Jack Van Impe Islamic Sharia Law & One World Religion

Saturday morning journal, or "you are not moving my stuff"

Last night I sent another response to my brother-in-law. He had written me several weeks ago and asked me five, rather in-depth questions.

I was trying to respond to his question with the significant changes or impacts I had experienced because of Celebrate Recovery over the last year. I think I gave him several distinct things I can see but I know that there are more. The problem is that what seems so clear one moment is faded weeks later when I try to recall it. I need to carry my journal with me and write this stuff down.

As I opened my copy of "Wild At Heart" by John Eldredge this morning I get this: "That is the way we are with our wound, especially men. We bury it deep and never take it out again. But take it out we must, or better, enter into it."

It was about this time last year that the Boot Camp experience began for me. God had warned me before hand that he was going to open a large wound in me. Standing in line for lunch I looked back at the table where I had placed my belongings. I had chosen this seat so that I could spend a few moments with the guy that had worked so hard to get me here. That is when I see my stuff getting moved to another spot by none other than one of our pastors that had gone. He is a big man, a football coach, and he used to repossess cars to make money while he was in college. At that moment I could care less who he was, because you are not more important than me, and you are not moving my stuff to convenience yourself.

This idea that I am worthy of importance is so foreign to me, and in total opposition to the way I was raised, for mom made sure that I understood that everyone is more important than me.

It is easy to defer to someone; that can fall under mere human decency, but when you have lived with a prisoners mentality all your life, a life in which you rarely saw anyone show you respect, you will come to a point at which you will snap, and you may react with an in-human rage. That was me at that moment.
I refuse to recount all the things that went through my mind as I stood in line that day. I had been bullied all my life, and at some point I determined no more. The Spirit of the Lord started speaking to me immediately and said, "I warned you that I was going to open a wound in you, and you are not going to do any of those things you just thought. Now go and quietly sit down where he moved your stuff. I will take care of him." I did.

Something I think I need to clarify. As I looked back at my belongings being moved, my friend looked at me and then spoke to the pastor. The pastor in turn looked back at me too, and made one of his sarcastic faces that told me tough nuts pal, you got moved.

Just moments after sitting the pastor begins to say something to me. I think he got three words out when I said, Don't you say a word to me! He stopped immediately, but continued his conversation with my friend. Soon he was gone. Almost immediately my friend walked around the table to me and said, he did not know it was your stuff. To which I angrily replied, I would not have moved your stuff, and he too walked away.

Bullied all my life I had learned to put up a huge defense system to prevent incidents like this from happening anymore. Much of my defense system entailed keeping unsafe people at a distance. I sometimes wonder how God was able to get past all that. If I had not intentionally begun, years before, to find out what the character of God was really like he may not have. My efforts to understand his character demonstrated to me that He was jealous over me, and would have sent his only Son just to die for me that day. God reaffirmed to me that day that he wanted me healed, and when I calmed down, he told me what to say to the pastor. I had to tell this pastor that I loved him and affirm him, to his face, that he was my leader.

I shed a lot of tears that weekend, and still do as God reveals to me more of the areas of wounding. A thought comes to me as I write. I have been watching Saving Private Ryan, a very emotional movie for me. At one point, Wade, the medic, takes a deadly bullet wound through his lung. Clearly in pain and bleeding to death he asks the Captain, "are there any wounds that are bleeding more than the others?"  I have been wounded so many times; perhaps God went after the one that may have been bleeding more than the others.

I sit in various groups and every one of them is filled with men that have been wounded in so many ways. There is only one hope for any of them, and it is in their submitting their lives to Jesus Christ. In Celebrate Recovery we make it very clear from the start that there is only one higher power, and his name is Jesus Christ. We don't exclude anyone, but you can tell who the followers of Christ are for as they stand before you, introducing themselves, they will most likely say, Hi, my name is ...... I am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, and I am celebrating recovery over ......... .

It is so easy to join the family of God and come into restoration. Start by telling God that you are powerless to fix this yourself, and that you would like for Jesus, the Son of God, to come into your life and take it over. He will and the healing with begin.

