The Lord Appears to the Disciples John 20:24, 21:14 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In this lesson we mainly want to point out some things that happened the second and third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples. The remainder of John Chapter 20 deals with the revelation to Thomas and the first fourteen verses of John 21 deal with the revelation to seven of the disciples. A couple of things worthy of notice take place in each of these circumstances so we will give a running commentary as these passages do not need to be topically addressed.
Upon hearing the other disciples tell of meeting the Lord Jesus Christ, Thomas said that he would not believe until he saw and put his finger in the piercing wounds in Jesus’ body (John 20:25). When Jesus next appeared He offered Thomas exactly that opportunity and Thomas then called Him, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). In calling Jesus God we see that Thomas recognized the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ (1Tim 3:16). If someone claims to be saved, but does not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, it is unlikely that they are indeed saved. In the event that they are indeed saved then the only likely explanation for such a confession is that they have an ungodly spirit in them that has so deceived them and caused them to grieve and quench the work of the Holy Spirit that the person can no longer hear the voice of the Holy Spirit (John 20:31, 1Pe 1:8). John finishes Chapter 20 with Jesus explaining that those who have not seen and yet believe are blessed and that he wrote of these things so that we having read them might believe (1Jn 5:10-13).
The last chapter of John begins with Jesus appearing to seven of the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, also known as the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 28:7). While the disciples are fishing they hear the voice of Jesus calling from the shore asking if they had caught any fish. When they replied “no,” He told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat (John 21:6). When they did and pulled up more fish than they could haul, John told Peter that it was Jesus (reminiscent of Luke 5:4-8). Not being content to wait for the boat to reach shore Peter then donned his coat and swam for shore to meet Jesus. When they finally pulled in the net they had a total of 153 fish. To catch that many fish in a net by hand is a miracle. This was Jesus’ way of telling the disciples not to worry about what they would have to eat while working in His ministry because He would see to their needs. And he does!!