Blessed are the believers! They will be with the Father forever

His name was Thomas (also called “Didymus,” meaning “the twin”), but history knows him better as “doubting Thomas.” He was one of the 12 disciples (though the word disciple is also used in scripture to describe a larger group of those who followed Jesus during His public ministry).

We might think it uncharacteristic of Thomas that he once bravely encouraged all the disciples to go with Jesus to Lazarus’ grave in Judea though many there were hostile toward Jesus. “Let us also go, that we may die with Him (Jesus)” (John 11:16).

Thomas’ reputation as a doubter is really the product of two more wellknown accounts in John’s Gospel. The first took place not long before Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was telling them that, though He would be going back to the Father, He would come back for them that they might be with Him forever. Jesus said, “You know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” To which Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (see John 14:1-6).

The next incident, and that which sealed his “doubting Thomas” moniker, took place after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. After the crucifixion of Jesus, the disciples and others close to Him went into hiding in Jerusalem and they locked the doors behind them out of fear. On the day we now call Resurrection Day or Easter, history records that Mary Magdalene (and other women named in the various gospels) went to the tomb with burial spices to anoint Jesus’ body because there had not been time to do that when Jesus died on the cross just before the beginning of the Sabbath at sundown on that Friday. When they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty, they ran to tell the other disciples what they’d seen and heard (see Matthew 28:1-10).

Not only were the disciples told by those who’d gone to the tomb what had happened, but they were later in that room behind locked doors when Jesus Himself appeared to them. However, Thomas was not with them. When they told Thomas that Jesus was alive and had appeared to them, Thomas said, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe” (see John 20:24-25).

Eight days later, Thomas is with the others when Jesus again, unhindered by locked doors, appears to His disciples. John’s Gospel records that Jesus knew Thomas’ doubting heart and offered him His hands and His side to examine for himself. That was enough for Thomas. He didn’t even need to touch the wounds of Jesus. He didn’t need any more proof. Thomas declared, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

Then Jesus Christ, seemingly to the rest of those who would struggle with doubting the evidence concerning Himself, said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

The written and physical historical evidence of Jesus’ life demands a verdict from every person. Even if Jesus means nothing to you, are you at least willing to examine what is written about Him by those who were eye-witnesses? If so, I encourage you to start by reading the Gospel of John. If you believe Jesus to be a great teacher, a mighty prophet, a misunderstood social-change agent, but not God made flesh, the substitutionary Savior of all who trust in Him, I would also recommend you read John’s Gospel. Don’t have a copy of the Bible with John’s Gospel? I’ll give you one, no strings attached. You can reach me at Village Bible Church through our Facebook page, email me at pastorvbefc@sbcglobal.net or call me at 479-8765764.

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

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