THOMAS THE HONEST DOUBTER
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
JOHN 11:14-16 14:5-8 20 24-29 21 1-2
Key Verse
“Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing”.
John 20:27
INTRODUCTION.
Sometimes you expect certain things to be the way you feel and it does not work out. Sometimes you see a beautiful looking banana or a beautiful mango or beautiful grapes and you know that they are supposed to give you all kinds of sweet flesh and juices. But sometimes you expect to get a reward from eating the fruit which is not the real kind of reward that is good for you. You may think that eating that nice tasting fruit is the best for you but it really might not be the best. But your belief is very important and sometimes your belief is tested. You have to be careful though for what seems reasonable to you might not be what is best for you.
We are studying today about a disciple of Jesus who was well versed in Scripture and he like other people in the nation expected that God would send a Messiah that would take up arms and fight the Romans and the other nations that were giving the nation of Israel a very difficult time. When God sent Jesus to earth to be the Savior and Redeemer the Romans were ruling the people of Israel and the people of Israel did not like them at all. They did not like the people of Israel either for they thought that the Jews were too rebellious.
Thomas and the rest of the disciples were called by Jesus to be His specially chosen people and they did accept the call of Jesus and they followed Him faithfully. They learned a lot about Jesus and they developed faith that Jesus was the promised Messiah the Son of God. But for most of them the faith was pretty weak because the image in their mind as to what the Redeemer and Savior and Messiah would do did not match up with what God intended the Messiah Jesus to do. But the disciples loved Jesus. They knew that He was special and they followed Him and listened to His teachings. They knew that the rulers of the nation did not like Jesus because He was doing great miracles and other things to help the poor and He taught the people so even the weak could understand the true teachings of God the Father. The rulers did not like that for they wanted to keep power in the nation to themselves but they did what God did not like. So they were afraid of Jesus and they tried to kill Him. But Jesus slipped away from them when He saw their murderous intentions and He went somewhere else outside of Jerusalem to teach the people in those other places.
But Jesus’ best friend was sick and had died. His name was Lazarus and Jesus determined to go to raise him from the dead and show the glory of God and the power of God. But the disciples were afraid to go to Bethany where Lazarus had lived because they knew that it was near to Jerusalem and the rulers of the nation would learn that Jesus was nearby and they would come to kill Him. But Jesus insisted on going and Thomas told the disciples that they should all go with Jesus and die with him. Thomas was full of courage, and he loved Jesus, and he was determined to follow Jesus even if it meant his death.
We learned that after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead the rulers of the nation did try to plot to kill Jesus but they could not succeed at that time.
Later on we see another incident with Thomas where Jesus was in an Upper Room celebrating the Passover meal with the disciples. Jesus knew that after this meal was finished the rulers would try to arrest Him and crucify Him but He was not afraid of them for Jesus knew He could not be killed until the right time that was predicted by the prophets. He taught the disciples that they should not let their hearts be troubled. They should believe in God the Father and they should believe in Jesus Christ the Son for they had all power and would protect them. Then Jesus told the disciples that He would go away from them soon back to His Father for He and the Father would prepare homes for them so that they would be with them all the time.
At this point Thomas spoke up again and told Jesus that they did not know where He was going and they therefore could not know the way that He would take. Jesus taught the great lesson as a result of this question by Thomas that He was the way, the truth and the life and that nobody could come to God the Father except through Him. God the Father was in Jesus and Jesus was in God the Father so they should know Jesus and they should know God the Father. So because of Thomas question we know that the only way to God the Father was through Jesus. The only truth in the world was the truth that Jesus brought to men. If men wanted life eternal life they would have to come to Jesus for that. But the disciples did not know Jesus as well as they should have and they did not expect that He would be crucified on the cross even though the prophets had predicted that this would happen to the Messiah. The disciples did not expect the crucifixion and the death of Jesus. But after that happened Jesus was resurrected and He appeared to the disciples and they were very happy. But Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus appeared to them and when they told him Jesus had appeared to them he did not believe them and he told them that unless he saw the prints of the nails in Jesus’s hands when He was nailed to the cross and unless he saw the hole in Jesus’s side from the spear that the soldier had plunged into Jesus’ side to make sure Jesus was dead on the cross he would not believe that Jesus was resurrected.
So Jesus came into the room even though the door was locked and appeared to Thomas and told him he should check on the hole in His side and check on the nail prints in His hands to make sure that he believed in the resurrection. Jesus told Thomas to be honest and be believing. Thomas did not even investigate the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and the hole in His side and he simply said the great declaration of Faith, “My Lord and my God”. Thomas knew he had made a great mistake when he did not believe the testimony of the other disciples about the resurrection. He was a honest believer. He had doubted but sibce he was honest his doubt was now gone.
So because of Thomas’s behaviour we learn many lessons about Jesus. We learned that He had really died and He was really resurrected. He had a real body after His resurrection and this body could do great things like coming into the room where the disciples were hidden in fear even though the door was locked.
We learn that the marks of Jesus’s crucifixion would always be on Him even when He was in heaven and when He came back to earth to rule the world…He loved people so much that He would give His life for them. So we learn all these great lessons as well as others simply because Thomas was doubting. People therefore are not correct when they like to call Thomas “doubting Thomas” and forget his great contribution to our knowing Jesus and God the Father.. But remember that if Thomas had not doubted and confronted Jesus with his opinion we would not know what Jesus’ important teaching to benefit us when He said “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed”.
So because Thomas was a honest doubter who really loved the Lord and who was not afraid to ask Jesus the questions that he did, we have received great lessons from Jesus.
We know that we should love Jesus because He loved us and gave His life for us. We learned that He was resurrected and would go to the Father and that He and the Father would prepare great homes for us so that we would live with them forever and would have the blessings of eternal life. We learn that God the Father loved us and was waiting to welcome us into His family. The marks of what Jesus suffered for us would remain in His body and we will always reemnber His great love for us and His gracious actions on our behalf.
So let us trust Jesus and God the Father and whenever we have any questions let us ask Him without any fear for He loves us and will teach us and bless us.