The Gospel of John, 11/4/15
John 20. It's the first Easter morning ever. The giant stone had been rolled away from the tomb where Jesus had been lain. The grave could not hold Him. Satan has been defeated. The risen Savior lives! Paul would later say that if Jesus didn't rise from the grave, we were to be pitied above all men. Without Jesus' resurrection, we are lost and following just another dead god, wasting our time. Jeremy Camp sings a song that describes the same power that rose Jesus from the dead, lives in us. Do you believe that? Let's live like it's true. Do you have the risen savior living inside your heart today? Jesus has provided the only Way to salvation for us. He proved His great love for us by dying on the cross, but is not dead anymore! He lives! Grasp hold of this truth and allow the joy of your salvation to be restored like a rekindled fire. May it be Easter for us every day.
Jesus appears in His glorified body to Mary Magdalene and His disciples. I like verse 20, where the disciples were overjoyed when they saw Him. That's what we need. In faith, we believe He is risen and alive, living inside us, just like He promised. Jesus will let Doubting Thomas touch His scarred hands and side. Seeing is believing to these guys. But Jesus blesses us, saying blessed are those that believe yet haven't seen. That's us. We read His word and believe it. We act upon it, just like these guys are about to be sent out in the world to spread the gospel story of grace. We, too, are called to go tell others, under the direction and power of the Holy Spirit. Don't go without the Spirit, folks.
Jesus appeared twice to the disciples, stating, "peace". Jesus provided the Way for us to have peace with God, as He is propitiation, or substitute for our sins. He was the perfect, sacrificial Lamb of God required to pay for our sins. We are now at peace with God. Another type of peace Jesus gives is peace of God. We can now walk through our circumstances with the peace of God. So, we have peace with God and the peace of God with us. These are very important truths to remember.
May we have the same testimony of Thomas when he touched the scars on Jesus' hands and side, "My Lord and my God!". Let's place Jesus as Lord of our hearts every day. Let's not allow other things to take the place of our First Love.
John pretty well closes his book with the main theme described. He explains that Jesus did many other miracles that were not recorded in this book. He didn't intend to write a biography of Jesus' life, but specifically chose a few purposeful miracles to prove Jesus was deity. He wrote this book so that we would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. That's the key verse to the entire book. May we have life and light in His name. Consider the opposite: walk dead in darkness.
