text is found in the chapter
we read John chapter 20 and directing your attention now to verses
19 and 20 John chapter 20 verses 19 and 20 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 showed
unto them his hands and his sight. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord." Or that that might in some measure be
our experience. As we come together on this very
day, the first day of the week, 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 said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side, Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. What we see here of course is
the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ and that is
the subject matter that I want to address tonight. The resurrection power of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The great thing, of course, the
principal thing that stands out is the fact that Christ is that
one who overcame death. The Lord Jesus is that one who,
having died, is now risen again from the dead. And as he speaks
this word of peace to his disciples, At the end of verse 19 he goes
on in verse 20 John says, when he had so said he showed unto
them his hands and his sides. He shows unto them those wounds,
those marks of his death. How had he died? He had died
by the shedding of his precious blood. Without the shedding of
blood there is no remission of sin. And Christ's death was indeed
a bloody death. He died by means of crucifixion. We're told back in chapter 19
and verse 18, they crucified Him. They crucified Him and He
died. In verse 33 there in chapter
19, when they came to Jesus, they saw that He was dead already. They break not his legs, but
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his sides and forthwith
came there out blood and water. So not only is he nailed to the
cross in crucifixion, But the soldier thrust the spear into
his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bare record,
and his record is true. And he knoweth that he saith
truth, that ye might believe." The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who died. He was crucified. He was put
to death upon the cross. And this is not spoken of in
the book of the Revelation in chapter 5 and verse 6. We read
of him as a lamb as it had been slain. A lamb as it had been
slain. And when John sees the risen,
the glorified Christ there in the opening chapter, of that
remarkable book of the Revelation. Remember the words that the Lord
Jesus spoke unto John, I am he that liveth, he said, and was
dead, and am alive forevermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell
and of death. The Lord Jesus then is that one
who died, and he died a real death. And here we see him as
the one who has overcome death and risen again from the dead. We see it in the whole of the
chapter. And the great purpose of the
chapter is that John is determined to bear testimony to the blessed
truth of the resurrection. He says in the last verse, these
are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his
name. Now, he is of course revealed
as God, the Son of God, manifest in the flesh by the miracles
that he performed throughout his life. As we see here in John's
Gospel, those miracles are all signs. The beginning of the miracles,
He performs at Cana in Galilee and manifests forth His glory. His glory as the eternal Son
of God and His disciples believed on Him. But here is the greatest
of all those miracles. He is risen now from the dead. Death could not hold Him. But
the Lord Jesus Christ, as we see Him appearing now in His
resurrection glory to His disciples, He demonstrates to them the truth
that He had died. He showed unto them His hands
and His side, the marks of His death. Well, thinking about that
death, we recognize in Scripture that there is a threefold death,
is there not? There is first of all a spiritual
death that is spoken of in scripture. What is spiritual death? It is
separation from God. Man made in the image created
after the likeness of God is made to enjoy God, to have fellowship
with God. He is made to know God and to
not know God. to be separated from God is spiritual
death. And that was the consequence
of course of Adam's sin, Adam's transgression there in the garden
of Eden. How God told him quite plainly
concerning disobedience with regards to any partaking of that
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the day
that they'll eat us thereof, said God, thou shalt surely die. And the language indicates that
it means in the very day. In the day that he eats, as soon
as he partakes of the forbidden fruit, he is dead. And he was
dead. Not dead physically, but there
was spiritual death immediate. There was a separation from God,
and we see it. We see it, of course, in the
record, the faithful record that we have there in that sad history,
the third chapter of Genesis. They've sinned. There at verse
3, they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the
garden. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and
I hid myself. He is separated from God. And that's death, that is spiritual
death. And now we see that spiritual
death as it were so final in what we're told at the end of
that third chapter. Verse 23, Therefore the Lord
God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from
whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he
placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubims and a flaming
sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life. He's thrust out of paradise. No more is he enjoying that fellowship
with God that he knew at his creation when God planted the
garden and set him in the garden. There he could enjoy communion
with his God. There was immediate death and
it was spiritual death. This is what sin does. Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God. And your sins have
hid his face from you. How solemn are the words there
in Isaiah 59. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he
endured that death, did he not? He endured separation from God. That is the great mystery of
the crucifixion. That cry that he makes, the cry
of dereliction, remember the fulfillment of those words of
the psalmist in Psalm 22, and we have it recorded in Matthew
27, 46, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? If there is such a thing as a
spiritual death, which is separation from God, the Lord Jesus Christ
experienced that. Now, how this was done we can't
discuss. But this we know it was done
for us, says Joseph Hart. How can we discuss it? How could
there be that separation between God the Father and God the Son?
three persons in one Godhead, but God is undivided. God is
indivisible. How could there be separation?
