WWUTT 1011 Doubting Thomas?

Because the disciple Thomas refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the grave unless he could see it for himself, we referred to Thomas as the doubter. But his problem was really much deeper than that when we understand the text.

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Thomas’s Refusal to Believe the Resurrection

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the gospel of John 20. And I'll pick up where I left off last week, starting in verse 24 and we'll read through verse 31. The apostle John wrote, now Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see in his hands, the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side.

Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. It's from this story right here in John chapter 20 that we have come to refer to the disciple named Thomas as what?

What is his nickname? We call him Doubting Thomas, right? Or Thomas the Doubter. Because Thomas refused to believe that Jesus was resurrected from the grave unless he got to see him for himself. Unless he had the chance to perceive him with his senses.

I see him with my eyes. I see the nail scars in his hands. I'm able to touch him where the spirit pierced his side. Unless I get to see that, then I'm never going to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

Therefore we call him Doubting Thomas. And that word doubting in particular is in the New International Version, that translation of this particular section. As it says in John 20, verse 27 of the NIV, Jesus said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands, reach out your hand and put it into my side.

Stop doubting and believe. And that's really the translation that uses the word doubting. As we have it in the ESV, do not disbelieve, but believe. And in case you're curious in the King James, it says, do not be faithless, but believing.

So that doubting word, that word doubting as it appears in the NIV, Thomas has been saddled with it and he's been called the doubter ever since. But when it comes down to it, Thomas really wasn't different than the rest of the disciples, only in one way.

But before I explain that way, let me just say, he was the same as the rest of the disciples. They all believed because they saw. And so when Jesus gets to the part where he says, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed, that wasn't just directed at Thomas, that was being said to all of the disciples.

What made Thomas different from the rest of his brothers is that they had seen the risen Lord and then told him about it and he refused to believe their testimony. So all these guys, every disciple of Jesus, except Thomas, was saying, we have seen the risen Lord and he's like, I don't care.

I'm not gonna believe unless I get to see it for myself. Maybe there was a little bit of jealousy there. I don't know. Was Thomas going, hey, that's not fair. Why do you guys get to see him and I get to miss out on all the stuff?

So there was a certain sense in which that rebuke was stronger upon Thomas because he refused to believe the testimony of those who actually did see. But Thomas was also the same as the rest of his brothers in the sense that just like the other disciples, they believed because they saw.

But Jesus says, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. John MacArthur in examining Thomas has presented this. He says, I don't think it's necessarily the right label. I'm not quoting John MacArthur here.

I'm just kind of paraphrasing his teaching on Thomas. But he has said, I don't think it's really fair that we label Thomas with this label of doubter, that he's doubting Thomas because Thomas actually speaks.

John recalls him speaking three times in his gospel. We don't have any quotes from Thomas in the other three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But in the gospel of John, Thomas speaks up three times in John 11, in John 14, and then again here in John 20.

Do you remember the story in John 11? What is that chapter most known for? It's the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus had fled from that region because the people wanted to stone him.

They wanted to stone him because he said he was the son of God, which was the same as equating himself with God. So believing that he was blaspheming, they wanted to put him to death. Because it had not yet come for Jesus to go to the cross and die, he left that region and went to the place where John was baptizing, or he had been baptizing, he was dead by this point, but that was on the other side of the Jordan.

Word came to Jesus that Lazarus had fallen ill and Jesus delayed, Lazarus actually died. Four days later, he goes back to Bethany where Lazarus had been laid in a tomb. And when Jesus announced to his disciples that they were gonna go back and wake up their friend, Lazarus, of course, the disciples are going, wake him up.

Well, if he's just asleep, then he's gonna recover. But Jesus is saying, no, he's dead. Since I have to spell it out for you plainly, our friend Lazarus has died, and I'm going back to wake him up. Now, the disciples are a little hesitant here in their spirits because that's the very place where the people wanted to put Jesus to death.

You wanna go back where the people were picking up stones? Hey, Jesus, remember the rocks? Let's not, why do we wanna go back there? So what does Thomas say? In John 11, 16, Thomas called the twins, and said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him.

Now, Thomas is not rallying the troops going, oh, like, hey, come on, let's go support our master, or let's go see this thing that he is gonna do. You know, that wasn't Thomas's response. Hey, we're going back to the place where the people wanted to kill us?

Fine, let's go, we'll die with him. That was Thomas's response. Next time Thomas speaks up is in John 14. And of course, that is the upper room discourse with Jesus teaching his disciples during the last supper.

And in John 14, five, when Jesus is talking about going to heaven, and he is going to prepare a place for his disciples, he's gonna come back again, and he will take them to himself. As he says in verse three, that where I am, you may be also, and you know the way where I am going.

