Believing Is More Than Seeing

Thomas, one of the disciples, had refused to believe that Jesus was alive unless he had physical evidence. A week later, Jesus confronted him with His wounded hands and side, rebuking him for refusing to believe. The evidence was so overwhelming that Thomas had no option but to admit that Jesus was both Lord and God. His refusal to believe was defeated; he believed because of what he saw.
 
But Jesus did not agree that Thomas’ example of demanding a physical sign should be the normal route to faith. Instead, faith should be based on believing the truth about Jesus from those who had seen Him. He said that there would be many people who would not see Him physically, but would be glad to trust what eye-witnesses said about Him. Indeed the whole future of the church would depend on people believing what the Apostles said about Jesus. That kind of believing is real faith which God will always reward and bless. We have Jesus’ promise!
 
Many people have never heard the eye-witness evidence of the Apostles who saw Jesus after His resurrection. They do not really know His character or why He came to earth, died and rose again. Wonderfully, all they need to know about Jesus has already been written for us in the Bible; in particular, what the Apostles recorded in the New Testament. No other information is needed. The task of every person who believes in Jesus is to release that information to a Christless world. There is no need for God to prove Himself in some new way: all we need to do is to believe in Jesus through what is already written. When our friends do that, they will be saved and become children of God. So telling other people about Jesus is the most important thing we can do for them. As Romans 10:17 says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”