Sometimes popular ideas about biblical characters are so
accepted that one is compelled to go along with them almost as if
they were inspired, but they are often arbitrary and superficial. No
one ever calls John the Baptist John the doubter, yet his experience
of doubt was far more serious than that of Thomas. He had
proclaimed of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God.” But as he sat in
Herod’s prison he had doubts and sent his disciples to ask Jesus if
He was really the Messiah. Jesus did not rebuke him just as He did
not rebuke Thomas. Jesus accepted those who had a quest for
evidence, and He gave it in both cases.
Thomas, however, got tagged as the doubter because of his one
experience. On this basis he gained a reputation as if he was a
skeptic. The fact is we have as much evidence on record as we need
to call him Thomas the dedicated defender. He is the only other
disciple of the 12 who matches Peter in his commitment and
confession. When Jesus determined to go back to Jerusalem, it was
Thomas who said, “Let us go and die with Him.” It is Thomas who
gives the clearest confession of the deity of Christ when he said, “My
Lord and my God.” The Bible does not call him doubting Thomas
because it does not stereotype people on the basis of one week of
their life. It remains true, however, that though it was only briefly,
Thomas was a doubter, and we want to examine that aspect of his
life.
God said let there be light and there was light, and darkness
gave way to brightness. This is the way God works both in nature
and in man. During World War I a young American sailor gave his
testimony of how God brought him out of darkness into light. His
ship was torpedoed, and he and 4 other men were on a raft in the
ocean for 32 hours. He had a New Testament in his pocket, which he
hardly ever read before, but he began to read it now. Three of the
men made fun of him, but the 4th said, “Read on buddy, and read
loud so I can hear.” He read the Bible and prayed for God to save
them. Night came and one by one the 3 scoffers slipped from the
raft into a dark eternity. The 2 who were left prayed for God to
save them, and after what seemed like an eternity a search light
appeared from a U. S. Destroyer. Joy filled their souls, for they knew
their sins were forgiven and they dedicated their lives to serve
Jesus.
You can imagine the doubts and fears of these men as the
clung to a raft in the darkness. They had something, however, which
the other 3 did not have to hang onto. They had the promises of
God’s Word, and God never refuses the true seeker. Not many
have that identical experience, but they do go through the agony of
dark mental doubts, and we want to look at the experience of
Thomas to see if we can gain some insights into the causes and cure
of doubt.
I. THE CAUSE OF HIS DOUBT.
The other disciples were not exactly men of great faith at this
point. That very morning they did not believe the women who told
them that Jesus had risen. They were all doubters of the
resurrection. Now we find them meeting behind locked doors for
fear of the Jews. They were not strong but they stayed together and
did not scatter. So we have here the first Christian meeting as all of
the Apostles were filled with fear. Jesus came and demonstrated
that He was alive and they are glad. But there were only 10 there
for the betrayer was gone and the doubter was absent. We know
Judas was dead, but where was Thomas? The very first Christian
meeting and someone is missing, and as usual, it is the one who most
needed to be there for his faith was the most shattered. If Thomas
had been there his wound could have been healed, but he was not.
Many are they whom God would comfort and heal, but they are
absent from the place where he appears. We see the danger of non-
attendance with others for worship and instruction. Forsaking the
fellowship is the first step to forsaking the faith.
Thomas was not there, but that was not the cause of his doubt.
It was the cause for its continence, however, for the others had joy
when he remained in sorrow. He was not doing anything wrong, but
he was just not where he should have been. We shall see, however,
that Jesus was not hard on Thomas, and so we should not be either.
When Thomas was present and Jesus appeared he demanded to see
and touch the wounds of Jesus. How did he have such a vivid
picture of what happened unless he actually saw the crucifixion?
This puts his doubt in a new light, for he was not a skeptic refusing
to believe, but it was just too good to be true for him, and he could
not believe until he saw. The implication is that Thomas stayed at
the cross when the others fled, and he actually saw the spear thrust
into His side. He watched the crucifixion with his own eyes, and he
needed to see with his own eyes that they crucified Christ was risen.
