Go on to read the following verses.
12. The Words Jesus Said to His Disciples After His Resurrection
(Jn 20:26-29) And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the middle, and said, Peace be to you. Then said he to Thomas, Reach here your finger, and behold my hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, My LORD and my God. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
(Jn 21:16-17) He said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, love you me? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, love you me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Love you me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.
What these verses record are some things the Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, did on his disciples and some words he said to them. First, let’s see: What is the difference between the resurrected Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus before? Was he still the Lord Jesus of past days? In the scriptures there is such a word that describes the resurrected Lord Jesus: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the middle, and said, Peace be to you. Obviously, the Lord Jesus of that time was no longer the flesh but the spiritual body, because he transcended the limit of the flesh and could come among men when the door was shut and let all of them see him. This is the greatest difference between the resurrected Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus who had lived in the flesh before. Although the spiritual body at that time had no difference from the image of the Lord Jesus before, the Lord Jesus then became the Lord Jesus men felt unfamiliar with. This is because he was resurrected and became the spiritual body, this spiritual body made men feel more perplexed and doubtful than the flesh before, while at the same time caused men to feel more distant from the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus at this time became more mysterious and unfathomable in men’s hearts. Such knowledge and feeling of men all at once brought them back to the age in which they believed in the invisible and intangible God, so the first thing the resurrected Lord Jesus wanted to do was to let all the men see him and confirm his existence and also confirm the fact of his resurrection, and at the same time to restore men’s relationship with him to the relationship between them and the visible and tangible Christ when he worked in the flesh. Thus, on the one hand, men could firmly believe the incident of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection after his crucifixion, and firmly believe the Lord Jesus’ work of redeeming mankind; on the other hand, the fact of the resurrected Lord Jesus appearing to men and being visible and tangible to men firmly stabilized men in the Age of the Grace. From then on, men would not return back to the last age, that is, the Age of the Law, because of the Lord Jesus “disappearing” or “leaving without saying goodbye,” but went on by following the teaching of the Lord Jesus and the work he had done. Thus, the work of the Age of the Grace was formally started, and from then on mankind under the law formally came out of the law and entered into a new epoch and had a new beginning. This is the manifold significance of the Lord Jesus appearing to men after his resurrection.
Since he was the spiritual body, why could men touch and see him? This had to do with the significance of the Lord Jesus appearing to men. What do you see from these passages of scripture? Usually the spiritual body is invisible and intangible, and after the Lord Jesus’ resurrection, the work undertaken by him had been accomplished. Theoretically, it was totally unnecessary for him to come back among men to meet them with his original image. However, the Lord Jesus’ spiritual body appearing to such a person as Thomas made the significance of the Lord Jesus appearing more concrete and go deeper into men’s hearts. When he came to Thomas, he let the doubting Thomas touch his hands, and he told Thomas: “reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” It is not after his resurrection that the Lord Jesus wanted to say these words and do these things; rather he had wanted to do so before his crucifixion. Thus it was clear that the Lord Jesus before his crucifixion already had a knowledge of such kind of person as Thomas. Then now what do we see from this? The resurrected Lord Jesus was still the same Lord Jesus, and his substance had not changed. Thomas’ doubt did not come into being now but had existed all the time during his following the Lord Jesus; it was only that he was the Lord Jesus who had been resurrected and come back from the spiritual realm, with his original image, his original disposition, and also his knowledge of men when he was in the flesh. So he first came to Thomas and let him touch his side, so that he not only saw the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus but also touched and felt the existence of the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus, dropping his doubt completely. Thomas, before the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, had always been doubtful about and could not believe the fact that the Lord Jesus was the Christ. His belief in God was only based on seeing with his own eyes and touching with his own hands. The Lord Jesus had known very well about the belief of such kind of