Jesus Appears to the Disciples (John 20:19-31)

Daniel L. Arter

The Gospel according to John • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

John 20:19–31

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Announcements

Please don’t forget that there is no Bible Study & Prayer this Wednesday April 4.27.22. We’ll return to our regular worship service schedule on May 1st, 2022.

Please be aware that Natalie and I will be out of town this week from this afternoon until Saturday night. We will still have our cell phones on us, so please don’t hesitate to contact us in the case of emergencies.

Next Sunday, May 1st, please be prepared to partake in the Lord’s Supper.

On Friday, May 20th at 7pm, we’ll be showing the movie Sabina in the auditorium—free admittance, popcorn, and drinks.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 49:14-20)

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 49:14-20 this morning. Remember that the previous section of Psalm 49 was a lament that focused on the age-old problem of the apparent prosperity of wicked people. The psalmist takes the first section of the psalm to observe the wickedness of wicked people. In our section of the text, he focuses on encouragement in abiding hope. Please stand and join me in reading Psalm 49:14-20: I’ll read the even-numbered verses; please join me in reading the odd-numbered verses.

Psalm 49:14–20 ESV

14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell. 15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah 16 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. 17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. 18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself— 19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light. 20 Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Congregational Singing

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery (184)

Grace Greater than Our Sin (78)

Wonderful, Merciful Savior (162)

Scripture Reading (Hebrews 11:1-6)

Our Scripture Reading this morning will be read by Tara and is from Hebrews 11:1-6. You’ll probably recognize the passage, it’s referred to by some as the “hall of fame of faith.” It is a potent, but encouraging part of Scripture that emphasizes the need of genuine belief and trust in God. The author goes as far as to claim that without faith it is impossible to please God. Tara can you read Hebrews 11:1-6?

Hebrews 11:1–6 NASB 2020

1 Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old gained approval. 3 By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for before he was taken up, he was attested to have been pleasing to God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.

Sermon (John 20:19-31)

Introduction

Just for your own information, let me just give you an update on where we’re going over the next few months for sermons, so that you know what to expect on Sundays--we’ll finish John towards the end of May and then we’ll have a six-week series concerning Spiritual Gifts—what they are, where they come from, and their purpose. After that series, we’ll have another summer series working through the book of Malachi together. By the time we make it through Malachi, time-wise, we’ll be right around the fall and we’ll start on our next long-term expository series through the Acts of the Apostles.

Of course, on Wednesdays, we’re still working through book one of the Psalms, which should continue into the summer and maybe even into the fall months, after which we’ll have a short series on the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) before continuing with book two of the Psalms.

If you have your Bible, please turn it to John 20:19-31.

This morning, we’re continuing in our series through the Gospel according to John. We have about three weeks (not including this week) left in this series, which means we’ll start our summer series at the end of May. Some of you might think that it’s a relief that we’re almost done in John, but I’ve found it rather enjoyable to work through the life of Jesus every week over the past year and a half, which is something that you may not have ever done before.

What we have in the remaining two chapters are essentially responses from the disciples concerning the resurrected Jesus—or in other words, John takes the remaining two chapters to validate the resurrection by recording the fact that there were many people who witnesses Jesus in his resurrected form—people saw him and touched him and spoke with him and believed in him.

Where we are in the text comes just shortly after Jesus speaks with Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and John. The first part of our text for this morning actually happens on the same day that Jesus saw Mary, Peter, and John. The second part of our text happens just over a week later and they both focus in on how the second set of disciples to see his resurrected body respond to him.

Let’s read John 20:19-31 together.

John 20:19–31 ESV

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.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” 24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 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.” 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.” 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.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 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.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to take it in two parts: (1) Jesus and the Disciples (19-23), which occurs during the same day that Mary, Peter, and John sees Jesus; and (2) Jesus and Thomas (24-31), which occurs just over a week later. Both of these sections show us how this group of witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection responded. Through the text, we’ll also have to tackle a couple of interpretational difficulties, but the primary focus in this text is how the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection respond and the commissioning that he gives those witnesses. Our message will focus on what our response to the resurrection ought to be as well (in light of this passage).

Prayer for Illumination

Jesus and the Disciples (19-23)

Our text starts in vs. 19 by giving us an idea of the setting. “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week,” tells us the time frame of when this all occurred.

When we read, “On the evening of that day” we really have to take a moment to ask ourselves “what day does that mean?”

