John 20:20-31 Bible Teaching

Welcome
Prayer
Sing Word
Silence

And when we come back we will pick it back up at verse 20 of chapter 20.

Okay we left off with the apostles gathering in a room where the door was shut and Jesus appears.

Admittedly He could have come through the door – John doesn’t say. I think He appeared.

His first words to them?

“Peace be unto you.”

Recall that they were fearing for their lives because the Jews had Him crucified and they probably wondered what was next for them – those who followed Him.

So Jesus appears in their midst and greets them with peace.

The Greek word is I RAY NAY and it is believed to have come from the root word I ROW which means . . . to join.

When Jesus said, “Peace be unto you,” he was telling them to “to be at rest, at peace, to be one or whole to join together.”

These are some of the meanings of IRAYNAY. And for the Christian they are deeply meaningful.

Acts 10: 36 tells us that the apostles went throughout the house of Israel “preaching peace.” Preaching IRAYNAY. Preaching rest, unity, joining back together.

How much of an importance does peace play in the New Testament?

Let me put it this way:

Every single book of the New Testament uses the word but even more impressive, every book – except Hebrews, 1st John, and James employs the Word in the first verse of the respective verse:

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Grace AND Peace FROM God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The implication in the greeting from the apostles is that God the Father and His Son are now constantly offering grace and peace to all.

Grace first – His unmerited gift then peace following in right after and as a result – IRAYNAY – rest, joining together, oneness, wholeness.

In the garden of Eden, a place of utter peace and unity, undisturbed by unrest, violence, disruption, evil, sickness, death, division God placed Adam and then Eve.

The lion and lamb hung out together. There was utter unity. And all of creation was one with God.

His grace flowed. His peace was unhindered.

With sin, missing the mark of God, came division – the opposite of joining, rest, and oneness.

It came by the hands of him who loves, adores, and thrives in unrest, in the tearing apart, in fear, in hatred, and destruction.

From his work Adam and Eve were introduced to divorce – whereas before his influence they were completely one and whole.

Before his evil dark influence people were one. After the first son born murdered the second.

Before the fall cells were joined, they were one. After cancerous, dividing and rampantly running amok until the host dies.

Oh yes, and death – the opposite of joining. The separating of body and spirit.

So the apostles are all gathered in this room, huddled together as it were in fear of what the Jews could do to them.

“They could come right in here and dissolve all that Jesus brought together,” they might have thought.

“They could walk in here and put us in prison, in chains,” they may have clamored.

“Worse yet,” one of them might say, “ they could come in and kill us.”

But instead of the Jews, or Roman soldiers, in steps Jesus.

And His first words?

“Peace – let everything come together – in my name. I have had the victory.”

“I have had the victory over every division – let things come together.”

“I have had the victory over disease – let disease become EASE.”

“I have had the victory over divorce – let couples join together and build their marriages on me.”

“I have had the victory over arguments, battles, wars, divisions, disputes and UNREST . . . come to me and I will give you rest.”

Look, He seems to be saying by His very presence there, “I have even had the victory over death – and I’m hear to prove it – and there is NOTHING left on earth for you to fear – nothing – be at peace.”

Fast forward to this very day – the promise from God remains – Grace and peace.

NOT WORKS and UNREST.
GRACE AND REST.
GRACE AND PEACE.

“Come unto me ALL YOU who labor and are heavy laden and I will GIVE you rest . . . . peace.”

His ability to bring peace, rest, wholeness, unity in the face of this world was spoken of by the prophets a thousand years before His death when Isaiah uttered those infamous words to describe Him:

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

To all who seek Him, love Him, follow Him, desire Him, trust Him, rely on Him, look to Him, act and live in Him there is the constant offering of peace.

It is a peace that is NOT of this world. It bears elements of God and heaven not of man and earth.

Recall what He said to His apostles in John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Here’s the deal – if you find yourself uneasy, ill at ease, without rest and peace in your life – look to Him and hand Him your burdens.