people. They only believed in the God in heaven and did not at all believe in or accept the One God sent or the incarnated Christ. In order for Thomas to acknowledge and believe that the Lord Jesus existed and that he was indeed God incarnate, the Lord Jesus asked Thomas to reach his hand and touch his side. Did Thomas have any change in his doubt before and after the Lord Jesus’ resurrection? He had been doubting all the time. No one could solve his doubt or let him drop his doubt, unless the Lord Jesus revealed his spiritual body to him personally and let him touch his nail marks with his own hand. Therefore, the Lord Jesus let him touch his side and also let him really feel the existence of the nail marks. From then on, Thomas’ doubt disappeared, and he knew for sure that the Lord Jesus had resurrected and also acknowledged and believed that the Lord Jesus was the true Christ and was God’s incarnated flesh. Although Thomas at this time no longer doubted, he forever lost the opportunity of meeting with Christ, forever lost the opportunity of being with Christ, lost the opportunity of following Christ and knowing Christ, and lost the opportunity of being perfected by Christ. And the Lord Jesus’ appearing and his words drew conclusion about and passed sentence on the belief of doubting people. By his practically speaking and acting he told doubting people and told those who only believed in the God in heaven but did not believe in Christ: God did not approve their belief and did not approve their following with doubt; the day they completely believed in God and believed in Christ would be the day when God’s work was thoroughly crowned with success, and of course that day would also be the day for their doubt to be sentenced; their attitude toward Christ decided their destiny, their stubborn doubt made their belief utterly fruitless, and their hardness caused their hope to become in vain. This is because their belief in the God in heaven was only feeding on illusions, while their doubt about Christ was their real attitude toward God. So, even if they touched the nail marks in the Lord Jesus, their belief was still in vain, and their outcome could only be described with the word “drawing water with a bamboo basket—all in vain.” The words the Lord Jesus said to Thomas were clearly telling everyone: The resurrected Lord Jesus was exactly the Lord Jesus who had worked among men for thirty-three and a half years. Although he had been crucified and had passed through the valley of death and the resurrection, whatever aspect of him had not changed in the slightest. Although he had the nail marks and although he had resurrected and come out of the tomb, his disposition, his knowledge of man, and his will for man had not changed in the slightest; at the same time, he was also telling man that he had come down from the cross and overcome sin, overcome suffering, and overcome death, and that his nail marks were the evidence of his triumph over satan and the evidence of his successfully redeeming the whole mankind as the sin offering, and he was telling man that he had borne mankind’s sins and accomplished his redemptive work. When he returned to meet his disciples, he told them by his appearing: “I am still living. I still exist. Today I am truly standing before you, visible and tangible to you. I will be with you at all times.” Through Thomas’ case, the Lord Jesus also wanted to exhort people after him: “Although you, who believe in the Lord Jesus, cannot see him or touch him, you can receive blessings by true faith and can see the Lord Jesus by true faith. Such people are blessed.”
This passage about the Lord Jesus appearing to Thomas recorded in the Bible brought great help to the people throughout the Age of the Grace. The appearing of the Lord Jesus and his words to Thomas had a far-reaching effect on and lasting significance to later generations. Thomas represented the kind of people who believed in God but doubted God. They were doubtful by nature, and had a malicious and crafty heart. They did not believe the things God could accomplish and did not believe in God’s almightiness and sovereignty, nor did they believe in God’s incarnation. However, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus gave them a head-on blow and also gave them an opportunity for them to discover their doubtfulness, know their doubtfulness, and acknowledge their craftiness, so that they could truly believe in the existence and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The case of Thomas gave later generations a warning and also gave them a reminding, so that more people could warn themselves not to be doubtful like Thomas, and if they were doubtful like Thomas, they would fall into darkness. If you follow God but like Thomas always want to touch the Lord’s side and feel his nail marks so as to confirm, verify, or speculate whether God exists, God will forsake you. So the Lord Jesus required people not to believe by sight like Thomas but to be simple and honest people, who do not doubt God but simply trust and follow him. Such people would be blessed. This was a small requirement of the Lord Jesus for man and his admonition to his followers.
All the above is the Lord Jesus’ attitude toward doubting people. Then to those who could honestly believe in and follow the Lord Jesus, what did he say and do? This is what we will look at in the next conversation between the Lord Jesus and Peter.
