John 20:24-31 Without a doubt
Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, 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 those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
There never has been a Christian who didn’t suffer doubt. Even Charles Spurgeon the prince of preachers said, “Some of us who have preached the Word for years, and have been the means of working faith in others and of establishing them in the knowledge of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, have nevertheless been the subjects of the most fearful and violent doubts as to the truth of the very gospel we have preached.”
When doubt is looking for answers it is fine. If doubt is making us diligent it is even helpful. The danger sets in when the answers are given but not accepted. Thomas had the testimony of his fellow disciples but refused it. How would his story been different if he had accepted their testimony?
Jesus is the good shepherd who never loses one sheep that belongs to him and so he appears to stop Thomas from falling into unbelief.
There was one more apostle that Jesus appeared to after his resurrection who was also in danger of unbelief, Paul. Read Acts 9:1-22. Paul was greatly used in the spread of the gospel in the early church and yet Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”. Our faith is blessed in a way that even that great apostle did not experience.
Hebrews 11:1, ” Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Belief, faith, trust is the stuff hope is made of. Trust in God who made everything, made us, knows everything, including everything about us and yet still came to us, as one of us and died for us and rose for us. Trust in that God is our evidence that his promise to return and make everything new is reliable. In a world where the older we get the more we learn about how untrustworthy almost everything is, we can rely on Jesus without a doubt.
This call to and, assurance of, belief is why this book was written. It is why the whole Bible was written. The result of belief in Christ is life in Christ. A new birth into God’s family.
2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
brotherpayne 