The Exchanged Life Message #2, “Thomas”, Emmaus Road & Upper Room” Ed Miller, June 28, 2024
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Listen to the audio above while following along in the transcript below which is also available for download at www.biblestudyministriesinc. com
As we look again in this precious book and we seek again the revelation of our Lord, I remind you of that principle of Bible study that is absolutely indispensable, at that is total reliance on God’s Holy Spirit. God has given us this precious book, God breathed, and He desires to breathe on it again. He wants to show Himself; He wants to show us the Lord Jesus. At the end of the day we must come as little babies, and just say, “Lord, we’ve been through the academics, we’ve done the word studies, we’ve looked at all that man’s nature can bring us, but now we need Your illumination. Open our hearts, open our eyes, open the word and unveil the Lord Jesus. That’s what we need; only He can do that.
Before we go to prayer, I want to share a little verse that has touched my heart. At the end of Ezekiel 40 through almost the end, he has that great vision of the temple. It’s called Ezekiel’s temple. Some refer to it as the millennial temple, and some are not sure if it’s literal or whether it’s just spiritual/figurative, but whether it is or not, there’s a detail that is given that’s very instructive, I think, and as it describes this temple all filled with the glory of the Lord and it’s spiritual dimensions, it describes the worshipper as they come into this temple to worship the Lord, and Ezekiel 46:9 says, “When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the way of the south, shall go out by the way of the north gate. No one shall return by the way of the gate by which he entered. He shall go straight out.”
I know part of that is that God is a God of order, and that He is very orderly, and I think that’s part of it, but I think there’s also a spiritual principle, and that is that nobody who comes to worship the Lord in reality leaves by the same door by which they entered; we don’t go out the same way that we came. When the wise men truly saw Jesus, the Bible says they went back by another way. Let’s just trust the Lord to show us Himself, and then take us out by a different door. Let’s pray…
Our Father, once again we thank You. Thank You for gathering Your children this weekend in this place, and we just pray as we touch Christ in each other, as we fellowship together as we look in Your word, as we lift our ear toward heaven and desire to hear a word from You, that you would indeed unveil the Lord Jesus to our hearts in a living way. Take us individually and corporately in a forward step in the heart knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We trust You for this and we thank You in advance that You are doing it, and that You are going to continue to do it. We look to You now in these moments of meditation, and pray that You would protect our brothers from all that’s flesh and blood and all that’s from man, and that You would be pleased to reveal Yourself. We ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Well, I think as you know, or you will know now, this weekend, our theme, I’ve just called it “The Exchanged Life”. God has been burning that reality in my heart for some months now. Another way to say it is, “Union with the risen and ascended Savior, who has come to indwell us, who lives in our hearts; union with Christ, life from heaven for life on earth— the exchanged life.
To get this before our hearts, we’re looking at a block of time that we’re calling forty days plus, plus one or two or three; it depends on how you look at it. I’m speaking of those forty days between the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and His ascension into heaven. During that forty days, eleven times He appeared and disappeared to some of His disciples. Theologians call that the post resurrection appearances of our Lord Jesus. Obviously, in an abbreviated weekend like we have, we can’t look at all eleven appearances; I don’t have light on all eleven, anyway, and many of them aren’t even revealed.
I said forty plus one or two or three. Let me read that scripture again where we get that plus one. It’s 1 Corinthians 15:3, “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the scripture, and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve and after that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. And then He appeared to James, and then to all the apostles,” and here’s the verse, “Last of all, as to one untimely born,” and that expression I’ll touch on in another connection is the word abortion, “as to one aborted, he appeared to me, also.” I’m calling attention to this because it’s about seven years later. He appeared after His resurrection eleven times and then seven years later He appeared to the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road, and Paul puts himself in the list. He appeared to Mary, He appeared to Thomas, He appeared to Peter, He appeared to James, He appeared to five hundred, and He “appeared to me”. He said, “Last of all…,” and we know literally he wasn’t last. He appeared other times. He appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos, and so on. How could Paul put himself in the list? He wasn’t there. Why did he say, “Last of all…,” when he wasn’t last? I’m suggesting that this is the final preparation; it’s last of all in terms of final.