And Thomas says in verse five, John 14, five, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? And that question is what prompts Jesus to say in verse six, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. So we have this very pessimistic question that Thomas has said here, even though that Jesus has told his disciples where he's from, where he is going, and that he is the way to the father.

Yet Thomas asks, well, he says first, Lord, we do not know where you are going. Jesus said in verse four, you know the way to where I am going. Thomas says, no, we don't. We do not know where you are going.

How can we know the way? And Jesus says, I am the way. So here's the theme that we have with Thomas's statements, the three quotes that we have from Thomas over the course of the gospel of John. Thomas is very negative in chapter 11.

He's a little bit clueless in chapter 14, refusing what it is that the Lord had said, that Jesus said, you know where I'm going. Thomas says, no, we don't. And then in chapter 20, you have Thomas doubting that Jesus had risen from the dead and even refusing to believe the testimony of his brother.

So John MacArthur in his teaching on Thomas, which by the way, he's got a fabulous book on this called 12 Ordinary Men. You can either order the book and read John MacArthur going through the men that Jesus called to himself, these apostles, these disciples, or you can even listen to the sermon series.

Grace To You still has the whole sermon series up on their website as well. Anyway, regarding Thomas, John MacArthur said that a better name for him would be Thomas the pessimist. It's actually a little bit more broad considering the three statements that Thomas makes over the course of the gospel of John, rather than just limiting our perspective of Thomas to just the statement that he makes in John 20.

Thomas is a pessimist. He's just negative. He's not really fully trusting in God for if he was trusting of Christ, then he would not be so negative or pessimistic with these responses that he gives. In all three of these occasions, he's taken like the most negative view of what Jesus has said.

We're gonna go to our friend Lazarus and we're gonna wake him up. Thomas goes, well, let's go die with Jesus. Jesus had just told him, I'm gonna go raise him from the dead. But that's not what Thomas heard.

What Thomas heard was we're gonna go back to the place where the people wanted to stone us. That's what it was that Thomas heard. He doesn't hear from his own brothers that Jesus has risen from the dead.

We've seen our master. We've seen him in the flesh. The very body that was crucified and laid in a tomb is now risen from the grave and we are all witnesses to that. And Thomas didn't wanna hear it. He did not believe what it was that they said to him unless he could see it for himself.

So certainly Thomas doubted, but that's not necessarily the word that best encompasses this attitude that we have presented for us regarding Thomas over the course of John. But once Thomas does see and once his eyes are open to believe, Thomas answered Jesus in verse 28, my Lord and my God.

So everything that Thomas had said in response to Jesus all the way up until now, finally the scales fall off his eyes and he is able to see Christ for who he really is. You see a transformation happen in the life of Thomas over the course of the gospel of John.

And Thomas is not the only person that John does that with. Thomas, you have three occasions where Thomas says something in John. There's another character in John that I've mentioned to you already who also speaks up three times or is mentioned at least three times.

And we see a transformation happen in his life as well. Do you remember who that was? It's Nicodemus, a character in John's gospel. Of course, when I say character, I mean an actual historical figure.

We're not reading myth here, but a character in this story who came to Jesus in John three by night. And John refers to Nicodemus as coming to Jesus by night because it's not just a reference to the time of day they were speaking, it's a reference to Nicodemus' spiritual condition.

He didn't believe, he was in darkness. Though he was a teacher in Israel, he did not truly know God. But later on in the gospel of John, he defends Jesus before those who wanted to kill him. And then at the burial of Jesus in John 20, Nicodemus is there bringing spices and ointments that are gonna be used for the embalming of the body of Christ, which of course didn't happen.

Jesus rose from the dead. But Nicodemus was contributing these things now and John indicating that what Nicodemus was formerly doing in darkness, now he's doing in the light. He is living in the truth in the light, serving the Lord Christ.

So we see Nicodemus as a character that transforms over the course of John's gospel. And even his very own disciples did. Jesus' own disciples were transformed, Thomas being one of them. Thomas who was pessimistic, Thomas who wouldn't believe in what Jesus had said, instead would take the most negative view of whatever Jesus said to him, yet comes to praise Christ as Lord and King by the end of the story.

And so that's really why John kind of singles out Thomas among the disciples in this particular case, representing him three times and therefore showing this transformation that occurs in his life. I wanna, I haven't quite exegeted this text.

So as I've got about five minutes here before closing out, let me do that. So coming back to verse 24, John 20, 24. Now Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin. It's not the only time in John's gospel that Thomas is referred to as being a twin.

He had a twin brother. He was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.

And again, that's a very pessimistic statement. He's doing more here than just doubting what it is that the disciples have told him. He's refusing it. He's just outright refusing it. This isn't a doubting like, well, you say so.

