My God and my Lord! (John 20)

John 20:1-31

Key Verse 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Introduction: Resurrection is the culmination of Jesus’ life and of all revelations for the truth of life for all human races. The Apostle John, unlike other synoptic Gospels, presented the basic facts that led his followers to the belief that he rose from the dead and proved himself to be the Messiah and the Son of God. These facts spoke personally to each of three, John, Mary, and Thomas. John was the prime example of the belief. Mary’s and Thomas’ stories served to reveal the antithetical ‘ideas’ of men that hinders to have such belief.  After all, John clearly set forth the evidence that it is more than possible for men to believe Jesus’ resurrection and to accept him as the Savior and the Son of God through faith in his word.  

1.       The empty tomb and John’s belief (1-10)

When Jesus was on the cross, Mary Magdalene was under the cross along with other women, including Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and Joanna, the mother of James and John. According to Luke, Jesus drove out 7 demonic forces from her (Lk 8:2). Since then she followed Jesus along with other women. She undoubtedly experienced great love and power of Jesus through this healing.  She alone went to the tomb early, really early. It was still dark and she could not discern the fine things. When she got to the tomb, the stone at the opening of the tomb was rolled away. This shocked her for she thought that grave robbers took Jesus’ body away. This tells us one importance:  she visited the tomb before any others’ intervention and discovery of this finding. In other words, she was the first witness for this scene after Jesus’ resurrection event.

In surprise and shock, she told this to Peter and John. Immediately they went to the tomb. First, John arrived there first and peaked into it and he found some more than what Mary reported. Strips of linens were lying there. Soon after him Peter came and went right into the tomb and found one more. NAS translated more descriptively close to what the original language says, “the face-cloth, which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.” In this way, three things were found and confirmed at least two. First, the stone at the opening of the tomb was rolled away. Second, there were strips of linen. There was a cloth that was used to wrap around Jesus’ head. In this way, John described these as immovable facts that speak for the resurrection of Jesus. Implicitly, by saying these details, John denies that there was any vandalism or grave robbers.  If anyone did so, then there would be no strips of linen and cloth would not be left well folded up in one place. These two were left by someone to indicate that there were his careful hands in the care of these two items. Who could that be anyone other than Jesus?  John was the last one to confirmed all these and said, “He saw and believed (8b).” This is a remarkable statement and we are to examine its meaning and implication for it was John who wrote this Gospel and it was he that stated this succinctly and solidly.

First, Jesus worked on for this belief when he took three of his disciples, Peter, John, and James, to the mountain of transfiguration. He did this immediately after he announced that the Son of Man must suffer and die. Jesus knew that it was impossible for any men to accept the death of the Messiah, the Son of God, as the way of life. Unless they see by their eyes or experience far more than what they had seen in the miracles, they could not accept Jesus’ resurrection. Second, they, the disciples must stand by with Jesus so as for them to go through his suffering and death that they might be able to partake in the resurrection or fruit of crucifixion. In other words, it was vital for them to stand by with Jesus while he was on the cross to see the will of God in His mighty hand. Only then they could partake in the mighty works of God, the resurrection. Third, unlike the rest of the disciples, John and James showed a clear vision and hope for the glory of Jesus despite the repeated announcement of his suffering and death (Matt 20:22). While the rest was gripped with fear and uncertainty, expressions of such strong hope to participate in the new kingdom speaks clearly of their firm conviction that Jesus would come back somehow after death. Fourth, none of the Synoptic Gospels described any positive faith among Jesus’ disciples before Jesus’ resurrection. During this time, the unbelief or misunderstanding and fear overwhelmed the minds of the disciples. On the other hand, John made a very positive statement on the faith of the disciples. Near the end of the upper room discourse, the disciples expressed their faith (John 16:29-31). So, v8 “he saw and believed” is the expression of his final conviction that came to his mind and this even before he or they saw risen Jesus. Simply John was implicitly asserting that it was possible for him to believe Jesus’ resurrection by his teachings and by this evidence, affirming Jesus’ word, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (29ab).

