I welcome you again, friends, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to speak today on In Defense of Doubting Thomas. And the text is taken from:

John 20:24-29

²⁴ Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” ²⁷ Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

²⁸ And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

PRAYER:

We thank You again, Father, for this opportunity we have now. We commit this hour into Your hands and ask that You speak to us all as we listen to Your voice, in Jesus Name. Amen!

This message, actually , is not a message about Thomas, per se. It is a message about Jesus Christ. Our text is one of the twelve post resurrection appearances of Jesus. On this occasion Thomas was aware. Perhaps he isolated himself to deal with the apparent disappointment he saw in the death of the Master he has risked everything and followed for three years – One whom he had hoped would redeem Israel. He felt disappointed.

You see, even after the resurrection of Jesus Christ His disciples still entertained the thought of an earthly kingdom.

In Acts 1:6

⁶ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

They were still thinking of earthly kingdom. Thomas was disappointed and was grieving by himself. I fault him for isolating himself when he was experiencing sorrow and pain. When you find yourself in such condition that is when you need the fellowship of the brethren the most. Something good can happen to you and your pain in the fellowship of believers. It was in such fellowship that the resurrected Jesus appeared to the rest of the eleven who were also grieving like Thomas. Some of us absent ourselves from the fellowship of the brethren when something happens to us; something bad, something hard…happens to us. It is not supposed to be so. When Thomas’ fellow disciples narrated to him their experience with Jesus, an experience that he missed because he was absent, Thomas said to them:

John 20:25b

“Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

For this reason, Thomas has all along the history of the church been called, doubting Thomas. And for this reason I have come to defend him.

First of all let us observe that Thomas was an honest and sincere man. He would not claim to believe what he did not believe. He would not say he understood what he did not understand. In John 14 from verse 1 we see Thomas again, where Jesus was consoling and comforting His disciples who were discouraged just before He went to the cross.

John 14:1-6

¹“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

⁵ Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Notice that it was the sincerity of Thomas that gave us this famous verse 6. Every one of them pretended that he [the individual disciples themselves] understood what Jesus meant. He understood where Jesus said He was going. Thomas would not claim to know what he did not know. He would not claim to believe what he did not believe. He was a sincere and honest man.

Secondly, Thomas needed the certainty and assurance that others had. This visitation by Jesus Christ…the account in,

Luke 24:38-43

³⁸ And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

⁴⁰ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. ⁴¹ But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” ⁴² So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. ⁴³ And He took it and ate in their presence.

Thomas was only seeking this level of assurance…the same assurance that these fellow disciples had in this account we just read now. One Alfred Tennyson said, “There lives more faith in honest doubt than in half the creeds.” A number of us recite the creeds: I believe in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son and Lord etc. But we do not actually believe. We don’t even understand what we are saying. Thomas would not do that. Another servant of God says, “There is more ultimate faith in the man who insists on being sure than in the man who glibly repeats things which he has never though out, and which he may not really believe.” It is doubt like that which in the end arrives at certainty. Thomas wanted certainty.

Some people today, repeat thoughtlessly things that preachers ask them to repeat, and feel that their problems have been taken care of just by the repetition of those things that they do not even understand or believe. People who have had honest doubt and have arrived at certainty and conviction that Jesus was He He said He was do not hesitate to surrender completely to Him. See what happened when Jesus offered the certainty that Thomas was looking for.

John 20:28

²⁸ And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

See the response of Thomas when he had that certainty he was seeking! And if we go further we would see that Thomas was a courageous man. In John 11 when the other disciples were afraid to go with Jesus to Bethany, Thomas said let’s go. Even if we would die let’s die. He was a courageous man.

Let me conclude by saying that what we accuse Thomas of may be found in most of us. What explains your romance with people who promise to make you feel Jesus whom you are supposed to know by faith not by feelings if you do not have what you accuse Thomas of? If elements of Thomas are not in us why do we insist on seeing signs and wonders even when0 the source is clearly Satan before we would believe that God is able to solve our problems. When you encounter the resurrected Jesus, will you surrender to Him completely as Thomas did? When you encounter the resurrected Jesus did you surrender to Him as completely as Thomas did? The words of Jesus are still relevant today: blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed – Blessed are those who have not yet seen but believe. The true blessings of God are not in what we see but in believing the Word of God. Are you among such blessed ones?

PRAYER:

Father we thank You for this time. We thank You for your Word. The entrance of Your Word gives life, gives healing, gives health. Let it be the portion of these ones who have listed now. I ask this in JESUS Name, Amen!