Faith Without Sight

Faith Without Sight

(No. 2721)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 7, 1904.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
6, 1880.

"Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have
believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
John 20:29.

WE count those people blessed, indeed, who lived in our Savior's day
and saw Him when He dwelt here among men. And truly blessed were their
eyes, for they saw, and their ears, for they heard what kings and
Prophets had long desired to see and to hear, yet were not so
privileged. But we who now believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
have a blessing superior to theirs, for the benediction of the text is
not to those who saw and believed, but to those who "have not seen, and
yet have believed." No doubt Thomas was highly favored when his Lord
said to him, "Reach here your finger, and behold My hands; and reach
here your hand, and thrust it into My side." This was an act of very
remarkable condescension on Christ's part. I can scarcely conceive that
any other of the 12 Apostles was more tenderly treated than was this
doubting disciple. Nevertheless, though Thomas was greatly privileged,
there is a superior blessing, as his Master told him–and that
blessing, I hope, belongs to many of us–"Blessed are they that have
not seen, and yet have believed."

How often have you said in your heart, "They are indeed blessed up
yonder, for they behold Christ face to face. Their eyes see the King in
His beauty in the land that is very far off." Yes, Beloved, they are
truly blessed–none can dispute that, for John heard the voice from
Heaven saying to him, "Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord." There is indescribable bliss for all those who behold their
Savior's face and who wear His name on their foreheads. Yet, dear
Friends, think not that all blessedness is reserved for the glorified,
for we also have much here! It almost seems as if Christ had commenced
to preach again His Sermon on the Mount, or to add another beatitude to
those He then announced– "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet
have believed." We must wait for the blessing of sight till the blessed
by-and-by, in the land of the hereafter, but, just now, it will be
quite enough to fill us to the very brim with joy if we can take in the
full meaning of this message of the Master.

This blessedness belongs to us who have not seen and yet have
believed–not to all here present, if there are any who are still in
unbelief. The Lord have mercy on you, dear Friends, and bring you out
of that state of death and deadly danger, giving you faith in Him even
now! Oh, that you might begin to believe in Him this very hour! But I
thank God that there are many of us who do believe in Jesus and who
have received life through His name. And though we have not at present
seen Him, yet He declares that we are truly blessed.

I. So, the first thing I shall have to say is, PARTAKERS OF THIS
BLESSEDNESS, DO NOT LET US TRY TO DIMINISH IT.

We have a blessing, peculiar and singular, through not having seen and
yet having believed, so let us not try to diminish it, first, by pining
for a voice, or a vision, or a revelation–something which is like
sight–so that it could not then be said of us that we have not seen.
Have you ever had this kind of thought, when you have been living by
faith alone? Perhaps you have said to yourself, "Oh, but–but if God
would in some way reveal Himself to me so that my very senses might
assist my faith! If I might be hidden away in some cleft of the rock
and might see the hem of Jehovah's robe! Or if I might hear some Divine
voice but whisper that I am His–then I would, indeed, rejoice and
never doubt again! If I

might see some miracle, something that I was sure was the finger of
God. If I might get near enough to God to be impressed for life with
what I saw–whether it was a burning bush or some wayfaring man whom I
might entertain as an angel unawares–or even if it were some terrible
judgment, yet if I could but feel certain that God had come near to me
so that I should never doubt again, what a grand thing it would be!"

Brother, Sister, do not ask for anything of the kind! Do not wish to
have it even if you could, for "blessed are they that have not seen,
and yet have believed." You want to see, you are pining for something
which is practically the same as sight! You do not feel content to swim
in the pure sea of faith, but your Lord will not give you what you
childishly crave. After all, it is only vanity that you are pining for,
so He will deny it to you and will say, "My child, instead of wanting
to see, believe, trust, follow Me in the dark, for it is better for you
not to see. Even if you did see and believe, yet you would have
obtained only an inferior gift, for the higher blessing, the cream of
blessing belongs to those who have not seen, and yet have believed."

