An Honest Doubter

An Honest Doubter

Search the scriptures;
for in them ye think ye have eternal life:
and they are they which testify of Me.
John 5:39

Read John 20

Are you a doubter? Are you a skeptic? An honest skeptic? Are you like Thomas who wouldn't believe that Jesus Christ had really risen until he saw Him with his own eyes? Are you the type of person to carefully seek out and consider all the evidence and then make up your mind, or are you the kind of person that rejects anything that makes you uncomfortable, makes you consider life from a whole different perspective?

Consider Thomas. He was one of the twelve personally chosen by the Lord to be an Apostle. He walked with Him for three years, hearing His sermons, watching His miracles, witnessing His power and His compassion. Thomas even stated that he was willing to die for Him. (John 11:16) The Apostles were waiting for Jesus to set up His kingdom on earth, but then something happened that they didn't fully expect. Though Jesus taught them time and again about His death and resurrection, His death still came as a shock to them. On the third day after Jesus' crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and several other women found the tomb empty and were told that the Lord had risen from the grave. (Luke 24:1-9) That same night Jesus revealed himself to all the Apostles, except for Thomas who wasn't there. Later, they told Thomas the good news. But he doubted. He was unsure. He was willing to believe that Jesus had risen but... he needed proof first. He wasn't an unbeliever, unwilling even to consider that the Lord could possibly be alive again. He wanted to see the proof with his own eyes.

John 20:24-29 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 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. And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My LORD and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Notice that when Thomas got the evidence that he was looking for, he believed.

Are you willing to check out the Bible's testimony about Jesus Christ for yourself? Are you willing to read the only accounts of Jesus' life written by people who knew Him, walked with Him, who learned who He was firsthand? The four Gospels are true, credible, eyewitness records and inspired accounts of Jesus' virgin birth, His sinless life, His three years of ministry, His sufferings and cruel death on the cross, His three days and three nights in the grave, His physical resurrection, and His ascension into Heaven to be at the Father's right hand.

Read Matthew to see how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about being the Messiah (God with us), and the reigning King.

Read Mark to learn how Jesus came to be a servant and to give His life a ransom for many.

Read Luke to discover Jesus' humanity - how He became one like us - and His complete dependence upon and submission to the Father, how He was our perfect example, and how He fulfilled His Father's will.

Read John to be amazed that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, in a human body.

Meditate on these four accounts of Christ and His life. Check the evidence out for yourself (don't take someone else's word for it), and then read the book of Acts to see how those who personally knew Jesus turned the world upside down. Behold what a difference that knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour made in the lives of the first-century Christians. Maybe you'll begin to get a glimpse of what the Lord can do in your life.

I hope that you will discover that it is the evidence you need to come to Jesus.

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples,
which are not written in this book:
But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God;
and that believing ye might have life through His name.
John 20:30-31

July 1999
Jerry Bouey