CHAPTER 20

(A.D. 33)

THE RESURRECTION

¹The first day of the week (Sunday) comes Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre (probably about 5 oclock in the morning), and sees the stone taken away from the sepulchre (proclaims that which she did not expect to find).

²Then she ran, and came to Simon Peter, and to the other Disciple, whom Jesus loved (John the Beloved), and said unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him (all of this shows that the women and the Disciples did not believe He would be Resurrected; maybe they thought Joseph and Nicodemus had moved the Body of Jesus to some other place).

³Peter therefore went forth, and that other Disciple (John), and came to the sepulchre (had they really believed He would rise from the dead, they would have never left the sepulchre).

⁴So they ran both together: and the other Disciple (John) did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre (John arrived first).

⁵And he (John) stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying (referred to the linen cloth of Jn. 19:40; if someone had stolen His Body, they would not have bothered to take the linen from the remains); yet went he not in.

⁶Then came Simon Peter following him (John), and went into the sepulchre, and saw the linen clothes lie (the lie indicates that this material was neatly folded),

⁷And the napkin, that was about His Head, not lying with the linen clothes (presents that which is extremely interesting, considering that Jesus Head and Face had been so maltreated He was hardly recognizable), but wrapped together in a place by itself (none of these actions speak of haste, which would have accompanied the moving or stealing of a body, but rather something done deliberately and with precision; this shouted Resurrection!).

⁸Then went in also that other Disciple, which came first to the sepulchre (speaks of John also entering the Tomb now with Peter), and he saw, and believed (refers to what Mary Magdalene reported, and not that Jesus had risen from the dead, as the next Scripture reveals).

⁹For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead (evidently refers to Ps. 16:10-11).

¹⁰Then the Disciples went away again unto their own home (the place where they were temporarily residing, respecting their coming to Jerusalem to keep the Passover).

MARY MAGDALENE

¹¹But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping (presents her staying after Peter and John had gone; evidently, she came back not long after them): and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre (evidently represents the second time she had done this [Mat. 28:1-7; Mk. 16:1-7; Lk. 24:1-11]),

¹²And saw two Angels in white sitting (apparently represents the second appearance of Angels), the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the Body of Jesus had lain (in a sense, this represents the true Mercy-Seat, with the Angels representing the Cherubim; the Angels sat, but the Cherubim stood, for Redemption was now accomplished [Ex. 25:19]; obviously, these Angels were Princes, for the dignity and importance of the Resurrection demanded the Ministry of the highest Angels [Dan. 9:21; 10:21; 12:1; Lk. 1:19, 26] Williams).

¹³And they say unto her, Woman, why do you weep? (The truth is that soon she will be shouting!)She said unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him (in essence, says, wherever He is, even though it is only a dead Body, there I want to be).

¹⁴And when she had thus said, she turned herself back (would have been better translated, she was caused to turn back; perhaps she noticed the Angels looking past her at someone else; Williams said, to a wounded heart seeking Christ Himself, Angels, however glorious, have no interest), and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus (regarding our Lords appearances after the Resurrection, there seem to have been two reasons He was not easily recognizable; the first was unbelief, and the second was that His Appearance was changed, at least to a small degree; but unbelief was the biggest problem!).

¹⁵Jesus said unto her, Woman, why do you weep? (This is identical to that asked by the Angels. By virtue of His Death and Resurrection, He for all practical purposes had removed the cause of weeping.)Whom do you seek? (This presents the second question asked by Jesus, and really gets to the heart of the matter.)She, supposing Him to be the gardener (evidently means she thought this man worked for Joseph of Arimathaea, who owned this garden; still, there is no thought of Resurrection!), said unto Him, Sir, if you have borne Him hence, tell me where you have laid Him (in her mind, the Sacred Body was to be embalmed with the precious spices, which quite possibly she had spent her all to buy; she probably knew that the Jews desired to take His Body and place it in the garbage dump, so she was concerned), and I will take Him away (simply means that if they will allow her, she will give Him a proper burial).

¹⁶Jesus said unto her, Mary (the first expression of woman makes her the representative of the whole of suffering humanity; the second expression of Mary proclaims the individuality of the Gospel and the manner in which our Lord deals with all who come to Him). She turned herself (refers to her recognizing His Voice), and said unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master (the Greek Text says, My Master!; in this Fourth Gospel, the Holy Spirit records four appearances of the Lord after He rose from the dead, and these appearances banished four great enemies of the human heart sorrow, fear, doubt, and care).

