In a Peanuts comic strip, Charlie Brown is talking with Lucy as they walk home on the last day of school. Charlie Brown says to Lucy: “Lucy, I got straight A’s; isn’t that great!” Lucy in her typical fashion shoots down poor Charlie Brown and says: “I don’t believe you Charlie Brown. Unless you show me your report card, I cannot believe you.” Can you relate to Lucy? Seeing is believing, isn’t it?
Most people have to see something before they can believe it. I’ve heard said: “Don’t believe everything that you hear and only half of what you see.” This is often how we describe the apostle Thomas, but is this saying really accurate? Let me ask you a few questions:
Have you ever felt like you missed something big that everyone else seemed to know about?
Have you ever felt like you were not spiritual enough because of your past failures?
Have you ever felt like you could really believe even more in Jesus if you could just catch a glimpse of Him?
If you have ever felt like this or anything like this you would be in good company with Thomas.[1]
John 20:24–29 (NKJV)
In 1957, Lieutenant David Steeves walked out of the California Sierras Mts. 54 days after his Air Force T-33 jet trainer had disappeared. He related an unbelievable tale of survival after ejecting from his disabled plane. For almost 3 months he said he had eaten berries and dug snow tunnels to sleep in, had seen no one during the entire time & finally walked out on his own. By the time he showed up alive, he had already been declared officially dead and his story was viewed with much skepticism because during that same time frame his assigned unit had been sent to Korean.
When further search failed to turn up any wreckage, a hoax was suspected & Steeves was forced to resign from the Air Force under a cloud of doubt. He lived for a decade branded as a deserter and possible spy. One story had him selling the plane to the Russians, another shipping it piecemeal to Mexico. (This was a jet trainer, not the latest in Jet Fighter technology.) Steeves spent many years looking for the weckage of his failed jet to clear his name but in 1965, he was killed in aircraft accident.
In 1977 a troop of Boy Scouts hiking through Kings Canyon National Park discovered the jettisoned canopy of Steeve’s plane. The serial number on the canopy confirmed it was from his jet. And Steeve's story was finally confirmed. 20 years after it happened, 12 years after his death. His family was issued an apology from the military and was told that Lt. David Steeves’s name was reinstated with honor. One of Steeves friends, Eugene Junett, after the ceremony told the Associated Press. “This is nice, but then he added: “I just wish someone would of believed Dave back then.”
We have all heard things that are hard to believe. TV shows and the museum of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” make millions of dollars telling about things hard to swallow.
So is it too difficult to blame a man who has been told the ultimate unbelievable tale, that Jesus who had been put to death had come back from the grave, for his skepticism? I think we all, to some degree, can identify with Thomas, one of the 12 hand-picked followers of Jesus.[2]
Doubt is something we all experience over a great number of subjects. We all experienced doubt over our faith in God at some point. Jesus does not rebuke Thomas for having doubts, but for unbelief.
John 20:27b Do not be unbelieving, but believing.
One of my favorite commentators, Warren Wiersbe puts it this way: Doubt is often an intellectual problem: we want to believe, but the faith is overwhelmed by problems and questions. Unbelief is a moral problem; we simply will not believe. [Here is] The difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubt says, “I cannot believe! There are too many problems!” Unbelief says, “I will not believe unless you give me the evidence I ask for!” [3]
Judas has been the picture of betrayal, Peter gave the example of denial, Now Thomas is the image of doubt or skepticism. In verses 19-23, on Sunday evening after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the Disciples except for Thomas.
John 20:24–25a Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
Of course the others will tell Thomas that they have seen Jesus. In the Greek, “said” is in the imperfect tense” Tenses are important because the describe the action. In this case, it is a continuing action. They did not merely said it one time, they continued to say to Thomas – “We have seen the Lord” They attempted to convince him.
But look at Thomas’ response:
John 20:25b 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.”