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I can understand Thomas. Part 5 of 5

This section on Thomas seems like it could stand alone, we often get sermons that do just that, and yet it is deeply intertwined on the basis of belief, doubt, and mercy. Thomas, it seems, is unfairly singled out, for he believed no more or less than the others. No doubt, Thomas was very open with his thoughts, that does not necessarily make you a dissenter. Historically we know that Thomas died a martyr in the service of Christ, proving his loyalty to the master.

In John's gospel, chapter 11, verses 1-54, despite imminent danger at the hands of hostile Jews, Jesus declared His intention of going to Bethany to heal Lazarus,....

John 11:8 NASB The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?"

Thomas alone opposed the other disciples who sought to dissuade Him, and protested,

John 11:16 NASB Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him."

I can understand Thomas; I relate to him easily. He sees things in black and white, this is the kind of reaction you get from someone who has experienced grief and pain. I know, I have been there.

John 20:24 NASB But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

I made an assumption once again. I assumed that Thomas was with them in the house. Every flannel graph I ever saw as I was growing up in church school, showed Thomas there with them. Truth is we do not know where Thomas was; perhaps he was with his own family. He does not come back into the picture for eight days.

John 20:25 NASB So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

Thomas had not gone to the tomb; he did not hear Mary's testimony of how Jesus appeared to her; he was not there when Jesus appeared in the closed room with them, and showed them the wounds in his wrists and feet.

John left off the part where none of them believed upon seeing the wounds, wounds that the people in that room knew would have been there, and they failed to mention that when Jesus spoke to them about all the things written about Him in scripture, things He had previously told them about Himself, still did not convince them. It was only after he asked for and ate some broiled fish that their eyes were open and they believed.

There is that word again, believe.

How many times now, in this twentieth chapter have we seen this concept?

What did they believe this time?

John 20:26 NASB After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."

Eight days after the first appearance of Jesus He appears again.

Again there is a significance and I missed it. Truthfully I am not getting it fully but here is what I am picking up on. While the death of Jesus put them into a depression, and sent everyone back to whatever they had known so that they could continue living. The disciples still had one common bond, and that was to meet together on the first day, Sunday. In that house, a place they have been so many times, they ate together, talked about what they saw and heard Jesus say that day; they talked about what was to become our life in Christ, and they bonded with each other. Do we see that directly by our casual glances at God's word? NO! We have to pay attention to details.

Apparently life was permitted to get in the way at times and that may be what we saw with Thomas. Jesus death was certainly a life event and none of us knows how deeply it affected Thomas.

(If you read this, thinking it's farcical conjecture, then I ask you to think about almost every event that centers on Jesus as you read the gospels. Where were they when these things took place? Jerusalem, near or in the temple or synagogues, or in the court-yard that women and gentiles had access to. The Sabbath is over and they are allowed to travel beyond the distance limit that Jewish law prescribed. And the fact that Sabbath ended at sunset making it the perfect time to recap a days events. This kind of thought opens all kinds of doors for speculation about how they lived their lives. They may have fished throughout the week and made the migration into Jerusalem before Sabbath began, making base camp at “the house”. Can you imagine what it would be like to spend even 24 hours in the presence of Jesus one day a week. I want so badly to say my life would be changed, but then the thought occurs to me, He lives in me!)

John MacArthur's commentary says this about Thomas, and I agree with his conclusion. "Thomas has already been portrayed as loyal, but pessimistic. Jesus did not rebuke Thomas for his failure, but instead compassionately offered him proof of His resurrection. Jesus lovingly met him at the point of his weakness (2Timothy_2:13). Thomas' actions indicated that Jesus had to convince the disciples rather forcefully of His resurrection, i.e., they were not gullible people predisposed to believing in resurrection. The point is they would not have fabricated it or hallucinated it, since they were so reluctant to believe, even with the evidence they could see.”

I am always battling past the voices in my head that try to tell me, “You have said enough already. No one needs to hear your rambling on anymore!” I could not tell you distinctly what a demon voice sounds like. (Well, there was that once when I was a child and I heard this distorted voice come out of a beautiful woman that the “men” of the church were praying over in an attempt to release her from demon possession. She sounded like some of those creepy voices they make up in the movies; you know the ones that make you lose sleep for weeks, as she said with a cackle, I know who you are.) Most of the time they are familiar voices; the same ones that sound like an old supervisor, your dad, your mom, an ex-wife; probably the same ones that told you cannot do it, make it, or succeed.) See, you are not so different from me. And we, are not so different from the disciples.

