Jesus Appears to His Disciples

October 13, 2019 Preacher: Luis A. Cardenas Series: John

Topic: English Passage: John 20:19-23

If you’re visiting with us this morning, or even if you’re not, you should know that our church does what all faithful churches have been doing since the church began, and that is focusing on God’s truth. We read His truth for ourselves, and that truth is what informs our prayers. It informs our songs. And it leads us in our studies.

We unashamedly are a church focused on the Bible, focused on the word of God. That’s because we know this comes with God’s authority and with God’s power for spiritual growth. This is what He’s given us.

And rather than just jump around in the Bible form fragment to fragment, or from theme to theme, our main format for studying the Bible is to work our way through an entire book of the Bible. That helps us make sure we don’t skip over anything. It forces us to deal with everything that’s written. It also helps us maintain the context of every passages we encounter. We want to read it in its original flow.

We started studying the gospel of John back in April of 2017, and ever since then, the verse we’ve been referring to more than any other is John 20:30-31. This is John’s purpose statement for the book. This is why he wrote this book near the end of his life.

John 20:30-31 says: 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.

That’s a fairly straightforward statement. John wants his readers to believe that Jesus is the Son of God so that they would have eternal life. He wants us to believe in Jesus. We’ll come to that passage the next time we’re in John. We’re almost there.

Many of the people to whom John was writing never actually saw Jesus for themselves. They were either born afterward or they lived too far from where it happened. John wrote this gospel sometimes around 85 AD, decades after Matthew, Mark, and Luke had already been written.

So, if his audience was made up of people who had heard about Jesus but didn’t actually see Him, it’s not just that He wants them to believe in Jesus. John wants his readers to believe him as well. Right? He’s asking us, he’s asking you to believe in Jesus, which means taking John’s word for it.

So, in a sense, the gospel of John is not just about the credibility of Jesus, it also hinges on the credibility of John, right? If you don’t believe John, then there’s no reason to believe in Jesus, right? Do you get that?

So, what reasons do we have for receiving the testimony of John? Who is he? Why should we listen to John?

That’s a fair question. And it’s a question we could extend to the rest of the New Testament as well. Why should we listen to John? Why should we listen to Matthew or Mark or Luke or Paul or whoever else? What qualifies them to give us a reliable or faithful account of Jesus?

That’s the question I want to help you answer today. And I hope it’s not just a help in your own spiritual life, but it should also strengthen you as you share this truth with others. John is a evangelistic book. And if you already believe in Jesus, it’s a book that will strengthen your faith, and help you in your own evangelism.

On what basis do we receive the word of God? The simple answer would be that he is an Apostle. But that only leads to another question: So what? What does that matter?

It matters a whole lot actually. That is what makes all the difference. Why? Let me give you three reasons why we can accept the message of the Apostles. And we’re going to see them all in our passage for today.

The first reason you and I can trust the message of Jesus’ Apostles is because the received the personal appearance of Jesus Christ. They received the personal appearance of Jesus Christ.

This is basically what this story is about. Jesus is showing Himself alive to His disciples.

The first people to see the empty tomb, I imagine, were the Roman soldiers, and that would have been after they regained consciousness. Sometime later, a group of women saw the tomb, and they had angelic testimony of a Resurrection.

The disciples, though, didn’t expect Jesus to rise. When the group of women go back and tell the disciples that Jesus has risen, Luke’s gospel tells us how they reacted. It says, “These words seemed to them like an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” 

Peter and John went off to the tomb to see for themselves. They didn’t see Jesus, but they did verify that the tomb was empty.

Sometime later that same day, Luke 24 tells us that two of Jesus’ disciples (not from the Eleven) were travelling to a town called Emmaus. And Jesus appeared to them as well. So, these guys go back to Jerusalem, to tell the eleven disciples: “The Lord has risen indeed!”

And as you might imagine, there’s nothing else to talk about. They heard it from the women and now from two more disciples. They’re saying that Jesus is alive.

By this time, it’s evening. The sun is setting. And they’re still talking about Jesus. Has He really risen from the dead? What did the women see? What did these two disciples see?

Now, added to the sadness and the curiosity of the moment, you’ve also got an element of fear. The disciples are afraid. If the Jewish authorities were successful in putting Jesus, their Master, to death, then what’s to stop them from putting His disciples to death as well? Are they next?

So, as the beginning of verse 19 tells us—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.”

This is Jesus’ first personal appearance to the Apostles. I want us to understand what exactly is happening here, but I also want you to understand the significance of it. First of all, let’s just look at it in terms of the story. Then we’ll talk about why it’s important.