In this conversation, the Lord Jesus kept asking Peter one question: Peter, love you me? This was a higher standard the Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, required of such kind of people as Peter, that is, those who truly believed in Christ and pursued to love the Lord. His question was a kind of pressing question and a kind of urging question, much more a kind of requirement and expectation for such kind of people as Peter. By asking in this way, he wanted all people to do an examination and reflect on themselves: What is the Lord Jesus’ requirement for man? Am I loving the Lord? Am I a person who loves God? How should I love God? Although the Lord Jesus asked Peter alone, actually in his heart he wanted to ask more people who pursued to love God such a question through the opportunity of asking Peter; it was only that Peter was fortunate to be the representative of this kind of people, being personally asked by the Lord Jesus.
Compared with the Lord Jesus’ word to Thomas after his resurrection, “reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing,” the question he asked Peter three times, “Simon, son of Jonas, love you me?”, made people even more feel the sternness of the Lord Jesus’ attitude and the eagerness of his mind when he asked. For Thomas who was crafty and doubting by nature, the Lord Jesus asked him to reach out his hand and touch his nail marks, so that he believed that the Lord Jesus was the resurrected Son of man and acknowledged the fact that the Lord Jesus was the Christ in identity. Although the Lord Jesus did not rebuke Thomas strictly or draw conclusion about him with specific words, by the actual deed the Lord Jesus told him the Lord Jesus’ knowledge about him and at the same time made known his attitude and decision toward such kind of people. In this passage said by the Lord Jesus, no requirement and expectation for this kind of people can be seen. Because such kind of people as Thomas did not have true belief at all, the Lord Jesus had just that requirement for them. But to the people like Peter he showed a completely different attitude. He did not ask Peter to reach out his hand to touch his nail marks or say to Peter such a word as “be not faithless, but believing.” Rather, he asked Peter the same question repeatedly, and his question set people thinking and was worth pondering; every follower of Christ could not but feel self-reproach and fear, and also feel the Lord Jesus’ deep worry and sadness. In pain and distress, people had more perception of the Lord Jesus Christ’s concern and care and had more comprehension of the Lord Jesus Christ’s earnest instruction and strict requirement for simple and honest people. From the Lord Jesus’ question, people felt that the Lord’s expectation expressed in his simple word was not for man to believe and follow only, but to have love, loving your Lord and loving your God. The love here means consideration and obedience, that is, man can live for God, die for God, and sacrifice, spend, and expend his all for God; the love here also means comforting God and letting God enjoy testimony and rest, means man’s repaying God, means man’s responsibility, obligation, and duty, and also means the way man should walk for his lifetime. The question asked three times was the Lord Jesus’ requirement and charge to Peter and to all those to be perfected. It was exactly the question the Lord Jesus asked three times that led and encouraged Peter to complete his life journey, and it was exactly the question the Lord Jesus asked when about to part that brought Peter on the way to be perfected, and caused Peter to care for the Lord’s heart because of loving the Lord, obey the Lord out of love, comfort the Lord out of love, and offer up his whole life and his whole being out of love.
In the Age of the Grace, God mainly worked on two kinds of people. The first kind was those who believed in and followed him and who could keep commandments, bear the cross, and keep the way of the Age of the Grace. Such people could receive God’s blessings and enjoy God’s grace. The second kind was those like Peter who were to be perfected. So, after his resurrection, the Lord Jesus first did these two most meaningful things: One was done on Thomas, and the other on Peter. What did these two things represent? Didn’t they represent God’s true will to save man? Didn’t they represent God’s sincerity toward man? The work done on Thomas was to admonish people not to be doubting ones, but just believe. The work done on Peter was to strengthen the faith of such kind of people as Peter and also to make a specific requirement of this kind of people and clearly point out the goal for their pursuit.
