Back in 1694, a man named Voltaire was born in Paris France. Voltaire was a famous writer, philosopher and intellectual of the day, but he was best known for was his hatred of the church of his day. He devoted himself to attacking and ridiculing Christianity at every opportunity, and he was a vocal critic of Biblical miracles… including the Resurrection of Jesus. But ironically, at one point in his life, Voltaire declared that he believed in the resurrection of the dead. He believed it could happen, but he rejected the claims that Jesus had risen. Why would Voltaire believe that the dead could live again? Because a respected Italian scientist named Spallanzani reported to the Royal Society of London (prominent scientists of the day) that he’d done just that. And THEY believed his research - he’d raised the dead! Well… he didn’t actually resurrect human bodies, or dogs or cats or anything like that. He did it with microbes. Microbes. What he’d done was take obviously dead microbes and sprinkled water (they weren’t moving) and they lived again. They moved.
Now, to give Spallanzani credit, he wasn’t satisfied with just a couple of experiments. He repeatedly experimented on the Microbes until he realized the microbes weren’t actually dead. They were dormant… dehydrated. And when he’d sprinkled water on them, all he’d actually done was “quench their thirst” and made it so they revived. They were never actually dead.
But initially Voltaire – who rejected the resurrection of Jesus Christ – totally embraced Spallanzani’s claim that he could raise the dead. Voltaire even said: “When a man like him announces that he has brought the dead back to life, we have to believe him.” And not only had Voltaire believed this scientist, so had a number of Europe’s elite intellectuals. And they all believed him for the same reason: “When a man like him announces that he has brought the dead back to life, we have to believe him” (Strange History, Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, p 174)
APPLY: Now, with that story in our minds let’s go to our text today: Jesus had just risen from the dead, and He appeared to all His disciples who were hiding in a locked room. Well… He appeared to all of them except… Thomas. We don’t know where Thomas was at, but he wasn’t there! And later, when he joined his friends they excitedly tell him about seeing Jesus. BUT THOMAS… DOUBTED. He said the others “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.” From that day on, Thomas has always been referred to as “Doubting Thomas.” In fact, if someone is known to doubt things that they’re told, they’re often referred to as “Doubting Thomases.”
Now, let’s take a look at this man named Thomas. We don’t know much about him. We know that he obviously had a twin somewhere (he’s called “Thomas the twin”); and we know he’s kind of outspoken (he said “unless I see & touch Jesus I will NEVER believe”); and we know that he’s a … doubting Thomas (we’ll back to that in just a bit).
But there’s a couple of other episodes in Thomas’ life help us understand the man. He strikes me as basically a “meat and potatoes man.” He’s very cut and dried in thinks. He forms an opinion… and he tends to obstinately stick to that opinion (kind of like a few people I personally know).
For example, one time Jesus said to His disciples "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." And Thomas said to him, John 14:5 "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" To which Jesus replies “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes unto the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Jesus was basically telling His disciples that after He died, He’d be going to heaven to prepare the place there for them (and us) to come and join Him there. But Thomas had trouble thinking outside the box. He essentially says to “Where are YOU Going???” He has a hard time GRASPING spiritual things at this point
Another time (the last time Jesus went to Jerusalem) Jesus told His disciples that He was going to go to that area (of Jerusalem) and Thomas is frustrated. Thomas knew how much the Jewish leaders hated Jesus, and He had heard Jesus repeated say they’d kill Him. And so he says "Let us also go, that we may die with him." John 11:16
Like I said, Thomas had a hard time grasping spiritual things. But now he’s faced with the impossible. The very idea that Jesus has risen from the dead makes him respond “NOT LIKELY!”
And so Thomas… DOUBTS.
Doubt. People do struggle with doubt once in awhile. In fact, Jude tells us “… have mercy on those who doubt” Jude 1:22
But doubt is NOT NECESSARILY a bad thing. Did you know that all the disciples doubted Jesus at one time or another? Peter walked on the water… until he doubted. The disciples had watched Jesus perform miracle after miracle, but when the storms threatened their boat… they doubted. And the disciples were willing to follow Jesus anywhere, until Jesus was arrested… then they doubted.
Someone once noted: “Those who doubt most, and yet strive to overcome their doubts, turn out to be some of Christ's strongest disciples.” - Selwyn Hughes
You see, doubt isn’t abnormal… but it can be dangerous, if we don’t strive to deal with it. Doubt can destroy us, if we surrender to it. Doubt can shatter our lives.
When Jesus confronted Thomas, He gave Thomas the evidence he asked for. Then He said: “Do NOT disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27) In other words: “Now that you have the evidence, don’t dwell in your doubt.
You see, doubt comes about when we’re NOT careful who we listen to. Thomas wisely listened to Jesus, but not everyone we listen to will give us good information. For example, Voltaire believed what Spallanzani said when he told people he had raised the dead. Voltaire declared “When a man like him announces that he has brought the dead back to life, we have to believe him.”
