John 20:26-29 – Eight days later His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be to you.” Then He *said to Thomas, “Place your finger here, and see My hands; and take your hand and put it into My side; and do not continue in disbelief, but be a believer.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
Jesus wanted His disciples to know beyond any doubt that He had physically risen from the dead. When Thomas expressed his doubts to the other disciples Jesus came and visited Thomas to show Him that He was truly alive from the dead. This passage effects me every time I read it. It’s hard to imagine this moment when Jesus invited Thomas to put his hand in His side. Not only to see the empty tomb or even see Jesus alive but to be that close and actually touch Him and examine these wounds of redemption. Seeing these wounds in the body of Christ produce a permanent change in your life. Many of us may be like Thomas, we are hesitant to jump all the way in until we are certain that this is real. When we taste the goodness of the Lord for ourselves then we have no other recourse, we will follow Jesus to the end. Here is how August Toplady described the impact of the wounds of Jesus in some of the words from his song Rock of Ages.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save me from its guilt and power.
Toplady was affected deeply by the wounds in the body of Jesus Christ. He is specifically talking about the wound in the side of Jesus where the water and the blood flowed out. He described the effect of this blood upon those who believed on Him, He said that it would accomplish in them the double cure. What is that double cure in Toplady’s world? He would have said that our sins have been washed away by the blood and we have also been delivered from the power of sin. Take a moment and look again to the wounds of Jesus, the double cure will certainly be experienced in your life.
