The Gospel of John 21:1-14

This is John 21, 1 through 14, and what I'd like to do is just begin by going through the slides. It'll give us a kind of a graphical introduction here. This is the Resurrection and Ascension timetable, and actually you have that on page 1, not 2, but 1 on your handout. And it starts day one or day zero, the day of the resurrection and the empty tomb discoveries, and then the appearances during that first day.

And then seven days later, eight days if you include the days at each end, the Lord comes in when all the disciples are there, lesbians, And Thomas has his doubts removed. Can you imagine going through a whole week where ten disciples are trying to tell Thomas, we did see the Lord, and he's going, ahem. Right? And finally after a week, Thomas says, oh, they're telling the truth. They're not pulling my leg. Or whatever figure of speech they would tend to use.

And then, some unknown number of days after that, Jesus appears to seven disciples in Galilee, and that's what we're looking at here today. And then later on, he appears to the eleven in Galilee, then to over 500, then to James, Jesus' brother, or half-brother, and then finally, forty days out, the ascension from the Mount of Olives in view of the eleven disciples.

Let's ask one question before proceeding into this. What are some of the things that would tend to go against the idea that these guys are all just hallucinating? These guys are all just imagining this. What would tend to go against that? There are changes. Pardon? They all change. Yeah, one is radical change. Okay? One is radical change, right? What else? Yeah, Tom?

Just the simple mathematics of it, when you look at an atom, all the numbers, it's not like this was a random occurrence. Yeah, some individual you might imagine, maybe even a couple of people you might imagine having some sort of a hallucination or something, but to have a number of people, a number of times, And even starting off skeptical, not kind of wish fulfillment, but starting off with a skeptical viewpoint, a number of people, a number of times, that tends to lean against any theory that this is just sort of a hallucination or imagination on somebody's part. Even something contrived would be hard to have happened here. And let's think of it, Thomas is really skeptical.

What was James, Jesus' half-brother, what was his mindset until Christ appeared to him after he was raised? Did he think he was man? Yeah, James did not believe. James and his brothers did not believe. At one point earlier in the Gospel of John we saw that his brothers were encouraging him to go to Jerusalem because they wanted him killed.

So that skeptical. That degree of skepticism got reversed, and then you have James, who is the author of the book that they're studying, the other elective over there. So a radical change in James, from complete unbelief and even an extremely negative view towards Jesus, to seeing him resurrected and being completely turned around, to being one of the leaders in the church. Alright, let's take a further look here. Here is the location.

Jerusalem is where they had first seen Jesus. They're told to head to Galilee on a fishing trip. That's where the events that we see now. It's the Sea of Galilee or it's also called the Sea of Tiberias. That was the Roman name. And so here's another map of that area. Tiberias was a Roman built city on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee. And you have that shown on the map that's on your first page there. And so here's Nazareth nearby, not too far away. And here's Capernaum, which is at the north end.

That was kind of the headquarters, and that's also where Peter's house was located. This is believed to have been Peter's house. They've got a covering over the top of it, but underneath there are the stones of what's believed to be Peter's house. Here's ruins of a first and second century synagogue. The reason I say first and second century is because it was a dark colored stone, which is the native stone, and then they took that off, leaving the foundation and built it with white stone in the second century.

So this is kind of stepping our way through the passage with some pictures. And so this would be Galilee late in the day. And so Peter says, I'm going fishing. Let's do something instead of just sitting around here. So they said, we'll come with you. So they had seven of them that were gathered there. And they went out and got into the boat. And they went out on the boat and that night they caught nothing. And by the way, why is it that you fish at night? Why is it that they would always fish at night?

The fish don't see the net. See, today we have like nylon and other kinds of materials that when the net is put down into the water, it's not visible to the fish. But in those days they didn't have such a thing. And so we had kind of small rope material, and so when they would lower the net, if they did it during the day, the fish could see it and they'd swim out of the way. So they'd fish at night. Work all night was the typical thing for the fishermen. Work all night and catch up on your sleep during the day.