[Many are confused in the understanding of ‘he saw and believed’. Was he referring to what Mary said, i.e. empty tomb or the body was stolen or he believed Jesus’ resurrection?  He editorialized what he said so as to avoid confusion in v 9. “They still did not understand from the scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” First here, he indicated that his belief was not about anything else but Jesus’ resurrection by saying ‘still’ and that his understanding was not from the scripture.  Second, though he believed that Jesus was raised from the dead, this belief did not come from his understanding of the Promises of the OT prophecies.  Though his belief was not based on or was not deduced from the Promises of the OT, he was able to believe Jesus’ resurrection according to the word of Jesus before his suffering, i.e., through the teachings of Jesus and through the findings of the tomb.]

In this way, John’s life speaks clearly that the faith in Jesus’ the word leads one to believe in the resurrection of Jesus as well.

2.       Jesus appeared to Mary (11-18)

After the initial shock, not finding Jesus’ body, Mary did not know what to do of her life. She was left there weeping unable to absorb the sorrow and loss of her Lord. Jesus was everything to her: even if he was crucified and became a corpus in her heart Jesus was still living and couldn’t be erased as if nothing had happened.
She could not withhold her love and concern for Jesus or she was compelled to see Jesus because of her love for Jesus.  In other words, in her mind, Jesus did not deserve such punishment and crucifixion was totally an undue punishment for him. Such a tragic death with a sentence of blaspheme could not undo or nullify her belief that Jesus was innocent and was the Son of God. Jesus’ love and his truth still loomed large in her heart.

Then she suddenly saw two angels one at the foot and the other at the head where Jesus’ body was laid. This is somewhat different from Matthew’s report (Matt 28:5-7). John’s report is more of a personal one to Mary. She saw these two angels sitting inside of the tomb and they initiated the talk. “Woman, why are you crying?”  She answered, "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." In her heart, loss of Jesus was a crisis of life because she loved Jesus so much and her life was hung on Jesus. She did not have such an insight, a belief born by words and facts that testify for the word. But she had one thing, all hearted love, and trust for Jesus.  Also, this question was a gentle rebuke. Rebuke of what? It was a very pointed question against her unbelief on or unwilling to think and process all the teachings and facts that she saw. You must be able to believe Jesus’ resurrection and are to accept Jesus’ resurrection. Nevertheless, we know there are so many who were absorbed by a feeling of sorrow, anger, and frustration, and under such distraught mindset, he or she is unable to reason and think things together to reach to the belief. This weakness was revealed again.

14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

She saw Jesus but she could not recognize him at all. She could, not because Jesus changed so much but because she only thought of the Jesus that she saw when he was buried in the tomb. Though she saw him and yet she did not recognize him at all. She loved Jesus and trusted him fully. Yet when she did not take full consideration of Jesus’ word, she was unable to put things together as John could. Jesus asked her again the same question:

 15 He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"

This is another rebuke of her lack of faith. Who is it you are looking for? Is it the Son of God or Jesus the one who died and buried?  She loved Jesus so much but she failed to believe his word. The power of death ruled her heart. But this must be overcome by trusting Jesus’ word and God the father.

What did God do for such people?

First, we can reasonably be certain that these angels were not there when John and Peter came to see the tomb. It means that God sent the angels with a specific purpose. It was to help her take the road to the resurrection by faith through what was given. The question was not only a rebuke but also pointing her to that road. Second, God answered to the loving of his promise. Jesus’ last teaching to his disciples was to love one another (15:18). Though she did not have a delicate reasoning or processing ability to put all things together, she had one thing, unbridled love to Jesus.  She had this love when he drove out seven demons from her. Since then, he did not lose that love.  All that she saw in sentencing and crucifixion of Jesus did not taint her trust and did not weaken her faith. This love and trust prompted her to get up so early morning, long before anyone else sought him when it was still dark. This was a stark expression of her undeterred love for Jesus. This love warrantied her of showing himself by his promise (16:27). In this way, she stood as the example of all those who loved and was allowed to see Jesus again.  Jesus speaks one truth: when you love Jesus with all your heart, then Jesus will come and see you according to his promise.

