THE SEEING IS BELIEVING BELIEVERS!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 16, 2019.

SUBJECT: THE SEEING IS BELIEVING BELIEVERS! 

Memory verse: "The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." (John 20 vs 25.)

READ: John 20 vs 24 - 29:

20:24: Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 

20:25: The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.

20:26: And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" 20:27: Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."

20:28: And Thomas answered and said to Him. "My Lord and my God!" 

20:29: Jesus said to him, "Thomas because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

INTIMATION:

To “believe” is to be persuaded of, and hence, to place confidence in, to trust, and it signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence. To “see” is to perceive or observe with the eyes. So many people in the world today will hardly believe anything until they see a proof. Even in the Christendom many are in this category. I called them the “seeing is believing believers.” These are the believers ruled by their sense knowledge. Until they factually see an evidence, a collaboration, or substantiation, they will not believe. 

Now, no one has seen God, no one can see Him. And because He is unseen, the “seeing is believing believers” can hardly trust in God or the efficacy of His Word, unless there is a proof. Such people hardly have divine encounters because of their unbelief. The Apostle John, the apostle closest to Jesus, knows that the foundation of our fellowship and relationship with Lord lie in our believe in Him, hence his frequent use of the verb in his Gospel more than in any other of the gospels: Matthew uses the verb ten times, Mark ten times, Luke nine times, but John ninety-nine times.

Have you ever wished you could actually see Jesus, touch Him and Hear Him speak to you or hear His words? Are there times you want to sit down with Him and get His advice or get clarification or confirmation of what He said in the Scripture? That is to say you want His physical presence. But God’s plan is wiser. He has not limited Himself to one physical body; He wants to be present with us at all times. Even now He is with you in the form of the Holy Spirit. You can talk to Him, and you can find His words to you in the pages of the Bible. If you believe, He can be as real as He was to Thomas in the passage we read today.

Thomas was a sense knowledge believer. He had to see in order to believe. His senses had to be satisfied. He could not take the Word of God independent of his senses. We are confronted continually with that type of believer as majority of Christians are in that category. But remember the word of Jesus to Thomas; “Do not be unbelieving, but believing," and “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The “seeing is believing believers” will want the symptoms of the ailment disappear completely before they believe their divine healing. They hardly believe in the finished work of Christ in their lives as stated in Isaiah 53 vs 4 - 5; “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows....and by His stripes we are healed.” Some people think they would believe in Jesus if they could see a definite sign or miracle. But Jesus says we are blessed if we can believe without seeing. We have all the proof we need in the words of the Bible and the testimony of believers. A physical appearance would not make Jesus any more real to us than He is now.

God our Creator knows how humans are ruled by their senses, and in His infinite and great grace came down into the realm of the senses in the person of Christ to associate with us. Christ was offered as a sacrifice in the full glare of the people, therefore, they saw Him die on the cross, buried, and on the third day rose from the dead, and appeared among the disciples, that they may see Him, hear Him, and feel Him, to satisfy their sense knowledge.

The beloved apostle John declares in First John 1 vs 1 - 3, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also will have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ."

Now, take note of what he said, "That which we have seen and heard." That is sense knowledge evidence. This was common among believers in the early church. During the first fifteen years, the early church lived very largely in the realm of sense knowledge faith. Even now, we have many today that cannot believe beyond what their senses register. God allowed the early believers to see signs and wonders on the day of Pentecost because they were babes, just newborn in the Christendom. They new nothing of the finished work of Christ. None of them believed or knew about His substitutionary work. That was to come later through the revelation Christ gave to the apostle Paul. The revelation to the Apostle Paul has been recorded in the New Testament of the Bible, and is available for all of us. 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, do not be unbelieving, but believing! Though God is unchanging, still doing His signs and wonders, but now God will not excuse any unbelief because you have not seen. We have great cloud of witnesses in the passages of the Bible, and all around us. If God has said it, believe it, and it will surely manifest in your life as said.  Remember, "all things are possible to him who believes" ( Mark 9 vs 23), and, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (Luke 1 vs 45). Therefore, “Believe in the LORD your God, and you so shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” (Second Chronicles 20 vs 20.)

Prayer: Abba Father, Your Word is truth, and in You all things consist. Endue me with the spirit of faith in You and Your Word, that all things will be possible to me in You, O Lord, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!