He is greeting you every minute of every day with grace and peace.

If you find yourself lacking in either you may have allowed the world and its ways and means to take a bit too much of your heart or mind or time or attention.

More world? Less peace.
More Him? More peace.

By His very presence and gift of peace every believers is put in a unique position – we are able to experience first-hand the division between Him and His peace and the things of the world.

Paradoxically, and as with ALMOST EVERYTHING IN SCRIPTURE there is a conflict with the blanket singular idea that Jesus is ONLY peace.

In Luke 12:51 Jesus says to the apostles:

51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

From what looks like opposing views we are able to see clearly what the peace of Jesus means:

To the believer it means unity, rest, a restoration in the heart and head of the Edenic state of mind.

It is the ability to have tranquility amidst a very fallen world, and otherworldly calm when earth forces are pulling our worlds apart.

Simply put, the peace He offers is internal and spiritual and allows us to exist among a very fractured world.

But in the physical sense, in and amidst the fallen world, Jesus did not bring peace but, as He said, a sword.

Division. It’s as natural as light dividing the dark, oil parting from water, fire consuming dross.

In other words, if the prince of peace is not received and believed, not faced and embraced, the natural result will be unrest and division between those who have received Him and those who have not.

But amidst such divisions we can bask in the peace that is not of this world which abides from within.

We have to note that it would not be too much in the future from this meeting of the resurrected Lord that James will be put to death.

We have to note that along their travels as apostles that they will be beaten, imprisoned, accused falsely, and put to death.

But bearing His peace they rejoiced in every trial.

Okay . . . verse 20

John 20.end
Milk
June 21st 2105

20 And when he had so said, (Peace be unto you) he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

Alright let’s stop there and talk. Back to verse 20

20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

Why do we suppose He showed them His hands and His side? Apparently to give indisputable proof that He was who they either assumed He was or who they needed to know He was.

I would venture to say that the wounds were three days old and open or gaping.

By showing them these He provided them indisputable proofs that He was who He seemed to be to them.

Now, I have read some say that His body was not yet a glorified resurrected body but was his mortal body risen from the grave.

This seems reasonable but I’m not sure where this is supported in scripture.

I was in a business office in St. George a few days ago and the man had a painting on his wall of Jesus walking out of one of those perfectly hew tombs with the perfectly round stones rolled to the side.

In it Jesus was in all white clothing perfectly coiffed and glorified.

I wonder.

Maybe at this point the commentators have a point in suggesting that He was not yet a glorified being but was merely walking about in his resurrected mortal body?

Something to think about.

21 Then said Jesus to them again, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

He reiterates the peace He brings by virtue of His victory over all things. And then having blessed them with this reassuring and repeated promise, He gets down to business and says:

“As my Father has sent me even so I send you.”

And in this we are presented with a hierarchy of sorts – one that is very apparent when we step back and look at it.

God the Father sent the Word into the world. The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.

God sent His Son to preach, to do miracles, to be rejected, despised, to gather those from the House of Israel who would hear, to call and teach and train twelve apostles, to fulfill scripture, and then to suffer and die for the cause.

The Son is our intermediary to the Father.
There is no getting to God the Father without the Son.

No other way under heaven or earth.

He is our mediator. Listen – He is our God as He was God in the flesh.

Being we are flesh, He is God’s representation of Himself in flesh.

He is our God.

And what does He do in His mission to reach the House of Israel He couldn’t get to in His three years?

He selects and trains twelve men to do the same thing.

He was sent by His Father and He is now sending others out Himself. If they followed Him and His model for walking with God they would be fulfilling His will, which is what we all seek to do today – to do Jesus will.

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost:”

Okay. It’s really quite the verse because its implications are far reaching depending on how far you will let the implications go.

A quick review of the biggest interpretations of the passage – there are three.

First, there are those who say that what Jesus did was exactly what He said – He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. And because He said it they received the Holy Spirit at that time.