We can postulate all sorts of answers, but the reality is that the truth is in the context itself. This passage does not stand in isolation, it’s part of a larger passage and if we just look at the beginning of chapter 20, we can see what day the Bible is talking about.

In vs. 1 of chapter 20, we read “now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early.”

It’s the first day of the week, it’s the same day that Mary went to the tomb, it’s the same day that John finally realized the truth and believed.

It’s also the same day that Mary speaks to angels and then speaks to Jesus himself, which means, it’s the same day that Mary went and announced to the disciples “I have seen the Lord” in vs. 18.

Vs. 19, from our text today, reiterates that it is the same exact day, “on the evening of that day, the first day of the week.”

So the timing is abundantly clear—it is the day that our Lord was resurrected, but it’s no longer morning, it’s now evening.

John doesn’t tell us where exactly this occurs, but Luke gives us a little bit of details in Luke 24:33 “33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them,”

The fact that they returned to Jerusalem is telling because remember none of the disciples were actually from Jerusalem, they were from Galilee.

Which means they would’ve had to have found somewhere to stay—I’m going to suggest that it’s probably the same room that they utilized for the passover supper in which Jesus initiated the Lord’s Supper for the first time. I’m suggesting this for two reasons:

First, it was in the first century, they didn’t have massive hotel chains like we do now. They wouldn’t have been able to call up the nearest hotel and asked for a room, they would’ve had to have prearranged their arrangements—thus, they probably would’ve asked to utilize the room that they were just in just a few days before.

Second, it would’ve made a good location for everyone to return after Jesus’ crucifixion. They already knew where it was and they had already been there before.

Regardless of the exact location of this room, we see that these disciples were hiding in this room. We know that they’re hiding from the very next phrase, “the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.”

I think we can understand why they would be fearful after witnessing the death and burial of Jesus, but you might be wondering why John and Peter didn’t bother telling them about their belief in the tomb.

Vs. 10 says that after leaving the empty tomb, Peter and John didn’t return to the disciples, they went each to their own home.

But you might counter, what about Mary Magdalene? Didn’t she tell them that she had seen Jesus? Well, yes, vs. 18 tells us this, but what John doesn’t mention is a detail that makes sense of their actions.

Mark 16:9-11 “9 Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.”

John and Peter returned home, but Mary goes and tells the disciples that Jesus had been raised from the grave, but the disciples don’t believe her, which let’s be honest, if we were in the same situation, would we have believed her? Probably not.

Before vs. 19 ends, we see that despite the locked door, “Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’

Now, we aren’t even going to focus on the fact that Jesus suddenly appears out of no where—we don’t know if he opened the lock door or if he just materialized in front of them.

I do get the impression that he might have just appeared in front of them because vs. 20 says that he showed them his hands and his side—maybe to prove that he was physically there.

Regardless, what John tells us is that while the disciples were fearful of the Jewish people, they hid and they locked themselves in a room thinking that no one could get in, but Jesus still manages to get into the room.

And he reveals himself to them by saying “Peace be with you.”

Now this could just be a play on the typical Jewish greeting shalom; the wish or hope of peace from one person to another.

Or it could be that Jesus realized that his presence would cause them great fear because they were already afraid, so just like the angelic beings who appeared elsewhere in Scripture and said “be not afraid” he was simply trying to alleviate fear.

It could be a combination of both those ideas—what is clear is that Jesus appeared to his disciples in a physical way. They physically saw him face to face.

Jesus reveals himself physically to them, he greets them with “peace be with you” and then the Bible tells us in vs. 20, that he “showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”

Up to this point in the text, the disciples have been described as being in fear. They were fearful of what the Jews would do to them so they locked their doors. They were afraid of what would happen after the crucifixion of Jesus, so they ran and hid.

It took Jesus calming them with his greeting and showing them his hands and his side for the disciples to calm down enough from their fear and express gladness in seeing the Lord.

They witnessed the resurrected Lord Jesus and when they realized who he was, they were no longer filled with fear, but rather gladness.

Once his disciples calm down, Jesus then gives them a commission, but the wording is a tad confusing and has caused some people to misunderstand what the commission itself is. Jesus in vss. 21-23 says, “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.’” Again, the wording is a little unusual, so let me walk us through these different ideas.

Jesus starts by again saying “Peace be with you” and he makes clear that he’s about to give them a commission when he says “As the Father sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Commissions always have some sense of a mission needing to be accomplished—in vs. 21, Jesus reminds them of his own commission from the Father. He’s spoken of it numerous times; he came to seek and save the lost, to proclaim the truth, to make a the path straight and apparent.

