirit.[fn]

So we see that the words, “Don’t cling to me,” indicate that Mary needed to realize that Jesus’ physical presence was not permanent. He explained that He had not yet ascended to the Father. Jesus’ ascent to the Father would open up the new relationship of Jesus and the Father with the believer through the Holy Spirit.[fn]

Another reason was that she would see Jesus again on earth because He had not yet ascended to the Father. He remained on earth for forty days after His resurrection and often appeared to the believers to teach them spiritual truth (Acts 1:1–9). Mary had no need to panic; this was not her last and final meeting with the Lord.

Mary not only spoke to Jesus in the garden, but she grasped His feet and held on to Him. This was a natural gesture: now that she had found Him, she did not want to lose Him. She and the other believers still had a great deal to learn about His new state of glory. They still wanted to relate to Him as they had done during the years of His ministry before the cross

A third reason is that Mary had a job to do—to go tell Jesus’ disciples that He was alive and would ascend to the Father. After He had explained to her that she did not need to cling to Him physically, Jesus instructed Mary to return to His brothers and give them a very important message. Although He had not yet ascended to His Father, that event would happen soon. When Jesus used the term brothers, He was referring to His disciples. Earlier in the Passover discourse, Jesus had said to them, “I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father” (John 15:15). Now, risen from the grave, Jesus called them “My brothers.”

“He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11). This meant that they shared His resurrection power and glory.

At His word, however, Mary arose and went to where the disciples were gathered and gave them the good news that she had seen Jesus alive. “I have seen the Lord!” Sadly, Mark reports that these believers were mourning and weeping, and that they would not believe her. (Mark 16:9–11). When Jesus told Mary to go and tell the disciples that He had risen, He had told her to do what He would later tell the whole Church to do —to go and tell that Jesus has risen.[fn]

Now that the penalty for sin had been fully paid, Jesus could tell them, “I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Jesus could refer to them as brothers, for the eternal God was now fully accessible to them. They could call God their Father, just as Jesus had throughout His entire ministry with them. Although Jesus had told Mary that He had not yet returned to His Father, it was very important that the disciples knew this would happen soon.

This was the first of five appearances of Jesus on Resurrection Day:

1)   to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9–11; John 20:11–18)
2)   to the other women (Matthew 28:9–10)
3)   to Simon Peter (Luke 24:33–35; 1 Corinthians 15:5)
4)   to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Mark 16:12–13; Luke 24:13–32)
5)   to the eleven apostles (Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36–43; John 20:19–25)

We would do well to love Jesus as Mary did—to search for Him and to embrace Him with grateful hearts when He comes and calls us by our name.[fn]

Dr. Robert W. Dale, one of Great Britain’s leading Congregational pastors and theologians, was one day preparing an Easter sermon when a realization of the risen Lord struck him with new power.[fn]

“Christ is alive!” he said to himself. ‘Alive—alive—alive!’ He paused, and then said, ‘Can that really be true? Living as really as I myself am?’
He got up from his desk and began to walk about the study, repeating, ‘Christ is living! Christ is living!’”

Dr. Dale had known and believed this doctrine for years, but the reality of it overwhelmed him that day. From that time on, “the living Christ” was the theme of his preaching, and he had his congregation sing an Easter hymn every Sunday morning. “I want my people to get hold of the glorious fact that Christ is alive, and to rejoice over it; and Sunday, you know, is the day on which Christ left the dead.” [fn]

So we would ask you today, along with Warren Wiersbe:

“Historical faith says, ‘Christ lives!’
Saving faith says, ‘Christ lives in me!’
Do you have saving faith?” [fn]

 

Receive The Spirit

Many people over the course of history have struggled with the concept of eternity. How can anything go on forever? Well, according to the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the human mind, it may be impossible logically to accept the concept because it requires faith. Our minds, as well as our physical abilities, have limits. That is why God is God and we are not. It is far less stressful simply to accept that God exists in a supernatural realm that is far different from the natural realm in which we exist, and that there are many things about Him that we will not be able to understand until we are in Heaven. But some people just cannot be satisfied without receiving specific answers to the things about which they question and wonder. So if you are one of those people perhaps you will be helped by the efforts of some great thinkers who have tried to give us a little clearer understanding of the concept of eternity and eternal life. Here is the first attempt:

