" Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29 ). So said Jesus following his resurrection. When he came to his disciples on one occasion, Thomas was not among them. He was told by the others, "we have seen the Lord." Thomas wanted some evidence, and said unless he could have it, "I will not believe" (John 20:25 ). Eight days lat­er, Jesus provided Thomas with all the evidence he would ever need - and then Thomas believed.

The words of John 20:29 suggest to us two classes of believers: [1] Those who believe based on evidence provided by their own natural senses - "because thou has seen..." and, [2] those who believe based on the testimony of others - "those who have not seen..." A good example of this is found in John four, with both classes being represented by the same people. Jesus had conversed with the Sa­maritan woman, and had convinced her he was the Messiah. She went into the city and told the others about him. The result was that "many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified ..." (v. 39). They had not seen Jesus, yet the believed - a belief based on the testimony of another. Later, these same people said, "Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves..." (v. 42). Now they believed because they had both seen and heard Jesus personally.

The Christian has faith in Christ. Our faith is not based on physically observing and hearing Jesus. No man today ever with the physical eye has seen him; none have heard the audible sound of his voice. Therefore, our faith must rest on the tes­timony of others: The Hebrew writer said, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (11: 1). We are then provided with several examples. Noah was warned of God "of things not seen as yet." He had never seen what God was about to do, yet by faith, he obeyed God. Abra­ham was told to leave his native home. He had never seen the land where God directed him - he went out "not knowing whither he went" (v. 8).

When we are asked to believe based on the testimony of others, we naturally want to know if that testimony is valid and reliable. Are they competent wit­nesses? We all know people whom we can believe, and yet others that we would hardly believe if they told us the earth was round! We consider the: [1] num­ber; [2] character; and [3] the reliability of those who would offer us testimony.

Look at our witnesses - the New Testa­ment writers. . There are eight of them, in addition to the apostles, whose writings, if any, we do not have. Eight witnesses would be acceptable in any court in the land, especially if all of them agreed per­fectly in their testimony. A far cry from "false witnesses" who testified against Christ rather than for him. They had a difficult time finding only two that could agree (Matt. 26:59-60; Mk. 14:56 ). The sheer weight of numbers is in favor of the testimony of the New Testament writers.

Consider their character. In their per­sonal lives, they were human; they erred. But all were scrupulously honest men They did not try to hide their shortcom­ings. They had given up all for Christ, and eventually died for him. They could have been better off materially in some other work, for the left their occupations to follow Jesus. Who believes for a mo­ment that a dishonest man would give up everything for something he had no confi­dence in? who would die for something in which he did not believe? As wit­nesses, they were men of integrity.

They were reliable. No man has ever proven that one word of their testimony is false! Men have tried - and failed. They all spoke words of truth. Yes, we believe - but not because we ever saw Je­sus. But we are thankful that the Lord pronounces us "blessed" because "not having seen," yet we believe! We have too much evidence not to believe. Paul said, "for we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). If all we had to depend on was physically seeing Jesus, we would all be "goners," for no man alive today has seen him.

Believe on Christ; obey his will; live for him now, and then enjoy eternity with him in heaven. The results of a true faith ­in the Lord are rewarding indeed - and yet none of us ever literally saw the Lord. - Bill Moseley

 

 

 

And how about the importance of small things? They do make a difference - a lot of times. This was once brought home to me in a prayer - not just any prayer, but one from the lips of a child. Now we all know how when little ones pray, they are apt to pray for a snake or worm or tree as they are for any­thing else.