MISSION SERIES: Christ Sends The Church Into The World
In fact, that same transforming experience can be yours today. As you see in John 20:19–31 the changes that took place in the lives of people, ask yourself, “Have I personally met the risen Christ? Has He changed my life?”
From Fear to Courage (John 20:19–25)
Many people sincerely call Sunday “the Christian Sabbath,” but Sunday is not the Sabbath Day.
The seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, commemorates God’s finished work of Creation (Gen. 2:1–3).
The Lord’s Day commemorates Christ’s finished work of redemption, the “new creation.” God the Father worked for six days and then rested. God the Son suffered on the cross for six hours and then rested.
God gave the Sabbath to Israel as a special “sign” that they belonged to Him (Ex. 20:8–11; 31:13–17; Neh. 9:14).
The nation was to use that day for physical rest and refreshment both for man and beast; but for Israel, it was not commanded as a special day of assembly and worship. Unfortunately, the scribes and Pharisees added all kinds of restrictions to the Sabbath observance until it became a day of bondage instead of a day of blessing
Jesus deliberately violated the Sabbath traditions, though He honored the Sabbath Day.
How did our Lord transform His disciples’ fear into courage? For one thing, He came to them. We do not know where these ten frightened men met behind locked doors, but Jesus came to them and reassured them.
In His resurrection body, He was able to enter the room without opening the doors! It was a solid body, for He asked them to touch Him—and He even ate some fish (Luke 24:41–43). But it was a different kind of body, one that was not limited by what we call “the laws of nature.”
It is likely that Jesus had appeared personally to Peter sometime that afternoon (Mark 16:7; Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5), though Peter’s public restoration would not take place until later (John 21).
But His first word to them was the traditional greeting, “Shalom—peace!” He could have rebuked them for their unfaithfulness and cowardice the previous weekend, but He did not.
“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (Ps. 103:10).
The work of the cross is peace (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:14–17), and the message they would carry would be the Gospel of peace (Rom. 10:15).
Man had declared war on God (Ps. 2; Acts 4:23–30), but God would declare “Peace!” to those who would believe.
Not only did Jesus come to them, but He reassured them.
But the wounds meant more than identification; they also were evidence that the price for salvation had been paid and man indeed could have “peace with God.”
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Prov. 27:6).
When Jesus saw that the disciples’ fear had now turned to joy, He commissioned them: “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you” (John 20:21).
We are to take His place in this world (John 17:18).
What a tremendous privilege and what a great responsibility!
It is equally as humbling to realize that He has sent us into the world just as the Father sent Him.
As He was about to ascend to heaven, He again reminded them of their commission to take the message to the whole world (Matt. 28:18–20).
It must have given the men great joy to realize that, in spite of their many failures, their Lord was entrusting them with His Word and His work.
Peter had denied Him three times; and yet in a few days, Peter would preach the Word (and accuse the Jews of denying Him—Acts 3:13–14!) and thousands would be saved.
Jesus came to them and reassured them; but He also enabled them through the Holy Spirit. John 20:22 reminds us of Genesis 2:7 when God breathed life into the first man.
In both Hebrew and Greek, the word for “breath” also means “spirit.” The breath of God in the first creation meant physical life, and the breath of Jesus Christ in the new creation meant spiritual life.
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.
In other words, the disciples did not provide forgiveness; they proclaimed forgiveness on the basis of the message of the Gospel.
They had both “peace with God” and the “peace of God” (Phil. 4:6–7). They had a high and holy commission and the power provided to accomplish it.
And they had been given the great privilege of bearing the good news of forgiveness to the whole world. All they now had to do was tarry in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit would be given.
Why was Thomas not with the other disciples when they met on the evening of Resurrection Day?
Was he so disappointed that he did not want to be with his friends? But when we are discouraged and defeated, we need our friends all the more!
Solitude only feeds discouragement and helps it grow into self-pity, which is even worse.
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.
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.
Like most people in that day, he had two names: “Thomas” is Aramaic, “Didymus” is Greek, and they both mean “twin.” Who was Thomas’ twin?
We do not know—but sometimes you and I feel as if we might be his twins! How often we have refused to believe and have insisted that God prove Himself to us!