“Over the triple doorways of the Cathedral of Milan there are three inscriptions spanning the splendid arches. Over one is carved a beautiful wreath of roses, and underneath is the legend. ‘All that which pleases us is but for a moment.’ Over the other is sculptured a cross, and the words, ‘All that which troubles us is but for a moment.’ But over the great central entrance to the main aisle is the inscription, ‘That only is important which is eternal.’”[fn]

Here is another:

“High up in the North, in the land called Svithjod, there stands a rock. It is 100 miles high and 100 miles wide. Once every 1000 years a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak. When this rock has been worn away [by this bird sharpening its beak in this way],[fn] then a single day of eternity will have gone by.
—Hendrick Willen Van Loon [fn]

And last, but not least, my favorite:

“No matter how large a number is, it is finite [having definite or definable limits or boundaries];[fn] it is always possible to mention a number that is larger. Scientists speak of the “googol.” It is a one, followed by 100 zeros. The googol is inconceivably large. But then think of the “googolplexes” which we believe is the googol raised to the googol-th power. It is said, that if this number were written out, there would not be space on earth to contain the pages required. In fact, they would more than fill our galaxy!
—Christian Victory[fn]

This concept of eternity should be of primary importance to all of us. If we are Christians it should be meaningful because in the last verse of this chapter Jesus promises us life forever in a place where we will be happy beyond what we ever could conceive as possible in these earthly bodies. If, for whatever reason, you have not yet come to believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior, the concept of eternity should be of even more importance to you, because what you have in this life is the best it is ever going to get. You see, eternity for you will be how long you live in a place where you will be miserable beyond what you could ever conceive. If you do not believe or you are not sure if you are truly saved by what you believe, you might want to consider seriously your present future. We are available to discuss this with anyone at any time.

Nothing is more important than your eternity.

Now before we get started we would like to clarify something that is confusing to many people. What is the difference between an apostle and a disciple? “Most New Testament references to disciple designate “followers” of Jesus, often a large group including both His closest associates (the twelve) and a larger number of others who accepted His teaching in varying degrees.”[fn]

“In the New Testament the term apostle is commonly associated with the special inner circle of Jesus’ disciples, chosen and commissioned by Him to accompany Him during His ministry, to receive His teachings and observe His actions, and to follow His instructions. They are therefore qualified to authenticate His message and to carry on His work through the ministry of the Church.”[fn]

Let us now look at what Jesus had to say to His apostles in these final verses of John chapter twenty:

John 20:19-31 NAS:
19 So when 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."
20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.”
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."
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I 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."
26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
28 Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."
30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

This is a very powerful passage of Scripture and well worth studying more carefully.

John 20:19-20 NAS:
19 So when 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."
20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

John makes it quite clear that Jesus appears here in the evening of the same day He had risen from the dead. Out of fear of what the Jews might do to them, the disciples had locked the doors. Their fear was not without justification. All we have to do is look back at some of the actions of the Jewish leaders, especially the Sanhedrin, and it is reasonable to understand why these disciples would fear them. They had repeatedly tried to get their hands on Jesus to kill Him and Jesus had warned His disciples that, as His followers, they would also be persecuted. The disciples were probably wondering if they were next in line for scourging and crucifixion.

It is not difficult to understand why they had come back together that evening. For one thing, they probably felt need of the moral support that would come from all being together instead of alone as individuals. Then also, there had been so many incredible events that had taken place that day that perhaps they were wondering what to do next. Then, in the blink of an eye, without any of the doors being unlocked, Jesus appeared right before their eyes. It must have been similar to a “Beam me up, Scotty” experience.  Obviously, the heavenly bodies we will receive at Christ’s second coming are very different from the bodies we live in today. Paul explains more about this.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 NLT:
42 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.
43 Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.
44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.

Philippians 3:21 NLT:
21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Look at verse 19 of John chapter 20. What is the first thing Jesus offers the disciples when He sees them? He said, "Peace be with you." Jesus had basically told them the same thing earlier in John 14:27 and 16:33. There are two aspects to the peace Jesus is offering.

