“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.’ ” John 20:25
We are learning from John 20:24-29 how to overcome doubt. Last time we discovered we can overcome doubt when we restore our fellowship with other Christians (John 20:24). In our previous series of lessons, Jesus appeared to His ten fearful disciples the day of His resurrection (John 20:19-23). But one of His disciples, Thomas, was not there at that time to see Jesus after His resurrection. Eight days after Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to those ten disciples, Thomas is now with those disciples.
“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.’ ” (John 20:25). The disciples who witnessed Jesus’ appearance on resurrection day reported to Thomas, “We have see the Lord.” The word “seen” (heōrakamen) is in the perfect tense. They saw Jesus in the past and remain convinced of His resurrection at this time. The word “said” (elegon) is in the imperfect tense which implies that they kept on telling Thomas this report. 1 Those who saw Jesus alive were overflowing with excitement and could not keep quiet! They were bubbling over with enthusiasm and they just had to keep sharing it with Thomas.
But this did not meet Thomas’ need. It is like telling someone to “just have faith” when what they really need is to be shown how to have faith in Jesus’ resurrection. Thomas had no doubt that Jesus died on the cross, which is another proof that Jesus really did die. However, he refused to believe the other disciples’ report—that Jesus was alive— without personal physical evidence. He insisted on touching Jesus’ wounds, specifically His crucifixion wounds “in His hands” and in “His side,” not just seeing Him. No one else in the New Testament made demands like these before believing. 2 This is where Thomas got the nickname, “doubting Thomas.”
Thomas teaches us a very important lesson to learn as a believer in Jesus Christ: It is okay to have honest doubts. Don’t pretend they are not there. Don’t try to hide them from those who love you and care about you. Honest doubts can grow into great faith if we are open to God’s truth. 3
We learn from Thomas that the second way to overcome doubt is to READJUST OUR UNREALISTIC REQUIREMENTS FOR BELIEF (John 20:25a). Thomas had his own standard of requirements for belief. He says, “Unless…. I will not believe.” “Unless I can see and touch the nail scars in His hands and place my hand in His side where the spear went in, I will not believe.”
We do a similar thing, don’t we? We say to ourselves, “Unless I can get everything just right, I won’t take this step of faith in my life. Unless every Christian that I meet is a perfect person, I won’t believe. Unless God runs the world in the way I think it should be run, I won’t believe.” We demand that certain unrealistic conditions be met before we believe.
Thomas is like many modern-day skeptics. He was a natural pessimist. Earlier in Jesus’ ministry when Christ was going back to Judea where people were plotting to kill Him, Thomas says to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” (John 11:16). The cross was the only thing Thomas believed would happen to Jesus. Christ’s resurrection was not on his radar. This pessimistic spirit is seen in Thomas’ response to the disciples’ report that Jesus was now alive.
This cynical spirit is also seen among many Americans. We are trained to be skeptical by ads or commercials online or on TV. If we believed everything that was said in every one of those ads or commercials, we would either be dead or in the poor house. We would have consumed this drink or that food, or invested in this weight loss program or skin treatment or that medicine. We are trained to be skeptical because these ads and commercials are just trying to sell us something.
We are also trained to be skeptical in our educational system which teaches the scientific method. The scientific method is great for comprehending certain things that happen in biology or chemistry, but it is terrible for understanding how things happen in matters pertaining to faith. So sometimes when it comes to matters of faith, we say, “Let’s just apply the scientific method – if I cannot see it, if I cannot touch it, if I cannot repeat it in a laboratory and prove it, then it cannot be real.” And we find ourselves lacking faith.
But we need to recognize that there are some things that we cannot see or touch that are very real such as love, God, grace, and heaven. These are all very real things. But we are trained to doubt such things because of the unrealistic requirements we impose on them.
Thomas lived with doubts because he imposed unrealistic requirements on faith. He said, “Unless I see it and touch it, I will not believe.” Do you know someone like that? Have you ever been like that? You must see it or touch it before you can believe? 4
The Bible tells us, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1). “In its essence faith is being sure … and certain… about unseen hopes and realities.” 5 The unseen realities of God are not dependent in any way upon faith to give them substance or to offer proof for them. They are there whether we believe them or not. Faith simply apprehends the unseen realities of God and is sure of them. 6 Faith brings unseen future realities into one’s present experience.
