Last week, we spoke about how Jesus appeared to His disciples after the resurrection, when they were gathered behind locked doors. In the midst of their fear and anxiety, Jesus told the disciples not to be afraid, revealing himself to them and assuring them that He is alive and well. However, not all of them believed it right away when they learned about the risen Christ but doubted the reality of this supernatural event. In fact, it is quite possible to be a believer in Jesus for some time but still struggle with doubts about your faith. But what I want to make clear is that doubting whether it is intellectual, emotional, or spiritual is a normal part of the Christian life. Doubting doesn’t make me a second-class Christian or automatically mean that I am rejecting my Christian faith.
Doubt is rather a hesitancy to believe in or fully follow the risen Messiah because there are deep uncertainties in my heart that need to be resolved.
As Warren Wiersbe puts it, 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!” In fact, in the Greek text, there is a double negative: “I positively will not believe!” The question is: How should we handle doubt or help others handle theirs? We are going to take a look at this next passage in John chapter 20, 24 through 31 where Jesus helped Thomas overcome serious doubts by inviting Him to take a closer look at the truth.
John 20:24-31
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “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.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:24-31 ESV).
As we were going through this passage, we could see three types of faith here.
Lack of faith
Saving faith
Living faith
This is the only account about Thomas in the four gospels. Other parallel passages from the other gospels that refer to the encounter of the risen Jesus with the disciples, are (for those who are interested in doing further research):
- Mark 16:14-20
- Luke 24:36-49
Let's look at our first point:
1. Lack of Faith
When we first take a look at our passage for today, we are able to see a contrast between someone who will “not believe until”...versus someone who will “never believe even if…”. In v. 24 we learn that Thomas wasn’t among the disciples when Jesus appeared for the first time to the rest of the disciples after his resurrection. We are not sure why he chose to be by himself, but, even when all the fellow disciples had already informed Thomas about their encounter with the risen Jesus (v. 25), Thomas is unwilling to accept their report by mere faith, uttering his desire to place his hands on Jesus’ wounds. Unless he is able to do so, he states he won’t believe that Jesus is alive.
Of course, one must state that Thomas’ lack of faith can’t be compared to the attitude of the Pharisees and Scribes depicted in the four gospels, as they, even with all the signs, refused to believe at all. Thomas on the other hand wanted to believe, even though he poses certain conditions to do so. Because he stayed home, he missed out on the initial joy and excitement the other disciples were able to experience. He missed seeing Jesus Christ, hearing His words of peace, and receiving His commission and gift of spiritual life. He had to endure a week of fear and unbelief when he could have been experiencing joy and peace! Remember Thomas when you are tempted to stay home from church. You never know what special blessing you might miss! But let’s give him credit for showing up the next week.
When we look at this lack of faith more closely, there is no benefit at all about it. It is a waste of time, joy, and contentment. Therefore, in my opinion, it is important to avoid it in our lives (I personally have the conviction that the Lord is there to give us strength in each and every situation to believe, but the question arises: how far am I willing to make use of that offer?). Of course, there may/will be really challenging times in our lives, where our faith is really put to the test. However, even when we experience challenges in our faith, it’s a valuable thing to still believe, because this has the great ability to boost our spiritual lives. A couple of years ago, there was a period in my spiritual life where I was trying to find my place in the church, and looking back now, I can say that the Lord opened doors for me when I thought it was almost impossible for me to progress in that sense. So, the Lord really is gracious and provides, and as for me personally, whenever I remember past unbelief, I have the conviction that I simply wasted time back then, and together with the Lord, I am working on avoiding that in the future.
Learning how to deal with doubts in the past helps us today and in future faith challenges. It also leads to the recognition of the responsibility we have to actively choose the Lord’s way when it comes down for us to decide.
When we experience doubts, it may feel like we are driving into a fog: it may feel nebulous, we could feel like we are without direction. That is why we as Christians don’t want to spend more time in it than necessary; also, when you’re driving through fog, you want to get out of it as soon as possible.
In general, it can be said that Thomas is more the rational kind of guy, and in that sense one must also give credit to him that still, he’s present when Jesus comes. Many rational people these days tend to label the faith in Christ as something irrational and non-scientific, when, in fact, the opposite is true.
In verse 26, we read that eight days later, the disciples were inside again, this time including Thomas among them. The doors are locked, and all of a sudden Jesus is in their midst. It is important to point out that, once again, Jesus says “Peace be with you”. Once more, we are able to see how important it is to Jesus that his disciples won’t be afraid in that challenging time.
In Jesus’ omniscience, He’s perfectly aware of all the words Thomas said to the other disciples about a week earlier. Warren Wiersbe said:
Jesus saw a dangerous process at work in Thomas’s heart, and He wanted to put a stop to it. The best commentary on this is Hebrews 3, where God warns against “an evil heart of unbelief” (Heb. 3:12). It is not easy to understand the psychology of doubt and unbelief.
So Jesus takes Thomas up on his request and tells him to put his finger in His wounds. He doesn’t rebuke Thomas for his unbelief. Also, interestingly, Jesus doesn’t insist on Thomas believing without putting his finger into the marks, but actually lives up to His disciples’ wish to feel the Lord’s wounds himself. Still, he tells Thomas to renounce his unbelief and to come to belief. Our Lord’s words translate literally, “Stop becoming faithless but become a believer.” Jesus tells Thomas directly not to disbelieve, but to believe. After this Thomas needed no more proof! He famously said, “My Lord and my God.”
Which brings me to the second point:
2. Saving Faith
The gospels were eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus. These were recorded for those who would come after the time of His physical presence on this earth so we could believe in Jesus without having physically seen him. If there wasn’t that possibility, none of us today would be able to have an actual encounter with the Lord while still on earth, but of course, that is not the case, as the Holy Spirit can open up the eyes of our heart.