The next two passages really need no great discussion, for we have seen this, almost word for word when Jesus appeared in the closed room eight days earlier.

John 20:27-28 NASB Then He *said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." (28) Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

I will give Thomas this. At this gesture he believed. The rest of them had to sit through a foundational study given Jesus himself, and still could not believe. It was not until Jesus proved he was not a ghost by eating some fish, that they believed. Thomas bypassed two steps in his ascent to faith.

Perhaps we make the assumption that Thomas' statement was literal, and that he shoved his hands into the hole in Jesus side. Just the thought of that is disgusting. You ought to understand by now that Thomas was “Mr. Brash Statement” guy himself. Jesus, disgusted by the disciples lack of understanding, told the guys they were going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Thomas responds to all this with, “let's go to Jerusalem and die with him.” Everyone understood what he meant, and the possibilities were real. If that was to be their fate that day, it would have happened. But do you think Jesus was going to allow anything outside of the Father's will to happen?

John 20:29 NASB Jesus *said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

I do not know if it is the emphasis that a preacher puts on this passage, but I cannot remember a time that it ever came across as a positive for Thomas.

Think about what John has shown us by word pictures. Jesus showed up in a closed room. Gives a common greeting of peace, and begins multiple attempts at proofs necessary for bringing them back to a foundation of belief. With Thomas, Jesus does the same thing, but does not have to go through every step, and Thomas believes. The other disciples, and those with them, DID NOT BELIEVE, and took so much more convincing.

(It may have been necessary, because the believer that has poured over scripture has seen that this foundation is rehashed many times in scripture, and is foundational to our belief as well. This may have been purposefully done this way as a way of establishing these concepts in them. I am glad they did.)

So, who believe without seeing could be directed at us. We only have the words on a page, and images those words build within us. Not seeing this Jesus, but trusting His words, I believe.

Perhaps it all boils down to this:

John 20:31 MSG These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.

If there was a person that could sell this to us, it would be John.

He had to work through all the unbelief and doubt,

He had to conquer his anger and rage,

He had to learn what love really was.

When you think about all the years of mellowing that God put him through, initiating him into manhood, it is easier to see more clearly what happened this day, as John did.

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It is so easy to do, create a formula for success. Part 4 of ?

Having once again blessed them with a declaration of peace and telling them, “I also send you” he gives them the greatest gift of all, the Holy Spirit.

John 20:22 NASB And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

The best thing I can do to explain or define what the power of the Holy Spirit can do in a person is to show you how it exuded from Peter. You are going to have to read it, for it is effectively the entire second chapter of Acts. The result of Peter's oration, in direct response to the leading of the Holy Spirit, was that about three thousand souls got saved that day.

“He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.”

It so easy to do, create a formula for success. The chief priests and scribes had done just that, and added reams of laws that not even they could keep. Perhaps Jesus in his own way had tried to show that creativity is not inappropriate, for he made mud from spit and had the man wash in the pool of Siloam, knowing full well that he was breaking Jewish law by doing it. He went against the grain of society and cleanliness laws just by speaking with the woman with the issue of blood; this was wrong on so many levels. And he spit in another mans eyes to bring about a healing. Good lord, he even ate with sinners.

He breathed on them this evening and said, .. Receive the Holy Spirit.

Is there any doubt what happened to them?

But do we see the dramatic results that we see in the second chapter of Acts? No. Don't get discouraged. Jesus never said a prayer that did not get answered. He was God of course, but dependent upon the instructions of the Father by choice. 

What happens next is mind-boggling, and would be completely unrelated if he had not said, “..as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

 

John 20:23 NASB "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

"If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them;”

Had they heard something comparable to this before? 

Matthew recorded this: Matthew 16:19 NASB "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."

We see another example in: Matthew 18:18 NASB "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Ask yourself, why did Jesus go to the cross?

