Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed they who did not see, and believed.”John 20:19-20.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
In our last Life Lesson we were on the first conversation Jesus had with a group of His disciples gathered together on the day that I raised Him from the dead. He had greeted them with My shalom blessing of the everlasting covenant of shalom and to establish that shalom had been won and paid for, He showed them his hands and His side. Isaiah’s prophecy had been fulfilled, the chastening for your shalom had fallen on the one who was pierced through for your transgressions and crushed for your iniquities. Isaiah 53:5. He showed them the piercings through. The twelve were there except for two. Judas had hung himself and Thomas was not present.
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” John 20:24-25.
Why did he ask to see that? First, because the other disciples told him what they saw when they had seen the risen Lord. Next, because of the prophecy of Isaiah which was about the coming Messiah that He would be pierced through for your transgressions. But there is another one that linked in as part of the prophecy of Zechariah that Jesus had quoted in part to the disciples the night He was betrayed, but Thomas knew the rest of that passage.
After they had sung the closing Psalm of the Passover Seder, Jesus said to them, quoting the prophet Zechariah:
“You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” Matthew 26:31-32.
Now I will set forth to you the surrounding Scripture:
And one will say to Him, ‘What are these wounds between Your hands?’ Then He will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of those who love Me.’ Awake, O sword against My Shepherd and against the man, My Associate,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered.” Zechariah 13:6-7.
There you see the wounded hands and the sword that pierced His side. And all that received in the house of those who loved Me.
Jesus, My Associate and fellow companion, was well aware of the absence of Thomas at the gathering in the upper room and of his doubts about Jesus having been raised by Me from the dead. It is not good to separate yourself from your fellow believers. Do not neglect meeting together and encouraging one another. You will notice the other apostles noticed his absence and went out after him so that he was with them at their next gathering together. Too many times in churches today someone who was regularly there suddenly does not come and no one, not even the pastor, bothers to take the time to call them or find out the reason they are not there. And that relays to the missing one of the flock that no one cares that he or she is not there. But not so with Jesus. Remember that Jesus is the good Shepherd who was struck for the sheep and He came to seek out the lost and bring them home.
All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Isaiah 53:6.
He was not about to let Thomas go astray. Or you for that matter. When you are missing, He will come seeking you and knocking on your door.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20.
And as I sent Him so He sends you. Seek out and save the lost and do not forget those in the household of faith, like Thomas they can have down days when they need to be brought back and encouraged.
After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been locked, and stood in their midst and said, “SHALOM” “Peace to you.” John 20:26.
Notice, Jesus always comes midst. It was the same when He walked the earth as one like you and now. He could not escape notice, even as a young person of twelve years old, I make a point to tell you that Mary and Joseph found Him in the midst of the teachers.
When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. Luke 2:45-47.
And now He is the lamb in the middle of the throne. Everything is centered on Him. Make sure your life gives Him first place in everything.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. Colossians 1:15-18.
Whenever, wherever you gather in His Name, He is in your midst as your Shepherd and your great High Priest. He is the High Priest of your confession (homologia – speaking the same Word in agreement with Him) to make sure that your words, when they match My Words are performed. For when He is in your midst, He always takes you right into the Holy of Holies to My throne of grace. Now I think will understand this passage.
Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” Matthew 18:19-20.
I am listening and keeping record in My book of remembrance to reward you for gathering together to remember all I have done for you in Jesus.
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” Malachi 3:16-17.
And how do you encourage one another when you meet together in Jesus’ Name?
All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD, and Your godly ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power; to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations. Psalm 145:10-13.
The everlasting Covenant of Shalom is forever and will never be broken again for it is Jesus now in the amended and restated version, called the New Covenant (actually the Third Amendment and Restatement) is the One that made Covenant with Me as your representative, your great High Priest, King, Lord, and Shepherd and He will never break it.
And in turn He made Covenant with you at the night of the Last Supper with the bread of His body and the wine of His blood and I sealed you in Him with the Holy Spirit and commanded Jesus to lose nothing I have given Him but to raise you up on the Last Day. You in Him, He in Me, I in Him, He in you, and you in Me in the double Covenant of Shalom. Double Shalom. Great peace (shalom, shalom) have those who keep their minds stayed on Me through My Son.
But now let us return to the conversation Jesus had with His disciples when they gathered together in His Name so He had to come and be in their midst. That is a promise Jesus made to you that He always keeps. Wherever believers meet in His Name, He shows up in your midst to watch over My Word to perform it. Agree with Him.
Jesus wasted no time. After greeting all there with Shalom He turned immediately to the follower who needed His attention.
Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” John 20:26.
Thomas came forward, a bit embarrassed that Jesus knew exactly what he had been saying privately to the other disciples, but comforted and feeling special none the less. And he came and put his trembling hand into the nail marks and into the pierced side of his Savior.
I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for them.’ Jeremiah 33:8-9.
It was a supernatural and moving moment for all there. No eye was dry. It seemed so ordinary but so extraordinary to have their beloved Master there with them again showing that He truly is the Resurrection and the Life.
Thomas fell to his knees and lifted up his head and gazed into the eyes of Jesus and he answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
And he called Him correctly. For every knee shall bow before Him and every tongue declare that “Jesus Christ is Lord!” to My glory, My goodness in all I have given you in your Lord and Savior, Jesus the Messiah, the anointed One who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is Son of Man and Son of God. It has pleased Me that all fullness shall dwell in Him.
But Jesus had an answer that should go to every heart who has lived after Jesus ascended back to Me but sent you the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed they who did not see and believed.” John 20:28.
And that is every one of you. Blessed are the eyes of your heart because they see and blessed are the ears of your heart because they hear. Just like the disciples on the way to Emmaus who were constrained from recognizing Him in the flesh but recognized Him in the Word and the breaking of the bread. And that is how you know Him as well, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
You do not see the wind, but you know it is there by its works. And that is how you know I am there with you, by My Words and My Works as they come to pass in your midst. You also know Me by looking at the wonders of the earth that I have made—mountains, seas, rivers, blue skies and magnificent clouds, rain that falls and the water cycle, forests and fruit trees, all the garden plants, and all the intricacies and interactions of My creation. And you should marvel at My work in your own body that sustains itself and replenishes day by day by the work of My hand. Your existence and uniqueness speaks of My existence and My uniqueness. You are your own proof of My existence and that I am with you.
You have seen too much both physically and spiritually to ever doubt that I AM and that I am with you. We will be together forever but when you pass the test and cross the light line to My side of eternity you will see Me face to face and will know Me even as I know you.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12.
I love and wherever you are I am there with you in your midst. For your spirit is the temple of My Holy Spirit. Right in the midst of your innermost being is the access to the wellspring of salvation. And it there we meet as in a garden enclosed.
“A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a rock garden locked, a spring sealed up. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with nard plants, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices. You are a garden spring, a well of living water, and streams flowing from Lebanon.” Song of Songs 4:12-15.
And your answer?
“Awake, O north wind, and come, wind of the south; make my garden breathe out fragrance, let its spices be wafted abroad. May my Beloved come into His garden and eat its choice fruits!” Song of Songs 4:16.