The chapter begins with the disciples going out and fishing all night, to catch nothing. As they come to short in the morning, Jesus is on the shore line. He asked if they had any fish to eat with their bread, not realizing it was Him. They said no and He tells them to cast it out again to their right side and they got such a big load that they weren’t able to haul it into the boat. Notice, they had to cast it to the right side; Jesus is seated at the right side of God and we can do nothing without Jesus. This was a reminder that we need Him to do things successfully. This was also a reminder, that Jesus called them to fish for men, not fish; this was to remind them of the first time they got in a big haul when Jesus stirred up the water and first called them to be fishers of men. Jesus will always provide for us, we don’t need to rely on our own merits, we need to trust in Him. As they got the big load of fish John knew right away it was Jesus and told Peter. When Simon Peter heard this he put on his clothing and jumped into the sea to swim to Him.

            When they got to the beach they saw a charcoal fire set up and fish on it cooking and some bread. They brought in the fish that they had caught and for whatever reason counted them to find 153 fish in total, all great ones. There are a few theories on why there was 153 fish specifically, such a random number. However, nothing is random with God. Back then they believed there was 153 species of fish, now we know that about 250 new species of fish are discovered each year alone. However, back then, sticking with their 153 species of fish analogy, it was synonymous with representing all races of mankind. 153 fish to represent one of each type of specie of fish to correlate to all races of man being saved.

            Despite how big the haul of fish was, their net didn’t break. God cares about the little things, down to the very last and minute detail.

            Jesus asked Simon if he loved Him three times, and each time He told Simon to take care of His sheep. To show His love to Jesus would be done by taking care of His sheep. If we ever want to think of a way to show our love to Jesus, this is one way to do it, care for His sheep!

            Jesus showed Peter time, how it starts when one is young and how it goes when one is old. This also supports that its His will for us to live a long and satisfying life as stated in Psalm 91, to grow old in years. Peter asked what about John and his future and Jesus replied that that wasn’t Peters business, if Jesus chose to keep John alive till He returns that was His business and all Peter needs to focus on is following Jesus. Often times we focus on others and we need to focus on Him. We are called to pray for others but our focus should always be on Him.

            What stood out to me in the second part of John was, why didn’t Mary recognize Jesus at first? She had been with Him for many days, how did she mistake Him for the gardener? After doing more study in this and what the four gospels show into this same testimonial is this: it was early in the morning and probably still dark outside, she wasn’t expecting to find Jesus resurrected she was looking for a dead body, she was hysterically crying and weeping which would affect your vision, she was frightened from the earthquake and lastly she turned her back to Jesus whom she thought was the gardener probably because she didn’t want the “gardener” to see her crying hysterically. All four of the gospels accounts of this all show a fuller picture and it all makes more sense when sewed together.

            Mary Magdalen after seeing Jesus then wen to tell the others and they waited for Him in the room with the doors closed out of fear of the Jews. When Jesus arrived that even that marked the first day of the week, He showed them His hands and His side to show them it was truly Him. Jesus breathed unto them and they received the Holy Ghost. Jesus said to receive the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit has to be received on our parts, He will never force Himself on anyone.

            Jesus then says to go on and preach the forgiveness of sins and peoples sins will be forgiven. But if you don’t proclaim the forgiveness of their sins, they will remain guilty. This is a huge assignment give to all believers, we are to tell the world that Jesus has come to forgive sins so they can be given the opportunity to repent and turn to Him. We can’t sit on our bums and do nothing, we all have an assignment. Some may have more assignments added to it but we all have this one regardless if we are called into the five fold ministry or not, this assignment is given to all who choose to beleive and follow Jesus.

            Thomas wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus appeared to them, and when the disciples informed Thomas he didn’t beleive them. He said that he wouldn’t beleive unless he personally sees the wounds of the nails in His hands and touches them with his finger and puts his hand into the wound of his side where He was pierced. Notice how much doubt was here, he didn’t just say he had to see him; rather he had to not only see Him but also touch His hands where the nails were AND also touch where He was pierced. Thats like doubt times 3. Eight days later Jesus appeared to them and knowing what Thomas had said He prompted Thomas to touch all of His wounds on His hands and His side and then told him not to give into his doubts any longer, just believe! Jesus met Thomas where he was at and He does the same for us. But recognize that Jesus told Thomas not to give into doubt, doubt is a choice. You either choose to entertain it or you don’t. However, you can’t have faith in Jesus and doubt at the same time. You either trust Him or you don’t. If you struggle with that don’t worry, HE will meet you where you are, ask Him for help and He will help you with this. You will need to do your part as well, do things that build your faith; read His Word out loud to yourself, listen to His word being preached on, praise and worship Him daily. These aren’t works to check off a to do list, when these are done with your hearts intent on knowing Him more, they will build your faith in Him by leading you to know Him more.

