Bible in one year 2/10/2022 John 19-21 By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

 Bible in one year 2/10/2022 John 19-21

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music; pastoral ministry & counseling

 

Jesus’ crucifixion, the burial and the resurrection (John 19-21)

Jesus was arrest yet, Pilate fined no basis for a charge against him (John19:1-16)

 

Three times Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” (John18:38; 19:4, 6).

 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and they struck him in the face.(John19:2-3). As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” (19:6). From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no fiend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha) it was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take away! Crucify him!” “Should I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. (John19:12-16).

 Jesus’ Crucifixion (John17-37)

 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. Here they crucified him, and with him two others –one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “ Do not write ‘ The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” (John19:17-22)

 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decided by lot who will get it.”  This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, “They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” So this is what the soldiers did.  (vv.23-24).

 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to this mother, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (vv.25-27)

Verse 26 In Luke 23:43 the Lord said to one of the two thieves crucified with Him, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” That word was in regard to salvation, since Luke’s Gospel proves that the Lord is the sinner’s Savior. Here, in vv.26-27, the Lord said to His mother, “Behold, your son, “and to the disciple whom He loved, “Behold, your mother.” These words indicate a life union, since this Gospel testifies that the Lord is life imparted into His believers. It is by this life that His beloved disciple could be one with Him and become the son of His mother, and that she could become the mother of His beloved disciple.

 

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “ I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “ It is finished.” With that he bowed his head and gave up his sprit. (vv.28-30)

        In Matt.27:34 and Mark 15:23, wine mingled with gall and myrrh was offered to the Lord as a stupefying drink before His crucifixion, but he would not drink it. In this verse vinegar was offered to Him in a mocking way at the end of His crucifixion (Luke23:36). In His crucifixion the Lord was still working, and through His crucifixion He finished the work of His all-inclusive death, by which He accomplished redemption, terminated the old creation, and released His resurrection life to bring forth the new creation to fulfill God’s purpose. In the process of death He proved that He was life. The dreadful environment of death did not frighten Him in the least; it provided a contrast that proved strongly that He, as life, was versus death and could not be affected by death in any way.

 

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. (vv.31-34)

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones will be broken.” And as another scripture says, “ They will look on the one they have pierced.” (vv.35-37)

              Verse 34 Two substances came out of the Lord’s pierced side: blood and water. Blood is for redemption, to deal with sins (1:29;Heb.9:22) for the purchasing of the church (Acts20:28). Water is for imparting life, to dead with death (12:24;3:14-15) for the producing of the church (Eph.5:29-30). The Lord’s death, on the negative side, takes away our sins, and on the positive side, imparts life into us. Hence, it has two aspects: the redemptive aspect and the life-imparting aspect. The redemptive aspect is for the life-imparting aspect. The record of the other three Gospels portrays only the redemptive aspect of the Lord’s death; John’s record portrays not only the redemptive aspect but also the life-imparting aspect. The words spoken by the Lord on the cross in Luke 23:34, “Father forgive them,” and in Matt.27:46, “ My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (because He bore our sin at that time)., also depict the redemptive aspect of His death. But the flowing water and the unbroken bone mentioned by John in vv.34 and 36 are signs that related to the life-imparting aspect of the Lord’s death. This death that imparts life released the Lord’s divine life from within Him for the producing of the church, which is composed of all His believers, into whom His divine life has been imparted. This life-imparting death of the Lord’s is typified by Adam’s sleep, out from which Eve was produced (Gen.2:21-23), and is signified by the death of the one grain of wheat that fell into the ground for the bringing forth of many grains (12:24) to make the one bread-the Body of Christ (1Cor.10:17). Therefore, it is also the life-propagating and reproducing death.   

 The Lord’s pierced side was prefigured by Adam’s opened side, out from which Eve was produced (Geb.2:21-23). The Blood was typified by the blood of the Passover lamb (Exo.12:7,22; Rev.12:11) and the water was typified by the water that flowed out of the smitten rock (Exo.17:6, 1Cor.10:4). The blood formed a fountain for the washing away of sin (Zech.13:1) and the water became the fountain of life. (Psa36.9;Rev.21:6)

 

Jesus’ burial – (Jewish burial customs- a mixture of myrrh, aloes, wrapped with the spices) (John 19:38-42)

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (vv.38-42)

 

 After the Lord accomplished His redemptive and life-imparting death, His situation of suffering immediately changed into a situation of honor. Joseph, a rich man (Matt.27:57), and Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews (3:1), came to take care of His burial, binding His body with myrrh and aloes and burying it in a new tomb with the rich (Isa.53:9) In human honor of a high standard, the Lord rested on the Sabbath day (Luke23:55-56), waiting for the time to rise from the dead.  

