To Encourage You

John 20:24 “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin . . .”

One aspect of Bible study that can help us to understand what it says what it does is to remember that every single word that is in the Bible has a purpose.  God isn’t redundant in the way He communicates, unless redundancy is exactly what we need. He says exactly what He means to say – nothing extra, and nothing missing.  Jesus made this clear when He said this: “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18). When He said this, He was referring to the punctuation marks in the original autographs of Scripture.  Even they matter.  Even these smallest marks were placed on the page where they were placed for a purpose.  It’s all important. 

In another place we are told “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Notice the use of the word “All.”  It’s all critically important.  It’s all profitable for us, and we should be very careful lest we carelessly pass by any of it as we read and study. 

Which brings us to the verse above.  In this verse we are told the interesting fact that Thomas was called “the Twin.”  It was a nickname. Apparently, Thomas indeed had a twin, but nowhere in Scripture are we told anything about him (or her).  I wonder why?  Could it be that Thomas, a.k.a. “doubting Thomas” because He doubted the words of 10 of the disciples regarding the Resurrection, has many twins, spiritual twins, people just like him.  Maybe we’re meant to look at ourselves as we look at Thomas, for aren’t all of us exactly like him to one degree or another. Don’t we all – or at least haven’t we all – doubted God’s Word about one thing or another.  Perhaps we’ve doubted many of the things that it says. 

Many people read that God created the world in six days, but they doubt that. They’d have to see it to believe it, even though seeing it is impossible.  The Bible says that some people in Old Testament times lived over 900 years. How many people doubt that, if only because they’ve never seen anyone that old? Then the Bible says that God sent a world-wide flood that killed everyone on earth except for eight people.  But many people doubt that, because they’ve never seen such a flood.  And then there are others, like Thomas, that doubt the very words of Jesus.  Jesus clearly told the apostles that He would rise again on the third day after He died, but Thomas hadn’t seen this with his own eyes, so he doubted.  So do you believe He rose from the grave? If you don’t, if you doubt, you will never be born again to eternal life, because the Bible says that only if you “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9-10). 

Jesus said many other things that He intends for us to believe, for He is trustworthy above all men.  For example, He told us that He would never leave us nor forsake us. Do you believe His words in your darkest moments, or do you doubt?  He said that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one will ever come to the Father except through Him and Him alone (John 14:6). Many people don’t believe this, and others at least doubt it.  Jesus said “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3). It’s interesting that it was Thomas who immediately began questioning this statement.  Likewise, many people, very religious people, question it today. How many people do you know who have told you that no one can know whether or not they are going to heaven?  Maybe that’s your belief as well.  In other words, they (and perhaps you) doubt the very words of Jesus, who told us that we definitely can know, for we can take Him at His Word. 

Again, isn’t it interesting that we are told that Thomas had a twin, but we’re not told who it was.  Somehow, I don’t really doubt that one of the reasons is because we are meant to plug in our own name as an answer to who that person might have been.