The Cross and the Resurrection

[01:16] Once again like to welcome all of you to Gospel Light Christian Church on this very special day, Good Friday, in order to remember the death of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The cross where Jesus died and the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, are two events that have been intertwined throughout the centuries to form the basis of our proclamation of the Gospel. A proclamation that has brought forth hope of a new life because sinful men can finally find reconciliation with God.

And today, I would like to invite you to look at the cross from the perspective of the resurrection in order to gain a deeper, a fuller and hopefully a more personal response to what Jesus has done for us. So, turn with me if you have your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 20, and we're just going to look at the passage on from verse 24 to 29 and from this passage I hope that together on this Good Friday, we can see that “Seeing the glory of the resurrection requires believing in the Gospel of Jesus”. You see, even 2000 years ago, there are many who heard or knew about the resurrection but they didn't see any difference it made for their lives because they rejected the Gospel which is what Jesus did on the cross.

One of the famous ones who rejected the Gospel for many years was a man by the name of Saul who prior to his conversion, even persecuted Christians, considered them to be a blasphemy, a rejection of the faith of his fathers until he believed in the Gospel himself and he saw the glory of the resurrection, and he became known to us today as the Apostle Paul.

This tells us that the Cross or the Gospel that it proclaims and the resurrection is not the fiction of human imagination. It is not the product of an overly zealous religious fervor. The disciples on that very first Easter Sunday morning were not gathered together, praying and hoping to see the risen Lord. They have accepted that when all has been said and done, it's over. They were just picking up the pieces, trying to make the best of a tragedy. They were hoping to somehow just move on with their lives because they accepted the finality of death.

Thomas’ Struggle with Belief

And one of the most poignant stories in the Gospel is a man, a disciple of Jesus by the name of Thomas. He wrestled and struggled with it, and he could not believe it even though he was told that the other disciples have seen the risen Savior. So, this is the story of a human who came into an unexpected encounter with the living God and there and then, it transformed his life. The same is true for us today, you can know facts about the Scripture, about the Christian faith. You can know the story of the Gospel having been to a Christian mission school or been visiting church but until you believe in the Gospel, you would not be able to see the glory of the resurrection.

John 20:24
So, turn with me to the Gospel of John, we begin… verse 24, our story here begins on Easter Sunday. On Easter Sunday, Jesus has already risen from the grave. He had appeared to the disciples twice, the second time to all 10 disciples. But the Scripture tells us that for some reason, Thomas, one of the 12 called the Twin was not with them when Jesus came. [05:52] We do not know why Thomas wasn't there. Perhaps he was out on an errand. Perhaps he was drowning in his misery. Perhaps he was just feeling lonely and lost. But here is one of the disciples who is very honest about his life, about his situation because no matter what others may say, the man whom he has followed for three years as his master, as his rabbi, the man on whom he has pinned his hopes for the future, for his nation, has died, and this is death by crucifixion.

Now it's hard for us as modern listeners to understand what it means to have death by crucifixion because we live in a culture with laws that would prevent cruelty even to animals. And so, you can't mistreat a cat without the risk of getting arrested in our society today. And if you meet a snake, you have to think whether you are going to attack it or run because if you mistreat even a snake, you might get into trouble. And so, we understand that as human beings today we got to be more sensitive and careful about how we treat others including animals.

But not 2000 years ago, 2000 years ago, the cross or death by crucifixion is one of the most cruel thing a human being can do to another, and it is not accidental, it's intentional. The Roman authorities thought it through, design it so that you can die by the most painful and horrible means possible, to literally scare the life out of you so that you would not dare to rebel against its authority, and that was how Jesus died. And before that, the Scripture tells us that he was whipped by a Roman whip, a cat of nine tails, with pieces of bones and stones stuck in the whip in order to plow his back like a field, opening up his flesh, exposing his bones and perhaps even his organs. And then they put a crown of thorns upon his head, let him carry his own beam up that hill called Calvary and there they hung him on that cross. It was a cruel death because they intend for him to become so weakened by the pain that he could not push himself up to breathe, as a result he will die because he could not draw his last breath. However, Jesus died earlier than expected and so in order to confirm it, a Roman soldier went to his side and plunged his spear into his side and the Scripture tells us that out of his side flow forth blood and water.

