Resurrection Appearance: John Believes (Lesson 1)

INTRODUCTION: JOHN 20:1-10

What a resurrection appearance of Jesus is not?

Not just His Spirit. "Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have" (Luke 24:39).

Not just a vision. (Daytime). "Behold My hands and My feet . . . handle Me" (Luke 24:39).

Not just a dream. (Night time)

Not an abnormal physical body. "And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb, and He took and did eat before them" (Luke 24:42, 43).

What is a resurrection appearance?

It was the same body that was raised, "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself" (Luke 24:39).

It was the same body returned from the dead. "For as yet, they knew not the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead" (John 20:9).

It was the same body transformed. "The same day at evening . . . when the doors were shut . . . came Jesus and stood in their midst" (John 20:19).

The resurrected body did not just materialize.

The resurrected body was not limited by material things.

The resurrected body could disappear. "He vanished out of their sight" (Luke 24:31).

JOHN, THE FIRST APOSTLE TO BELIEVE

The youngest. What is John’s title?

His house. Where was John sleeping? "She (Mary Magdalene) runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and the other disciples, (John)" (John 20:2). "From that hour, that disciple (John) took her (Mary) unto his own home" (John 19:27).

Intimate. What was John’s special relationship to Jesus? "The other disciple whom Jesus loved" (20:2).

The body was stolen. What did John think as he ran to the empty tomb? "And (Mary Magdalene) saith unto them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre’" (20:2).

Stronger. Why did John outrun Peter?

Youthful reticence. Why did John not go in at first? "And he (John) stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in" (20:5).

Why did Peter blunder in? "Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre" (20:6).

Couldn’t stop his running.

Bold nature.

Backslidden. Why is Peter identified by his old name Simon? Jesus had changed his name, "Thou are Simon, the son of Jona, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone" (John 1:42).

General survey. How did Simon see? "Then cometh Simon Peter and. . . seeth (Theoreo, to observe) the linen clothes lie" (20:6).

Empty grave clothes. Why did Simon see? "And the napkin, that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself" (20:7).

Respect for leadership. Why did John wait till Simon looked around? "Then went in also that other disciple" (20:8).

Examined the grave clothes. What did John do? "Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and saw, (Eidon; to examine)" (20:8).

He believed. What was the result of John’s examination? "And he saw and believed" (20:8).

Many times. Jesus had told them He would rise from the dead? How often had Jesus told them? "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that He must go into Jerusalem, and suffer . . . and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matt. 16:21).

Why had the disciples forgotten about the resurrection?

Unbelief. "The women, told these things unto the apostles, and their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not" (Luke 24:10,11).

Forgot. "Knew not the scriptures, that He must rise again from the dead" (20:9).

Blinded. "The god of this world hath blinded the minds . . . lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ . . . should shine unto them" (II Cor. 4:3,4).

PRACTICAL TAKE AWAYS

The spiritual blindness principle. The resurrection is the one event of Christianity that Satan wants to keep God’s people from believing. What does Satan not want us to know?

Indwelling life. "Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20).

Powerful life. "We are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised . . . even so we should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).

Eternal life. "We believe we shall live with him, (because) Christ being raise from the dead, dieth no more" (Rom. 6:8,9).

Heavenly life. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are alive, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1).

The intimacy principle. Those closest to the Lord are the first to see and understand.

The demonstration principle. "These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" (John 20:31).

The life principle. God gives us "proof" for one purpose. "That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name" (20:30).