Just like Jesus had a mission during his first time on earth, so do the disciples. The disciples have a mission to do.

And the completing of that mission relies on the Holy Spirit’s power within them,” when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

Now there are a lot of discussions in the academic world concerning what exactly Jesus means by “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The issue is that theologically, we know that the Day of Pentecost hasn’t arrived yet in John 20, so the question is whether this is talking about the same event.

We believe in the historicity of John and the book of Acts and the chronology thereof, we have to realize that these have to be two separate events—because the Day of Pentecost includes a significant amount of more people and the speaking of tongues.

Because this is a different event, we have to realize that this isn’t the same as the Day of Pentecost—this isn’t the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit, this is an empowering of the Holy Spirit to complete a specific goal.

That specific goal is found in Jesus’ last sentence, vs. 23, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

This is where he confusion really is because the way that John writes this makes it sound as if the disciples can forgive the sins of people and they can withhold forgiveness from people.

We have to make a few realizations before we can understand the verse itself and those realizations are simple: (1) a man cannot forgive someone else’s sins, only God can forgive someone’s sins (both Jesus and Paul emphasize this point); (2) this statement is inherently connected with the Holy Spirit’s enabling them to do this goal.

When we keep these in mind as we read this statement, we realize that this can’t possibly mean that the disciples can forgive people’s sins. What does it mean then?

Consider Romans 10, in which Paul writes about salvation itself. It writes at length about how one is saved—that it involves repentance from sin, calling on the name of the LORD, and believing in Him and he makes the statement in Romans 10:13 “13 for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

He then continues in Romans 10:14 “14 How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?”

People need to hear the Gospel in order to accept the Gospel; people need to accept the Gospel in order to be saved.

But they can’t accept the Gospel if they don’t hear the Gospel.

Jesus isn’t telling the disciples that their commission is to go and forgive people of their sins; Jesus is telling them that their commission is to go and proclaim how people are to be forgiven.

And if people accept the truths that they proclaim in the Gospel, then there is forgiveness, but if they reject the truths in the Gospel, then there is unforgiveness.

The disciples cannot forgive people’s sins, but they can tell by the people’s acceptance or rejection of the Gospel, whether they have been forgiven.

J. Marsh, “There is no doubt from the context that the reference is to forgiving sins, or withholding forgiveness. But though this sounds stern and harsh, it is simply the result of the preaching of the gospel, which either brings men to repent as they hear of the ready and costly forgiveness of God, or leaves them unresponsive to the offer of forgiveness which is the gospel, and so they are left in their sins.” (J. Marsh, The Gospel of St. John, 641-642)

DA Carson, “The Christian witnesses proclaim and declare, and, empowered by the Spirit, live by the message of their own proclamation; it is God who effectively forgives or retains the sin.” (DA Carson, PNTC, 656)

Jesus appears to the disciples and he commissions them as his first witnesses to go and proclaim the Gospel to everyone. He tells them that people through their response of the Gospel will show if they’ve genuinely believed and those that refuse to believe will not be forgiven, but those who do believe will be forgiven. Jesus tells them that the Holy Spirit will empower them to make this proclamation and then the text continues by talking about one particular disciple who wasn’t in the room when the rest of the disciples were given this commission.

Let’s re-read vss. 24-31.

Jesus and Thomas (24-31)

John 20:24–31 ESV

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 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.” 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.” 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.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 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.

In the last eight verses we see one of the disciples who wasn’t in the room when Jesus came, but as soon as he returned, the disciples tell them that they have seen the resurrected Jesus, but in vs. 25, Thomas responds with “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.”

Now often, people kind of rag on Thomas for being such a hardhearted unbeliever, but consider how you would respond in a similar situation.

You witness the arrest, the trials, death, and burial of Jesus. You and your friends are hiding out for fear of what the Jewish people might do to you.

Then for whatever reason, your closest friends are claiming to have seen Jesus despite the fact that you witnessed his death and burial.

Of course you would want to see proof before believing.

Which Jesus gives him just over a week later. Vs. 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.’ 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.’ Thomas answer him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

Notice that the doors are still locked—the disciples are still in hiding and yet Jesus still comes among them and says his greeting again “peace be with you.” The pattern is almost identical to how he revealed himself to the disciples the first time.

And then he turns immediately to Thomas and tells him to see his hands and to touch his side. Have you noticed how much this speaks of Jesus’ omniscience. No one told Jesus that Thomas doubted and no one told Jesus what Thomas had said concerning his lack of belief in the resurrection.

