SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/20/2021 10:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Thomas”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 10:3b
Message of the
verse: “Thomas and Matthew the
tax-gatherer;”
In Today’s SD we begin to look at the Apostle Thomas and
as in the other lists of the apostles, Thomas and Matthew are in the second
group of four groups, however the order of the names varies in how they are listed
in the different synoptic gospels along with the book of Acts as seen in Mark
3:18; Luke and Acts 1:13.
What is the first thing that a person normally things
about when they think of Thomas?
Doubting Thomas comes to mind immediately when one thinks of the Apostle
Thomas. I remember when I was growing up
we had a newspaper that came out something like three days a week, and if I
remember correctly my mom used to write a column in it about events that took
place in our very small village. She got
ten cents an inch of copy. Anyhow there
was a man who wrote a column and he entitled it “Doubting Thomas.” I suppose that when a person is a skeptic he
is often called “doubting Thomas.”
We have been looking at a list of the apostles who had
little said about them in these synoptic gospels and the only way we found
something about them is seen in the gospel of John, and Thomas is one of those
apostles whose name is found in the synoptic gospels and Acts in the lists and
in John’s gospel we find out things about him.
The first incident we want to look at is found in the 11th
chapter of John, the very famous chapter that speaks of Jesus raising Lazarus
from the dead after he had been dead for four days. We pick up the story in verse fifteen where
Jesus says to His disciples “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so
that you may believe; but let us go to him.”
This miracle happens right near the end of Jesus’ ministry and the
twelve have seen many miracles done by Jesus by this time including dead people
coming back to life as Jesus raised them from the dead and yet they were still lacking
in faith. Now Jesus had already decided
to go back to Judea even though the last time He was there the Jews tried to
kill Him. The place where Lazarus, along
with his sisters Mary and Martha lived was in Bethany which was a suburb of
Jerusalem, so they would be very near Jerusalem. Now Thomas comes into the picture in verse 16
“Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his
fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.’” This is a very interesting verse to try and
understand but we will try and think through what was in the mind of Thomas
here and I don’t believe that doubting had anything to do with it. Thomas, like the others knew the risks in
going back to Judea and so it seems that he is thinking that if we go back
there and die we will all die together.
MacArthur writes “He was obviously pessimistic about the outcome of the trip,
but the pessimism makes his act all the more courageous. As a pessimist, he
expected the worst possible consequences; yet he was willing to go. An optimist would have needed less courage,
because he would have expected less danger.
Thomas was willing to pay the ultimate price for the sake of the Lord.
“Such unreserved willingness to die
for Christ was hardly the mark of a doubter.
Thomas was willing to die for Christ because he totally believed in
Him. Thomas was perhaps equaled only by
John in his utter and unwavering devotion to Jesus. He had such an intense love for the Lord that
he could not endure existence without Him.
If Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem and certain death, so was
Thomas, because the alternative of living without Him was unthinkable.”
I want to conclude this SD with
another quotation from Herbert Lockyer who commented “Like those brave knights in
attendance upon the blind King John Bohemia who rode into the battle of Crecy
with their bridles intertwined with that of their master, resolved to share his
fate, whatever it might be…so Thomas, come life, come death, was resolved not
to forsake his Lord, seeing he was bound to Him by a deep and enthusiastic love’
(All the Apostles of the Bible).”
8/20/2021 10:56
AM
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