Jesus had to go to the father for he was to be with the Father.

17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

As we noted, Mary’s life could not do without Jesus’ presence or his accompaniment. This was a love that goes far beyond the love of many others’. It is very commendable. But from this point on, that love must be of trusting his commanding authority in the sphere of whole human reality. In other words, she must rejoice in His victory over the power of death and overall forces of this world. This love also should be able to move forward from the physical realm to the spiritual realm. Overcoming the power of death is taking the helms of all the authorities of the evil world.

This transition is difficult to make for we are to move our faith in the physical world to the faith in the sphere of the spiritual realm, the world of God the Father where His Son, Jesus, was going. It is the sphere of the Word of God. God mandated and forced the world of that faith through Jesus’ resurrection. As Jesus prophesied, the temple in Jerusalem was totally demolished in AD 70. The Jews did not have any choice but to move forward with their faith in the word, not on what they could do in and through the earthly temple but through the word and spirit in the word. To the woman at the well in Sychar, Jesus said, 

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (Joh 4:23 NIV)

Though she loved Jesus so much, yet that love must move forward with the faith in Jesus’ word. So, the peace and comfort or confidence shall not be of Jesus’ physical presence but of the immanence of His spirit and power as he rules the world.

Does having Jesus or joining him in his glory was meant for him to be with them as he was last few years. 

3.       Jesus appeared to the disciples (19-23)

Om the evening of the first day of the week, Jesus visited his disciples. There were all got together in one place. Where this happened was not mentioned. To the women that he met at the tomb, the angels/Jesus said that Jesus would meet the disciples in Galilee (Mark 14:28; 16:7; Matt 28:10).  Though John did not mention where it happened, it is likely that this was in a place in Galilee. If this is true, then there are two significances: Jesus did not want to meet them in Jerusalem. He wanted to meet them in Galilee. It was where they had spent three years with Jesus and it was the place Jesus called them all, the place where their hope for the kingdom of God was hatched.  This hope was put into action as they set out a journey to Jerusalem. The theme of Jesus and his company’s journey to Jerusalem is well recorded in all three synoptic gospels (Luke 9:6, 51).  This journey began soon after his disciples accepted Jesus as the Son of God, Messiah at Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8:17-30, 34). This journey comprised of three purposes; restoration of the kingdom of God in Jerusalem, installation of Jesus as the King so as for him to take hold of the kingship, and lastly the theme of following by his disciples by denying themselves and taking up their cross to join with the king in a new kingdom. The resurrection of Jesus fulfilled all these three goals and his disciples succeeded in following Jesus and were well qualified to partake in that kingdom.  Second, Galilee was not the place to embark a new vision as the newly established King of Israel. In between Jesus’ resurrection and Pentecost, there are fifty days. We know that Risen Jesus appeared to them a period of forty days and his disciples saw Jesus’ ascension in Jerusalem or its vicinity.  

So, meeting risen Jesus must reignite the hope and vision for the restoration of the kingdom of God as they had when Jesus set off his journey to Jerusalem for the purpose of the restoration of the Kingdom of God. Luke notes that Risen Jesus appeared to his disciples for a period of forty days and during this time, the main theme of his teaching was about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:4b).

This paragraph describes Jesus’ meeting with his disciples as the final and thematic event of Jesus’ earthly ministry. John’s reports were more centered around very specific events along with particular characters in which he embodied the key messages of Jesus’ ministry. The stories of Jesus’ meeting with Nicodemus and with a Samaritan woman were the examples. So, this meeting is to be understood in a like manner.

