John chapter 21 has two main word pictures (images) as we shall see … fish and sheep!  (Symbolizing soul-winning and then shepherding! Win lost souls and then mature them via the Word of God!)

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Back in John chapter 20 Jesus appeared to His Disciples on Sunday (1^st day of week) when they were all congregated …

But here in chapter 21 Jesus appears to them on a weekday when not all are present, when they are at work!

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I mentioned in class, but did not give the Bible References …

Peter’s notable failures …

1. Matthew 16:21-23 … From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

2. John 13:6-8 … Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. 8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

3. John 13:36-38 … Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. 37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. 38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.

4. Galatians 2:11-13 … But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

Then here in our Text, Peter going fishing when he should have been on a mountaintop awaiting Jesus’ next appearance! (Matthew 28:16)

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One writer said this … “Failure is good manure!” Meaning that our shortcomings often can be great teachers in our lives, provided we respond to them Biblically.

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Jesus’ Words have great import in this Text. Think of the sheer POWER of Jesus’ Word, or Words!

John 6:63 … It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

1 Timothy 6:3 … If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness …

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Keep in mind that it is always best to watch the Class …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Only two “John Class” thoughts come to mind tonight, both of which I failed to mention in the video …

John 20, the whole chapter, is very carefully and beautifully constructed. Let me show you what I mean. The chapter divides itself into two halves!

Featuring these two characters, both believers in our Lord:

Mary Magdalene … and Thomas

One a lady … the other a man!

At first, Mary is crying … and Thomas is doubting!

Mary seems to be absent when Peter and John enter the empty tomb of Jesus … and Thomas was absent when the disciples first met!

Then wonderfully, Mary’s Confession of faith
(Rabboni, Master) … complements Thomas’ Confession of faith (My Lord and My God)!

If you recall, Mary wanted to touch Jesus and was denied … while Thomas was openly invited to touch Jesus!

What balance!

What beauty!

What Truth!

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This too … I think I failed to give enough emphasis in class to the possibility of the Resurrection of Jesus being an 8th “sign” (“miracle”) in John’s Gospel. Here’s my Bible basis for thinking like this …

John 2:18-22 … Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

See, the Resurrection is definitely a “sign,” a Miracle of Miracles really!

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Now, may I invite you to watch the class?

— Dr. Mike Baagwell

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Talk about an ancient Book being honest! The New Testament, divinely inspired, certainly is!

Doubt regarding the Resurrection of Jesus is, surprisingly, a feature of every Gospel!

Matthew 28:16-17 … Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

Mark 16:14… Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

Luke 24:10-11 …  It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.

Luke 24:25-26 … Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

Luke 24:37-41 … But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?

Yes, as all Christians know, JESUS IS ALIVE! And so did most of those doubters come to believe as well!

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Compare John 1:1 with John 20:28. Verses at the beginning and near the end of this fourth Gospel!

John 1:1 … In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 20:28 … And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

So, from the first verse in John until nearly the last verse … JESUS IS DIVINE, JESUS IS GOD! That Truth is the very foundation of the Christian faith, by the way!

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Thomas had seen Jesus raise 3 people from the dead!

And he had heard Jesus’ (at least) 3 Predictions of Death, Burial and Resurrection!

Surely, his Hebrews 12:1 sin was doubt!

What is your besetting sin?

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Domitian, the reigning Caesar between 81 and 96 (when the Gospel of John was written) … demanded that he be addressed (both orally and in writing) as “the lord and the god of me!”

Thus, Thomas’ gave a great countercultural confession of faith, applying correctly to Jesus what was then politically correct to apply to Caesar!

We’re proud of you, Thomas!

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Here’s the proper psychology of dealing with backsliders … show them how much Jesus loves them! That’s exactly what Jesus did with Thomas!

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Now, may I invite you to watch the class …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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I did not finish discussing the whole Text, not in class today! So we shall continue next Session …

(I record and post every other day now.)

“24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 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. 27 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. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

In Isaiah 53:1 God askes … “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”

Well, the Disciple Thomas did not believe, not at first for sure!

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Ten good men, the Disciples of our Lord, assured Thomas that Jesus was alive, had been raised from the dear!

But he believed not a one of them!

Thomas needed to learn this principle from Proverbs …

Proverbs 11:14 … “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”

Proverbs 13:20 … “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

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In every New Testament Gospel there is introduced an element of doubt about the Resurrection of Jesus! Such a miracle, almost incredible to many! Here’s what I mean …

Matthew 28:16-17 … “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.”

Mark 16:14 … “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.”

Luke 24:10-11 …  “It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.”

Luke 24:25-26 … “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?”

Luke 24:37-41 … “But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?”

Then of course, Thomas’ doubt here in John chapter 20.

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Thomas, here is My Body …

(But note there is no BLOOD discussion here!)

Luke 24:39 …Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

Jesus’ Blood was, I believe, already in Heaven!

Hebrews 9:12 … “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

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God’s Grace will bring a person …

From worst to first!

The repentant thief, Nicodemus and Joseph, Mary Magdalene, unfaithful Peter, skeptical Thomas! Not counting Saul of Tarsus!

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Glory to God!

If you’d like to see the “half-class” …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Our Text …

19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Do remember, the “first day of the week” is Sunday! The day Jesus arose from the dead. For this great reason the Church began worshipping (with its corporate services) on Sunday, which in time they renamed “the Lord’s Day!”

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This Verse is fulfilled in the Scene we’re studying today! John 16:22 … “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”

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One Bible Teacher says this … “The Gospel’s ‘best known’ Sentence is John 3:16 … “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I agree!

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The Great Commission, as reported in each Gospel …

Matthew 28:18-20 … “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Mark 16:15 … “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Luke 24:47-49 … “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”

John 20:21 … “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

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Jesus readily showed the Disciples His wounds! Much like an old, seasoned (but victorious) Commander shows his battle scars! Paul too … “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Galatians 6:17

Throughout Scripture, God’s Breath …

Genesis 2:7, Adam the man!

John 20:22, Disciples, the Church!

Ezekiel 37:9, the Jews, Israel!

Isaiah 11:4, the wicked!

(He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.)

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The soul-winner, as well as the Preacher …

… remits sin as he or she shares the Gospel whereupon someone gets saved! Those sins are gone!

… retains sin in the life of the one who rejects the Gospel!

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Wow!

Watch the class, an invitation …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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