Now Thomas, one of the twelve, termed Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples, then, said to him, "We have seen the Lord!" Yet he said to them, "Should I not perceive in His hands the print of the nails, and thrust my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will be by no means believing." And after eight days His disciples were again within, and Thomas was with them. The doors having been locked, Jesus is coming and stood in the midst and said, "Peace to you!" Thereafter He is saying to Thomas, "Bring your finger here and perceive My hands, and bring your hand and thrust it into My side, and do not become unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Now Jesus is saying to them, "Seeing that you have seen Me, you have believed. Happy are those who are not perceiving, and believe."
John 20: 24-29, Concordant New Testament
I've always thought that some of the happiest Christians are those new to the faith. For these new believers, the world is a wonderful place. Jesus is alive and well and He is there to guide and protect them in all they do. If they are in need of anything, they simply ask Jesus and He has promised that He will provide {Matthew 6:26}. Life is good with Jesus. It doesn't take long, however, before one starts to question what, or who, it is they are believing in. It is natural for humans to demand proof of something before we place our trust in it. We know and trust the presence of gravity in our environment because we have personally seen it in action. We trust something as simple as a park bench to be solid enough to support us when we sit. We have seen, so it is that we believe. But what about this Jesus? When have we ever seen Him? Yes, we've all seen the paintings and drawings of a man we've been told that Jesus would have looked like, but these are just images passed down for centuries. Are we to trust that this is what Jesus looked like? Scripture even tells us that nobody has seen Jesus {John 6:46, 1 John 4:12}. Well, these verses claim that nobody has ever seen God, but even Jesus has proclaimed that if you have seen Him then you have seen the Father as well {John 14:9}. Believing in a Jesus I could not see was one of the things I struggled with in my religious journey. In my heart I knew that Jesus was real but, like most people, I wanted to see who it was I was believing in. It produces kind of a closer connection, to actually see Jesus. To somehow prove that He is real. His own disciple, Thomas, demanded that Jesus prove Himself to him before he would believe {John 20:24-29}. In the end, Jesus appeared to Thomas and offered him proof of His resurrected body. To which Thomas happily proclaimed, "My Lord and my God!" But Jesus had a lesson for Thomas, and for those seeking proof of His being. "Happy are those who are not perceiving (seeing) and believe" {John 20:29}.
That, if you should be allowing with your mouth the declaration that Jesus is Lord, and should be believing in your heart that God rouses Him from among the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart it is believed for righteousness, yet with the mouth it is allowed for salvation.
Romans 10:9-10, Concordant New Testament
It is uncanny that in Jesus' response to the unbelief of Thomas that we catch a description of the new Christian mentioned earlier. Happy are those who have not seen Jesus and yet have believed in Him. I agree. So to what do we count our faith and belief in Christ? Is it our own knowing that somehow convinces us that He is real and true? Thomas had spent enough time with Jesus, so he should have known who his teacher was. In fact, the other disciples had given him a heads up by saying that they had indeed seen Jesus {John 20:24}. Keep in mind that this was after the death of Jesus on the cross, so these men must have been overjoyed to see Him once again. Yet Thomas desired proof of the resurrected Jesus. Well, as they say, be careful what you wish for. Not only did Jesus prove to doubting Thomas that He was indeed the risen Christ, but gave some valuable advice to any Christian who ever doubted if this Jesus is indeed real. In retrospect, this scripture would have been helpful to me way back then. I would rather be happy in knowing Him than unhappy in wondering who Jesus is.
Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you may be believing in that One Whom He commissions."
John 6: 29, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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