April 24 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

John 20:26–29

Devotional

After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to the unbelieving Thomas. Thomas would believe that Christ was alive, under certain conditions. He wanted proof. He first had to see, then touch; first we must feel; first we need this and then that. In that way Thomas was a bother to himself. That is how every person and also God’s children are by insisting on conditions that have to be met.

Conditions are the crutches a spiritually paralyzed man will lean on. Man can easily have demands which must be met before he will believe. This is nothing more than Arminian heresy because faith is then made dependent upon self-imagined conditions. We think that if these conditions are met, then we will believe. But faith is not because of man’s will. Furthermore, God will not satisfy our demands. He will not meet our conditions.

In his unbelief, man can encounter all kinds of struggles. Unbelief causes inner turmoil. Unbelief entangles people in hardships and spiritual darkness. Thomas had a hard time when he was caught in his unbelief. He was alone and neither could he be helped with the faith of another. He needed to believe and yet he could not. He was entangled in his own unbelief.

There is a great difference between the unbelief of one who is born again, and of one who is not born again. The latter does not suffer spiritual darkness and affliction because of his unbelief. But Thomas had placed all his hopes on Christ. In that hope everything stands or falls for a child of God. Then the snares of unbelief lead into darkness. Thomas experienced a truly depressing condition in which he could not deliver himself. But still his depressing circumstances were not his worst problem. His deepest problem was that He did not trust the word of God anymore. When God’s faithfulness is mistrusted, His Name is desecrated. Yes, at the heart of the matter, unbelief is dishonoring to God. In this way we can understand why old writers called unbelief the greatest sin. We can also understand why Christ does not show compassion to Thomas in his affliction but rather admonishes him. The Lord can have no compassion with self-constructed conditions. That is why the miracle is so great that Christ visits an unbelieving Thomas. He still visits those who doubt. Those who live in unbelief would have nothing to say if the Lord allowed them to stumble forever on their own conditions.

If you understand these matters by grace, ask God to be delivered from yourself. Ask for a blind faith. For blessed are they that have not seen and have yet believed. Blessed are those who have to stumble over their own conditions and demands and need to be helped as helpless ones.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.