April 16: Resurrection — the message of the apostles is that Jesus is alive
by IAN GREIG writing in THE LIVING WORD
This is The Living Word Bible Study for Sunday, April 16, 2023, taken from the Bible readings for April 16 set by the interdenominational reading scheme used by many different churches and chapels.
John 20:19-31 — The resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples
Acts 2:14, 22-32 — Peter tells how he witnessed the resurrection
1 Peter 1:3-9 — Jesus’ resurrection is what our new hope rests on
Theme: Resurrection — the message of the apostles is that Jesus is alive
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Psalm 16
1-2 Keep me safe, my God, for in You I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.
5-6 Lord, You alone are my portion and my cup; You make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9-10 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will You let Your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
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John 20:19-31 — The resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples
• He breathes the Holy Spirit on them in an initial impartation
19–20 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
“The disciples were together” — the apostles and others. They feared arrest for being followers of Jesus. His appearance in a body through locked doors was miraculous.
21–23 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
“As the Father has sent” — Jesus is sending them to continue His work. This verse gives the full Trinitarian mandate of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
“Receive the Holy Spirit” — the first of a number of occasions of receiving, preparing them for the outpouring to come, Acts 1:4-5, 2:1-47. People who have had an experience of the Spirit’s infilling are more receptive to further impartations.
24-25 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
“Thomas” — missed Jesus earlier and thought the others had seen a ghost, Matt. 14:26. John is careful to affirm Jesus as the incarnate Word, resurrected with a real body.
• For further study, read John 1:14; 1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 7.
26–27 A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
“My Lord and my God” — the climax of John’s gospel. He wrote this to show Jesus as the Christ (or Messiah) who fulfilled God’s promises to Israel by being God in the flesh.
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
“Those who have not seen” — are at no disadvantage; subsequent believers come to personal faith through the testimony of others. 1 Peter 1:8, 2 Cor. 5:7.
30-31 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
“Written that you may believe… by believing you may have life” — the emphasis of John’s gospel.
Reflection
SUMMARY In this part of the story, Jesus makes two appearances. The first time Thomas is not present — and sceptical. The second time Jesus, understanding Thomas’s difficulty, encourages him. Thomas’ utterance is the high point of this gospel account.
APPLICATION Some people, by nature cautious, are the world’s ‘late adopters’. Thomas wants to be sure for himself but at Jesus’ second appearance, expresses a strong statement of his belief in Jesus resurrected, and also in His deity.
QUESTION Do you freely praise “My Lord and my God” or refer to God in the third person? Which would Jesus prefer?
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Acts 2:14, 22–32 — Peter tells how he witnessed the resurrection
• It happened as David had foretold in song, hundreds of years before
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
“Addressed the crowd” — with a message typical of those repeated throughout the early church:
(1) OT promises fulfilled in life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ;
(2) the apostles first hand witness of all Jesus’ ministry and His chosen representatives;
(3) a call to repent and to believe; and
(4) salvation and Holy Spirit impartation for those who respond.
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.
“Miracles, wonders and signs” — proving Him to be Messiah and like Exodus 7:3, Deuteronomy 4:34-35.
23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the Cross.
“God’s… plan and foreknowledge” — God exercising permissive will which allows wicked men freewill while upholding His greater purpose.
24 But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.
“Death to keep its hold” — verse 36; Romans 1:4; 1 Cor. 15:12-20.
25-28 David said about Him: “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
“David said about Him” — writing Psalm 16 (here from Septuagint version), he had a prophetic insight about the death and resurrection of the Messiah to come.
29-32 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that He was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did His body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
“One of his descendants” — Peter explains the significance of his quotation. Jesus, a descendant of the great King David, was the very Messiah David foretold, even down to His miraculous resurrection.
Reflection
SUMMARY Here former fisherman Peter becomes a preacher and gives us one of the clearest of about 30 examples of early church proclamation and the key truths that were frequently repeated.
APPLICATION Relating what Scripture has said, to what people are experiencing, is a good way of helping listeners hear for themselves what God is saying to them.
QUESTION Should we give more emphasis to the resurrection of Jesus being Him present among us?
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1 Peter 1:3–9 — Jesus’ resurrection is what our new hope rests on
• We can be reborn into new life because Jesus is alive to give it to us
3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
“Praise be” — praise for the privileges God has given believers. Believing the resurrection of Jesus is the key to spiritual rebirth, John 3:3–8. This is our choice to enter into a new life and the promise of eternal life, a privilege which no circumstance can ever devalue.
4-5 This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
“Inheritance kept in heaven” — the promise for people of the new covenant in Jesus, safeguarded by faith and underwritten by the resources of heaven. Inheritance means both hope now and eternal fellowship with God to come.
6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
“Rejoice… trials” — the two sides to Christian faith. Conflicting values and allegiances bring testing, which the joy of new life in Jesus overcomes.
7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
“Genuineness of your faith” — as gold is refined in a necessary heat process, so trials refine and prove how certain we are of the final outcome with God. Peter’s readers, then and now, who maintain faith without sin in trials shine like pure gold, bringing glory to God.
• For further study on refining, see Job 23:10; Psalm 12:6, 66:10; Proverbs 17:3; Isaiah 48:10; perhaps Jeremiah 11:4.
8-9 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
“You have not seen him” — only a few believers had seen Jesus resurrected, but before He ascended.
“Inexpressible and glorious joy” — the evidence of the new life in Jesus, v.3. The born-again Christian gains a deep inner gratitude and security in God’s love, and it shows.
Reflection
SUMMARY Peter acknowledges the reality of life’s trials, but we are to hold on to our God-given confidence. As born-again believers, our destiny is assured and our faith empowered by the Holy Spirit. It makes all the difference that Jesus is resurrected — and alive.
APPLICATION Believers in the Early Church, like us, faced out to a world hostile to the beliefs and values we share. Our increasingly secular and politically-correct culture tries to block the expression of Christian faith and penalises those who uphold Christian values. This tests faith — and also strengthens it.
QUESTION What does “receiving… the salvation of your souls” mean? How do we who are saved go on being saved?
PRAYER Jesus, my Lord and my God! You lived on earth and shared our life but unlike us, sin never caused You to stumble.
Unlike us, You were perfectly filled with the Holy Spirit.
And on our behalf, You suffered a horrific Roman execution and then were seen alive and engaging with Your disciples on the third day and afterwards.
Thank You for holding out the offer of spiritual regeneration and new life. Thank You for being with us in our lives now.
Thank You that our human need to worship is not left imitating the example of someone who was, but is fully satisfied in the relationship and close fellowship of someone who is. Amen.
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- Watch the video (20 min approx) https://thelivingword.substack.com/p/what-keeps-christians-joyful-knowing?sd=pf
