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Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Thomas
Jesus is risen!

.. You can’t prove it, can you?
Christ Born & Witnessed, Crucified, Risen, Ascended..
The Witness of Thomas
John 20 (continued)
Believe it .. or not
Witnessed Crucified; Witnessed Risen
Depicting Christ Crucified and Jesus Risen to Life!
Believe by faith
Christ Born & Witnessed, Crucified, Risen, Ascended..

It’s really easy to hear someone’s story of a baby born in a manger during the census of Augustus Caesar.

The Babe in a manger (and His mother) have become our iconic emojis of virtue.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com – on Christmas traditions replacing the significance of Christ’s Resurrection

The Witness of Thomas

Imagine what Thomas must have pondered before he saw Jesus once more..

His miracles were authentic. He was a man like us, yet so unlike us.

We discovered many times that the Lord Jesus was more than any man we had ever met, even John the Baptist..

Like when He calmed the raging Sea of Tiberius, fed thousands and especially when Jesus healed the sick and even raising some like Lazarus just recently from the grave.

But we witnessed also the defeat of Israel’s Messiah, our only hope — His rejection by our own Jewish leaders and Rome’s cruel sentence of His death on a cross, mocking our Rabbi as “Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

I wasn’t close for His execution, for I was afraid like all the others; but Jesus is certainly dead as any other nailed to a Roman Cross.

John 20 (continued)

John continues his witness of Jesus’ resurrection appearances which first were to a group of women, Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Mary Magdalene then to ten of the Eleven Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven remaining behind locked doors.
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This is the witness of Jews who had hoped that Jesus would restore the Kingdom of Israel.
(Translations incl. Complete Jewish Bible) 
All of the Twelve were born as Jews, as was the Lord Jesus (Yeshua).
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24 Now T’oma [Didymus in common Greek] (the name means “twin”), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Yeshua came.

When the other talmidim [disciples] told him,

“We have seen the Lord,”

he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger into the place where the nails were and put my hand into his side,

I refuse to believe it.”

Believe it .. or not

Well there it is: Like what happens so frequently, someone else tells us about the biggest event ever in their lives.. AND we missed it. Just like Thomas, we weren’t there.

I either don’t believe them, pause with the uncertainty of doubt .. OR maybe I find it beyond belief that the Lord did not also choose ME to be part of such a life-changing moment.

Perhaps you and I are not so unlike ‘doubting Thomas’ as we would like to believe.
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A timely note about time:

Even though we've slowed the actual timeline of events between Jesus raising Lazarus and His own Resurrection, I will not delay John's Gospel an additional week to reflect real time. RH
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26 Eight days later His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst..

Although the doors were locked, Yeshua came, stood among them and said, “Shalom aleikhem!”

27 Then he said to T’oma, “Put your finger here, look at my hands, take your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be lacking in trust, but have trust!”

Witnessed Crucified; Witnessed Risen

Thomas finally experiences the risen Christ Jesus the slain Messiah of Israel the same as the other Apostles and the women who saw Him first.

Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
John 20:27 NKJV

28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Depicting Christ Crucified and Jesus Risen to Life!

The scene of Thomas witnessing the wounds of the Risen Messiah, Jesus, their friend and their Teacher is beyond illustration.

John must have recalled Jesus’ similar approach to Martha just before the Lord raised her brother Lazarus to life.

“I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus had asked the bereaved sister of Lazarus. “Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26 excerpt with context

Martha and Mary had mourned the death of their brother.

Mary the mother of Jesus also mourned helplessly. She could not save Him from suffering as she sorrowfully watched His death on a Cross nearby.

Faithful painters of the Renaissance could neither paint nor sculpt the horror of the Lord Jesus’s wounds.

Our focus draws to the hearts of the living rather than to the Redeemer of our lives.

Believe by faith

29 Jesus said [to Thomas, with all the Disciples present], “Because you have seen me, you have believed.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

By their witness and that of many others who had seen the risen Christ Jesus, many came to believe by the time John writes his Gospel, even many who would take up their cross to follow Him. These too the Apostle John would witness.

30 So then, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.
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To be continued...
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Next: We will return briefly to further witness of the Eleven near the conclusion of John's Gospel.
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December 12, 2020
Crucifixion! – The Spirit of Grace
Now Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written: “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
John 19:19 NASB

More Mockeries of the Son of Man on the Cross of Sacrifice

Even today mockery of Jesus Christ is as common as rejection of the Lord God.

In CRUCIFIXION! – The Pangs of Sin we saw the suffering Servant Jesus as punishment continued.

From John’s witness thus far…
- Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him – John 18:12 KJV
- ..one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? – John 18:22b KJV
- 24 Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.
- 28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment..
- 29 Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation..
- 33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
- 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
- 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
His scourging poured forth sinless Blood by 39 lashes upon Jesus’ back.

