Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2721
“Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” John 20:29.
WE count those people blessed, indeed, who lived in our Savior’s day and saw Him when He dwelt here among men. And truly blessed were their eyes, for they saw, and their ears, for they heard what kings and Prophets had long desired to see and to hear, yet were not so privileged. But we who now believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ have a blessing superior to theirs, for the benediction of the text is not to those who saw and believed, but to those who “have not seen, and yet have believed.” No doubt Thomas was highly favored when his Lord said to him, “Reach here your finger, and behold My hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into My side.” This was an act of very remarkable condescension on Christ’s part. I can scarcely conceive that any other of the 12 Apostles was more tenderly treated than was this doubting disciple. Nevertheless, though Thomas was greatly privileged, there is a superior blessing, as his Master told him—and that blessing, I hope, belongs to many of us—“Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
How often have you said in your heart, “They are indeed blessed up yonder, for they behold Christ face to face. Their eyes see the King in His beauty in the land that is very far off.” Yes, Beloved, they are truly blessed—none can dispute that, for John heard the voice from Heaven saying to him, “Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.” There is indescribable bliss for all those who behold their Savior’s face and who wear His name on their foreheads. Yet, dear Friends, think not that all blessedness is reserved for the glorified, for we also have much here! It almost seems as if Christ had commenced to preach again His Sermon on the Mount, or to add another beatitude to those He then announced— “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.” We must wait for the blessing of sight till the blessed by-and-by, in the land of the hereafter, but, just now, it will be quite enough to fill us to the very brim with joy if we can take in the full meaning of this message of the Master.
This blessedness belongs to us who have not seen and yet have believed—not to all here present, if there are any who are still in unbelief. The Lord have mercy on you, dear Friends, and bring you out of that state of death and deadly danger, giving you faith in Him even now! Oh, that you might begin to believe in Him this very hour! But I thank God that there are many of us who do believe in Jesus and who have received life through His name. And though we have not at present seen Him, yet He declares that we are truly blessed.
I. So, the first thing I shall have to say is, PARTAKERS OF THIS BLESSEDNESS, DO NOT LET US TRY TO DIMINISH IT.
We have a blessing, peculiar and singular, through not having seen and yet having believed, so let us not try to diminish it, first, by pining for a voice, or a vision, or a revelation—something which is like sight—so that it could not then be said of us that we have not seen. Have you ever had this kind of thought, when you have been living by faith alone? Perhaps you have said to yourself, “Oh, but—but if God would in some way reveal Himself to me so that my very senses might assist my faith! If I might be hidden away in some cleft of the rock and might see the hem of Jehovah’s robe! Or if I might hear some Divine voice but whisper that I am His—then I would, indeed, rejoice and never doubt again! If I
might see some miracle, something that I was sure was the finger of God. If I might get near enough to God to be impressed for life with what I saw—whether it was a burning bush or some wayfaring man whom I might entertain as an angel unawares—or even if it were some terrible judgment, yet if I could but feel certain that God had come near to me so that I should never doubt again, what a grand thing it would be!”
Brother, Sister, do not ask for anything of the kind! Do not wish to have it even if you could, for “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” You want to see, you are pining for something which is practically the same as sight! You do not feel content to swim in the pure sea of faith, but your Lord will not give you what you childishly crave. After all, it is only vanity that you are pining for, so He will deny it to you and will say, “My child, instead of wanting to see, believe, trust, follow Me in the dark, for it is better for you not to see. Even if you did see and believe, yet you would have obtained only an inferior gift, for the higher blessing, the cream of blessing belongs to those who have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Next, do not try to diminish the blessing, when you are in trouble, by asking for some remarkable and special Providence to open to you. “Oh,” says someone, “I have asked for that many a time.” Well, you may, if you feel led to do so, but, still, believe in God if no particular and almost miraculous Providence is manifested. God’s Providence is always at work and we make mistakes in putting down some things as Providences, and others as not. You escape in a railway accident and say that is a Providence. Yes, but it is just as much a Providence that you go to town six days a week and there is no accident. You are supplied with bread when you are out of work and in need—that is a Providence. Yes, but it is just as much a Providence when you are not out of work and do not fall into need. I do not say that you are not to pray for Providence to help you, but I do urge you not to be continually pining after those singularities of Providence which are picked out of some men’s biographies of which more than is right may be made. Do not say, “I expect God to do for me some wonderful, strange thing, or else I cannot trust Him.” No, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”—they who, through the whole of their lives, know that the right hand of God has been leading them steadily on. Though there is nothing they could write about and put down as a sort of semi-miracle, yet they believe that all things are working together for good for them, and will bring out Divine purposes filled with love and Grace.