John 20:27, commentary and pictures

Jesus meets Thomas in the upper chamber after the resurrection by inviting him to place his finger into the nail marks in His hands and his hand into His pierced side, showing He knew Thomas's private demand for proof though no one had told Him. The invitation is both tender condescension and reproof, commanding him to stop being faithless and to believe instead of demanding sight and touch and rejecting the witness of others. The wounded hands, feet and side prove He is risen bodily as the same One who was crucified and not a spirit, and seeing them sweeps away Thomas's doubt so that he worships Him as his Lord and his God. Greater blessing and peace belong to those who have not seen His wounds and yet believe on the testimony of others, for requiring feeling added to sight would leave none to believe now, and waiting until every doubt is removed hardens the heart in settled unbelief. Those marks remain in His glorified body forever as His glory, ever witnessing to His suffering for sinners, pleading for them before God, and to be seen by the redeemed and the wicked at His return.

Upper Chamber Encounter

This saying belongs to the appearances after the resurrection in the upper chamber at Jerusalem during Passover week, when He came to the disciples there twice before they left for Galilee. Thomas was not present at the first meeting and so missed meeting Him, and absence or delay can cause such loss of interview and privilege even when spiritual advantages look small. All must therefore be ready at all times, like minutemen never off duty, because being present to speak a word or do an act at the right moment can turn a soul toward truth and save to eternal life, and small influences exerted rightly can attract souls when a minister's labor would not touch the heart.

He answers Thomas's stated demand for physical proof by inviting him to put his finger into the nail prints in His hands and his hand into His pierced side. The broader account joins the feet with the hands and side as the places offered for inspection. His words show He knew Thomas's private doubts, thoughts and exact words, including the demand to touch the nail marks and wounded side. None of the disciples had seen Him for a week to tell Him of it, which proves He reads thoughts and words and needs no informant.

The invitation carries both reproof and command, to stop being faithless and to believe. It rebukes unbelief that rejects witness testimony and demands sight and touch, for Thomas would not humbly receive the report of the disciples who had seen the risen one and in this showed lack of confidence in his brethren. The evidence was granted even though such unbelief did not please God, for it is the divine will that those who cannot themselves see and hear the risen Saviour receive the report of the disciples. If all required the same evidence of feeling added to sight, none would now receive Him and believe in His resurrection. There is no commendation in this for being slow of heart to believe, neither for Thomas nor for those in the last days who are slow of heart to believe.

Though Thomas had firmly and self-confidently dictated his own unreasonable, self-imposed conditions as the only basis for faith, He met him with tenderness, condescension, generous love, consideration and personal revelation rather than overwhelming reproach, argument or controversy. He did not reproach or argue, but revealed Himself as the crucified Saviour and broke down all the barriers Thomas had raised.

Wounds Prove Resurrection

The wounded hands and side held out to Thomas, together with the wounded feet also shown, are the proof that Jesus is risen bodily and not a mere spirit, identifying the risen Lord as the very one who was crucified. The marks in hands and side answer doubt by inviting examination, so that handling and seeing establish who He is and leave no ground for unbelief. The familiar voice heard with the sight of those wounds completes the recognition of the Master.

Seeing the risen Saviour bearing the marks of crucifixion ends Thomas's doubts at once, so that he wants and needs no further evidence and does not need to carry out the touch he had demanded. He leaps for joy that Jesus is indeed risen and falls at His feet in love and devotion. What he had refused to believe on the testimony of his companions is swept away by sight of his Lord.

In that revelation Thomas recognizes Him and worships, acknowledging Him as his Lord and his God with no room left for doubt and no desire for further proof. The exact knowledge of his private demand shown in the invitation confirms that the one before him knows thoughts and words, and the crucified and risen Lord stands identified.

The disciples' seeing, hearing, and handling leave the eleven with no doubt that the risen Jesus is the crucified one. Thomas afterward recounts how his unbelief was swept away when the believers saw the marks of crucifixion still borne in hands and feet at His appearing among them.