But that is the mystery, is it not? When the Lord Jesus Christ
experienced that awful death of the cross, it was a spiritual
death in that sense. But then also, besides spiritual
death, there is physical death. And what is physical death? It's
the separation of body and soul. When man was created, God formed
his body out of the dust of the earth, we are told, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living
soul. And there are souls, as it were,
tabernacle in these bodies. Scripture speaks of the tabernacle,
the tent of this body. And what happens when a person
experiences physical death? Well, the body departs, or the
soul rather departs, we might say, from the body. And then
for the believer it is absent from the body, present with the
Lord. And eventually Adam, having immediately
experienced a spiritual death, eventually Adam and Eve experienced
physical death. They died. The soul was separated
from the body. The preacher in Ecclesiastes
says then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the
spirit to God who gave it. That is physical death. And the
Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus experienced that death, did he not? Remember what he says concerning
his dying, it is a voluntary death, no man taketh it from
me. I have power, I have authority
to lay it down. I have power, authority to take
it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
gives himself in death. Men do not take his life, he
gives his life. And we have it there in Luke
23-46, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having
said thus he yielded up the ghost. There was the separation you
see. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit. And there is the body
left upon the cross. And Christ has experienced the
reality of a physical death, a separation of body and soul
by a voluntary sacrifice. There is then spiritual death,
there is physical death, and then, oh there is that, that
can only be described so far as the sinner is concerned as
eternal death. Eternal death. that separation
which is hell and you know in hell really there are no unbelievers
in hell they all know that God is and here is the suffering
they know that they are eternally separated from God and yet they
were created in the image and made in the likeness of God to
have fellowship with God and forever and forever and forever
separated from the only source of any joy or any happiness. All the wages of sin is death,
eternal death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. And the Lord Jesus experienced
such for his people when he died upon the cross that that his
people must have endured for a never-ending eternity, because
of who he is. When we think of who he is, you
see it's God, it's God manifest in the flesh, who is dying there
upon the cross, in those few hours upon the cross, he endures,
and he pays that terrible penalty that his people must have been
paying forever and ever. the wages of sin. Here is the
Lord Jesus Christ, He's the sinless one, is He not? He never sins,
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than
the heavens and yet dying, wounded. For our transgressions, says
Isaiah, bruised, for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All is dying,
you see, as a substitute. And what do we read here in verse
20? He showed unto them His hands
and His feet. He shows it to them. These are
the marks, these are the wounds of His dying. He shows it unto
them. Why? To show that this death was for
them. It was for them that He bore this terrible punishment.
It was for them that He suffered these dreadful wounds. He showed
unto them His hands and His feet. He died for them and He rose
again from the dead for them. Oh, he says it again there in
the letter to the Church of the Laodiceans at the end of Revelation
chapter 3, I also overcame and I'm set down upon my Father's
throne. He is the one who has overcome.
He has overcome death. And he has overcome death in
all these different manifestations, spiritual death, physical death,
eternal death. He has overcome death. O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law.
But, says Paul, thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. And this, friends, is what we
must be celebrating. The resurrection power of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He has overcome sin. He has overcome
death, which is the consequence of sin. He is that one who is
the great victor over sin and Satan, over death and the grave. He overcomes. And then again
observe what we're told here. He is able to overcome every
physical object. Nothing is able to stand between
Him and His people. He overcomes these doors, closed,
barred, bolted doors. What do we read? Verse 19, 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, Pleased be unto you." Now He doesn't say that Christ
passed through the closed doors. It's a miracle this. He appears
in their midst. Though the doors be shut, the
Lord is there and it's a physical form, it's a real body. Does
He not bear the very marks of his crucifixion. These are what
he shows to the disciples and we see it again when exactly
one week later on the following first day of the week you remember
Thomas was not there when they were assembled on that first
Christian Sabbath day and Thomas was doubting. Thomas could not
believe that what he says in verse 25 except I shall see in his hands
the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the
nails, and thrust my hand into his side. I will not believe
his sins." And then on the next first day of the week, eight
days later, there are the disciples together and Thomas now is with
them. And the Lord again appears, though
the doors be shut. And he says to Thomas, Reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my sight, and be not faithless, but believing. It's a real body this. It is
that very body in which he suffered, in which he bore those wounds. Now we know There is no doubt
about it, this is the testimony of Holy Scripture. It is a real
body, this resurrection body. The Lord Jesus was able to partake
of food at this time. We see it in the following chapter,
chapter 21, when again the Lord shows himself to the disciples
at the Sea of Tiberias. And there in chapter 21, Verse 12, Jesus says to the disciples,
