THOMAS GETS TO SEE JESUS
The Gospel of John says it was "eight days later." Now the
Bible uses "inclusive" counting and it uses "exclusive" counting.
If John was using "inclusive" counting then that first day, when
Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, the other women, to Peter, and
then the other nine disciples, was day number one.....eight days
later was then a another Sunday. If John was using "exclusive"
counting, then day number one was a Monday and day number eight
was a Monday.
So either a Sunday or Monday, ALL eleven disciples,
including Thomas, were together in the same room as before, with
the doors (the Jews were still in an angry mood towards them)
shut tight. But the doors shut, made no difference for Jesus. He
was now glorified, and doors being shut.....well He had no need
of doors. He could appear anywhere He desired. Those born of God,
made immortal, have the power to be themselves wherever they
will, shall we say, molecule their atoms as invisible and put
those atoms back together as physical, wherever and whenever they
desire.
The eleven disciples were together behind closed door, and
in the blink of an eye, Jesus stood among them, and said, "Peace
be with you."
The apostles were STARTLED and even frightened (remember
only Peter of the eleven had already seen Jesus, and that was
eight days ago), they thought they were seeing a spirit or a
ghost.
Here we need to understand a few things that the Bible in an
overall way teaches. We can see in the Bible that God has the
power to make Himself flesh and bone (it was God that came to
Abraham and had a meal with him, in Genesis 18), and God can show
His glorified form, His back parts (because no man can live if
they saw His glorified face and front parts (see Exodus 33:
11-23), to a human, if He so chooses. Angels, the good righteous
ones, who obey and serve God, can also appear to humans as flesh
and bone. We have many examples of this throughout the Bible. And
Paul told us to entertain strangers, for in so doing some have
entertained angels and did not know it (Hebrews 13:2). The other
two person that came with the Lord to Abraham (Genesis 18) were
angels. They went on to Sodom and Gomorrah. They actually took
hold of Lot at one point and pulled him back into the house (see
Genesis 19: 10). Angels can then transform themselves into flesh
and bone if they need to. But the fallen angels, or those known
as "demons" in the Bible, are NEVER ever said to be able to do
such a transformation, as to become flesh and bone. They can only
appear to mankind as a "spirit" or "ghost" type. And they have
and still do, appear to people as a "spirit." If you were able,
or if they allowed you to walk up to them and reach out to touch
them, you would touch nothing, your hand or arm would just pass
right through them, come out the other side, and you would feel
nothing.
God has NOT given the RIGHT or the POWER for fallen angels
or demons to appear as flesh and bone, and we can be mighty
thankful He had not, for they do enough evil damage on this earth
as it is, without having the power to transform themselves into
flesh and bone. Just think what a mess, much bigger and faster
than we could ever imagine, we would be in, if demon spirits
could appear as flesh and bone people. We would never know which
human was really a demon spirit. That is a frightening thought
just to imagine, but praise the Lord He has never allowed demon
spirits to appear as flesh and bone humans, only as "ghost" type
phantoms.
When Jesus now appeared, HE just stood in the midst of the
apostles (in a split second not there, and the next spilt second
there among them), they were frightened, thinking they were
seeing an evil spirit, looking like a Jewish man, looking in fact
a lot like Jesus.
Christ said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do you
have questions in your heart about what you are seeing? See,
look, my hands and my feet, that it is myself; come handle me and
see; for a spirit ghost has not flesh and bones as you see that I
have."
And while they still were in a disbelief for joy and
wonderment, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?"
They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate it
before them.
A spirit ghost it would seem cannot do such a thing. Another
impossibility God has proclaimed on demon spirits. Yes evil
spirits can only do certain things, God has not allowed them to
do other things that could deceived the human race even more than
they are deceived already by their own human nature and Satan's
influence. Good righteous spirit angels as we can see from
Genesis 18 and other places, can appear as flesh and bone, and
eat a meal with humans. They, being righteous and faithful to
God, would NEVER with those miraculous attributes use them to
harm or deceive the people of this earth.
Jesus now looked over at Thomas, and said to him, Put your
finger here, and see my hands; put out your hand and place it in
my side; do NOT be FAITHLESS, but BELIEVING!" And Thomas
answered, "O my LORD, and my GOD!" Jesus said to him, "Have you
believed because you have seem me? BLESSED are THOSE who have NOT
SEEN and yet BELIEVE" (Luke 24: 36-43; John 20: 26-29).
Thomas got his chance to see Jesus and believe. We who have
come AFTER all this, after Jesus returned to the Father in
heaven, have not seen Jesus in this manner, but Jesus said those
who have not seen Him but BELIEVE anyway, are truly BLESSED.
One day, when Christ returns, we with millions of others, will
see Jesus, we will be able to see Him as flesh and bone, and also
as spiritually glorified, in His GLORIOUS POWER form, that is
portrayed to us in Revelation 1: 11-15. We will be able to see
Him from a frontal view, not just the back parts as Moses was
only allowed to see, but we shall see His face, and we shall
live, because we then shall also be in our glorified spiritual
bodies, we also shall be able to appear to humans as flesh and
bone, as being a part of the very family of God.