After the Lord Jesus resurrected, he appeared and spoke to some men, to whom he thought it was necessary, and he gave them the requirement and left them his will and expectation for man. That is to say, as the incarnated God, whether when he lived in the flesh or in the spiritual body after his crucifixion and resurrection, his concern and requirement for mankind had not changed. Before he went to the cross, he was concerned about those disciples. He was clear about everyone’s state and knew everyone’s lack. His knowledge of everyone after he was resurrected and became the spiritual body was the same with that when he was in the flesh. He knew that people were not completely certain about his identity as the Christ, but when he was in the flesh, he had not made any harsh requirement of man. After he was resurrected, he appeared to men, so that they made one hundred percent certain that he was from God and was the incarnated God. He made his appearing and the fact of his resurrection the greatest vision and motivation for their life-long pursuit. The fact of his resurrection not only strengthened all his followers but had the work of the Age of the Grace thoroughly carried out among mankind, and then the gospel of the Lord Jesus’ salvation in the Age of the Grace was gradually spread to every corner among mankind. Do you think the appearing of the Lord Jesus after his resurrection was meaningful? If you were Thomas of that time or Peter of that time, and you encountered such a meaningful thing once in your life, what influence would it have on you? Would you take it as the best and greatest vision in your whole life of believing in God? Would you take it as a motivation for you to follow God, pursue to satisfy God, and pursue to love God for your whole life? Would you spend your lifetime energies to spread this greatest vision? Would you take spreading the Lord Jesus’ salvation as your commission from God? Although you have not experienced this thing, the two cases of Thomas and Peter are sufficient for people of the present age to have a clear knowledge of God’s will and of God. It can be said that when God, after being incarnated, had personally experienced the life of the world and personally experienced the life of mankind, and had seen the fall of mankind and seen the situation of mankind’s living, the God in the flesh could more deeply feel mankind’s helplessness and mankind’s pitifulness and poorness, and the God living in the flesh, because of his humanity and the instinct of his flesh, was more considerate for mankind’s situation and thus was more concerned about his followers. You probably cannot understand these, but I can use a phrase “deeply concerned about” to describe the worry and care of the God in the flesh for everyone who follows him. Although this phrase is from human language and although it is a very human phrase, it can truly express and describe God’s affection for his followers. As for God’s being “deeply concerned about” man, in the course of your experience you will gradually feel it and savor it; but you have to know God’s disposition gradually while pursuing the transformation of your disposition, before you can reach it. The Lord Jesus’ appearing realized and transferred his being “deeply concerned about” his followers in his humanity to his spiritual body or to his divinity. His appearing made man again realize and feel God’s concern and care for man, and at the same time it strongly proved that God is the One who starts an age and opens an age and also the One who ends the age. By his appearing he strengthened everyone’s faith; by his appearing he proved to the world the fact that he is God Godself, so that his followers received a lasting verification; and also by his appearing he made a breakthrough in the work of the new age.
12. The Words Jesus Said to His Disciples After His Resurrection
(Jn 20:26-29) And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the middle, and said, Peace be to you. Then said he to Thomas, Reach here your finger, and behold my hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, My LORD and my God. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
(Jn 21:16-17) He said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, love you me? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, love you me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Love you me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.
What these verses record are some things the Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, did on his disciples and some words he said to them. First, let’s see: What is the difference between the resurrected Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus before? Was he still the Lord Jesus of past days? In the scriptures there is such a word that describes the resurrected Lord Jesus: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the middle, and said, Peace be to you. Obviously, the Lord Jesus of that time was no longer the flesh but the spiritual body, because he transcended the limit of the flesh and could come among men when the door was shut and let all of them see him. This is the greatest difference between the resurrected Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus who had lived in the flesh before. Although the spiritual body at that time had no difference from the image of the Lord Jesus before, the Lord Jesus then became the Lord Jesus men felt unfamiliar with. This is because he was resurrected and became the spiritual body, this spiritual body made men feel more perplexed and doubtful than the flesh before, while at the same time caused men to feel more distant from the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus at this time became more mysterious and unfathomable in men’s hearts. Such knowledge and feeling of men all at once brought them back to the age in which they believed in the invisible and intangible God, so the first thing the resurrected Lord Jesus wanted to do was to let all the men see him and confirm his existence and also confirm the fact of his resurrection, and at the same time to restore men’s relationship with him to the relationship between them and the visible and tangible Christ when he worked in the flesh. Thus, on the one hand, men could firmly believe the incident of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection after his crucifixion, and firmly believe the Lord Jesus’ work of redeeming mankind; on the other hand, the fact of the resurrected Lord Jesus appearing to men and being visible and tangible to men firmly stabilized men in the Age of the Grace. From then on, men would not return back to the last age, that is, the Age of the Law, because of the Lord Jesus “disappearing” or “leaving without saying goodbye,” but went on by following the teaching of the Lord Jesus and the work he had done. Thus, the work of the Age of the Grace was formally started, and from then on mankind under the law formally came out of the law and entered into a new epoch and had a new beginning. This is the manifold significance of the Lord Jesus appearing to men after his resurrection.
