Doubting Thomas Believes

John 20: 24 - 28 (NIV): Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, 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 the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."  A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though 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; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."  Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

    The conversion of skeptics is one of the proofs we have that Jesus truly did rise from the dead. Here, John gives us one of the first cases. We refer to Thomas as "doubting Thomas" because of this story. But Thomas gets a bit of a bad rap; he simply said what almost all of us would have said in the same circumstance. If someone told you a friend had come back from the dead, you would likely say something like, "I'll believe it when I see him for myself."

    The next week Thomas was there when Jesus appeared. Jesus invited him to look at him, touch him, see for himself that he really was alive again. Jesus had a body that could be touched. That is important. But what is really important is Thomas was absolutely convinced that Jesus had indeed returned from the dead.

    Notice Thomas' reaction to realizing Jesus had been resurrected -- he called him his Lord and God. That should be our reaction as well. In the next verses, Jesus points out that Thomas believed because he got to see him for himself. "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed," he said.

    That's us. We must believe based on the eyewitness accounts we find in the Bible. That's where faith comes in, but we have sufficient evidence that the Bible is true and that Jesus really did rise from the dead. Now it's up to us to stop doubting and believe.

Easter 2013

1 Corinthians 15: 12-18 (NIV): But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 

     Make no mistake, our faith stands or falls on the resurrection of Christ. It all hinges on that. If you don't believe Jesus really did die and really did come back to life, then you don't believe. And if the resurrection is just a legend or myth, then we are wasting our lives believing it.

     But I am every bit as convinced that Jesus really did rise again as Paul was when he wrote this passage. The evidence is just too overwhelming. Never mind that I can feel God's presence. My faith is built on solid evidence – much of it the same evidence that Paul witnessed.

     Briefly, here is a scratching of the surface of the evidence: First, the reliability of the Scriptures. Did you know we have more than five thousand manuscripts of the Greek New Testament? Second, Jesus fulfilled at least 350 internal prophecies from the Old Testament, proving he was the Messiah. Third, we have writings of historians outside the Bible that corroborate the stories within it. Fourth, the empty tomb. The Gospel writers all mention that the tomb was empty Easter Sunday morning. If there had been a body there, the Romans or Jewish leaders could have shown it and that would have ended Christianity right then and there. Fifth, Paul says 500 different people saw Jesus after his resurrection. He wrote this only twenty years after the fact. Sixth, why would the early Christians have celebrated Communion and Baptism if Jesus had remained dead?

     Seventh, why would the disciples die for a lie? We see in the Gospels that they were basically cowards. Why did these timid lambs suddenly change into the lions of the faith? Eighth, the emergence and growth of the church. The church started with a small rag-tag group of mostly poor people who were murdered and persecuted for their belief. Within two hundred years, it conquered Rome. Ninth, the conversion of skeptics. Scores of non-believers, including Jesus’ own brothers, Paul and atheists, have put their faith in Christ after seeing him alive or examining the evidence. Finally, the ongoing encounters with Jesus right up to this very minute.

     Our faith is rock solid. Put your trust in the risen Savior today!

Palm Sunday

Luke 19: 36 - 44 (NIV): As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.  When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:  "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 

    "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."  As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace -- but now it is hidden from your eyes ... They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."

    This is Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Everyone expected him to arrive in town as a conquering king. The Messiah was coming to set up his kingdom and rule forever on David's throne. Jesus was coming to Jerusalem for all of these reasons, but it wasn't going to go like the people expected.

    Jesus wasn't going to conquer Rome with military power, he was going to conquer death with his own life. Yes, he began his reign on David's throne, but now we know that his is a spiritual kingdom. After all, only a spiritual kingdom can last forever. 

    And this passage contains a terrible warning for all of us. When Jesus arrived on a donkey's foal, he was entering as a king in times of peace. He was fulfilling prophecy that said so. He didn't enter on a horse as a king would in times of war, but a donkey, meaning he was bringing peace. But because Jerusalem rejected his peace, it would soon receive a sword. Jesus accurately predicted that Jerusalem would be destroyed by a conquering nation. Rome's General Titus fulfilled this prediction about 40 years later when he destroyed Jerusalem and murdered most of its residents.

    We must accept Jesus' offer for peace while we have time to do so. When Jesus returns, it will be on a horse and he will bring God's wrath to all who reject him. Jesus gives peace, but we must accept it. Jesus offers grace, but one day it will be too late. 

The Man of Sorrows

Isaiah 53: 3 - 6 (NIV): He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

    Psalm 22 tells us how Jesus suffered on the cross; Isaiah 53 tells us why. What is so astonishing about this is that Psalm 22 was written a thousand years before Jesus was born, and this chapter was written about 740 years before his birth.

   We have the gospel message of a Messiah who would come and pay for our sins through his death on the cross written hundreds of years before it happened. If you question whether Isaiah 53 is really about Jesus, read Acts 8 where Phillip uses it to tell the Ethiopian the good news about Jesus. 

    Once again, we have an Old Testament passage that tells us that Jesus was pierced for us. Psalm 22 tells us that Jesus' hands and feet would be pierced, this passage repeats that he was pierced for our transgressions. By his wounds we are healed. The King James says "by his stripes we are healed." Jesus paid it all. He, the perfect lamb without blemish, became sin for us. He took our sins upon himself and nailed it to the cross. He took our punishment so we do not have to. That is the Gospel message and it is found throughout the Bible and not just in the New Testament.

    Someone has to pay for my sin. Because God is holy, my sin cannot go unpunished. I can pay for it by spending an eternity in hell -- separated from God. Or I can accept the gift of the Messiah. I've made my choice. How about you? 

The Suffering Savior

Psalm 22: 1, 13-18 (NIV): My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ... Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.  Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.  Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.  They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

    Jesus quotes the first line of this psalm from the cross. He was feeling the anguish of being separated from God. Jesus knew that God never leaves us or forsakes us, but, by taking on our sins, Jesus felt the agony of separation that sin brings. Jesus was also making sure we read Psalm 22 so we would see that it is an incredible prophecy that he was fulfilling.

    David perfectly describes what a person who is crucified goes through. That might not be such a big deal if he had written this after Jesus was crucified, but he wrote it a thousand years before it happened, and 500 years before crucifixion was even invented! History says the Persians invented crucifixion around 500 B.C., and Alexander the Great borrowed it around 320 B.C. When Rome conquered Greece around 200 B.C., they started using it. There is no way David ever saw a person crucified. How did he write this?

    The only explanation is that God revealed this to him. And it is so specific: He writes that his bones are out of joint, that evil men surround him, that they gambled for his clothing, that the people hurled insults at him and mocked him, that he was thirsty, and that they had pierced his hands and his feet.

    Reading this passage is a reminder that our faith is real. That the Bible is true. That we can put our trust in God. Our faith is more than wishful thinking or empty hope. It is solid. The evidence is irrefutable and this passage is just one example.