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As we get to look together in the word of the Lord, let me share two verses, one from Psalms and one from Ephesians, and they’re connected. Psalm 119:160, “The sum of Thy word is true.” From the New Testament we know that Truth is a Person, so, “The sum of Thy word is Jesus.” Listen to Ephesians 1:10, “Summing up all things in Christ; things in the heaven and things upon the earth.” Jesus is the sum of all Truth. So, we’re going to look in the Bible; that’s truth. But we’re also going to look and see our Lord. Let’s pray together.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Holy Spirit who has come to live inside of us and to point us to a living way to our Lord Jesus. We commit our session unto You and just pray that it might be the season that Christ would dawn on us in a fresh way. We thank You that we can trust You. We commit our time to You and ask you to either show us the Lord or prepare us to see Him. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Welcome to our continued meditation of the Lord in the gospel of John. It’s been a while since we’ve been together and I appreciate you coming and that you have given me some liberty for when I can come and can’t come, and that type of thing. We’re very near the end of our study in John. Unless I get more light, I think there are four more lessons in the gospel of John. We’re in chapters 20 & 21. I gave an overview of those two chapters.
Chapter 20 is quite easy to outline because there are three stories. Number one is the story of Mary Magdalene and we looked at that last time. Then there’s the story of Thomas, and we’re going to look a little at that this morning. Then, there’s a story in between another story, and that’s the foot race that Peter and John had to the empty tomb when Mary Magdalene informed them or thought it was true, she said, “The body is gone; they’ve stolen the body.” Those three stories are in John 20.
John chapter 21 is the clincher not only of the book of John but since John is the final gospel, it’s the clincher of all four gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke and with the great commission, so does the gospel of John. In fact, the gospel of John is the greatest description of the great commission because it not only tells us what God wants to do but it tells us how. You remember the great commission has two parts, one is to go in all the world and preach the gospel, and the other is to disciple those who have come to Christ. Well, the gospel of John chapter 21, the first part is a story about fishing, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” The second part is about shepherding, and that’s how to disciple. So, John gives it in story and tells us how to do it.
In our last lesson we were meditating on Mary Magdalene and her story and I pointed out that the Holy Spirit gives three stories of Mary’s life, and not a lot of room. For example, her salvation is given in one verse. Then we see her at the cross, and that’s given in one verse. But then we see the distance from the cross to the empty tomb and the Holy Spirit gives us a lot of verses to describe that journey from the cross to the empty tomb. Luke 8:2, “Mary, who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,” that’s the salvation verse. I don’t know all that’s involved in having seven demons. People say that seven is the perfect number. I know this; she was perfectly lost, and when Jesus came, she got perfectly saved.
Then in John 19:25, “The soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene.” She’s at the cross, and as I tried to show you last time, as far as the story goes, as far as the Bible record of Mary, there was a frustrating journey from the cross to the empty tomb where she met the Living Savior. The last time she saw the Lord was on the cross, so she had that in her mind and she was looking for a dead Savior. She needed a revelation of a Living Savior; she needs to discover the meaning of the empty tomb, the risen life, the indwelling life of Christ. I suggested that the way the Lord gives the facts, the facts of Mary’s journey from the cross to the risen Christ sort of is symbolic for many Christians of their journey from the cross to the risen Christ. I know it was part of my journey. I was almost shocked when I was reading this story because it lined up so much with my experience.
Mine began in 1958, Jan. 29, the Lord saved me, and He came into my heart. He continued by my standing at the cross. There I was taught all that was included in the cross. Those who led me to the Lord were faithful and they followed me up, and they were teaching me all that was accomplished at the cross. I thrilled when I heard it, because when I came to the Lord I did not know there were two parts to the Bible, and Old Testament and a New Testament. I never knew that Jesus walked on water until Lillian told me. I never knew He fed five thousand until Lillian told me. I never knew the Daniel story until Lillian told me. That was our courtship. We would go on long walks, and she would tell me Bible stories. You’ve got to marry a girl like that, so I did. Anyway, I was learning what Jesus did at the cross. I was a sinner, and an enemy of God, and He loved me and He saved me and He paid for my sins. He gave me a reservation in heaven, and I’m not going to hell. I have a hope after death that I’m going to live forever.
