John 20:26
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Eight days after His first meeting with the disciples, Jesus came again to them in the upper chamber at Jerusalem where they were gathered with Thomas, entering though the doors were shut and standing in their midst with words of peace. He knew Thomas's week of refusal to believe their testimony and met his demand by offering the sight and touch of the wounds in His hands and side, ending his doubt and drawing his confession of Him as Lord and God. He reproved unbelief and taught that faith should rest on the testimony of those who saw Him, pronouncing blessed all who believe without seeing and promising His peace and blessing to them. He met the doubter not with reproach or argument but with condescension, tenderness and mercy, breaking down the barriers unbelief had raised. The marks He showed that night remain forever as the signs of His glory and the price of redemption, for the peace He gives rests on His alone having taken away sin and ransomed the lost.
Time Place and Gathering
This was the second time the risen Jesus showed Himself to the disciples in the upper room at Jerusalem, eight days after the earlier showing. The disciples were still in Jerusalem, where they had remained through Passover week. He met with them there twice and told them to remain in the city for a time before going to Galilee as He had directed.
The gathering was in the same upper chamber where the last supper had been eaten. Several of the disciples lived there and came together there every evening. They were eating their customary evening meal and going over together the evidences for faith that Christ had given them in the prophecies.
Though the doors were shut, He came in, stood in the midst of those gathered, and said peace to them. His unexpected presence startled them. His voice and His greeting made known that He had risen.
Thomas was with them on this evening, having at last decided to meet with them. He had not been present at the earlier meeting with Jesus and had spent the week since refusing the testimony of the others. Yet he came despite his unbelief, cherishing a faint, unacknowledged hope that the news of the resurrection was true.
He who appeared knew Thomas's private words, doubts, and unspoken thoughts. His coming led straight to confronting Thomas and rebuking the refusal of the testimony of the witnesses.
Risen Body Revealed
The risen Jesus stood among His disciples as truly risen with a real body, not a spirit, made known by His wounded hands and feet and side, by His familiar voice, and by His eating before them. Though the doors were shut He came unexpectedly into their midst and greeted them with peace, startling them by His sudden presence. They recognized Him by His divine appearance and the wounds of crucifixion, and their startled doubt turned to faith and joy as they worshiped Him, confirmed that the crucified Jesus had risen and strengthened in faith. The same hands bruised by the cruel nails still bore their marks when He met them, hands once stretched to bless the sick and rebuke demons now mercifully extended toward His followers as if embracing the whole world and calling down blessing on all who follow Him, His countenance shining with heavenly brightness and smiling with love with beams of light falling upon the watching ones, so they looked on Him not with mourning but full of joy.
Eight days later He appeared again with Thomas present, the doors being shut, stood in the midst with peace, and showed the marks of crucifixion in His hands and feet. He gave Thomas the very sight and touch of the wounds Thomas had demanded as the condition for belief. Seeing the Saviour bearing the marks of crucifixion swept Thomas's doubts away so that he needed no further evidence and confessed Him as Lord and God.
Thomas afterward told the believers how his unbelief and doubts had been overcome, and his testimony helped others learn what had happened after the resurrection. His refusal to believe the report until he could touch the wounds belonged to the disciples' broader unbelief and failure to recognize and appreciate Christ while He was with them, a failure whose memory later stirred remorse as they saw how unbelief had clouded their judgment.
Faith Without Seeing
When Thomas had refused to believe unless he could see and touch the wounds, he was met again with the other disciples present and was given the evidence he had demanded, yet his unbelief was reproved. Having believed only after seeing, he was taught that faith should not depend on personal sight and touch but should accept the testimony of those who saw the risen one. Those who believe without seeing are pronounced blessed. The peace spoken in the midst of the gathered disciples belongs also to those who believe on Jesus through the word of the disciples without seeing His wounds and without putting finger and hand into them, and God credits that belief and lets His blessing rest on them.
Refusing clear evidence while waiting for further proof entrenches unbelief and leaves a person unable to perceive the evidence for Jesus. Waiting until every cause for doubt is removed fixes the heart in unbelief, hardens the heart, and dims the light already received. Resisting the testimony already given while demanding personal proof blinds the mind, so the evidence already available should be received in faith. Thomas was faithful and earnest, yet slow of heart to believe, one of the first disciples who were to be the world's teachers, representing one widely varied type of character among them. He was not left without comfort in his doubt but was met and brought to faith and rest, giving reason to trust Him as Redeemer.
