the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
John 20:19-31
It is now evening on this wonderful first day of the week. As He had promised, the risen Saviour
appears in the midst of the assembled disciples (John 14:19). He shows them His hands and His side, "infallible proofs" that their peace has been made with God (Acts 1:3). He breathes new life into them (cf. Genesis 2:7; 1 Corinthians 15:45) and sends them out to preach forgiveness of sins to all who believe (v. 23).
Thomas was absent that Sunday. And when the other disciples tell him, "We have seen the Lord," his heart remains cold and unbelieving. How many of God’s children deprive themselves of the precious gathering around the Lord Jesus with such little thought . . . perhaps because, at the bottom of their hearts, they do not believe in His presence. Thomas is representative of the Jewish remnant who later will recognize their Lord and their God when they see Him. They will ask, "What are these wounds in thine hands?" (Zechariah 13:6). But the blessed portion of the redeemed in this present time is to believe without having yet seen (1 Peter 1:8). And it is to this end that "these are written" not only to be read but also to be believed. Our faith, founded on the Scriptures, should lay hold of the One who gives life and who is the Son of God (v. 31).
