090: Glen Davies - Exhortation: Thomas

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Welcome to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast. I'm Levi. And I'm Chris. Thank you so much for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help each one of us get the Bible in our daily news feed. And we post at the start of each week for you to listen with a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you're about to hear.

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   And now let's hear more about this week's talk. For the exhortation this weekend, we're listening to an exhortation that was given on May 10th, just a couple weeks ago, by our brother Glenn Davies at the Christ Church North Ecclesia in New Zealand. And for his exhortation, Brother Glenn is looking at the Apostle Thomas.

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   And one of the things that I found was interesting, why I believe this was sent in as a recommendation, was Brother Glenn is being very forthright about some of the struggles that he has and why he looked at Thomas. And frequently, Thomas, as an apostle, is looked down upon because of the apparent lack of faith he had after Christ's resurrection, where he makes the claim that, you know, unless I see the holes in Christ's hands and feet, I won't believe that he's been resurrected.

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   And for a lot of people, they look at that and see, well, he didn't have very much faith. He needed to see Christ and how much better are we that we believe in Christ without having actually seen him, unlike poor Thomas. And one of the points that Brother Glenn makes, and without stealing too much of the really interesting points that he makes during this exhortation, he makes the point that the perspective that we view Thomas may not be completely accurate.

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   That rather than it being a case of Thomas showing a lack of faith, Thomas had tremendous faith. And just in this instance, the questions that he was asking was something that is actually to be encouraged, that the faith that we're called to have with God and belief in Christ is not to be a blind faith, a faith that is devoid of all reason and logic, but instead something where you use the evidence of what we see in the world around us and in the creation, in our own lives and in the scriptures and fulfilled prophecy to build a foundation of our faith.

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   And then that faith is what allows us to then believe that Christ is going to return and that God is going to fulfill the promises that he made. He makes several examples in Bible characters, which I found to be really, really interesting. He pulls up a lot of the references and lets you pull those up with him, including a couple calls to make some Bible marking, which is always a good one.

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   This was a really encouraging exhortation. I found it personally to be an encouraging one. I work in computers and IT and think of myself as being a fairly logical and reasonable person. And some of the points that Brother Glenn is making, I found a lot of parallels in my own life of kind of how you question whether your faith is as strong as you think it should be.

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   But I found this exhortation to be an encouraging one to remind me that even if you have those moments where you're needing to look for evidence and proof to reinforce your faith, that looking for that doesn't mean you don't have the faith that you need. For me, I just found it to be an encouraging one.

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   It was a great suggestion. I hope that you find it as encouraging as well. As always, like I said, this one was a recommendation, which was awesome. I really appreciate that, getting exhortations from different ecclesias and from different parts of the world. We've got a couple from different parts of the United States and other countries internationally, which is awesome.

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    We're going to try to mix those in in the coming weeks. So if you have any of those suggestions, send the link if they're on your website. Send them our way so we can find our way in. We always appreciate that. We really live on those suggestions. We like trying to get different variety on the podcast for everyone.

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    So with that, we'll turn it over to our brother Glenn Davies for his exhortation on Thomas. My beloved brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ, once again, it's a pleasure to be here with you around the emblems of our Lord. And this morning, by way of exhortation, I wanted to take a little time to look at the Apostle Thomas.

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    Now, I often look on with envy when I see and hear my brethren talking together. They seem to have so much more faith than me. Getting excited about the signs of the times, such as the pandemic we're currently in the middle of, and voicing how certain they are that this is clearly the visible hand of God.

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    I, unfortunately, have a much more doubting nature. My sister-wife would probably describe it more as a sceptical outlook with an unhealthy dose of cynicism thrown in. I look at the COVID crisis and think that it may well be helping to line up the nations to bring about God's plan and purpose, but I'll reserve judgment until there's more concrete evidence of that.

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    I also often need to look again at the evidence for God's existence and support for the veracity of scriptures in order to reassure myself that it isn't just cleverly devised fables that I am following. Does this mean that I don't really have the faith needed to be a disciple of Christ? Faith looms so large throughout scripture as the key element of true discipleship.