This of course has a multifaceted answer, but one of the answers that stands out was to, like the scapegoat, take all the sins, once, for all time, of the world. Jesus Christ took them already, that makes John MacArthur's assertion much more valid.

“This does not give authority to Christians to forgive sins. Jesus was saying that the believer can boldly declare the certainty of a sinner's forgiveness by the Father because of the work of His Son ...”

There is more to this quote but I cannot agree with it. But that is only half the sentence. It continues with: “..if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

The book of Acts makes a statement that brings clarity to this.

Acts 13:38-39 NASB "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, (39) and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.

Forgiven and freed because Jesus put himself on the cross. As a stand alone statement this idea of retaining someone's sin is muddy water indeed.

“Jesus gave them the privilege of telling new believers that their sins have been forgiven because they have accepted Jesus' message” (Life Application Study Bible)

Robertson's Word Pictures states, The power to forgive sin belongs only to God, but Jesus claimed to have this power and right (Mar_2:5-7).

Mark 2:5-7 NASB And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." (6) But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, (7) "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?"

We can take one of two approaches to this.

1. Only God has the power to forgive and He did this already. That being said and/or established then we have to decide what Jesus was trying to say. We may need to also ask, what was John trying to tell us as he conveyed what he saw and heard that evening for it implies that we have authority to proclaim forgiveness over people. (Really, that seems ridiculous considering the bloody sacrifice Christ made of Himself to gain our freedom.)
   
   
2. If we are going to believe that God gave the power of forgiveness to us, then what is our responsibility and reasonable method of approaching this?

Obviously Jesus took all sin on the cross. 

I know of no better way of making this next idea clear other than to tell what I can remember of an old ranchers philosophy. Cattle tend not to be very smart and run themselves into fences many times over to get feed and water. Instead of consistently damaging the cattle you put them in an environment that has a fresh water supply and they will stay within close proximity.  

So if I equate us to cattle and Jesus the water (He is!), then, in theory, we would not wander far from the water supply, and in reality no one would have to worry about us. But that never happens, and we get bombarded with sermons on sin. It is something that we have to deal with constantly.

Perhaps the problem lies in how we approach the inconsistencies of life (things we call sin). 

If Jesus took away the penalty for sin His actions apply primarily to those who accept the fact that He did this. Those who choose to stay outside of belief will not be judged for the sin, that is gone (the penalty/bondage was taken by Jesus voluntary actions), but they will be judged for not accepting the one who took the sin upon himself.

I cannot refute God's word, and it says we are all sinners still.

“... the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (8) If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:7-10 NASB

Our sins may not be so overt, like murder, or manufacturing drugs, but may be what we think of as little indiscretions. 

I will tell one that recently challenged me. I attend several groups. One of them was a book study. In there we would read, stop after a period and attempt to discuss what we read. Often, after a painful silence (I refrain from speaking at times because I feel like I talk all the time,) I will bring up something that touches me deeply. After I expressed myself, keeping this personal to me, I was attacked verbally by one of the guys. I am not just being overly sensitive about this as a friend of mine picked up on the attack and verbally went after this guy. (I sometimes have to choose to not retaliate, because I can easily swing into a rage, and I am not really that skillful at impromptu apologetics.) I left that group over the negativity and the personal need to return to John Eldredge's Wild At Heart.
I deemed that man unsafe and judged him unfairly. As I sat in a recent recovery meeting, where this young man gave his testimony, God spoke to me and said, "you judged him unfairly." and he reminded me of what I had said in my heart. If I am going to be honest, this is sin.

What is sin? Missing the mark! As a former archery competitor I can tell you that from 80 yards out the "mark" seems to be about an inch wide. The overall size of the entire target is about 3 foot wide. My goal is to hit the three-inch spot in the middle. It is very easy to miss the center, but you have to go out of your way to miss the 3 foot wide target. If I hit the target while trying to hit the center, at least I am trying.

My judgment of this young man, meant that I was not even trying. 

When God spoke to me about what I had done I knew immediately that I had to take care of this. Moments later I went to my small group meeting and when it was my turn to speak I told them about what God had said to me. A week later I was able to get access to this young man and addressed my bad attitude toward him. He thanked me for that. I believe that this is what we are supposed to do.

