April 27, 2025
"What's There to Doubt?"
John 20:19-31
I’m sure most of us are familiar with doubting Thomas. Thomas was one of the twelve disciples whom Jesus had chosen to follow Him. One day, after Jesus had risen from the dead, He appeared to His disciples, but Thomas wasn’t there. When the other disciples told Thomas that Jesus had appeared to them, Thomas didn’t believe them. He even said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” Thomas apparently hadn’t believed that Jesus had risen from the dead.
I find this hard to believe. Thomas had followed Jesus for three years and had witnessed Jesus doing many miraculous things. How could he not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead? But we see that Thomas didn’t believe. He didn’t believe the testimony of his fellow disciples.
I hope we aren’t judging Thomas too harshly. It’s easy for us to think how could he do such a thing. Maybe we’re thinking that if we had been in Thomas’ place, we wouldn’t have doubted. We would have believed what our fellow disciples had told us.
I’m not so sure I would go along with this. The truth is we might have responded like Thomas did. How often do we doubt God’s word and His promises to us now? We would be lying to ourselves if we said we never doubt God and His word. Everyone experiences episodes of doubt. It’s part of being a sinful human being. I’m not saying our doubt is justified because we’re human. I’m just stating fact. We all succumb to doubt at times. In other words, we are no better than Thomas.
How often do we doubt that our prayers will be answered? I’m sure we have doubted. How often do we have doubts about God’s promise of heaven after we die? I’m sure there are times when we aren’t confident in God’s promises. Our faith wavers.
This is exactly what the devil, our arch enemy, wants. It’s his aim to get us to doubt God and His promises. He doesn’t want to see us receive the blessing of heaven. He wants to see us destroyed. This is why He encourages us to doubt. He got Eve to doubt God’s word. He lied to her, and sadly, she believed him. He hopes we will believe him instead of God. That’s why he tempts us to doubt.
I’m sure the devil worked on Thomas. If he could get Thomas to doubt and turn away from Jesus—that would be one less disciple to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus. He had succeeded in turning Judas away from Jesus—why not try to turn the rest of the disciples away from following Jesus. So, he targeted Thomas.
But the devil’s plans came to nothing. On another day, the disciples were gathered together in a house, and this time Thomas was with them. Even though the doors had been locked, Jesus again appeared to them. He approached Thomas and said, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Immediately, Thomas’ unbelief left him. He acknowledged Jesus as his Lord and God. The devil had failed to win Thomas over.
We see that Jesus had never given up on Thomas. Jesus could have let him go the week before, when Thomas refused to believe what his fellow disciples had told him. Hadn’t Jesus done enough to convince the disciples He was God? Jesus would certainly have been justified in giving up on Thomas, but Jesus forgave him. Jesus still planned to use Thomas to proclaim the Gospel. Tradition has it that Thomas went to India to spread the Gospel.
Jesus had mercy on Thomas. This shows us the great patience God has. All of Jesus’ disciples tried Jesus’ patience, yet He never gave up on any of them. Judas gave up on himself and chose his path of destruction. Had he turned to Jesus for forgiveness, he would have received it. But he made the choice not to. Time and time again the disciples tested the Lord’s patience—and He never got rid of them.
It’s evident that when Jesus called Thomas and the other disciples to follow Him, He wasn’t looking for perfect human beings. If He had, He wouldn’t have called any of them because they were far from perfect—just like we are.
God uses imperfect people to accomplish His purposes. Who brought the Savior of the world into the world? Didn’t God choose Mary to give birth to Jesus? She wasn’t perfect, yet God used her.
God planned to use His disciples, including Thomas, to accomplish His purpose. Even though they were full of faults, He used them anyway. He continued to love and forgive them.
Jesus hasn’t given up on us. We certainly have our faults and weaknesses. We too are doubting Thomases. But the Lord continues to love and forgive us. He hasn’t rejected us. He continues to use us for His will and purpose.
I think we all would agree that the Lord has certainly been patient with us. How many times have we tested the Lord’s patience? It’s a wonder that He hasn’t cut us off yet, that He hasn’t had enough of us yet. To me, this is an indication that God wants to see His plans for each of us to the end. And what is His plan for us? That we be saved, that we reach heaven.
None of us is worthy of heaven. Jesus’ disciples weren’t worthy of heaven. But because of Jesus’ cleansing us by His blood we have been made righteous. Jesus’ death and resurrection have cleansed us from our sin. They cleansed the disciples of their sin. Jesus’ blood cleansed them of their unrighteousness and made them righteous.
Jesus has made all believers worthy of eternal life. His righteousness has been imputed to all believers. It’s certainly not our own righteousness that gets us into heaven. It’s by God’s grace.
It’s God’s grace and mercy that cause Him to be patient with us. He has so much invested in us that He doesn’t want to give up on us. He gives us chance after chance. We often let Him down as His disciples certainly did. Yet He sticks with us, just as He stuck with them.
Now this doesn’t mean that we can continue our sinful ways. We don’t presume God’s patience. We don’t figure we can go on sinning because God will be patient with us. We make it our aim not to test God’s patience. We have an attitude of wanting to please Him.
This was Thomas’ response. After Jesus approached him, Thomas said, “My Lord and my God.” Thomas didn’t say that he would continue to doubt. He didn’t intend to test Jesus’ patience. It was his aim to please Jesus after this event. And as I said before, he went on to be a great servant of the Lord.
I want to shift gears a little bit. Since we’re in the season which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention anything about it. In our text Jesus appeared to His disciples a couple of times to prove to them that He actually rose from the dead. He did this to assure them. Jesus appeared to them to remove any doubt they may have had about His resurrection.
Eventually, they became convinced that Jesus had literally risen from the dead. Their minds hadn’t deceived them. They continued to put their trust in Jesus. He hadn’t simply died, and now His movement had come to an end. No, Jesus was still alive. They had every reason to continue to follow the Lord—which they did. Tradition has it that just about all of them lost their life for the Lord. They were put to death for their faith in Jesus. Had they had any doubt about Jesus’ resurrection, they certainly wouldn’t have given up their lives on account of Jesus.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will remove any doubt about Jesus and His promises to us and that He will strengthen our faith in Him. Someday we will see Jesus with our own eyes, as did Thomas. It will be a glorious day. But in the meantime, may our hearts be glued to Jesus, who will raise us from the dead.