Jesus departed from them. A few days went by and they were
reminded by the women who had gone to the tomb that very early
morning, on the Sunday during the feast of Unleavened Bread, that
Jesus had said He would go before them to the Galilee area, and
so meaning they, the apostles should go there also. If fact Jesus
had unstructed the women to tell the apostles to go to Galilee.
So they all set off for the land of Galilee. Some of them at
least, maybe all of them, were at or very near the shore of
Tiberias. Sometimes the Sea of Galilee is called Sea of Tiberias,
after the name of the Roman emperor Tiberias Caesar. There was
also a town situated on the south west shore of the Sea, called
Tiberias.
On one particular day Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin,
Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee (James and
John), and two others of Jesus' disciples were together, seven of
them.
Simon Peter said to the others, "I am going fishing." The
others said to him in reply, "We will also go with you." Perhaps
all seven of them were or had been fishermen before they were
called by Jesus to be His apostles.
They proverbialy hung a sign on the door "gone fishing" and
went. But though they toiled through the night, they caught not
one fish.
Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, maybe
because of the morning mist, or the dimmed morning light, or
because they were about one hundred yards off shore, they did not
know that it was Jesus standing there. He shouted to them,
"Fellows, have you any fish?" They shouted back, "No, not a one."
Jesus replied with, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat
and you will find some." So they did, and within a minute they
were not able to haul the net in because of the number of fish in
it.
Then John said to Peter, "It is the Lord you know!" When
Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his top
clothes, for he was stripped down to his under garments, for the
hard work they had been doing all night long. He jumped into the
sea and headed for the shore. The other disciples came in the
boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not that far
from land, about a hundred yard's away.
When they got onto the land, they saw a charcoal fire there,
with fish lying on it, being cooked, and bread to one side. Jesus
said to them, Bring some of the fish that you have caught." So
Simon Peter went aboard the boat and hauled the net of fish
ashore, full of large fish, in fact there was exactly a hundred
and fifty-three fish, and though so many, the net was not torn.
Peter no doubt was either given strength from God to haul
this net of fish from off the boat to near where the fire was, or
the inspiration of the moment shot his natural adrenaline up sky
high.
Jesus said to them, "Come, and have some breakfast." None
dared ask Him who He was, because they knew it was indeed the
Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so
also with the fish. It is recorded that this was the THIRD time
Jesus appeared to the apostles, after He was raised from the
dead. The first was to them, when Thomas was absent, then 8 days
later, when Thomas was present, as we have seen. The third time
then was this time here, at the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
WORDS FROM JESUS TO PETER
After they finished eating breakfast, Jesus said to Simon
Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you LOVE me more than these others
here?" Peter said to Jesus, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love
you."
"Then feed my little lambs," Jesus answered.
A second time He said to Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you
LOVE me?" Peter replied, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Christ then told him, "Tend to my sheep."
Jesus said to Peter the THIRD time, "Simon, son of John, do
you LOVE me?" Now Peter was grieved because He said to him the
THIRD time, "Do you LOVE me?" And Peter answered saying, "Lord,
you KNOW EVERYTHING, you KNOW that I LOVE you." Jesus said to
him, "Then FEED my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you
were young you clothed yourself and walked wherever you wanted
to; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and
another will gird you but not with clothes, and carry you where
you do not want to go."
Jesus said this to show in parable language that Peter
would, when older, be taken by the authorities and led to
execution. And history tells us that is exactly what happened
to Peter. He was finally put to death by crucifixion. Peter is it
claimed asked to be crucified up-side-down, saying he was not
worthy be to crucified like his Lord was.
After Jesus said this to Peter, He ended by saying, "FOLLOW
me."
Maybe it was deliberate on Jesus' part to ask Peter THREE
times if he LOVED Him, for Peter had DENIED Jesus THREE times,
you will remember. Peter was to be a LEADING apostle, not head
apostle as some claim, but certainly a leading one, and so
it was fitting that Jesus told him three times to take good care
of the sheep of Jesus' fold, the ones who would come to believe
IN and ON Jesus the Christ, as their Master and Savior.
Peter turned around and saw following Jesus and himself,
John, to whom Jesus had a special kindness towards. John was the
one who leaned across Jesus' chest at the Passover supper meal on
the evening of the 14th of Nisan, and had asked, "Lord, who
is it that is going to betray you?" When Peter saw John, he said
to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man, what is going to happen to
him when he gets older?" Jesus replied, "Look, if it is my will
that this man remains until I come again, what is that to you? It
is really none of your business. You follow me and do the work
I've given YOU to do."
After these words from Jesus, the story went around and was
spread among the followers of Jesus that John was NOT to DIE!
But, Jesus did NOT say to him that he was not to die, but only,
"IF it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to
you?"