Gentle Care for Doubters
When Thomas dictated the only conditions on which he would believe, taking a most unreasonable position, Jesus did not overwhelm him with reproach and did not enter into controversy or argument with him. He met the doubting one with marked condescension and tenderness and with generous love, consideration and mercy, revealing Himself to him as the crucified Saviour. That love broke down all the barriers Thomas had raised and led him to confess Him as Lord and God. This is the pattern for treating those who doubt religious truth and make their doubts prominent.
Persistent controversy will seldom weaken unbelief, for it puts unbelief on self-defense where it finds new support and excuse and may even be strengthened. By contrast, Jesus revealed in love and mercy as the crucified Saviour brings many once unwilling doubters to acknowledge Him as Lord and God. Those who doubt should therefore be met with patience and with a loving revelation of Jesus rather than with prolonged argument.
Like Thomas, some cannot believe on published testimony nor receive evidence through the testimony of others, but must see and have the evidence for themselves. They should not be cast aside or set aside, and if their Christian course is otherwise correct they must not be deprived of the benefits and privileges of the church. Toward them long patience, kind forbearance and brotherly love must be exercised until they reach a settled position, find their place, and become established for or against.
Such doubt about visions and supernatural testimony, waiting until convinced it is indeed the voice of God, can stand alongside a deeply moved heart. It can coexist with belief that the speaker is sincere, with inability to explain the wonderful things related, and with a desire to believe that would bring the greatest happiness if satisfied. Those who can receive by judging the tree by its fruits are contrasted with those who fight against visions of which they have no knowledge. If doubters carry opposition so far as to oppose that in which they have had no experience, it may be known that they are not right.
To be a doubting Thomas is to demand greater evidence before believing, expressing doubt, suspicion and fears. It is to look on with indifference instead of putting hand to the work with zeal and energy to build up. Needing even greater evidence than Thomas retards advance and reform among God's people and breaks union. Such a course does not tear down directly but works indirectly, exerting an influence against the work rather than for it.
Wounds Through Eternity
The nail marks in His hands and feet and the spear wound in His side remain visible when He returns in glory, and throughout eternity He will still bear in His hands the prints of the cruel nails by which He was transfixed to the cross on Calvary. At the close of the thousand years the wicked dead are raised and see Jesus in glory with those marks, which are then part of His glory.
Those wounds are the only lasting traces of sin's cruelty, reminders of His saving sacrifice and signs of His glory and power. They testify that He suffered to reconcile humanity to God and gave His life to redeem lost humanity to live with Him in glory, so that penitent sinners might have life eternal. Seen in the light of the cross they reveal God's mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness together with equity and justice, showing that His ransom makes life possible for penitent believers.
The same pierced hands remain on Him as He stands before the throne interceding for those who have almost gone over to the wrong side, pleading in their behalf to move them to pray earnestly, fervently and sincerely in His name, to repent wholly, to surrender all to the Lord, and to escape being taken captive by the enemy. With hands pierced by cruel nails and brow bleeding from the barbed crown placed on His head, having endured greater bodily agony than any person can endure, He is to be taken as He is, with the heart given to Him for salvation. The same hands bruised by the cruel nails, once stretched out to bless the sick and afflicted and to rebuke demons, were mercifully extended toward His followers as if embracing the whole world and calling down blessing upon all who follow Him. His countenance shone with heavenly brightness and smiled with love, and beams of light fell from His hands upon the watching, waiting ones, so they looked on Him not with mourning but full of joy.
Peace Salvation and Warning
The words of peace spoken on that meeting belong to sinners as the peace that comes because He alone has taken away their sins and ransomed them. Salvation therefore rests on Christ's work and not on human works, while true faith is then shown in a holy life and in service to others. That same greeting searches gatherings where little spiritual life is shown, where a molehill is made into a mountain and where people are easily aroused.
Missing the meeting through absence or delay shows how spiritual advantages and religious privilege can appear very small and yet cause a person to miss meeting Jesus, as Thomas missed an interview with Jesus because he was not present when Jesus met with the disciples. Everyone can do a work for God and must be ready at all times and never off duty, because they may be needed at any moment. A word spoken or an act performed at the right moment may turn a soul in favor of truth and save him to eternal life. The risen Christ keeps forever in His hands the prints of the cruel nails by which He was transfixed to the cross on Calvary, ever bearing witness through eternity to the sufferings He endured when He gave His life to redeem lost humanity to live with Him in glory, so that penitent sinners might have life eternal. Those who claim to follow Him will live with Him in the earth made new only if in this life they labor for souls as those who must give an account.