First is the peace that comes from being justified by faith in Jesus Christ, which gives us peace with God. At first glance we may not see the depth of the meaning in this greeting.

Jesus had just been removed from the cross where He provided for us to have peace with, and be reconciled to, God by the blood He shed on that cross. Secondly, it is the peace of God, which will comfort them. Before He went to the cross Jesus had told His followers: “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid (John 14:27 NLT).” And as He stood there among them He seems to say, "It is finished I have been through the sorrows of the cross. I have made peaceand now it is yours. Enter into it and enjoy it."[fn]The peace that was given to the disciples by Christ was the real thing and it had been purchased at a very high price!

Romans 5:1 NAS:
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,"

This is a peace we did not make. It is a peace that Jesus made for us, and which we enter into and enjoy when we believe the truth of the Gospel. We are told, "He is our peace."

Peace in the midst of all the trials of earth. Peace in the day when everything that mankind has counted on is being shaken. But in order to enjoy it, you must receive the One who made it. You must trust Christ for yourself. Can you truly say that you rejoice over the peace that Jesus has given you?[fn]

Then Jesus showed them His hands and His side. If they were having any doubts about whether it was really Him, the evidence of the wounds from His crucifixion would have been indisputable proof. You may remember that the nails were driven through His hands and the spear had been thrust into His side. They can see therefore that Jesus has a real body. He is not a ghost. It was not only the spirit of Christ that had risen from the grave, as many skeptics taught (Docetism), but the body also. This was truly a bodily resurrection.

So here were Jesus’ apostles, gathered in His name and suddenly He made Himself visible among them, fulfilling what He said He would do. Even now, though we cannot see Him physically, whenever we are gathered together in His name, He is always right there with us (Matthew 18:20). Why is He in the midst of His friends? In the second chapter of Hebrews He says:

Hebrews 2:11-12 NLT:
11 So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.
12 For he said to God, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.”

In order to get the full impact of the importance and meaning of this passage, let us also look at the translation from the Message.

Hebrews 2:11-12 MSG:
11 Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn't hesitate to treat them as family,
12 saying, I'll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters, all I know about you; I'll join them in worship and praise to you.

H. A. Ironside phrases this truth of Scripture about as magnificently as anyone could this side of Heaven. Listen to what he says:

“That is one reason He is in our midst when we gather together with fellow Christians. He is in the midst of His saints in order to draw out their thanksgiving and praise. I love to think of Him as the great Choir Leader. These hearts of ours are the instruments with which we make melody to the Lord, and it is He who touches the strings of one heart after another. He is in the midst as our great Intercessor. It is His presence in the midst of the gatherings of His people in the power of the Holy Spirit, that gives each meeting its peculiar character. I think that if we always remembered this it would have a very sobering influence upon us. It would make us realize that in the holy assembly of the saints of God nothing should be done or said or sung that could not have His approval. Then when we all go Home to glory, He will still be in our midst.”[fn]

Could you just try to visualize and to feel this in your heart whenever we come together as the body of Christ? Christ is present, even in groups as small as two or three of us. John tells us that he looked up into Heaven and that he saw the throne of God surrounded by the living creatures and the twenty-four elders, representing all the ransomed saints. We need to see that as well. John says:

Revelation 5:6 NLT:
 6 Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among  the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth.

Here we are given a picture of Jesus in Heaven still carrying the marks of His crucifixion on His glorified body, a reminder of all that He suffered for sinners when He died on Calvary's cross.[fn] And He is still walking among the saints. What a great Man He was, and what a great God He has always been and will continue to be for eternity.

We too will see those marks of His love and when we look upon those pierced hands and upon the wound in His side, they will speak to us and touch our hearts. We will say to ourselves, "Those wounds tell what He thought of us. He went to that cross of shame and there He received those wounds which tell of a love that was more powerful than death.” And He will bear the scars for all eternity.[fn]

You might ask, "How do you know that He still has those wounds upon His body, that He still bears those scars?" We know because in Zechariah we read,

Zechariah 12:10; 13:6 NAS:
"And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.... And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends."