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    Can we be acceptable to God if we have doubts and are always needing additional evidence to strengthen our faith? Have you ever doubted that you have the sort of faith that God requires? Maybe it's just me, but I am sure many of you grapple with this question at some point in your life, if not constantly.

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    It was thoughts like these that drew me to look at the Apostle Thomas, a man that history has dubbed Doubting Thomas. It seemed that here was a man with doubts like my own. Maybe I could find comfort in his experiences. But, having looked closely at the few brief mentions of this man over the last few weeks, I have discovered that he isn't in fact a man like me, but rather a man whom I need to strive to be like.

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    I think we actually do our brother Thomas a disservice by referring to him as Doubting Thomas. I believe he actually had a faith to match any of the worthies of old. I am going to suggest that we ought to rename our brother Aligos Thomas. Or maybe Thomas Aligos rolls off the tongue better.

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    But before we look at what the Greek word Aligos means, and why it is that I think Thomas was in fact just as faithful as many other Bible characters, let's first look at how he might have come to be known as Doubting Thomas. I think it comes from the fact that most people misunderstand what biblical faith is.

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    Many people unfortunately think that it is a blind and unquestioning faith. Even the dictionary defines faith as a strong or unshakable belief in something, especially without proof or evidence. Or, a conviction of the truth of certain doctrines of religion, especially when this is not based on reason. Richard Dawkins in his book The God Delusion states, Obviously, if you think that to be a faithful disciple of Christ, you need to have an unshakable belief without any rational proof or evidence, you would turn to the record of Thomas in John 20, and think, Here is a man of little faith, a doubter indeed.

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    The marvellous thing is, well, marvellous for me as someone who likes facts and evidence, is that this is not the sort of faith we have been called to at all. Come with me to Hebrews 11 and verse 1, where we find the use of the word Aligos. We read there, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence, or Aligos, of things not seen.

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    Here, Scripture tells us that faith requires evidence. Strong's also defines this word as, a proof by which a thing is proved or tested. Not only that, but the word in the verse substance also has the idea of a firm foundation or something concrete. Biblical faith is not an unquestioning, unreasoned faith. It is a faith supported and underpinned by evidence.

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    God himself has said that the evidence of his existence is so clearly and obviously seen in creation that we are without excuse if we deny it. Come with me to Romans chapter 1. Where that's stated.

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    And in Romans chapter 1, we read in verse 20, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. It's possible to look at the weight of evidence in creation and come to the rational and well-reasoned conclusion that there must be a God.

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    Some people struggle with this idea because there seems to be no need for faith if that is the case. Now Hebrews 11 again provides us with the answer to this apparent conundrum in verse 6, where we read, But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

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    Biblical faith not only involves believing that God exists, but also that he will reward us in the way he has promised. The examples of old clearly show this. God appeared to Abraham. Abraham had the evidence of his eyes to prove beyond doubt that God existed, and yet he was a man of faith.

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    Why? Because he still had to believe that God would do the things that he had promised. The things which he saw provided the evidence for the things which he couldn't see, that is, the promises that God had made to him. Look at all the faithful of old in the scriptures. They all had evidence that God existed, but they all had to believe, in faith, that God was a rewarder of them.

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    God has never expected us to believe that he will reward us without first providing evidence of his ability to fulfill his promises. Just look at the lengths that he went to in Egypt to prove his existence and his power to the children of Israel. Look how patient he was with Gideon to provide just one more piece of evidence in order to convince him to take his walk of faith.

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    With these thoughts in mind, let's come back to the story of Thomas and look at him anew, through the lens of scriptural faith, instead of the faith of Christendom. Now, although Thomas is mentioned in all the Gospels, in all but John, he is merely a name in the list of the apostles. In John, however, there are three occasions where he speaks, and we come to know a little about this man.

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    John 11.16 is the first of these. On hearing of the death of Lazarus, Jesus declares that they are to go up to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, to which Thomas responds, Let us also go, that we may die with him. Now, this is slightly confusing in the immediate context, as it appears Thomas is talking about dying with Lazarus.

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    However, if we take a step back and look at the wider context, he is actually talking about dying with Jesus. Turn back with me to John 10, just over the page, where we read about the experience of Jesus the last time he was in Jerusalem. In verse 31 of chapter 10, we read that after Jesus proclaimed that I and the Father are one, that the Jews took up stones to stone him.