Since he was the spiritual body, why could men touch and see him? This had to do with the significance of the Lord Jesus appearing to men. What do you see from these passages of scripture? Usually the spiritual body is invisible and intangible, and after the Lord Jesus’ resurrection, the work undertaken by him had been accomplished. Theoretically, it was totally unnecessary for him to come back among men to meet them with his original image. However, the Lord Jesus’ spiritual body appearing to such a person as Thomas made the significance of the Lord Jesus appearing more concrete and go deeper into men’s hearts. When he came to Thomas, he let the doubting Thomas touch his hands, and he told Thomas: “reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” It is not after his resurrection that the Lord Jesus wanted to say these words and do these things; rather he had wanted to do so before his crucifixion. Thus it was clear that the Lord Jesus before his crucifixion already had a knowledge of such kind of person as Thomas. Then now what do we see from this? The resurrected Lord Jesus was still the same Lord Jesus, and his substance had not changed. Thomas’ doubt did not come into being now but had existed all the time during his following the Lord Jesus; it was only that he was the Lord Jesus who had been resurrected and come back from the spiritual realm, with his original image, his original disposition, and also his knowledge of men when he was in the flesh. So he first came to Thomas and let him touch his side, so that he not only saw the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus but also touched and felt the existence of the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus, dropping his doubt completely. Thomas, before the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, had always been doubtful about and could not believe the fact that the Lord Jesus was the Christ. His belief in God was only based on seeing with his own eyes and touching with his own hands. The Lord Jesus had known very well about the belief of such kind of people. They only believed in the God in heaven and did not at all believe in or accept the One God sent or the incarnated Christ. In order for Thomas to acknowledge and believe that the Lord Jesus existed and that he was indeed God incarnate, the Lord Jesus asked Thomas to reach his hand and touch his side. Did Thomas have any change in his doubt before and after the Lord Jesus’ resurrection? He had been doubting all the time. No one could solve his doubt or let him drop his doubt, unless the Lord Jesus revealed his spiritual body to him personally and let him touch his nail marks with his own hand. Therefore, the Lord Jesus let him touch his side and also let him really feel the existence of the nail marks. From then on, Thomas’ doubt disappeared, and he knew for sure that the Lord Jesus had resurrected and also acknowledged and believed that the Lord Jesus was the true Christ and was God’s incarnated flesh. Although Thomas at this time no longer doubted, he forever lost the opportunity of meeting with Christ, forever lost the opportunity of being with Christ, lost the opportunity of following Christ and knowing Christ, and lost the opportunity of being perfected by Christ. And the Lord Jesus’ appearing and his words drew conclusion about and passed sentence on the belief of doubting people. By his practically speaking and acting he told doubting people and told those who only believed in the God in heaven but did not believe in Christ: God did not approve their belief and did not approve their following with doubt; the day they completely believed in God and believed in Christ would be the day when God’s work was thoroughly crowned with success, and of course that day would also be the day for their doubt to be sentenced; their attitude toward Christ decided their destiny, their stubborn doubt made their belief utterly fruitless, and their hardness caused their hope to become in vain. This is because their belief in the God in heaven was only feeding on illusions, while their doubt about Christ was their real attitude toward God. So, even if they touched the nail marks in the Lord Jesus, their belief was still in vain, and their outcome could only be described with the word “drawing water with a bamboo basket—all in vain.” The words the Lord Jesus said to Thomas were clearly telling everyone: The resurrected Lord Jesus was exactly the Lord Jesus who had worked among men for thirty-three and a half years. Although he had been crucified and had passed through the valley of death and the resurrection, whatever aspect of him had not changed in the slightest. Although he had the nail marks and although he had resurrected and come out of the tomb, his disposition, his knowledge of man, and his will for man had not changed in the slightest; at the same time, he was also telling man that he had come down from the cross and overcome sin, overcome suffering, and overcome death, and that his nail marks were the evidence of his triumph over satan and the evidence of his successfully redeeming the whole mankind as the sin offering, and he was telling man that he had borne mankind’s sins and accomplished his redemptive work. When he returned to meet his disciples, he told them by his appearing: “I am still living. I still exist. Today I am truly standing before you, visible and tangible to you. I will be with you at all times.” Through Thomas’ case, the Lord Jesus also wanted to exhort people after him: “Although you, who believe in the Lord Jesus, cannot see him or touch him, you can receive blessings by true faith and can see the Lord Jesus by true faith. Such people are blessed.”