Thomas set the condition for his believing – seeing and touching. "I will not believe!" In the Greek, double negatives are permitted for emphasis. Directly translated is: I will not not believe”
or we can say: “I will absolutely positively not believe.” This is Thomas’s downfall. This attitude is condemned by Jesus:
John 4:48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
Thomas represents the scientific approach to faith. He believes in the validity of the test over the word of God. The world is full of people demanding proof.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Do you know that nowhere in the Bible does the Bible defends the existence of God. It is always assumed. It is a given. However today it is politically incorrect to acknowledge God in public (and heaven forbid that you should mention the name of Jesus). Some, “so-called” Christians have fallen from the faith. “So-called,” because if they had truly believed would they would not have fallen. The world, our nation, has turned their back on God. If they acknowledge there is a God, a Creator of the Universe, that would mean they would be answerable to Him. Our World is full of unbelievers, even though the evidence of God and the evidence for God is all around us:
Romans 1:19–20 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
They, the world, have rejected the God, and have rejected His Word, the Holy Bible. One reason they reject the Word is they cannot get past Genesis 1:1a In the beginning God . . . If you can NOT comprehend and accept this much, then the rest of God’s Word will not be accepted as well. But as for Thomas – His statement is echoed by many: I will not believe. I will not believe unless: They set a test, set conditions that must be met. But unbelief is considered evil:
Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
We have faith because we believe. Quoting from Habakkuk, the writer of Hebrews says from the Lord:
Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
Herein lies the problem. Do people really believe in Jesus, why do they live their lives as if they do not? There has a book written called "The Christian Atheist" subtitled: "Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist." Unfortunately that describes a lot of so-called Christians today. Actions speak louder than words.
John 20:26 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!”
One week later. The Jews counted the passage of time by including the starting day. So if Jesus was with them on Sunday evening, including that day, 8 days would be the following Sunday – today, one week after the resurrection. They were behind locked doors again and Jesus appears. Apparently the resurrected body, the immortal body, is not constrained by time and space. Jesus just appeared to them, and gives his greetings. Obvious Jesus knows all things including the things that were said in private or not in His presence. He turns to Thomas:
John 20:27 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.”
Jesus repeats Thomas’ words. Jesus invites Thomas to touch. The scriptures give us no clue as to whether Thomas actually reaches and touches Jesus on the hands and on his side. Jesus then rebukes Thomas and says: Do not be unbelieving, but believing. Believing is more than a mental exercise. Believing is an action, an activity, something that involves both words and deeds. A belief is something that is lived out. And that is where faith enters in. IF you believe then you have faith to do what the belief requires. James said it well:
James 2:20b . . . faith without works is dead
Obviously something clicks with Thomas. He connects all the dots. The light comes on:
John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
This the real high point in the book of John. Thomas is acknowledging Jesus is God and Jesus accepts Thomas’ worship of Him as God. This is the first time in the Book of John that anyone called Jesus God – John clearly gives that indication in John 1:1.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
What Thomas is doing is making a confession of faith before Jesus, what is important here is that it is immensely personal. Thomas said "My Lord and my God!" He does not say “Our Lord and Our God.” It is MY Lord and MY God. We are not saved by the declaration of the group. Just because we say as church we believe, each one individually must say so for his or her self.
John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
We honor Jesus by believing His word and the witnesses he gives, we dishonor Him by demanding proof. The major commentaries cite the saying of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish (circa AD 250), who reportedly said:
The proselyte is dearer to God than all the Israelites who stood by Mount Sinai. For if all the Israelites had not seen the thunder and the flames and the lightnings and the quaking mountain and the sound of the trumpet they would not have accepted the law and taken upon themselves the kingdom of God. Yet this man has seen none of all these things yet comes and gives himself to God and takes on himself the yoke of the kingdom of God. Is there any who is dearer than this man? [4]
Peter tells us:
1 Peter 1:8–9 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
Today, we have the Word and we have you and me. The most Jesus some people will ever see is you. Is Jesus living in you? Is Jesus living in your heart? Or are you waiting for the proof that you can see and touch. The fact of the matter is, if we could call down fire from heaven right here and now, there will be those who will still not believe because of harden hearts. But God’s Holy Spirit will speaks to our hearts if we will only listen. How is your heart today?
[1] www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/seeing-is-believing-isn-t-it-john-lowe-sermon-on-apostles-thomas-181126?ref=SermonSerps
[2] www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/what-about-my-doubt-timothy-smith-sermon-on-doubt-70594?ref=SermonSerps
[3] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 393.
[4] D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 660.