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    Come over to verse 39, and we read, Therefore they sought again to take him. Due to these threats to his life, Jesus left Jerusalem, and went away beyond Jordan. Now, to get the context of Thomas' words, we need to look on the map and see that Bethany, the home of Lazarus, is only two miles from Jerusalem.

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    About 15 furlongs, as verse 18 of chapter 11 states, in the King James Version. Given the previous experience in Jerusalem, Thomas understood that by travelling back to the home of Lazarus, Jesus was putting his life at risk. And despite this risk, Thomas was willing to step up and put his life on the line with his Lord, and to encourage his fellow disciples to do likewise.

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    Was he willing to lay down his life based on a blind and unreasoned faith in Jesus? Thomas? No. During the preceding years, he had built his faith on the evidence and the facts that he had seen with his own eyes. The miracles he saw Christ perform, the words of truth he heard him speak.

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    Thomas had amassed enough allegos to build a foundation of faith so sure that he was willing to lay down his life for it. Now, obviously, he still misunderstood exactly what Christ's mission was at this time, but he was no different to all the other apostles. Despite these misunderstandings, brethren, make no mistake, scripture is telling us that here was a man of faith, a man willing to die for and with his Lord.

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    The second occasion is in John 14 in the upper room, if you want to turn over there. And in verse 4, Christ states, Whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know. To which Thomas replies, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? At this time, all the apostles were struggling with trying to comprehend what was about to happen and what Christ was talking about.

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    Thomas was the one that was willing to ask everyone else's questions out loud. Why? Because he wanted to make sure he knew and understood the facts and details correctly. He wanted his faith to be firmly grounded in Aligos. If he was putting his life on the line for his Lord, he wanted to make sure he had the facts straight.

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    Now, Christ doesn't reprimand him at all for asking this question. He just calmly responds with an answer. Now, this episode isn't recorded to show lack of faith on Thomas' part. It's recorded to show us what we all must do when we have questions, and that is we need to ask those questions in order that our faith might be built upon evidence and facts, and not on doubts and misunderstanding.

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    Now, the other thing we find in this chapter is that Thomas is not only a man that asked questions. He also listened and he learned. Look down to verse 8, and we see Philip ask, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. To which Jesus responds, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.

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    We'll come back to this later, because I think there is good evidence to show that Thomas was listening intently to these words and learning from them. It's so easy for us when we are involved in conversations like this to not really be listening at all, but rather just looking for another opportunity to speak.

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    Not Thomas. He asked his question, and then this man of faith was willing to be quiet and listen to the questions of others and the teaching of his Master, that he might add more layers of aligos to his foundation of faith. Let's now come to the last and most famous episode involving this man in John 20, if we turn over there.

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    Here, of course, we do see a man struggling with his faith and trying to make sense of the evidence of the preceding week. He was, after all, just a man like us. And which of us wouldn't have had our faith turned on its head by the events that had transpired? Before we get to Thomas, though, I think it's really important to note what Christ does in verse 20.

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    We read there, When he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. He showed them his hands and his side. He openly offered them, without prompting, the visible physical evidence that it truly was him that had been resurrected. There was no expectation on Christ's part that they should blindly accept that he had been raised from the dead.

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    He gave them indisputable evidence. Go through the next few verses in your own time to verse 29 and you will see that sight or seeing is mentioned some five times. This is not a story about blind faith.

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    Now, obviously, Thomas isn't willing to accept the word of his fellow disciples. He wants to see the evidence for himself. Now, he probably lets himself down at this point with his emphatic proclamation that unless he sees for himself, he will never, ever believe, as the original Greek indicates. But again, remember, here was a man whose world had been turned upside down.

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    His master had been brutally killed and now his friends were asking him to accept their word that he was alive again. Now, I did struggle a little looking at these verses and trying to figure out if there was any justification at all for Thomas' insistence on this point. Now, by random chance, Thomas, the CEO of the company I work for, sent around a list of 68 pieces of advice that a 68-year-old man had posted.

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    He had found it helpful and suggested that we should all take the time to read it. Now, many of the bits of advice were almost directly out of Proverbs, so it made for quite an interesting read. But one of the 68 pieces of advice really stood out in relation to the things I had been thinking about with Thomas, and that is, extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence to be believed.