When the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach. The disciples didn't know that it was Jesus. There's somebody over on the beach, don't know who that is. One of the other things we'll look at is the different forms of fish, and we'll study here which form it is, but there's three different forms of fish. There is fresh fish, dried fish, and fermented fish paste. Anyway, we'll take a look at that. So Jesus said to them, And he had a fire going. Jesus said to them, children, isn't it interesting? You do not have any fish, do you? And it wasn't, you know, do you have any fish? It's, you don't have any, do you? And they answered him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.

And by the way, the sun is coming up, right? And so the fish can see the net. And so after fishing all night, which was the right time to do it when the fish can't see the net, what do they do? They stop dropping the net in because the sun's coming up and the fish can see the net. So Jesus tells them, after the sun's starting to come up, Just put the net over on the other side of the boat. After the sun started to come up. And then, what happens? So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. Fantastic miracle.

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on for work and threw himself into the sea. And you've got a picture like this in your handout as well. The other disciples came into the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about 100 yards away, dragging the net full of fish. In other words, they couldn't even pull it into the boat, so they dragged it. But Peter's swimming, right? So here they're looking at it. Here's this guy on the shore that told them to put it on the other side. Boy, this is amazing stuff.

So when they got on land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it in bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish which you have now caught. Add that to what we've already got here. So Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, 153. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. By the way, in the North Atlantic Sea of Galilee, they've got large blocks of basalt. rock that's jagged edges and so real easily tear the net at the north end of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples ventured to question him, who are you, knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. So, let's go to the handout.

We mentioned previously the gospel is given in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4, and a summary of Christ's resurrection appearances, some uniquely in this passage, 1 Corinthians 15, 5-8. So it reads like this, For I delivered to you what was of first importance, what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep." Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles, and last of all, as one untimely born, he appeared to me also." Now, so here Paul summarizes the appearances which go along with the chart that you see to the left there.

So the term, the twelve, came to be a designation for the disciples even if there were not exactly twelve of them present. So an example of that would be John 20, 24. They would be called the 12, meaning this is the group of select disciples, even if there were some other number exactly present. So though the disciples were told to go to Galilee and that the Lord would meet them there, That's in Matthew 28, 7, 10, and 16. So there's multiple instances. Go to Galilee. So they're not just wandering off. And the account in John 21, 1-14 is unique. That is, it doesn't show up in the other Gospels. Why would John report an instance like this that's unique? Why would he report it and the others not? Yeah, one is he is present. He is present. He's present and his brother is present. So that's one thing. This is an eyewitness account. This is John who has actually been there. It's not reported second hand.

One thing is, we'll see here shortly, it says exactly the number of fish, 153 This is attention to detail, and John was obviously, as a fisherman, was very impressed with this event. And so it not only was one very memorable to him, it was one he could relate to, and he was the first one to speak out and say, it's the Lord. Let's say it's the Lord. So this is a very memorable event to him.

He is an eyewitness. He even notes the exact number of fish, which if you weren't there, you may not even pick up on that. So likely, this is because neither Matthew, Mark, nor Luke were personally present, but John was present. John begins his eyewitness account in this way. And so we'll begin John 21, 1 through 3. After these things, Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and he manifested himself in this way.

Simon Peter and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathanael, and Canaan, and Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing, which is probably code for, I'm kind of bored waiting around, let's do something. They said to him, we will also come to you. And they went out and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

So the disciples were already in Galilee, because they'd been told to. It's called by the Roman name Sea of Tiberias. Tiberias was a newly built city that was a distinctly Roman city. And interestingly enough, Jesus went to various places around the Sea of Galilee. That's one place he didn't go. We have no record that he ever went there. If anything, he seemed to stay away from it. It was not Jewish, it was very Roman and Greek in influence.

Verses 1 and 14 both have Jesus being manifested to his disciples. Manifested means that he appeared because he made himself visible, active voice. In other words, he didn't just show up, he actually made himself visible. Remember, because he's now resurrected, this is a supernatural body, not a body just like we have. And so he deliberately showed himself. So that's, interestingly enough, something that he could choose to do or not do. So he manifested himself as a matter of choice and deliberate action.