Next, do not try to diminish the blessing, when you are in trouble, by
asking for some remarkable and special Providence to open to you. "Oh,"
says someone, "I have asked for that many a time." Well, you may, if
you feel led to do so, but, still, believe in God if no particular and
almost miraculous Providence is manifested. God's Providence is always
at work and we make mistakes in putting down some things as
Providences, and others as not. You escape in a railway accident and
say that is a Providence. Yes, but it is just as much a Providence that
you go to town six days a week and there is no accident. You are
supplied with bread when you are out of work and in need–that is a
Providence. Yes, but it is just as much a Providence when you are not
out of work and do not fall into need. I do not say that you are not to
pray for Providence to help you, but I do urge you not to be
continually pining after those singularities of Providence which are
picked out of some men's biographies of which more than is right may be
made. Do not say, "I expect God to do for me some wonderful, strange
thing, or else I cannot trust Him." No, "blessed are they that have not
seen, and yet have believed"–they who, through the whole of their
lives, know that the right hand of God has been leading them steadily
on. Though there is nothing they could write about and put down as a
sort of semi-miracle, yet they believe that all things are working
together for good for them, and will bring out Divine purposes filled
with love and Grace.

Again, do not diminish the blessing by craving after ecstatic
experiences. It is a very delightful thing, you know, to have your soul
made, "like the chariots of Amminadib," and to be carried right away
with holy delights. Such sacred joys have been given to many
saints–even Paul had to write, "Whether in the body, I cannot tell; or
whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows"–and we do look upon
some of those happy seasons with special delight, but we must not say,
"I cannot trust in God because I have no such experiences. I cannot
rely upon His promises, or cling to the atoning Sacrifice because I am
denied these high spiritual joys." Oh, no! Trust Him even if it is all
dark around you! Rely upon Him though you cannot see a star in the
night. If, like Paul, for a day and a night you have been in the deep.
Or if, through many days and nights, neither sun nor moon shall appear,
still trust in the Lord. Though you have not even had any spiritual joy
arising out of the conscious possession of Divine life in your soul,
still cling to Him whose everlasting arms have never yet failed any
clinging soul, and whose loving kindnesses and tender mercies are just
as sure in the darkest night as in the brightest day!

There is another way in which we may diminish this blessing of faith
without sight and that is, by always demanding clear arguments to
answer every objection that may be raised. Some of us have lived long
enough to have been informed, a great many times, that the Gospel has
suffered most serious injury through the assaults of some learned man
who has made a wonderful discovery which, it is supposed, will
undermine the very foundations of revealed religion. When we were boys,
the great arguments against the Scriptures used to be founded upon
stones dug out of the bowels of the earth. Geology had come up and,
therefore, Christianity was to go down! Since then, we have seen a
great number of remarkable things come and go–and some dear souls who
have been very timid, have been considerably shaken and troubled.

Well now, beloved Friends, let us hear our Lord saying to us, "Blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed," and let us come to
this point–that we know what we know, and it is Divinely fixed in our
soul that it is so and, therefore, if an objection is raised against
what we believe, we feel certain that it goes to be answered. It may
not always be our duty to answer it–we may not have the special
knowledge that is necessary for that task. We have a proverb which says
that "fools set stools for wise men to tumble over" and, any fool could
throw a stone into a well, which a very

wise man could not get out again. And, nowadays, it seems to be the
business of a great many learned fools to find difficulties for wise
men to answer.

We have something else to do beside answering them. If you try to
satisfy every man who starts a new theory, you will have nothing to do
but to answer objections! One says that there is no such thing as
matter–but if I prick myself with a pin and the blood flows out, I do
not need any other argument to convince me! I hope that you, dear
Friends, have made up your minds that certain things are matters of
conviction to you and that you will not dispute about them. For
instance, the Presence of God the Holy Spirit in your soul must be so
truly a matter of personal consciousness that whatever argument may be
urged against it, you may say, "Well, I may not be able to answer your
argument, but I know that there is a reply to it. I have not seen, yet
I have believed. Though I could not form a syllogism, nor argue upon
the matter to your satisfaction, yet I know within myself that God is,
and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. I know,
too, that He is my Father, that He has begotten in me a new life which
I never had till His blessed Spirit worked it in me. I know that He has
lifted me up into a new world and has given me to see and to know what
I never even dreamed of until I came to trust in Him–so let that stand
for my answer." It may not satisfy an objector, but it will satisfy
yourself.