They’re having a private meeting about Jesus. The door is locked. And in walks Jesus. How did He do that? Some people think that the door miraculously unlocked, similar to what happened with Peter in Acts 12. That’s possible. But John describes in such a startling way. He doesn’t say, “The door opened, and it was Jesus.” He says “Jesus stood among them.”

I believe this is John describing the glorified body of Jesus, for which it didn’t matter whether or not the door was locked. He just walked right through a door whenever He wanted to.

And no matter how exactly it happened, you have to imagine this was a massive shock to the disciples. There they are discussing Jesus, and now Jesus is standing in their midst. And his opening words are "Peace to you.”

That was a customary way of saying hello or goodbye, but it has an obvious connection to the disciples at the moment. “Peace to you.” In other words, “Stop with the doubt and the worry and the fear. I’m back. Peace to you.”

The gospel of Luke records this incident also, and we’re told that the disciples were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

And so, Jesus needs to prove to them that it’s Him—in the flesh. He wants them to know this is a personal appearance. Verse 20—When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

This was to prove He was really back from the dead. He’s not some spirit. He isn’t some ghost. He isn’t like some angel, taking a human form. This is Jesus.

In Luke, He says to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

And then, because they still struggled to believe, He ate a piece of fish in front of them. It was all to prove that He had physically returned. The marks on His hands on His side were proof that the same man who had been crucified was the man standing before them. This is Jesus. He’s back from the dead. He has resurrected, just like He predicted.

Maybe you remember what Jesus said back in John 2—Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 

Well, at the end of verse 20, it says: Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

They’re excited. They’re emotional. Jesus said they would be, back in John 16:20—You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

This is an exciting time for them. But the significance of this moment is not connected to the disciples joy. That’s not what makes this so important for them. What’s the significance?

This is Jesus giving a personal appearance to His Apostles. What’s an apostle? I’ve been using that word but I haven’t defined it yet. What’s an apostle? It means one who has been sent.

It comes from the Greek word apóstolos, which comes from the verb apostéllo, which means “to send.” An apostle is someone who has been sent. These men are going to be sent by Jesus with the task of proclaiming His message to all who will hear—in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

This meeting with the disciples is not happening, just so he can make the disciples happy. This meeting is a continuation of their time in the Upper Room, back in John 13-16. This is a meeting to prepare the Apostles for what’s coming next. It’s a preparatory meeting for an assignment they’ll be given.

And the first thing they need as Apostles is to have a personal appearance of the resurrected Lord. That’s critical. Why? Because they are going to be eyewitnesses to the Resurrection.

They’re not going out in hearsay. They’re not going out on rumors. They’re going out as firsthand witnesses. That’s was part of what it means to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus.

Mark your place here in John, but skip over with me to Acts 1, verse 21. This is Peter talking after Jesus ascends, and he wants the group to choose a replacement for Judas, who betrayed Jesus and then killed himself. Judas was a wicked and tragic man, so they want to replace him.

Look at what Peter says in Acts 1:21—So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.

Being an Apostle required that you were a personal eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus and to the resurrection of Jesus. That requirement applied, not just to Judas’ replacement, but to all the Apostles.

And today, John and the disciples are getting a personal meeting with Jesus. They get to experience His physical appearance.

Jump with me to the back of your Bibles to First John, the opening words. This is a letter written by the same John who wrote the gospel. He’s writing to the first-century church. And notice how he words his introduction.

First John 1:1-3—That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—2the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.

What’s John saying? I saw Jesus. I heard His voice. I touched Him. He was real. He really died. He really resurrected. And nobody had to tell me about it. I saw it for myself. I touched Him for myself. You can go back to the gospel of John now.

This is the power that John’s gospel comes to us with. It’s coming from an eyewitness of the crucified and resurrected Lord. Theologically, this is God’s word, we know that. Every word is from Him. But even historically, we have a valid and reasonable faith to receive its message. It’s coming from an Apostle who received a personal appearance from the risen Lord Jesus.

There’s a second reason we should accept the testimony of John. Not only did he receive this personal appearance of Jesus, secondly, he, along with the other Apostles, received the authoritative commission of Jesus. He had the authoritative commission.

This is what we have in verse 21—Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

I guess we could also call this the apostolic commission. He’s sending them.

Repeatedly in the gospel of John you have Jesus referring to His Father as the One who sent Him. Jesus was on a divine mission.

And now, Jesus is extending that mission to His Apostles. This is their commissioning.

Jesus came to earth in humility and in faithfulness. He came to do the Father’s will. And He expects the same response from the Apostles. He’s sending them out under His authority, just like He came under the authority of the Father. He’s commissioning them.

That commission is going to be repeated on other occasions. The most famous example is what we have at the end of Matthew. “Go… and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

But what did Jesus say before that? He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

They have a job to do. And that job is at the order of their resurrected Lord, who has been given all authority.

