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"Seeing is believing" is a statement that we make that means only physical or concrete evidence is convincing. In John 20:24-31, Thomas, a disciple of Jesus, said he would never believe that Jesus rose again from the dead unless he saw Jesus Himself and saw the marks on His hands. Jesus then appeared to Thomas 8 days later, and Thomas replied, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). Thomas believed after seeing Jesus.
Although the phrase "Seeing is believing" is common, "Seeing is not always believing, and believing is not always seeing."
Seeing is Not Always Believing
CS Lewis once stated that at the end of an investigation of the life of Jesus, you can only come up with one of three conclusions intellectually (Mere Christianity):
- Jesus is a Liar.
- Jesus is a Lunatic.
- Jesus is Lord.
There are many people in the world after studying the historical facts of Jesus that would say He lived, but He wasn't God. He was simply a prophet. They would claim that Jesus lied about being God.
There are others who literally saw Jesus and His miracles and didn't believe. They would say He was just an ordinary guy. They claimed He was a lunatic by identifying Himself with God (see John 10:22-42).
I, like Thomas, would say that Jesus is Lord, He is God. When Thomas called Him, "My Lord and my God!" he was giving the two words and titles of the highest possible honor. He was affirming that Jesus is truly divine.
When Christians say, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord," we are affirming Jesus as not only a historical person but also God Himself. We declare Jesus is God because...
1. He said He was God.
John 10:30 -- "I and the Father are one."
John 8:58 -- "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."
2. Other Places in Scripture directly call Him God.
John 1:18 - "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known."
John 1:1 -- "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."
3. Jesus acted like God.
- Jesus calmed a storm by His voice (Mark 4:35-41).
- Jesus raised people to life (Mark 5:21-43).
- Jesus knew where Nathanael was before He saw Him (John 1:43-51).
There are many more miracles that Jesus did that are mentioned, and there are many more that He did that are not mentioned (John 20:30-31). In Thomas' situation, Jesus not only walked through walls (John 20:26), but He also accepted Thomas' claim of calling Him "My Lord and my God" without hesitation (John 20:28-29). He didn't argue with Thomas and tell him, "No, Thomas, I'm not God." He simply agreed.
Thomas saw an amazing thing happen right before his eyes.
Believing is Not Always Seeing
You and I haven't seen Jesus face to face like Thomas did, but "Believing is not always seeing." In fact Jesus says to Thomas, "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed (John 20:29; see Hebrews 11:1)."
The truth is we don't have to "see to believe." We can believe by what we read in the Scriptures, and by having faith that if Jesus said it, so be it.
If you believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, is God Himself, you can take great comfort in knowing your eternal security is rested in Him because He came and redeemed us from our sins.
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