If I asked you what you know about Thomas, one of Yahshua’s disciples, I wonder how you’d respond? I imagine most of us would swiftly reply, “Doubting Thomas? Didn’t he refuse to believe in Yahshua’s resurrection unless he had visible proof?” His response when the other disciples told him they’d seen Yahshua has been quoted many times: “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side” [John 20:25]. How easy it is to remember the ‘bad’ things about people, and fail to register the amazing or the good.
Earlier in John’s Gospel we see a different side of Thomas. Yahshua had received an urgent request to visit His friend, Lazarus, who was dying. Despite His love for the family, He didn’t immediately respond, but after a couple of days He said, “Let’s go back to Judea.” His disciples were horrified. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again” [John 11:1-8]? But His mind was made up, and when they couldn’t dissuade Him, Thomas said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” [v16]. Do we ever hear about the loyalty and courage shown here? Thomas was a chosen apostle, beloved of Yahshua, a faithful disciple.
For many years, I’ve had a different thought about Thomas’s anguished cry in John 20:25. I heard it not as the bitterness of a doubter, but the heartbroken anguish of a grief-stricken friend, trying to come to terms with the unthinkable. His ability to believe Yahshua was alive, severely compromised by the ugly scenes and outpoured blood witnessed at Calvary. Yes, he was a doubter, but Yahshua didn’t condemn him for that. This ‘doubter’ had been ready to die with Him! The next time Yahshua appeared He spoke to Thomas first, offering His wounds for him to touch. He knew His friend so well, and read his heart.
Yahshua knows us intimately, and doesn’t condemn when faith is shaken by the circumstances of life. He’s never misled by appearances or hasty to judge, He reads hearts.
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1 timothy 3:16 NIV - Beyond all question, the mystery from - Bible Gateway
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