What a great God we have! Can you imagine? The very Lamb of God in His resurrected, glorified Flesh?! With the marks of death still upon Him...the very evidence that He will have, to show His brother and sister Jews in proof of His sacrifice for them, as well, when He returns in His glory! And the hard-won marks of His royal and priestly office, for eternity to come! How do you suppose those disciples must have felt when they finally recognized their Lord?
Well as we've learned from the last few verses of our study, Mary had fallen at His feet and worshipped her Master; we're not told by John, how the men reacted in His presence, except that they were excited to tell Thomas all, upon his eventual return. Matthew records that they, as well, had fallen before Him in worship; Holy Spirit had provided Mark and Luke other details, likely to suit other purposes. But as we read here in John 20.20, they certainly were filled with gladness, as you can well imagine!
You know, Jesus has a work for disciples to do, and as long as they are discouraged and disheartened, or distracted or disilusioned, or any of those other dis's, they can never function as true disciples, as He would have them be...and are never truly able to serve Him, as He would be served. Those men were to be left behind when Jesus ascended, to do His will and His work, and in so-doing, would face all sorts of difficulties and discouragements...even unto death! And that's Jesus' way...first He receives you in, and then He sends you out. Salvation's road is along the way of service, and never think otherwise. If you are failing in your commission to work at reaping "the fields that are ripe unto harvest", then you're faltering in your calling! He has charged disciples (in every place and time), as stated in vs. 21 that, "As My Father has sent Me, so I send you!"
We must realize today that these words define the mission of every Believer. There's no way to fulfill your own personal commission if you wile away your time in the pursuit of your pleasure, rather than in the pursuit of your righteousnes, in doing what is right and good, in the Name of the Lord Jesus. What would Jesus say about your church, and your role in it today? Certainly, no one needs to tell you, because you know that He would be exactly the same in word and in deed today, as He has always been. In fact, this same apostle John, in his first letter to the churches has written that, "He who says he abides in (Christ) ought also to walk just as He walked."
Notice that in vs. 19, and repeated in vs. 21, Jesus greets them with the same Jewish blessing, as He shows them the wounds in His hands and side..."Peace be with you"! You know, peace doesn't come easily, nor does it come as a reward for faithful service. The truth is, you need to be at peace with God, and with the church, and with yourself, before you would even think of going out to practice the works of Christ amongst the wolves. You recall that Paul has given priority to the place of peace in His list of spiritual fruit, in Galatians 5. As we very well know, without peace within, we will never be able to stand against the prince of this world. Paul also warns us in Ephesians 6, that our feet must be "shod with peace", lest you step into Satan's snare of discontent, distress, or even disbelief!
I have done a simple survey concerning the scriptural case for personal peace, with these briefly stated results... In the Old Testament record, God identified the future covenant of peace that He would make with His people...David prayed for peace in the presence of his enemies; Isaiah prophesied of peace like a river; Jeremiah declared that there could never be peace in a world bound by sin; Ezekiel observed that people will always seek peace; Daniel confirmed that the "peace covenant" would be everlasting; angels, at the time of Jesus' birth, proclaimed "peace on earth"; Jesus, again in John 14.27, promised the twelve continuing peace upon His return to heaven; Paul has recorded in Romans about peace...how to get it and how to keep it; and in Ephesians, Phillipeans and Colossians, that Jesus does not just give us peace, but that He would be our Peace, and that we must..."Let the peace of God be the umpire of our hearts"! Truly, if you have no peace today, then "the Prince of Peace" has a work to do in you!
Then to finish this portion of our study, we read a rather strange statement by Jesus, to the gathered ten, regarding the forgiveness and the retention of sins. Please read it carefully, yourself, understanding that this has an apostolic application, not intended for disciple-you and disciple-me. Even so, those disciples were not being empowered by Jesus to remove, or even to take away sins...even the Jews knew enough for that (Mark 2.7).
All I can really say about Jesus' remark here, is that there's not a single occasion in either the record of Acts, or the Epistles, of an apostle having conferred on anyone, the forgiveness of sins. In fact, the contrary is clearly confirmed by Peter, in Acts 8.22, and even more explicitly by Paul, in Colossians 2.13. To clarify further, the terms of Jesus' commission of the disciples is very clearly given by Luke, in Acts 1.1-9, and also as a summary found at the end of the Gospel accounts of only Matthew and Mark.
These verses comprise a great summary of the essential features of the Christian faith. Because of the resurrection of our Lord, Believers have a new relationship with Father God, and with that, a new peace, a new blessing, a new privilege, a new vision, a new joy, a new commission, and a new creation! As Paul has recorded in 2 Corinthians 5.17. "Behold, old things are passed away, and all things have become new!"
He must have been thinking resurrection thoughts. Indeed!
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