John 20

CHAPTER 20THEME: Resurrection of Jesus; appearance to Mary; appearance to the disciples; appearance to ThomasThis is the resurrection chapter as it is recorded in John’s Gospel. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very heart-blood of the Christian faith. It is so important that someone has said, “We cannot make too much of the death of Christ, but we can make too little of the resurrection of Christ.” That is the thing that is happening today. Theology books, hymns of the church, sermons, all devote sections to the death of Christ. Too often the resurrection of Christ is observed only on Easter. We should note that the sermons in the New Testament, beginning at Pentecost, have the resurrection of Jesus Christ as their theme.

John 20:1

RESURRECTION OF JESUS"The first day of the week," that is, Sunday, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. When was the Sabbath Day changed? This question is often asked by folk who believe we should be observing Saturday as the day of rest and worship. It was changed when Jesus Christ arose from the dead. He was dead during the Sabbath Day; He became alive on Sunday. From that time on, believers have been gathering together on the first day of the week.

The Sabbath Day belongs to the old creation. After God had created everything, He rested on the Sabbath Day. Now we have come to the new creation in Christ Jesus. Pentecost occurred on Sunday, the first day of the week. It is interesting that John, the last of the Gospel writers, emphasizes that it was the first day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead. It will be helpful to get in our minds the order of events on this morning of the Resurrection. I quote from a footnote in The Scofield Reference Bible, page 1043. Three women, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, start for the sepulchre, followed by other women bearing spices. The three find the stone rolled away, and Mary Magdalene goes to tell the disciples (Luk. 23:55-24:9; Joh_20:1-2). Mary, the mother of James and Joses, draws nearer the tomb and sees the angel of the Lord (Mat_28:2). She goes back to meet the other women following with the spices. Meanwhile Peter and John, warned by Mary Magdalene, arrive, look in, and go away (Joh_20:3-10). Mary Magdalene returns weeping, sees the two angels and then Jesus (Joh_20:11-18), and goes as He bade her to tell the disciples.

Mary (mother of James and Joses), meanwhile, has met the women with the spices and, returning with them, they see the two angels (Luk_24:4-5; Mar_16:5). They also receive the angelic message, and, going to seek the disciples, are met by Jesus (Mat_28:8-10). Mary Magdalene was the one from whom the Lord had cast seven demons. Some Bible students think she was the sinful woman who wiped the feet of Jesus with her hair. This is an assumption which cannot be proved. I take it that she was a person of very high caliber. She was eternally grateful to the Lord for healing her. When she saw the body was not here, she immediately ran to tell John and Peter.

John 20:2

The disciple “whom Jesus loved” is John. He always refers to himself in this way rather than by name. Any of the disciples, except Judas, could have used this title for himself. You can use it for yourself. Jud_1:21 says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Keep yourself in the love of God, because you know that He loves you. You can’t keep Him from loving you! It is wonderful to take that position for yourself as John did: “the other disciple, whom Jesus loved.” We find Simon Peter and John together. Apparently John has taken him in. I wonder if some of the other disciples, when they heard of Peter’s denial, had pushed him to the outside. Thank God, John took him in at a time when Peter desperately needed someone to befriend him. John, the son of thunder, has become the apostle of love. What a wonderful thing that is. Mary Magdalene was not expecting the Resurrection. Her thought was that someone had stolen away the Lord’s body. Isn’t it interesting that the religious rulers would later accuse the disciples of stealing the Lord’s body, and that Mary’s first thought was that the religious rulers had stolen the Lord’s body? (The religious rulers would have given everything in the world if they could have produced the body on that first Sunday!)

John 20:3

Simon Peter and John were not expecting the Resurrection. They probably thought that Mary didn’t really see well in the dark. She saw the stone rolled away, became frightened, and ran. Or maybe she went to the wrong tomb. So they rush to the cemetery. Friend, you don’t go into a cemetery to look for the living. They were not expecting to look for the living. They were not expecting to find Jesus alive when they rushed to the tomb. They were expecting to find the Lord’s body. This “other disciple” was John. He was a younger man and could outrun Simon Peter. This confirms tradition that John was probably the youngest of the disciples. I am of the opinion that these men represented quite an age span. John may have been in his late teens.