Yet again, we may diminish this blessing by being overanxious for
success in our work. We ought to be very anxious to win souls for the
Lord Jesus Christ, but blessed is the man who goes on faithfully
preaching the Gospel even if he does not immediately see souls
converted, and who believes in the power of the Gospel, even though for
the moment it is not manifest to him. Blessed, too, is the Sunday
school teacher who has not yet seen one child in his class brought to
the Savior, but who still believes that there will be many, and who
keeps on teaching them, and crying to God for their salvation!

Just once more, we must try not to diminish this blessing by wanting
always to have the concurrent faith of others to support our own. There
are some people who can believe only while everybody else around them
believes–if cheerful friends come in and encourage them, they feel
bright and happy. That is a kind of seeing by proxy–somebody else
sees, so you believe. But blessed is he who has not seen, even with
other people's eyes, and yet has believed! Blessed is he who says, "I
can stand alone. If there is nobody else who believes this Truth of
God, I know it is true, for I found it in the Scriptures. If everybody
else denies it, I affirm its truthfulness and I rest in it, for I am
sure about it. 'Let God be true, and every man a liar'–not merely
somemen liars, but every man an liar if he contradicts the God of
Truth. Let them all go whatever way they will–I stand steadfastly for
God and my faith in Him shall not be shaken." This is a blessed way of
living and I pray that you, dear Friends, may not rob yourselves of
this benediction of our Lord even in the slightest degree, but that you
may be resolved to claim as your own the beatitude in our text.

II. Secondly, and briefly, DO NOT LET US THINK THAT THIS BLESSEDNESS IS
UNATTAINABLE.

If we are, indeed, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, let us believe
that this benediction is ours and that it is possible for us to believe
though we do not see. For, observe, that God deserves to be believed.
Apart from every other consideration, His own personal Character is
such that He ought to be believed. If, my Brothers and Sisters, God had
spoken to us in the Scriptures and revealed a Truth which had no
analogy in nature–which was not supported by the judgment of learned
men and to which our own experience seemed to be a contradiction–yet,
nevertheless and notwithstanding, God must be believed! If every morsel
of evidence that ever came in our way had to be placed in the opposite
scale and we had nothing but, "God has said it," to put into this one,
the fact that God has said it ought, to every loyal heart, to weigh
down all the rest! Though you have not seen, surely you are never going
to compare your poor eyes with God! Though you have never heard, surely
you are not going to set the evidence of your eyes against the
declaration of God who cannot

lie!

For my part, I am determined that if all my senses were to contradict
God, I would deny every one of them and sooner believe myself to be out
of my right mind than believe that God could lie! And I desire to feel
that in every emotion of my spirit, every throb of my heart, every
thought of my brain and everything that is contrary to the
plainly-revealed Truth of God, I will count myself a fool and a
madman–and I will reckon God to be wise and true. If we can exercise
such faith as that–and I am sure God well deserves it, for the
infinite Creator, the ever-blessed Faithful and True, cannot be guilty
of falsehood and cannot even err–so, if we trust Him as He ought to be
trusted, then shall we realize the blessedness of which our text
speaks.

Further, dear Friends, look along the whole line of history, and note
how the saints have trusted in the Lord, and see whether He has not
been true to them. Trace the Inspired record from the days of Noah to
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and see what it will prove to you.
Has He said anything and has He not done it? Has He promised and then
has He ever failed to keep His word? Has He threatened and has He not
carried out the threat? Look through the biographies of all who have
trusted Him. Has He deceived any one of them? Has it ever been shown
that it is a foolish thing to believe God? Was there ever a man who
truly trusted in the unseen Jehovah and who, by doing so, was made a
fool of? Find him out, if you can–in a Bible story or anywhere
else–the man who really believed in God and, afterwards, came back
saying that he had believed a fiction, or that, if God existed at all,
He had broken His promise and deluded the man who relied upon it. No,
there is no such case, and there never shall be one! The whole roll of
the past confirms the faithfulness of God.

