Believing is Seeing

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Jesus appears to Thomas
Image source: LUMO Project

In today’s Bible reading*, the Resurrected Jesus appears to His Disciples. He invites Thomas to put his fingers in His pierced hands and side, knowing that he wasn’t so easily convinced as the others that He had been raised from the dead. Upon recognizing that this was indeed Jesus, Thomas exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

Thomas’ exclamation is a very clear statement of Jesus’ Divinity. The fact that Jesus praised Thomas for his faith is a very clear statement by Jesus Himself regarding His Divinity. In other words, in not correcting Thomas with, “No, really I’m not your Lord and God”, Jesus affirms Thomas’ statement, thus making the claim for Himself.

Jesus praises Thomas for believing that He had come back from the dead as a result of checking the evidence. And Jesus added a blessing on those who believe without asking for evidence. (John 20:29) Jesus doesn’t condemn Thomas; He praises him for believing. For Thomas, “seeing is believing”. But for the other Disciples, believing is seeing.

Application

Jesus appeared to His Disciples for the next forty days “with many convincing proofs” (Acts 1:3) Jesus knew some of His Disciples would quickly and easily believe He had come back from the dead. And He knew that others would be like Thomas and need a little more convincing.

There is more than enough evidence to support the fact of Jesus’ Resurrection. But despite the overwhelming evidence, many today don’t believe. For that matter, many didn’t believe during those forty days of Jesus’ walking and talking with His Disciples.

The fact that God gives us evidence is remarkable. It goes to show that the New Testament story of Jesus is real. He was a real man who walked on real streets with other real people. Believing in Jesus’ Resurrection doesn’t require you to take a leap of blind faith. It simply requires you to believe in a historical fact as easily provable as any other historical fact.

And yet, there is more to believing in Jesus than accepting the historicity of His Resurrection. You must have faith. And that faith is required to save your soul. (Romans 10:9-10)

* Today we are reading John 20.

This devotional was originally published on November 9, 2019.


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