Grace For The Journey

On that first Resurrection morning, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, and went running to tell Peter and John.  When she told them the Lord had risen, they ran to see for themselves.  John reached the tomb first and looked inside, but Peter went straight into the tomb and saw the burial clothes lying there.  Finally, John also went in, and we read the words of our verse for today’s blog: “He saw and believed” (John 20:8).

The other gospels do not record this event, but it was of special interest to John since he was present and what he saw was proof of Jesus’ resurrection.  The fact that the linens were present and the face cloth so carefully folded up was evidence that shouted loudly that Jesus body had not been stolen.  Thieves would not have unwrapped a body before stealing it, especially when that body was inside a tomb with a Roman seal on it. They would be risking death to break that seal.  If Jesus’ body had been stolen, the thieves would have been in and out of the tomb as quickly as possible, but the linen wrappings and the face cloth by itself carefully folded up lying there demonstrated there was no hurry.

We do not have an exact account of the events of Jesus’ resurrection. We do not know if Jesus unwrapped Himself or an angel did it for Him, but the presence of the grave clothes proved there was no hurry and the One who had been in them no longer needed them.  John was now beginning to believe the evidence before Him.  Jesus had risen from the dead.

Now, John didn’t see what he thought he would see: the dead body of his Lord.  John saw nothing, and it was at that point that the Scriptures tell us he believed.  This was indeed a time when “seeing nothing was something.”  Why?  Because, for the very first time the disciple whom Jesus loved was looking through the eyes of faith.  Only when we are looking through the eyes of faith can we see nothing and it becomes something substantial (Hebrews 11:1) . . . something life-changing.  By faith, John saw that the tomb was empty on that first Easter morning, and he believed that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, just as He had told His disciples He would do.

In our natural selves, we see so little.  For the most part, we live by the phrase, “Seeing is believing!”  If we can’t see something, we don’t believe.  By nature we are all just like Thomas, who said, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).  But, God’s Word tells us that John saw nothing and he believed.

What was the difference between Thomas and John?

John was looking beyond the fleshly veil.

John looked through the eyes of faith,

And the eyes of faith are able to see the invisible.

This is nothing new for God’s people.  In the Old Testament, we read in 2 Kings chapter six about a time when the enemy armies of Aram surrounded the city of Dothan.  The servant of Elisha saw them, and he was panic-stricken.  What he saw was real and true. The city was surrounded by the enemy, but the servant was only looking with natural eyes.  Elisha prayed that the Lord would enable his servant to see through the eyes of faith and when he did, “He saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17).  God gave Elisha’s servant the eyes of faith and he learned the absolute truth of Elisha’s words: “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16).

Only when we are looking through the eyes of faith do we begin to see all that God is doing in our lives.  God has surrounded you with legions of angels and He has promised to protect and provide for your every need.  Do not fear what you may be seeing through your physical eyes, for they see only a tiny portion of what is actually going on around you.  Ask God to open your eyes of faith, and you will begin seeing God’s hand in everything that is happening in your life.  At that level of living, seeing nothing is indeed something!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”