Thomas told the other disciples that unless he personally sees and touches the wounds of Jesus, he won’t believe, but he didn’t say this to Jesus and clearly Jesus didn’t hear it from the disciples, but he knows what Thomas thought and felt because of his own omniscience.

If the resurrection itself didn’t prove Jesus’ divinity, his omniscience certainly proclaims it.

Notice also that whereas we tend to rag on Thomas for his unbelief, Jesus doesn’t. Jesus doesn’t condemn Thomas for not believing; all Jesus does is give him the evidence and tell him to believe.

It does a lot about a proper methodology concerning evangelism. We tend to get irritated and upset when unbelievers refuse to believe, but the reality is that Jesus himself said that very few people will genuinely believe.

Matthew 7:13-14 “13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Many people find the wide gate with the broad road that leads to destruction; very few find the narrow gate with the constricted road that leads to life.

All Jesus did was present them with the evidence and let them choose to believe; and really, all we can do is present the evidence and pray for them to believe.

While we might become discouraged by an apparent lack of belief, it isn’t our responsibility to make them believe, they choose to believe on their own.

The last two verses then closes this section with a statement concerning the entire book as a whole (and it should be familiar because I’ve repeatedly mentioned it). Vss. 30-31, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 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.”

Think of the first two phrases soberly, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.”

Think about what John is saying—what was the purposes of the miracles throughout the Bible? The miracles occurred as a means to confirm or validate the message of God. Throughout the Old and New Testaments we see time and time again, a prophet, a teacher, a preacher, or an apostle making proclamations that they say are from God and then they prove those proclamations by performing miracles.

When Jesus comes, his whole life is filled with doing miraculous events—he is born of a virgin, he spontaneously heals the blind and the lame, he feeds the multitude, and he turns water into wine. Just knowing these events is significant enough to cause someone to believe according to John--”these were 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,”

But then he also says that Jesus did so much more in terms of signs in the presence of the disciples that aren’t written down. In fact, John in John 21:25 “25 But there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written in detail, I expect that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.”

Jesus did so many things while he was on earth that proved his divinity, provided teaching, and led people to genuine belief, so much so that the world itself couldn’t contain the books that would be written about him. But what we have in the Gospel according to John is more than sufficient to provide enough evidence for someone to genuinely believe in Jesus and to have life in his name. But just like Thomas, we can lay the evidence down for them over and over again, but it is completely up to them to believe. We can only pray that they accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, believe, and then have life.

In the remaining few minutes, let’s take our last few minutes just to discuss specific application. To do so, we’ll continue to look at the two divisions that we’ve already made.

Application

Jesus and the Disciples (19-23)—this section starts by telling us of the brief interaction that Jesus has with his disciples post-resurrection. The disciples are fearful of the Jews and so they’re hiding behind locked doors when Jesus appears before them, calms them with the greeting “peace be with you,” and gives them a commission to go and proclaim the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our application stems from this commission:

Clearly, this commission is for the disciples specifically, but it’s also clear that this commission extends to us. We can infer this from this passage alone, but it doesn’t take much for us to realize that the Great Commission from Matthew 28, which extends to all disciples of Jesus, definitely applies to us and is almost identical in wording to this commission in John 20.

What this means is even though John 20:19-23 is directed specifically to Jesus’ disciples in the first century, it’s also indirectly applicable to us.

And in this case, the application is the same. Just like he sent the Father, so he sends them (and by extension us), thus we are to receive the holy spirit and proclaim the forgiveness of sins, which is through Jesus—it’s the Gospel.

We all are to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ if for no other reason than the simple fact that Jesus has told us to proclaim the Gospel, but let me encourage you to not look at this just as a duty.

We have a duty to speak the good news to everyone, but hopefully it’s more than a duty for you.

What I mean by this is that hopefully you recognize just how important the Gospel is—that it is the only way to experience salvation, that it is the only way to be redeemed, and that it is the very power through which God saves mankind in Jesus Christ.

And hopefully, you recognize then that unless someone believes in Jesus, there is no salvation. Thus, if you aren’t proclaim the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus to all who will listen, there’s a very real sense that they may never hear the truth, they may never repent from their sins, and they might not ever be saved and redeemed.

Hopefully, the proclamation of the Gospel is a duty for you, but hopefully you see that the proclamation of the Gospel is by itself an act of compassion that should compel you to give the Gospel as frequently as possible.