Last night, and I’ll just sort of mention this and then we’ll move on, we looked at three possible reasons for His post-resurrection appearances. Number one is in Acts 1, that by many infallible proofs He might show Himself alive; He appeared that He wasn’t dead. That’s the first reason He appeared; He is not dead—He’s alive. The second reason is that He kept disappearing. They were used to seeing Him with these eyes (natural), but now it’s going to be different. They are going to have to be related to an invisible God, and He was getting them used to that; He’s there, He’s not there but He’s still there, He’s in the room but we can’t see Him and then He shows up and He’s there. They were thinking that He’s not dead, but He’s gone. He was about to teach them that He is neither dead nor gone, but He’s alive and alive in me; He’s alive and alive in you. They were to learn that new truth at Pentecost when He came in the Person of the Holy Spirit to baptize His church, to baptize His people, and to come and live in them in a new way, a living way—His life for their life. I’m suggesting that He appeared during these forty-one days to show that He wasn’t dead, to show that He wasn’t gone, and here’s where we are this weekend, to prepare them.
Those appearances are preparation. They needed to be prepared for a union with an indwelling Christ they knew nothing about and never experienced. The One that used to stand in front of them is now going to live inside of them. His life is going to replace their life. They knew nothing about that. God used these appearances to prepare them for that wonderful union that they were about to have. What we’re doing is that we’ve selected several of these appearance, so that we can hold that preparation, “How does this prepare me for that union? And how does this experience prepare me?” And I’m very anxious to get to, “Last of all He appeared to Me.” It’s last because it’s final, the final preparation. After we learn what Mary has to teach us and what Peter has to teach us and what Thomas has to teach us and what the Emmaus Road has to teach us and what the Upper Room has to teach us, and we’ve learned those principles, Paul says that you need to know one more thing. Without this you’ll never enter into that vital union, that I’m neither dead nor gone but alive and alive in you. You need this final preparation. Every Christian needs the Road to Damascus. We need that; that’s final preparation. If you miss that, you’ll struggle all your life trying to understand the exchanged life. We need that final preparation. “So, last of all, as to one who is undeserving, one who looks at his life, his past life as nothing but an abortion, last of all by His mercy He appeared to me.” God tells his story so that we might have the final preparation.
Last night we looked at the first story of Mary Magdalene, and the principle I think is in John 20:17 when our Lord Jesus said, “Stop clinging to Me.” She had been clinging to Him in the flesh, and she needed to be cured from that because in the new relationship, in the new union, there would be no clinging in the flesh. Our Lord Jesus, by His great mercy, didn’t touch her and He didn’t hold her hand and He didn’t give her chills or goosebumps and didn’t put His hand on her shoulder and didn’t knock her over. He just said, “Mary.” And she said, “I see it! Teacher, you’ve taught me. I’ve seen something wonderful; it’s a spiritual revelation.” She ran back to the disciples and the last recorded words of Mary Magdalene in the Bible, “I have seen the Lord,” and with that she walks off the pages of the scriptures. “I have seen the Lord.” Preparation number one, if I’m going to understand this union I cannot be like Mary. She was finally delivered. She did not know His life. To her He was dead, and it was her life, and she was pouring out her ministry and her life. By the revelation of His life, she was set free from her life; it was an exchange. It was no longer her life serving Him. It was no longer her life explaining circumstances. It was no longer her life, the source of energy and strength. Now she had seen His life. That’s not all the eggs; that’s just the first step in preparation toward this great truth that I’m calling the exchanged life. So much for review.
That brings us this morning, then, to the second story I want us to look at, and that is the appearance of our Lord Jesus to Thomas. How does His appearance to Thomas prepare our hearts and take us forward in that preparation so that we can have a living union with the One who is neither dead nor gone but alive, and alive in us? Before I look at the spiritual principle, let me give you the background. I’m sure most of you know all of this but if I state it we’ll all be together. If you want a record of Thomas you won’t go to Matthew. If you want a record of Thomas you won’t go to the gospel of Mark. If you want a record of Thomas you won’t go to the gospel of Luke. They mention him but that’s all they do; they just say his name, “He’s one of the twelve.” So, if you want a record of Thomas you’ve got to go to the gospel of John, and like there were three stories of Mary Magdalene, there are three stories of Thomas. One is in John 11 when Jesus decides to go to Jerusalem, “Let’s go and die with Him.” There’s that little story. And then there’s a story in John 14 where Jesus said, “I am the way, and you know the way,” and Thomas said, “How do we know the way? We don’t know the way.” And then we have this here in John chapter 20. I’m going to pass over the first two stories, though they are instructive.