And so those wounds will be an eternal reminder of His love for the Church and His love for Israel. The Church would do well to have the same passion for Jesus. When we gather together as the body of Christ it is for the purpose of being in His presence, and we should never forget that.[fn]

Luke provides a good parallel account of this situation that John is describing. Luke’s account gives us a little more detail about what went on. The apostles did not immediately rejoice when they saw Jesus. They must have been scared to death when all of a sudden He appeared before them. They may well have thought that He was a ghost.

Luke 24:36-43 NLT:
36 And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said.
37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!
38 “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?
39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.”
40 As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.
41 Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
43 and he ate it as they watched.

When they finally believed, the disciples saw Jesus as their Lord who had come back from the dead with a new, resurrected, physical body, but a body that is no longer subject to the former laws of physics. This is a body that can accomplish feats such as appearing in a room without coming through a door. Some day we shall have bodies like His and we will be able to spend eternity doing things that the same natural laws of physics do not permit us to do in our present physical bodies.

None of the four gospels gives a complete account of all the appearances of Jesus after His resurrection. One of the reasons for this is that He taught them so much that if everything had been written down no library in the world would have been large enough to hold all the books.

John 21:24-25 HCSB:
24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if they were written one by one, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written.

Luke 24:44-49 HCSB:
44 Then He told them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
46 He also said to them, “This is what is written: the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day,
47 and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.
49 And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.”

For forty days Jesus continued working with His disciples, teaching them about the Kingdom of God. He appeared to them on many other occasions other than those mentioned in the gospels. He taught them all He expected them to do as they went forth as His messengers into all the world.

This group of men had scattered in every direction when Jesus was arrested and then crucified. Now they had regrouped and were hiding together in a secluded room somewhere with the doors locked. Let us now continue in John 20.

John 20:21-23 NAS:
 21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
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."

Repeating the greeting, “Peace be with you,” undoubtedly had more significance then a casual “How do you do.”  Jesus may also have had reconciliation in mind here. He wanted them to know that even though they abandoned Him in His darkest hour, they were being forgiven. Now was the time to put the past behind them and prepare themselves for the important things He was about to teach them. The apostles may or may not have detected the subtlety in Jesus’ greeting, but He was about to teach them how to preach the gospel of peace to all nations.

Jesus had now completed the ministry for which He was sent to earth, and He was about to return to His Father. Therefore, He tells them that by the same authority that sent Him (God), He would send them forth to teach these same truths to the world. He was also giving them the authority to establish and govern His Church.

This was no everyday task. In fact, it was a responsibility that was beyond mere human ability. So Jesus provides them with superhuman power and abilities by giving them the Holy Spirit, which will allow them the ability to accomplish what He is asking of them. He provided them with this gift by breathing on them, an action that represented something very meaningful.

“The term ‘Holy Spirit’ refers to the mysterious power or presence of God in nature or with individuals and communities, inspiring or empowering them with qualities they would not otherwise possess. The term ‘spirit’ translates in Hebrew (ruach) and in Greek (pneuma), words denoting ‘wind,’ ‘breath,’ and, by extension, a life-giving element. The reference here is to the divine spirit, i.e., the Spirit of God.”[fn]

Jesus’ statement here brings to mind the act of Creation. In the Creation God breathed into Adam the breath of life, Genesis 2:7 (NASB):  “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

Christ breathed the Holy Spirit of God into His apostles to illustrate that the Holy Spirit proceeds (comes from) the Father (God) through the Son (Jesus). In John 15:26 (NAS), the apostle writes: "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.”

What is the relationship between John 20:22 and the later coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 at Pentecost? There were two events involving the sending of the Holy Spirit. This event where the apostles were given the Holy Spirit was for the private benefit of the apostles to whom Jesus was assigning responsibility for the Church. There was later at Pentecost a public empowering of the Holy Spirit that affected thousands of people, and apparently included the apostles as well.[fn] We see in Luke 24:49 that Jesus told them to wait until the public empowering of the Holy Spirit. They must have needed something further from the Holy Spirit before they were complete.