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    Let me say that again. Extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence to be believed. Now, those that think that Christian faith is a blind, unquestioning faith might balk at this and say, no, in order to be faithful, we just need to believe, even if there is a lack of evidence. But having looked at this chapter and pondered these things, I think that Thomas is here to teach us that this statement is actually correct and acceptable in God's eyes.

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    Extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence in order to be believed. In understanding and accepting this, we actually find one of the keys to developing the sort of faith that pleases God, one with that solid foundation spoken of in Hebrews 11, verse 1. Why do I say that? Well, surely, here was an extraordinary claim.

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    A man that was crucified is alive and walking around again. Here also, we have a man demanding extraordinary evidence of that claim. He not only wanted to see with his own eyes, he wanted to touch the wounds also. What is Christ's response? Well, interestingly, he doesn't immediately answer Thomas' request. He makes him wait for eight days.

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    Now, this is perhaps an indication that Thomas was not wholly correct in his attitude and his dismissal of his brethren. He had some things to learn and Christ left him to wrestle with his thoughts for a full eight days. And this must have seemed like an eternity to Thomas. It's a fitting number, of course, the number of circumcision and new beginnings.

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    And certainly, Thomas was going to be a new man on this day. On this day, he was going to have the evidence he needed to make the foundation of his faith so strong that he would go on to die for his Lord. What does Christ do when he appears to Thomas? Does he start by reprimanding him for his lack of faith?

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    No. He calmly turns to him and provides the evidence that he had asked for. Christ knew that this was an extraordinary thing that he was expecting his disciples to believe and therefore, he was willing to patiently provide that evidence for them. Just like his father had been willing to provide extraordinary evidence to the likes of Israel and Gideon when he had called on them to believe extraordinary things.

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    He goes on to state to Thomas, Now, be not faithless, but believing. Thomas did have to learn that we can't always demand proof and evidence for everything. We all have to grow in our faith to the extent that the foundation we have established with the visible evidence allows us to believe in the unseen things that God has promised.

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    Christ gave Thomas what he needed in order to do that. What is Thomas' reaction? While presented with the evidence he sought, his faith is renewed. He then responds to Christ with, My Lord and my God. Trinitarians, of course, have no issue with this verse, but we like to look for some way of explaining this in a non-Trinitarian way.

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    There are, of course, some echoes back to Zechariah 12 and 13 with the God manifestation intimated in the words of chapter 12 and verse 10 where God says that in piercing Christ they had pierced him. While there is definitely a connection here, these verses are tied to an unfaithful Israel seeing and acknowledging Christ.

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    And in contrast as a man of faith, I think Thomas' mind was primarily elsewhere, in two different places maybe. Firstly, I think the answer to Philip's question in the upper room, which had probably gone through his mind more than once in the preceding eight days, suddenly came into crystal clear focus. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.

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    With the evidence before him, the foundation of his faith is locked firmly in place and the principles of God manifestation all made perfect sense to him now. In looking upon his risen Lord, he was seeing a perfect representation of God himself. But perhaps even higher in his thoughts were the words of a faithful man of old who had a similar epiphany.

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    Now I think scripture takes pains to direct us back to exactly where Thomas' mind was at this time and we find the clue in his name, Thomas, also called Didymus. Now biblical names are always ripe with meaning. What does Thomas mean? Well it comes from a Hebrew word meaning twin. What does Didymus mean?

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    Well it's just the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word, so it also means twin. So it seems that Thomas was probably a twin. But why does scripture take pains to point this out? And why are we not given any indication of who his twin might be? There are many suppositions about who his twin brother or sister might be, but if it was important for us to know, we probably would have been told.

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    If, however, we see Thomas as the faithful man that he was, maybe God is prompting us to ask the question, is there some other reference to a twin in the Bible that a man like this might look to for inspiration? Well, there aren't too many twins mentioned in scripture, so it isn't too hard to find the one that inspired Thomas' words at this time.

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    Come back with me to Genesis 32 and I think we see here where the mind of this faithful man was at this time. And of course in Genesis 32 we have the story of the man Jacob returning back to the land. Jacob, a twin, a man of great faith, but one who also wanted to see the clear evidence of God's hand in his life.