And so, when Thomas, one of his disciples, heard of all this and knew of this, you could imagine his grief, his sorrow and his pain because the man whom he loved and respected, and followed, gave everything and invested all his life and energy and time in, died by crucifixion. And to be honest, we don't need crucifixion to realize how cruel and cold death still is for humanity today.

The Finality of Death and Human Suffering

In the Old Testament, there's a book called Ecclesiastes, one of the more philosophical books and it talks about remembering the Creator before we passed away and look at how it describes death. It says, “before the silver cord is snapped, …” perhaps the silver cord refers to that which binds us to the people whom we love and the people whom we care for, and have [10:08] many shared memories with but death would cut that cord. “…or the golden bowl is broken, …” perhaps that is a poetic description of all the hopes and dreams, and aspirations and longings we have in life, and no matter how dear [10:25] they are to you, death breaks that bowl. The Scripture tells us all “…the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, …” perhaps that points us to all the things we do in order to live a good life or a better life, going to the fountain, draw water and all those activities come to an end because that picture is shattered, “…or the wheel broken at the cistern, …” all the routines, all your schedules, all your timetable will be halted the moment “…the dust returns to the earth as it was, …” referring to our body, “…and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” [Ecclesiastes 12:67]. That is the finality of death regardless of where you live, what your culture, your background, your thinking may be, death is the end. That is true for centuries. That is true in Jesus' day. That is true also for today.

And so, one of the intellectuals, a thinking man who is agnostic, someone who believes that God exists but would not communicate with man, and therefore there is no way to know who God is. An agnostic at the death of his father, he was wrapped up with his own musings about life and the finality of death, and this is his take on what it means for him. He says, “Our little parts in the drama of life will soon be acted, and as to us the curtain will soon fall. Yet other actors will take our places and the play will go on as merrily as though we still walked the stage. Other pulses will beat while ours are still, other hearts will love when ours are cold, other voices will talk of love and happiness when ours are hushed forever. The sun will shine as brightly and the eternal stars will gaze as silently upon our tombs as upon our cradles.” Could you sense and tell how lonely and hopeless this agnostic feels about life? It's almost like what's the point of living when it just knows does not matter the moment we passed on; life will go on. People will carry on and we would soon be forgotten because death [13:08] remains final for us today.

There is a man by the name of [13:16] Harry Houdini who is a masterful magician and he is able to unchain himself from any kind of bonds. Before he passed away in 1926, he told his wife, “I will find a way to communicate with you”, and because he has been capable of such amazing feats, his wife actually believed him. So, every year on the anniversary of Houdini's death, the wife would sit in the house under his portrait, on the chair and wait to hear communication from her husband but nothing happened year after year until 10 years later in 1936, she finally in exasperation proclaimed, announced, she said, “There is no life after death”. There is no way. Why? Because death is final.

John 20:25
And perhaps that is the state that Thomas found himself in because he is just being a realist here. He is being a pragmatist. He is facing life as it is. He is not dreamy nor is he idealistic because he knows that Jesus had died and so when “…the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ [But] he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’” [John 20:25]. Now, it's hard for us as Christians to wonder why Thomas is so adamant. He's so resolute. He's so determined that he will not believe because… hey, these 10 other disciples are his friends, his companions. Surely, their word can be taken for what it's worth even if it's a grain of salt. Wouldn't you at least consider? But with Thomas, he is so wrapped up in his thinking that… no, this cannot happen, this will not happen. That he says, “Unless I see evidence, unless I see it”, and in the Greek, it is the double negative. The double negative simply means that Thomas is saying, never ever, absolutely not. And so, he has taken his stance. He is digging in and he's saying, “No, I will not believe unless you prove it to me”. And here is the interesting thing, for the first time in the gospels, in the Bible, only in the Gospel of John is the crucifixion referred to and described as “the mark of the nails”.