Eventually Peter would write: 1 Peter 2:24 NASB and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Jesus knew immediately what Peter later described, but did the disciples?

If they could have recalled what Isaiah had prophesied perhaps then his statement, "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." would make more sense. (By reading, not only John's gospel but Luke's as well, I was able to understand that He had walked them through the scriptures that spoke of Him.)

Isaiah 53:4-6 NASB Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. (6) All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

I opened with "It is so easy to do, create a formula for success". Is there a formula that we could use here? Maybe. If I start with a relationship with Christ as a basis, then start making efforts to hit the center of the target.

If you miss, then pay attention to the voice of the Lord and He will tell you how to correct it. You don't have to focus on SIN; focus on the giver of life, focus on hearing His voice, focus on Jesus Christ - the one that took your sins, and gave you his life.

If you are mess then it is time for you to get honest and get yourself into Recovery. Look, this is not about alcoholism, it is about your inability to fix yourself, something that you have tried for years, with no success. At what point do you admit that you are powerless and need accountability partners and people who are willing to walk through recovery with you.

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The day started early.

John 20:19 -31; Luke 24 - Part 1

Once again I emphasized my belief that John was writing to Jewish believers. I say this because here he is making the point that it was still the first day. To the Jewish mind there is an instant understanding when John says this. The hearer or reader understood immediately that it is still light, for sunset marks the beginning of a new day.

Although John does not expound on it, there were many that made it to the tomb that day.

Told by the angel to go and tell the disciples, at least, Mary Magdalene did what the angel asked of her, for she found John and Peter.

Jerusalem, even then, was a large city. How was she supposed to find them all, just start running about the city shouting their names? Considering the fear that is expressed by their “shutting” the door I don't think so, for that would have drawn even more unwanted attention.

Jesus seemed to make a point of personally addressing the two on the road to Emmaus. (They were headed North West out of Jerusalem. What does that imply?)

Consider that after Jesus finally breaks bread with them, they too believed, to some degree, for they changed course and returned to Jerusalem, to the house where they knew they would find the others. For whatever the reasons they felt comfortable enough to have used a particular home; all of them. A relative of one, or a friend of the “ministry.”

John 20:19 NASB So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, "Peace be with you."

“So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week”

As the day has progressed we find them gathering together, but not all.

It's probably a little more than cool this time of the day. It would only make sense to close the doors and put out some candles. It is John telling us that the doors were shut for fear of the Jews.

“and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews”

The doors might be closed anyway, but fear has driven them to secure the doors so that no one walks in uninvited.

Fearing the Jews?

You might think that the Jews had appeased their anger; apparently not. Remember that the chief priests had worked themselves into a frenzy and the only thing that diffused that momentum was their wish to prepare for their religious practices. What ever evil they had been performing had to come to a quick end before the Sabbath which began at sundown.

They have had three days to calm down, but John understood their ways and their anger; he has watched it for at least three years. This meant something very significant to his Jewish audience.

John, looking back 90 years later, stated that when he looked at the grave-clothes and their placement, he believed. What did he believe?

The two on the road to Emmaus believed enough to turn around and return to the house in Jerusalem. What did they believe?

The door is secured. It was so crowded that John intentionally sits with his back against the door. No one is getting past him without damaging something (we did not call him one of the sons of thunder for nothing.) Only moments before securing the door someone did a head count and assured us that everyone was here. If they noticed that Thomas was missing they did not seem overly concerned. Mary had gone out of her way to round the disciples up (at least that is what we choose to believe), but Thomas was nowhere to be found. He must have gone home. Rather outspoken and belligerent at times, Thomas, just like the others, is aware that Jesus has died; what then is the sense of hashing this out anymore?

Jesus appeared to the two that were headed north-west and began talking with them. He explained who he was beginning with Moses (that covers a lot of territory) and the prophets (This was a long walk). The things he said are what we should understand as established believers, and are the foundations of our faith. Jesus, after what seems like some prodding from them, sits down to dinner with them. As he began to eat, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him and believed. They had to turn around and get back to Jerusalem with enough time to gather “all” the disciples. They were excited and they believed. What did they believe?