When Jesus died, the disciple were deflated. They were defeated. They abandoned Jesus in the garden, and their leader Peter denied Him. So they could have been thinking something like, “I’m glad Jesus is back, but I’m not so sure He’s going to use me anymore, since I failed Him so miserably.”

Well, Jesus’ statement here fixes any of those thoughts. He is authorizing them as His messengers, His Apostles, His representatives. He’s giving them their credentials, their authorization.

By extension, that Great Commission, applies to the church in every generation. But, at the same time, we don’t want to lose the unique way it was expressed in the lives of the Apostles. Their message and their teachings came with an authority, given to them by Jesus.

If you believe in Jesus, if you accept Him as the authority, then you have to accept the authority of the Apostles. That’s whom He chose as His authoritative representatives.

The early church understood that. That’s why it says in Acts 2:42 that the believers devoted themselves to the apostle’s teachings.

And we still do it today, don’t we? Jesus isn’t here any more, physically. He’s not walking around the planet giving lessons or doing miracles or giving people personal messages, just for them. If you ever hear that kind of teaching, stay away.

And the Apostles aren’t here anymore either, right? But what do we have? We have their teachings. We have their writings. That’s what the New Testament is—the Apostles’ teaching.

Ephesians 2:20 says that we, the church, are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

This is what makes it so crazy and so ridiculous and so sad when you talk to someone who says they’re a Christian, but they don’t accept the Bible. How would you even know about Jesus if it weren’t for the Bible?! It doesn’t make any sense!

If you believe in Jesus, if you accept Him as the Lord of all creation, Lord over the living and the dead, then you have to accept the message of His Apostles. They are the ones He named as His official messengers.

Jesus gave them a physical, personal appearance. He gave them an authoritative commission. And lastly, number three, He gave them indwelling power. This is why we accept the message of the Apostles. In order to fulfill their, the Apostles received the indwelling power of Jesus.

Look at verse 22—And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Very interesting. What’s happening here? Here’s what’s going on. This is Jesus symbolically promising and preparing the disciples for the gift of the Spirit. He’s letting them know, “You’re still not ready yet. But you’re going to be.” This is a preparatory act.

Why do I say that? Let me give you three reasons why I don’t we should take this as an actual impartation of the Spirit.

First of all, as we’ll see next time, Thomas isn’t with the group. So, if Jesus were planning to literally pass the Holy Spirit onto the guys in this room, He would have at least done a head count, don’t you think? “Oh wait, Thomas isn’t here, let’s not do that. Let’s do that next week.” It doesn’t make sense that this is the actual giving of the Spirit to the disciples, if they’re not all present to receive it.

Secondly, if you keep reading in John 21, you realize that the disciples have no real evidence of substantive life change. They go right back to being weak in their faith, and they have no desire to spread the message. They go back to fishing. And Peter is comparing Himself with John. So, if this is the Spirit, evidently, it didn’t do any good. And it doesn’t measure up at all with what Jesus had promised them in the Upper Room.

That takes us to the final evidence, which is so important. Here it is, the third reason we should reject this as a literal impartation of the Spirit: the rest of the Bible indicates to us that the Spirit didn’t come until after Jesus ascends to the Father in His glorified body. Once He does that, then, together, the Father and the Son send the Spirit.

That’s what Jesus said in the Upper Room in John 16, verse 7. He says to them: I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Clear enough? In other words, “I need to be gone in order for the Spirit to come.” That’s what Jesus said. And He isn’t gone yet. This is the first day of the Resurrection.

At the end of Luke’s gospel, on the day He ascends to the Father, He says to the group: “Behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

He’s letting them know that this power is something to come in the future. But it’s so certain, that he talks about it in the present tense: “I am sending.”

That idea of a future empowering is also in Acts 1:8— you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.

The Spirit will come and will empower them as witnesses. He will bring them the truth. He’ll remind them. He’ll guide them. But that’s not until after Jesus ascends.

Ephesians 4 also applies in this scenario because there speaking in the context of spiritual gifts and roles in the church, Paul quotes from a psalm which says: When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.

The Spirit gives gifts, and the gifts come in connection with Jesus’ ascension.

So, again, we don’t want to understand this as a literal bestowal of the Spirit. Thomas isn’t present, the Apostles lives don’t change, and the rest of the Bible doesn’t support it.

So, if Jesus isn’t actually giving the Spirit, what is He doing? He’s giving them a promise, or a preview.

It’s possible that Jesus didn’t even breath on them. The verb used here could simply mean to breath, not necessarily to breath “on” something. The Greek doesn’t have the word “them,” so it’s possible that Jesus is just sighing deeply because of how profound and significant this moment is.