Believing Without Seeing

Refusing the report of the disciples until one receives personal sight is unbelief, showing lack of confidence in brethren, for it is God's will that those who cannot themselves see and hear the risen Saviour humbly receive the report of those who have. Faith is to receive credible testimony rather than dictate sight and feeling as its only basis and demand personal sight and touch before believing. Treating doubt as a virtue until unmistakable evidence removes every cause for doubting receives no commendation, and the command to stop doubting and believe is reproof, not praise. No commendation is given either to Thomas for being slow of heart to believe the testimony of those who had seen the risen Christ, or to those in the last days who are slow of heart to believe and resist truth without diligently investigating it for themselves. Seeking evidence in a way that strengthens doubt instead of faith is therefore to be avoided.

Greater blessing belongs to those who have not seen His wounds and yet have believed the disciples' testimony. God credits that belief, and Christ's peace and blessing are for those who believe their word. Belief in Christ now rests on the testimony and word of others, and faith should not depend on demanding visible proof. For if all required the same evidence of feeling added to sight that Thomas firmly and self-confidently demanded, none would now receive Jesus and believe in His resurrection.

Waiting until every cause for doubt is removed can fix people in settled and entrenched unbelief, even when they have Thomas's evidence with testimony and further evidence in addition. Thomas had the testimony of his companions yet refused to believe until he saw Jesus himself, and his experience does not justify waiting for every doubt to be removed. Rejecting clear evidence of divine truth hardens the heart and blinds the understanding. Neglected light fades from a mind unwilling to receive it, until received light is lost.

Wounds Endure Forever

The marks of crucifixion remain visible in His glorified, risen human body, presented in human form after the resurrection with the wounds in His hands and side still to be seen. The hands held out to be touched still bore the bruises of the cruel nails, the same hands that had often been stretched forth to bless and heal the sick and afflicted and to rebuke demons. Those wounds remain as the sole reminder of the cruel work that sin has wrought, and the marks of the nails in His hands and feet remain His glory and testify to who He is.

He will bear in His hands throughout eternity the prints of the cruel nails by which He was transfixed to the cross on Calvary, shown to Thomas to see and touch. They will ever bear witness to the sufferings He endured so that penitent sinners might have life eternal and lost humanity might be redeemed to live with Him in glory.

The prints of the nails in His hands and in His feet and the place where the spear was thrust into His side are His glory, and the pierced side from which blood flowed to reconcile humanity to God is the hiding of His power. His wounded head, side, hands, and feet are the only lasting traces of sin's cruelty, testifying forever to His redeeming sacrifice, His power to save, and the praise due to Him. At the close of the thousand years, as He descends to the earth with angels and saints and the wicked dead are raised, the very men that pierced Him and the wicked see Him afar off in all His glory with these wounds visible and wail because of Him.

When He returns and raises the just from their graves, the redeemed will see those marks of Calvary and recognize the Saviour who gave His life for them, and their greatest joy will be being in His presence. At His coming those who rejected the light will see these wounds, including His pierced side, and understand the sacrifice and love of the Redeemer made for them. The faithful who die before He comes will, if faithful, come forth from their graves at the resurrection of life to see Jesus in His glory and be made like Him, and will behold those same pierced hands stretched out in blessing and welcome. At the last those hands were mercifully extended over the disciples as if embracing the whole world and calling down blessing upon all followers, with beams of light emanating from them to fall upon the watching, waiting ones. That sight brings joy unspeakable, so that present toil and suffering do not matter if the resurrection of life is attained, calling for patient waiting until the trial ends in victory.

Redemption Through Wounds

The risen hands held out to Thomas signify that He alone took away sin and ransomed humanity, and through that saving work peace with God is secured. His wounded hands and pierced side plead for fallen people, and His sacred blood continues to plead for sinners without its efficacy diminishing with time or events. He still bears the prints of the nails as He stands before the throne interceding for sinners, holding back those who have almost gone over to the wrong side so they are not lost. God accepts the merits of the slain Lamb to purify from sin, a redemption purchased at infinite cost.

Bearing in hands, feet and side the marks of the suffering by which He reconciled humanity to God, He reveals God's mercy, tenderness, forgiveness, equity and justice. He paid a ransom so that penitent, believing sinners may live and be received by the Father through His merits. He endured greater agony of body than anyone can endure, with hands pierced by cruel nails, and calls everyone to take hold of Him as He is by giving Him the heart in order to be saved.