I’d like to come to John 20:19, “So, when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and He said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” And then if you go down to verse 24, “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.” Well, you know the record is that it is Easter day. This is Easter morning, and as far as we know, most commentators would agree that this was his fifth appearance. He only appeared eleven times in forty days, and five times on day one. We know He appeared to Mary Magdalene, and we know by this time He had appeared to the women, and we know He appeared to Peter, and we know that He appeared to the two disciples on the Emmaus Road, and we know that now He appears to the ten disciples, Judas, of course, being absent, and Thomas being absent.
You remember the response of Thomas, John 20:25, “And so the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord,’ but he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’” It’s because of that statement that he has received the great appellation, “Doubting Thomas”. Most people know him as “Doubting Thomas”. That’s not really fair, but that’s how it is. I say that because he expressed his doubts, there’s no doubt about it, but according to the record they all doubted. Listen as I read these verses. Matthew 28:17, “And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some were doubtful.” Mark 16:9, “Now after He had risen early the first day of the week, He appeared to Mary Magdalene from whom He cast seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with Him while they were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and was seen by her, they refused to believe it.” So, it’s not only doubting Thomas.
Mark 16:12, “After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. They went away and reported it to the elders, but they did not believe them either.” Mark 16:14, “Afterward, He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table, and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He was risen.” Luke 24:10, “Now, there were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and also other women with them, and they were telling these things to the apostles, but the words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.” Luke 24:36, “While they were telling these things He Himself stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be to you.’ They were startled and frightened and they thought they were seeing a spirit. He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your heart?’” And in another place it says, “They believed not for joy.” Isn’t that interesting? It was too good to be true. It’s a terrible thing not to believe, but to believe not for joy, and that’s what happened. They were all unbelievers. So, Thomas wasn’t the only doubter, and maybe he wasn’t even the greatest doubter; we don’t know, but he was selected by God to represent doubters, and so we have his story, because of his comment, “I’m not going to believe unless I can put my finger in His glory scars, and unless I can reach my hand and put it into the wound in His side.”
It’s important to remember that Thomas was a disciple; Thomas was a believer. In fact, Jesus said to him in verse 27, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” He said, “You see, and therefore you believe.” So, Thomas was a believer, but there is such a thing as an unbelieving believer. There are unbelieving unbelievers but there are also unbelieving believers, and Thomas is one of them. Every time he’s mentioned in the list, he’s always mentioned along with Matthew who is called Didymus, and that means twin. Many think that Matthew was his twin. We don’t know for sure, but he’s always mentioned with Matthew. The point is that he’s a believer, and as a believer he is an unbelieving believer.
Once again, verse 29, “Jesus said, ‘Because you’ve seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believe.’” Thomas had a problem, and as Jesus had to correct Mary’s problem in order to prepare her for this revelation and union with the indwelling Christ, now in step two, God is going to correct Thomas’ problem and lay down in the Bible a great principle of preparation. I need Mary’s revelation; it’s not by the flesh, and I don’t cling in the flesh. I need His life; I need to see Him, I need to see the Lord. But Thomas, also, had a problem. Thomas’ problem clearly had to do with sight. I think we can all agree on that. He had this idea, “If I only had sight, that would help my faith.” That was his idea, that sight helps and if I had sight it would be easier to believe. So, he said, “I want sight.”
I think we’ve all been there. Thousands of Christians have that idea, “If only God would do something spectacular, if I could see Him working, if I could see Him moving, if I could see Him delivering, if I could see Him healing, if I could see Him providing, if I could see Him opening a door, if I could know that it’s God, if I could see, it would help, and that would help my faith.” I remember as a young Christian that I went right through the sight thing, “If you are real, blink the lights.” You just want some evidence, some empirical sign that God is real.
