When our Savior was born, valuable gifts were brought by those who were looking for Him. When our Lord rose again, far more valuable gifts were presented to those who were not looking for Him. They thought He was dead and gone, and rather than searching for Him, they remained behind locked doors.
The group in the upper room included more than “the eleven,” for Luke refers to “them that were with them” (24:33). John tells us that the doors were locked “for fear of the Jews” (20:19). The Jewish authorities might think His followers had stolen the body of Jesus and would come looking for them to retrieve it.
He Gave Them His Presence
It was into this atmosphere of fear that the Savior unexpectedly appeared. The Emmaus travelers were just wrapping up their report when “Jesus himself stood in the midst of them” (Luk 24:36),1 appearing as suddenly as He had disappeared before (see v31). There was no knock at the door, nor was there a voice calling to them from the outside to let Him in. This was one of those pleasant invasions of the Lord into the lives of His people, indeed, the most pleasant of all. A shut tomb could not keep Him in nor could these shut doors keep Him out.
It is sweet to think about the fact that our Lord might have gone anywhere and done anything after He arose, but what He desired above all was to be with His people, whether they were grieving in a graveyard, discouraged while traveling on a road or gripped by fear behind closed doors. What a precious gift this was and still is. We have our Savior’s presence with us in our grief, despair and fear. “For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb 13:5).
He Gave Them Peace
There was no moment of silence allowing them to absorb the reality of His presence. No sooner did the Lord Jesus appear than the most welcome words came from His lips: “Peace be unto you.” He had just made peace by the blood of His cross (Col 1:20), and therefore dealt with their sins. But now He deals with their fears. John records that He spoke these words twice (Joh 20:19,21). We have to remember that among this group of Christ’s followers were those who had forsaken Him when He was arrested, and Peter, who had denied even knowing Him. This repeated greeting of “Peace be unto you” would certainly put them all at ease and calm their fears. What a beautiful gift to those who were anxious and ashamed.
Our blessed Lord still offers the gift of peace. Anyone who receives Christ as Savior receives peace with God and can say with the Apostle Paul, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). As believers, we have been given not only peace with God but the peace of God. “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Php 4:7).
But even though the Lord Jesus said, “Peace be unto you,” those gathered in the upper room “were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit” (Luk 24:37). And so, He gave them something else.
He Gave Them Proof
Notice the honesty of Scripture. The Lord’s followers are not portrayed as perfect models of faith to imitate. They were just like us, faults and all, and disappointedly slow to accept the reality of Christ’s resurrection. And so, He asks them two questions: “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (v38 NET). The first question addresses their mood; the second concerns their lack of perception.2 There was no reason for their fear and no justification for their doubts. Yet Jesus still gave them proof that it was really Him. “‘Look at my hands and my feet; it’s me! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones like you see I have.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet” (vv39-40 NET). He tells them to “look” with their eyes and invites them to “touch” with their hands. “They must be convinced that Jesus rose, but they must also be convinced that the same Jesus arose as was crucified, and so He told them to look at His hands and feet … indeed, He made a point to show them.”3
They don’t deny that it was the Lord Jesus. He must have been physically recognizable. Their eyes (unlike the two on the road to Emmaus) were not kept from recognizing Him. It may have just taken a while for the shock factor of His resurrection to wear off. John says that after showing them His hands and His side,4 they were glad when they saw the Lord (20:20). Luke notes their gladness also by recording their reaction as “believing not for joy” (24:41). This does not mean they were necessarily unbelieving. They had joy, and there can be no joy where there is unbelief. Luke seems to be saying that it was hard to believe this was all actually happening and that they were witnessing it with their own eyes. It was just too good to be true. But it was true. And amazingly, the Savior predicted their joyful response. Before His death, He said to them in the upper room, “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me …. Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (Joh 16:16,20).
But He gave them proof it was Him not only by what they would do (“look” and “touch”) but also by what He would do. “He said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them” (Luk 24:41-43).5 Apparitions don’t eat. Ghosts don’t gulp down dinner. Christ’s resurrection was actual and physical. With the evidence before them, it became crystal clear. They had all the proof they needed. It really was the Lord Jesus among them, risen from the dead. What a gift these proofs turned out to be.
We also have been given proof of the Lord’s resurrection. There is still an empty tomb. No one has ever produced His body. We have the written record of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. The biblical witnesses are not in short supply, and they gave their lives for the One they know is living and seated on His throne in glory. You may know also that Christ is alive because you can see Him in His people, a little more day by day as they are being conformed to His image.
But John recalls two more Easter gifts the Lord gave to His own.
He Gave Them a Pledge
After His second “Peace be unto you,” John notes, “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (20:22). The KJV rightly emphasizes the preposition “on” in the phrase “he breathed on them.” This was not a “breathing into” but a “breathing on.” It is possible to interpret this action as the Lord giving to His disciples what would sustain them in their present need prior to His ascension. However, it might make better sense to view this as a pledge of what was to come. To refer to this gift as a pledge (or earnest) rather than the full reception of the Holy Spirit is further supported by what the Lord said in Luke 24:49: “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.” That enduement with power would occur in Acts 2. The John 20 breathing is not the Acts 2 filling. And yet there is a connection. The light breathing in John 20 would eventually give way to the rushing mighty wind of Acts 2. But notice that the rushing mighty wind was not felt but heard as a “sound from heaven” (v2). It came from heaven because that was where the Lord is now seated, sending forth the promised Holy Spirit He had pledged to them earlier. Another reason to view this as a pledge is by noticing the behavior of Christ’s followers immediately afterward. Their boldness is not evident until after the early verses of Acts 2. They locked the doors to the room again in John 20:26 and Peter decided to go fishing in John 21, recruiting a handful of others to join him. One would expect more of a transformation if they had indeed received the Holy Spirit in John 20.
He Gave Them Power
Maybe we should more accurately say that He gave them a message with power. After the Lord breathed on them, He added, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Joh 20:23 LEB). This does not mean that the apostles had authority to forgive anyone of their sins nor is there any record in the New Testament of their understanding the Lord’s words in this way. Only God can forgive sins (Isa 43:25; Mar 2:7). We need to interpret Christ’s words here in the context of the gospel mission He just gave them – “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (Joh 20:21). They were sent forth to proclaim the good news. And there is inherent power in the gospel message entrusted to them (and us) that offers forgiveness of sins through the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Peter later preached the gospel, he noted that the authority to receive forgiveness of sins was only in the name of Jesus Christ (Act 2:38; 10:43), not any supposed power he had personally received. Remember also that Peter and the apostles were not the only individuals in the upper room to whom the Lord spoke these words. This gift was given to believers as a whole, so we should not read any ecclesiastical authority into this passage. All who have received Christ by faith have the privilege to take the gospel to everyone with the promise that all who believe in Him will experience the power of sins forgiven. Refusal of the message means that their sins “are retained,” that is, they remain on those who have committed them; they bear the guilt and face the coming judgment of God.
A risen Savior is still offering the best gifts. Not only did He bless His followers with these Easter gifts, but to lost sinners He offers forgiveness of sins, peace with God, eternal life, the guarantee of heaven in your future and fulfilling purpose in the present. These will all be yours the moment you receive the greatest Gift of all – Christ Himself. “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” (Joh 3:16).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.
2 Darrell L. Bock, Luke: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1996), 2:1932.
3 Dale Ralph Davis, Luke 14–24 (Scotland, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2021), 234.
4 John is the only one to mention the Lord’s “side.”
5 When Peter was preaching in the house of Cornelius, he included this detail of Christ eating and drinking as proof of His physical resurrection (Act 10:41).
