Sermons on Biblical Characters | Page 3

I could curse God," he said, "if I
knew there was a God, for letting little Mary die!" For Thomas
everything had collapsed. There was not a star in his sky. There was not
a horizon in his life in which he might hope for a dawn. So that he, the
neediest man of them all, was not there when Jesus came.
And now, will you see what he missed. Truly, the man was right who
did not wonder what people suffered, but wondered at what they
missed. And just see what this man Thomas missed by not being in the
little meeting among the ten. First, he missed the privilege of seeing
Jesus. He missed the privilege of seeing Him who had throttled Death
and hell and the grave and had brought life and immortality to light
through the Gospel. He missed seeing Him, one vision of whose face
would have changed his sobbing into singing and his night into
marvelous day.
He missed seeing Jesus, and failing to see Him, he missed the glorious
certainty of the after life. It is Christ, my friends, that makes Heaven
and the eternal life sure for us. It is He who enables men to go down
into the great silence without a doubt and without a fear. It is He who
makes us absolutely confident that there is a Home of the Soul, that--
"There is a land of pure delight Where saints immortal reign."

Having seen Him once dead and alive forever more, we have no
slightest doubt of the truth of His promise that, because He lives we
shall live also.
By staying away that day Thomas missed the thrill of a great joy. Had
he been there he might have seen the Lord. This is not a possibility in
every service, possibly, but it ought to be. It is a possibility in every
successful service. I heard of a preacher once who thought that what his
congregation wanted was beautiful epigrams. He thought that they were
more hungry for bejeweled verbiage than for the Bread of Life. He
thought they were thirsting more for a stream of eloquence than for the
Water of Life. But he was mistaken. And once he came into the pulpit
to find a card lying before him on which was written this word: "Sir,
we would know Jesus."
At first it angered him a bit and then it made him think. And then it sent
him to his knees. And then it sent him into the pulpit with a new
message. And one day he came again into his pulpit to find a second
card before him. Picking it up, he read these words: "Then were the
disciples glad when they saw the Lord." Of course they were. Their
gladness was the gladness of the ten that met in the Upper Room. Their
gladness was the gladness that might have been experienced by
Thomas. It was intended for him, for he was the saddest and most
wretched man in Jerusalem. But Thomas was not there.
Thomas missed also the gift of peace. Jesus said to those present,
"Peace be unto you." And how Thomas needed that gift! Thomas was
in a fever of restlessness and wretchedness. He was whipped by a
veritable tempest of doubt and utter unbelief. And all the while he
might have had the peace that passeth understanding. He might have
had the vision of Him who stood then, and still stands, the central
figure of the ages, saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Those present that day were
blessed with the gift of peace. They had "fervor without fever." They
had motion without friction. But Thomas missed it because "he was not
with them when Jesus came."
The disciples who were there were re-commissioned that day. Jesus

said to them, "As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you." With
His death everything seemed at an end. The great program that He had
given them seemed to have lapsed forever. A man said a few years ago,
"Life doesn't seem worth living since I found that Christianity is not
true." It was so with these men. They were men without a goal. But
Jesus came and recommissioned them, laid upon them again the high
task of conquering the world. And Thomas missed that great blessing
because he was not there.
Last of all, Jesus breathed upon them and said, "Receive ye the Holy
Ghost." These men were not only recommissioned. They received the
Holy Ghost. "He breathed on them." How close they came to Him that
day! How their hearts were warmed! How their hopes were revived!
"He breathed on them and said, Receive ye the Holy