On the evening of that first day of the week, Jesus appeared to the disciples. They were all gathered together in one place, except Thomas.  The sentencing of blasphemy, death by crucifixion, and burial of tortured and so much bruised Jesus’ corpus were still vivid in their hearts and fear of death overwhelmed their hearts and mind. Nobody knows how worse their end of life would be though quite a number of people went through a near-death experience. We can imagine or conjecture what it would be like. But we can never know fully the pain, anguish, and worry of dying. So, we all are living in ignorance of the true reality that would come surely in time. We put off of facing such unfavorable and unbearable reality as much as we can. Crucifixion is and gives us a full and fair reflection of what death would be like. Death and its full impact on our lives were unthought or glanced over or ignored totally as if such a thing would never come to our lives. But after seeing Jesus crucifixion so closely, it was all too much to bear especially for his disciples. How could they come out of this fear, catharsis, and vanity and futility of life?   They were together in a room with all the doors locked. Truly all reality of death locks us in the power of death. No one has answers how to get out of this. When a young lady had a first-hand experienced of a death of a close friend in a car accident, she became totally distraught for two years and could not handle her life at all. Literally, her friend’s death brought the death of all she believed and hoped.

While they did not know what to do, risen Jesus came in the room. Into the quarter that confined them in such fear, Jesus came in. He did not need to open the door and did not ask them to open the door. Because he had the power to get in and had promised to do so (John 16:22).

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.

Jesus’ first word to them was ‘peace be with you’.  The power of judgment and death took away the peace for men. Just days before, these disciples saw Jesus’ death and their hearts and minds were thrown into the pit of judgment and death. They saw when the nails were hammered down through his hands and feet. They saw all the ripped and torn face and skins. They saw blood dripping down from all these wounds. They saw a large amount of blood gushing out as he was pierced on his side. His life was totally drained or poured out. Those wounds were the marks of judgment and death. There was nothing to sustain his life. Yet, to their shock, Jesus came with a big smile saying, “Peace be with you”. As they saw Jesus, all the marks of the power of death that were laid upon Jesus were gone or undone. In his smile and flash face and in his kind and truthful words, from their hearts, the power and horrors of death dissipated and totally wiped out without a trace. In this way, risen Jesus brought them out of that pit and gave them the peace. How can a man undo the power of death? Or how can we get out of the pit of power of death? The only way is for us to die. But death is an awfully fearful thing to take on. But we can do it with Christ in the certainty of our wellbeing as we see Risen Jesus. It is like what Jacob said to Esau, “seeing your face is like seeing the face of God” (Gen 33:10). The life that has never taken into consideration of the ultimate reality, death, is fleeting like sands on a seashore or dunes in a desert. But the life that has overcome death is on solid ground for there would be nothing fearful.

21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Jesus’ peace, the peace that he acquired from the Lord on behalf of them, has now been imparted to them. On the foundation of this peace, Jesus is now sending them as God sent him to them for the same purpose.  Peace and confidence in His grace are the most important element of our walk with Christ, especially when we carry the message of salvation to the world. Surely, we will be rejected many a time along with their rejection of the message of the Gospel that we deliver. But what we have received, the firm foundation of truth and life in the resurrection will make us stand firm unmoved and unperturbed. The peace that we have in Jesus resurrection enables us to transcend all other logic, morals, and power of the world. Last week I had a chance to talk to a girl student on campus. She said that she is seeking God. In the course of our discussion, she asked why we Christians are dogmatic of the message of the Gospel and insist that we are the only ones who have the truth.  To her mind, my way of the presentation of the Gospel was odd and against the norm of our time and our society.  The truth will always face opposite to all untruthful things of the world. We are to stand and to stand firm on the truth of the Gospel. The peace that comes from the confidence in the Lord will make the truth shine in the darkness.