In other words, in Thomas' mind, when he pictures what happened to Jesus, he says, this is the evidence he has been nailed to the cross. There are marks of the nails in his hands and I want to see those evidences. You say, why? Why is it that Thomas cannot believe? Didn't he see Jesus raise the widow's son to life? Didn't he see Jesus raised Lazarus to life? Why is it that he cannot believe the words of Jesus himself when he said, I will rise on the third day? Why does he reject all of it? Maybe it's because to his Jewish mind, in his Jewish sensitivities, informed by the Law of Moses in the Old Testament, he knows that whoever has been nailed to the cross with the mark of the nails in his hand is a man accursed by God. So, someone who is blessed can certainly bring blessing. But if someone is accursed, how could he have any form of blessings from God? And so, he grapples with these doubts and he struggles with his fears, and he remains skeptical that any good can come out of such a horrible way of dying, in which as a Jew, he has to accept the curse of God is on Jesus. But with the benefit of the New Testament, we know today that yes, Jesus was cursed on the cross [18:18] because he was bearing the curse of our sins.

What is sin? Sin is rebellion against God. Sin is disobedience to God. Sin first entered into the world when Adam and Eve took of the fruit and ate in disobedience, and because of that we continue to have generations after generation of human beings born into this world that deviate, and turn from the path of seeking after God. As a result, we find that we lie so easily. As a result, we find that we could be envious, we could be jealous, we could be angry, we could do hurtful things so easily in the secret moments of our heart when no one else is looking, we can become someone we will be ashamed of.

And all that are the marks and the revelation of sin at work that eventually the Scripture tells results in death and that is what Jesus bore on the cross on our behalf. Because sinful men cannot be reconciled with a holy God and the only way for Holy God to accept sinful men like you and I, if somebody died on the cross to become our substitutionary atonement. You say, Wow! What is that? Substitutionary atonement simply means that Jesus died for you and for me to pay the debt of our sins, so that when we believe in Jesus, our sins can be forgiven, we can be reconciled with God and given eternal life. And eternal life means that we will have a relationship with God. It means that we can know Him. We can begin to grow in that knowledge of Him and that will culminate eventually in eternal future in glory. And that is why Jesus had the marks of the nails in his hands.

John 20:26
The scripture tells us that “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, …” You see, Thomas can have his views. He can have his convictions. But when we choose not to believe what God says in His Word, when we choose not to believe what Jesus promised in the Gospel then we are going to position ourselves in a place outside of God's provision, outside of God's blessing. And the Bible tells us “…his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them…” I cannot imagine what it would be like in those eight days. On one hand are the other 10 disciples who have seen and believed, and so they cannot help but talk about it. But on the other hand, there is Thomas who is with them but he doesn't believe. Could you imagine the tension? Oh, you better don't say this… Could you imagine the frowns? Oh, I wonder what he'll be thinking… because they are not on the same page and that's where Thomas found himself. You see, [21:44] God oftentimes allow us to stew in our unbelief so that we can [21:52] see the outcome of what rejecting him results in. You see, we sometimes imagine a God who can't wait to be angry with us and do horrible things to us. But you know, the most horrible things we could do to ourselves is to reject our maker, is to reject our Savior and to not believe. So, for eight days, Thomas stewed in that unbelief. And the scripture tells “Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace [22:26] be with you.’” [John 20:26]. So, Jesus appeared again, this time with Thomas included. [22:34] Can you imagine the tension? Can you imagine the awkwardness? Can you imagine the uncertainty? The other 10 disciples were probably thinking like, what is going to happen next? We are the good ones, we believe. But… but he, bad boy, never believe. Every day tell him, he said, I don't believe. Wah…Don't know whether lightning will strike. Don't know whether Jesus will start scolding him. We do not know.