Verse 23 has been a difficult passage to understand. Roman Catholics have used the verse in John 20:23, along with Matthew 16:19, to support the authority of the priest in the confession booth to forgive sins. Yet the two great Jesuit scholars who have written commentaries on John, Brown (1970:1030-1031) and Schnackenburg (1982:3.326-328) both admit that the meaning here is the proclamation of the Gospel—that is, the Church in mission.[fn]

The question in John 20:23 is whether Christ is giving authority to His apostles to make a choice either to forgive or not forgive the sins of other people. On the other hand Jesus might be in effect saying that if people accept the teaching of the apostles, repent of their sins, and accept Christ as their Savior, then their sins are forgiven. Knowing the sinful nature of mankind, it does not seem probable that God would allow such fragile creatures the divine responsibility and involvement of forgiving the sins of anyone. God alone can forgive sins (Mark 2:7; Isaiah 43:25).

Because of the temptations that bombard us each day, and considering the number of times even the most righteous of men and women succumb to those temptations, no human being is capable of either forgiving or not forgiving the sins of anyone else. The pastor or minister, however, is entrusted by God to counsel those who seek after salvation. It is his or her responsibility to advise the person of just what the Scripture has to say about salvation and the forgiveness of sins and to offer each person God’s forgiveness and salvation. 

So the question each of us is left with today is, “Am I a fitting witness for Christ? Am I carrying the message of the truth of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection to those around me? Am I filled with the Holy Spirit and showing others the power of God by living a transformed life?” Christ’s resurrection empowered the apostles to preach the Gospel. Christ’s resurrection can empower us to live holy lives that give others a desire to know Christ personally. “Is mine such a life?”

 

FAITH IN CHRIST = ETERNAL LIFE

“In one of his great sermons on the resurrection D. L. Moody tells the story of a bright young girl about fifteen years of age who was suddenly cast upon a bed of suffering, completely paralyzed on one side and nearly blind. She could hardly see, but she could hear. As she lay in bed one day she heard the family doctor say to her parents as they stood by the bedside, ‘She has seen her best days, poor child.’ Fortunately the girl was a believer, and she quickly replied, ‘No, doctor, my best days are yet to come, when I shall see the King in his beauty.’ Her hope, like ours, lay in the resurrection.”[fn]

The passage at the end of John chapter 20 holds the key, so to speak, to the Pearly Gates. It is not Saint Peter who stands guard at the gates of Heaven as many people have been led to believe. In fact there is no gatekeeper at the gates of Heaven to ask why you should be allowed to enter. You may be surprised to learn as well that the gates of Heaven will always be wide open (Revelation 21:25) because no one will ever get that close if they have not been given free passage by Jesus Christ. According to Jesus’ own Words, when you die, He will be there to accompany you to Heaven (John 14:3). You need have no fear of what lies beyond death because Jesus will be with you every step of the way. Try not to miss any of this message because it is a matter of life or death.

John 20:24-31 NAS:
 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I 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."
26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
28 Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."
30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

We do not think that we would get much of an argument from anyone if we were to say that people the world over are by nature believers in some concept of a higher power and are not hesitant to openly express those beliefs. Now you may say, “Wait a minute, I’m an atheist, I don’t believe in any God!” The truth be told, you may have a deeper belief in nothing than others do in something. As a former “atheist” I believe I know what I am talking about. Claiming to believe in nothing is an impossibility and is usually indicative of a person who is carrying around a lot of hurt and anger. God designed everyone with an inner program that reveals there is a God. Unfortunately many people seek and find their god in the wrong places and for the wrong reasons.

Romans 1:19-20 NLT:
 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.
20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Romans 2:14-16 NLT:
14 Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.
15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.
16 And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.

The world does not seem to object to faith in general. But they do seem to object to biblical Christianity. Christianity teaches faith in God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ. This means acceptance of the truth of the work of Jesus Christ in providing for our salvation from sin by His death. We can place our faith in Him that what He did and what He taught was true because of His resurrection from the dead. Because Jesus was the only One to rise from the dead and be seen by over five-hundred witnesses before ascending upward into the heavens and beyond the clouds. People therefore can logically believe that He was who He claimed to be, God incarnate. He was and is God, who took on the form of the Man called Jesus, and came to earth so that sins might be forgiven and so that mankind might find eternal life.[fn]

Why then is it that so many people today reject the Christian faith as it is given to us directly from God in the Bible? Because of the very sin for which Jesus came to die. And who is responsible for this sin that directs our minds away from the truth about the one-and-only God? It is none other than Satan himself and the vast army of fallen angels that serve under him.

