Eight Days Later
Dearly beloved, Jesus was raised from the dead late on the seventeenth of Nisan, the weekly Sabbath, our Saturday, towards dusk. We must remember that the Judean day began at sunset and ran to the following sunset. Their days were numbered, not named like ours are.
Nicodemus gave Jesus a traditional Judean burial using about one hundred pounds of strips of linen cloth wound around his body. The bandages were coated with a shellac like substance using a mixture of myrrh and aloes that formed a hardened shell in the shape of the dead body after drying. This is referred to as grave clothes in the scriptures. The Greek word, “othonion,” is used for grave clothes.
A great stone was placed to cover the entrance to the tomb, and it had the seal of the Roman government on it that said it was not to be disturbed. Guards were stationed so that no one could enter the grave for three days.
Unknowingly the religious leaders preserved the irrefutable evidence that Jesus was dead and was in the grave for three days and three nights. The evidence was still in tact after he had risen.
The scriptures do not reveal that Jesus arose from the dead the first day of the week, our Sunday, but that his first resurrection appearances took place on the first day of the week.
Jesus first appeared to chosen witnesses on the first of the week, our Sunday.
He first appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden. Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved saw that the grave clothes that surrounded his body were still lying there undisturbed in the shape of his body, but he was not in them; they were empty.
The women reported the same, and that three different angels told them that he was risen. Then he appeared in another form to the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, and then suddenly vanished before their eyes during supper. He appeared to Peter sometime after his second visit to the tomb.
That evening Jesus suddenly appeared to the disciples who were behind closed doors. He upbraided them for their unbelief. He asked for something to eat, and he let them touch him. Then he put the scriptures together for them, so they could understand what had occurred so they might believe.
Thomas was not present the first time he met with the group, but he was eight days later when he appeared to them to them for a second time.
“And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” John 20:26-29
As at the first meeting with them, the doors were shut, and Jesus suddenly stood in their midst.
Jesus had Thomas touch his hands where he had been spiked with the nails. He had him thrust his hand into his side where the spear had pierced him, and blood and water had gushed out. Then, he spoke to Thomas and said, “and be not faithless, but believing.”
Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God.” This was a response of reverence and awe. There are numerous examples where a person is called “god” in the scriptures. It is an Eastern way of expressing reverence because the person represented God.
“Lord” means master. The disciples had addressed Jesus as such. Here the two words “lord” and “god” are used together by the figure of speech hendiadys. The second noun intensifies the first noun, “My godly Lord.” Thomas emphatically declared his submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ by his response.
Thomas had the opportunity to see Jesus and touch his hands and insert his hand inside him where he was pierced. We were not there as these witnesses were, but Jesus said, “… blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these were written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
Dearly beloved, since we confessed this same Jesus as Lord, and believed that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved.
Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When God sends him to gather us up to him in the air we will be saved. He will raise the dead in Christ and change those of us who are yet alive, and together we will be received up in glory! Rejoice, he is coming!