I was incredibly grateful for all Jesus did at the cross. So, like Mary, I tried to express that gratitude by serving the Lord. I wasn’t trying to earn His pleasure or merit, and I wasn’t trying to earn my way to heaven. I was already saved, but because of all He did, I wanted to show my love. Because of all He did, I wanted to show my gratitude. So, I set about to serve the Lord. It was all in response to what I had been taught and had accomplished for me on the cross. So, I surrendered to Him and poured out my heart in service. But what I was learning at the cross was doctrine. What I learned at the cross was theology. It was good theology. It was cardinal and it was true, but it was just creed. It wasn’t a Living Person. I believed what I was taught and all that He accomplished in His finished work. For me, my journey was seven years, seven years from rejoicing in what He did at the cross and working my head off to serve Him and I was being frustrated because what I had heard about Christians that life was abundant and they were not weary and they were free, I didn’t experience any of that, and I was still serving the Lord in many places. I won’t go into all that now. But I had no victory. Then, the Lord did for me what He did for Mary. All of her service, her preparing ointments, her getting ready and staying up late and getting up early and running her legs off and sobbing her heart out, all of that was in vain until she met the Living Savior. So, in 1965 the Lord guided me to the empty tomb and the Living Savior, and everything changed when it was union with the Living Savior.
I didn’t stop believing all that I was taught about what He did at the cross; I still loved those great truths, but now my life is involved not in some creed or doctrine or this is what we believe, or here is the proof text, but I have communion with a Living Person, and it’s the Lord Himself; He lives inside of me and there’s joy and there’s victory and there’s sweet fellowship with Him. So, like Mary, I started with salvation, and I went to the cross, and I stayed there a long time, and He brought me to Himself, the Living Savior. Jesus is alive now and alive to never to die again, and so we go to the second story in John 20, the story of Thomas.
The record of Thomas is in John 20:19-29. Actually, it’s broken up into two stories. The first part goes from 19-25 and it’s when the disciples were gathered in the Upper Room, but Thomas was not there at that time when Jesus appeared. We’ll look at that in another connection. I say ten disciples because Judas wasn’t there, and now Thomas wasn’t there. John 20:24, “Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.” He was absent at that first appearance. For the sake of context, this looks like it’s the fifth appearance of our Lord Jesus after He rose from the dead. He appeared to Mary Magdalene and to the women and Peter and the Emmaus disciples, and so on.
There’s been a problem stating the order of the appearances of Christ. It appears from close examination that Jesus may have appeared simultaneously in two places at once, and that’s why you can’t exactly say that this is first and this is second. Also, Matthew, Mark and Luke seem to give contradictory statements about which came before the other, and so on. I handed out a sheet only for interest. This is Bishop Ryle and his understanding of the order of appearances. In my opinion, the order except for the first appearance is not important. The first appearance of Mary Magdalene, and she is called the one He appeared to first, and the others I don’t care what order you put them, but here’s the great truth; He appeared all those times, and so I don’t care what you name 3, 4, 5, and 6, but I thought Ryle came as close as I could come when I followed it through.
I want to share God’s heart in giving us the Thomas story. First, I’d like to give you how the Bible presents Thomas, in other words his character as you study Thomas. I’m going to read two verses that we already referred to. John 20:24, “Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.” John 20:25, “So, the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord,’ but he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger in the place of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’” I think it’s because of that verse that he was pegged as “Doubting Thomas”. Actually, I believe he received a bum rap because they all doubted, every one of them. Matthew 28:17, “When they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some were doubtful.” Mark 16:9-11, “After He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with Him, and while they were mourning and weeping, when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.” They didn’t believe. Mark 16:12, “After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.” It’s not just Thomas who is not believing. Mark 16:14, “Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen from the dead.” And when the women told the disciples, Luke 24:11, “These words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.” That’s amazing!
