From Chaos To Peace

Responsive Reading from SELECTION 61 p. 1072 in the small print Bible.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

19 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,[c] Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

PRAY

You may be seated.

Paul Raider- "Christians are like a whole lot of people who have colds. They are all sitting around sneezing at each other, but nobody gets sick because everybody's already has it."

And the point is, it's so easy for Christians to revolve in a little Christian cubicle, you know, "Us four, no more, shut the door." And that's how most of us who claim Jesus live and it’s how we do not move out and contact the world as sent ones from Jesus Christ.

We are the continuing ministry of Christ.

He's proven Himself faithful, now He sends the faithful.

19 On the evening of that day,

What day is this?

• The day that that John is speaking of is the day that Jesus rose from the grave.

• If you will recall He encountered Mary Magdalene the woman who had 7 demons at his tomb.

• Later he met 2 disciples walking on their way to Emmaus.

• This is Sunday it is the...

the first day of the week,

I don’t know if you are any good at math or not. If you’re like me, you’re not. However I think that you will likely be able to figure out the following: If Jesus died on Friday and if he rose on Saturday, that is only 2 days… right? You start on Friday then you count Saturday as 1 and then Sunday as 2 right? That is only 2 days.

Scripture tells over and over that it was 3 days. If Christianity is a sham don’t you think that those who made it up would be smart enough to add?

Maybe we need to stop and consider: The Jewish people didn’t count time as we count time. Listen to what CARM states:

The solution is simple when we learn that according to Jewish custom any part of a day, however small, is included as part of a full day.1 "Since the Jews reckoned part of a day as a full day, the 'three days and three nights' could permit a Friday crucifixion."2 This phenomena is exemplified in scripture in the book of Esther.

Let’s listen to what the book of Esther says, "Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way," (Esther 4:16 ). Then, in Esther 5:1 it says, "Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace in front of the king’s rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace." We can see that even though the three days and nights had not been completed, Esther went in to see the King on the third day even though she said to fast for three days and nights. We see that "on the third day" is equivalent to "after three days."

Keep in mind that is only one possibility. There are actually two other possible explanations that I know of. But for time’s sake we will not pursue those two. If you would like to investigate those you can go to CARM and type in “How long was Jesus dead in the tomb?”

Let’s continue… Here is what we know so far, “It was the evening of that day, the first day of the week AND…”

the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews,

1. Why were the doors locked?

a. It clearly states that the disciples were afraid of the Jews.

b. And they clearly had good reason to lock the door wouldn’t you agree?

c. They had just witnessed the slaughtering and murder of Jesus. It wasn’t just a light beating and a simple nail in the hands and feet.

i. Isaiah said, “Just as there were many who were appalled by Him – his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness And that He was despised and rejected by men., a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. He was stricken… smitten… afflicted… pierced… punished.