Now a great number of people who hear this are immediately going to begin to snicker and scoff at the idea of Satan. They might even taunt whoever teaches this truth by saying something like, “You mean the cute little guy in the red suit who carries that little pitchfork wherever he goes. You must be nuts if you think I am going to believe in a fairy tale like that.” Well, I know the drill because that is exactly what I used to say when I was an atheist and one of these Christian misfits would start to talk about the Bible and try to convince me it was true. I would say, “Get a life. If there is a God, why doesn’t He come down here and prove that He’s real? I’ll tell you why. Because He doesn’t exist, so take your blankety-blank stupidity somewhere else and leave me alone.” Now I have cleaned up the actual language quite a bit.

If you feel that way, I want you to know that God understands and He does not hold your thoughts and feelings against you. We will get into more of this later, but for now bear with us for just a little while, because you see the Bible is basically a story about good versus evil. God represents all that is good and Satan represents all that is evil. If you give the Bible a chance and spend time reading it, this will begin to make sense to you. However, before you begin to read it ask God to help you understand it. He will grant your request.

You see no one in the world  ever comes to faith in God and Jesus unless God Himself brings faith out of non-faith, just as He is able to bring life out of death or the whole of creation out of nothing. God not only creates and loves and dies for those whom He has created and who have fallen into sin, but He also leads them to faith, redemption, salvation, and eternal life, thereby creating in them what they could never create for themselves. This is the meaning of the great and moving story in the closing verses of John's Gospel.[fn]

Jesus appears here in verse 26 of John chapter 20 to lead Thomas to faith, and Thomas responds with the highest profession of faith in Jesus that is recorded in the pages of any of the gospels. Thomas worships Jesus by saying, "My Lord and my God" (verse 28). If you sit quietly and meditate on this verse, its full impact may hit you like a freight train. Here is Thomas, who is the source of the saying, "a doubting Thomas." Even though he was told by the other apostles that Jesus was alive, he did not believe. But now Thomas calls Jesus Lord and God. Why did He address Jesus in this way? First we need to understand the term “Lord” as it would relate to Jesus at this time.

“In Jesus’ day the Aramaic word mari, ‘my Lord,’ was coming into use as a title of respect in addressing human beings with authority, e.g., a rabbi, and it would appear that Jesus was so addressed (e.g., Matthew 7:21). Jesus insists that recognition of His authority requires obedience to the demands of God enunciated by Him. Thus, Jesus during His earthly life could be addressed as ‘Lord’ in recognition of His authority as a teacher (rabbi) and as a charismatic prophet (being empowered by the Holy Spirit) prophet.”[fn]

“After Easter one of the most important old testament texts to be applied to the Risen Christ was Psalm 110:1. Here the word ‘Lord’ is used both for God and for the messianic (referring to the special anointed One sent by God, the Savior, Jesus Christ) king (Acts 2:34). The application of this text to Jesus meant that the title mari, ‘my Lord,’ addressed to Him during His earthly life in recognition of his unusual authority was upgraded as a messianic address. Thus, we get the liturgical acclamation in Aramaic marana tha, ‘our Lord, come.’”[fn]

1 Corinthians 16:21-22 NLT:
 21 Here is my greeting in my own handwriting—Paul.
22 If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Our Lord, come!

Revelation 22:20 NLT:
He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

What Thomas said in these few words was a recognition that Jesus was God. First he had refused to believe in the resurrection, something which probably places him in an unfavorable light with some believers. But that is not quite fair, because how many of us at one time denied the resurrection as well? And even the other apostles doubted until Jesus appeared to them. The important thing is that Thomas realized his mistake and fully embraced Jesus as his Lord and God. Many of us have done that as well. Many other people have not and we should not forget to pray daily that they too will see the light, the truth, and embrace Jesus as their Lord and their God, as Thomas did. And let us never forget one indisputable fact: If we do believe, it is only because God is there beforehand leading us to do it. For those who continue to reject the truth Jesus is calling them to believe, there can be only one eventuality, and they will have an eternity to regret their foolishness.