Now, in their defense, they believed in ghosts; they believe in spirits, and when they saw Him, they weren’t dead sure, “Are we seeing a ghost, or are we seeing Jesus in the body?” Luke 24:41, “While they still could not believe, because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, ‘Have you anything to eat?’” They aren’t going to feed a ghost, and so He was very kind and said, “I’m here.” One thing I like about that verse 41, it says, “They believe not for joy.” It was something too good to believe. Sometimes we’ve got something so wonderful that you don’t believe it. Somebody gets a winning lottery ticket. How many times do they look at the numbers? It’s too good to believe and they just don’t believe it.
I think Thomas got the reputation of being a “Doubting Thomas” because of what he said, “Unless I see the prints, and I can put my fingers in the prints, and unless I put my hand in the hole in His side, I will not believe.” Even though Thomas takes the rap for being a doubter, I still think that according to the record, if you read everything the Bible says about Thomas, he does sort of look like a pessimist. He’s sort of gloomy. He only appears a couple of times. Matthew, Mark and Luke mention Thomas but only in a list. So, everything we know about Thomas is in the gospel of John because otherwise we just have his name. One is in John 11, and that’s from when Lazarus died, and Jesus said, “We’re going back to Judea,” and Thomas made the comment in John 11:16, “Are you going back there? Last time they tried to stone You.” And then he said, “Okay, let’s all go back and die with him.” That’s Thomas. He loves the Lord, and he’s willing to die for Him, but he’s sort of down, sort of negative. Another time Jesus said in John 14, “You know the way I’m going,” and Thomas piped up in verse 5 and said, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said, “You know the way,” and Thomas said, “No, we don’t; we do not.” That’s Thomas. That’s the full record of Thomas. So, I think he is a little slow to respond and he’s sort of sad in the record until he meets the Living Savior. Everything changes when he meets the risen Savior.
It reminded me of some of the characters. Have you ever read “Pilgrim’s Progress” by Bunyan. I would recommend that you read it, the older original because it also has the Bible verses alongside. That was written more than three hundred and fifty years ago. I think, next to the Bible, I’ve read “Pilgrim’s Progress” more than any other book, uninspired book. People have tagged Thomas, “Doubting Thomas”, and Bunyan does that in Pilgrim’s Progress. Either because of weaknesses or strength, we see it all through the Bible: “Dizzy Martha”, “Impetuous Peter”, “the Beloved Disciple”, John, James and John, “Sons of Thunder”. There are tags given to them. “Judas Betrayed”, “The Rich, Young Ruler”, “The Little Short Guy That Climbed the Tree”, “Barnabus, The Encourager”, “Wishy, Washy Politician”. We have names to describe these people, and “Pilgrim’s Progress” is an extended metaphor; it’s a journey from the City of Destruction to Celestial City, so already you see that it’s a metaphor. The main characters are Christian, and Evangelist, and there are people that he meets along the way. As you go through the journey, this guy goes up to the hill and a burden rolls off his shoulder, and on the journey, he meets a guy named Obstinate, and he gets through him and he meets a guy named Mr. Worldly Wise, and he has to deal with him, and then he meets somebody named Hopeful and he’s a encouragement. Even the places he stops are symbolic. He goes through the Slough of Despond. He goes up the Hill of Difficulties. He comes down the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He ends up back at the Interpreter’s House. That’s my favorite scene. He goes to Vanity Fair. All of these people, it’s like Doubting Thomas and Impetuous Peter.
