Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 21:3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will also come with you." They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing. Sometimes we go back to what we did before we met Jesus. Maybe it’s because we don’t know what to do perhaps that’s where Peter was. He didn’t know what to do, so he went back to the thing that he knew – fishing. James an...

John 21:2 Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. God moves people as He wishes to accomplish His purposes. On this day, on the sea of Tiberius, God put Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James, and John, and two other disciples together in a boat. As we’ll see in the next verse, God gave Peter a...

John 21:1 After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. This is now the 5th appearance after Jesus’ resurrection and the 3rd to the disciples. He had told Mary to tell them He would meet them at the Sea of Galilee which is also called the Sea of Tiberias. The fact that Jesus manifested Himself, informs us that He w...

John 20:31 “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” There are limits to what John had time and space to relate concerning Jesus, but it is adequate for any to believe and have life in His name. Our problem isn’t what we don’t know about Jesus, which is infinite. Our dilemma is rightly respondin...

John 20:30 “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;” I’ve heard it said recently that we only have a few weeks worth of the life of Jesus recorded in the gospels. John indicated as much in this verse. What is recorded is incredible, but there is so much more to which the disciples were eye witnesses. However great and wo...

John 20:29 “Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’" Have you believed that Jesus is Lord and God without seeing Him in bodily form? Have you believed after hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ? If so, you are blessed, according to Jesus Himself. Thomas and the rest of the disciples were blessed also to see the resurrected...

John 20:28 “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’" John didn’t tell us if Thomas actually touched Jesus’ hands and side. He had seen enough to be convinced that standing in front of him, was the resurrected Christ. He declared what everyone who believes declares. Jesus is Lord of all, and Jesus is God. That is what we proclaim as we witness to the resurrection. Some say Jesus is a...

John 20:27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Jesus knew what Thomas had said about his hands and side. They were the wounds that killed Jesus and perhaps that’s why Thomas didn’t say he wanted to see and touch his head and back. He had to know those wounds were healed....

John 20:26 “After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’" Just like Jesus appeared the first time to the disciples, He materialized in a closed room and stood in their midst. Again He said, “Peace be with you.” It was important to Jesus and to John that Thomas was present. He...

John 20:24-25 “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’” Before we judge Thomas too quickly or harshly, let’s consider...

John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." Notice that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is a ministry of discernment. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." They will have the ability to discern what God has and hasn’t done....

John 20:21-22 “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ and when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” Being sent by Jesus as the Father sent His Son is to produce peace. The next verse tells us what He meant. The Father sent Jesus in the power of the Spirit, and He sent His disciples and all believe...

John 20:20 “And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” And so will we! There is a day and a time when we who believe and trust in Jesus will see the Lord in His body. What a day that will be! The author of Hebrews wrote of this moment. Hebrews 9:28 “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, wi...

John 20:19 “So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’" I wonder if the disciples remembered the last words Jesus had said to them as a group in His last discourse? He had said, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me...

John 20:18 “Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, ’I have seen the Lord,’ and that He had said these things to her.” John declared his source for his account. It was Mary. I wonder if Jesus just disappeared, and then Mary went to the disciples or if she left Him there in the garden. We aren’t told, but she did what she was told. Mary’s testimony can be a example for us all. “I have see...

John 20:17.2 “Jesus said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”'" Before Jesus was crucified He told His disciples that He was going to the Father. It is interesting that between the time He was resurrected and the time He showed Himself to Mary that He had not...

John 20:17 “Jesus said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.”'" I want to encourage you today to look at the events of that resurrection morning from this perspective. God moved Mary into Jesus’ path because He planned to love her in a special way and use her f...

John 20:16 “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means, Teacher). When Jesus wants to be seen, eyes are opened. That’s how God’s light, which is love, works. At one moment Jesus is unrecognizable. You are prevented from seeing Him as we’ve discussed in the previous verses. Mary was the first to experience this blindness to Jesus’ presence on that first...

John 20:15 “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, ‘Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.’" Remember John telling us that Jesus was buried in a garden tomb? Certainly the garden was tended by someone. Who else might Mary expect to see early in the morning if sh...

John 20:14 “When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.” That Mary didn’t immediately recognize Jesus should not surprise us. We read in Luke 24:15-16. “While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.” That morning with Mary was the fir...

John 20:11-13 “But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." From J...

John 20:10 “So the disciples went away again to their own homes.” Had the disciples believed Jesus rose from the dead, do you think they would have split up and gone to their own homes? The implication is that they didn’t know what to do other for each of them to return to their own homes. This doesn’t seem reasonable if they believed Jesus had risen from the dead. It only makes sense if they beli...

John 20:8-9 “So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” In these verses, John testified that he entered the tomb and saw the empty grave clothes and the rolled up face cloth. Then he said that they didn’t conclude that Jesus was risen from the dead because...

John 20:3-7 “So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there...

John 20:2 “So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.’” Mary did not understand that Jesus had risen from the dead. She testified to John and Peter that “they” had taken Jesus’ body and laid it somewhere else. By “they” she may have had Joseph and Nicod...