The disciples present for a total of seven were Simon Peter, and then Thomas called Didymus, which actually just means the twin. So he either must look a lot like somebody or actually have been one of a pair of twins. Nathanael, and Nathanael I have noticed there is from Canaan in Galilee, that's where Jesus and John chapter 2 turn the water into wine. And then James and John were the sons of Zebedee. They both, as brothers, they both were disciples of Jesus, and so were disciples together. Two other disciples, unnamed, possibly Philip and Andrew, but we don't know.

So you have a total of seven there, is what's given. So when you look at the 488 period from Christ's resurrection to his ascension, so you have the slide on the prior page there, there was a fair amount of waiting time between some of Christ's appearances. Imagine, here is this day of the resurrection and Christ shows up several times, several people among the group see the empty tomb.

And then a week goes by when nothing happens. They're probably puzzled, what's happening? And then all of a sudden, the appearance to Thomas a week later. Thomas who kept telling them, nope, I don't believe it. All ten of you say, but I still, until I see, until I touch, uh-uh, not going there.

So they fished at night because the rope nets were visible to the fish during the day. And the rope nets were visible to the fish when they caught this very large number. We'll see there was a very good reason that they caught nothing. It was actually a good thing. Here are these professional fishermen. I mean, they really know how to fish. And to have caught nothing, I'm sure that they were discouraged and disgusted. But there was a very good reason for them not to catch anything.

Yes. Here we go, John 21, 4-8. But when the day was now breaking, so the sun is coming up, right? The fish can now see the nets. Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, you do not have any fish, do you? Now they answered him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right hand side of the boat and you will find a catch. So they cast and they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. They couldn't even pull it into the boat. It was so massive. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.

But the other disciples came in the little boat. So what they have is a larger boat and then a little boat to haul things to land. in a little boat, for they were not far from the land, about a hundred yards away." And by the way, here's another detail, right? About a hundred yards away, so here's John, he's recording as an eyewitness, here's this detail, "...dragging the net full of fish." So the disciples did not know that it was Jesus on shore, but of course Jesus knew it was the disciples.

Jesus' question was, where did it say, children, you don't have any fish, and then fish to be put on bread. It's a particular, it's a specific word that's only used here in the Holy Testament. You don't have any fish to be put on bread, do you? It wasn't the question, do you have any fish? It's, you don't have any fish to be put on bread, do you? Yes.

Like our fish sticks. Well, yeah, and even finer than that was typically the usual. The word for fish to be put on bread is found only here in the New Testament and includes the popular fermented fish paste. So it was extraordinary enough to have caught, I'm on the top of page 3, caught no fish at all, but to simply cast the net on the right hand side of the boat after the sun was starting to come up when the fish could see the net and to catch so many fish then was indeed miraculous. The Lord, you imagine the Lord, you know, controlling things to several different points.

One is, these guys don't catch any fish at all, all night. Right? And it's like this is a miraculous event. Not even one or two or three, just none. Zip. They have absolutely nothing for fishing all night. That's unheard of. You might have a bad night, you know, where you only get a few, but none. Zip.

And then to have somebody tell you, oh, you just need to throw it on the other side of the boat after the sun's starting to come up. It's like, you know, why should we bother? But do you think some of them were starting to think, hey, this has got to be the Lord. This has got to be the Lord.

So then it was typical for fishermen to take off the outer garment when fishing. It's kind of roughly equivalent to long johns, which you see there in the little diagram where they have something like long johns and the sleeves and the legs are rolled up, pulled up. So verse 9 there through 11 in chapter 21, When they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already lit, and fish placed on it and bred. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish which you have now caught.

And Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, 153 large fish. And although there were so many, the net was not to him. dragging it. By the way, Simon Peter jumped into the water, but it didn't mean that he left it for the rest of them to take care of it. He also was helping pull the net in.

So, question. Jesus had a charcoal fire there, and already had bread, and already had fish. How did those things get there? Is it interesting? Think about it. Is it possible? I mean, really, it doesn't say. So, is it possible that he actually, you know, got some bread from somebody? And got some fish from somebody? and started a fire and did everything just natural? Or, let's take the other extreme, is it also possible, being one who could make the fish suddenly go into the net after the sun had started coming up, and they were large fish, 153 of them, so many that they couldn't pull it into the boat. Is it possible that that same kind of miraculous power was evident in the charcoal fire and the fish and the bread?