Pilate and the politically motivated religious leaders of Jerusalem made mockery of mercy (one less lash than Rome’s forty which should cause death) by condemning the Son of Man in whom they found no guilt.
- John 19:2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head..
- 3 and they repeatedly came up to Him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapped Him in the face again and again.
- Judas & a detachment of troops & officers from the chief priests & Pharisees,
- Hosanna to the Son of David:
- Behold the Man
- Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”
- The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.”
- Jesus, the King of the Jews
From Glorified King to Crucifixion on a Cross
About the sixth hour [noon]

14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Look, your King!” 15 So they shouted, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.”

16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

17 They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, carrying His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between…

21 So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; rather, write that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’”

A Temporary Victory

The powerful have won the political battle of the day!

Yet complete defeat is near for political rulers of the Empire and the powerful leaders of religion in Jerusalem. For by their own shouts the preordained Sacrifice of the Lamb of God for the sins of the world is now to be fulfilled.

22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

It was nearly noon, the Passover Lamb now prepared by scourging. “CRUCIFY, CRUCIFY!” shout the crowds. We will NOT follow Jesus.

Jesus the Christ will take back the power of sin from the enemy and defeat death from a Cross of Sacrifice.

.. this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:23

And how is this the Spirit of Grace?

For this grace you must also wait until next time.
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To be continued...
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November 6, 2020
CRUCIFY! CRUCIFY iēsous Crucify ben ‘elyown ‘elyown
Crowds incited against all righteousness
- “See, I am bringing Him out to you so that you will know that I find no grounds at all for charges in His case.”
- Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!”
- So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify, crucify!”
- Behold the Man
Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him; for I find no grounds for charges in His case!”
John 19:6b NASB

Justice of the Crowds

Though the politician in charge who happens to be Governor and Judge finds no case against Jesus Christ and mockingly charges those politicized religious officials to take justice into their own hands, the high profile trials of Jesus will continue before the watching eyes of the Jews ‘seeking justice.’

We’ve been following the false accusations against Jesus and cruel punishments placed on the innocent Son of Man for revealing the truth of who He IS.
No political correctness required here, only political expediency to please the crowds.

From indictment of Truth to the Scapegoat of Sacrifice

Where is mercy?

You will not find it anywhere in the worldly darkness of this sacrificial scene. (Just read brief description of what has already taken place.)
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His face already bruised, swollen, bloodied by the blows from Caiaphas, they continued the abuse by smiting Him, putting on the crown of thorns, mocking Him.
Chuck Smith commentary on John 19
They had a third degree that was totally unmerciful. They would tie a prisoner to a post so that the back was stretched out. And then with a cat of nine tails whip, a leather whip with little bits of glass and lead imbedded in it designed to rip the flesh, they would lay the whip across the back of the prisoner thirty-nine times.
.. Many times prisoners died as the result of these scourgings. Before the thirty-ninth stripe was laid upon them, they were already dead from the loss of blood and just from the extreme pain. But Jesus bore that suffering.
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The ruthless brutality (which pleases the crowds) charged to Rome by the captive Jews presumes death by suffering – a bloodied man – hung on crossbeams from a tree, by nails through outstretched hands and a hammer-driven nail through his taughtly-bound feet.

Our own fear of pain so etched into this fragile flesh that scarcely can we look upon this Blood of Sacrifice for our own sins.

Pilate governs a people ruled over by corrupt religious officials of Jerusalem and simmering in Rome’s unstable peace.

What better way to eliminate all who threaten the Roman political peace?

The murderous shouts of the crowds are no doubt incited by the powerful, seeking yet more power over an incited powerless people.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com on religious & political leaders seeking influence

The familiar Roman outcome of public trials is so matter-of-fact and suffering so severe that the other Gospels move through it quickly.

Matthew 27:

And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!”

When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.”

And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” .. Then he released Barabbas for them;

.. but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Mark 15:

The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them.. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. ..They shouted back, “Crucify Him!”

Luke 23:

.. but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” .. But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted.

.. And following Him was a large crowd of the people…

How will we judge the Son of God?

They knew the truth of Jesus’ signs:

Lazarus raised to life.

The blind given sight.

And most threatening to their religious rule, Jesus riding to the gate of Jerusalem like a victorious King David.

..“What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
John 11:47b-48 NASB

John 19:

7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; and went again into the judgment hall..

Brief respite from the crowds

Now Pilate’s examination of Jesus becomes more honest and personal away from the hateful cries of the crowds to ‘CRUCIFY!’

(.. the Son of God!)
.. and [Pilate] said to Jesus, “Where are You from?”
John 19:8,9 NASB

But Jesus gave him no answer.

10 So Pilate said to Him, “Are you not speaking to me?

Do You not know that I have authority to release You,

.. and I have authority to crucify You?”
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To be continued...
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Page TWO - Please click Page 2 below for the questions.
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October 29, 2020