You’ve heard me mention this quote before, but it’s so potent that an unbelieving atheist would say this. Penn Jillette, of the magician/illusionist duo, Penn & Teller is a complete atheist, but even he admits that if you genuinely believe in Jesus Christ, you ought to be proclaiming the Gospel to people:

Penn Jillette, “I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward . . . how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

If an unbelieving, atheistic person can recognize the importance of evangelism, of proclaiming the Gospel, and of reaching the lost, then why don’t we?

I’m convinced, one of the primary reasons that people lack in their evangelistic efforts is their fear—fear of man, fear of failure, and fear of saying the wrong things and that’s where the second part of this text comes in.

Jesus and Thomas (24-31)—in the second half of the text we see Jesus reappear before the disciples eight days after the first appearance. And in this appearance, we see Jesus’ omniscience in display as he essentially confronts Thomas’ lack of belief by having him touch his side and see his hands. He calls Thomas to belief and then Thomas does believe.

Now often, when this text is studied, there’s a tendency to place ourselves in the position of Thomas and consider our own belief or lack thereof and that is a practice that is worthwhile and right.

In fact, if we read this section of the passage and didn’t pause to ask ourselves whether we genuinely believed, we would be foolish because that is the point of the entire book according to the author in vss. 30-31. That you would read it and believe and have eternal life because of your belief.

But I’m making the assumption that everyone with us does genuinely believe, though, if I’m incorrect in that assessment, please take a moment to consider your lack of belief in light of the Scriptural evidence, repent and belief.

For those that genuinely believe, this actually holds another application that ties in with the first section of the text and it helps us with those evangelistic efforts that we might be lacking in because of our fear of man, fear of failure, and fear of saying the wrong things.

It’s actually found in the way that Jesus convinces Thomas to believe. We tend to think when we go to proclaim the Gospel that we need to know every possible objection to the Gospel and that we should be able to refute every single objection to the Gospel.

And while it can be helpful to have studied apologetics and know some of the typical arguments the reality is that apologetics is usually more helpful for those that believe rather than those that don’t—the reasoning for this is simple, it helps to bolster our own faith.

The reality is, that when we proclaim the Gospel to people, it really doesn’t matter how well-versed we are in defending the faith and it really doesn’t matter if we know every argument possible. The truth is that God can and does use people that are completely new in their faith to proclaim the Gospel; and he utilizes people who should know more but don’t, to proclaim the Gospel; and he uses people that lack in their own understanding, to proclaim the Gospel.

Surely, the God who utilized Balaam’s donkey can utilize you.

Our tendency in evangelistic efforts is to assume that we need to argue and we need to argue and we need to argue with people until we convince them of the truth and that’s a true statement if by argue you mean that you’re simply presenting the truth, but the reality is that when we typically talk about arguing, it evolves into yelling, anger, and disrespect.

We start of well-intentioned and hopeful, but the moment the unbelieving person pushes back we get upset and angry and irritable—but of course they disagree, they don’t believe yet.

Then when they go further and further against the truth, we wonder why that happened. Why is this person so anti-Christian? Could it be because several self-proclaimed Christians acted very unChristian like for many years in that person’s life in the name of “evangelizing” them?

The truth is, the most effective evangelistic and apologetic method is to simply lay out the truth in love and let the person decide what to do with it.

That’s exactly what Jesus does for Thomas. Jesus doesn’t fight with Thomas and he doesn’t argue with Thomas, he simply tells Thomas the truth, he shows Thomas the evidence, and then he simply implores Thomas to believe. It is then on Thomas to decide if he wants to believe.

Which is awfully instructive for our own methods of evangelism. Instead of thinking that we have to have all the answers, and instead of thinking that we need to be an apologetics wiz, the reality is that we simply need to show people the truth in love, give them the evidence, and ask them to believe.

And we have to grow comfortable with doing this repeatedly, day after day, week after week, year after year; understanding that the decision to believe is their decision to make. All we can do is keep following the commission that has been given to us.

Or put simply, what John 20:19-31 teaches is two-fold. For the unbeliever, it is, yet again, a call to believe in Jesus Christ who died, was buried, but also resurrected for the forgiveness of sins. Repent from sin, believe in him, and follow God. For the believer, it is a commission to go and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all who will listen—it is a call for us to lovingly proclaim the truth, to show the evidence, and implore people to believe.

Proclaim the Gospel, show people the evidence, and exhort them to believe because it isn’t just your duty, but do it for the sake of compassion.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

I Will Glory in My Redeemer (196)