THY WORD IS TRUTH
John 17:17
“Unless I See With My Eyes”
And we heard in the New Testament reading from the gospel of John that when the disciples met in a room that the door was locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus appeared to them with this greeting, “Peace be with you.”
And Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on them and gives them the authority to forgive sins.
But Thomas the twin was not with them. And when the Lord had left them and Thomas returned and some of the disciples told him that they had seen the Lord. But Thomas did not believe them for Thomas responds. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nail marks were, and then put my hand into his side, I will not believe!”
Thomas thought that the disciples were mistaken and that Jesus appearance was that of a ghost perhaps and not a real physical presence or perhaps was someone else that posing as Jesus someone who did not have the wounds of his crucifixion on his body. And so a week goes by and then Jesus appears to them again and this time Thomas is with them. And again the doors are locked Jesus gives them a same greeting, “Peace be with you,” And Jesus responds to Thomas as if he were with him the week before when Thomas expressed his unbelief.
He said to Thomas, “Put you finger here. See my hands. Reach out you hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” So Christ does not rebuke Thomas for not believing but gives him what he demandes the physical evidence that He had the wounds of crucifixion yet he was alive walking and talking to him.
And this is the departure point of modern biblical scholarship for Jesus gives Thomas the physical objective proof of his resurrection and these unbeliving so called scholars believe only in subjective metaphorical truth!
But what is important is Thomas’s response to Jesus giving him the proof of his resurrection.
Thomas immediately draws the right conclusion!
Thomas does not respond to Jesus I am so glad you are alive and with us.
What was Thomas response! “My Lord and my God.”
Thomas immediately knew what this evidence meant.
Jesus was not only alive but he was more that just a man.
Only God could come to life with the wounds of death still on his body.
And Jesus says to him because you have seen me you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen me yet have believed.
And that includes everyone who did not witness the resurrection with their eyes or with their touching him for all the centuries after the His ascending into heaven.
What does it take for us to believe? Do we have to witness a miracle to believe or can we take someone’s word for it.
And that is where we are today are we not?
Many intelligent people some who are preachers do not believe that miracles are possible.
That the physical laws of nature do not have exceptions and if we allow exceptions to them then cause and effect cannot be relied upon any more.
That is the position of modern science today and many of the Naturalists or Materialist are lost because they do not see the intelligent design of nature and the beauty in it and therefore do not see the glory of the creation as the hand word of God himself.
But it make absolute sense that if nature is the result of an intelligent designer then that designer can make exception to every natural law because he made those laws himself.
But let’s look and the bottom line of the account of the Apostle John.
John put this resurrection appearance of Jesus in perspective of the all the other miraculous signs that Jesus did in his presence with this statement.
But this is written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
And that is what it is all about Jesus name that gives us life.
His name in Hebrew is “Yehoshua” which means, "The Lords Is Salvation".
Translated into English Jesus hebrew name would be "Joshua."
In believing that Jesus is the Messiah promised through 2000 years of the history of God’s chosen people Israel, you can have salvation and life through Him, alone.
So lets look at Jesus response to Thomas confession, “My Lord and My God”.
Jesus does not correct Thomas.
Jesus does not say, Thomas you are mistaken.
Jesus says you are blessed because you have seen me.
But Jesus does not say Thomas you are wrong.
Does Jesus let mistakes go by?
Surely, Jesus does not!
Jesus had to rebuke Peter time and time again for Peter was impulsive and many times jumps to the wrong conclusion.
Jesus claimed to be the Way the Truth and the Life, so there was nothing false of deceptive about Jesus.
Jesus becasue of His character could not let a mistake or a false statement about himself stand with out responding and correcting it.
Jesus was meek and mild but he was also bold and forthright when it came to the truth.
How many times did he rebuke the Pharisees for their misinterpretation of the scriptures.
There are so many times it is hard to count them all.
For instance, Jesus tells the Pharisees in Matthew 23:33, “How will you escape being condemned to hell and earlier in Matthew 22:29 "Jesus told them that they did not know the scriptures or the power of God.”
So Jesus lack of rebuke to Thomas when he calls him “God” means that Jesus agrees with Thomas’s conclusion.
But many doubts remain today even those who are supposedly knowledgeable in the scriptures and sadly teach others in the religion departments of some of the major universities of the United States.
They appear on TV on the history channel and they say that Jesus only appeared to those who already believed him. That His post resurrection appearance are metaphoical and depend on faith.
That is factually incorrect for it was by his physical appearance that they became believers.
In fact, His brothers James and Jude did not believe in him until after they say Him resurrected.
And it is only after Jesus breathes his Holy Spirit that is described as the Spirit of Truth did the disciples believe.
Did we not hear that Jesus breathed his Holy Spirit into them at his first appearance to them before he appeared a week later to Thomas?
But let us go to the scripture that tells us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
In the gospel of John, after Judas has left the table to go an betray him, Jesus tells his disciples that he will be leaving them and he will send them someone in his place to be with them forever.
In John 14, Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live”. So Jesus will send the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Truth who will be with them and in them.
And true follower of Jesus has the Holy Spirit within them according to Jesus before he dies.
And this is confirmed by the resurrected Christ who spoke through the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 9 when Paul says, “You, however are not controlled by your evil nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ in him does not belong to him.”
But as I have said many times before that God does not tell us something important just once and the account of the proof of the resurrection and Jesus appearance in his physical body does not happen just once either.
In the Gospel of Luke we have this account of Jesus appearance in Chapter 24. Again the greeting is the same, “Peace be with you”, so we can be assured it is the same appearance as in the gospel of John.
But there are a few details that the Greek Doctor Luke adds that prove that this is not just a spiritual appearance but a supernatural physical bodily appearance.
As a Greek physician Luke was the scientist of Jesus day.
The conclusions Science even in those acient times depends upon observations of the physical world not the metaphysical world!
Jesus says to his disciples according to Luke, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I, myself. Touch and see".
But the disciples were afraid for they thought he was a ghost but Jesus reassures them saying. “Why are you troubled and why do you doubt? A ghost does not have flesh and bones like I do.
But then the scientist Luke gives them better proof the their sense of touch that Jesus in indeed not only physically present but alive.
Jesus asks them if they have anything to eat. They gave him a piece of fish and he ate it in their presence.
Luke knew that this fact would prove to everyone who read it that Jesus was truly alive and not there as a spirit but physically and alive.
Spirits do not eat for they have no need to eat.
With these two accounts of the same event, we can be assured that the resurrection of Jesus was the truth and a scientific fact.
Let me close in prayer:
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