Believing Is Seeing

Believing is seeing, and seeing stimulates believing if you believe.

Confused yet?

Thomas demanded to see with his eyes and feel with his hands the scars and resurrected body of Jesus before he would believe. He could not receive by faith the testimony of his brothers that Jesus was alive. A week later, as the embers of his faith began to be fanned, Jesus appeared to him and gave him the very evidence he demanded. It was evidence and rebuke and mercy all at once.

Jesus knew the heart of Thomas. He knew the way He had knit Thomas in his mother’s womb, with all his tendencies and dispositions. He knew the despondent unbelief in Thomas’s heart that led to his demonstrative rejection of his brothers' Gospel testimony. And He knew the powerful force Thomas would become as belief in his risen Lord and God grew.

We are known before we know.

As Jesus repeated back Thomas’s defiant heart, the rebuke hit home. But instead of lecture, Jesus exposed the evidence on His body that Thomas had earlier demanded. Jesus met the physical need that Thomas felt, just as He fed the hungry and healed the sick. In the most fascinating turn of events, He offered gentle rebuke and amazing grace all at once. Thomas was known and shown mercy. His heart was won.

“My Lord and my God!” was his confession. The faith that was once smoldering took flame. Certainly, our Lord would send him off immediately to the mission that lay before him. But He adds, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Why this question? Why this final beatitude before he would ascend? Did Thomas, indeed, believe only by sight, not by faith?

Thomas had faith. He confessed to the authority and divinity of Jesus, which requires belief in the unseen. Many had seen Jesus and not believed, but Thomas took flame. Faith was spoken into him by the words of Christ and stimulated by the view of his Savior. The visible evidence was important for Thomas and for us.

Jesus would soon ascend and His disciples sent to testify to a world that would not see the risen Christ. Yet, the Word and the Spirit would help many see without seeing.

Now, the recording of Thomas’s encounter with the risen Jesus in His Word brings us face to face with Him, too. Jesus won Thomas, and Jesus wins us. Thomas saw and we see by the power of the Spirit.

What a blessing that we believe without seeing! And now, everything we see with our naked eyes is filtered through a heart that believes. Our eyes take in grace upon grace everywhere they look—glory gazing indeed!

Let us confess with our mouths! Let us testify to His grace! Oh, Lord, use us as evidence—our words, our works, our fruit of the Spirit! Spark belief in those you send us to for Your glory! Our Lord and our God!