We think it significant that Jesus would meet doubting Thomas at his level of unbelief in order to bring him to faith. This is something which Jesus is willing to do with any unbeliever. All they have to do is express an interest in learning the truth, keep an open mind, and Christ will meet them where they are and lead them to faith.

We also consider it significant to consider what preceded Jesus’ appearance on the eighth day to lead Thomas to faith. James Montgomery Boice has commented that, “Even before Jesus came to Thomas, the other disciples had gone to him with the message that Jesus was risen, and it was undoubtedly because of their witness, even though it was not believed, that Thomas was with the others when Jesus appeared on that second Sunday.”

When a person will not believe or will not even join in fellowship with a group of Christians where the Gospel is preached and Christ is likely to make Himself known, we have a tendency to let them go their own way and turn them over to God. We might say something like, “If they’re ever going to be saved, God will have to do it.” Well, it is certain that no one is ever saved without God doing the saving, but that does not mean that we should just stand by and wait for God to act. We can pray for the person; but then God often wants to send us into action so that we can be part of the salvation process. These disciples could not have known that Jesus would come that day for the benefit of Thomas, but they did know what was the right thing to do, and that was to keep Thomas with them in spite of what he had said and the doubts he had.

The disciples would not abandon Thomas because he did not yet share what they knew to be true. That is the function of the Church as well. If we recognize that someone attending the church is an unbeliever, or if perhaps we have a neighbor that is an unbeliever, we might set about exposing that person to the fellowship of believers and to the teaching of God’s Word. “If at first they don’t believe, try, try again.” As long as the person is willing to stay in relationship with other believers, we need to continue to make him/her feel welcome. Then one day the Holy Spirit may use all that you and others have done to bring that person to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

It was the result of the efforts of such a church that I came to know Christ. When I first decided to attend the church I did not have a clue who the God of the Bible was, who Jesus was, and I envisioned the Holy Spirit to be something like Caspar the friendly ghost. The people there must have thought that I was pretty much hopeless. But do you know what happened? Once I began to study the Bible and, with the help of a number of solid believers, I became addicted to the Bible. I wanted to know everything in it. You see that is what can happen to people when they read and listen to the Word of God.

Romans 10:17 NLT:
 17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

Now in this situation, Thomas was out of line. He had demanded something he had no right to demand. He had said, "Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails are, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it" (verse 25). Thomas was a very pragmatic, concrete personality. His statement was in every aspect disrespectful toward Jesus. Yet Jesus came to the doubter, the unbeliever, as He always does. He appeared to Thomas and said, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side" (verse 27).[fn]

Just imagine that the One who created us and created this entire universe out of nothing, who died on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven, comes to us and says, “I want you to be my brother and to join Me, living in the Kingdom of God forever. Here is the key to Heaven called faith that will open the door to eternal salvation. Will you accept it as a free gift from God who desires to adopt you as His son/daughter?”

Even if you still do not get it, even if you still do not have enough proof to convince you, do not give up. Ask Him! You will find that God is far more anxious to reveal Himself to you than you are to find Him, and He will provide the proof you need. We do not think, however, that there is any greater proof that Christ is God than the love He shows us by the wounds He bears. My hero, Charles Spurgeon, had a special anointing from God, and could produce the most extraordinary pictures with words. Listen to what he wrote on this very subject.

"In these times, when the foundations of our faith are constantly being undermined, one is sometimes driven to say to himself, 'Suppose it is not true.' As I stood, the other night, beneath the sky, and watched the stars, I felt my heart going up to the great Maker with all the love that I was capable of. I said to myself, 'What made me love God as I know I do? What made me feel an anxiety to be like him in purity? Whatever made me long to obey my God cannot be a lie.' I know that it was the love of Jesus for me that changed my heart, and made me, though once careless and indifferent to him, now to pant with strong desires to honor him. What has done this? Not a lie, surely. A truth, then, has done it. I know it by its fruits. If this Bible were to turn out untrue, and if I died and went before my Maker, could I not say to him, 'I believed great things of thee, great God; if it be not so, yet did I honor thee by the faith I had concerning thy wondrous goodness, and thy power to forgive'? and I would cast myself upon his mercy without fear. But we do not entertain such doubts; for those dear wounds continually prove the truth of the gospel, and the truth of our salvation by it. Incarnate Deity is a thought that was never invented by poet's mind, nor reasoned out by philosopher's skill. Incarnate Deity, the notion of the God that lived, and bled, and died in human form, instead of guilty man,... is itself its own best witness. The wounds are the infallible witness of the gospel of Christ."