John 20:27
And so, at that moment we are all wondering what is going to happen because Jesus had appeared as the risen Savior, and the Scripture tells us, “Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’” [John 20:27]. Imagine the awkwardness that Thomas would have felt. Before that he was so resolute, he was so determined, he was so sure of himself. In his heart, he is totally sincere, absolute in his unbelief, complete in his rejection of the testimony of the other disciples. And he says, no way, cannot be true unless I see it, I won't believe it. He is almost like an agnostic in his unbelief. But here is now Jesus appearing in his resurrected state telling him the very things that he said he wanted to do as proof. Come, see my hands, put out your hand, put it on my side and believe. Now of course, as Christians down through the ages, we are kind of hard on Thomas, to be honest. That's why he has a nickname; he is often known as “Doubting Thomas”. How's that, right? As a follower of Jesus, as a believer, you are better known for your doubts than for your faith but that is the outcome of how we have perceived him. But perhaps we perceive him that way because we do not realize that his struggles are so real because they portray, they depict our own struggles today with faith.

The Transformative Power of Faith

Now of course, we like to imagine that we are nicer, we are more believing than we really like to be. But have you thought about it? Even though with modern technology, it can bring the Bible into your phones and you can read it when you are taking a bus or listen to it when you're traveling on a train. Yet at every juncture of your life, you have still to exercise faith. Even with the signs of air travel, you could go to new countries and explore, and see the marvels of God's creation. Yet with all those travels, it brings along with its certain stress and fears. The most recent of which I heard and read is that there can be smoke and fire in the cabin because of portable charges. And so, we grapple with all this and even with medical technology advances, dueling, diagnosing all kinds of illnesses, we still face with diseases and death. So do we not ourselves even as followers of Jesus, even as believers, not just unbelievers, struggle with believing.

I remembered about four years ago in 2021, I was diagnosed with a dreaded disease and when the news broke, I was very, very shocked. I had no family history and I didn't expect this at all. It almost is like what someone else described like being struck by lightning out of a clear blue sky. And suddenly from thinking about what to do next in my life, I'm facing with the real possibility of being ushered into eternity. And my wife and I, we struggled with that because it was unexpected and yet we know that if it comes, it's final. There is no negotiation, and the grief and the pain I can still remember it brought to our hearts caused us to weep and cry before God, asking questions like why did this happen? How could it be like this? Is there any logic behind it? What does the Gospel [27:33] therefore means? Why would we want to walk in paths of righteousness? Why would we want to live a godly life? And all these thoughts begin to store my heart and begin to cause me to struggle between doubt and faith.

I still remembered we did scans, and the next day we would be going to the doctor to see the results, and that would determine how bad the situation is and whether I would be passing on. And that night, we do not know and I remember, as I prayed with my wife, we… I told the Lord, I said, God, I understand that your love is demonstrated at the cross and proven at the resurrection. But to be honest with all this pain in my heart, with all this anguish and unanswered question I cannot see, I do not understand it. I do not know how to think about all this. But yet I told the Lord, I believe. I believe that you love me and Jesus died for me, and it makes a difference. And I stand before you today to tell you that I believe. And because I told the Lord I believe, the amazing thing is that, that night even though the results were not out and I do not understand the outcome, and don't know whether I would survive, there was a peace that surpassed understanding that flooded my heart. It seems as if God came and comforted my soul and allowed me to have new strength, to press on, to journey on.

And you see, this is what Jesus wanted Thomas to do, “…he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; [and] put out your hand, and place it on my side…” He said, “…Do not disbelieve, but believe.’” [John 20:27]. It is interesting because the Greek here for disbelief is the same word used to describe an unbeliever, “Apistos” it means that even though Thomas is a follower, a believer when he embraced such skepticism and doubt, when he stewed in it for the past eight days, he is walking and behaving as an unbeliever. No difference, he's walking in the direction of unbelief. So, you see, faith, my friend, is not just a thought, it's not just a feeling, it's not just an imagination. Faith determines our direction in life. And so, Jesus is saying, Thomas, look at yourself. You are walking in the path of an unbeliever. Stop there. Turn around, choose instead to believe and that is the same call that Jesus makes to all of us today.