I also appeal to you who have believed in God and ask if your own
experience has not warranted your faith Brothers and Sisters, ever
since you have known the Lord and up till now, how has He treated you?
Has He ever given you any occasion for distrusting Him? Rightly looked
at, has there even once occurred, in the whole of your personal or
family history, anything that reasonably permitted you to suspect the
truthfulness of God? O Brethren, I have sometimes called myself ten
thousand, thousand fools in one for ever doubting the faithfulness of
my God! When I look back over my own life, it always seems
remarkable–to me, at any rate–as anything that has ever been found in
the pages of fiction. Oh, how wonderfully and how graciously has God
dealt with me! What do I not owe to His faithfulness and truth? Doubt
You, my Lord? I could doubt all except You–and doubt myself most of
all! Cannot all of you, Beloved, who love the Lord, say the same?

Some of you have been through deep waters. You have been very sick, or
very poor, or perhaps you have lost many dear relatives and friends.
You have been greatly cast down in spirit. You have gone through fire
and through water. Well, now, how has the Lord dealt with you in all
these experiences? I know that you have found His mercy to be–

"Always faithful, always sure." Well, then, He deserves to be trusted
although you cannot see Him. You know what kind of a man he is of whom
we say, "Trust him? Yes, I would trust him as far as I could throw Him,
but no further!" But what a dishonor you would put upon your God if you
could not trust Him any further than that! Indeed, that is no trust at
all, it is sight. Do not, therefore, begin to doubt God because you
cannot see Him and because, to reason and sense, difficulties seem to
intervene, but bravely trust Him when you see Him not, for He well
deserves to be believed. The history of His whole Church proves that He
is worthy to be trusted–and your own personal history proves it, too.

III. I have spoken but briefly upon that part of our subject, although
much more might be said upon it. But I want

to devote a little more time to one other point. DO NOT LET ANY OF US
MISS THIS BLESSING THROUGH NOT

SEEING THE GROUND OF IT.

It is a blessed thing to trust God when you cannot trace Him–to
believe when you cannot see. For, first, this is a sure mark of a
spiritual and renewed mind. There were some who saw Christ who,
nevertheless cried, "Away with Him, crucify Him!" There were some who
saw Christ and who could not help perceiving that there was a wonderful
power in Him, yet they did not believe in Him and they were not saved
by Him. There were persons who saw Christ and who even, in some sense,
believed in Him, yet who believed not with true saving faith. But if
any of you who have not seen Him, really believe in Him, this is the
evidence that you are the children of God!

Let me remind you of that description of the people of God which is
given by Peter in his first Epistle, the first chapter, and the 8th and
9th verses–"Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you
see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your
souls." So that the people who have received the salvation of their
souls are those who love the One they have never seen–and who even
rejoice in Him whom they do not see! You may conclude that you are
truly a child of God–you may make certain of your election and of your
adoption into the Lord's family if you can truly say, "I am one of
those who have not seen the Lord Jesus, and yet I have believed in Him.
I can say to Him–

'I love You, dearest Lord! And will, Unseen, but not unknown.

Next, this kind of man is indeed blessed because, believing when he has
not seen is a proof that his heart is right towards God. I do not know
any better evidence that two persons are agreed with one another than
that they fully trust each other. If I have a friend in whom I so
implicitly trust that I do not need any evidence, there should be no
writing between him and me. He shall not need to say that what he says
is true–if he only says it, then I am certain of the truth of it. That
is because my friend and I are on such good terms with one another. And
when you trust God in spite of all outward appearances and surrounding
circumstances, it is a comfortable proof to yourself that you are on
good terms with God, that you are walking in sweet fellowship with Him
and it is one of the most blessed facts in your whole history!

Perhaps God is chastening you just now and your heart is very heavy.
There are many things which seem to discourage you, but you can still
say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Ah, my dear Friend,
you are among the blessed of the Lord! Yes, among the very choicely
blessed ones, for it is clear that there is no quarrel between you and
your God. You have been reconciled to Him and you are walking with Him,
even though you are walking in the dark. I like that saying of the old
Scotchwoman though it sounds strange. When someone said to her,
"Perhaps, after all, God's promises will not be true to you and you
will be lost." "Well," she answered, "if I am lost, He will lose more
than I shall." It seems a strange thing for anyone to say, but the good
woman meant that the Lord would lose His honor and His Character for
truthfulness if He allowed one to be lost who had trusted in Him. That
showed that she was on good terms with God and understood Him–and all
such people are greatly blessed.

