When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 

John 20:20 

When Christ appeared to the disciples after He arose from the dead, it confirmed everything He had ever said. When He had been in controversy with the Jewish religionists, He had said, ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.’ John says, ‘He was speaking of the temple of His body.’ John goes on to say, ‘Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.’  Thus Christ’s appearance to the disciples confirmed His word, not just regarding His resurrection, but also, ‘the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.’ Along with all the other things that made them glad by their seeing the risen Christ, this would have added to their joy. We also have every reason to be glad Christ is risen from the dead and has shown Himself alive by many infallible proofs. The logical conclusion we draw is everything else He said is true as well. From His affirmation of creation, His seal of approval upon the Scriptures, His presentation of Himself as the way, the truth, and the life, and His promise to return, the resurrection confirms it all. Therefore we are glad. We see Him in Scripture and we receive the testimony of the disciples. We believe His word. 

Our Glorious God and our Savior, 
we rejoice that all You have said is true. 
We praise You that, You, the Living Word, 
confirm the written word. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 

John 20:20 

One of the things that made the disciples glad when they saw the Lord was the restoration of fellowship and communion with Him. The people of God thrive on this fellowship with Christ. For the past three years since Christ had called them to follow Him, the disciples had enjoyed unbroken fellowship and communion with Him. Where He went, they went. What He saw, they saw. They heard the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. They saw His miracles and how He went about doing good. They experienced all it meant to live in the presence of Christ. When He died on the cross that came to a crashing halt in a most devastating way. When Christ appeared to them on the first day of the week, having risen from the dead, they found themselves in His presence once again. This made them glad. When we have lost the sense of the Lord’s presence, for whatever reason, and the Holy Spirit restores it, by taking the things of Christ and showing them to us, it makes us glad in a way nothing else can. Christ restores our fellowship and communion with Him by His presence. 

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that You restore our fellowship with You. 
We praise You that Your presence makes us glad 
in a way that nothing else can. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

When He had said this, He showed them His hands and Hs side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 

John 20:20 

What made the disciples glad? They ‘were glad when they saw the Lord.’ This was a critical moment in their experience. They had followed Christ for three years, went where He went, heard what He said, and seen what He did. They had been there at His arrest and watched Him die. All their hopes and every shred of joy had died with Him. It is not unbelievable that they thought they would never be glad again. The women who had gone to the grave early returned with the witness that Christ had risen from the dead. Luke remarks, ‘their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.’ How did they become glad?’ They were glad ‘when they saw the Lord.’ Their sight of the living Christ reversed their unbelief. This is true for us. We may go for a long time without a clear sight of the living Christ. The means of grace may become form and ceremony for us. We may find ourselves in the grip of unbelief. When the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and shows them to us, it makes us glad by reversing our unbelief. Christ wants us to believe. 

Our Glorious, Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You show Yourself to us 
in order that we might believe. 
We pray that You will help our unbelief.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. 

John 20:30-31

Why do we have the stories of the life of Christ? Our text answers the question. John indicates there are many more incidents he could cite of the things Christ did. What he has written has been, ‘that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.’ This is at the heart of making much of Christ. If all the things the evangelists said are true, it is a story worth believing. If we believe them, we arrive at Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The whole world needs to hear of Him. No other message is of more value for time and for eternity than the message that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. This was the message the Apostles carried throughout the world. It was the message for then and is the message for now. We are not original in relating it. We follow in a long line of those who have preached Christ. With them we say, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.’ 

Our Glorious, Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You have given us the privilege 
to witness of You in all the world. 
We praise You that You shall continue 
to send forth Your message until all have heard it. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Then He said to Thomas, Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God! 

John 20: 27-28 

Christ brings us to believe in Him. He is both gracious and kind in how He does it. Thomas was an individual who required physical, first-hand proof that Christ had risen from the dead. Whereas Christ could have ignored his need for proof, He did not. Rather, He appeared to them all on the second Sunday and addressed Thomas particularly. This shows us how willing Christ is to meet us where we are. We may not have Thomas’ particular issue, but we have other issues. Christ knows what they are. He knows how to bring us to believe in Him. Throughout the Scriptures we see him meeting His people at their point of need to increase faith and foster belief. Therefore we have abundant cause to rejoice in Him and how He deals with us. He is in every way the God of the individual. As He continues to reveal Himself to us through the means of grace, let us not be unbelieving but believing. As we look for Him daily in the Scriptures, let us pray that He will give us hearts that believe, even though we have not seen Him. Someday the faith shall be sight. 

Our Lord and our God, 
we rejoice that You meet us where we are. 
We praise You that You show Yourself to us
and bring us to believe.