“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”
1 Peter 1:8
The physical reminders many of us have from our battles with illnesses, injuries, or wounds are the scars that remain. Those scars are visible proof of surgeries we may have come through and of very difficult times that now are mended.
Without concrete proof, Thomas wasn’t ready to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. He wanted to see and touch Jesus’ scars. But apparently, he didn’t need to touch them. As soon as he saw the scars, he professed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) This was the first confession we know of by any disciple of the deity of Jesus.
Jesus responds with His last beatitude or blessing statement (others of which are in Matthew 5). “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (v. 29). Certainly, this blessing applies to Old Testament saints who died looking forward to the Messiah. But it also applies to us. We haven’t seen Jesus’ scars, though we’ve read of them in the Bible. Blessed are we for trusting in Him without seeing Him with our own eyes!
Without concrete proof, Thomas wasn’t ready to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. He wanted to see and touch Jesus’ scars. But apparently, he didn’t need to touch them. As soon as he saw the scars, he professed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) This was the first confession we know of by any disciple of the deity of Jesus.
Jesus responds with His last beatitude or blessing statement (others of which are in Matthew 5). “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (v. 29). Certainly, this blessing applies to Old Testament saints who died looking forward to the Messiah. But it also applies to us. We haven’t seen Jesus’ scars, though we’ve read of them in the Bible. Blessed are we for trusting in Him without seeing Him with our own eyes!
Scripture Focus
John 20:24-31
Insight
“The higher blessing, the cream of blessing, belongs to those who have not seen, and yet have believed.” (Charles H. Spurgeon, 1880)
Bible In A Year
- Deuteronomy 33-34
- Psalm 96
- Acts 20