The truth is we don't know, right? We're not told. Heavens, Jesus could have just, you know, got all the stuff at the store, I suppose. But, yeah. There might have been an extra purpose for that, because these people are exhausted, and they need some food fast. Yeah.

They say, you're working all night, you know, been throwing the net, you know, pulling in, and got nothing. They're not only exhausted, they're very discouraged. Up until, now all of a sudden they've got so much fish they can't even pull it into the boat. So 153, John keeps note of the count here. Though the net was very full, they had to drag it, the net was not pulling.

And in that part of the Sea of Galilee, especially on the northern part, on the land there's just a big basalt flow. And down underneath the water, lots of rock. Lots of jagged pieces of basalt. And that you would not tear the net would be rather remarkable. Especially with the net so full. So, rather amazing.

So, John 21, 12-14 reads like this. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. None of the disciples ventured to question him, knowing that it was the Lord. Of course, John had already himself said, it's the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. He served them.

This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. Now, what's the first time? The first time we saw earlier in chapter 20, there were ten of the disciples in a room with the doors closed, and Jesus shows up and says, peace be with you. So that's the first time they appeared to the disciples, plural. Then, a week later, as you see on the chart on the first page.

A week later, Sunday, the next week, the 10 disciples plus now Thomas, so 11 disciples, are in this room with the doors closed, almost verbatim like the situation before, except now Thomas is present. And Jesus comes into the midst of them and goes directly to Thomas.

Thomas, I want you to see here the marks on my hands. I want you to see the mark on my side. Promise. Look. Touch. So that's the second time. This is now the third time. So ten, then eleven, and now seven. So here's Jesus comes to them and invites them to eat the fish and the bread.

The events of the last few minutes had made clear that this was in fact Jesus. So nobody asked Jesus if it was really him. Can you imagine their kind of change of emotions in a matter of a few minutes? Until Jesus begins talking to them, and even when Jesus begins talking to them, What's their mindset?

They've worked all night, professional fishermen, and they have caught nothing. They are, as Tom pointed out, exhausted, they are discouraged, and they're hungry. Exhausted, discouraged, and hungry. And then Jesus calls from the shore. They don't know it's Him yet. Hey boys, you don't have any fish yet, do you? No. Still kind of discouraged, aren't they?

And exhausted. Oh, just throw the net on the other side. Oh, I know the sun's coming up, but throw the net on the other side. Which they did. And all of a sudden, so many fish they can't even pull it up. And I don't think it has to do with them just being exhausted. It's just 153 large fish. And they can't pull it up.

And John's saying, it's the Lord! Imagine their change of mindset from, this is really discouraging and we've just wasted a night. And boy are we tired, and boy are we hungry. to, IT'S THE LORD! And Peter's putting on his outer garment, jumping in the water, and then to have Jesus invite them, come have breakfast. Oh, and those fish that you got, bring some of them over here and we'll put those on the fire too.

Imagine the radical change in mindset in a matter of a few minutes. Just astounding. I think it's okay, even good, for us to recognize these dramatic moments and to envision the change of mindset and the change of emotional state that these guys are going through from one minute to the next. One minute, they're exhausted, they're tired, they're discouraged, and they're hungry, maybe even a little bit disgusted.

And all in a matter of a very short period of time, great excitement, and also a great number of fish. Large ones at that. Yeah? What do you think of their mindset about their future, do they think, well maybe we're going to have to go back to fishing for a living? Yeah, you know, you wonder, and of course it doesn't say.

It's going to become evident in the next passage that the Lord has got something in mind for them. But still there, as we mentioned last week, for the next 30 years and possibly longer, they are having aha moments again and again and again, learning new things, discovering new things that they didn't know. things about what the Lord had assigned them to, things about who the Lord is. They are learning and having these astounding aha moments year after year after year for at least three decades. You can imagine, let's just start now. We're here in the year 2013. And imagine going, wow, wow, wow, for 30 years, and just to project ahead from our time, 2043. Imagine 2043, just day after day and year after year of aha moments. This is the set of discoveries these guys are making.

