God’s Presence Brings Peace

John’s gospel tells us that on the day of Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples were hiding in the upper room behind locked doors because they were afraid. Suddenly, Jesus stood there among them. “Peace be with you,” He said to them (John 20:19). As He spoke, He opened His hands so they could see His wounds and pulled back His robe so they could see the scar in His side.

How did the disciples respond? Verse 20 tells us that they were “overjoyed” when they saw the resurrected Lord! They went from fear to faith in a few seconds. There’s a common saying that we’re always only ten seconds away from an emotional ditch, but I’d say we’re only ten seconds away from mountain-moving faith. Encountering God changes everything.

Jesus walked through their fear-walls and met His disciples right in the middle of their terror and trauma. He fiercely loves us that way, you know? I think we’ve misjudged the Lion of Judah. In Revelation 3:20, we read these words of Jesus: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” We’ve somehow interpreted that verse to mean that Jesus is passively waiting for us to tear down all the walls we’ve built, all the doors we’ve locked, and all the systems we’ve put in place to protect ourselves.

But there’s not a passive bone in Jesus’ body. Indeed, He’ll never force anyone to follow Him. But make no mistake about it: He’s on a rescue mission and will cross hell and high water to get to us. He doesn’t just pursue us to save us. That’s, of course, His primary mission (Luke 19:10). But Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.” God’s goodness and love will chase after us all the days of our lives because our Healer loves us.