Luke 24:33 NASB states,

And they (the two from the Emmaus road) got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them,

We are not clear on who the “those who were with them” were. We can sort this out, but we have to look at Luke's and Mark's account to fill in the blanks.

• Mary Magdalene
• Mary the mother of James
• Salome
• Joanna
• There may have been others.

Feeling relatively safe, now that the door is secured, they began discussing the days events.

Can you imagine the emotions, the feelings. It made sense as John described how the grave-clothes were laid. No one stealing a body would have gone to all that trouble. And what about the head cloth; lying by itself as if purposefully taken off. One stated with a pained voice, I saw his face. Why would anyone need to see how torn up he was again? The point of the discussion was if he was really alive. Sitting, standing, leaning against the wall, they were all hashing out what it all meant.

Maybe he was alive?

Don't you remember what he said to us, how that he would rise again on the third day? You might think it was finally sinking in. The events of the day had all been very real. The witness of the two disciples on Emmaus road, realizing that it was Jesus, and they said he just disappeared after supper was over. Mary saw him there at the tomb earlier that day; he called her name, and she touched him.

Much like the death of a loved one, the reality may take days to sink in, and then once it does what do you do next? Having gone through such a horrid shock they are now challenged to believe that he is alive.

How do you dispute evidence; it is difficult at best, but it is so much easier to disqualify the eyewitnesses. This may be one of the reasons that John points out Mary Magdalene. Having read scripture you should have come to realize that Jesus, in the semi-barbaric world of the middle east, was the one person that showed women respect.

Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her. I do not think that there were too many people who were not aware of how those things manifested themselves. Of the women that traveled with the company she is the prominent example of the power of God's transformation and love in the life of a human.

“Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, "Peace be with you."

Forget what he looked like, how did he get in here? We assume so many things about this, and we cannot prove any of them. The word histemi indicates that he was suddenly standing there in the midst of them.

Although they, as a group, had not been trying to draw the attention of the chief priests, one of the ladies screamed when she saw him. Several in the room jumped to their feet as though they were on the defensive and several charged for the door. You would have thought a bomb had gone off.

Suddenly it all became silent when the voice that we had come know as Jesus said, "Shalom Aleichem!" (Peace to you!) It all made sense!

Luke's gospel gives us some clarity that we do not see in John's account. Keep in mind that Luke was a physician and details were important to him.

Luke 24:36-40 NASB While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and *said to them, "Peace be to you." (37) But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. (38) And He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? (39) "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." (40) And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.

John told us that he believed, but I ask you again, what did John believe? Fully, completely? I don't think so.

“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”

Because we don't see things like this, a formerly dead man appearing in the living room, every day. It is hard to put into words, but some even tried to answer him, but you could not understand them. No one would go near him for people do not just appear in the middle of room. Mary, and the two that had seen him on the road, started to approach him for she had already seen him this day.

What were the doubts? Many.

I told you I would rise again! It seemed like an eternity but in truth it was only a few seconds later when Jesus, with just a hint of sarcasm, spoke again.

“ Look at my hands; look at my feet--it's really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn't have muscle and bone like this." Luke 24:39 MSG

It was the same tone he used in response to Nathanael when he said, John 1:51 GW "I can guarantee this truth: You will see the sky open and God's angels going up and coming down to the Son of Man."

We recognized the voice and the manner of speaking, but none of us had ever seen anyone just appear in the middle of a secured room. No one moved toward him as yet.

Perhaps you, like John believe; the question is, what do you believe? We all struggle with belief. One of the things that recently challenged me was the passages about having faith like a grain of mustard seed.

Luke 17:5-6 NASB  The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"  (6)  And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you.

Having had a mustard seed between my fingers, I pinched them together and you can see no light between them; that is small, and are you telling me that I don't even have that?  If that is what it is all about, my lack, or their lack of faith, then we have no hope. But we do have hope and it is in the grace and mercy of the Father, and that Jesus Christ himself stands as our mediator. He does this because we are broken and weak without Him. As a participant in Celebrate Recovery I am consistently saying, I am a grateful believer. I now know why, because in my worst moments he is always faithful and I live in him. Give him your life, allow Him to give you life and heal you.

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