The reason I brought this up is because there’s a character in “Pilgrim’s Progress” I would have name him Thomas, but John Bunyun named him Despondent. There’s a negative person, and he had a daughter and her name was Much Afraid and she had the temperament of Thomas. So, Despondent has a daughter named Much Afraid, and they were both incarcerated in Doubting Castle. So, you see all through the book exactly what he’s doing. It reminds me also of another character, Little Faith, and Little Faith was robbed by three robbers, Faint Heart, Mistrust and Guilt, but they couldn’t take her passport to the Celestial City. All of that is so symbolic, but enough of Bunyan. Let’s get back to Doubting Thomas.
Why did the Holy Spirit give us this story? Why is it in the Bible? Why does God tell us about Thomas at all? Is there a distinctive contribution that Thomas makes to the history of redemption that no other Christian makes in the same way? I’m suggesting this morning that there is, and that’s what we want to look at. Some would say, “Well, his distinctive contribution is that he represents all the doubters in the word, all the agnostics and all the skeptics and those who are cynical and subjective who need to go by sight and by sense, empirical evidence, and that kind of thing. But it’s more wonderful than that. His contribution is not to represent doubters. Some have suggested and I have two commentaries especially that say, “The reason God told us about Thomas is that one week he missed church, and you know what happens when you miss church,” and they just went to that approach, that you are going to miss out on a great blessing if you don’t show up.” I think I’m going to show you why he was absent, but we don’t really know why he was absent. Maybe he had family problems. Maybe he was on a trip. Maybe he didn’t feel good. Maybe he had other responsibilities. Maybe he was far away and wasn’t even in town. We don’t know, but I know this. When Jesus finally met him, he didn’t rebuke him for missing last week’s meeting. He didn’t talk about that at all. And even the disciples when they said, “We were near and Jesus appeared,” they didn’t say, “You should have been there. Look what you missed by not being at the service.”
Having said that, it’s true if we miss gathering with the saints, there is a good possibility we’re going to miss some kind of a blessing. We ought to gather with the saints, and much more as we see the day approaching. Proverbs 8:34 says that we should be watching daily at the gates, and we should. But here’s the other side. You aren’t going to lose a blessing because you don’t show up. We have a conference coming up next week and some say, “Oh, you’re going to miss a blessing if you don’t go to the conference.” You aren’t more spiritual because you come here. If you didn’t come here, you’d be just as spiritual as you are. We used to have one father who kept showing up at the prayer meeting when his kid was playing Little League. I kept saying, “What are you doing here. Go watch your son play Little League. That’s where you should be.” I could have been wrong, but anyway, there’s an illustration in Numbers. Remember when David was weary of leading everybody and he came and he wanted help, and so the Lord said, “Alright, we’re going to choose seventy elders and I’m going to take the Holy Spirit from you.” He didn’t say, “The Spirit is going to fall on seventy elders.” He said, “I’m going to take your Holy Spirit and divided it up seventy ways.” It’s almost like David should have been trusting the Lord; he had all it took to do the work of seventy men. I’m not going to judge David on that, but we read in Numbers 11:25, “The Lord came in a cloud and spoke to him, and he took of the Spirit who was on him and placed it on seventy elders, and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied.” But of the seventy, it was actually only sixty-eight because Eldad and Medad didn’t make the meeting; they weren’t there. Numbers 11:26, “Two men had remained in the camp. The name of the one was Eldad and the name of the other we Medad, and the Spirit rested on them.” They were among those who had been registered but had not gone to the tent, and they prophesied. They didn’t miss the blessing because they missed the meeting. I just want to call attention to that illustration.