One definition of faith is informed trust. The Bible informs us that Jesus Christ came to this earth over two thousand years ago (Matthew 1:18-2:11; Luke 2:1-7). In fact, history informs us of this every time we write down today’s date. It is AD 2021. To what does “AD” refer? It is Latin for “Anno Domini” or “Year of the Lord.”
The Bible also informs us that out of love for us, Jesus Christ laid down His life for us on the cross and rose from the dead (John 3:16a; Romans 5:8; I Corinthians 15:3-6). And we are informed by the Bible that Jesus Christ invites us to believe in Him alone for His wonderful gift of everlasting life (John 3:16). The Bible also tells us that Jesus is preparing a wonderful place for us in heaven (John 14:2-3). But having this information is not enough.
You may know some people who have an uninformed trust in the wrong things. They trust without information. And they can easily trust in anything that comes along.
You may know other people who have lots of information. They have learned many things because they study and read all the time. But all that information does not translate into faith. They are very informed and intelligent, but they do not trust anyone.
There must be trust. The information or the truth that God has given us must be joined with trust for the unseen realities of God to become reality to us. The way we begin a personal relationship with the God of the universe is by an act of faith or trust. When we come to the living God as a guilty sinner who deserves to go to hell (Mark 9:43-48; Romans 3:23; 6:23; Revelation 20:15), and receive from God the gift of eternal life by believing in Jesus Christ for it (John 3:16; 11:25-26), we are engaged in a tremendous act of faith! Why?
Because we have never seen God. We have never seen these places called heaven or hell. We have never seen Jesus Christ in person. We have never seen this thing called eternal life. And yet, when we believe God’s Word, those things which we cannot see become realities to us. They take on substance for us. And by faith, we gain the assurance and conviction about things our eyes cannot see. By faith, we lay hold of the realities that are invisible to our eyes.
Recently, my wife and I watched the “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” movie. Near the end of the movie, Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford, had to pass a series of tests to get to the Holy Grail. He knows from his father’s diary, that one of them will be a “leap from the lion’s mouth.” With his father, played by Sean Connery, close to death after being shot, and the Holy Grail, which is believed to have healing powers and the only hope to save his father, Indy rushes through a doorway below a carved lion’s head. Suddenly, he finds himself facing what seems at first to be an impassible bottomless ravine to get to the Holy Grail. On the opposite side of this ravine is a doorway, but in between there seems to be nothing but air.
While Indy says to himself, “It’s a leap of faith,” his father keeps saying, “You must believe, Boy. You must believe.” What can Indiana do? With no other options, and time running out, he does the only thing he can do – he steps out into that chasm by faith. And his foot lands on solid ground. The camera pans down and reveals a bridge across this ravine – perfectly comouflaged to look like the opposite wall of the ravine.
When Indiana stepped out in faith, he discovered the unseen reality of that bridge across the bottomless ravine. What was once unseen, became reality when he exercised faith.
Faith is informed trust. Thomas had to learn this to remove his doubts. He had to readjust his unrealistic requirements for belief. And we may need to do the same to remove our doubts.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I must admit that I have had unrealistic requirements for my faith. Before I became a believer in Jesus, I was expecting Christians to be perfect before I would believe. I focused on their imperfections to avoid my own. Even after becoming a Christian, I have demanded that circumstances by just right before I step out in faith. I have struggled with doubts because You have felt distant to me during painful times in my life. Thank You for helping me to understand that Your presence is not a feeling. It is a reality that faith apprehends and is sure of. Please help me, my Lord and my God, to readjust my requirements for faith so the unseen realities You have revealed in Your Word can become reality to me. In Your mighty name I pray, Lord Jesus. Amen.
ENDNOTES:
1. J. Carl Laney, Moody Gospel John Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1992), pg. 368.
2. Tom Constable, Notes on John, 2017 Edition, pg. 381 cites Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John: Revised Edition (New International Commentary on the New Testament series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), pg. 752.
3. Adapted from Tom Holladay’s August 28, 1996 sermon entitled, “How to Have Faith.”
4. These last several paragraphs are adapted from Holladay’s sermon.
5. Zane C. Hodges, The Bible Knowledge Commentary Epistles and Prophecy, Editors John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (David C. Cook, 2018 Kindle Edition), pg. 164.
6. Adapted from Professor Zane C. Hodges’ Class Notes, Greek 225, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Spring Semester, pg. 207.