Here was the Lord he had followed for 3 years who had
demonstrated His power in healing, and now He does not lift a
finger to destroy these cruel men who take His life. In his heart, the
question why does he not do something must have crushed him.
When he saw the soldier pierce his side and the end come, Thomas
had his faith shattered. If ever a man had good reason to doubt, it
was Thomas. If ever an event seem to be prove that God does not
care, it was the cross with his dead and wounded Master upon it.
Where Thomas went we do not know, but he, no doubt, felt that to
meet with others was useless. It was all over and there was no sense
kidding ourselves. Thomas thought it best to face his grief alone,
and so he was not there at the gathering.
Thomas’s doubt was due to the darkness which covered his
soul at the cross, and when others came in joy telling him Christ was
risen, his attitude was, “Oh, if only it was so. You did not see what I
did, or you would not so easily be deceived. I will not believe until I
see the very one I saw die, and the very wounds which I saw inflicted
upon my Master.” It was not that Thomas did not want to believe,
but he could not, for it was too good to be true. Imagine a man on a
ship when a sudden storm brings a wave that sweeps his son off into
the ocean. He watches as the boy cries and sinks helpless into the
sea. In despair he goes to his cabin and locks himself in. The rest of
the family are informed of the loss, and they too in sorrow gather
together. Imagine that the boy was miraculously recovered and
revived. The family is notified and rushes on deck to see the boy
alive just before he is taken in a helicopter to a hospital on land. In
their joy they almost forget the father, but when the remember they
searched the ship and find him in the cabin. They tell him the good
news, but he does not believe them, for he saw the hopeless situation
with his own eyes. He says I won’t believe it until I see for myself,
and so in doubt and anxiety he must wait for several days to see his
boy.
This man, like Thomas, is skeptical because he does not want to
build on false hope. It is hard for one who has seen the tragedy to
believe without visual evidence. This man’s mistake, like that of
Thomas, was in not going with the rest of the family and sharing
their burden together. He could have received the same joyous
news with them had he been with them. The cause of Thomas’s
doubt was a reality of the death of Christ which he saw, and the
cause of prolonged doubt was his absence from the fellowship. The
obvious truth is that the nearer we are to tragedy the greater will be
our doubt that God can bring forth good from it, and the further we
are from fellowship the longer we will remain in doubt.
II. THE CURE OF HIS DOUBT.
Verse 26 says he was with them. What a week that must have
been for Thomas. The other disciples were happy, and he was in a
state of sadness. He was sorry now that he had not joined the other
sin the first place. I suspect he probably never missed another
meeting after that. The fact that he was with them now shows that
Thomas was an honest doubter. He was one who doubted because
he could not yet believe, but he was willing to seek evidence. The
dishonest doubter does not say, “I can’t” but “I won’t believe.”
They not only do not seek evidence, they blind themselves to it, and
seek only the negative. I knew a young man who only looked for
reasons not to believe, and he never was open to admit there was
any reason to believe. This is not true doubt. This is just plain
dishonesty. He is a skeptic who refuses to believe, for if it is true he
knows he is condemned, and who is going to admit they are
condemned?
A man once told me a true story out of his experience, and he
gave me permission to use it. He had a neighbor when he was a boy
who swore and cursed God at every opportunity. He hated
ministers and would curse them off his property. On his death bed,
after a long life of cursing God, just before he died he cried out in a
loud voice, “God forgive me” This left an impression on the man’s
mind that he never forgot. Why did he cry out like that after a life
of cursing? It would seem that such a man was living by faith that
there was no God, but suddenly they realize they are going to face
God and they cry out in repentance. Such a man is a dishonest
doubter, for he does not want to believe, and to keep any light from
entering his mind he curses God and avoids all openness to truth, for
he cannot bear to face it. But in that final moment he saw himself as
he really was. Honest doubt does not rest until it has searched for
all the evidence. Tennyson said, “There is more faith in honest
doubt, believe me, then in half the creeds.” To doubt because it
seems to good to be true is far different than doubt because we do
not want it to be true.
