Thomas

John 20: 24-29

Listen link is a video: https://www.facebook.com/gregory.dubois.547/videos/10157950625016195

Good morning! Happy Mother’s Day! Pastor Greg Du Bois here and thanks for being interested in this presentation of the gospel coming to you from the Lake City Evangelical Presbyterian Church. I have an announcement. For the next 2 weeks I will be on vacation. We will have two guest speakers for the next two Sundays. May 17 the message will be provided by one the elders of Lake City EPC, Chris Klein. May 24 it will be my friend Ed Gilbert, Chaplain of the Cadillac Munson hospital and long time singing pastor.

In today’s message, we will be back on track with the events of the that first Easter. Today we meet Thomas, called “doubting Thomas” because he didn’t believe the testimony of his friends that Jesus was risen from the dead. But is that really fair?

I wonder why Thomas wasn’t present for Jesus’ first appearance in Jerusalem on Easter evening. We don’t know why not, nor where he was. The important thing to notice here is that Thomas was not a worse doubter than the rest of the disciples. He wouldn’t need any more proof than the rest of the disciples. Rather, he needed just the same proof that they got.

When Thomas did join them later, we know they excitedly told him, “We have seen the Lord!” They must have talked about Jesus’ appearance and how Jesus showed them his wounds. So, when he said, “Unless I see his wounds for myself I will not believe,” he was simply saying, “Me too.” He had the same need of evidence that they did.

None of them believed the testimony of the women, until they saw Jesus personally, and his wounds. Thomas was just the same, not a worse doubter. So, if he is doubting Thomas, then it would only be fair to call the others doubting Peter, doubting James, doubting John and so forth. They were all doubting until the met the Lord and saw his physical body in front of them. And in fact, let’s give Thomas some credit as the best believer among them. According to the Scripture, Thomas was the first one who, once he saw, not only believed that Jesus was risen, but also believed that Jesus is God! Thomas gets the credit for being the first one to worship Jesus, saying, “My Lord and my God!”

Perhaps the main reason why Thomas was not present a week earlier was so that God, in his sovereignty, could arrange this meeting, and let Thomas shine, and also to say something that is a great blessing to all of us late comers, who do believe in Jesus though we have not yet seen him physically. Just as important. Jesus showed up again when Thomas was there in order to meet his need and overcome his doubt.

For our sake, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” It is really interesting that Jesus did not say, “Blessed are those who will not see, and yet will believe.” Why did he speak in the past tense? Some suppose that it was an editorial choice of the gospel writer, who knew that this was going to be read by people who did not see Jesus, and who were going to read it after many believers came to faith based on the testimony and did not see. Surely by the time the gospel was being read, many believers had come to faith based on the testimony of apostles. So, it would be a fact by the time you read it. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

But, if the editor changed Jesus’ words, doesn’t that cast doubt on the whole story? I mean, if the gospel writer made that up, what else might he have made up? Could the whole be false, just some religious leader trying to gain new believers? If so, how ironic would it be that this important line in the gospel supposedly designed to help people believe even though they had not seen Jesus, would turn out to be a gaff that falsifies the gospel!

However, there is a better reason for the use of the past tense that upholds the testimony as valid and even authenticates it. Jesus is regarded as a prophet along with everything else that points to his divinity. And it is the nature of biblical prophecy that predictions are often written in the past tense. This is done because even though the prophet is writing of a future event, he has already “seen” it. Also, in the mind of God it’s as if the events have already happened. This kind of expression even has a name. It is called the prophetic perfect tense. It is a literary technique used in the Bible that describes future events that are so certain to happen that they are referred to in the past tense, as if they already happened.

Amos 5:2 is an Old Testament example, speaking before the actual exile, the prophet spoke as if it was a done deal, “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.” So, we don’t have to worry that maybe Jesus didn’t really say these words this way. Jesus, as a prophet, was quite right to speak in the past tense. Especially because he is God, of course he knows, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” It’s a done deal. Many have believed in Jesus without seeing Him in His physically resurrected body.