I don't know. It sounds a little difficult for me to believe guys. Tell you what, I'll believe it when I see it. No, Thomas is outright saying, I will never believe it unless I get to see him for myself.

I see him with my own eyes. I can touch him with my hands and then I'll believe. So Thomas, very pessimistic, very negative in his response to the disciples here. And it says in verse 26, eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them.

Eight days later. There's a couple of times in the book of Acts where it mentions that Jesus made multiple appearances to his disciples between his resurrection and his ascension into heaven. In fact, in Acts chapter one, it says that he was with them for 40 days between his resurrection and ascension into heaven.

Even from Paul's own testimony at Antioch in Acts chapter 13, it says that Jesus was put to death. And when they carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.

Acts 13, 30, but God raised him from the dead. And for many days, he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. So there were multiple occasions in which Jesus appeared to the disciples.

Paul also talks about this in first Corinthians 15, where he mentions the order in which Jesus had appeared to his disciples and then to many others after his resurrection. In fact, over 500 brothers, and just speaking of those men who saw Jesus resurrected from the grave between his resurrection and his ascension in that 40 day period.

And again, in Acts 13, 31, mentioning that for many days, he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. So here is one of those many occasions in which Jesus is appearing to the disciples.

Thomas is just not with them for very often, is not with them very often. And the reason for that is probably because he was such a pessimist. Why was it so much time between when the disciples told Thomas that they had seen the risen Lord until Thomas actually got to see him?

Because Thomas wasn't looking for him. Thomas wasn't hanging with the rest of the disciples. He was, he didn't believe, did not wanna believe, refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. So he's off doing his own thing.

So eight days go by, and then he's with the disciples finally. And just like Jesus' appearance to his disciples previously, where it said in verse 19, on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, same day that Jesus rose from the dead, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you.

He appears to them again the same way. Verse 26, although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. So there's a miraculous appearing right there by itself. And then he said to Thomas, knowing what Thomas had said, though Jesus wasn't there in the midst of them when Thomas had said it, but Jesus knowing all things, searching mind and heart, he knows exactly what Thomas had said about not believing unless he gets to see it for himself.

And by the grace of our Lord Christ, I mean, Jesus could have rebuked Thomas. He could have said, Thomas, I told you I was rising from the dead before I ever died and then rose from the dead. I told you these things were going to happen and you did not believe me and you did not believe your brothers.

How dare you, Thomas? Jesus could have said that, but he was loving and gracious to Thomas and invited him immediately over to see for himself. Put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side.

Jesus allowing Thomas to do this also shows the wonderful love and affection that he had for these men. This was not just Jesus popping up on the scene and expecting them to follow him into a new religion.

This was Jesus having a devoted fellowship and friendship with his disciples, as he has with us now. We are disciples of Christ even now, and we also have close affection and relationship with him, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And we share with him when we read his word and we share our hearts with him when we pray to him, we are his disciples. That word disciple means learner. And we likewise come to the feet of the master to have him teach us, desiring to be made in his image and be made more like Christ.

We have that same affectionate, personal relationship with Jesus that his own disciples had. Now we are blessed in a different way because we have not seen with our eyes and yet we believe. I'll go on here, closing out verse 27, Jesus says, do not disbelieve, but believe.

Put your faith into action. Faith is the substance, belief is faith in action. It's actually doing the thing that you say that you have, faith. Doing it means that you believe it. You are believing, you're putting it into action.

So then in verse 28, Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God, the declaration of him in worship of him being God. And then in verse 29, Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

And again, that could have been said to all of his disciples, not just to Thomas, but we are blessed in this way because we have not seen and yet we have believed. And Jesus calls this a blessing. So we should receive that as a blessing.

In 2 Peter 1, Peter even says, we've got the prophetic word more fully confirmed. The disciples didn't have that because the rest of the New Testament hadn't been written yet. So we're privileged to have something that they didn't have.

And in this way, we are blessed and we hope for what we do not see. The apostle Paul says in Romans 8, verse 24, for in this hope, we were saved. Now, hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees.

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. And by the way, our faith is not dependent upon experiences. Being able to see things with our eyes or feel things with our flesh or have even certain feelings with our emotions.

That's not what our faith is to be based on. It is based on the truth. What has been spoken to us in the word of God, the Bible, and it's our belief in this that makes us blessed. It was Horatio Spafford who in his hymn, it is well with my soul, wrote, Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight.

The sky be rolled back as a scroll. The Trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend. It is well, it is well with my soul. So let us continue in this walk of faith that we are in right now, believing and looking forward to the day with hope when our faith shall be sight.

Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.