Again, dear Friends, those who believe Christ, whom they have not seen,
are blessed because their character and conduct in this respect are
most acceptable with God. I do not know anything which gratifies a man
more than to be implicitly trusted. There are not many of us who are
worthy of such confidence, but when people do absolutely trust us, we
feel that they have given us all the honor that they can possibly put
upon us. No flattery can ever equal that warm glowing praise which is
passed upon a man when we put entire confidence in him. And our Lord
delights for us to just give ourselves up to trust in Him in that
fashion. I do not believe that the seraphim in Heaven praise the Lord
as much, in all their hallelujahs, as a poor tried child of God does
when he trusts himself entirely in his Heavenly Father's hands. And it
seems to me that the darker the night is, and the heavier the burden
is, and the more crushed the spirit is, if we can fully trust Him,
then, the sweeter is the music of our resignation and the more
acceptable is the homage which we pay to God. Ah, though You break me
up until I am small as the grains of March dust, and though You blow
upon me as with a hurricane that threatens to drive me away, yet shall
every atom of my being trust in You, and believe You, O my God!

If we can carry out that resolution, it will honor God and be
acceptable to Him in the highest degree. Without faith, it is
impossible to please God. Is it not strange that the eternal God can
ever be "pleased" with us? It is a wonderful thing, certainly, that we
poor creatures should, by any means, be able to give pleasure to the
infinitely-happy God–yet so we do when we trust Him.

Again, you shall find that the man who believes without seeing is truly
blessed because that faith brings comfort to his own soul I desire to
bear my own testimony concerning this matter. I have never been so
happy, in my whole life, as when I have had nothing to trust to but
God. Those times in which I have been flung into the sea and been
compelled to swim because I could not touch the bottom anywhere, have
been the most joyous times to my own heart. If I had to select the
choicest hours of my life–those which I would like to have over
again–they would be those times in which I may have been thought rash
and imprudent, but in which I have been enabled just to believe God and
to leave everything in His hands. At such times I have seen the iron,
swim! I have seen the Lord's hand working marvelously in the midst of
the earth and it has given me the utmost delight!

Now, is not every Christian here able to say just that? It is not your
happiest time when the barn is full and when the vats run over the
brim, for, sometimes, you have been satisfied with the abundance of
your earthly mercies but your happiest time has been when there was
only the last handful of meal at the bottom of that barrel and you had
to scrape it up to make a cake for the Prophet–yet there was always
enough to make a cake! And when the oil only dribbled out of the cruse,
and you thought it would soon be dried up, yet the Lord told you it
would never be exhausted, and it never was! I think it is better to
have that barrel of meal, and that cruse of oil, than it would be to
have the biggest vat of oil you ever saw, and the largest granaries
full of corn, so long as you have this promise for your motto–"The
Lord will provide." If the Lord will provide, you cannot have a better
Provider! He is not in the habit, as the God of Providence, of doing
anything sparingly. He fills the stores of the widows and orphans and
feeds them well. And when He feeds His own children,

He feeds them well. Happy is that man, and blessed in his own heart is
his sense of intense comfort, who can say, "I cannot see, but I do
believe."

There is another reason why such a person is blessed, and that is that
he is having formed in him a grand character. It is a poor character
that lives only on what it sees–that is the beast's character–it is
quite satisfied as long as its eyes can perceive the pasture. There is
no great character that can ever come to a man who has no faith. The
heroes among men are all men of faith–even those who are heroes
concerning common matters, the heroes of patriotism–though it may not
always be faith in God that they possess, yet is it faith of some sort
that braces them up and makes them superior to the doubters all around
them. No man could be a William Tell who had not firm confidence and,
certainly, no man could have been a Martin Luther who had not full and
entire trust in his God. It is a wondrous education to a man to be
compelled to trust his God–to be driven right out from paddling along
the shore in his little canoe by a big rolling wave which carries him
right out to sea–and there he is taught to be a mariner who can brave
the tempest and laugh at the hurricane! We would always remain children
and have to be carried in our mother's arms, in long clothes, if we had
not trials and troubles. God often hides Himself in order to teach us
to trust Him more–and so, God helping us, we grow to be men.