Actually, there are lots of things we believe without literally seeing ourselves, but believe in based on other people’s testimony. You might think of air itself, molecules, or viruses. There are lots of people who have seen these things. But most of us believe what they say about them, without literally seeing for ourselves. So similarly, the original disciples, after the Resurrection, saw Jesus and then communicated what they saw to others, and those others believed. 

Those others who believe are like the rest of the Church now, most of them have not seen and yet believe based on the testimony of the gospels and the spiritual experiences of those in the Church who have witnessed God’s power acting today. Also, when we believe in the words of those experts who have seen molecules and viruses and such, all of society benefits, or at least, that’s what’s intended. And in the same way, that is exactly like what the Church wishes to happen for everyone, by believing in Christ all of humanity benefits by receiving salvation.

It is okay to have doubts about Jesus. In fact, he doesn’t expect you to believe in Him without any evidence at all. Just don’t let those doubts become an excuse for not believing. Let them instead become the driving force that leads you to pursue the truth! In other words, if you have doubts that the story of Jesus is factually, historically true, don’t just come to a conclusion that, because you have doubts, the story can’t be true. No, examine the testimonies about Jesus. Why do they exist? How did they come to be?

One of the big sources of doubt is the theory that the Bible has been translated so many times that its message is changed and corrupted over the centuries the way the game of telephone can rearrange a simple message in a matter of minutes. Plenty of people have tried to prove that one. Books have been written to show that the message has not changed! The Bible we read today in English conveys very much the same message as was written in Hebrew and Greek.

Even doubting Thomas, despite his declaration in the upper room, would have eventually come to genuine faith in Jesus even if he had not seen Jesus face to face. There was just too much other evidence to help him. There are the ancient prophecies and how perfectly Jesus fit them. There was the amazing courage of Thomas’ friends, who stopped running away from Jewish leadership and fearlessly preached the gospel right in the temple.

There was the simple fact that the Roman soldiers either let a dead man escape the tomb, or were not able to fight off a non-military, untrained small group of liars who wanted to steal Jesus’ body. You can be sure that in the weeks after Jesus’ resurrection the Pharisees searched high and low to find Jesus’ dead body so they could put this new deception to rest.

There were still more miracles happening around Jesus’ followers and they were using his name, giving Jesus the credit as the source of the power that healed people. As these accounts of the history began to be written down, Thomas would have been satisfied to see the original manuscripts and confirm that he witnessed most of it.

These facts and bits of evidence have stood the test of time. Even moderns like CS Lewis and Lee Strobel became Christians after carefully examining the evidence. And both of them did not want to believe the story. They had huge doubts and worked to prove that the stories about Jesus had to be fiction. They came to faith because their doubts submitted to the solid evidence that is still available today.

So, now what if you say, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Is that fair? Do you have a legitimate right to demand that much, when there is so much other remaining evidence that has been sufficient for all believers since at least the year AD 100? You will be more blessed according to Jesus, if you believe by seeing what there is to see, even if you can’t touch his physical body right now.

I know that earnest seekers receive the evidence and help that they need. I am also one of them. In my first prayer to Jesus I said, “Lord, I don’t even know if you are real. But if you are, I need help to believe it.” I was in a way, challenging Jesus to show up and demonstrate his love for me and knowledge of me in a way that would help me believe. And He did that for me! I had not specified, as Thomas did, exactly what must happen for me to believe. But God knew what I needed and knew what would work for me. He very graciously and lovingly answered my prayer in a way that cast all my doubts right out the window.

Something interesting is that that was not the end of my doubts. Even in seminary, studying for the ministry, I had periods of wrestling with a new thought or a new theory against the faith and wondering, what if I’m wrong about Jesus? Such troubles could keep me awake and night, and restless to find out what I really should believe. But so far, restudying the evidence has always helped me overcome my doubts, especially the evidence that points powerfully to the foundation of our faith, that Jesus truly is risen from the dead!

