This week, we began a brand-new series on the book of 1 Peter, which was written by Peter. Peter was a disciple of Jesus who walked along with Him for three years of ministry. Because Peter wrote the book we are studying today, it will be helpful for us to zoom in on an important part of his life that must have set the foundation for the rest of his life and ministry.
John 20 records that after Jesus’ death, Jesus’ disciples were meeting together. Their doors were locked “because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders” who had called for Jesus’ crucifixion (verse 19). Can you imagine what they must have been thinking and feeling at this point? Jesus, their teacher whom they had been following and learning from for the past three years, had been horrifically crucified. Life as they had known it had turned upside-down. This was not what they had expected when they started following Jesus. Can you relate? All of us will face times in our lives when things do not happen or work out as we hoped or expected. The question is, where do we turn during these times?
During the times in our lives when things do not work out as we expected, we must put our faith in Christ, knowing that He is working in ways we may not always see or understand. The disciples learned this as they were meeting together in John 20 after Jesus’ death. As they were meeting, Jesus suddenly appeared to them. As you can imagine, Jesus’ disciples were “filled with joy” when they saw Him. As He met with them, Jesus gave them His peace (verse 21). He knew that they would all need His peace throughout the rest of their lives and their ministry. Peter must have taken this peace to heart.
Peter saw first-hand the power of Christ when he saw Him raised from the dead. He knew that God's plans are greater than our plans and that He is always working, even if we cannot see or understand how He is working. He brought this knowledge with him as he wrote the book of 1 Peter.
The truth that Peter experienced is true for you and me today: God is always at work, even when life does not work out as we expected. Even when we cannot see God's hand at work, we can trust His resurrecting power. Will you trust Him today?
Is there an area of your life where you need to trust God? Maybe life took an unexpected turn, or you are facing a tragedy you never expected. God is still at work. You can trust Him, knowing that one day, He is going to make everything right.
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.
11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe[d] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