But sometimes it is frustrating. I remember when I was just beginning to know the ways of the Lord, a student a Moody Bible Institute, and they claimed that a move of God swept the through the campus, the Holy Spirit. People began doing signs and wonders and speaking in tongues, and all. Everybody was talking about the blessing that they got. Well, I felt like I was a day late and a dollar short. I didn’t get it. How come I didn’t get it? The guy over here got it and the guy next to me got it and in front of me got it and everybody is getting it. In fact, if you know Moody Bible Institute, it’s very much against that subjective approach. Three professors were fired from the school because they got the baptism. That’s how stern Moody was at that time. But I was left out, and I felt bad. So, that’s when I went into the closet and closed the door and I stayed there for three days asking God, “I want that blessing.” They’re speaking in tongues and doing all of this, and I’m left out, and I didn’t want to be left out. I got nothing. After three days I said, “I’m hungry,” and I came out and I didn’t get it.
I think you are familiar with Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn writer. She wrote about nine thousand hymns. That’s a lot of songs. We’re familiar with “Blessed Assurance” and “To God be the Glory”, and “Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It”, “I am Thine, Oh Lord”, and “All the Way the Savior Leads Me”, but she wrote another one. It’s a little bit popular but not as popular, “Pass Me Not”. Here’s the first verse, “Pass me not, oh gentle Savior, hear my humble cry, while on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Let me at Thy throne of mercy find a sweet relief, kneeling there in deep attrition, help my unbelief.” I think Thomas sang Fanny Crosby’s song.
When you are absent, it’s not that you resent others getting a blessing. They are radiant and they seem happy and they testify that they got this gift and that gift or this experience and that. They stand up and testify, “The Lord met me. The Lord delivered me. The Lord spoke to me. I got a mailbox miracle.” And I’m saying, “Hello, where’s may blessing? Pass me not.” But sometimes they actually say it, “Something is wrong in your life or something is wrong in your heart. You ought to search your heart.” There’s no end to searching ourselves, “Search me, oh God.” Don’t do a lot of self-searching. Let the Lord search your heart because you aren’t going to like what you see inside of there. This morbid introspection that comes from self-searching is horrible.
Back to the question, “Why did the Holy Spirit give us the Thomas record? What is his contribution? It’s not to represent doubters, and it’s not because he missed the meeting. Thomas had a contribution. Let me state it for you, and then illustrate it in the record. This was his privilege; this was his honor; this is what God was going to give him that he didn’t give anybody else. I believe that the Holy Spirit wanted to use Thomas to represent the church of all ages. Let me tell you what I mean by that. I think he was absent because God didn’t want him there when he showed up. That’s why he was absent. God arranged it so that he would be absent. God wanted him to miss that meeting. In fact, the special privilege that he was about to get, and almost lost, depended on him being absent. If he was present, it wouldn’t have worked. It’s sad that he almost lost his privilege and he almost let it slip away. If it weren’t for the grace of the Lord, it would have slipped away, but God at the end gave it back to him.
He was selected to be more honored than the others because he could represent you and me. You don’t have the privilege they had in Bible times. I can’t be in the garden like Mary and have Jesus come up, even if I think it’s the gardener. He’s not going to do that to me. He doesn’t show up in a room that’s locked and then suddenly appear and say, “Peace.” He’s not going to walk along with me while I’m walking and talking with a friend and suddenly, He shows up and is walking alongside. That’s not my experience. He doesn’t show up having breakfast in the open air with me like He did with them. We can’t see Him and we can’t touch Him and we can’t hear His audible voice. All of the disciples saw Him by sight and not by faith but by sight. All of the disciples knew Him by sight and all we have are reliable witnesses. We’ve got to believe what the Bible says. We’ve got to believe reliable witnesses. Everyone in the Upper Room experienced the first part of John 20:29, “Because you have seen Me have you believed?” Only Thomas was to experience the second part, “Blessed are those who did not see, and yet believed.”