Even on the day that the Lord ascends, they're still asking him questions. Is now the time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Oh no, not that. We've got another thing going on here. That'll happen, but the Father calls that time. We've got another thing going on here, and you guys will figure out what it is. See ya. So, what we have here. Jesus will, in the next passage, which is our final passage in the Gospel of John, restore Peter. And I think that begins to address your question, and that is what's going on in their minds here.

Here's Peter, and it hadn't been that many days that he was just across from the courtyard in the house where Jesus was on trial, and telling the people that were on staff there, I don't even know him. It says he even cursed. I don't even know him. And so here's Peter, the Lord has appeared to him, resurrected, which wasn't at all what he expected. The Lord has now appeared to him the third time within the group, and by the way, there was another time with him just individually. And the Lord's going to restore him after him having denied Christ personally, just being in the same house and across the courtyard from where Jesus was.

Yeah. I was just thinking how gracious our Lord is. Yeah. And he has a timetable that is so different from the disciples and for us. We use the word humility in a sense that is being so patient and graciously patient with us. And I think that's something for us to ponder here. Obviously, Randy's going to go into the details on that.

Yeah, I mean, really, you could imagine, you know, Jesus would have every right to say, Peter, I mean, I told you you were going to do this, and you did it anyway, and you really blew it. You know? And shame on you for doing that. What do you think you're doing? But what did the Lord do? Did the Lord do that? No. The Lord was immensely gracious to him. And for each time he denied, the Lord comes across instead, Peter, do you love me? Yes, you know that I do. You know that I do. What's that?

I was thinking that maybe this was a practical lesson in dependence on the Lord that even though he's not physically present with us anymore, this seems like a dramatic lesson. in the fact that even though we can't see him, he is intimately aware of our needs and perhaps they were beginning to have some financial needs that were really pinching at this time.

Surely they had enough fish left over to take to market and make a profit. This is an instance, just think about it, minutes before this event they were very discouraged and tired and exhausted. And if you take a look at their mindset at that moment, I mean, it's kind of like, boy, this is a down moment here. I know we've seen the Lord resurrected, but it's not looking so good right now. And, you know, we haven't been doing our fishing, so we're kind of running out of funds. And I just, I don't know how this is going to turn out good. And so there's some real catching up. in their mindset, in their emotions, in their finances. There's some real catching up to do at this moment.

And the Lord is abundantly gracious to them. And I think that's something for us to remember when we get into moments where, boy, things don't look so good right now. When we're going through tough times. That the Lord has a gracious provision for us. And the Lord is looking at us graciously, not there with a scolding finger.

There's a famous document written a few centuries back. The sinner is in the hands of an angry God. But when I look at it, I say, wait a minute. Is that really what he's looking at doing here? The Lord is immensely gracious. In next week's passage, he will be gracious even more.

And I think, no, no, sinners in the hands of an angry God, the Lord is immensely gracious, so gracious in fact, it's Ephesians 2.7, in the rolling ages to come, he's going to be showing his grace. He'll be showing his grace.

Let's take a look at page four, which has a list of the passages and the appearances. This goes along with the chart that's on the first page that shows the different appearances. First, what you see is people find an empty tomb. The first one there is Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome.

And then the next one, the stone rolled away allowing witnesses to see the empty tomb. The next one, the tomb found empty by the women at about the time of sunrise. The tomb found empty by Peter and John and the grave clothes arranged consistent with resurrection. Here's the tomb, the stones rolled away, the grave clothes are there, but Jesus isn't in it. and then begin on that same day the post-resurrection appearances.

And those continue until 40 days later at intervals, but a number of appearances that first day. The first one to Mary Magdalene, and then Jesus predicts his ascension when he's going to go to the Father. The other woman also see him and then instruction to meet him in Galilee. A report of the soldiers to the Jewish authorities. So here are the soldiers, the ones who are supposed to guard the tomb and keep anybody from messing with the tomb. Well, it's too late for that.