So, we may ask, who are those blessed, who have not seen and yet believed? Not, any of the original disciples. They all lived with Jesus and also saw him after the resurrection. Not Paul the Apostle. He was formally introduced to Jesus on the Road to Damascus. On the day of Pentecost, which happened some forty days after the resurrection, and ten days after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, we have the first group of Jews who believed in Jesus for salvation without seeing the resurrected Jesus in person. When 3,000 new believers were added to the church that day, it was on the basis of the Apostle’s testimony about the recent events of Jesus’ life death and resurrection and what they mean for the history of the Jewish people.

After that, history moves along and the church spreads across the Roman Empire and into Asia and Europe. The true testimony about Jesus is proclaimed everywhere and Many more new believers are blessed to believe without seeing. This process continues right up to the present day. Missionaries are still finding people who have not yet heard the good news about Jesus and forgiveness unto eternal life. Other ministers of the gospel are at work where the church already exists but many people around them still do not yet believe but will be blessed when they do.

Jesus has commissioned the Church to be about this business until he comes again. Matthew 28:19-20 say, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Jesus is with us still, though we do not see him in visible form. The Holy Spirit comforts us.

Therefore, we get down to the business of loving the folks around us like Jesus would, sharing the good news of Jesus where we can, taking care of our little corners of the vineyard, and working for justice and kingdom in the relationships and communities where we actually have a voice.

Let’s keep on mission friends. The mission here is to preach the good News about Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that many more who have not seen Jesus, will yet be blessed to believe the message that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

I thank God for the blessing of faith in the testimonies about Jesus so that I am quite sure of what I believe. Not seeing Jesus in person does not mean not seeing any validity at all in the record left behind by his followers. It’s not blind faith. My faith in Jesus is substantiated by much evidence and reliable Scriptures. I love to talk about that too. But I’ve gone on long enough here.

I believe Jesus is God, and that He is coming back again one day. And that trusting in him for salvation is not just for getting to heaven. It also makes a significant, positive difference in how I live my life today. I don’t want to just be a goody two shoes church goer, I want to be a community activist, working to alleviate suffering in the here and now. 

I don’t want to be an end times fear monger. I want to be a fight for justice, care about the poor, love my enemies force for good in the now times! I want to be fearless, just as the first disciples were, after they got over their valid doubts, no doubt.

What do you doubt? Do you doubt God’s love? John 3:16 tells us He loves the whole world. That includes you!

Do you doubt that God could forgive your sin? Jesus even offered forgiveness to the Roman soldiers who crucified him. And on the cross next to Jesus, there was a thief, who would not get a chance to live a better life. But he appealed to Jesus and Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” God’s grace is sufficient. Just ask.

Do you doubt that God would hear your prayers? Proverbs 8:17 says, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”

Do you doubt that Christianity is really the only way to live? In John 14:6, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Do you doubt that God could change your life and make it better? 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Ask Jesus to help you with any other doubts that linger in your mind. He is eager to help you!

Let’s pray. Father, you are patient and kind to meet us where we need your help us to believe. Father, forgive us for our doubts and help us in our unbelief. Thank You Lord, for the powerful testimonies of Your prophets and Apostles. Thank You for the diligence of Your church to carefully preserve all these writings for our benefit. And thank you also for the ways that you have caused so many of the ancient manuscripts to be physically preserved so that we can read documents that are thousands of years old and see that our check our modern translations are faithfully accurate.

I pray, Lord, for those who have any doubts, that they will seek, and they will find the answers and ultimately find You. May they see that You have not been hiding from them. But just like Adam and Eve in the garden, we are the ones who hide from you. Allay their fears, Lord, with a new awareness of your never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever Love, so that they stop running from You, but run to you instead. …