Jesus was just pointing out to Peter that it should be of no
concern what other apostles and disciples were doing per se, or
how they would end their lives in death, the kind of death they
would die. Peter was told what HIS would be like, from Jesus
Himself, and that was ALL that he was told. Jesus never told any
other of the ten apostles how they would die, and so He never did
say that John would remain alive until He would come again to
earth from heaven. I guess not, for if that was the case, then
John would still be alive today, and be over 2,000 years old
(John 21: 1-23).
JESUS APPEARS TO THE ELEVEN ON A MOUNTAIN
IN THE GALILEE AREA
Jesus told the eleven to go to a certain mountain and stay
there until He would appear to them. They did, and in due time
Jesus did exactly as He said He would. He appeared to them, and
when they saw Him they worshipped Him. But it is recorded that
some of them doubted. They were still in "shock" mode so to
speak, for it had never be known that any human person ever rose
from the dead INTO IMMORTAL GLORIFIED LIFE!
Jesus came close to them and said, "ALL authority in heaven
and earth has been given to me. I want you to go therefore and
make disciples from all nations of the earth, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I
want you to TEACH them to OBSERVE ALL that I have COMMANDED YOU;
and I will be with you always, even to the END of the age."
It is fitting that people be baptized INTO the Father, He is
the Supreme one, the one who is the HEAD of all, even of Christ
(see 1 Cor. 11: 3). It is fitting that people be baptized INTO
the Son, for He is our SAVIOR. It is fitting that people be
baptized INTO the Holy Spirit, for it is with the Holy Spirit
that God leads, guides, directs, inspires, and gives power and a
sound mind to all His children. The Holy Spirit is the very
divine nature of God that imparts the germ of ETERNAL LIFE to all
who come to the Father through Jesus.
We baptize by the name of, by the AUTHORITY of Jesus, but we
should baptize people INTO the Father, then Son, and the Holy
Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ.
We also notice Jesus was here making it very clear that
OBEYING the commandments, all that Jesus commanded, which was
also the commandments of the Father, for Jesus had said He spoke
nothing that was not given to you from the Father, and Jesus made
it clear that man was not to live by physical bread alone, but by
EVERY WORD that came from the mouth of God, which is the WHOLE
Bible - see again Matthew 4: 4 (Mat.28: 16-20).
It was time for the disciples to return to Jerusalem. For
Jesus told them He would ascend back to heaven from that area and
that they needed to be in Jerusalem to wait for the promise of
the Father, for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them in a
mighty and in a great POWERFUL way.
John the apostle, says in his Gospel that Jesus throughout
His ministry did MANY OTHER signs in the presence of the
disciples, which have never been recorded by anyone. So many
other thing Jesus did and said that, John says, if they had all
been written down he supposes that the world itself could not
contain the books that would be written (John 20: 30, 31; 21: 24,
25). It was a figure of speech to say many many more books could
be written on what Jesus did.
Now of course John uses a figure of speech here, and means
that the amount of books needed to contain all that Jesus did and
said, would be larger than any Library on earth, maybe as large
as all the large famous Libraries of the earth put together. But
God has given us enough of the life and ministry of Jesus the
Christ for our knowledge and for our salvation at this time. Who
knows maybe in the age to come the New Testament Gospels may be
increased in size and contents to contain much more of what Jesus
did and said while on earth as a human being.
BACK IN JERUSALEM
After the disciples were in Galilee and Jesus appeared twice
to them (at least two times that is recorded for us), it was time
to return to Jerusalem, for Jesus would say His final goodbye to
them, as He went back to heaven to sit at the Father's right
hand. He also instructed them for the last time in a personal
way. By the time 40 days had passed from Jesus' resurrection to
His ascension back to heaven, the disciples were fully and
finally convinced that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead to
glorious immortality. All of this and Jesus' ascension into the
clouds and then back to be with the Father, we shall cover in the
next chapter. In the book of Acts.
THE APPEARANCES OF JESUS AFTER HIS
RESURRECTION THAT ARE RECORDED
In or around Jerusalem
To Mary Magdalene (Mark 16: 9; John 20: 11-18)
To the other women (Mat. 28: 8-10)
To Peter (Luke 24: 34)
To ten disciples (Luke 24: 36-43; John 20; 19-25)
To the eleven including Thomas ((Mark 16: 14; John 26-29)
At His ascension (Mark 16: 19, 20; Luke 24: 50-53; Acts 1:
4-12)
To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus
(Mark 16: 12, 13; Luke 24: 13-25)
Twice in Galilee
(Mat.28: 16-20; John 21: 1-24)
To five hundred all at once
(1 Cor. 15: 6)
To James and the apostles
(1 Cor. 15: 7)
To Paul on the road to Damascus
(Acts 9: 1-6; 18: 9, 10; 22: 1-8; 23: 11; 26: 12-18; 1 Cor.
15: 8)
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Written February 2003
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