Except I Shall See
Thomas said, in John 20:25;
25) The other disciples
therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except
I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the
print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. (KJV)
Unfortunately, I
find that, more often than not, we are more like Thomas than we would care to
admit. If you think about the story line you see that there was actually doubt
among most, if not all, of the disciples during this time. The problem with
Thomas is that he was completely convinced, and confessed, that he wasn’t going
to believe unless he could actually see and touch Jesus.
Take a look at that same verse in the Expanded Translation:
25) But he said to
them, If I do not see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger into
the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will positively not
believe. (TNT, An Expanded Translation)
Thomas was adamant that he absolutely was not going to
believe unless he could physically touch every wound to know that it was Jesus.
The problem is that this completely cancels out Faith. Faith is :
Hebrews 11:1 Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. (NKJV)
and we know that
without faith:
Hebrews 11:6 But
without faith it is
impossible to please Him, for
he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (NKJV)
Alright, so this
Faith thing is all about believing without seeing, believing despite the lack
of something to physically touch or hold on to right? Most of us who have
accepted Jesus as savior of our souls have actually accepted that through
faith. We believe that He exists, in the spirit world, and that He has paid the
price for our sins and that we have now been made “clean.” That is a huge act
of faith, and if that were all there was that would be multiplied thousands of
times more than what we deserve.
But, God, with
His Agape Love toward us has provided much more for us in the Atonement. Why do
we find it so easy to accept salvation of our souls and yet reject the
“salvation of our bodies” through divine healing, which is also provided for in
the Atonement? Believe me, I have pondered this question personally for a long
time.
I think
acceptance of this Truth can only come by a renewing of our minds. The Bible
says in Romans 12:1-2:
Romans 12:1-2; 1) I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV)
Now look at the
same verse in The New Testament, An Expanded Translation:
Romans 12:1-2; I
therefore beg of you, please, brethren, through the instrumentality of the
aforementioned mercies of God by a once-for-all presentation to place your
bodies at the disposal of God, a sacrifice, a living one, a holy one,
well-pleasing, your rational, sacred service, [rational, in that this service
is performed by the exercise of the mind]. And stop assuming an outward
expression that does not come from within you and is not representative of what
you are in your inner being but is patterned after this age; but change your
outward expression to one that comes from within and is representative of your
inner being, by the renewing of your mind, resulting in your putting to the test
what is the will of God, the good and well-pleasing and complete will, and
having found that it meets specifications, place your approval upon it.
It really boils down to whether or not we believe the Bible
is true or not. If we believe the Bible is true then what it says is Truth and
what it says we should do. What it says we should believe without doubt, what
it says we accept. That needs to be the first step in changing your mind set.
First, convince yourself that the Bible is absolute truth then start doing what
it says.
It sounds simple but sometimes so hard to do. It is so easy
to lean to our own understanding and gently nudge faith out of the picture.
See, many of us say that we have faith but, in reality, faith is far from us.
The disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast out the demon and, in a
nutshell, Jesus said that it was due to their lack of faith. What makes us
think that there is anything other than a lack of faith that keeps us from
“doing”
Mark
16:15-18.
We do not serve a roulette type of God, He is not “hit or
miss,” we serve the One True God who sent His Son to be bruised for our healing
and to die for our sins and He completed that work so we should accept it, the
whole package. Every time someone asks God for forgiveness, guess what, He
forgives because it is provided for in the atonement. So it should also be for
healing and deliverance, why, because this is also provided for in the
atonement. We should accept it, then we should go forth into all the nations
and spread this Good News to all peoples!
Be blessed as you explore His Word
" by T.J. McCrossan
" by E.W. Kenyon