The Conclusion: A Glimpse of Hope

^“And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” (John 20:28).

            Isn’t it great to be given a second chance, especially after you felt you had failed at your first chance? That must have been exactly how Thomas felt after this rendezvous with Jesus in the Upper Room. After all, he had been chosen by Jesus to be one of the twelve. He had traveled with Jesus for over three years, watched Him perform miracles, and believed that He was who He claimed to be. Now after being disappointed by the Lord, and contemplating quitting, he gets a second chance.

            After Christ’s crucifixion, Thomas “bailed” on the command of Jesus to remain in the Upper Room. We can only speculate as to where Thomas was or why he wasn’t present. Thomas missed out on hearing the Lord speak “peace” to the others when He said “peace be unto you!” The Lord undoubtably knew that this was exactly what they needed: the reassurance that everything was okay and that He had performed exactly what He said He would do. So, when Jesus visited the disciples in the Upper Room, He did so to encourage them.

            When Thomas returned after Jesus had departed, he realized he had been disobedient. The others told him that the Lord had appeared to them and beamed with excitement as they told him all that Jesus said to them. Thomas uttered the words that he would come to regret: that unless he put his fingers in his hands and side, “he would not believe.”

            When Jesus heard those words come from his lips (which of course he did), He appeared the second time to offer Thomas another chance. When confronted with the compassionate Savior, Thomas uttered the words that we come to today: “My Lord and my God.” The word Lord is translated “Adonai,” which means master. When Thomas called him “God,” he was using the word Elohim which speaks of His Deity. He was crying out to the One Who is both God and master.

            That was a confession of Thomas’s doubt that proved his loyalty to Jesus. He made that statement to Jesus, but of course the others in the room heard what he said. But, in addition to what he said to Christ and the others, this statement is made to us as well. All of us must come to the place in our lives where we cry out to God and recognize Him as Lord and God.

Is He your master? Does He have control of your emotions and actions?

            For Thomas to get to that point, he had to surrender his will to God.

Hebrews 11:6b says, “For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

It must have taken a great deal of humility for Thomas to come to that conclusion. Imagine what was going through his mind when the Lord confronted him. Maybe he was embarrassed or humiliated. Yet, Jesus appeared to Thomas in order to give him the chance to choose believe that He was Who He said He was and had accomplished what His purpose.    

            Thomas would go on and give his life as a martyr for the Lord. Not very much is known about the method of Thomas’s execution but that may be due to the fact that he was a missionary in faraway India. Church tradition says that while he was establishing a church there, he was stabbed with a spear, dying from the wound. The irony here is that Jesus told Thomas to touch his side and his hands where the wounds from the cross were still visible (John 10:27).

            We are called to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Because the Lord knows our frailties, there are many times He will give us a glimpse of His purpose in order to give us hope, but even that takes faith to believe.

In what is God asking you to trust Him today?