believe2see

Think back two weeks ago. It’s the day before THE day. Yesterday was a nightmare; tomorrow will be unimaginable. The Followers are fearful, scattered, despairing, hiding. Are they being hunted? Will they be found? Surely they will suffer the same as their Master.

In less than one week, shouts of “Hosanna!” became cries of “Crucify!” He who is highly lifted up was lifted up on high; on a hill outside the city, the exalted One was exalted. On a cross, Glory was glorified and the penalty for a-world-in-sin was paid. “It is finished!” and redemption completed. Done.

But the cross is not the full story.

News! Early on the First Day, women come running. They have seen the Savior! (Can it be true?) John and Peter run! They return with news of an empty tomb, a removed boulder. . . . no Body found. A couple more hours, Friends return from a nearby town. They too have seen the Savior! (What is happening?)

An empty tomb is not the full story.

Sight! In the midst, in their hiding, in their can’t-believe-disbelief, JESUS! Alive. Risen. Glorified. Real! See, He appears through locked doors and unlocks minds to the Truth of salvation. Not only a cross, not enough an empty grave, but undeniable proof in physical form, the veracity of visibility, the tangibility in the testimony: Risen Messiah, Revealed. He who died now lives and forevermore!

But Thomas.

“Unless I put my finger in the nail-prints and thrust my hand in His side, I will not believe!”

One week later.

Again, into the midst, in their isolating, in their believing-but-still-shaking-their-heads reality — Jesus! Still alive. Ever risen. New Body. Really REAL! “Thomas, place your fingers here (see His outstretched hands), or put your hand in My side and believe!” My Lord and my God! “You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who believe in Me but have not seen.”

The testimony of the Apostles spread throughout the Roman Empire in the first century. Their writings found in the New Testament testify to the truth of Jesus’ Bodily Resurrection from the dead. Their seeing affirms our believing, and their eye witness accounts still call to us through two thousand years of human history: Believe to see!

. . . .but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

John 20:31