Scripture Reading: John 20
In this chapter we will continue to consider the signs in John 20.
In John 20 the empty tomb also is a sign (v. 2). There is a hymn concerning the empty tomb, which indicates that when we see the empty tomb, we should be at rest, for the empty tomb is the sign that God has accepted our Redeemer, our Substitute. According to this hymn, the empty tomb implies that our sins have been forgiven and that our case has been solved before God. Therefore, we may be at peace.
However, this understanding of the significance of the empty tomb is too shallow. When we think of the empty tomb, we should not simply realize that our problems have been solved. On the positive side, we should realize that Christ is in resurrection and we also are in resurrection. In resurrection He became the Firstborn, and we became His brothers. Our sins have been forgiven, our problems have been solved, and we have been germinated. Now in resurrection we are part of the new creation. We are in Christ’s multiplication, and this multiplication is the church life. Do you know what the church life is? The church life is the glorification of Christ, a glorification that is actually Christ’s multiplication. Probably you have not realized before that in the church we are in the multiplication of Christ. The situation in the church is far from pitiful; the situation is one of glorification. Praise the Lord that the church life, as Christ’s glorification, is His multiplication!
The next sign is the sign of the linen cloths and the handkerchief (vv. 5-7). After the Lord Jesus was resurrected from the dead, something was left in the tomb. The linen cloths left in the tomb signify the old creation. These cloths and a handkerchief were used to wrap the Lord Jesus when He was buried. But in resurrection these things remained in the tomb. This gives us a clear picture that the old creation has been terminated, and the new creation is in resurrection.
Where are you today — in the tomb or in resurrection? Too often many Christians are in a tomb as far as their experience is concerned. The church life, however, is in resurrection. In the church life we should not have anything in the old creation. Whenever we come to a church meeting, we should be sure to leave everything of the old creation in the tomb. Because the church is altogether in resurrection, we should not bring anything of the old creation into the church life.
In verse 17 we have the sign of the Lord’s brothers: “Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” The sign of the Lord’s brothers signifies His multiplication as His glorification in resurrection. This is the crucial point in this chapter.
Recently in a meeting we sang the hymn, the first line of which is, “Christ the Lord is ris’n indeed.” Although this is a good hymn on the Lord’s resurrection, and everything in it is true, it is very objective. In this hymn we do not have anything concerning the multiplication and glorification of the Lord Jesus. This hymn says that Christ “has met His people’s need.” But what exactly is our need? In what matters do we need the Lord’s resurrection? We need to answer such questions according to our actual experience. One line of this hymn goes on to ask the question, “Where, O Death, is now thy sting?” Can we say that in our daily living we do not suffer from the sting of death? We must admit that in our practical experience death is still powerful. In our family life, for example, we may be stung by the power of death. Another line of this hymn asks, “Where thy victory, O grave?” Many Christians cannot sing this with any sense of reality. The last lines of this hymn say that now we soar where Christ has led, following our exalted Head, and that like Him we rise, “free from all the earthly ties.” However, in our experience are we rising and soaring? Are we truly free from all the earthly ties? Not many of us can answer these questions in a positive way.
Although this is a good hymn on certain objective aspects of Christ’s resurrection, it does not express what the Gospel of John reveals to us regarding the resurrection of Christ. In John’s Gospel the resurrection is divine and mysterious, for it is related to Christ’s multiplication and glorification. According to this book, we have become the many brothers of the resurrected Christ. This means that we are His multiplication, His glorification, in resurrection.
Early in the morning on the day of His resurrection, Christ went secretly to the Father. This was a secret ascension. In verse 17 the Lord told Mary the Magdalene not to touch Him, because He had “not yet ascended to the Father.” This secret ascension to the Father was the ultimate fulfillment of the going predicted in 16:5-7, and it took place forty days before His public ascension in the sight of the disciples (Acts 1:9-11). After ascending to satisfy the Father, He returned to the disciples (John 20:19). As the firstfruits of the harvest in typology were first brought to God, so the freshness of the Lord’s resurrection was first for the Father’s enjoyment.
The Old Testament type of which we are speaking is found in Leviticus 23:10-11: “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I am giving you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest; and he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah for your acceptance; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.” Furthermore, concerning the firstfruits, Exodus 23:19 says this: “The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Jehovah your God.” The firstfruits were not to be enjoyed by the people; rather, they were to be offered to God for His enjoyment.
According to Leviticus 23:11, the day the sheaf of the firstfruits was offered to God was one day after the Sabbath, that is, on the first day of the week. From the day the sheaf of the firstfruits was offered, the people were to count seven weeks (vv. 15-16). The Feast of Pentecost would then be held on the fiftieth day. The time from John 20 to the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 was exactly fifty days. After the Lord was resurrected, He manifested Himself to His disciples over a period of forty days. At the expiration of those days, He publicly ascended to the heavens; that is, He ascended openly in the sight of His disciples. Following His public ascension, the disciples prayed for ten days, and then the day of Pentecost came.
The Lord’s secret ascension is inserted into John’s account of the Lord’s resurrection. We need to be impressed with the fact that in John’s record there is such an insertion. Immediately after the Lord was resurrected, He was ready to go to the Father. However, He was held back for a little while by the love of Mary the Magdalene. Because Mary was there seeking Him, He did not go immediately. Instead, He remained for a time to take care of this sister, who was weeping because she could not find Him. After speaking with her, He ascended to the Father.