come and dine. And none of the disciples asked
him who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh
and taketh bread, and giveth thanks, and taketh bread, and giveth
them, and fish likewise. Now, this is now the third time
that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he was
risen from the dead. He shares this meal of bread
and fish with the disciples. He is able to eat food. This
is not an apparition. This is not a spirit. This is
a real body. And not only there in chapter
21, but remember what we're told in Luke's account of these things
in the last chapter of Luke's gospel in Luke chapter 24. Verse 41, here is the Lord appearing
to them. Verse 39, there He says, Behold
My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see,
for the Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. And then He shows them His hands
and His feet. Verse 41, While they yet believed not for joy
and wondered, He said unto them, Have you here any meat? And they
gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and a honeycomb, and He
took it, and it ate before them. He is demonstrating that this
is really himself. This is his body, that body that
was crucified, that is now glorified in the resurrection from the
dead. And look at what it says there in verse 43. Concerning the food he took it,
and did eat before them. And how significant are those
last two words? He did it, before them. He wanted them to see. He is
demonstrating to them that this is a real body. Behold my hands
and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. Or the reality,
you see, of the human nature. We know that there were those
foolish men in the early church who were denying the truth of
the reality of the human nature of Christ. There was that Gnosticism
that was so much abroad and it denied It led to the denial of
the reality of his human nature because the Gnostics contended
that what was physical was intrinsically evil and sinful. And therefore
if Christ was holy and sinless he couldn't have a real body,
he couldn't have a physical body. But what nonsense! And so John
answers these foolish men. Beloved, he says, believe not
every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because
many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know
ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God, and this is that spirit of Antichrist. whereof
ye have heard that it should come and even now already is
it in the world." The spirit of Antichrist denies the reality
of the human nature. The spirit of Antichrist denies
the reality of the true resurrected body of the Lord Jesus. It was
not an apparition, it was a real body. And in this body Christ
is able to overcome every every obstacle. The doors were shut. The doors were shut. Why were
they shut? For fear of the Jews. And suddenly, unexpectedly, the
Lord Jesus Christ is there in the midst of His fearful disciples. Well, what did He say to them?
What did he said to them? After I am risen again, I will
go before you into Galilee. That was the message that was
sent via Mary Magdalene to his disciples on the resurrection
morning. She was to go and tell them that
he was risen from the dead and would go before them into Galilee. Look at what we're told there.
in the last chapter of Matthew's Gospel in Matthew chapter 28
5 The angel answered and said unto
the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was
crucified. He is not here, for he is risen. As he said, Come, see the place
where the Lord lay, and go quickly, and tell his disciples that he
is risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before you
into Galilee. There shall ye see him. Lo, behold,
I have told you. And then again, it's repeated
at verse 10, Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid, go,
tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall
they see me. This is on the morning of the
resurrection, the first day of the week. This is the message
that is to be conveyed to the disciples that he will go before
them, they'll see him in Galilee. Ah! Ah! But His law will not
stay that long. He will come unto them the same
day at evening. That's the observation that George
Hutchison, the Scots commentator, makes in remarking on what we
have here in verse 19, 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 said unto them please be unto you he will not
stay he cannot stay so great is his love he loves his disciples
and he desires their company and he will come where they are
and he will minister to them in the midst of all their fears
oh friends when was it that this occurred It was the first day
of the week. That's what we're told in the
opening verse of the chapter, is it not? The first day of the
week. This is the first day of the week. The first day of the
week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark unto the
sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then that sounder at evening
being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews. Oh, it's
the same day, it's the first day of the week and the Lord
is pleased to own the day, it's the Lord's day. It's the Christian
Sabbath, is it not? John tells us there in the opening
chapter of the Revelation How he was favoured to see the glorified
Christ. And when was that? I was in the
Spirit on the Lord's Day. And I heard a voice behind me,
it tells us, and I turned, and what does he see? Seven golden
candlesticks. Ah, but in the midst of the candlesticks,
the glorified Christ. He's in the midst of the church,
you see. Where two or three are met together in my name. There am I in the midst. Oh, we're not to forsake the
assembling of ourselves together. On this day are we not. This
is the day that the Lord hath made, says the psalmist. We will
rejoice and be glad in it. What a day it is. That day which
the Lord Jesus Christ himself is so pleased to own and to honour. And how the Lord, you see, he
cannot stay. He must be where his disciples
are. He comes and He manifests Himself in the midst of them. Oh, friends, are we those who
truly cherish the Lord's Day? Can we say that it is to us such
a day? Oh, it is that first of all days. It is that best of all the days
of the week. All else, you see, is but a preparation