John 20:5

What John saw convinced him that Jesus had risen from the dead. He got there first, but because he had a certain amount of reticence and reverence, he didn’t go in. He stooped down to look in through the very small entrance that was hewn out of the stone. He saw the evidence that convinced him. It is amazing how God uses little things like this to bring conviction to the hearts of men. Someone has said, “Great doors swing on little hinges.” John saw the linen cloth lying there, but the body had gone out of it.

John 20:6

Then here comes Simon Peter puffing and blowing. I tell you, it was hard on him to run. Reticence is not one of his qualities; so he goes right into the sepulchre. He, too, sees the linen clothes and the wrapping that was around His head. Remember that Joseph and Nicodemus had wrapped our Lord’s body in the linen and had sealed it with the myrrh and aloes, which made a sort of glue to seal in the body. How could the body get out of such an encasement without unwinding all that linen? Jesus Christ came up out of that tomb just like a seed comes out of the soil. Remember He had said that a grain of corn falls to the ground and remains alone unless it dies. Then new corn will grow out of it. But the old shell of the seed is still in the ground. That is what was left in the tombjust the old shell that He had been in. He was no longer in that shell. He was alive. Do you remember that when the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus, he came forth from the grave all wrapped in the graveclothes and the Lord had to tell them to loose Lazarus? Lazarus came out in his old body wrapped in the old graveclothes. The body of Lazarus would have to die again. However, Jesus Christ came forth in a glorified body which will never see death. This is the Resurrection!

John 20:7

God carefully records through John another small but important detail. The napkin that was wrapped around His head lay there intact, separate from the linen wound around His body. It was in the shape of the head, lying just as it had been folded around the head. I think this convinced Peter that the Lord had risen. There are three different Greek words used in this passage, and they are all translated as “seeing.” This is unfortunate. In verse Joh_20:5, when John stooped down, looked in and saw, the word means to perceive and understand.

It involves inspection and perceiving. In verse Joh_20:6, when Peter went in and saw, the word used is theaomai from which we get our word theater. He viewed it. In verse Joh_20:8, when John went into the sepulchre and saw, it means to know. He knew and he believed before he ever saw the risen Christ.

John 20:9

John tells us something strange. These men had not understood even though Jesus had told them repeatedly that He would rise from the dead, and even though the Old Testament spoke of this. Even today we need the New Testament as sort of a flashlight to go back and interpret the Old Testament. I believe that one of the reasons the Old Testament is not popular is because we do not sufficiently use the New Testament to interpret it. There are a great many of us today who read the Bible but still do not know certain scriptures. I believe there are two reasons for this. One is that we may read a passage many times and each time see things in the passage that we have never seen before. The Holy Spirit gives us further light as we study and read the passages over and over again. Also I believe that we must experience some of the scriptures to understand their meaning. The trials and sufferings and experiences of life explain their meaning to us. For example, when David wrote that the Lord was his Shepherd, he knew from experience the shepherd-care of God.

John 20:11

APPEARANCE TO MARYApparently Mary is the first one to whom the Lord appeared. There are eleven appearances before His ascension and three after His ascension. I think we can surmise from the text that there are others which were not described. A proverb can be found for all situations. For those who ask why Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, Pro_8:17 says: “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.” She sought Him and she sought Him early. Again we are interested in the fact that she does not know Him. Do you know why? She does not believe that He is back from the dead. Unbelief is blind and unbelief is dumb, as in the case of Zacharias. She loves Him, yes, but love must be coupled with faith. She is weeping because she loves Him but also because she does not believe. How much is the glorified body changed? I don’t know, but I don’t think the change is so great that this accounts for her lack of recognition of Jesus. I believe that Mary is absolutely single-minded in her grief. Although she sees two angels, this doesn’t seem to draw her attention in any particular way. They ask a question, not because they don’t know the answer, but because they are trying to arouse some evidence of faith in Mary. She is single-minded in her answer. He is still dead, and the probable answer is that the body has been stolen, as Mary reasons it out. She does not expect to see Christ alive; and, in her unbelief, she does not recognize Him.