Here’s one proof that sight can’t help faith. Thomas had this idea, “If I can see Him and I can see His scars and if I could touch Him, if I could put my hand in His side, that will help me have faith.” So, Jesus shows up in front of him, and He invites him, “Put your hands, put your fingers there.” There’s no record that he ever did it, but he was invited to do that. Let me ask this, did that help his faith? Think about it. What Jesus said when he showed up is, “You think seeing Me is going to help your faith? Now you see Me; you don’t need faith; here I am, touch Me. You have sight, and now you don’t need faith. Sight doesn’t help faith. That’s why it’s over against faith. We live by faith, we walk by faith and not by sight; it’s the opposite. Sight cannot help faith, even a little bit. Thomas did not yet understand the invisible presence of the Lord. He said, “If He’s alive I’ve got to see Him with these eyes,” and the Lord is going to correct that because sight does not help faith.
Let me give an illustration from Thomas’ life. John 20:25 again, “The other disciples were saying, ‘We’ve seen the Lord,’ and he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand in His side, I will not believe.’” Remember that when Thomas said those words, it was private, “Don’t put that on the email, don’t tell anybody, and don’t put it in a bulletin. That’s private and it’s between me and you. Here’s how I feel about it.” He was with his Christian brothers. They said, “We’ve seen the Lord,” and he said to them in private, “Yeah, I’ll believe it if I can touch it, and I can see it, and until then I’m not going to believe it.”
Well, John 20:26, eight days go by, and this time they gather again but Thomas is not absent, “After eight days his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in the midst and said, ‘Peace be to you.’” I imagine that all of their jaws almost hit the floor when He showed up in the room. Then Jesus shocks Thomas. Verse 27, now picture this, enter into these stories, “And He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here your fingers and see my hand. Reach here your hand and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving but believing.’” Don’t just read that la, la, la. How would you feel if you were Thomas? I’d be a little embarrassed and I think I’d be a little angry. I’d look around at the brothers and say, “Who ratted on me? Who told Him? Matthew, did you tell Him? Andrew, was it you? Peter, you big mouthed Peter,” I know it was Peter. Thomas, nobody told Him; He was there when you said it. He was invisible; He was listening; He was present but you didn’t see Him. You need to understand an invisible Lord, Thomas, and even if you hadn’t said it, even if you just thought it, He was there and He heard and He knew. You couldn’t see Him at that moment and you couldn’t hear Him and you couldn’t touch Him and none of your senses would have done anything, but He’s there, and it’s this life, Thomas, that you need to understand, and it’s this life that every Christian needs to understand, if they’re going to understand the exchanged life.
In passing, let me just say this. I think it was tremendous that our Lord Jesus heard Thomas and dealt with him in this way. Thomas thought that sight would help and that he needed sight. Jesus is so kind. I think every time we’ve been together, I have shared this principle, so I’ll just keep sharing it. I don’t know a truth that has meant more to me than this; God always deals with us where we are, and not where we ought to be. He always meets His people where they are, in order to take them where they ought to be. As we are, where we are, and that’s where God meets us. Thomas needed to learn a great lesson, that sight is not going to help faith, that he can stand on the reliable testimony of reliable witnesses, and that he doesn’t need to see.
It’s so precious here. Jesus doesn’t blast him or come up and say, “What’s wrong with you? You are just an unbelieving believer. Grow up!” He doesn’t say that at all. He has a great need and Jesus meets him here. He doesn’t come up and point His finger in his face and say, “Shame, shame, shame on you. Sight, you’re so subjective. Why don’t you get out of that? You should have faith without sight. That’s what I wanted, and you didn’t have it. There’s no hope for you.” Brothers, Jesus will never call you dumb. Jesus will never call you stupid. Jesus will never call you slow. Jesus will never scream at you and say, “Grow up you little baby; stop being so subjective! Why don’t you get rooted in objective truth and take a rugged stand.” He’ll never do that. Whatever you are, wherever you are, whatever your need, He’ll show up and meet you right where you are, not because you are in a right place, but to lay down His great truths and to take you to the place that one day you can enjoy His life for your life, the exchanged life. He deals so wonderfully with Thomas here.
That’s enough background. Let me try to give you the principle. I won’t read the record again, but you know the record. Here’s the question that I ask; what is Thomas’ contribution to the history of redemption? Or to say it another way, why did God tell us his story? Why did God put this in the Bible? What principle do we get here that we wouldn’t get in another story? What is the Holy Spirit focusing on? Why did God tell us this story? What’s the distinctive message of the life of Thomas? As I went through my commentaries there were many suggestions. Some say that God told us the Thomas story because he represents all doubters in the world. In other words, because of Thomas, those who are agnostic say, “I don’t know,” and those who are sceptics, those who are cynical, those who are subjective, those who are inclined to need sight and need feelings and need emotions, this story just encourages them. That’s why God gave us this story, to encourage doubters. Well, I think that’s part of it, and bless God for that because I think we’ve all been there. I have had honest doubts. I’ve also had dishonest doubts. I’ve had many doubts, and God meets the doubter. So, praise God for this story because it does encourage doubters.
