THE KING'S BUSINESS
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Thomas loved the Lord, for he had said ( 11: 16) "Let us also go that we may die with him," but he doubted. Did he think it was too good to be true? Do we sometimes thing that some ot the precious promises of God are too much for our feeble faith? To doubt is to play into the hands of Satan and to hurt the heart of our Lord. Hear His rebuke to Peter (Matt 14:31). Is He saying to any of us "O thou of lit- tle faith; wherefore didst thou doubt"? A (4) THE CONFESSION OF DEITY, vs. 26-31 "My Lord and my God" be v. 28. bo of Eight days have passed. The scene co is again in the upper room,-that sa- w cred room, where the doors were shut but the eyes were opened to see Him; where doubt was dispelled and peace th bestowed. bu Thomas is with them this time,- po doubting Thomas, yet loving Thomas, it with a h eart for his Lord. The Spirit led him to the gathering the next Lord's day. He has not been cast away, though h e has lost much through un· belief. None of that little band is to be lost save Judas, the traitor (John 17 : 12). Thomas had demanded the personal presence of the Lord, and the privilege of handling Him with his own hands, and now he is to have that privilege. The little band are again gathered for prayer and praise, and no doubt the thought in every heart was "Will He come?" Now comes one of those dramatic pictures of the Bible which are calcu– lated to stagger belief. Suddenly, again, J esus appears though the doors are shut, and answers the question in Thomas' heart with the invitation: "Put your finger into these wounded hands- wounded for you; thrust your hand into my side; be not faithless, but believing." Can this be God manifested in tbi flesh, condescending to the doubt of
Christ is the source of authority; the Holy Spirit is the instrument of power; every believer is the authorized agent to declare the message, the t erms of which are simple,-faith in the cru– cified, risen, ascended Son of God (Matt. 16: 19) "An(l I '''Ill µ;h•e unto thee the kev~ of thf" kinµ;flon1 of heaven; :-11ul '''h!lts'n– PVPr thou shalt l•ind on earth shall lte lioun•l ht hen,ren; n1ul " 'hntscU."''er thou !Othnlt loose on enrth shall be 1os"'1.-tl in hen-,•en." (2 Cor. 5:20) "NO"\.V then '\Ve nre nn1bnssn•lors for Christ. ns though Go1l clhl ltest"<"('h ynu by us; '''e Jll'ny you in Chrlst•s li4tend, be ye reeonei1ed to Gofl." (3) THE APOSTLE OF DOUBT, vs. 24, 25 "Except I shall see * * * I will not believe." v. 25. Thomas was not with the disciples upon the occasion of J esus' first ap– pearance. Why? Probably through unbelief and because of that he had missed a week of fellowship with his Lord and his brethren. His motto was "Seeing is believing," but with Christ it is "Believing is seeing" (v. 29) "Blessed are "the'' that hnYe not seen and yet have belieVed." Thomas had had abundant testimony to the fact of the resurrection. J esus Himself had foretold it (Matt. 16: 21) "Front that thne forth ht>i;:;au J e-sns to she'v unto his •lisci11les, ho"' that he must go unto JerusnJe1n, RJHl snfl'er nu1ny things of the ehll'rS tnul chief uriestl'C a1ul 11u:!rfbes. nn(l be killed, Jttul be rnisetl ng·nin the third day." Mary had borne testimony (John 20: 18); the Emmaus disciples had wit– nessed to the eleven, (including Thom– as, of course) regarding Jesus' pres– ence with them on the way and in the home (Luke 24:33-35); there was no excuse for Thomas' unbelief, as there is no excuse for unbelief in any be– liever. Unbelief is sin,-not a weakness only, but absolute sin; for we have the Bible, God's unerring, unimpeachable Word, the Word which He will verify to us always.
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