John 20:16

When He called her by name, she recognized the voice as only He could speak. I am of the opinion that if the Lord should tarry and all of us go through the doorway of death, our bodies will be raised when He calls us by name someday, just as He called by name those whom He raised from the dead over nineteen hundred years ago.

John 20:17

The Lord told Mary not to touch Him. The word touch is haptomai, meaning “to hold on.” Later, He told the disciples to touch Him. Why this difference? He says to her, “for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” This is the reason she should not hold on to Him. So apparently He did ascend to His Father before the appearance to the disciples in the house. I believe that the Lord Jesus presented His blood at the throne of God and that His blood turned the judgment seat into the mercy seat which it is today. That blood was shed for your sin and for my sin. I think the blood will be there throughout all eternity as an eternal testimony of the price He paid for us. You will notice He was specific in calling God “my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” His relationship to the Father is different from our relationship to Him. We become the sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, while Christ is a member of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God. He made this distinction here.

John 20:18

APPEARANCE TO THE DISCIPLESThis group of men had scattered when He was crucified, but now, apparently, had regathered and were hidden away in a room because they were frightened. The doors were shut, which actually means they were locked. Have you noticed that when the supernatural touches the natural the message is always “Peace” or “Fear not”? His word to them now, when His deity touches their humanity, is “Peace.” This is the peace that comes from being justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ, which gives us peace with God. Here, you see, they knew Him when they saw Him. These men were frightened, of course. He appeared in His glorified body and came into the room even though the doors were locked. We learn from this that the glorified body is not subject to the laws of the material universe. That is why I believe that when the Rapture occurs and our bodies are changed, there will be no problem for us to meet the Lord in the air.

John 20:20

Notice, that even though He has a glorified body, there are the nail prints and the pierced side. There is a strange similarity to that body which had been nailed to the Cross. The scars are there. Now I do not think that there will be scars on our bodies. I think these scars are on His body because they are the scars He bore for us. He was scarred for us so that you and I might be presented without spot or blemish before Him. He took our sin and this will be the evidence of it throughout eternity.

John 20:21

I do not think the Lord is just repeating Himself. I think this is a different peace here. In verse Joh_20:19, it was the peace of redemptionpeace with God. Redemption is now complete. This is the peace described in Mat_11:28: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This is the rest of redemption, the peace of redemption. There is another peace. It is the peace of those who are in fellowship with God and are doing His will. This is the peace described in Mat_11:29: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Redemption is now accomplished. Now Christ sends them out as the Father had sent Him into the world. He had previously mentioned this in His prayer, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” (Joh_17:18).

John 20:22

This period of history is a transition period between law and grace. There is an interval in the life of these men and in the ministry of the Lord Jesus between His death and resurrection and the Day of Pentecost. This is a time unique in the history of the world. Our Lord had told them about prayer back in Luke 11. He had said that if they would ask, it should be given to them. In verse 13 of that chapter, He says that He is speaking especially of the gift of the Holy Spirit which the heavenly Father would give to them who ask Him. Well, as nearly as we can tell they never asked! In Joh_14:16 Jesus says, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.” It is true that Simon Peter showed some discernment when he said that Jesus is the Christ, but it was just a few minutes later that he told Jesus not to go to the Cross to die. I personally believe that at the moment our Lord breathed on them, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” these men were regenerated. Before this, they had not been indwelt by the Spirit of God. This expression “breathed on them” occurs only one other time in the Bible. In Genesis, God breathed into Adam the breath of life. I believe here that Jesus Christ breathed into these men eternal life by giving them the Spirit of God. This would sustain them and secure them for the interval between His ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come and they would be baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ. Also they would be indued with power from on high. The church would come into existence on that day. From that time to the present, the Holy Spirit is in the world. He indwells the believer, and He baptizes every believer into the body of Christ.