Also, His words to them aren’t so much a direct command that the disciples need to obey, but a promise that they will receive something. It’s like when Jesus says to a sick man, “Be healed,” He’s not commanding the guy to heal Himself, He’s declaring that it will happen.

And that’s what Jesus is doing here. He’s declaring that they will be empowered for their task. They will be personally equipped by the Holy Spirit.

And again, this is another reason why we receive the testimony of the Apostles. They received the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, but what if they forgot something? What if they didn’t write it down the right way? That didn’t happen.

Jesus calls this the “Spirit of truth.” And in John 16:26, He said, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

The Spirit enabled them to recall Jesus’ life and Jesus’ teachings. And in 2 Peter 1, the Apostle Peter tells us this, “We did not follow cleverly devised myths… but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

That’s exactly what John says in First John. And then Peter adds this: “No prophecy was ever produces by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

So, the Holy Spirit was helping them remember, and as they wrote, in God’s own mysterious way, He was superintending the entire process. and in the end, every single word is as if it was given by God Himself, from his very mouth.

Along those line, it might interest you to know, that the verb John uses in verse 22 for Jesus breathing isn’t used anywhere else in the New Testament. It is, however, used in a very significant way in the Old Testament.

In Genesis 2, it says that the Lord God formed the man of the dust from the ground. And then, He breathed into His nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

So, it could be that John is intentionally taking his audience back to that image. Just like God breathed life into Adam at creation, here Jesus is promising to breathe new life into the Apostles, and by extension, in to the Church. They will receive the Holy Spirit, and they will declare the message of Jesus Christ.

God created Adam to be His representative upon the earth—to have dominion, to be fruitful and to multiply, to extend and express God’s reign upon the earth. And we know that Adam failed. He corrupted the image of God.

And then later, God chose the nation of Israel to be His representative on the earth. They were to Him a kingdom of priests a holy nation.

But now, it’s no longer one nation that represents God, right? It’s people from every tongue and nation. It’s the global church which advances the message of Jesus.

And that’s the idea that Jesus gives His disciples in verse 23. They have the personal appearance of Jesus. They have the authoritative commission of Jesus. And they have the indwelling power of Jesus. And that enables them to be Jesus’ representatives on earth.

Look at verse 23. This is our last verse for today. Jesus says to His disciples: If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.

What’s that saying? I you want a better understanding of what Jesus is saying to His disciples, two passages you should look at are Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:17-20. Again, that’s Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18: 17-20.

We don’t have the time to look at it in detail, we’re almost out of time today. But those verses talk about what Jesus calls “the keys to the kingdom.” And they talk about a person being bound in their sin or loosed from their sin. What does that mean?

It means this: With the truth about Jesus, given by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, the church is now given the authority to declare who is and who isn’t saved—who is and who isn’t forgiven for their sin.

That doesn’t mean we decide who goes to heaven. We don’t forgive people for their sin. We don’t absolve them. Only God can forgive sin. We’re not deciding who is saved. We are declaring who is saved. Do you get that?

Will the church be 100% right? No. We won’t know it for sure until we see Jesus. But in the meantime, as best we can, with the Spirit and the truth of God, we’re responsible to declare who the Christians are. How do we do that?

That’s what baptism and membership are. That’s actually what evangelism is too.

When the church baptizes someone and makes him or her a member of the church, we’re declaring that according to the testimony of their faith, and according to the truth of God, this person has been forgiven by Jesus Christ. They’ve been cleansed. And so we baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit—the same Trinity that gave us the message, like we just read. The Father sent the Son, and the Son sends the Spirit.

And the same authority the church has when we baptize someone is the authority you have when you talk to them about Jesus. You and I have, by the authority of Jesus and His apostles, the responsibility to say that all who believe in Jesus, believe that He died and rose again, and repent of their sin, will be forgiven of their sin. Isn’t that the gospel message?

And long with that, all who reject Christ, all who refuse to bow the knee to Him will not be forgiven. They will enter into eternal judgment. That’s what we declare. That’s the message. And it’s the message that has been passed to us from Jesus Christ to His Apostles, who saw his personal appearances, and received His authoritative commission, and were given His indwelling Spirit.

So, don’t lose the significance of a passage like this. If you’re a member of this church, if you’ve confessed faith in the risen Lord Jesus, then you have the confidence that this is God’s authoritative word. And you have the responsibility to give the world its message.

And if you do not know Jesus, then you have a decision to make. Will you accept the testimony of the Apostle John? He personally saw the resurrected Jesus. He was personally sent out by Jesus. And was indwelled by the personal Spirit of Christ. Will you accept His message? Will you accept our message? Will you accept Jesus as the Son of God, and the rightful Lord of all?

More in John

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Jesus Restores Peter

November 10, 2019

A Miraculous Catch

October 27, 2019

Believe the Signs