Thomas stood, by being absent, in the same place that you stand. All he had was reliable witnesses. All he had was those who claimed they saw the Savior. By insisting on sight, he almost lost the privilege to represent us. He could have believed the same way we believe, on the testimony of reliable witnesses. He heard Mary, He heard Peter, He heard John, He heard the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, He heard the ten disciples who claimed it in the room, but that wasn’t enough. He said, “I’ve got to see it for myself; I’ve got to put my fingers in the prints of His hand and a hand into His side. Mark 16:14, Jesus emphasized this, “Afterward, He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He reproached them for their unbelief, and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.” We have the same witnesses Thomas had. We have Mary, we have the women, we have the ten disciples, we have the Emaus disciples, and after that the testimony of the angels, and the Lord Himself and the precious word of God. Thomas almost lost the privilege to be the only one to see Him by faith and not by sight, representing the church.
I’m making this point because there’s a difference between faith without sight; we don’t live by sight; we live by faith, and faith without evidence. God has never called us to believe without evidence. We’ve got to have the truth; we’ve got to have evidence. Some people get that mixed up, sight and evidence. It’s not the same thing. Jesus never called us to believe on slender evidence. I love in that connection Acts 1:3, “To these He presented Himself alive by many convincing truths.” The KJV says, “…by many infallible proofs.” I’m making this point just to show that we need evidence, and we need facts, and the Lord wants us to trust that.
At the time when Thomas had reliable witnesses, Mary, the women, the ten, the twelve, the two on the road to Emmaus, they were not inspired witnesses. But now they’re in the Bible; they are part of the Bible. So, when we read Mary’s testimony we have an inspired witness. Later we’re going to read Thomas’ testimony, we have inspired testimony, reliable witnesses, the same witnesses Thomas had. Although Thomas almost lost his privilege, the Lord in His great love and mercy retained the privilege and Thomas still got that privilege. Let me show you how he got that privilege.
Between the meeting where he was absent and the meeting where Jesus met him, eight days went by. John 20:26, “After eight days His disciples were again inside and Thomas with them, and Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” What a shock it must have been for Thomas to be in that room after he missed the other meeting, and then Jesus turns to him, verse 27, and He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger and see my hands. Reach your hand and put it into My side, and do not be unbelieving but believing.” He was an unbelieving believer. There are unbelieving believers; there are unbelieving unbelievers.
If I were Thomas, I think I would have been a little bit embarrassed, and maybe a little angry. I would have looked around, “You guys, which one of you told Him? Which one of you told Him what I said? Philips, did you tell Him? Matthew? It was probably you, Peter; you’ve got a big mouth. You’re probably the one that told Him.” Thomas, nobody told Him; He was there when you said it. You couldn’t see Him with these eyes. That’s important, but He was there and He heard you say it. He was invisible, but He was there. So, He’s offering you now, you give a challenge, “Here’s My hands; put your fingers in. Here’s My side.” Tremendous. We don’t think he actually did it. We don’t know. And even Thomas, if He hadn’t heard you say it, if He had just taught it, he would have heard that, too, because He knows your heart and He knows your mind and He knows your thoughts.
If think it was wonderful that Jesus met Thomas right where he was. I often have said that one of the greatest principles is that the Lord always meets you where you are and as you are to bring you to the place that He wants you. If you say, “I’m not in a place I ought to be,” then God will meet you in that place and bring you to the place you ought to be. He’ll always meet us where we are. We get hard on Thomas and those like him, but Jesus was so tender here. He was asked to believe something brand new. Actually, in the history of the world, except for the miracles of raising the dead, there’s never been anything like it in nature. For six thousand years this never happened. “Now, Thomas, how come you don’t believe?” Well, for six thousand years it never happened. The fact that man claimed immortality, that’s not proof. Just because somebody says it, doesn’t mean it’s so. “Well, you’ve got to watch the caterpillar. He crawls in the cocoon, and then he comes out a butterfly.” Yeah, but he wasn’t dead. If I could take my foot and squash a caterpillar, and then put him in the cocoon and he came out, then I’d believe in the resurrection.