for us coming to this blessed day. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go to the house of the Lord, as we shall stand within
thy gate, O Jerusalem. This is David's desire, is it
not? Our opening hymn tonight, of
course, it's really one of what's his paraphrase. It's a paraphrase
of the 122nd Psalm. A psalm for the Lord's day, is
it not? almighty Christ break down every
barrier there. He is able to do it. What can
stand before this one who is able to overcome? He is the great
overcomer. He has overcome death itself. He has vanquished sin. He has
defeated Satan. What can stand before him? Doors
are as nothing. Though the doors be barred and
bolted, and the disciples so much afraid of what the Jews
might do for them, had they not crucified their Lord, would they
not now come after them? And yet, here is the Lord. He
is there in the midst. He is the Overcomer. And then,
this is our comfort, He is the One who will overcome all the
fears of His people. Have you ever thought, why is
it in the scriptures that we have so many fear nots? Just
read through the book of Isaiah and see how many times we have
that expression, fear not. And sometimes it's more emphatic,
fear thou not. Time and again, why? Because
God's people are so fearful. Is it not a truth, friends? We
are very much afraid. And here we have the disciples
and they are afraid. They are afraid of the Jews. They were fearful, you see, they
are going to be persecuted. But rather than the Jews coming,
who is it that comes? It's the Lord. And instead of
persecution, what is the message that the Lord proclaims? Peace. That's what it says. The same
day of the evening, being the first day of the week, when the
doors were shut, when the disciples were assembled for fear of the
Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them,
Peace be unto you. Oh, this is the Lord's legacy,
is it not? His dying legacy for his people. back in chapter 14 and verse
27 he says peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you
not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your hearts
be troubled neither be afraid oh he gives peace it is I be
not afraid and what is this peace that the Lord gives. Well, observe
the connection here. The Lord speaks, but He does
more than speak, He shows. At the end of verse 19, Jesus
stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed
unto them His hands. and His side. And there's a connection,
is there not, between what He says, peace, and what He does,
when He shows them His hands and His feet. It's these wounds,
you see, it's this death that He's just endured, that cruel
accursed death of the cross, it's all of that that has procured
peace for them. He has made peace through the
blood of His cross. He has reconciled sinners to
God. He has borne in his own person
that punishment that was the sinners just deserved. Oh, there's
a connection here, you see, when he draws their attention to these
wounds that purchased that peace with
God. Oh, he is the propitiation, says
John. for our sins. Here in his love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. That long word, that technical
theological word, biblical word, propitiation. But it reminds
us, you see, of God as the holy, righteous, just God who is angry
with the wicked. Every day He's angry with the
wicked. Oh, His ire burns against Him. He cannot look upon it. And what is propitiation? Why
is the Lord Jesus Christ coming and bearing that wrath of God?
Suffering at the hands of God, that awful punishment that was
due to the sinner. And so, there is peace now between
God and that sinner who is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
this is how the Lord comes in the gospel, is it not? He bids
the saints be glad. He makes the sinner sad and humble
souls rejoice with fear. Do we rejoice with fear? Then
were the disciples glad, it says, when they saw the Lord. Oh, He makes us glad, does He
not? But all the sight of Him to see Him, to behold Him with
the eye of faith. We cannot see Him, of course,
with our natural eye, with our physical eye, but do we desire
that, that we might discern Him, see Him with the eye of faith,
see Him in the Holy Scriptures, see Him in the ordinance of the
Lord's Supper, that He might come and show Himself to us.
They were glad, they saw the Lord. But you know, that gladness
must always be mixed with with reverence and with fear the psalmist
exhorts serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling that's
real joy is it not to rejoice with trembling to know something
of the fear of the Lord fear him ye saints for ye will then
have nothing else to fear he is the one you see who overcomes
And He overcomes everything. And believers overcome in Him.
What do we read concerning those who are arrayed in the white
linen, clean and white? Which is the righteousness of
the saints. There in Revelation chapter 12, they overcame Him. They overcame Satan by the blood
of the Lamb. By the blood of the Lamb. That's
how we overcome. and He gives that promise there
we've referred to the words already in Revelation 3.21 to Him that
overcometh He says, will I grant to sit with me on my throne even
as I overcame and am set with my Father in His throne all the
overcoming power of the Lord Jesus Christ do we feel our sins? It isn't
our great fear that sin is such an awful foe. How can we ever
overcome sin? How can we overcome our wicked
fallen nature? How can we overcome Satan, that
great adversary? It comes, and we can't say what
the Lord said, the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing
in me, he has much in us. How can we overcome it? Are we
afraid? Well, we have to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. the only one who can overcome,
overcome our sins, overcome ourselves. Oh, I do like those words of
dear Ralph Erskine, all that I have done to myself, all for
the Lord to overcome me, myself, and my sins. I make myself afraid. Ah, but the Lord overcomes you,
sir. He's that one who has triumphed so gloriously. or that the Lord
might come then and visit you and visit me with this great
salvation. 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 showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad.
when they saw the Lord. Amen.