Thomas was an honest doubter, that is why he was with the
disciples at the next meeting. His honest doubt led him to discover
the truth of what they believed. Doubt for him, as for all believers,
is to be only a state you passed through to further light. It is only a
tunnel on the road to faith, and not a dead end. You only walk
through the valley of the shadow of death. You do not abide there as
your dwelling place. Billy Sunday said, “Do not throw your ticket
away just because the train goes into a tunnel. It will come out again
on the other side.” Thomas did not know what was going to happen,
but he was there, and he was ready to believe. What a tragedy if he
had been a dishonest doubter. Such a doubter will not move until he
has all the answers, but an honest doubter goes as far as he can see,
and then waits for more light. It is like walking through thick
woods. You do not stand on the edge trying to figure out the way to
the other side. You go as far as you can see, and then from there
you see where you can go next. The man who stays on the edge
thinks he is being reasonable, but in reality he is being a fool. He
says he will not believe the Bible until it is proven, and he never tries
to read it until it is proven. This is pure dishonesty. Thomas was no
such skeptic, and so he found the cure for his doubt by going as far
as he could see. S. D. Gordon said, “The honest doubter is a
wholesome man to meet. He is not trying to trip somebody up, but to
get a sure footing for himself. He never attacks. He inquires. He is
always seeking for light.”
In verses 26-27 we do not see Jesus rebuking Thomas for his
doubt, but instead he offers him clear evidence. The whole incident
is recorded, I believe, not so we can call people doubting Thomas,
but to teach us that the cure for doubt is an honest seeking after
truth in the fellowship of believers. To call a man who is a skeptic a
doubting Thomas is to abuse the name of Thomas. It can only
honestly apply to a honest seeker who has not yet been convinced,
but who is always going as far as he can see. Doubt is not wrong, but
failure to seek evidence is tragic, and fatal for the soul. The others
did not rebuke Thomas for his doubt, for they were doubters also
until they saw Jesus face to face. They welcomed him back into
their fellowship. Doubt is always to be used as a servant that leads
you to a deeper dedication. Thomas sought and found the cure of
his doubt, and it resulted in-
III. THE CONFESSION OF HIS FAITH.
Doubt is negative and passive, and it allows life to do something
to you, but faith is positive and active, and it allows you to do
something to life. A man in doubt is narrow and limited, even if a
world of opportunity is all around. He is like a gold fish that has
been in a small bowl for so long when it is put into a large aquarium
continues to swim around in one little corner of it because it is not
aware it is no longer limited. Faith is expansion and freedom. It
allows one to soar to the heights, and that is what Thomas did when
he saw Jesus. From his lips came the greatest confession of the deity
of Christ by any of the disciples. He no longer demanded to thrust
his hand in the side or touch the holes in the hands of Jesus. He
knew that faith was not found in the fingers, but in the awareness of
His presence.
He no longer needed any evidence, for he had experience. His
testimony is not that he grasped something, but that someone
grasped him. He confessed Jesus as Lord and God, and more
personal as “my Lord and my God.” When he grasped the reality
of the Lordship of Christ is led to immediate personal commitment
to Him. He submitted to Christ as sovereign. Jesus knew he was an
honest doubter, and that the moment of discovery would be a
moment of dedication. Jesus revealed himself because Thomas
came in submission with a willingness to believe.
There is a statue in Copenhagen of Christ with hands out and
head bowed. Only as one comes on his knees in submission can he
look up and see his face. If you are an honest doubter and truly
want to know the reality of the risen Christ, then come before Him
in submission and ask Him to reveal Himself in your life. Once you
experience His love you will not ask for any more evidence. The only
reasonable thing to do is to seek Him, for He has promised you will
find if you seek Him with all your heart. Pascal said there are only
two classes of reasonable men. Those who serve God with all their
heart because they know Him, and those who seek God with all their
heart because they know Him not. May God help us to always be
honest doubters who are ever seeking for more light that we might
come to the point where we say of Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”