Lillian loves to relate Spring, and aren’t you glad it’s coming? I am. To the resurrection. “Everything’s dead in the winter, and it comes alive in the spring. That sounds good but it’s not dead; it’s dormant but it’s not dead. It comes back. A dead limb stays dead. Job describes a tree that looks dead, but it’s not dead. Listen to Job 14:7, “There is hope for a tree when it’s cut down and it will sprout again; its shoots will not fail, though the roots grow older in the ground, it’s stump dies in the dry soil, at the scent of water it will flourish and put forth sprigs like a plant.” All it needs if it has roots is a little water and it comes alive again. Solomon describes a tree that’s dead. Ecclesiastes 11:3, “If the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth, and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies.” That’s dead; a dead tree where it falls, there it lies.
What Thomas was hearing is that Jesus is alive, and it’s incredible to him, and we can’t be too hard on him because it’s brand new, especially what Jesus wants him to represent. “I want you, even though I’m standing in front of you and you see Me, I’ve offered you the privilege to touch Me, I want to reveal Myself to you in a way that all those who are here have never seen before.” He thought he needed sight and he thought he needed touch and he thought he needed empirical evidence. By the way, if you need sight, if you need to see a sign and wonder, He’ll give it to you. Don’t be too critical of those who believe in signs and wonders. If that’s what they need, that’s what they’ll get because God will not just take a little baby Christian and throw him aside. He’s not going to do that.
Once Jesus revealed Himself, faith was created. John 20:29, “Because you’ve seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed.” What did he not see, and yet believe? I’m almost 100% sure that if you look at every prayer in the Bible that is answered in the Bible, if you look at the prayer and the answer, God never answered prayer; He always over-answered prayer. He always gave more than they asked. I think that’s true all the way through. I hope my study is thorough, but I think so. John 20, Jesus offered, “Touch Me; put your fingers in My hand and your hand in My side,” and I doubt that he had to do that. The Lord is going to give him far more. John 20:28, “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and My God.’” How did he get that? By touching? By seeing? How did he get that? You can’t with these eyes see Lord. You can’t with these eyes see God. The only way you can see Lord and God is with the eyes of the heart. The Holy Spirit gave Thomas a revelation. All the others did not have that revelation. This is the only person in the gospel record that called Jesus “God”. Thomas all of a sudden, God gave him a revelation. In other words, He gave him what you need to see Him and what I need to see Him.
I remember when I went forward at a Youth for Christ rally in Burns School in Hartford, CT., January 29, 1958, I heard the gospel. They explained it to me. I went forward and they said I’d be saved. When I prayed the prayer and I gave my heart to the Lord, I started crying and I cried for three hours. What happened? It wasn’t doctrine. It wasn’t just I believed Jesus died, like I believe Abraham Lincoln died. It was reality and the Holy Spirit came in and gave the revelation, and I had the assurance and knew that I was saved. So, Thomas asked for sight and God over answered. He gave Him sight, but He gave Him heart and he saw the Lord.
Thomas was there when Lazarus came out of the grave; he never said, “My Lord and My God!” Thomas was there when the son of the widow of Nain sat up on his way to the funeral; he never said, “My Lord and My God!” Why did he say it now? He said it because he had the revelation. He almost lost it. He didn’t believe reliable witnesses, but God in His grace still let him represent you and represent me. How do we believe? We believe in the reliable witnesses, especially the scripture, and then God, like John the Baptist said, “I’ll baptize with water, but He will come and baptize with the Holy Spirit. I can get you wet but that’s all I can do, but the Holy Spirit will come.” So, I think that’s Thomas’ contribution to the history of redemption. He got to represent the church of every age and how we come to know the Lord.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your word, and not what we think it means but what You’ve inspired it to mean. Will you burn that into our hearts and do it indelibly. We thank You, Lord, for measure of light we have. We know we’re only beginners and toddlers; we haven’t seen You as You are infinite and we’ll be forever knowing You. Thank You for the measure of light You’ve given. Now, we ask Your blessing and make Your word alive. Thank You for showing up, and your blessing doesn’t depend on when we make the meeting, but when You make the meeting. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.