The stone's rolled away. This angel comes and just rolls the stone away and doesn't seem to be bothered by these Roman soldiers at all. About 16 of them. The two disciples traveling to Emmaus who didn't believe the report about the empty tomb. Well, these are really strange reports. We don't know what this means. So Jesus tells them. Report of the two disciples to the rest, including an appearance to Peter. Paul also reported another appearance to Peter. So, very interesting here.

And then finally, the ten disciples that we talked about, revealing characteristics of Jesus' resurrected body. Then, Sunday, a week later, Can you imagine that week? The Lord shows up to a number of us, but not to Thomas. And now we've got a week where he doesn't show up again. And we're wondering, what's happening? What's the program here?

So then he shows up to the disciples, including Thomas. And then seven disciples, fishing in Galilee, what we looked at here today. Peter told that Aaron would feed for his sheep. Then the 11 disciples in Galilee, then to 500, the great commission to large numbers of followers. Still later, James, Jesus' brother, becomes a believer.

That had to have been a radical moment. Jesus, I hate him. I just want him dead. Mother is always saying, how come you aren't like Jesus? Right? How come you're not like your brother? Your brother is a good example. Do what he does. He never does anything wrong. But now, here is James, Jesus' half-brother, and he now is a believer. It wasn't something he wanted to do. He had feelings and sentiments quite the contrary. But he became a believer.

And then, the disciples in Jerusalem were told to wait for the coming of the Spirit. And then, the ascension. Can you imagine? Here are the disciples in Acts chapter 1. Here are the disciples, and they've got questions. And in the middle of the questions, I'm sure they've got lots of questions. In the middle of the questions, Jesus says, bye, and ascends. This has got to be an astounding one. But we have questions! I've got lots of questions! The Holy Spirit will take care of it. Don't worry about it. You'll be alright. You'll get your questions answered over the next few decades. So, now, let's think about this from the disciples' standpoint. Would they have actually liked to have a little different program than what they got? Yeah! First of all, they have lots of questions. They're going through emotional roller coasters. At first, it's quite clear that they're afraid of the Jews when they're hanging around Jerusalem. They're afraid of the Jews, and just, you know, what's next?

What they did to Jesus, of course, was terrible. What are they going to do to us? So, they're afraid that there might be some repercussions, further indignities. And, in fact, they might have thought that that's why the tomb is empty, because they're going to do even worse things to Jesus' body now. They may have thought that. But they're afraid of the Jews.

It's real clear. and so and then for Jesus to show up to a bunch of them and then a week goes by and nothing and all the while you got this guy Thomas saying I don't believe any of you guys for a week and he's supposed to be one of them and so we can hardly believe what we've seen and what we've heard and we can't convince this Thomas guy that we've seen and heard really astounding to ponder. They would have sure preferred a different program than what happened.

Lord, can you appear at these times and have everybody ready? This surprising thing is a little hard to take. You're walking into the room and the door's closed. That's just a little difficult to handle, right? So yeah, they would have probably preferred a different program. Did they want to fish all night and not catch anything? Not really. That wasn't quite what they had in mind. We have a summary there at the bottom of the page.

There were several recorded testimonies to the empty tomb, including multiple instances of simultaneous witnesses. At least 11 recorded instances of witnessing Christ's resurrected body in the 40 days after the resurrection, with witnesses numbering from 1 to over 500 at a time, and 3 witnesses to Christ's resurrection after his ascension, that's Stephen, Saul, who is later called Paul, and to John, when John is writing the book of Revelation. To these we can add the persistent public testimonies to the resurrection often spoken among other witnesses in the very same locality.

So we have those testimonies there in Acts, starting with Acts 2.24. And the personal testimony of Peter in writing, who saw the empty tomb right after Christ was resurrected and saw and spoke to him in a resurrected body multiple times up to the day of Christ's ascension. So of them all, Peter saw Christ the most.

The greatest number of times. Individually, as we'll see in next week's passage, speaking to him individually, restoring him. Really an astounding set of events. An amazing set of events. Not at all like a human being that would program it or prefer it. But exactly what the Lord had in mind. Other comments, thoughts, questions?