The purpose of God sending his Son Jesus is well stated in the introduction of this book (1:1-18), more precisely in vv 1:17-18.   Since they became one with the Son and with the Father, they were to make known the father and the Son through their changed life in His word. It is a Johannine way of understanding the mission that Jesus gave them. In other words, the disciples are to be the prime part of the revelation of God’s saving work to the world. One is saved and being one with the father cannot be separated from his becoming the part of the message of God’s salvation to the world.  To this end, Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” It is often read as if just that moment Jesus breathed on them the Holy Spirit. Rather it is a succinct description of what Jesus did for his disciples as a preparation for receiving the Holy Spirit.  I would take this as Jesus’ efforts to prepare them to receive the Holy Spirit as Luke talked about Jesus’ teaching the disciples on the kingdom of God for forty days before his ascension.

Here what John said in v9 is important. Going through Jesus’ death and meeting Risen Jesus did not bring them fully to the par with the condition for them to represent as the holder of ultimate salvation.  The entire understanding of Jesus’ work including his suffering and death must be understood according to the promise of God for God’s full will and purpose is contained in and revealed through His promise. This must be coupled with the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

there are a full will and purpose and its fulfillment. This was what Jesus did for the two disciples who were heading toward Emmaus. Jesus did a similar thing for the disciples for forty days before his ascension.  

4.       Jesus appeared to Thomas (24-28)

On the night of the first day of the week, Thomas was not with the rest of the disciples. He was away when Jesus visited them. When he heard that the rest of the disciples had seen the Lord, he 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." (25)

It speaks of two things. First, the power of death was stronger than his trust in his beloved peers. As far as friends were a concern, these disciples were closer than any other human relationship in truth. They followed Jesus for the last three years and their experience much with Jesus and among themselves. To help his disciples, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the Mt. of Transfiguration. There he showed something far more than the rest of the disciples saw.  This helped the three to become the nidus of faith among the twelve whose minds were wrapped up more with fear and doubt. For Thomas, death was an insurmountable barrier, which even by the words of the most trusted friend could not be overcome. This speaks of the depth of the power of death upon a human being. The whole world is wrapped up itself with death that resurrection from the dead was unthought and has stood as the ultimate say to life. Such insurmountable barrier of death was also shown in Mary and Martha.  

John 11:39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." 40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" (Joh 11:39 NIV)

These two sisters loved and very close relationship in truth with Jesus more than any other people. Yet, as far as death was concerned, they trusted their own understanding and experience more than the words of Jesus. Both insisted that if Jesus would have come earlier, Lazarus had not died. The power of death entrenched deeply in their being as the foundation of their lives. Seeing this ‘helplessness of man’ under the power of death, Jesus wept! Jesus had deep empathy for such human predicament and he was compelled to unshackle this chain of death on a human being. He spoke with a very stern voice, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" (Joh 11:40 NIV) Believing is to go beyond the perimeters of our human understanding by faith, not blindly but according to the words of God. Thomas was not different from Mary and Martha. Practically we all are more or less the same with them as far as in our dealing with the matter of death.

Second, he expressed his will to believe only when he sees the nail marks and put his fingers on his wounds. The avenue for trust on something must come through what he sees and touches.  In other words, what he sees and touches bear far more weight on his belief than what he hears. Israel’s the first and the most intimate encounter with God the father of all creation was through His word. At the Mount Horeb, God’s glory showed at the top of the mountain. But the glory was of Him but not Him. The reason why God spoke directly to them in such powerful glory was for them to ‘remember His word’ The reason for Him to speak directly to them in His glory was for them to take serious consideration of His word.

And said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die." 20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." (Exo 20:19 NIV)

God left them His word and He would relate with His people through His words. His word actually represents His will, His authority, and His power. No can relate with Him with what he sees anything of Him. By His word, He put all men under His judgment. By His word, He promised to save them. Jesus came in the flesh as we are. He spoke in our language and did many miracles that we can see through our eyes. They were able to see and touch Jesus! Jesus’ death meant the death of all that we rely on as the means and ways of life. He died the death of His body. But His words live as the commanding truth of life as was with the WORD that God spoke to Israel at the Mt Horeb. Here we see that Thomas remained in the sphere of his intellect and mind, which were formed and certified as the truth of life by seeing and touching: dead cannot rise to life. He saw how Jesus’ hands and legs were nailed, how he suffered, how he labored to breathe, how much he shed his blood, and how much pain he suffered. These were the visible and touchable evidence of death. How could all these be undone to bring back his life?

