John 20:20-31
This text focuses on the encounters the disciples had and the significance of personal encounters with the lord. The encounter of another man cannot sustain you, you cannot run your Christian race or have a robust fellowship with the lord on the premise of someone else’s encounter.
This scripture by the holy ghost allowed us to have privilege to things that happened behind the door. The bible says the doors were shut. The doors were shut for the fear of the Jew,because at that time they had gone to the tomb and found it empty and it was in the midst of that chaos they ran to lock up themselves and shut the door behind themselves.
They were behind the door not sure of what was going to be the next line of action or how to confront the Jews because they were waiting for them. The disciples were behind the door confused because when Jesus showed up, he said “Peace be unto you”. Vs 19
That statement Jesus made actually captured the moment. He was addressing the state of their heart.
The encounter Jesus brought for them has to do with a lot.
First, it is to silence their agitations, fears and to calm their anxious hearts. The goal was to bring them to a place of stability, a place of calmness and tranquility.
Peace be unto thee.
The major reason Jesus showed up for his disciples after the resurrection while they were still battling with how to go about the next phase of their assignment and how to deal with that confrontation they were going to have with the Pharisee and the Sadducees who were spreading lies that Jesus didn’t resurrect.
Peace be unto you was to help their faith, it was silencing their fear. He wanted them to come to a place of stability and assurance, a place of confidence that Jesus is truly alive.
Having spoken peace to them he showed them his hands and his sides.
Jesus’ appearance was to bring them to a place of assurance where they can be bold to say truly, Jesus resurrected and he is alive.
Thomas needed to thrust his hands so that he could speak about this reality with confidence. He wanted to have his own encounter so that he could speak about this occurrence boldly.
We must not and should not do Christianity with someone else’s encounter. We must desire our own moment with the Lord. A dealing with the Lord. Jesus showed up eight days later for Thomas. He was anxious if what his counterparts said were true.
If he had not encountered Jesus again, he could have been running the gospel according to other people’s experience. He wanted to have a firsthand witness of the truth.
It is tied to not actually having an experience with the Lord. There are encounters that bring to an end faithlessness and unbelief in our life. That is why Jesus said do not be faithless and unbelief.
Indirectly what Jesus came to tell Thomas is that He came to put an end to his faithlessness and unbelief.
Others were rescued and you must be rescued. The Holy Ghost (inspired the writer) to point out that Thomas was not there amongst the other disciples. That statement is critical.
That’s why a lot of people miss out on encounters. There are things that people say that will point to their lack of encounters. They have no dealings that can equate the experience. They are still wondering how true it is. They are still wondering how valid and authentic the truth is because they have had no encounters.
There are certain experiences we have had in different times of our lives. These dealings have solidified our walk in the Lord. They have solidified our confidence in God. Even while people talk about some things, we are confident that we have such dealings from the encounter we have had. We have captured and He has ended our faithlessness and dealings in that area of our lives. We may still be struggling in other areas of our lives because we are yet to have an encounter in that area.
There must be a word that ends our fear and gives birth to confidence in us. We must come to a point that we can say our encounter with the Lord was when we were studying the scripture and it came alive to us, and ended our anxiety.
John 20:19-24 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
Before this event lies the conspiracy that His disciples had come to take His body. On the other hand, His disciples did not have the full grasp of what He has told them concerning His resurrection. This is why they would not be saying what they were saying on their road to Emmaus. They went behind doors to hide for the fear of the Jews (KJV).
When He showed up He told them, “peace be unto you.” It is not just an ordinary statement. It was a statement Jesus made concerning a situation at hand because they were still perplexed, confused.
They did not know how to handle the rumour that Jesus had not risen. They did not know how to negate the rumour that they had come to carry and stole His body.
He told them, “peace be unto you.” This statement is not ordinary. It is meant to bring calmness to them. It brought stability to them. He brought assurance and calmness.
It means to let fear, anxiety and worry be dismissed. He took a step further and showed them His hands and body that were pierced. At that time doubts were dissolved. At that point someone who was once in doubt would become bold and was ready to tell anyone that Jesus’ body was not stolen but was resurrected.
There is a level of confidence anyone can speak with when they have had an encounter. Jesus showed them the evidence.
The disciples caught fire. They became bold. They were ready to preach and to tell anyone that Jesus’ resurrected.
For the Holy Ghost to have said, “Thomas was not there.” Humanly speaking, Thomas needed to see what the other apostles had seen. He needed no “second-class” information. He needed to see and have such testimony and not from the eyewitnesses.
Jesus came again on the eighth day. This time around, He came for Thomas. He called him. He told Thomas that he should not be faithless. This is why dealings have a role of taking away unbelief and faithlessness in an area of our life.
We must come to the point that we can point out and say that a particular dealing ended unbelief, which brought about an encounter with the Lord.
We cannot practice Christianity without having an encounter. This is because if we lack encounters with Him, we would be building our faith on others’ people’s encounters. It was a moment of perplexity for Thomas for not being among those that saw the Lord.
We will be referencing our words on other people’s witness. Thomas did not want to run on “second-hand” revelation. He would need to preach to people. This is why he did not hinge his profession on others’ encounters.
You must ensure you don’t miss out on dealings that will end your own fear and faithlessness in an area of your life and depend on other people’s revelation. Doctrine is general but dealings are personal.
Doctrines are available to all, constant and consistent, they are systematic.
You can pick it precept upon precept and with time you can cover doctrines but make sure you don’t miss out on encounters. Doctrines are general but encounters are personal.
Never despise and invalidate someone’s encounter. The only time you should be found doing that is when it contradicts the teachings of Christ. You cannot invalidate other people’s dealings and experience.
The disciples had those experiences to actually do ministry effectively. To be bold and to declare.
Jesus said something profound in the midst of all that. He said that blessed are those who believe and do not see those signs., and that’s where we come in..
Christ has resurrected. He is the risen Lord. We didn’t see the nails for the scriptures about Christ to come alive.
We came into our own encounter by the spirit of revelation. That’s why Paul, who did not see the print of the nails, gave us in detail the teachings of the risen Christ.
Paul had an encounter that no one would take away from him.
You can have an encounter. You can sit with scriptures and the spirit of Christ will come and fellowship with you. You will sit by yourself and you will have understanding.
Paul speaking of the Galatians, he mentioned that he taught them of Christ and they could relate with the truth he communicated as their eyes of understanding got opened.
Sitting to have your own fellowship brings you to a place where you are fully persuaded of the things you have learnt. It goes beyond head knowledge. It goes as far as all you have learnt become flesh.
Get to the point that when you speak of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, you speak as though you were there when it happened. That was the way Paul preached. He taught boldly and confidently as if he was at Golgotha.
Luke wrote to Theophilus to bring him to the certainty of the truth that is written.
Luke 1:1.
We should come to a place of certainty. He was writing to bring the man to a place of full assurance and persuasion.
We can get to a place of full persuasion about him. It’s the place where the spirit of truth comes to rest on you even while you’re doing your study.
Paul didn’t see proof of the resurrection of Christ but the spirit of truth made a difference. He had an encounter with the supply of the spirit of Christ. Get beyond memory verse and allow Jesus to work it. Settle down to study scriptures and allow the spirit of truth to come. Allow it to bring you to a place of confidence and persuasion about the truth.
By faith we came into the reality of the finished works of Christ. It is advisable to take the study of the scriptures seriously by going beyond the letters to giving room for the spirit of revelation.