John 20:23

This is an important verse which is greatly misunderstood. John Calvin writes: “When Christ enjoins the apostles to forgive sins, He does not convey to them what is peculiar to Himself. It belongs to Him to forgive sins. He only enjoins them in His name to proclaim the forgiveness of sins.” Nowhere in the Book of Acts or in the Epistles do we find any instance of an apostle remitting the sins of anyone. They do go everywhere, proclaiming the forgiveness of sins. Let me ask the question: What is it that forgives sins? Even God cannot just arbitrarily forgive sins. Forgiveness of sins is only and alone through the blood of Jesus Christ. Back in the Old Testament, the forgiveness of sins was based on the fact that Christ would come and die. God saved “on credit” in the Old Testament until Christ would come and pay the penalty. Today God forgives our sins when we believe that Christ died for them. How can you and I remit sins? By telling the gospel! This is the greater work which we shall do. When somebody turned and believed on Jesus while He was here on earth, that was wonderful. But what is staggering is when you or I simply give out the Word of God, and someone is born again and becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them” happens when you and I proclaim the gospel of the grace of God. That is the most glorious privilege that there is today, my friend. We have a responsibility. If we do not preach the gospel to the world, their sins will not be remitted. I think we are reaping the penalty for the years we have not taken the gospel to the world. Because we have neglected our responsibility, our boys die in war. Just think, if all the boys we have lost in war had been willing to lose their lives for Christ and be missionaries, how different the world might be! We have the only thing that will bring forgiveness to the world. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. My friend, what are you doing?

John 20:24

APPEARANCE TO THOMASI can only surmise why Thomas was not there. I think he was a lone wolf and a doubter. He would cast gloom on every situation. I believe the other ten disciples were excitedly talking about Jesus being raised from the dead and Thomas just couldn’t believe it.

John 20:25

Boy, is he a doubter! He has enough evidence to make him a believer, but he is not. But at least now it appears that he will stay with the other disciples. My friend, if you are going to grow in grace, you will have to come together with the saints and grow with them. I believe you have to share what you learn from the Word of the Lord. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb_10:25). We are to come together so we may grow together.

John 20:26

The record doesn’t tell us that he ever reached forth his hand to touch Him. He didn’t have to. I know that today there are many people who say, “If only I could see Him, if only I could touch Him, then I would believe.” The problem is not with the lack of available evidence of the death and Resurrection. The problem is in the human heart. God will meet the honest doubt of a man, but I do not think He deals with dishonest doubts. Many people say they can’t believe the Bible. They claim their problem is intellectual. Friend, most people will not believe the Bible because of moral problems. A man told me just the other day that he couldn’t believe the Old Testament. Later I learned that he is living in adultery. The Old Testament says “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exo_20:14). He doesn’t want to believe the Old Testament. However, I am confident that God will always meet an honest doubter. You will never find a higher testimony to the Lord Jesus than the one given by Thomas. It is one of the great confessions of Scripture. For a Jew to say “My Lord and my God” is the absolute climax. This comes from the lips of that doubter, Thomas.

John 20:29

There is a special blessing on us today who believe the evidence for the death and resurrection of Christ.

John 20:30

This is the key to the gospel. The Lord did many things that are not recorded. He healed multitudes. I think John also means that He did many other things after His resurrection which are not recorded. John has been selective in his writing of this Gospel. He has chosen the material which he has written because he had a definite purpose in mind. John did not attempt to write a biography of Jesus Christ. He did not even attempt to fill in the life of Christ in areas not covered by the other Gospels. He wrote so that you might “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” It is through believing that you receive life and are born again. You become a child of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.