Had he known and realized that in the beginning, God created all by His word? Had he accepted the power that raised Lazarus by Jesus’ word? He heard Jesus’ word like the voice of a mosquito while what he knew and understood by his sight and touch spoke more loudly than the voice of God in the Mountain Horeb.

This must be changed! He must hear God’s voice as loudly as it was at the Mountain Horeb. He must remember and rehear the word that Jesus spoke to Lazarus at his tomb. “Lazarus comes out” Until one honor His word, every single word of God, he or she is doomed to fail to believe the power of resurrection. 

If Thomas was left as he was, he would be a dropout! In a week, the first day of the week, Jesus appeared to the disciples. He said to them again:

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." (20:27)

Jesus came to them again and showed the nail marks in his hands and his wound in his side. In this way, Jesus proved his resurrection three times, one to Mary at the tomb, the other to the disciples on the same evening, and now a week later to the disciples including Thomas. As he saw Jesus, he said to him;

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" (20:28)

These two words epitomize all the knowledge that he came to know of Jesus by heart. Jesus is his Lord and Jesus is his God! In Risen Jesus, he faced all power and authority of God Himself as He is. Life and the proof of life, the resurrection is the essence of His being. We all must come to face this God in Jesus as we partake in the power of his resurrection. This shall be the ultimate understanding and the confession of His people. Thomas came to this far because Jesus showed him his grace by appearing to him for his sake. But Jesus said that this shall not be the avenue to the belief of resurrection; 

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."(20:29)

Paul met Risen Jesus on his way to Damascus. Thomas saw Risen Jesus and then he came to believe the Lord.  And yet, this shall not be the avenue to the belief. Those who have not seen and yet believed are ‘the blessed’. Thomas must believe! He must believe Jesus’ word above and beyond his own ‘understanding based on what he saw and touch’.  Who did? John came to believe his resurrection by what he saw in the empty tomb because he believed in Jesus’ word. Likewise, Thomas must acknowledge God’s power and His will expressed in His Word. Being blessed is to have the treasure in heaven as his.

Matthew 13:52 He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." (Mat 13:52 NIV)

The perfect will and power of God was and has been delivered through the Promises in the OT and Jesus. When these two make a perfect harmony in one’s storeroom, he or she be able to read the resurrection events by faith and can believe the resurrection of Jesus (This is alluded in 20:9). In this faith, we find the treasure of the kingdom of God and we come to cherish that treasure! All these come by faith in His word. What Jesus did, his teaching, his miraculous work, and his death and resurrection stand as the witness for God’s call for us to get the treasure of the Kingdom of heaven.  We all can do believe by faith in His word! It is not difficult and it is never impossible at all!

But when we take His word, the power in His word, or take Him at His word, we can and will surely accept and believe His resurrection even without seeing Him.  Paul said this in a most eloquent and powerful way (But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: Rom 10:8 NIV) When we believe in His word, the power of resurrection becomes ours and we have the treasures of heavenly kingdom.  

5.       By believing His word, all can have life in Risen Christ.

John concludes the message by saying this:

31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. (Joh 20:1 NIV)

These are written that you may believe. What he wrote is the book of the Gospel John. This is the word of Gospel, the message of God. It is the Word of God delivered through His son Jesus. Also, Jesus himself is the Word of God. John himself was the example of the ones who believed Jesus through His word (as noted in v8b-9). The resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate sign and word of God Almighty speaking of the salvation of all in His Son’s suffering, death, and resurrection. Not by anything else but only by believing His word, we all can become His people and can share all the blessing of the Kingdom of God. The resurrection is the most difficult huddle but even this would be no problem at all for those who put his/her trust in His word. Amen.