Secondly, the thought is Jesus may have said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” and breathed on them, it didn’t mean they did. Those who stand on this position point out that nowhere does the text say they did – it just has Jesus telling them to.

A third thought is that Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit in a measure either to give them a taste of what was coming at Pentecost. Under this third opinion is the idea that He did give them the Holy Spirit but at Pentecost they received the Power of the Holy Spirit.

All of these views seem to agree that Jesus was at least proving that He, from His lungs and mouth, was one with the Holy Spirit and had the right and ability to bestow the Holy Spirit on others.

I personally take this passage to prove that God is one, that He is Spirit, and that He manifests in whatever means or way He wants.

With Jesus being God in the flesh He of course – especially after overcoming sin, death and the grave as a mortal man, had every right to give the Holy Spirit to the men He had prepared and was now sending forth into the world.

In my estimation this is nothing to quibble over. Far too many elements are present to take the event at face value.

Jesus breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit – the proper noun name.

The Hagias Pneuma. Holy Spirit.

Now, here are the confusing but interrelated elements that play into our understanding of this verse:

In the Old Testament God Himself and others breathed the Spirit of Life into or onto others.
(Genesis 2:7) “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Here God breathed and Adam became a living soul. I see a direct parallel here.
By turning to Ezekiel 37 we have a similar picture in the story of the Valley of Bones. Reading it we learn that Ezekiel is carried and set in a valley of bones that were very dry – no life in them.

And God said to Ezekiel

4 Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

In the Greek translation the word for wind is the same as in Genesis 2:7 and it is the same as John 20:22 – pneuma.

Except in Jesus case with the apostles He says it is the Holy Pneuma.

After the dry bones are given sinews and skin God explains the symbolism and says, likening the House of Israel to the dried bones:

14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

When the Holy Spirit fell on the Day of Pentecost the exact same term hagias pneuma is used to describe what fell from heaven with a whoosh as what Jesus blew onto these men.

I personally do not believe this was some sort of sampling of the Holy Spirit – I don’t believe it was a sign or token for them to cash in at Pentecost.

I am convinced that Jesus, as God, did exactly what He did by breathing into the nostrils of Adam and giving him life, as the wind of Ezekiel giving the dried bones life, or the Holy Spirit falling from heaven and giving life to all present.

Jesus said it, breathed, gave it, and they received it in the same exact manner of every cited example.

And in breathing the Holy Spirit on them He said to them:

23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Now, back in Matthew 16:19 Jesus said to Peter alone:

“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

But here we have to note that Jesus conferred the same power to all who were present.

“Whosesoever sins ye remit”

In other words equal authority were given to each of those present to run and govern the church.

By the way this has nothing to do with sins being forgiven but relates to their authority to govern, set up, establish, reprove and excommicate.

Isaiah 43:23 tells us that only God can forgive sins so these words were more to their establishing and managing the body during those apostolic years.

At this point it seems Jesus departs – and in all probability John did not record everything that happened or that Jesus said at the time.

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, (apparently when they came in contact with him later) “We have seen the Lord.”

But he said unto them, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

We are never told why Thomas wasn’t there nor do we know what lead to his doubtful disposition.

Maybe he was in deep grief. Maybe, like some of us, he had been so ruined in his heart by what He thought was real and true that when Jesus died He became doubtful.

I could understand this.

The man has been ripped apart by people for centuries as being so doubtful but take note – Thomas wasn’t asking for any MORE proof than what the other apostles had received.

They all got to see Him – possibly even touch Him – He wanted the same evidentiary supports.

I don’t wanna be harsh on Thomas. I’m not gonna be hard on Judas – they were just fallible men like the rest of us.

And by and through them and their weakness we – today – learn great lessons.

Quite frankly what Jesus says actually has bearing on us today in the here and now.

Thomas represents something in all of us – even in some believers – to want to see, and feel and know from first hand experience.

In the Christian faith today most of us do not have this luxury relative to much in it. We don’t get to touch and see and feel – but are blessed for it.

