PT-2 “Thomas” (Luke 6:15b)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/2/2026 05:27 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus: PT-2 “Thomas”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 6:15b

            Message of the verse: “Thomas”

            “At this point Thomas took the lead.  Rallying his fellow disciples he said to them, ‘Let us also go, so that we may die with Him’ (v. 16).  His courageous statement was made all the more so by his pessimism—he fully expected that both they and Jesus would be killed.  Yet his love and devotion were so strong that he preferred to die rather than to face life without the Lord.

            “That aspect of his nature is reinforced in Thomas’s next appearance in John’s gospel.  In the upper room on the night before His death, Jesus told the apostles that He was going away to the Father’s house to prepare a place for them, and would return to take them there (John 14:1-3).”  “1 ¶  "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2  In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”  “Because He had already told the disciples that He was returning to the Father (e.g., John 7:33; 13:1, 3), Jesus expected them to know where He was going (v. 4).  Dismayed at the thought of the Lord’s leaving, Thomas exclaimed, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’  (v. 5).  His statement reflects both his intense love for Christ, and his extreme pessimism.

            “By now the disciples realized that Jesus was going to die, but they had no firsthand knowledge of what happens after death.  Further, Jesus had just told them that they could not at that time go where He was going (John 13:33,36).  Thomas’s plaintive question reflected their confusion and despair.  If they did not know where the Lord was going, how  could they follow Him there?  The thought of losing Jesus was unbearable to Thomas, and he was engulfed in heart broken despair.

            “By the time Thomas appears again in John’s narrative, his worst fear had been realized:  Jesus had died, and he had not.  When the Lord appeared to the disciples for the first time after He rose from the dead, Thomas was not there (John 20:24).  Where he was is not stated, but perhaps devastated by the death of the Lord whom he supremely loved, he preferred to be alone with his sorrow and despair. In any case, when he returned, the other ten apostles greeted him excitedly with the news that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to them.” (7/2/2026 5:40 PM)   (7/2/2026 7:44 PM)

            “It was then that Thomas uttered the statement for which he is famous:  ‘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’ (v. 25).  Thomas was not about to get his hopes up, only to have them dashed again.  Although Thomas’s skepticism earned him the nickname ‘Doubting Thomas,’ the other apostles had fared no better.  They too, had scoffed at the initial reports of Christ’s resurrection (Luke 24:10-11), and only believed after He appeared to them (John 20:20).

            “Eight days later, Jesus once again appeared to the apostles.  This time Thomas’s grief had eased enough for him to be present with his companions. The Lord immediately confronted his lack of faith.  ‘Reach here with your finger,’ He commanded Thomas, ‘and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing’ (John 20:27).  Thomas’s simple, yet profound reply, ‘My Lord and my God!’ (v. 28) is perhaps the greatest statement ever made by and of the apostles, equaled only by Peter’s confession, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ (Matt. 16:16). His melancholy pessimism vanished in the glorious light of the risen Savior, and Thomas was transformed into a power evangelist.  There is a strong tradition from the early centuries of the church that Thomas carried the gospel to India, where he was martyred.  Some accounts say that he was thrust through with a spear—a fitting form of martyrdom for the one whose doubts were forever banished when he saw the mark of the spear in the Savior’s side.”

7/2/2026 7:53 PM