There is one man in the Bible who has been called “Doubting Thomas” because of the doubts he had about the Lord Jesus Christ. We read of “his doubts” in John 20:24-25, “Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ So, he said to them, ‘UNLESS I SEE in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I WILL NOT BELIEVE.” We learn here that Thomas, for whatever reason, was absent when the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead. Because of this the other disciples exclaimed, “We have seen the Lord.” That should have been enough to assure Thomas that the Lord had indeed “risen from the dead,” yet as we saw Thomas “doubted their word” and refused to believe it unless he could see the Lord and the nail prints in His hands and feet. Before I go on, though Thomas “doubted the word of the disciples,” he should NOT have “doubted the Word of the Lord Jesus.” Jesus had told the disciples at least three times that He would rise from the dead. We find one of those in Matthew 16:21, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be RAISED THE THIRD DAY.” In short, Thomas “doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ” because “he doubted the Word of the Lord Jesus.” This, my dear friend, is your problem (and my problem too) whenever we “start having doubts about the Lord Jesus.”

Let’s read on now in verses 26-29, “And after eight days his disciples were again inside, and THOMAS WITH THEM. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ Then He SAID TO THOMAS, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. DO NOT BE UNBELIEVING, BUT BELIEVING.’ And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN AND YET HAVE BELIEVED.’”

When we read this account, one is impressed with the thought that Jesus was thinking especially of Thomas when He appeared to His disciples. He knew all about his doubts (which may have increased with each passing day) and now He has come to remove those doubts by showing Thomas His hands and His feet. He knew exactly what Thomas had said about having to see and touch the nail prints and in love and grace He gives him the opportunity to do just that. As far as we can tell from this passage, Thomas SAW the prints but there was no need to actually TOUCH them. He saw and he believed! His “doubts turned to faith” and then he made a grand confession of Christ’s Deity in those memorable words, “My Lord and my God!” As great as his faith was at this point Jesus goes on to speak of an even greater faith, for Thomas had to SEE TO BELIEVE yet Jesus knew there would be those who would BELIEVE WITHOUT SEEING! He was speaking of you and me, dear fellow-believer. We have never seen the Lord Jesus and yet we have believed! And what joy we have because of this, as we see in 1st Peter 1:8, “Whom having NOT SEEN you love. Though now you do not see Him, YET BELIEVING, YOU REJOICE WITH JOY INEXPRESSIBLE and full of glory.” What is that has caused us to believe? Ah, it is through the precious Word of God that we have believed. Jesus referred to this truth in His prayer to His Father in John 17:20, “I do not pray for these alone (His eleven disciples), but also for THOSE WHO WILL BELIEVE IN ME THROUGH THEIR WORD.” If my reader is a “believer in the Lord Jesus Christ” it is because you heard the gospel of Christ in the Word of God and YOU BELIEVED. Romans 10:17 declares that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” God uses His Word to produce faith in our heart. The Apostle Paul was so convinced of this that he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

In closing, the solution to your problem of doubt is this: You must GET BACK TO THE WORD OF GOD, and if you do your doubts will be removed. Like Thomas, your “doubts will turn to faith” and you’ll find yourself worshiping Him as Thomas did. You will, with the EYE OF FAITH, be able to SEE JESUS and your doubts will vanish! I will close by quoting two verses that confirm the truth that faith, produced by the Word, gives us the ability to SEE JESUS. “But WE SEE JESUS, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR” (Hebrews 2:9). “LOOKING OFF UNTO JESUS, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE THRONE OF GOD” (Hebrews 12:2).  (464.3)  (DO)