John the apostle wrote how, “Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 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”, and in chapter twenty and verse twenty-six of his book John shared how Jesus appeared to His disciples again where we read:
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.
The verse begins, “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them:” John began with the words, “and after eight days” which means “and when eight sunrises to sunsets had gone by” “again his disciples were within” or “another time his, Jesus', students, pupils and attendants were inside”, “and Thomas with them” which means “and Thomas whose name means a twin and one of Jesus' disciples was in attendance with Jesus' other disciples”. John shared how “eight days” after Jesus appeared to His other disciples, Thomas and the other disciples gathered together inside a place again.
The verse goes on to say, “then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.” John continued with the words, “then came Jesus” or “at that time arose and appeared the Son of God, the Savior of mankind and God incarnate whose name means Jehovah is Salvation”, “the doors being shut” which means “the doors of the building in which the disciples were gathered were closed”, “and stood in the midst” or “and was standing and established in the center or middle of His disciples”, “and said” which means “and uttered, declared and proclaimed”, “Peace be unto you” or “tranquility, calm, harmony and concord be toward you, disciples of Jesus”. John shared how Jesus suddenly appeared in the middle of His disciples even though the “doors” to the building were closed, and He proclaimed to them “Peace” once again.
When we mediate upon John's words in this verse, we learn how the disciples assembled another time after Jesus' death, and it was “eight days” after He appeared to them the first time. We can only imagine the initial terror that was among the disciples as Jesus suddenly was standing in the middle of them. “Thomas”, who previously was absent and doubted the other disciples when they told him they saw Jesus, was in attendance this time, and we shall see how Jesus responds to him in our next verse. For now, let us be aware that Jesus is near at all times, and even though we do not see Him, He could appear any time He desired. Those who trust and believe in Jesus, even though they do not see Him, will be forgiven of their sins and granted everlasting life with God in Heaven. In Heaven Jesus will be seen face to face, and those who are wise will yield their lives to Him to be His disciple before that day suddenly appears.
Next time John shares how Jesus tells Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and behold my hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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