Sermon Central
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John Chapter 20 Series
Contributed by Jimmy Davis on Oct 1, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: John Chapter 20 explores the appearances of Jesus immediately following His resurrection.
John Chapter 20
The first day of the week, that’s Sunday.
This is the best explanation I know for when the Sabbath Day changed!
The Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday when Christ arose from the dead.
Christ was dead during the Sabbath Day; He became alive on Sunday, and from that time on, believers have been gathering together on Sunday to worship.
The Sabbath Day belongs to the old creation, and Sunday, the first day of the week, belongs to the new creation in Christ Jesus.
In Acts, Pentecost occurred on Sunday, the first day of the week.
Mary Magdalene was the one Jesus had cast out seven demons, and she was eternally grateful for her healing.
When she saw the body of Jesus was not in the tomb, she immediately ran to tell John and Peter.
The disciple “whom Jesus loved” is John, the writer of this Gospel.
John always refers to himself in this way.
Any of the disciples except Judas could have used that title, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
You can use that title for yourself because Jesus loves you.
In verse 2, we find Simon Peter and John together.
Perhaps John had taken Simon Peter in his home when after Peter’s denials of Jesus, Peter desperately needed a friend.
Mary Magdalene was certainly not expecting the resurrection!
Her thought was that someone had stolen away the body of Christ.
Simon Peter and John were not expecting the resurrection.
Peter and John rushed to the cemetery.
Folks, you don’t go to a cemetery to look for the living, and Peter and John were certainly not expecting to find Jesus alive.
John was younger than Peter, and John ran more quickly than Peter, and so we find that John outran Peter to the tomb.
What John saw convinced him that Jesus had risen from the dead (John 20:31).
John stooped down to look in through the entrance of the tomb, and he saw immediately the evidence that convinced him.
It’s amazing how God uses little things like these linen cloths to bring conviction to the hearts of men, women, boys, and girls.
John saw the linen sheets lying there, but the body of Jesus had gone out of it, and he was totally convinced of the resurrection.
Peter goes right into the tomb and he, too, sees the sheets lying there, and the kerchief that was on the head of Jesus, but was not with the sheets (Greek).
The kerchief was lying apart from the sheets of cloths, which, as I have said before, has to be sound basis to believe that the "Shroud of Turin" is a fake.
Jesus came up out of that tomb just like a seed comes out of the soil.
Do you remember when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus came forth from the grave all wrapped in the grave clothes, and Jesus had to tell the people to unwrap Lazarus?
Lazarus came out of the grave in his old body, wrapped in the old grave clothes, and the body of Lazarus was still a physical body, and would continue to age and have to die again.
Jesus Christ came forth in a glorified body, which will never see death again.
This is the Resurrection!
In verse 9, John tells us something strange.
These men had not understood, even though Jesus had told them many times that He would rise from the dead.
They knew not the scripture concerning Jesus rising from the dead (Greek).
Today we have the New Testament as a sort of flashlight, to help us go back and interpret the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus.
Read John 20:10-18
Mary is the first one to whom Jesus appeared.
There are eleven appearances of Jesus before His ascension, and three appearances of Jesus after His ascension.
Mary does not know Jesus, because she does not believe that He is risen from the dead.
Unbelief is both blind and dumb.
Mary stood at the tomb outside weeping because she loves Christ, but also she stood there because she does not believe.
She does not expect to see Christ alive, and in her unbelief, she does not recognize Him.
When Jesus calls Mary by name, she recognizes the voice of Christ as only He could speak.
Jesus called Mary by name, just like he will call each one of us by our name, if our Lord Jesus should tarry and we go through the doorway of death before that great Second Coming.
He will call each of us by name, and “the dead in Christ will rise first” just like He called Lazarus by name when He raised him from the dead 2000 years ago.
In verse 17, Jesus told Mary not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to His Father.