Let’s read on to the end. (verse 26)

26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

So back to verse 26

“And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

Notice the similarities – the doors being shut . . . He stood in their midst . . . His greeting? Peace be unto you.

Because the Jews counted the day in question then Jesus return was the first day of the week again, or Sunday.

We do not read that He visited them on the days in between and we might see a trend – Jesus was visiting on Sundays.

I can’t get around this and don’t know if it is significant but it is the fact. And from this fact the early apostolic church (and from that point forward) met on the first day of the week. (verse 27)

27 Then saith he to Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”

Now, from these words of the Lord I think we can conclude a couple of things.

Jesus wasn’t bodily present when Thomas made his statements about refusing to believe unless he touched, but here Jesus was well aware of the very words, wasn’t He?

Do we have an example here that when two or three are gathered in His name He is present? I think so.

And He accommodates Thomas – gives Him the witness. But He simultaneously does not make excuses for hi faithlessness, but instead reminds him:

“Be not faithless, but believing.”

28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, “My Lord and my God.”

There are three VERY interesting things about this exchange. Three extremely important matters.

First – Thomas’s expression.

“My Lord and my God.”

Who did Thomas say this to? He was not praying. He said it TO JESUS.

John writes: “And Thomas answered and SAID TO HIM (Jesus) – My Lord and my God.”

LISTEN VERY CLOSELY – THOMAS CALLED JESUS, REFERRED TO JESUS AS HIS OWN LORD AND GOD.

All the debates over the divinity of God, and whether Jesus is God are settled here.

Settled.

Blasphemy was prohibited in Thomas’s world. Monotheism was mandated in the extreme.

For Thomas to called Jesus God was to say Jesus was God. There is no way in getting around this singular expression.

Some have said that Thomas was just excited and overzealous. And this leads us to the second point of this expression –

Had Thomas made a mistake in His identification, and therefore blasphemed, Jesus would have corrected him on the spot.

But Jesus received the title without a comment, in fact He actually praised Thomas for believing.

In fact Jesus, who came to teach the truth, did not even redirect Thomas’s expression for any clarification.

He received it fully. How? Why? Because He was God with us – Emanuel.
God incarnate. God in the flesh. Who, now overcoming His flesh on our behalf, becomes the once human mediator between fallen man and the Living God.

The third point is to ask:

What DID Jesus say or do in response to His expression?

(beat) (verse 29)

29 Jesus saith unto him, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

This is a significant expression. I want you to think on it for a minute.

We are all in the same boat ever since Jesus ascended into the heavens – to believe on Him who we have NOT seen.

We either do and will or we don’t and won’t. And God gives us this right.

Nature is calling to all.
Conscience is calling to all.
The life of His Son is calling to all.
His Spirit is calling to all.
His written word is calling to all.
The witness and words of believers calls to all who are presented with them.

Blessed are they who HAVE NOT seen and yet have believed.

I would suggest, that as every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus as Lord, that those who do so after this life, who believe because they then see, will not be considered blessed or happy.

And that one – just one of countless benefits believers have today who choose to believe despite of the fact that they do not see – is eternal blessedness.

Any who wait to believe in order to see are exactly like Thomas. It will be good that they believe. They won’t be able to help themselves, but those who live and walk by faith – those who you are seeking Him by faith, and choosing Him amidst all the lies and criticisms the glories that await are not fathomable.

Keep believing though you do not see. Never, ever let go of Him. The end result will be counted as perhaps one of the greatest honors in all of the eternities – bestowed on those who believed without seeing.

30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

This verse, where it says, signs, probably means miracles. Many other miracles were performed in the presence of His disciples, probably preparing them to go forward into the world to teach preach suffer and die.

John doesn’t include them for reasons unknown but listen to the next verse:

31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Here John reveals his purpose for writing the Gospel – that you – his reader – you and I – might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God and that believing we might have life through His name.

A life of peace – unity, oneness, rest – in His name. Here and there.

We’ll get into the last chapter of John next week.

Questions, comments?