THE FAITH THAT IS BLESSED.
By Uriah Smith
When the apostle Thomas finally met the Lord, a week after the other disciples had seen him after his resurrection, he acknowledged his restored conviction, in the hearty words found in John 20: 28. Then, says the record, “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Verse 29. By implication three classes are here brought to view: (1) Those who have seen, and have not believed; (2) those who have seen, as did Thomas, and then have believed; (3) those who have not seen, and yet have believed. The first class surely have no blessing; the second class do better, and are blessed to that extent; but upon the third class a blessing is emphatically pronounced. This last is the blessing for all Christians now. It is for us. We have not seen, and yet we believe. So Peter said, “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2: 39. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Cor. 5: 7. Again, Peter, speaking of our relation to Christ, says: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 1 Peter 1: 8. But there yet remains before us the supreme blessedness of seeing him face to face, without any need of believing, in the sense that we now believe; for we shall see him as he is, with such nearness, and with such clearness, as to be made like him, in the fashion of his own glorious body. 1 John 3: 2; Phil. 3: 21. But for the present, this is our position: to have faith without sight; and not having seen him, yet to believe in him, and keep him before our minds, and trust in him as the coming One. What a privilege that such a high degree of blessedness is open to us! Let us not mar this blessedness of believing without seeing, by wishing to see; by pining for some marvelous voice or vision or revelation, before we will believe. Many a skeptic has said, If the Lord would meet me as he is said to have met Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus, and give me such a revelation of his glory, I would believe. But has he not already done that very thing in your case? What did the Lord design to accomplish, and what did he accomplish, by meeting Saul on the way to Damascus? Was it not to reveal to him that that Jesus whom he had persecuted, and who, he knew, had been crucified, is indeed the Son of God, and has been raised from the dead, and is exalted to the right hand of his Father in heaven? And has not the Lord amply shown you all these things? Has he not placed upon record a sufficient number of infallible proofs of his resurrection, and testimony that can not be gainsaid nor questioned; and that, in pursuance of his great work, as mediator for the world, he has ascended up on high to appear in the presence of God for us? Is not this the substance of what was communicated to Saul—the great lesson to be taught him by his wonderful experience? But are we not all settled in these great facts? If so, God has wrought for us in another manner what he accomplished suddenly and in a miraculous way for Saul. Then why need such manifestations be repeated in our cases, to convey to us the same information? For the same reason, do not seek for marvelous providences, or particular dispensations. And in your experiences do not pine for depths of depression of spirits, or transports of ecstasies, for a sensation. These have nothing to do with the great facts concerning those things which, though we have never seen, it is our privilege and joy to believe. Do not let us mar the faith which brings a blessing upon those who entertain it, by perpetually demanding new arguments and logical demonstrations, as if the evidences we already possess are not sufficient,730Do not make the maintaining of this faith which one is called blessed for adopting, dependent upon conspicuous success in preaching the word, or upon the progress of the missionary or other enterprises of the church, as if it was incumbent on us to maintain the faith just in proportion as these attempts and movements succeed. Let us not try to trim this faith till it conforms to what the majority believe and follow; for more frequently the truth and spiritual life are with the minority, than with the majority. Let us not bring a blemish upon this faith by failing to believe practically,—that is, by putting our faith into practice, or living it out,—or by failing to believe intensely, so that we can laugh at seeming contradictions and impossibilities which stand in the way; nor fail to believe lovingly, with the simplicity of little children. We should also believe continuously, so that our confidence may be even and undisturbed at all times. Our belief should have our own personality in it, so that we shall feel the same assurance when alone as when a multitude are with us, and be able to sing, with confidence and integrity.—
“And though all men should forsake thee,