But Voltaire was wrong… because Spallanzani was wrong. Voltaire had listened to the wrong person.
And if I spend my time with skeptics and doubters, I’ll end up being wrong too, because I’ll begin to think just like they do. Psalm 1 tells us “Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful.” Psalm 1:1
Be careful who you hang out with.
ILLUS: I know of a number of people who have DOUBTED JESUS did so because they’ve listened to the wrong voices. Their friends, their teachers, and even their relatives. And they doubt – not because they’ve examined any evidence for themselves, but because they listened to the opinions of folks they’ve spent time with. THAT’S LAZINESS! Letting other people tell you what the Bible says… is lazy. And even Christians can be guilty of that. In Acts we read that God commended the Bereans because those “Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, EXAMINING THE SCRIPTURES DAILY to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11) You see, these Bereans didn’t trust Paul just because he said something. They read the Bible for themselves. They examined the evidence for themselves. And God praised them for that.
There’s a lot of people who don’t really look at the evidence. But Thomas did. He DEMANDED evidence: "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." (John 20:25)
And the evidence he demanded was reasonable. If Jesus WERE alive and had appeared to the others, then Thomas believed HE should be able to see that same evidence and come to his own conclusions. In other words – Thomas wasn’t being dishonest. If there were real evidence… he’d look at it.
ILLUS: We recently had our Passover celebration, and we advertised it on FaceBook. However, there was one lady was unhappy that we (as Christians) would “appropriate” a symbol of Jewish culture (i.e. since we’re not Jewish we shouldn’t be doing it). She wrote: “celebrating the last supper is Christian. SEDAR and the use of a sedar plate is reserved for Jewish culture. Cultural Appropriation in any form is inappropriate.”
Scott (our family minister) and I tried to explain to her, as gently as we could, that that wasn’t what we were doing. But no matter what we said, it was obvious after awhile – that she wasn’t interested in anything we had to say. She was constantly contentious and mean spirited, and seemed bent on just lecturing us. But she finally showed her hand when she revealed that she regarded the Bible as deeply flawed and untrustworthy. And it became obvious we weren’t going to change her mind with any kind of evidence.
There’s a lot of people out there like that. They’ve got minds like a steel trap – they’ve snapped their minds shut, and they’re NEVER gonna open them up again for anything.
Now, by contrast… there ARE honest people out there
ILLUS: Dr. Simon Greenleaf he was skeptic from Harvard Law School who wrote three volumes on the laws of legal evidence, and regularly mocked Christians in his law classes. But some of his Christian students challenged him to apply the principles of evidence in own book on legal evidence and to apply those legal principles to evidence of the resurrection. He took the challenge, and concluded that the evidence was so convincing, that he became a believer. He later wrote, “The resurrection of Jesus is one of the best established facts of history.”
Then there’s a couple of Cambridge professors named Dr. Benjamin Gilbert-West & Lord Littleton. They were so fed up with Christianity that they wanted to write a book to destroy it. So they took a leave of absence and studied the evidence, especially the evidence about the resurrection. As a result of their study, they too became believers and wrote: “Reject not, until you have examined the evidence.”
And we could go on and on and on.
But my point is this: our doubts should lead us to examine the evidence. If you have doubts about the resurrection of Jesus… read the Bible. Ask yourself if its reasonable to believe that the Apostles (most of whom died for their faith) would be willing to die for a lie? Or that the early Christians would endure beatings and prison because of their witness of a risen Christ… and do so for a lie?
But, no matter how much you struggle with the evidence, eventually you’ve GOT to make a choice.
ILLUS: Lee Iacocca noted: “I once commented to a business associate, ‘The trouble with you is that in college they taught you not to take any action until you had all the facts. You’ve got 95% of them, but it’s going to take you another six months to get that last 5%. And by the time you do, they will be out of date.’ At some point you’ve got to take that leap of faith.”
My point is this: Get what evidence you can, and then determine what you’re going to believe. But realize that the Bible says there’s a lot riding on your decision. When Jesus told Thomas “Do NOT disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27) He was saying – you’ve seen the evidence… but be careful. Do not continue in your unbelief. The Greek word translated “disbelieve” (apistos) is the same word the Bible uses for non-Christians, for unbelievers, for those who are lost (Luke 9:41; 12:46; II Corinthians 4:4; I Timothy 5:8)
In other words: “Thomas, if you’re not careful, your disbelief will rob you of My blessings. Your disbelief will put you on the OUTSIDE looking in. And your doubt will destroy you if you let it continue. Don’t do that! Don’t die in your doubts.
Someone once reflected on an old invitation hymn: “My friend, if you are tired of the load of your sins...
if you desire a new life to begin...; if you would join the glad songs of the blest...; if you would enter the mansions of rest...; if there’s a void this world can never fill...; then let Jesus come into your heart.
And the chorus goes this way:
“Just now, your DOUBTINGS give o’er; Just now, reject Him no more; Just now, throw open the door; Let Jesus come into your heart.”
INVITATION
