Then the same day at evening…when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
—John 20:19
The disciples had received the message of Mary. Peter had told them that he had seen the Lord. Late in the evening, the men from Emmaus told how He had been made known to them. The disciples’ hearts were prepared for what now came, when Jesus stood in the midst of them and said, “Peace be unto you,” and showed them His hands and His feet. This was to be not only a sign of recognition, but also the deep eternal mystery of what would be seen in heaven when He was standing “in the midst of the throne…[as] a Lamb as it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6).
“Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20). And He spoke again: “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent Me, even so send I you” (verse 21). With Mary He revealed Himself to the fervent love that could not rest without Him. With the men at Emmaus, it was their constraining request that received the revelation. Here He met the willing servants whom He had trained for His service, and He handed over to them the work He had done on earth. He changed their fear into peace and gladness. He ascended to the Father; the work the Father had given Him to do He now entrusted to them. The divine mission was now theirs.
For this divine work they needed nothing less than divine power. He breathed upon them the resurrection life He had won by His death. He fulfilled the promise He gave: “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). The “exceeding greatness of…power” (Ephesians 1:19) by which God raised Christ from the dead was the same spirit of holiness by which Christ was raised from the dead and would work in them. And all that was bound or loosed in that power would be bound or loosed in heaven. (See Matthew 16:19.)
The story comes to every messenger of the gospel with wonderful power. Christ says the same words to us: “As my Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.…Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:21–22). We can have the same manifestation of Jesus as the Living One, with His pierced hands and feet. If our hearts are set on the presence of the living Lord, we may be assured that it will be given to us. Jesus never sends His servants out without the promise of His abiding presence and His almighty power.