Those crucifixion marks are a living witness that God's law can be kept, showing that people sin not because obedience is impossible but because they choose not to obey.

Trusting and Helping Doubters

Some cannot believe testimony received through others and must have evidence for themselves, and they are not to be set aside but to be met with patience, kindness and brotherly love until they reach a settled position and decide where they stand. His hesitation pictures those who doubt visions and the published Testimonies and want assurance for themselves before believing, including one who at first doubts visions but afterward comes to recognize evidence of God's work. He was faithful and earnest yet slow of heart to believe, one of the first disciples who as future teachers represented widely varied types of character, and his demand to touch the wound made by the Roman soldiers revealed unbelief that later stirred the disciples' remorse over how little they had understood and appreciated Christ.

His example teaches how to treat those whose faith is weak and whose doubts about religious truth are made prominent. He had wrongly made his own self-imposed conditions the only basis for faith, yet he was met with tenderness, condescension, generous love, consideration and personal revelation rather than overwhelming reproach, argument or controversy, being invited to examine the wounds and called to believe. Persistent controversy seldom weakens unbelief but puts it on self-defense where it finds new support and excuse, while revealing Jesus as the crucified Saviour in love and mercy breaks down barriers and brings many once unwilling to acknowledge Him as Lord and God.

Requiring even greater evidence than he required, through doubt, suspicion, fear and indifferent looking on instead of putting hand to the work with zeal and energy to build up what Christ requires to be built, joins combined distracting influences that hinder and tear down. Such doubting influence retards advance and reform among God's people. To be not faithless but believing is to lay aside trouble, anxiety and low, desponding, unbelieving talk and to live with faith, hope and cheerful courage, trusting wholly what He has said, since God has already said everything that can be said to inspire faith and hope so there is no excuse for doubt-filled conversation. It means trusting the Chief Physician who knows every anxiety of mind and is acquainted with every difficulty, maintaining perfect confidence even amid affliction and rejoicing because the Lord has helped and spared life, leaning the whole weight upon the sympathizing Redeemer under God's approving look. Such believing brings the Comforter to abide forever and gives power to discern and comprehend spiritual and divine things.

Believing is acting on what He has said with humble, childlike trust, guarding prayer with patience and expectancy and trusting that God answers sincere prayer even when the answer differs from expectation. It is trusting God at every step even while recognizing personal weakness, drawing near to God and working together with Him so that weakness and mistakes are prevented, with self hidden in Christ and no human management of His cause left to self, so that all work is done in God. For the tempted and sick who doubt whether God has forsaken them, it means coming to the Scriptures and intelligently taking God at His word, casting the helpless soul wholly on the merits of Christ just as it is without good works to recommend it, and hoping, trusting and resting in His promises whether happy feelings are present or not. A good emotion does not prove sonship and disturbed, troubled, perplexing feelings do not disprove it, and even terrible doubts and waverings about God's existence assailing Christians of long experience do not make the case hopeless, but distressing unbelief must be fought with the good fight of faith to lay hold on eternal life. Jesus meets the struggling doubter to give rest to the soul and is not unwilling to save one who struggles to believe, being near to hear heartfelt petitions in mercy when loved and prayed to in full, believing confidence.

In the place where faith has failed it calls for moral courage to stand where duty requires and to go forward without halting, accepting sorrow that leads to life and joy rather than death, and enduring God's proving and chastening as a son. The trial is grievous for the present but afterward yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, and if faith endures the test and comes forth as pure gold, God can then entrust work in His cause. Believing instead of unbelief includes bringing offerings for God's cause from those who have money, trusting His treasury and the men He has honored by connecting them with His cause, and supporting buildings and facilities for spreading the truth without fear of losing money. Grasping money as a god, trusting it to men of no principle while the cause is straitened for want of means, pleading narrow selfish ideas that too much has been spent, withholding from God what He entrusted for advancement of His cause and belongs to Him, and fearing loss if entrusted to God shows lack of saving faith, displeases Him and brings loss. The hands pierced by cruel nails, having endured greater bodily agony than anyone can endure, call everyone to arise in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, take hold of Him as He is, and give Him the heart in order to be saved. To be not faithless but believing counsels trusting God wholly rather than allowing suspicion and mistrust of others to shake confidence.