I think it’s bigger than that. Some say that God tells us his story because he represents those who are a day late and a dollar short. For those of you who are older, years ago there was a television program as I grew up and I used to enjoy it. It was about a detective named Maxwell Smart. Some of you are smiling; you remember that. The name of the program was “Get Smart”. He was this blundering detective that always did things wrong and ended up doing things right. He had a saying. He would squint his eyes and he’d point his finger and he’d say, “I missed by that much.” Thomas, “We’ve seen the Lord, and you weren’t there.” “Ah, I missed it by that much.” There’s always that person who is a day late and a dollar short and it’s frustrating. I’ve been there. The people in front of me getting blessed by the Lord, and the people in back of me getting blessed by the Lord, the people on both sides of me are getting blessed by the Lord, and you are going, “Hello, how about me?” It’s not that you resent their blessing or even that you hold their testimony in suspicion, but they’re claiming all of this and testifying about a great deliverance and they’re telling about a mailbox miracle and telling about doors that God has opened up and opportunities He’s provided and circumstances that He has supernaturally engineered, amazing things coming together, and you’re going, “Praise God for you,” and in your heart you’re saying, “How come, Lord, everybody around me gets blessed and I’m never there?” Some think that’s Thomas, always seeing fruit but it’s in somebody else, and they’re always the ones getting blessed. They come to you and say, “You should have been there; you should have seen it. What an experience!” Well, I think Thomas does offer a great contribution to spectators and those who seem to be always missing it, left behind, and everybody is getting rained on and they’re just dry and empty and hoping that, “Well, maybe next time I’ll be there.” Thomas does minister to them. But I don’t think that’s his contribution. Praise God for what hope he gives to doubters, and praise God he gives hope to those who seem to be always left out, but that’s not the chief contribution of his life.
Then there are those who say that he’s God’s warning to those who dare miss a meeting. John 20:19 tells us that he was not there when Jesus came. He missed the meeting, and the idea is, “See what happens when you don’t show up? Whose fault is that? You could have been there.” Well, give him a break; it was an evening meeting. I’m kidding. I’m not suggesting that we ought to miss the assembling together, but I don’t think that’s the Holy Spirit’s point here at all. It is true that he missed the meeting, but it isn’t because he didn’t gather with the saints. Saul of Tarsus was not gathering with the saints when God appeared to him. In fact, what was he doing to the saints? It’s the opposite of gathering with the saints. That’s not why. It’s not only to encourage doubters and those who seem to be always missing out, and warn those who neglect the assembling together, and don’t get me wrong, they need warning. That’s part of it. But there’s another contribution, and let me state it for you, and then we’ll try to look at the principle.
I believe God was giving Thomas one of the greatest privileges, more than the other ten. I think he missed it, but God was giving him a privilege to represent the church in all ages. He let it slip away but he was more honored than the rest. You see, how do you know Jesus? How do I know Jesus? Let me suggest how you don’t know Him. I don’t think He calls out your name in a garden like He did for Mary. Maybe some of you have had that; I haven’t had that. I don’t think as you are walking down the street He suddenly shows up and gives you a Bible study. That’s not how you know Him. I don’t think He shows up in a room that’s all closed and when you’re in your closet. I don’t think He meets with you out in the open air. I don’t think He walks with you in a grain field. We don’t see Him, and we can’t touch Him; we can’t relate in that way. We don’t hear His audible voice. Every one of the disciples knew Him that way, and God said, “After the Bible is done they aren’t going to know Me that way anymore. Somebody has to illustrate that. Somebody has to know Him the way we know Him, not by sight but by faith, “Blessed are those who have not seen.” That’s how we have to do it, and He selected Thomas to show that.
