John 20: 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put~~ your finger here, and examine*~ my hands. Extend~~ your hand and put*~ it into my side. Do not continue~| in your unbelief, but believe.“
It is hard to understand how Jesus’s disciples still did not “believe” in Him after three years. Thomas remained skeptical until given irrefutable proofs that Jesus had risen from the dead. He saw Him die. It had been eight days, and he had heard the testimonies. But Thomas had not been there when Jesus appeared. This moment was planned specifically for Thomas. Jesus wanted to teach a visual lesson.
When Thomas saw Jesus, he recognized that He was very different from Lazarus, whom Jesus had restored to life. His was not a physical body subject to physical limitation, nor was he an apparition of a spirit, because he could be touched. Jesus also ate with them.
Here was a person with an entirely different form: a resurrected form that Jesus promised to all who believe in Him. Thomas became convinced by seeing and touching Him, and Jesus accepted his firm belief. Then Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (Jn 20:29).
Thomas could have taken the word of his cohorts, but he wanted concrete evidence. In mercy, Jesus gave Thomas all that he needed and more. “Put your finger here . . . Extend your hand and put it into my side.” How foolish were his doubts that Jesus was truly alive, which could only mean one thing: Jesus was and had been God incarnate in human form those past three years. How foolish he must have felt for his doubts. He was standing in the presence of God.
In humble submission and conviction, Thomas declared, “My Lord and my God!” He thought, “You really are who You said You were!” As far as we know, his life was never the same. Tradition says that Thomas would carry the news of Jesus’s life and resurrection to the shores of India.
Jesus said, “Do not [be continuing] in your unbelief, but believe.” We can trust the record of Scripture that He is real and alive today. “Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). Sufficient evidence has been recorded for all time in God’s word. We must decide to trust it—-all of it—-without a doubt.
“Lord, from my heart I want to demonstrate my trust in Your word. Give me the courage to act on what I know from it without needing any special signs or confirmations to practice all Your commands.”