            Jesus was handed over to be crucified, they took Him and had Him bear His own cross to the place called the Place of the Skull. Notice skulls represent death, non living. Pilate had written on the placard ‘JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.’ This was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek; this made the chief priests very mad. The chief priest demanded that the placard said ‘He said He was’ rather than say that He was the king but pilate left it as he had demanded. (It wasn’t uncommon for the name Jesus in the Jewish culture, however Jesus from Nazarene was precise, they knew who that was specifically. This is why it said Jesus the Nazarene, to let all know specifically that it was Him, no room for confusion or miscommunication in that.)

            The soldiers then divided His clothes in four parts among them, all but the tunic, they left this to cast lots (leaving it up to chance by drawing stones or straws). This fulfilled prophecy in scripture and they didn’t even realize it while they were in the act of doing it.

            While this was going on, next to the cross stood His mother, her sister Salome, Marty wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. Jesus saw His mother and then saw the disciple whom He loved and esteemed (John) and told His mother that John was now her son. He then looked to John and said here is your mother, protect and provide for her and from that hour John took her into his own home and took care of her. After this, Jesus knew that everything was now finished and said in fulfillment of scripture, ‘I am thirsty.’

            A jar was there filled with sour wine and they took a sponge and soaked it in the wine while it was on a branch of hyssop and they held it to His mouth. A hyssop branch symbolically represents cleansing from sin. When Jesus received the sour wine He said, ‘It is finished.’ He bowed His head and voluntarily gave up His Spirit.

            Since it was the day of preparation for the sabbath, in order to prevent bodies form hanging on the cross on the Sabbath the Jews asked Pilate to have their legs broken to quicken the process and to have the bodies taken away. So the soldiers did this but when they came to Jesus they stopped, they didn’t break His legs; instead they pierced His side and blood and water came out. This fulfilled prophecy that said, ‘Not a bone of His shall be broken,’ and ‘They shall look at Him home they have pierced.’ All of this was witnessed and testified too by John.

            Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Jesus out of fear of the Jews asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus and Pilate allowed this. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes which weighed about 100 roman pounds.

            They took His body and bound it in linen wrappings with the fragment spices for the custom burial of Jews. There was a garden at the place where He was crucified and in the Garden a new tomb cut out of solid rock where no one had yet been laid was there. Because it was the day of preparation and the tomb was nearby they laid Jesus there. Jesus turned graves into gardens and was the only One who could, which is why no one else had yet been laid there.

            On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had already been removed. She went and told this to Simon Peter as well as to John. Notice here it says John, whose Jesus loved and highly esteemed. It wasn’t that Jesus loved John more than the other disciples, rather that John was fully aware that Jesus loved Him and He fully received His love, which makes all the difference. The bible tells us that God isn’t a respecter of persons, which means He loves us all the same and doesn’t pick favorites. This means there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, He loves us fully already from the moment He spoke our name into existence and John grabbed hold of this revelation and that’s why its always mentions that Jesus loved John and thought of him highly, because John knew and received His love. Doubt and lack of intimacy is what can cause one to question if God loves them, the fact that its noted here tells us that John didn’t doubt this and didn’t just spend time with Jesus, but spent time with Him intentionally and personally to get to know Him more not just as a task. Many Christians have a hard time getting to know Jesus in this way, they get caught up in striving and church doing that they forget that its all about Him and having that intimacy with Him.

            John outran Simon Peter to get to the tomb first, when they had arrived John took a moment before he entered. Simon went right in and first saw that the linens had been folded and the face covering had been there as well. John then came in and the Bible says that immediately he believed without any doubt that Jesus had risen from the dead. The Word said that at this moment they had not yet understood the script that stated HE must rise from the dead. This goes to show right here how intimacy and knowing the love Jesus has for you will eliminate doubt and give the faith needed to beleive the impossible.