And, lastly, let me remind you that we are very likely coming to a time
when we shall need to believe without the use of our eyes. If our Lord
Jesus Christ does not soon come, some of us shall die. And if your
faith depends on your sight, what will you do when your eyes are in the
grave? They are going to be there–you will not be able to carry a
single particle of this wonderful telescopic, microscopic, optical
arrangement of yours with you to Heaven. I have seen many of my dear
friends die and I know that their eyes were still in their bodies, for
I looked into them and helped to close them. They did not take them
away with them, so how do they get on, now that they have no eyes? I
have seen their ears left behind and laid in their coffins–and all
their senses have gone, like their seeing and hearing. And if they
could not believe without their senses, what would they do in the
disembodied state where they now are before the Throne of God?

Why, they commune with Christ without the intervention of the flesh!
Then, do so now, Beloved! Do not always be needing to use these poor
eyeballs, these dim glasses, here, for they do not see much. There are
angels in this place, flying to and fro while I am preaching. I cannot
see them–it is my eyes that make me blind–but I shall see them when
these eyes are gone. My Lord is also here. I know He is, for He gave
His promise of old that He would be, and He is sure to keep His word.
But I cannot see Him–and that is the fault of these poor eyes of mine.
When they are gone, then I shall see Him! When I get rid of the
encumbrances of eyes and ears–

"Then shall I see, and hear, and know All I desired or wished below!
And every power find sweet employ In that eternal world ofjoy."

What would I do if I could not draw near to God without my eyes and
ears and hands, without touch and taste, when I am so soon to live in a
world where there will be no hands, or eyes, or ears until the
Resurrection morning? Then we shall get our bodies back again, but,
until then, if we are to be blessed at all, it must be in the way our
Lord says in the text–by faith without sight! So, Brothers and
Sisters, if you want to enjoy great blessings. If you wish to lead a
happy life and to die a triumphant death. If you would have a glorious
time between death and the coming of Christ. If you would see your
Master's face with acceptance in the day of His appearing, ask that
this blessing may be yours–"Blessed are they that have not seen, and
yet have believed."

Now I close when I have just said to you who do not know whether you
are converted or not, but are waiting until you have some wonderful
impression, or until you hear a voice down in the garden, or until you
have a striking dream or see an apparition and so on–all that rubbish
will be of no use to you! Just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ without
any of those things! You are a sinner and Jesus Christ is a Savior–so
come and trust Him. Though you see Him not, yet is He to be found by
you if you seek Him with all your heart. Therefore, wait for none of
these things that I have mentioned, but come and trust Him–and blessed
shall you be in believing although you cannot see Him! The Lord add His
blessing, for Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN20:19-31.

Verse 19. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the
week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for
fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto
them, Peace be unto you. He has not risen from the tomb many hours
before we find Him thus coming to His disciples. His love to them was
too great to permit Him to be long absent from them. He had said to
them, "A little while, and you shall not see Me and again, a little
while, and you shall see Me." So He kept His word. He stood in their
midst and said unto them, "Peace be unto you." He is the Lord and Giver
of peace just as much, now, as He was then! Oh, that He would speak
peace to the hearts of all His people now! May each believing soul
among you have a deep peace! May all your troublous thoughts come to an
end and every anxious mind be calmed! Peace! Blessed peace! Oh, that
the Spirit of peace would breathe it upon us all! "Peace be unto you."

20. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His
side. These were the marks to help their recognition of Him. These were
the memorials to excite their gratitude. These, too, were the tokens of
His condescension, for a man does not show His wounds to any but to
those whom He loves. "He showed unto them His hands and His side." You
cannot see that sight, Brothers and Sisters, but you can meditate upon
it. Think how He gave those blessed hands to the nails and that
precious side to the soldier's spear–and, as you think of them, let
your love flow forth unto Him who suffered thus for you.

20. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. I should
think they were glad! They had been afraid of the Jews, but they forgot
that fear when they saw the Lord. I suppose that, at first, when He
suddenly appeared in their midst, they were afraid of Him. But now
there was first a sacred calm and then there was a ripple of holy
gladness on the surface of the still waters of their souls. We cannot
see Him, Brothers and Sisters, with these eyes of ours, but by faith we
can behold Him! So we may have gladness even as the disciples had. We
ought to be the happiest people in all the world because Christ is ours
and is spiritually with us as He promised that He would be.

21. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father has
sent Me, even so send I you. "You are to go forth and to bless the
world, even as I have done. My Father has sent Me; and 'even so send I
you.' You are to be My delegates to carry on My service–My
commissioned officers to go forth to conflict and to conquest in My
name."

