John 20:26 says, “And after eight days, His disciples were again within, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be to you.” The gathering of the disciples here may be considered as the second meeting of the church held with the Lord’s presence before Pentecost. As the phrase “after eight days” indicates, this gathering was on the second first day of the week, the second Lord’s Day after the Lord’s resurrection. Praise the Lord that there was not only one Lord’s Day, but a second one. On the second Lord’s Day, Thomas was there. As we shall see, the Lord came this time purposely for Thomas, coming directly to him to meet him and to deal with him.
After His resurrection the Lord firstly appeared to His seeker, Mary the Magdalene. Then He ascended secretly to the Father, presenting the freshness of His resurrection to the Father for the Father’s satisfaction. After this, He came back as the Spirit to breathe Himself into His disciples and to meet with His brothers. Now, in verse 26, we see that He is continuing to meet with His brothers. Never consider meeting with the believers as a small thing. It is a great thing, and we should not miss it. I appreciate what Mary experienced early in the morning on the day of resurrection. She certainly had the best morning watch. That morning watch caused her to attend the evening meeting.
After the Lord came in verse 19, eight days before, there is no word or hint in John’s record showing that the Lord left the disciples, because actually He stayed with them, though they were unconscious of His presence. After the Lord breathed Himself into the disciples, He abode in them and stayed with them. Since His disciples were not always conscious of His presence, there was the need of His appearing. His coming in this verse was not an actual coming; it was an appearing of His presence. Before His death, the Lord’s presence was visible in the flesh. After His resurrection, the Lord’s presence is invisible in the Spirit. His manifestations or appearings after His resurrection were to train the disciples to realize, to enjoy, and to practice His invisible presence, which is more available, prevailing, precious, rich, and real than His visible presence. This dear presence of His is just the Spirit in His resurrection whom He has breathed into the disciples and who will be with them all the time.
In 20:27 the Lord said to Thomas, “Bring your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and put it into My side, and be not unbelieving, but believing.” Because Thomas had missed the first meeting with the Lord in resurrection, he had become very backward. Now the Lord appeared to deal with this unbelieving disciple by pointing to the prints of His death remaining in His resurrected body. As I have already mentioned, I do not know how the prints of His death could still remain in His resurrected body. Although Thomas had become the most backward, after the second meeting of the church, Thomas became the first, for it was he who said, “My Lord and my God!” (20:28). Thomas was the first to recognize that the Son of Man is the Lord (Acts 2:36; 10:36; Rom. 14:9; 10:12-13; 1 Cor. 12:3; 2 Cor. 4:5; Phil. 2:11) and God (John 1:1-2; 5:17-18; 10:30-33; Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:6; 1 John 5:20). Thomas was not only the first to realize that the Son of Man is the Lord and God; he was also the first to declare that Jesus is the Lord and the very God.
In 20:29 the Lord said to Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” The Lord not only appeared to deal with the unbelief of Thomas but also to train the disciples to believe without seeing. The Lord was training them to practice His invisible presence. Because the Lord’s presence in resurrection today is not a visible presence but rather an invisible presence, we must believe without seeing. If we expect to see before we believe, we are wrong. We must practice believing without seeing because the Lord’s presence now is not like it was when He was in the flesh. That was His visible presence. Now that His presence is invisible, we must exercise our faith to realize it. Although we cannot see Him, we have the assurance that He is with us. According to Acts 1:3-4, the Lord stayed with the disciples for forty days to train them to realize and to practice His invisible presence.
Verses 30 and 31 say, “Many other signs therefore Jesus did before His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” These verses indicate that the purpose of John’s Gospel is to testify that Jesus is the Christ (1:41; 4:25, 29; 7:41-42; Matt. 16:16; Luke 2:11) and the Son of God (1:34, 49; 9:35; 10:36; Matt. 16:16; Luke 1:35). Together with 21:25, these verses affirm that this Gospel is the record of a selection of things that serve the purpose of testifying to the matter of life and building.
The Christ is the title of the Lord according to His office, His mission. The Son of God is His title according to His Person. His Person is a matter of God’s life, and His mission is a matter of God’s work. He is the Son of God to be the Christ of God. He works for God by the life of God that men also, by believing in Him, may have God’s life to become God’s many sons and to work by God’s life to build the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12), thus fulfilling God’s purpose of His eternal building.