            As we celebrate that HE is Risen, lets focus on this revelation that John had received. Jesus loves you and wants to know you even more personally than He already does. This week spend more time in your secret place with Him and ask Him to help you receive His love if you are having a hard time receiving it. Ask for help to receive the revelation that John so clearly got. Ask Him to baptized you in His love.

 


Part 1


            The chapter begins with telling us that Pilate took Jesus and ham Him scourged, even after Pilate had already deemed Jesus as not guilty.  It wasn’t unusual for the romans to have victims scourged before possibly going to the cross.  The romans hoped that by having them scourged it would bring about a confession. The romans would beat the victim harder and harder till the confession would come, with Jesus there was nothing to confess therefor His scourging never lightened. He sat there and took every stripe on His body to fulfill the prophecy that by His stripes we are healed. In every stripe He took He conquered every sickness there’d ever be. There are no such things as new sicknesses to God, any and all sicknesses that man dubs as “new” is not new to God and was counted for in the stripes that Jesus overcame for us that day.

            They the romans mocked Jesus and put a purple robe to signify royalty on Him as well as a crown of thorns. They mocked Him and slapped Him in the face and the whole time He took it without offense. We know this because He had to be without blame and sin to conquer the cross, taking offense is a form of pride and that is translated to sin. So He sat there and was mocked yet didn’t give into offense, how amazing! We tend to give into offense for the smallest things yet we are supposed to mirror Jesus.

            Pilate had probably hoped that after Jesus was whipped the chief priests would be satisfied in that and let the whole thing go, because Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. However, they didn’t seem to care as they yelled to crucify Him. Pilate said he found no guilt in Him therefore they had to crucify Him themselves. They then shouted and told Pilate that Jesus broke their law and they accused Him of blasphemy because He declared He was the Son of God. This shook Pilate and make him even more alarmed and afraid. Pilate then asked Jesus where He was from and Jesus wouldn’t answer. Pilate was getting angry and told Jesus that he had the authority to set Jesus free or crucify Him so Jesus should answer Pilate and tell him where He is from.

            Jesus replied and told Pilate that he would have no authority at all of Jesus if it had not been given to Him from above. This was all apart of the bigger plan, Jesus knew this had to be done and it had to be done on Gods timing, not mans. Jesus then said that sin and guilt of the one who handed Jesus over to Pilate was greater than it would be on Pilate. Jesus then said that the one who handed Him over would have more sin and guilt that Pilate, this made Pilate really want to let Jesus go. However, the angry mob was not going to listen to Pilate and threatened him by saying Pilate would be an enemy to Caesar because Caesar was the king and anyone who declared to be a king would come against that. This made Pilate feel threatened about his job and his livelihood and fear overcame his courage to stand up for the right thing.

            So, out of fear of loosing all he had, Pilate brought Jesus out to the judgement seat at a place called The Pavement which in Hebrew means Gabbatha (high, elevated).

            It was the day of Preparation for the passover week and it was about the sixth hour or noon. Prophetically, the day of Preparation (time to prepare and get everything ready for passover) is used here I beleive to show how Jesus was preparing for what was to come and to save man with His perfect authority and heavens governmental authority (man is represented by the number 6 from the 6th hour because man was created on the sixth day. The sixth hour is also noon which would be the number 12 which in the Bible represents authority and perfect governmental foundation). He had just been whipped and that had prepared the way for healing by fulfilling prophecy that by His stripes we are healed. He was about to overcome death as well as have His kingdom order come to all of His followers. In this exact moment on the judgment seat on high He was preparing for what was to come in His kingdom on earth, as it is in Heaven. The fact that this moment was on the day of the Preparation for the passover week was definitely not a coincidence. The timing was perfect for His plan.

            Pilate then said to the angry crowd to look and see their king. This made them angrier as they declared that their only king was Caesar. See, what they didn’t realize that in this moment they were choosing the worlds kingdom over Gods. They were choosing to be in the world and receive of it rather than to live and receive of Gods kingdom. As Jesus was on The Pavement aka “elevated” on the judgement seat, the chief priests were declaring to serve Caesar as their king, they were choosing which kingdom they would serve and be served by. They were sewing seeds that would bring them a bad harvest.