It was a good thing that the Lord was held back. It is due to this delay that we have the revelation recorded in 20:17. If Mary had not been present, the Lord would not have had anyone to whom to speak these words: “I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” What a great revelation this is! If we did not have this word, how would we know that on the day of the Lord’s resurrection we became His brothers? We should be thankful to Mary that her love held the Lord back at least for a few minutes in order to reveal such a mystery. This word is part of the record that indicates Christ’s secret ascension to present the firstfruits of resurrection to the Father for His enjoyment.
Verse 19 indicates that on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the Lord’s disciples were gathered together. This gathering of the disciples on the day of the Lord’s resurrection signifies the Lord’s brothers meeting as His church. This means that the first church meeting took place in the evening of the day of the Lord’s resurrection. When the disciples came together, they did not have the intention to meet as the church. They came together because of fear of the Jews. Then much to their surprise, “Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be to you.” By His appearing the Lord changed their gathering into a meeting of the church.
When some hear that the first church meeting took place in John 20:19, they may protest and say that this chapter does not indicate a church meeting. Regarding this, we need to consider Hebrews 2:11b and 12: “He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, ‘I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You.’” This indicates that after the Lord’s resurrection He came to the disciples to declare the Father’s name to them as the church. If this did not take place in chapter 20 of the Gospel of John, when did it happen? In John 20 we have a record that on the day of His resurrection the Lord Jesus came back to His disciples and met with them. These disciples, who had become His brothers, had now become the church. Therefore, in verse 19 we have the first church meeting.
The disciples came together out of fear. We may say that at first the center of their gathering was this fear. But the center was changed to the resurrected Christ. When fear was the center of their gathering, they did not have any peace or joy. But when the Lord appeared in their midst, He said to them, “Peace be to you.” That was a timely word. On the one hand, the disciples were comforted; on the other hand, they were shocked by the Lord’s sudden appearance. The doors were shut where they were meeting. How, then, had the Lord come into the room? He came with a resurrected body into the room with the doors shut. Verse 20 says, “When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.” In this way He was indicating to them that He was Jesus their Lord. “The disciples therefore rejoiced at seeing the Lord.”
According to verse 21, “Jesus said to them again, Peace be to you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” The Father sent the Son by being one with the Son and by coming with the Son. The Son sends His disciples in the same way that the Father sent Him. This means that as the Father sent Him by being one with Him and coming with Him, so the Lord would send the disciples by being one with them and by going with them. He would be within the disciples as the Father is in the Son.
In order to send the disciples in this way, “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). The Holy Spirit is nothing less than the resurrected Lord Jesus Himself, because this Spirit is His breath. The Greek word for Spirit in this verse is pneuma, a word that is used for breath, spirit, and wind. Therefore, this verse can rightly be translated, “Receive the holy breath.” On the day of His resurrection the Lord Jesus breathed Himself into His disciples as the holy breath.
The Christ who breathed Himself into the disciples is the life-giving Spirit. Some theologians use the term the pneumatic Christ to refer to the Christ who is the Spirit, the breath. In resurrection Christ Himself is breath. Where was the Lord after He breathed Himself into His disciples? The answer is that He was now dwelling in them. Therefore, when He sent them, He could go with them by being in them. The principle is the same with us today. When we are sent by Him, He goes with us because He is in us.
The last sign in this chapter is that of the Lord’s sending of His disciples (v. 21). As we have already indicated, this signifies that His commission to the disciples is like the Father’s commission to Him. If we consider this matter carefully, we will realize that it is a great thing. God came to man in the way of being in His Son. Therefore, when the Son came, God the Father came in the Son and with the Son. Now, through death and resurrection, the Son has been multiplied. The Son sends the disciples as the Father sent Him — by being in them to be one with them. Hence, the disciples are one with the Son and also one with the Father.
Do you know what the church is? The church is the sent ones meeting with the Son and the Father. Whenever we meet, we have the Son and the Father within us. Wherever we go, the Son and the Father go with us. If we see this, we will have assurance and confidence, and this assurance and confidence will become our power and authority.
The Son is the embodiment of the Father, and we are the multiplication of the Son. This is what it means to be a Christian, one who believes in Christ. Christians are actually the multiplication of the embodiment of God. This sounds like a heavenly language. Whenever we come together in the church meetings, we need to have the realization that we, the believers, are the multiplication of the embodiment of God. Such a realization will surely change our church life and cause our spirit to soar.
We have seen that the first seventeen chapters of the Gospel of John present God living as a man among men. Chapters 18 and 19 present life passing through the process of death. Now in chapters 20 and 21 we see resurrection. This resurrection is the Spirit, the pneuma. Therefore, in chapters 1 through 17 we have God, in chapters 18 and 19 we have life, and in chapters 20 and 21 we have the Spirit in resurrection. This means that in the Gospel of John we have God, life, and the Spirit. Chapters 1 through 17 show us God living among men; chapters 18 and 19, life passing through death; and chapters 20 and 21, the Spirit, the pneuma, moving in resurrection.
The moving of the Spirit in resurrection has not ceased; rather, it continues today. Concerning this, there is no end to the Gospel of John. This Gospel does not give us a record of the Lord’s public ascension, as we have in Mark and Luke. According to the Gospel of John, the resurrected Christ breathed Himself into His disciples as the holy breath and now dwells in them. Therefore, this breath, this pneuma, is still moving in resurrection.
The Gospel of John reveals that God lived among men, that life passed through death, and that now the Spirit is moving in resurrection. Do you know where we are today? We are in resurrection enjoying this pneuma as the multiplication of the embodiment of God, and this multiplication is the Lord’s glorification. Praise the Lord for the marvelous revelation in chapter 20 of John!