Chapter 20 Resurrection of the Son of God 20:1-21:25

The Empty Tomb (John 1-10)

 1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb, first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

 

 Verse 1, the first day of the week, or the day after the Sabbath, signifies a new beginning, a new age. In Lev.23:10-11, 15 a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest was offered to the Lord as a wave offering on the day after the Sabbath. That sheaf of the first fruits was a type of Christ as the first fruits in resurrection (1Cor.15:20,23). Christ resurrection on precisely the day after the Sabbath. By His all inclusive death He terminated the old creation, which had been completed in six days, after which was the Sabbath day. In His resurrection He germinated the new creation with the divine life. Hence, the day of His resurrection was the beginning of a new week – a new age. This day of His resurrection was appointed by God (ps.118:24), was prophesied as “today” in Ps.2:7, was predicted by Himself as the third day. (Matt.16:21; John2:19,22), and later was called by the early Christian “the Lord’s day”(Rev.1:10). On this day Christ was born in resurrection as the firstborn Son of God (Acts.13:33; Heb.1:5) and the Firstborn from the dead to be the Head of the Body, the church (Col.1:18)

Verse 5 all the things that were cast off from the Lord’s resurrected body and left in His tomb signify the old creation, which He wore into the tomb. He was crucified with the old creation and buried with it. But He rose from within it, leaving it in the tomb and becoming the first fruits of the new creation. All the things left in the tomb were a testimony to the Lord’s resurrection. If these things had not been left there in good order, it would have been difficult for Peter and John to believe (v.8) that the Lord had not been taken away by someone but had risen by Himself. These things had been offered to the Lord and wrapped around Him by His two disciples. Joseph and Nicodemus (19:38-42) what they had done toward the Lord in their love to Him became very useful in the Lord’s testimony.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18)

11Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

 

The order of Christ’s appearances after His resurrection seems to be as follow: 1) to Mary Magdalene and the other women (Matt.28:8-10; John20:11-18; Mark16:9-10).  2) to Peter, probably in the afternoon (Luke24:34;1Cor.15:5). 3) to the disciples on the Emmaus road toward evening (Luke24:13-32;Mark16:12) .4) to the disciples, except Thomas, in the upper room (Luke 24:36-43;John20:19-25).5) to the disciples, including Thomas, on the next Sunday night (Mark16:14;John20:26-29).6) to seven disciples beside the Sea of Galilee (John21:1-24).7) to the apostles and more than five hundred brethren and James, the Lord’s half brother (1Cor.15:6-7). 8) To those who witnessed the ascension (Matt.28:18-20; Mark16:19; Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:3-12).

Verse 17 on the day of His resurrection the Lord ascended to the Father. This was a secret ascension, the ultimate fulfillment of the going predicted in 16:7. It occurred forty days prior to His public ascension, which took place before the eyes of the disciples (Acts 1:9-11). On the day of resurrection, early in the morning He ascended to satisfy the Father, and late in the evening He returned to the disciples (v.19) the freshness of His resurrection must be first for the Father’s enjoyment, as in the type the first fruits of the harvest were brought first to God.

Previously, the most intimate term the Lord had used in reference to His disciples was “friends” (15:14-15).But after His resurrection He began to call them “brothers,” for through His resurrection His disciples were regenerated (1Pet.1:3) with the divine life, which had been released by His life-imparting death, as indicated in 12:24. He was the one grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died and grew up to bring forth many grains for the producing of the one bread, which is His Body (1Cor.10:17). He was the Father’s only Son, the Father’s individual expression .Through His death and resurrection the Father’s only Begotten became the Firstborn among many brothers (Rom.8:29). His many brother are the many sons of God and are the church (Heb.2:10-12), a corporate expression of God the Father in the Son. This is God’s ultimate intention. The many brothers are the propagation of the Father’s life and the multiplication of the Son in the divine life. Hence, in the Lord’s resurrection God’s eternal purpose s fulfilled. 