Yeah? So Jesus was only on earth after his resurrection, before he bakes? Yes. And by the way, did he have to remain on earth? He didn't have to, I suppose. Although he told Mary, I have not yet ascended to the Father. And his ascension seems to be an event. But yeah, essentially those 40 days are the times when he appeared with some intervals, days in between when he didn't appear. But then he would appear to 1, to 7, to 3, to as many as 11, and then even 500 in one appearance. It seems like none of the visits lasted very long.

No. You're looking at this where Jesus is there while they eat breakfast and he serves them. Here's Jesus, he doesn't need the food himself, but he serves them. There's actually one instance where he actually does eat with the resurrected body. So he doesn't need it, but he can eat food. And you're right, none of them are lengthy appearances. He doesn't just hang around all day.

Actually, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus may have had the most lengthy period of time with him. Because imagine here, they are walking to Emmaus. By the way, there are several villages named Emmaus, so we don't know which one it is. But walking on the road to the mass and then actually sitting down with them, then they realized this is Christ resurrected. This is Christ resurrected.

Was it his actual... I mean, what kind of a form was it? I mean, when they said this must be Jesus, didn't it look just like the pre... resurrected Jesus? What kind of an appearance? Because he's not in a spirit form, but yet he can just appear, so what were they looking at?

Well, imagine when they're off, remember it even says how far away, so 100 yards away. So at 100 yards away, it may be possible that you don't quite recognize somebody yet. Especially if you're not expecting them. Because remember days would go by where they would have nothing in the way of appearances.

And then all of a sudden the first time you see him is off on the shore. And initially he just kind of asks him a question just like anybody else might, you know. And so it takes this specific miraculous event for them to say, hey, it's the Lord. And then when they get up there, nobody's asking the question, are you the Lord? You know, just checking, you know? So, but what form is he in? I mean, because I get in that case, it was a ways away, but when you hear some of the other instances... Yeah, and there was...

Is Jesus... Is Jesus resurrected, even having the marks remain? And here's something very interesting is when you get into the book of Revelation, also written by John, the book of Revelation repeatedly calls Christ, up to the last chapters, repeatedly calls Christ the Lamb, even into the new heavens and new earth. So while Jesus has this resurrected body, We will somehow recognize him as, you know, there's no more sorrow or mourning or crying or pain here in this new heavens, new earth, but we will still recognize him as, he's the lamb, he's the one who paid the price for me, the price I could not possibly pay for myself. So there is a recognition of him, and by the way, it appears from the various things that he could make himself appear or not appear. He could make himself recognizable or not.

He opened their eyes, so it meant that he deliberately appeared to them, one, but they didn't recognize him, and then he deliberately took action to make himself recognizable. So it's more like a spiritual blindness instead of an actual like he looked like a 100% different person? Apparently, yeah, apparently. He opened their eyes so that they previously just didn't recognize him. So that's something we're not accustomed to, because typically unless somebody's really got a disguise on, we'd say, well, okay, I know that's this person and that's that person, and we recognize people. Jesus had a different ability, one that we don't have, and that is the ability to make himself appear or not, and then a separate ability to make himself recognizable.

Very interesting. Very interesting. And it uses active voice as an act of will. He would make himself appear. It wasn't like he just, whoops, I just happened to appear. But he actually, as an act of will, would make himself appear and make himself recognized. So it's a different ability in this new body that was not there previously. If the apostles were looking at him, it would be his fault. I mean, they're looking at him just like he was prior to his resurrection.

Yeah, yeah. He had the ability for them to look at him and see, it's the Lord, except for these marks. Right? Except for these marks that he's got. He had the ability to make himself appear so they'd say, yep, that's the Lord, and yep, those are the marks, and he's alive. And, one more thing, we will be like him for we'll see him as he is. We'll be like him for we'll see him as he is.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for what you've revealed here. Thank you for the precious truths here. Thank you for also multiple eyewitnesses, multiple times, so we can have good assurance this is not just some figment of someone's imagination. This is not just wishful thinking. This is not a hopeful hallucination, but rather this is eyewitness testimony of your appearing deliberately and making yourself recognizable intentionally. And so we just take great hope in these words and put our trust and confidence in you. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.