This passage about the Lord Jesus appearing to Thomas recorded in the Bible brought great help to the people throughout the Age of the Grace. The appearing of the Lord Jesus and his words to Thomas had a far-reaching effect on and lasting significance to later generations. Thomas represented the kind of people who believed in God but doubted God. They were doubtful by nature, and had a malicious and crafty heart. They did not believe the things God could accomplish and did not believe in God’s almightiness and sovereignty, nor did they believe in God’s incarnation. However, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus gave them a head-on blow and also gave them an opportunity for them to discover their doubtfulness, know their doubtfulness, and acknowledge their craftiness, so that they could truly believe in the existence and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The case of Thomas gave later generations a warning and also gave them a reminding, so that more people could warn themselves not to be doubtful like Thomas, and if they were doubtful like Thomas, they would fall into darkness. If you follow God but like Thomas always want to touch the Lord’s side and feel his nail marks so as to confirm, verify, or speculate whether God exists, God will forsake you. So the Lord Jesus required people not to believe by sight like Thomas but to be simple and honest people, who do not doubt God but simply trust and follow him. Such people would be blessed. This was a small requirement of the Lord Jesus for man and his admonition to his followers.
All the above is the Lord Jesus’ attitude toward doubting people. Then to those who could honestly believe in and follow the Lord Jesus, what did he say and do? This is what we will look at in the next conversation between the Lord Jesus and Peter.
In this conversation, the Lord Jesus kept asking Peter one question: Peter, love you me? This was a higher standard the Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, required of such kind of people as Peter, that is, those who truly believed in Christ and pursued to love the Lord. His question was a kind of pressing question and a kind of urging question, much more a kind of requirement and expectation for such kind of people as Peter. By asking in this way, he wanted all people to do an examination and reflect on themselves: What is the Lord Jesus’ requirement for man? Am I loving the Lord? Am I a person who loves God? How should I love God? Although the Lord Jesus asked Peter alone, actually in his heart he wanted to ask more people who pursued to love God such a question through the opportunity of asking Peter; it was only that Peter was fortunate to be the representative of this kind of people, being personally asked by the Lord Jesus.
Compared with the Lord Jesus’ word to Thomas after his resurrection, “reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing,” the question he asked Peter three times, “Simon, son of Jonas, love you me?”, made people even more feel the sternness of the Lord Jesus’ attitude and the eagerness of his mind when he asked. For Thomas who was crafty and doubting by nature, the Lord Jesus asked him to reach out his hand and touch his nail marks, so that he believed that the Lord Jesus was the resurrected Son of man and acknowledged the fact that the Lord Jesus was the Christ in identity. Although the Lord Jesus did not rebuke Thomas strictly or draw conclusion about him with specific words, by the actual deed the Lord Jesus told him the Lord Jesus’ knowledge about him and at the same time made known his attitude and decision toward such kind of people. In this passage said by the Lord Jesus, no requirement and expectation for this kind of people can be seen. Because such kind of people as Thomas did not have true belief at all, the Lord Jesus had just that requirement for them. But to the people like Peter he showed a completely different attitude. He did not ask Peter to reach out his hand to touch his nail marks or say to Peter such a word as “be not faithless, but believing.” Rather, he asked Peter the same question repeatedly, and his question set people thinking and was worth pondering; every follower of Christ could not but feel self-reproach and fear, and also feel the Lord Jesus’ deep worry and sadness. In pain and distress, people had more perception of the Lord Jesus Christ’s concern and care and had more comprehension of the Lord Jesus Christ’s earnest instruction and strict requirement for simple and honest people. From the Lord Jesus’ question, people felt that the Lord’s expectation expressed in his simple word was not for man to believe and follow only, but to have love, loving your Lord and loving your God. The love here means consideration and obedience, that is, man can live for God, die for God, and sacrifice, spend, and expend his all for God; the love here also means comforting God and letting God enjoy testimony and rest, means man’s repaying God, means man’s responsibility, obligation, and duty, and also means the way man should walk for his lifetime. The question asked three times was the Lord Jesus’ requirement and charge to Peter and to all those to be perfected. It was exactly the question the Lord Jesus asked three times that led and encouraged Peter to complete his life journey, and it was exactly the question the Lord Jesus asked when about to part that brought Peter on the way to be perfected, and caused Peter to care for the Lord’s heart because of loving the Lord, obey the Lord out of love, comfort the Lord out of love, and offer up his whole life and his whole being out of love.
