Can You Identify The Body?
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The Sabbath has ended. The special sign that God gave to Israel, the Sabbath, was over. The day was for physical rest, refreshment, but for Israel it was never meant to be what it had become. /the Pharisees and scribes had added enough restrictions that it became a day of bondage instead of blessing.
Jesus honored the Sabbath, but on this first day of the week following the sabbath, he appeared at least five times:to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11–18), the other women (Matt. 28:9–10), Peter (1 Cor. 15:5 and Luke 24:34), the two Emmaus disciples (Luke 24:13–32), and the disciples minus Thomas (John 20:19–25). The next Sunday, the disciples met again and Thomas was with them (John 20:26–31).
It would appear that the believers from the very first met together on Sunday evening, which came to be called “the Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10). It appears that the early church met on the first day of the week to worship the Lord and commemorate His death and resurrection (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1–2).
...The Sabbath was over when Jesus arose from the dead (Mark 16:1). He arose on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). The change from the seventh day to the first day was not effected by some church decree; it was brought about from the beginning by the faith and witness of the first believers. For centuries, the Jewish Sabbath had been associated with Law: six days of work, and then you rest. But the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week, is associated with grace: first there is faith in the living Christ, then there will be works.
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were afraid- in site of the women reporting to them that Jesus was alive, the two Emmaus disciples had added their personal witness or experience of the Risen Christ. Various scriptures point to the possibility, almost fact, that Jesus had already appeared to Simon Peter on the afternoon of the day he rose.(Mark 16:7; Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5),
Jesus approached them at the time of their fear, unbelief, and hardness of heart- see Mark 16.14
14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
Jesus reassured them in their fear. He showed them his wounds, he gave them opportunity to learn that it was him- not a ghost.
The wounds were more than identification- they were evidence of the cost that had been paid for us to not be afraid- us to have peace with God.
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
Remember, they were gathered in fear and unbelief. And Jesus’ first wirds are “Shalom- peace!”
Jesus brought joy to them- then he commissioned them.- this was not formal ordination, it was a dedication of his followers to the task of taking the risen Lord to the world.
We take his place in the world- see John 17.18
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
Jesus was entrusting them with His Word and His work.
They had forsaken Him and fled at the crucifixion- now He is sending them out to represent Him.
Peter had denied him three times- yet in a few days, Peter would preach the Word and thousands would be saved. See Acts 3.13-14
13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.
14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
jesus came, reassured them. He commissioned them. He also enabled them through the Holy Spirit.
This verse should remind you of Genesis 2.7
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
In both greek and hebrew, breath of God means spirit.
the breath of God in the garden meant life, the breath of God in this upper room meand spiritual life.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
,All that the Christian can do is announce the message of forgiveness; God performs the miracle of forgiveness. If sinners will believe on Jesus Christ, we can authoritatively declare to them that their sins have been forgiven; but we are not the ones who provide the forgiveness
They now had peace with God. They had a commission and the power to carry it out.
they had bbeen given the priveliege of carying the good newss of forgiveness to the world. now theyonly hadto wait for the Holy Spirit to carry it out.
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
.We call him “Doubting Thomas,” but Jesus did not rebuke him for his doubts. He rebuked him for unbelief: “Be not faithless, but believing.” Doubt is often an intellectual problem: we want to believe, but the faith is overwhelmed by problems and questions. Unbelief is a moral problem; we simply will not believe.
25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
The word “told’ in this passage is not a one time event It means they told him repeatedly that they had seen Jesus. Alive.
.Thomas’ words help us to understand the difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubt says, “I cannot believe! There are too many problems!” Unbelief says, “I will not believe unless you give me the evidence I ask for!” In fact, in the Greek text, there is a double negative: “I positively will not believe!”
Even though Jesus wasn’t there- he heard Thomas’ words. No reports were given- He was God. So we get the 26th verse....
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
“Peace”-
Remember Gideon’s test of faith or “fleece” in Judges 6.36-40
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said,
37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”
38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.”
40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
Thomas had put out a fleece.
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
Jesus’ words translate literally, “Stop becoming faithless but become a believer.”
Jesus saw a PROCESS at work in Thomas’ heart. Remember Hebrews 3.12
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
.It is not easy to understand the psychology of doubt and unbelief. Perhaps it is linked to personality traits; some people are more trustful than others. Perhaps Thomas was so depressed that he was ready to quit, so he “threw out a challenge” and never really expected Jesus to accept it. At any rate, Thomas was faced with his own words, and he had to make a decision.
John 20:29 indicates that Thomas’ testimony did not come from his touching Jesus, but from his seeing Jesus. “My Lord and my God!” is the last of the testimonies that John records to the deity of Jesus Christ. The others are: John the Baptist (John 1:34); Nathanael (John 1:49); Jesus Himself (John 5:25; 10:36); Peter (John 6:69); the healed blind man (John 9:35); Martha (John 11:27); and, of course, John himself (John 20:30–31).
.We need to remind ourselves that everybody lives by faith. The difference is in the object of that faith. Christians put their faith in God and His Word, while unsaved people put their faith in themselves.
29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
.John could not end his book without bringing the Resurrection miracle to his own readers. We must not look at Thomas and the other disciples and envy them, as though the power of Christ’s resurrection could never be experienced in our lives today. That was why John wrote this Gospel—so that people in every age could know that Jesus is God and that faith in Him brings everlasting life.
.Many of the Jews in Jerusalem believed on Jesus because of His miracles, but He did not believe in them! (John 2:23–25)
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Great crowds followed Him because of His miracles (John 6:2); but in the end, most of them left Him for good (John 6:66).
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
Even the religious leaders who plotted His death believed that He did miracles, but this “faith” did not save them (John 11:47ff).
Faith in His miracles should lead to faith in His Word, and to personal faith in Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Jesus Himself pointed out that faith in His works (miracles) was but the first step toward faith in the Word of God (John 5:36–40). The sinner must “hear” the Word if he is to be saved (John 5:24).
Faith Is An Identity Crisis
Faith Is An Identity Crisis
It is not about identifying a dead body- It’s about identifying a risen Lord.
.We need to remind ourselves that everybody lives by faith. The difference is in the object of that faith. Christians put their faith in God and His Word, while unsaved people put their faith in themselves.