22. 23. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said unto
them, Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you remit, they are remitted
unto them; and whose sins you retain, they are retained. This is as
much as for Christ to say, "I will back up your ministry. When you
preach that men are condemned for sin of which they have not repented,
I will make it to be so as a matter of fact. When you declare pardon to
all who trust in My precious blood, I will make it so. That Truth of
God which you preach shall have My seal of approval set upon it. My
power shall go forth with your proclamation of the Truth, so that it
shall be seen that you are not proclaiming a fiction. When you preach
My Gospel, I will remit the sins of all who believe it. And when you
pronounce sentence of condemnation on such as remain in unbelief, I
will confirm your declaration!"

24. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them
when Jesus came." Very likely, loving Jesus, as he evidently did, very
much, Thomas was broken-hearted when he found that his Master was dead.
So, when his fellow disciples told him that Jesus was alive, he could
not believe it. He felt that the news was too good to be true. He had
fallen into a fit of despondency and got away, as broken-hearted,
depressed people often do, trying to get quite alone, when Christian
company would be one of the best ways of finding comfort and solace.
So, "Thomas was not with them when Jesus came."

25. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord.
"We have seen the Lord. There is no mistake about the matter, for we
have all seen Him." And thus, with loving, anxious desire, they tried
to cheer him and to make him participate in the gladness which they
themselves had enjoyed. Dear Friends, always look after your weak
Brothers and Sisters. If there is a Thomas who is depressed and sad,
and who therefore shuns you, do not shun him, but find him and try to
tell him what you have learned by way of comfort for your own heart.
Perhaps God will use it to comfort him, also.

25. But he said unto them, Except Ishallsee in His hands the print of
the nails, andput my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my
hand into His side, I will not believe. Thomas should not have said
that, because, after all, it was not true. I do not suppose that he did
put his finger into the print of the nails, and thrust his hand into
Christ's side, yet

he did believe. We sometimes say a great deal that would have been far
better left unsaid and, especially when our spirit is depressed, it is
a token of wisdom to feel, "We are hardly in a condition of mind in
which we can speak as we ought, so we had better remain silent."

26. And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas
with them. That is better. His love brought him out, you see, away from
himself. And it often happens that by getting a man away from himself,
we get him away from his worst enemy.

26. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and
said, Peace be unto you. His first salutation, after His resurrection,
was such a choice one that there could not be a better, so He repeated
it when He appeared the second time. Peace is so rich a blessing that
even the Divine Master can say nothing sweeter to His faithful
followers! So again He says to them, "Peace be unto you."

27. Then He said to Thomas, Reach here your finger, and beholdMy hands;
and reach here your hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not
faithless, but believing. Our dear and condescending Master would give
to His feeble and somewhat petulant disciple all the proofs he had
asked to have! He shall have evidence clear as noonday if he must have
it. Thomas, however, as I suppose, was wise enough not to accept the
gracious offer of his Lord. Sometimes it is wise not to take what God
may put in our way. You remember how Balaam was allowed to go with the
men sent to him by Balak, and he did so, yet it would have been much
wiser of him if he had not gone. I do not think that Thomas put his
finger into the print of the nails, or thrust his hand into his
Master's side. On the contrary, we read–

28. And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God. Leaping
out of the slough of doubt onto the rock of confidence by a single
spring, and getting further, perhaps, than others had done who had
before outstripped him, he inferred the Deity of Christ from His wounds
and His Resurrection–a grand chain of argument of which we have not
the intervening links. His thoughtful mind made him feel that if Christ
was, indeed, risen–the same Christ who had died–it was proved by
those death-wounds that He was both Lord and God–while his personal,
appropriating faith, realizing the identity of the Savior, made him
say, "My Lord and my God."

29. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have
believed. That is well.

29. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. That is
better.

30, 31. And truly, many other signs did Jesus in the presence of His
disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and
that believing you might have life through His name. Now, dear Friends,
has the purpose for which this Book was written, been answered in your
case? Have you been led to "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God," and so to believe that you "have life through His name"? If
not, why not? May you have Grace to answer that question, for the Lord
Jesus Christ's sake! Amen. 225