Now when Thomas uttered, “My Lord, and my God,” no one had previously addressed the Lord as Thomas did. His statement represents a great insight of faith, perhaps even greater than a similar confession of the apostle Peter, which was commended by Christ.

Matthew 16:13-17 NLT:
 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.

To quote Paul Achtemeier regarding John 20:28:

“This (John 20:28) is the high point of John’s Gospel. John shows here how one who began as a great doubter came by the grace of Christ to faith. No case is hopeless. Your case is not hopeless. God took Abraham, the pagan, and made him into a pillar of faith and the father of his people. He took Moses, the stammerer, and made him into the greatest vehicle for the communication of the word of God until Paul. He made the shepherd boy David into a king; Peter ‘the weak’ into Peter ‘the rock;’ John the Son of Thunder into the apostle of love; Paul, the persecutor of Christians, into a faithful ambassador and martyr. He can do that for you. Allow Him to do it. Believe in Christ. Rather than being faithless, may you be one who, like Thomas, was found ‘faith-full.’"[fn]

Christ transformed the doubter into a man full of faith, and He continues to transform people today.

John 20:30-31 NAS:
30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

John gives us the distinct impression that there were a whole lot more signs and wonders that he witnessed in the life of Jesus than those that were recorded in this book. John further tells us that it is the purpose of this Gospel to help us understand what faith is all about and the kind of life that results from such faith. You may recall some of the most memorable verses from this book:

John 3:16 NLT:
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 14:6 NLT:
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

John 5:24 NLT:
“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”

Jesus did many things, but John did not record them all. He recorded only some. But he was sure to record enough of the things so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name.[fn] Jesus is God. That is all there is to it. This book has told us that over and over and it is what Jesus tried to make His disciples understand. Let us take a quick look back:

John 1:18 NLT:
No one has ever seen God. But the one and only Son is himself God and is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

John 10:30 NLT:
“The Father and I are one.”

John 20:28 NLT:
“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

The second member of the Triune God took the form of the Man Jesus and came to earth to show mankind what God was like.

John 3:17 NLT:
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

John 11:40-43 NLT:
 40 Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?”
41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.
42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.”
43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”

John 16:27 NLT:
for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God.

John 17:8 NLT:
for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.

The Father-Son relationship in one sense dominates this Gospel. The result of this relationship is that those who believe “will have life by the power of Jesus’ name.”

Jesus speaks in verse 29 to future readers of this Gospel. Thomas did believe but had to “see” in order to believe. Jesus drew a comparison with those who were yet to come to faith, namely those who would not have the opportunity of seeing Jesus after He arose from the grave. These future believers would have to come to faith without the advantage of seeing Jesus in person. Theirs would be a faith that would come from hearing as well as reading the written Word of God. Peter, in his first epistle, said it about as well as it could be said.[fn]

1 Peter 1:8-12 NLT:
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
10 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.
11 They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.
12 They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

So, in the troubled and uncertain times which we face today, John’s Gospel offers much to comfort us, to guide us, and to give us a right perspective on the world situation.

God is God. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and He came to earth in the form of Jesus Christ.

John 1:1-3 NAS:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Jesus Christ brought hope to the hopeless, healing to the sick, and life to the dying. Before He died He told the disciples,

John 14:2-3:
2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Then Jesus came back to life and appeared to many of His followers. Thomas was hurt, disappointed, and grieving over the death of Jesus. He refused to accept what he feared was false hope when his friends tried to tell him Jesus was alive. Jesus knew that and Jesus cared so much for Thomas with his doubts, concrete thinking, anxieties, and fears that He made a special appearance just to answer his doubt-filled statements. The result? Thomas was overwhelmed with love and worship for his Lord.

What is our response when we hear all that Christ has done for us? When we see His hand in our lives, are we, like Thomas, overwhelmed with the sense: “My Lord and my God”? We pray so.

Isaiah

John

Romans

1 Peter


© Ron Teed - Used by permission. All rights Reserved.