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    A man that God patiently worked with over many years to lay that foundation of evidence. And we see in verse 30 Jacob's own epiphany where we read Jacob called the name of that place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. Here the concepts of God manifestation, the very essence of the truth, come sharply into focus for him.

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    His wrestling with the angel in some ways is just symbolic of the wrestling Jacob had been doing all his life, trying to construct and strengthen his evidence-based faith. In looking upon the angel and seeing the mercy he has shown him, he finally sees and understands the mercy and patience that God has been showing him all these years.

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    Now I believe that Thomas is our New Testament cameo of Jacob. The God that patiently worked with Jacob and helped him build his unshakable faith is the same God that was willing to work with Thomas. Christ, as his perfect representative, was willing to extend the same mercy and patience that was extended to Jacob.

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    John chapter 20 and verse 28 is Thomas' penuel moment. He realized that like Jacob, he had been wrestling with God and like Jacob, he had also now seen God face to face but his life was preserved. Now if you don't have a link next to John 20 verse 28, back to Genesis 32 verse 30, I suggest that you add it in.

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    I think there's a wonderful exhortation for us when we see this link. Now I think we tend to confuse the way that Christ deals with the scribes and the Pharisees in Israel and rebukes them for their lack of faith with how he deals with his disciples. To the former, he refused to give any further evidence when it was requested of him.

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    And from this, we can unfortunately draw the erroneous conclusion that if we likewise are in need of more evidence, then he's going to rebuke us also in the day of judgment. So maybe we're just wasting our time trying to follow him now. And that is why the example of Thomas is so incredibly powerful because it teaches us that Christ deals differently with those that have the right spirit, those that have ears to hear.

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    Now if this was not the case, his response to Thomas would have been along the lines of, O ye of little faith, if ye believe not Moses' words, how will ye believe even if one rose from the dead? It's absolutely critical that we see this distinction. There will be times in all of our lives when our faith grows weak, and we need to know that we can come to our God without fear and ask for his help in building that faith back up.

69. 29:53

    Just as the man asked of Christ in Matthew 9 24, help thou mine unbelief. When we stop viewing Thomas as a doubter and a faithless man, when we instead see the clear link between this faithful man and the faithful man Jacob, we get a much better understanding of the faith that we have been called to, and the patience and mercy of our God towards us, and his patience and willingness to help us develop that same faith.

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    We no longer have to question our faith if we need to keep looking for evidence of God's existence, and of his hand at work in our lives, or if we need to be constantly questioning in order to try and get a better grasp on the things we have been called to believe. God wants us to believe beyond doubt that he exists, because if we can't grasp hold of the evidence for this, which is clearly and abundantly seen all around us, how can we hope to have faith in the unseen things, the things that he has promised to do for us in the future?

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    And our God hasn't just provided us with one piece of evidence. He has provided layers of evidence in creation, in scripture, in prophecy, in the nation of Israel. Brother Islip Collier describes it as cumulative evidence in his book Fox Day, in which he goes to great lens to show how small pieces of evidence all combine together to amass an extraordinary amount of evidence in support of the Bible's claims.

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    Brethren, whenever our faith seems weak, rather than doubting our worthiness as disciples, we should instead turn to God and ask him to strengthen our faith, and take the time we need to remind ourselves of the abundant evidence that God is. What an amazing comfort we get from this faithful man, Thomas. He strove to know and understand and truly see his Lord, that his faith might be a sure foundation.

73. 32:14

    And Christ patiently and mercifully dealt with him to help him in that journey. journey. And like Thomas, we pray that as we progress through this journey, God will bring to reality the words of him 165 in our life, that we might slowly and surely live more by faith and less by sight. As we look to the emblems on the table each week, we see perhaps the most extraordinary evidence provided to us by the Father in order that we might believe and extraordinary claim.

74. 32:52

    God has promised us eternal life, we who are sinners and worthy of nothing but death. And as evidence of that extraordinary claim, he was willing to send his only begotten son that we might believe. As we look to that evidence, surely we are inspired to echo the words of Jacob, for in our Lord, we too have seen God face to face and are preserved.

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