Everyone in the Upper Room had experienced the first part of verse 29, “Because you’ve seen have you believed?” They all could say, “Yes, indeed, because we’ve seen we’ve believed,” but only Thomas was given the privilege for the second part of that verse, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed.” Thomas stood where we stand today, seeing the Savior by faith. Thomas insisted on sight, so he lost the great privilege that he could have had, and that is believing the testimony of reliable witnesses. What witnesses did Thomas have? He had Mary, he had the group of women that met the Lord Jesus, he had the ten disciples, he had the two Emmaus disciples. They weren’t liars; he had those reliable witness. What do you have? You’ve got the testimony of Mary, you’ve got the testimony of the women, you’ve got the testimony of the apostles in the Upper Room, you’ve got the testimony of the Emmaus disciples. When Thomas had that testimony, they were his friends. When we have that testimony, it’s Bible. His friends have become our Bible. His reliable witnesses are now inspired reliable witnesses. Thomas is taking us forward in this whole idea; we have the same witnesses he had, only now it’s inspired. We have the Bible.
What is happening here as God lays out these principles, Mary says, “You must see the Lord.” Thomas takes us another step; you must see the Lord by faith based on the testimony of reliable witnesses which is going to become your Bible. You’ve got to see the Lord in this book. God is taking us forward and He’s preparing us. How am I going to relate to the One who is neither dead nor gone but alive and alive in me? I need to see Him, by faith, on the basis of reliable witnesses which will become the Bible. It’s not spelled out perfectly in Thomas but it’s a step towards that direction. John 20:29, “Jesus said, ‘Because you’ve seen Me have you believed? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’” Thomas thought sight would help faith; he was wrong. Sight doesn’t help faith. He thought that. And then Jesus showed him when He appeared, “You don’t need faith now because you have sight.” Then Jesus did something else. This is so amazing. John 20:28, “Thomas answered, ‘My Lord and My God!’” Understand what’s happening here. Thomas said, “I need to see with these eyes.” Jesus said, “Those eyes won’t help you. I’ll prove it. Here I am. Now you see Me with these eyes, but it hasn’t helped your faith. You don’t need faith because you have sight. You don’t need faith. And then all of a sudden God opened these eyes (spiritual) and he saw Him, not with these eyes (natural) because you can’t see the Lord with these (natural) eyes, and you can’t see God with these (natural) eyes. And when he said, “My Lord and my God,” he had a revelation that these eyes (natural) can never give.
God was saying, “Blessed are those who don’t need sight.” We know according to 1 Corinthians 12:3, “No one can call Jesus Lord in reality except by the Holy Spirit,” and Thomas had that great privilege and now the Lord is saying to Thomas, “It’s not these eyes (natural),” and Mary said, “I must see the Lord; I’ve seen the Lord.” Thomas said, “I must see the Lord by the eyes (spiritual) of faith through the testimony of reliable witnesses. It’s another step forward. He’s preparing us. You say, “Well, I’m ready then. Now I can relate to the Christ within.” Ah, not yet. He said, “I’m going to prepare you. You need to see the Lord, and you need to see the Lord by faith, and you need to see the Lord by faith in this book based on inspired, reliable witnesses.”
Let me try to wrap all this up. I’m not going to develop the stories; you know the stories. Luke 24, the Emmaus Road. Those disciples are you; those disciples are me. Those disciples are us and they represent us, and they were in that position, you remember in verse 21 that they were hopeless, “We had hoped it was Him,” and they were sad and they were grieving. You know the story. Let me call attention to two wonderful truths and we’ll wrap it up. Luke 24:16, “Their eyes were prevented from recognizing it.” Verse 27, “Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets He explained to them all the things concerning Himself in all the scripture.” Verse 31, “Then their eyes (spiritual) were opened and they recognized Him and He vanished from their sight.” Verse 45, “Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” And you remember their testimony in verse 32, “And they said, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road while He was explaining the scriptures to us!’”
Mary says, “You need to see the Lord.” Thomas said, “You need to see the Lord by faith based on the reliable witnesses who have become your Bible.” And now on the road to Emmaus it lays out another step, “I need to see the Lord, I need to see the Lord by faith in this book, but now I need God to open my eyes (spiritual) to the revelation that’s in this book. I need Him to open my understanding and show me Christ in all of the scriptures.” Again, I try to put myself in; try to picture this. Our Lord Jesus has just accomplished redemption, and our Lord Jesus had become sin for all mankind and He bore the curse of sin, hell, death, judgment and finished the wrath of God, and satisfied His Holy Father God, and exhausted the anger of God, and satisfied the Law, glorified justice for all time, and He has just conquered Satan and made it possible for us to have an exchanged life and be conformed again into the image of Christ; that is quite a victory!