¹⁷Jesus said unto her, Touch Me not (in effect, says, Do not hold onto Me, do not try to detain Me); for I am not yet ascended to My Father (Reynolds said, He, Who is Father of Christ and Father of men, is so in different ways. He is Father of Christ by nature, and of men by Grace. [Forty days later, He would ascend]): but go to My brethren, and say unto them (speaks not of those who were his half-brothers in the flesh, but rather His Chosen Disciples, minus Judas who was now dead), I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God (this statement as given by Christ, portrays a great relationship between the Believer and the Heavenly Father; actually, the very purpose of Calvary and the Resurrection was to establish this relationship through Redemption, which it did!).

¹⁸Mary Magdalene came and told the Disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto her (He appeared first of all to her! regrettably, her account was met with unbelief [Mk.16:9-11]).

THE TEN DISCIPLES

¹⁹Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week (proclaims the first gathering on a Sunday), when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews (the fear expressed here pertained to the idea or thought that the religious authorities having now murdered Jesus, may very well seek to do the same to His closest Followers; the Day of Pentecost would remove this fear), came Jesus and stood in the midst (gives us no information as to how this was done; He just seems to have suddenly appeared), and said unto them, Peace be unto you (presents a common salutation, but coming from Him, and especially at this time, it spoke Volumes).

²⁰And when He had so said, He showed unto them His Hands and His Side (had to do with His Wounds, which proved He was not a spirit). Then were the Disciples glad, when they saw the Lord (means that the Peace which they had not had, they now have; Jesus is Alive!).

²¹Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you (is said again by design; the first Peace gave to all who were assembled a new Revelation; the second Peace, a summons to service as we shall see): as My Father has sent Me, even so send I you (pertains to the Great Commission of taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world).

²²And when He had said this, He breathed on them (presents the same act performed in Gen. 2:7; and to Adam He had breathed the Breath of Life, and now upon our Lords sons and daughters He breathed the Holy Spirit), and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit (in essence, Jesus is saying to them that what He did at Calvary will now make it possible for them and all Believers to receive or to be Baptized with the Holy Spirit [Jn. 7:39; Acts 2:4]):

²³Whose soever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them (in its simplest form means that when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached and accepted by sinners, the Preacher of the Gospel, or any Believer for that matter, can announce unequivocally to the new Believer that all his sins are remitted, i.e., forgiven); and whose soever sins you retain, they are retained (is the same as the former, but exactly opposite; if the Gospel is refused, the Believer has the obligation to inform the Christ-rejecter that, despite whatever else he might do, he is still in his sins, and barring Repentance will suffer the consequences).

²⁴But Thomas, one of the Twelve, called Didymus (Judas had long since been replaced by Matthias by the time John wrote this Gospel), was not with them when Jesus came (this should be a lesson to us all! Im sure it was a lesson to Thomas that he ever again be present).

²⁵The other Disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord (was the greatest announcement they had ever made, at least since their conversion). 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 (unbelief ever takes us lower and lower; the problem with untold millions is that they will not Believe).

THE ELEVEN DISCIPLES

²⁶And after eight days again His Disciples were within, and Thomas with them (presents Jesus meeting with them again on Sunday, the First Day of the week, the Day of His Resurrection): then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst (proclaims His Entrance exactly as eight days earlier), and said, Peace be unto you (all of these times, He is speaking of Sanctifying Peace).

²⁷Then said He to Thomas, Reach hither your finger, and behold My Hands; and reach hither your hand, and thrust it into My Side (presents Jesus, at least in the latter phrase, using the same words that Thomas had used, showing that He knew exactly what Thomas had said): and be not faithless, but believing (simply means, have faith!; every evidence is that Thomas did exactly that!).

²⁸And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and My God (there is no evidence that Thomas touched the wounds of the Master; however, he was the first to give this title to Jesus, other than the Prophets in predicting these events [Isa. 9:6-7; Ps. 45:6-7]).

²⁹Jesus said unto Him, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed (presents the lowest form of Faith): blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed (concerns the entirety of the Church, and through all ages; they [we] believe even though we havent personally seen Him; but one day we will!).

THIS GOSPEL

³⁰And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His Disciples (refers to the entirety of His Ministry), which are not written in this Book (refers to the Gospel of John):

³¹But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (pertains to the fact that John did not feel led of the Spirit to record great numbers of Miracles, but rather in his Book is to make prominent the Eternal Life that all who believe in Him, apart from Miracles and material vision, receive); and that believing you might have Life through His Name (proclaims that the Holy Spirit desires that Faith accept the Testimony of the Scripture that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah officially, and the Son of God essentially; and that whosoever believes in Him shall Live Eternally in ever-enduring bliss).