In John 20:19, the appearance of the resurrected Lord Jesus was His fifth appearance to His disciples on that resurrection Sunday. Here (Thomas was absent), Jesus appeared in His glorified body, but retained His nail-pierced hands and spear-pierced side, showing that He has completed His mission as their Saviour. Then He sent the disciples on their mission to preach the Gospel (Acts 1:8). The disciples had the physical presence of the Lord Jesus with them when He was on earth. But from then, they were sent on this mission without His physical presence but with the filling of the Holy Spirit to enable them to do the work commissioned to them

Need to Believe (John 20:24–25): What Thomas said in John 20:25 showed that he doubted Jesus’ resurrection. We must not see ourselves better than Thomas because much faith is required to believe that Jesus had resurrected. Thomas must believe the resurrection of Jesus before he could be sent on the same Gospel-preaching mission as the others. Thomas had genuine faith and was a true believer, but he struggled with the resurrection teaching. The resurrected Jesus only appeared to believers, not to unbelievers; otherwise, it would be faith by sight. The disciples needed to be strengthened in the faith that they already had before Jesus sent them out to preach the Gospel without His physical presence with them.

Confirmation to Believe (John 20:26-28): After eight days, Jesus appeared to the disciples again, and this time Thomas was present (John 20:26). Without rebuking Thomas, Jesus exhorted Thomas not to be faithless but to believe that He had risen from the dead. The need to believe was confirmed by Jesus. And Thomas responded with belief in the resurrection of his Lord and his God (John 20:28).

We too need to believe, and have faith and trust in God as we live as Christians. God may use our fellow believers to encourage us. Through their testimonies of how God has delivered them from their many difficulties, we can be encouraged to have faith and to keep trusting and believing. God will not allow any of us to be crushed by the many temptations around us because He is faithful. He knows exactly how much our faith can bear. He allows just enough adversities to come into our lives for our faith to be sufficiently stretched, but not to breaking point. In this way, He strengthens our muscle of faith and bring our faith to the next level.

Belief Brings Blessings (John 20:29): The word “blessed” refers to someone who is born again in Christ. Today, we do not see the miracles of Jesus nor Jesus in His glorified body. But we can believe what is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, and we can be called “blessed” by God. When we believe by faith, we truly see, just like an eyewitness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.