If I have a little victory, and I catch a little fish, take my picture, “Hey, here’s my fish. Look what I’ve caught!” We sort of trumpet that; we put our trophies on display. I don’t mean to be irreverent, but Jesus did not toot His own horn. This is an amazing thing! If that were me and I just conquered sin, death, hell, judgment, the anger of God, and I made it possible for all to be saved, and I raised myself from the dead, I wouldn’t have appeared this way. I would have come down on a beam of light from heaven and with a retinue of angels and they would be all around me. Catch the wonder of this, brothers. Here is Christ in His resurrection body walking and talking; He is alive and He raised Himself from the dead. Instead of saying to those Emmaus disciples, “Here’s My hands; touch Me. Here’s my side; put your hand in.” Instead of showing up in a stretch limousine because of His great victory, instead of coming with twenty thousand angels, and instead of blasting a trumpet (that’s what I would have done), He’ll do that when you arise but not when He rose, He rose as quietly as the sun rising in the morning.
To make Himself known He takes a book. I would have said, “Ta da! Here I am!” He said, “No, you want to know Me?” Then He takes a book and He begins to open it and beginning with Genesis and beginning with all the scriptures He showed them Himself in all the scriptures, so much so that later they said, “Didn’t our hearts burn!” He could have done it another way, but He’s laying out a principle, “I’m not dead, and I’m not gone, but I live again and I live in your life to replace your life. If you’re going to know Me you need to be prepared for that.” Mary says, “I’ve got to see the Lord.” That’s preparation number one. Thomas said, “I’ve got to see the Lord on the basis of reliable witnesses by faith in this book.” That’s preparation number two. The Emmaus disciples say, “It’s not enough; I now need God’s revelation on this book in order to see the Lord.” He’s laying down great truths on how to know Him.
There are two records of the Upper Room. One is in the gospel of John, and one is in Luke 24. The gospel of John leaves out something or adds something that Luke 24 doesn’t add. John 20 says, “And He breathed upon them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” If I’m reading it right, John’s, “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit,’” is exactly the time Luke says, “And He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” There is something wonderfully connected there, and I have an idea what he was saying. There are only two times in the Bible God breathed on people. Do you remember the first one? It’s when Adam was nothing more than an amorphous blob, when he was clay. He had eyes but he couldn’t see. He had ears but he couldn’t hear. He had a mouth, but he couldn’t talk. He was helpless and he was just a clay image, until God breathed His life into him, and he became alive. What God is saying is, “Now, watch,” this is not the next step but it’s an introduction to the next step. I’ve got to see Jesus—Mary. I’ve got to see Jesus in the book—Thomas. I’ve got to see Jesus in the book by the unveiling, by the Holy Spirit, by His light—the Emmaus disciples. And I’ve got to see Him in such a way that there is a new creation, that He makes me alive – the Upper Room.
Christians are every bit as dead as Adam was before God breathed into him, until they learned that exchanged life. “And last of all,” Paul says. We’re going to jump over a lot, but last of all, the final preparation, and Lord willing we’ll begin that tonight. I’m going to do it backwards. I should take the Road to Damascus and say, “Here is what happened, and here’s what it means,” but I believe God has led me the other way around. Tonight we’re going to look at Damascus and here’s what it means, out of the mouth of Paul. Paul will explain the experience. We need to see what the exchanged life is. Having said that, Lord willing, tomorrow morning we’ll look at the final preparation. Here is what happened; let’s look at it because that’s what will always happen. Now you are ready. That’s where we are.
I need to see Jesus, I need to see Jesus in this book, I need to see Jesus in this book by the Holy Spirit’s unveiling of Him, and I need to see Jesus in this book by the Holy Spirit’s unveiling of Him in such a way that God breathes on me and His life becomes my life. May God help us! Let’s pray.
Father, thank You again for Your word, not what we think it might mean but all that You know it means. Please work these things in our heart. If there is any brother here, young or old, who is not fully prepared to have union with the indwelling Christ, will you prepare us, Lord, even this weekend, in order that we might know how to relate to our Lord Jesus who lives in our hearts by the Holy Spirit? Thank You that You will work this for us because You are so good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