In the Age of the Grace, God mainly worked on two kinds of people. The first kind was those who believed in and followed him and who could keep commandments, bear the cross, and keep the way of the Age of the Grace. Such people could receive God’s blessings and enjoy God’s grace. The second kind was those like Peter who were to be perfected. So, after his resurrection, the Lord Jesus first did these two most meaningful things: One was done on Thomas, and the other on Peter. What did these two things represent? Didn’t they represent God’s true will to save man? Didn’t they represent God’s sincerity toward man? The work done on Thomas was to admonish people not to be doubting ones, but just believe. The work done on Peter was to strengthen the faith of such kind of people as Peter and also to make a specific requirement of this kind of people and clearly point out the goal for their pursuit.
After the Lord Jesus resurrected, he appeared and spoke to some men, to whom he thought it was necessary, and he gave them the requirement and left them his will and expectation for man. That is to say, as the incarnated God, whether when he lived in the flesh or in the spiritual body after his crucifixion and resurrection, his concern and requirement for mankind had not changed. Before he went to the cross, he was concerned about those disciples. He was clear about everyone’s state and knew everyone’s lack. His knowledge of everyone after he was resurrected and became the spiritual body was the same with that when he was in the flesh. He knew that people were not completely certain about his identity as the Christ, but when he was in the flesh, he had not made any harsh requirement of man. After he was resurrected, he appeared to men, so that they made one hundred percent certain that he was from God and was the incarnated God. He made his appearing and the fact of his resurrection the greatest vision and motivation for their life-long pursuit. The fact of his resurrection not only strengthened all his followers but had the work of the Age of the Grace thoroughly carried out among mankind, and then the gospel of the Lord Jesus’ salvation in the Age of the Grace was gradually spread to every corner among mankind. Do you think the appearing of the Lord Jesus after his resurrection was meaningful? If you were Thomas of that time or Peter of that time, and you encountered such a meaningful thing once in your life, what influence would it have on you? Would you take it as the best and greatest vision in your whole life of believing in God? Would you take it as a motivation for you to follow God, pursue to satisfy God, and pursue to love God for your whole life? Would you spend your lifetime energies to spread this greatest vision? Would you take spreading the Lord Jesus’ salvation as your commission from God? Although you have not experienced this thing, the two cases of Thomas and Peter are sufficient for people of the present age to have a clear knowledge of God’s will and of God. It can be said that when God, after being incarnated, had personally experienced the life of the world and personally experienced the life of mankind, and had seen the fall of mankind and seen the situation of mankind’s living, the God in the flesh could more deeply feel mankind’s helplessness and mankind’s pitifulness and poorness, and the God living in the flesh, because of his humanity and the instinct of his flesh, was more considerate for mankind’s situation and thus was more concerned about his followers. You probably cannot understand these, but I can use a phrase “deeply concerned about” to describe the worry and care of the God in the flesh for everyone who follows him. Although this phrase is from human language and although it is a very human phrase, it can truly express and describe God’s affection for his followers. As for God’s being “deeply concerned about” man, in the course of your experience you will gradually feel it and savor it; but you have to know God’s disposition gradually while pursuing the transformation of your disposition, before you can reach it. The Lord Jesus’ appearing realized and transferred his being “deeply concerned about” his followers in his humanity to his spiritual body or to his divinity. His appearing made man again realize and feel God’s concern and care for man, and at the same time it strongly proved that God is the One who starts an age and opens an age and also the One who ends the age. By his appearing he strengthened everyone’s faith; by his appearing he proved to the world the fact that he is God Godself, so that his followers received a lasting verification; and also by his appearing he made a breakthrough in the work of the new age.