SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/4/2017
6:37 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Christ’s Appearance to Thomas”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
20:24-31
Message of the
verses: “23 “If you forgive the sins
of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they
have been retained." 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was
not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were saying to him,
"We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in
His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the
nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." 26
After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came,
the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be
with you." 27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger,
and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not
be unbelieving, but believing." 28 Thomas answered and said to Him,
"My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have
seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet
believed." 30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the
presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these
have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”
We want to pick up at verse 29 this morning where Jesus
says “Because you have seen Me, have you believed?” Jesus knowing that the tangible, physical
evidence that Thomas saw would not be available He then says that those would
be “blessed…who did not see, and yet believed.” Friends that is all of us, for
none of us have seen the Lord Jesus Christ physically like Thomas and the rest
of the disciples saw Him, however we can see our Lord in His Word as we take
time to study His Word with the goal of seeing Jesus every time we open the
Word of God. 2 Cor. 5:7 says “we walk by
faith not by sight,” and so that is what we are to do as we open the Word of
God, we are to walk by faith to see the Lord spiritually even though we will
never see Him physically in this life. John
MacArthur writes “Blessed does not just convey a condition of happiness, but
also declares the recipient to be accepted by God.
“It must be noted that our Lord’s words do not indicate
anything deflective about the faith of Thomas.”
“Thomas’s faith is not depreciated...
but for the fact that Thomas and the other apostles saw the incarnate Christ
there would have been no Christian faith at all. Cf. 1:18, 50f.; 2:11; 4:45; 6:2; 9:37; 14:7,
9; 19:35’(Barrett, p. 573)…later believers come to faith through the word of
the earlier believers (17:20). Blessed,
then, are those who cannot share Thomas’ experience of sight, but who, in part
because they read of Thomas’ experience, come to share Thomas’ faith. (D. A.
Carson).”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The ark” (Exodus 26:34).
Today’s Bible
question: “Paul said ‘For me to live is
(what) and to die is (what)’?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/4/2017 6:57 AM
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