Overjoyed

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

OVERJOYED

John 20:19-20

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"  20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

NIV

As a normal human being after seeing what the Jews did to Jesus, anyone who was so closely associated with him might well hide as the disciples were. However, they were together, they had not scattered, going back to their old lives doing what they had been doing before Jesus called them to follow him. The truth here for us, the life application we should be focused on is the fact that the door was bolted shut keeping any normal human being from entering, and yet there stood Jesus among them. It is rather interesting that Mary had run and told them she had seen the Lord and they were not out looking for him, but then perhaps his instructions to Mary were for them to be where they were and wait for him to come to them. This idea might be just that, an idea, as Marks account indicates they did not believe what Mary had said, about seeing the Lord. So they have locked themselves in because of fear of being the next victims. With the door bolted Jesus enters, in human form, but yet not in human form. He shows them the evidence of his crucifixion, which means he is in human form, but because he was able to enter without the use of the door, he was in a human form other than that of the disciples. We have used the term, “Glorified state” to describe this condition of Jesus. It was not just because he was raised from the dead, as Lazarus would have been in that state as well, but is not. This resurrected condition was different; it was a state in which he would be able to ascend into heaven in. This will be our state as we are resurrected, one in which we will be ascending into heaven in. This is what is meant by the corruptible becoming incorruptible, the perishable becoming imperishable. We will be changed in a twinkling of an eye and we will be as Jesus is, in human form yet not in human form. This is not just a hope, this is a fact. How can we just hope this will be, when we have the historic record of it being the truth, the fact that the resurrected Lord was able to walk through walls, travel as it were by thought, outside the physical realm. This will be our state as we too will be resurrected from the dead, not as Lazarus, but as Jesus was. We too will be overjoyed upon seeing the Lord, in fact, we are already overjoyed for we have seen the Lord.