“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’” —John 20:19
What do you do when you’re facing challenges and can’t hear God’s voice?
For Anne Graham Lotz, she dives deeper into God’s Word—which always holds true—even in the midst of her cancer recovery.
As she faithfully opened to the book of John in the midst of a week that seemed spiritually dry, she once again heard God’s whisper in chapter 20 when she read the word “peace”—or “shalom” in Hebrew.
Lotz shares what God revealed in her latest Bible study video, accompanied by her daughter, Rachel-Ruth Wright.
After Jesus’ death, He reappeared to His disciples—finding them fearfully hidden and “locked down” in an upstairs room. They’d been hit with emotions of grief, anger and confusion after His crucifixion. But standing alongside them, Jesus—alive after arising from the dead—once again came to their rescue, repeatedly offering them “shalom.”
“Jesus had not used that word up until this moment,” Lotz explained.
But it was time.
More than just a temporary good feeling or breath of fresh air, Lotz defined shalom as “safety, rest, prosperity, wholeness, welfare, fullness, completion, soundness and well-being.” And that kind of peace can only be found in one thing: “Through His blood and death, we come into all the blessings of God when we receive Him by faith,” Lotz said.
“I think when we get to heaven we’ll learn what it means to be spiritually prosperous and whole and complete,” Lotz continued.
“I know it must be overwhelming because it cost Jesus His life to give it to us. It doesn’t mean material prosperity, … physical health [or] … a problem-free life. I think there’s a deeper, richer spiritual dimension we won’t understand until we’re in glory.
“We’re going to see fully what Jesus did for us when He died for us and rose from the dead, and that He won for us shalom.”
After all, Jesus didn’t immediately take up His disciples to enjoy heaven with Him. No, He left them on earth equipped to carry out His mission—just as we have been instructed to do.
Wright took the passage one step further, reading about Thomas, the disciple who wasn’t there for Jesus’ first reappearance and who doubted God.
That’s sometimes like us, doubting God until we experience Him for ourselves.
“Even though we don’t see the Lord and can’t touch His hands, we place our faith in Jesus and can experience Him through His Word. It was God’s Word that gave Thomas peace,” Wright said.
In Scripture, we have the answer and a help to every one of our trials.
Anne Graham Lotz shared four ways to make a big decision. Watch here.