By thy grace I’ll follow thee.” “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Let us not think that this blessedness is not attainable. The blessedness is linked forever with the faith which our Lord accepts, and is its appointed reward. God’s work and word deserve this faith of us. He is so true that his own unsupported announcement is quite enough for a foundation for faith to build upon. Can we believe God only so far as we can see him? Thousands of saints can speak with confidence in this matter, their own experience having demonstrated that it is blessed and safe to trust in him. Bishop Hall says, that “with men it is a good rule to try first, and then to trust; but with God it is just the opposite: I will trust him first as most wise, omnipotent, and merciful, and try him afterward.” The faith that exists without sight, is the only true and saving faith. Faith which demands sight is not faith at all, and can not save the soul. This faith which Christ calls blessed, is the only faith which is acceptable with God. Indeed, nothing is acceptable to him without it. For “without faith it is impossible to please him.” Heb. 11: 6. This faith is a proof of grace within, a renewed nature; it is the root principle of a glorious character. It makes its possessor rich to the uttermost, giving power in prayer, strength of mind, decision of character, firmness under temptation, boldness in enterprises for the Lord, and joy of soul. The charge upon the Laodiceans of being wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, would not hold against a person with this faith; for he shows that he has the gold tried in the fire, which makes him rich—the faith that works by love. J. P. Thompson, author of “Home Worship,” says: “This far-reaching benediction, ‘blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed,’ embraced upon one hand the prophets and saints of the Old Testament, who, with no visible signs of Christ’s appearing, and with no conception of his life and death, nevertheless kept him ever in view as the object of longing desire; and on the other, it embraces everyone who now comes to Christ with a living faith. This faith makes Christ present, makes heaven near, makes salvation sure. All the wondrous truths of the gospel, in the person, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus; all its blessed promises of honor and glory in the future, are made real to our faith, more precious than gold in its pureness and brightness, and more enduring than the fires by which it is tried and tempered. This faith answers to the inheritance to which it leads, incorruptible, unfading.” A few thoughts from the “Rugby Sermons” may be in point, at this place, on the subject: “Our Lord does not treat the doubt of Thomas as a sin. There is not the slightest trace of fault-finding in what he says to him. He only tells him that his is not the most blessed state. The most blessed state is that of those who can believe without such proofs as this; and this is certainly the far higher, the more blessed state, the more heavenly; still the doubt of St. Thomas was not a sinful doubt. His doubt is a type, and his character is an example, of what is common among Christians. There are many who are startled at times by strange perplexities. Doubts arise in their minds, or are suggested by others, about doctrines which they have always taken for granted, or about facts connected with those doctrines. What shall we do when we find these difficulties arise? (1) In the first place, let us not permit them to shake our hold of God and conscience. However far our doubts may go, they can not root up from within us, without our own consent, the power which claims to guide our lives with supreme authority. They can not obliterate from within us the sense of right and wrong, and of the everlasting difference between them; (2) but again, let us not treat such doubts as sins, which they are not, but as perplexities, which they are. As we must not quit our hold on God, let us not fancy that God has quitted his hold on us. Doubts may distress us, but they can not destroy us, for we are in the hands of God; (3) in all such cases remember St. Thomas, and feel sure that what is wanting Christ will give. You are not called on to believe till you are fully able to do so; but you are called on to trust.” The faith of Thomas reached at last a sublime height. It was not faith that assured him that what he saw before him was the actual Jesus whom he had seen and associated with in his life. That was sight. But overpowered by his convictions, he rises to the spiritual plane, and gives expression to the highest confession of faith man ever made: “My Lord and my God.” “Scoffers talk of the apostles as if they had been the most credulous people in the world. Now, of Thomas, at least, they can not say this; for he was evidently one of those cautious people who must feel the ground upon which they set their foot. And yet his doubt in a matter is of deep interest to us. All things must work together for good to them that love God. And the effect of Thomas’s doubting is to prevent us from doubting. Thomas doubted thus, that all who doubt like him might be convinced like him. You are astonished at his skepticism. Be astonished then likewise at his faith, after the Lord had, in infinite condescension, satisfied even the presumptuous demands of his doubt.”—Tholuck. Another writer says: “That Thomas did not do what Jesus invited him to do, and what he had made the condition of his believing, seems plain from verse 29. He is overpowered, and the glory of Christ breaks in upon him like a flood. His exclamation surpasses all that had yet been uttered. Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen One, he calls his Lord and his God. ‘My Lord and my God.’ It is thus that the faith which saves speaks: that Christ is the Lord, and that he is God. The devils also ‘believe;’ but that saying ‘my’ they can not utter for fear and trembling.” You can say it because “God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” Gal. 4: 6.