 

Jesus Appears to His Disciples (John20:19-23)

19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

 

 Verse 19 The gathering of the disciples here may be considered the first meeting of the church before Pentecost. This meeting took place to fulfill Ps.22:22, according to Heb.2:10-12, so that the Son could declare the Father’s name to His brothers and praise the Father in the church, which is composed of His brothers. Though the doors were shut, the Lord came with His resurrected body (Luke24:37-40;1Cor.15:44) into the room where the disciples were. How could He have entered, having bones and flesh? Our limited mind cannot comprehend it, but it is a fact! We must receive it according to the divine revelation. This was a fulfillment of His promise in 16:16;19:22.

Verse 20 this was a fulfillment of the Lord’s promise in 16:22 Now they rejoiced because they saw the new born child (16:21), who was the resurrected Lord, born in His resurrection as the Son of God (Acts13:33). The Lord fulfilled His promise and came back five blessings 1) His presence, 2) His peace, 3) His sending, His commission (v.21), 4) the Holy Spirit (v.22) and 5 )His authority with which they could  represent Him (v.23).

Verse 21 The Lord sent His disciples with Himself as life and everything to them. This is why, immediately after He said, “I also send you” He breathed the Holy Spirit into them. By His breathing into them He entered as the Spirit into the disciples to abide in them forever (14:16-17). Hence, wherever His disciples were sent, H was always with them. He was one with them.

Verse 22 This was the Spirit expected in7:39 and promised in 14:16-17, 26; 15:26 and 16:7-8,13 Hence, the Lord’s breathing of the Holy Spirit into the disciples was the fulfillment of His promise of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. This fulfillment differs from the one in Acts 2:1-4, which was the fulfillment of the Father’s promise in Luke 24:49. In Acts 2 the Spirit as a rushing, violent wind came as power upon the disciples for their work (Acts.1:8). Here the Spirit as breath was breathed as life into the disciples for their life. By breathing the Spirit into the disciples, the Lord imparted Himself into them as life and everything. Thus, all that He had spoken in chs.14-16 could be fulfilled.

As falling into the ground to die and growing out of the ground transform the grain of wheat into another form, one that is new and living, so the death and resurrection of the Lord transfigured Him from the flesh into the Spirit. As the last Adam in the flesh, through the process of death and resurrection He became a life –giving Spirit (1Cor.15:45). As He is the embodiment of the Father, so the Spirit is the realization, the reality, of Him. It is as the Spirit that He was breathed into the disciples. It is as the Spirit that He is received into His believers and flows out of them as rivers of living water (7:38-39). It is as the Spirit that through His death and resurrection He came back to the disciples, entered into them as their Comforter, and began to abide in them (14:16-17). It is as the Spirit that He can send His disciples for His commission, with Himself s life and everything to them, in the same way that the Father sent Him (v.21) They are thus qualified to represent Him with His authority in the fellowship of His body (v.23) for the carrying out of His commission.

The Lord was the Word, and the Word is the eternal God (1:1). For the accomplishing of God’s eternal purpose, He took two steps. First, He took the step of incarnation to become a man in the flesh (1:14), to be the Lamb of God to accomplish redemption for man (1:29), to declare God to man (1:18), and to manifest the Father to His believers (14:9-11). Second, He took the step of death and resurrection to be transfigured into the Spirit that He might impart Himself into His believers as their life and their everything., and that He might bring for the many sons of God, His many brothers, for the building of His body, the church, the habitation of God, to express the Triune God for eternity. Hence, originally He was the eternal Word; then, through His incarnation He became flesh to accomplish God’s redemption and through His death and resurrection He became the Sprit to be everything and do everything for the completion of God’s building.  

 

Jesus Appears to Thomas (John 20:24-29)

24Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Purpose of John’s Gospel (John20:30-31)

30Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

 

Chapter 21 To seven disciples 21:1-14

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish (John 1-14)

 1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. 6He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. 7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. 10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus Reinstates Peter (John 21:15-25)

15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

20Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”)  21When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” 22Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” 24This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. 25Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

 

 

Bibliography,

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.