John 20:28
All your knowledge of the Scripture, all your church and Christian experience boils down to this, are you living in unbelief? Or are you making a conscious, intentional choice to believe that what Jesus did for you on that cross 2000 years ago on that Good Friday matters and makes a difference to your life now? Because your sins are forgiven, because You are reconciled with God, because you can have the hope of his communion and his leadership. And look at how Thomas responded, “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” [John 20:28]. This is one of the most beautiful responses to the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It surpasses the other disciples in the expression of faith and worship. But I want you to see with me that until Thomas made that conscious personal choice to believe in the Gospel, in what Jesus did for him on the cross, he could not see the glory of the resurrection revealed in the person of Jesus Christ as his Lord and as his God. You see before that where Thomas is concerned in his mind, he is a dead man, gone and done with, he is like the rest of us. Yes, I understand the creed. Yes, I understand the statement of faith. Yes, I understand the Jewish, you know, announcements of belief but the Messiah is gone. But at this point when he understood what Jesus did by the print of nail in his hand and accepted it, the call to faith, and he placed his faith in it that lifted it… lifted him out of his skepticism, out of the darkness of his own heart and he began [32:36] to see Jesus for who He really is, his Lord and his God.

In other words, the Gospel, salvation is not just a fire escape from hell. It's not just a ticket to heaven. It's not like… Wow, Jesus, you rose from the grave, let me get that ticket and I'm on my way. No, it isn't like that at all but that's what we sometimes think. Oh, I go to church, I worship, I sing some songs, I do some ministries and I believe. But you know what, all you believe in is that if you were to die one day, you go to heaven, that's about it. But you do not see the glory of the resurrection that it has brought God, the living God, into your life, that he has become your Lord. He has become your God and that is what makes the difference in eternal life.

John 20:29
And now, having made such a powerful confession of faith perhaps we would think Jesus would call Thomas over and say, “Good boy, finally you said the right things. Finally, you gave that A+ answer better than the others. Today, you win.” No… Why? Because this is not the end of this conversation. The next thing that Jesus said is meant for the benefit of the other disciples as they proclaim the Gospel and for us today as well. Let's listen to what he says, Jesus went on to say to him, “…Have you believed because you have seen me? ...” [John 20:29], you see to Thomas as an apostle, he is given the privilege of physically seeing the resurrected Savior because in the redemption plan of God, the 12 Apostles are intended to be the witnesses to the 12 Tribes of Israel that the Messiah has come and accomplished the salvation God promised. And so that demands eye witnesses, credible evidence so that this Gospel can pass down through the ages, not as a fable, not a myth, nor a legend but as a historical verifiable reality and that's why Thomas has to see.

But Jesus went on to say that, that is not going to be the norm for everyone else. He said, “…Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” [John 20:29]. The norm is not to see but to believe. Perhaps, while Jesus was speaking these words to Thomas, one of the disciples named Peter heard it and remembered it because years later when he wrote the Epistle, listen to what the Apostle Peter wrote in First Peter, chapter one, verse eight to nine. He said, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” [1 Peter 18:9]. And so, my friends, don't limit yourself like Thomas did. To say unless I see Jesus with my own eyes, hear his voice audibly with my ears, I will not believe because that is going to trap you within your physical body in all that you do to experience the truth of the Gospel.

The Role of Faith in Believing the Gospel

Do you realize that faith is not blind? Some people think that faith is blind because they think it's a matter of feeling, a matter of thinking and so because of that, I just… even though I don't fully understand, I just leap out in the dark. But you see faith is not blind because faith is based on the Word of God, and the Word of God reveals to us realities that are invisible yet eternal, imperishable. Whereas if you reject the Word of God then you are going to resign yourself to living a life that is trapped in this body on this material universe, and the only thing you know are the things that are visible and temporal that last only for now. In other words, faith is not blind but unbelief is blind. Unbelief rejects the Word of God and therefore blinds itself to all that God [37:36] has to tell us about the world to come, about eternal life, about the true intention and possibility of human existence with the living God. And so, my friends, do you have this joy? Do you have that which is inexpressible and filled with glory?