In verse 28, Thomas acknowledges Jesus as his “Lord and God”. He had come to his conclusion and thankfully it was the right one. In the next verse, Jesus asks him a personal and convicting question, why Thomas was only willing to believe, once he had personally placed his hands in Jesus’ hands and side. Also, Jesus utters the blessing that’s behind a faith that’s not merely based on physical experience, but on mere acceptance by faith itself: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Here, Jesus speaks of these “other sheep” or “children of God” as if they have already believed, knowing that when they do believe, it will in fact be without seeing, at least in the way Thomas and his fellow disciples have seen. Interestingly, we don’t read anything about a possible response from Thomas’ part. The Lord has the final word, the ultimate authority, and the final victory.
So if we come to a conclusion about verses 24-29, Warren Wiersbe once more provides us with some interesting thoughts. We need to remind ourselves that everybody lives by faith. The difference is in the object of that faith. Thomas represents the “scientific approach” to life—and it did not work “for Him!” After all, when a skeptic says, “I will not believe unless—” he is already admitting that he does believe! He believes in the validity of the test or experiment that he has devised! If he can have faith in his own “scientific approach,” why can he not have faith in what God has revealed? Unsaved people put their faith in themselves and this type of faith is not a saving faith. Christians on the other hand, put their faith in God and His Word. God wants to move people from a lack of faith to a saving faith, but He is calling each one of us beyond a saving faith into a….
3. Living Faith
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:30-31 ESV).
We see in v. 30 that John didn’t write about all the other miraculous signs that Jesus performed in front of him and the other disciples but focuses on just the seven messianic signs from chapters 2 -11 that fulfilled OT prophecies pointing to Jesus as the Son of God. What are they? Turning water into wine, cleaning out the temple, healing the nobleman’s son, the lame man, the blind man, feeding the multitude, and raising Lazarus from the dead. These signs have a “common, cumulative, and collective purpose” that would cause people who simply read the account to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
In v. 31, John is saying but these things, the seven messianic signs, are written (perfect tense), as an unchanging eyewitness testimony of who Jesus is. Why did John even write this letter? So you and I may believe.
John is very, very clear about the nature of believing. He’s not referencing some kind of mental awareness, a mental agreement about certain facts concerning Jesus, but when he uses the verbs like believing and receiving, he’s talking about a saving faith where the individual welcomes Christ into their life and a living faith where we enter into a relationship with Him and follow Him. When John wrote this gospel he had a twofold purpose:
1. First, it is evangelistic. He wrote the account so that whoever reads it may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Here he singles out two things in faith's content. The one is that Jesus is the Christ, that is, the only Savior, the only Messiah, the long-expected One. The other is that He is the Son of God.” To be the Son of God means having the same nature as God, to be God. The book of Hebrews expresses this very clearly, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” (Heb 1:3).
2. Second, it is for our comfort and encouragement. John wrote this gospel so that when we experience strong opposition to our Christian faith, we can keep on believing. Faith for John is not some vague trust but has real meaning and content. You know what you believe and who you believe in and why. This type of faith in Christ is a living faith which produces life in the follower.
Maybe you are here today and you doubt that Jesus is the Son of God and was really resurrected or wondering what this has to do with you today? Maybe you are searching for the truth and open to hearing how to have eternal life and a relationship with God. Maybe you have doubts that arise from uncertainty about objective truth. Can the truth even be known? If so, can the truth about God be known? The answer for both is: Yes. John recorded these messianic signs so the reader can know the truth about Jesus. Jesus showed himself to many eyewitnesses so the truth of his resurrection can be known by His followers. Augustus of Hippo said,
The truth is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.
As Daniel said earlier, there were two other things that the passage brought out. (1) Lack of faith & (2) Saving faith. We can identify with Thomas, can’t we? For those of us who do believe in the resurrection of Christ and that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, we may at times lack faith in the power of Christ’s resurrection and how it affects our daily lives. We may either lack faith in God’s power to change us or our situation, or else lack faith in God’s character - to take care of us, to bring us through. Even if He has the power to change our situation, would He be willing to transform our situations and our lives?
Very often, the doubts we have are influenced and amplified by the bombardment of opinions and intellectual arguments of the different worldviews around us. We can be affected by the sincere concerns of our non-Christian friends or family that we love and respect, who lovingly seek to point out how our faith is not rational, not based on reality and what about these other world religions? Can they all be wrong? These kinds of arguments have the potential to plant seeds of doubt in our minds.
The question is how do we deal with doubt? Jesus is inviting you and me to continually and persistently investigate the evidence. He didn’t reject Thomas when he sought evidence about a risen Savior, He engaged Him. Jesus is inviting us to investigate the reality of what our faith is founded upon. To investigate your faith and even to investigate your doubts. As Christians we don’t want to live in denial of issues and trends that are happening in the world and stay insular as a church. Jesus wants us to be convinced of the foundations of our faith and just like He did, engage people from different cultural and religious backgrounds, different walks of life with confidence because of a living faith.
God invites us, as His creation, to reason with Him, to bring our arguments before the Lord, to search the Scriptures to see if what you believe is true. If you do, you will find that what the Word says is perfectly aligned with reality, and that only Scripture makes sense of what's happening in the world around us. And the Scriptures contain a compelling argument for why we exist, who we are, how we should live, and where we are going. Only the gospel can make sense of the human heart, only Jesus can meet humanity’s deepest needs, only life in Jesus can provide unrivaled hope and joy. Investigating the life of Jesus through the Scriptures, history, and archeology, takes people on a journey from a lack of faith to a saving faith, to a truly living faith.
