“Seeing Is Believing?” – FBC Morning Light (5/3/2023)

Well, a good Wednesday morning to you, hope your week is going well thus far, and today we're reading in 1 Samuel 7 and 8, John chapter 20, and the 88th Psalm. Now, John 20 is really a fascinating chapter, it's the account of the resurrection of Jesus, but more specifically, it's the account of the different responses to what's seen.

Seeing and Believing in John 20

Have you noticed that as you read through John chapter 20? Pick out all the places in this chapter where you read of seeing. Let's do that very quickly. So in verse 1, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb early while it's still dark, and she saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

She saw that, but she didn't understand why. She saw, but did not believe that Jesus had risen from the tomb. You drop down to verse 5, and Peter and John had heard that the stone was moved away, the tomb was empty, and they didn't know where the body was.

Mary Magdalene had gone and told the disciples that, and so John and Peter ran to the tomb, and when they get there, it says John stooped down and looked in. Looking in, he saw the linen clothes lying there, but he didn't go in.

Next verse. Simon Peter came and went into the tomb, and he saw the linen clothes lying there, and the face cloth lying not with the linen clothes, but folded by itself. I mean, you can imagine this scene.

You know, John comes to the tomb, he looks in, he sees things, Peter comes in behind him, and he rushes right into the tomb, and he sees the linen cloths, and he sees the head napkin, he sees these things, and doesn't get it.

Then verse 8 says John finally followed Peter into the tomb, and he saw and believed. Now, we don't know what he believed. That isn't explained. It says he saw and he believed. Did he believe that Jesus rose from the dead, or did he believe what Mary had told him, that the body was gone and they didn't know where it was?

Well, we don't exactly know, but whatever it was he believed, it was based upon what he saw, all right? And then in verse 12, it goes on to say that Mary stood outside the tomb weeping, and she saw, she stooped down, looked into the tomb, verse 11 says, and in verse 12, she saw two angels sitting in white, one at the head, one at the other.

And, you know, so what does this mean? He doesn't know. She sees this, he sees these angels, and yet she doesn't understand what they're doing and why they're there. What are these men in white doing in this tomb?

And then in verse 14, it says when she had said this, she turned around and she saw Jesus standing there, but didn't know it was Jesus. She saw, but didn't know. She saw, but didn't believe. Finally, Jesus speaks to her, and verse 16 says, Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned around and realized it was Jesus, she said, Rabboni.

Now in verse 18, it says Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things to her. All right, so notice, now she has seen and believed. John saw and believed.

Mary had seen, and now she believed. Well, the disciples hear this thing, they're fascinated by the story, and then it says later that same day, this would be Sunday evening, Day of the Resurrection, the doors were all shut, the disciples were afraid of the Jews, and Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, said, peace to you, and then verse 20 says, when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. They finally saw and believed. Well, then you got this guy, Thomas, this disciple Thomas. He wasn't there at the time. And so when Thomas shows up, the rest of the disciples say, you know, we saw the Lord, we've seen the Lord, verse 25.

And Thomas replies and says, unless I see the hands, see in his hands the print of the nails, I will not believe. I have to see in order to believe. And that's been the pattern so far, right? John saw, and whatever it was he saw provoked him to believe something.

Mary saw the Lord and believed. The disciples finally saw the Lord and believed, and they testify to that. But Thomas says, I'm not going to believe unless I see. Jesus shows up again, this time Thomas is there, and he singles Thomas out, and he says to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands.

Take a look. See for yourself, Jesus is saying. And Thomas, hearing Jesus and seeing what he sees, the only thing he can say is, my Lord and my God. And then Jesus says this, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.

But then, I love what Jesus says next, because here's the deal. You and I will never be able to physically see Jesus in front of us. Jesus is not going to appear to you and hold out his hands and let you see the nail prints in his hands.

You're not going to be able to reach out and touch him physically. Isn't going to happen. So therefore, are we banished to unbelief? No. Jesus says, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.

The Written Record and Believing by Faith

Well, how can we believe if we can't physically see? John helps us out here. In verse 30, John says, truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book.

But then he says this, but these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life through his name, in his name. Well, you cannot see physically the print of the nails in his hand or the scar in his side from the spear.

You can't see it physically, but you can see by faith. Jesus says, you are blessed when you haven't seen with your eyes, but you see with your heart, see with the eyes of faith. John says, this is why I've written.

I've written so that you may have the record to believe, to trust in the Lord Jesus based on what you see, not physically, but spiritually, in the record of who he is. So I trust that you have seen and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer for Faith, Salvation, and Eternal Life

Our Father and our God, we thank you for your Word that allows us to see with the eyes of faith and be blessed by you with the gift of eternal life. I pray that each one listening today will have come to that point of faith where they truly understand and see who Jesus is and what Jesus came to do to pay the penalty of their sins debt, and that having seen him, seen what he came to do, have believed and therefore are blessed and have eternal life.

Thank you for that gift, and we pray these things now in Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Wednesday. May the Lord bless you in it.