I remembered when I went into treatment, I began to experience a lot of uncertainty and doubts, and struggled with my faith, with my understanding of the Gospel, primarily because I do not have the answers about the outcome of my treatment, whether or not I would survive and even if I do, what is the quality of my life? And many of these thoughts were chronicled in this book that I wrote “Following Jesus Through Sufferings”, an eBook that we have available on our website for free so as to benefit all those who may have similar journeys and struggles. But I want you to know that many of these struggles and thoughts, and doubts were chronicled before I knew the outcome of my faith, before I understood that the tumor has strung. Before I knew that… well, maybe life wouldn't be that bad, it's still manageable. But while I was dealing with all these uncertainties because I choose to believe in the Word of God and be comforted by the presence of my Lord and my God, I want to bear testimony today that there is a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Strange enough, in the midst of sorrow, there is joy. In the midst of darkness, there can be light because that is what God alone can do.

I remember there was once when I came back from my chemo radiotherapy. I was exhausted. I was wiped out. I had no energy left. I was lying on the bed, resting. And my wife herself is struggling as I went through this journey. She's wondering to herself too, why is this happening? What good can come out of it? Where is God? How can I have faith? Where is the glory of it all? I remembered that night she came out of the bathroom because she was weeping and crying in sorrow, in pain and she told me that in the midst of all that, God spoke to her through a Chinese worship song and told me, I am right here. I am right here in your sorrow. I am right here in your pain, and this is where I want to reveal my glory, and that is what the Gospel of Jesus does for us, because he died on the cross and rose again. When we believe in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, we see the glory of the resurrection revealed in the person of Jesus Christ as our Lord and as our God, and we are no more alone. No matter what we may have experienced, we can have hope. We can have joy. We can have glory not because we are good in and of ourselves but because God is now with us.

The Call to Believe and the Joy of Faith

And I hope that you can understand that this is not just for Thomas, it's not just for those who are going through sorrow and hardship, it is for all of us that if we want to see the glory of the resurrection and enter into that life changing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, then we need to believe in the Gospel. We need to understand that our sin is the problem and we need to repent of it, to trust in the Savior, to bear our sins for us on that cross, and when that transaction of grace takes place through faith then can we be reconciled with God. And once that reconciliation takes place, and you… because you believe in the Gospel like Thomas, the pieces will fit together one by one and you will realize that God is your God, that Jesus [42:29] is your Lord, and therefore you can have hope, you can have joy, and you will finally, one day, be with Him forever.

So, if you're not a believer today, if you have not trusted in Jesus, I want to encourage you to consider the truth of the Gospel. I want to encourage you if you are convinced of it, to delay no more but to turn to God and say, God, I know I'm a sinner. I know that I'm not worthy of this grace and this salvation but I place my trust in Jesus as my Savior. And when you do that, then Jesus said, verily, verily or truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, remember not just a thought nor a feeling but a personal deliberate choice to turn from unbelief to faith in him will have eternal life. You will know God and receive Him into your life.

And I also want to encourage those who are believers among us not to take this as just a story to hear on Good Friday but to ask yourself, are you just going through the motions of the Christian faith? Are you just coming to church, singing a couple of songs, doing some ministry? Do you see the glory of the resurrection? Is Jesus your Lord and your God or is he just someone you name in your faith? Or have you forgotten what the cross of Jesus truly means? So, let's come back to the cross of our Lord Jesus. Let us place our faith in what he has done for us. And let us allow him to lead and usher us into that journey in which we would know more and more about our living God.

Closing Prayer

Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we give thanks to You for Your Word. We give thanks to You for what You have revealed to us through the experiences of one of the disciples of Jesus. Lord, we often have more questions than we have answers in this life and sometimes we wonder whether it makes sense to think the way the Bible teaches. But yet we pray that in the midst of our weakness, in our struggles, we would choose intentionally to place our trust in what You say more than in what we feel, and in the process may we experience that life changing relationship that You alone can bring as our Lord and our God. And we pray also for those who are outside of your kingdom, who have not trusted in You, Lord, that You call them to faith, that they too may know the joy of their sins forgiven and the hope of eternal life because we ask and pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.