Lent Day Fourteen
“Romans 4:18-25”
Romans 4:18-25 The Passion Translation
18 Against all odds, when it looked hopeless, Abraham believed the promise and expected God to fulfil it. He took God at his word, and as a result he became the father of many nations. God’s declaration over him came to pass: Your descendants will be so many they will be impossible to count!
19 In spite of being nearly one hundred years old when the promise of having a son was made, his faith was so strong that it could not be undermined by the fact that he and Sarah were incapable of conceiving a child.
20- 21 He never stopped believing God’s promise, for he was made strong in his faith to father a child. And because he was mighty in faith and convinced that God had all the power needed to fulfil his promises, Abraham glorified God!
22 So now you see why Abraham’s faith was credited to his account as righteousness before God.
23 And this declaration was not just spoken over Abraham,
24 but also over us. For when we believe and embrace the one who brought our Lord Jesus back to life, perfect righteousness will be credited to our account as well.
25 Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that he had made us right with God!
Thomas knew about Abraham.
He knew about Abraham’s faith.
Thomas had always thought it was incredible, to believe like Abraham did.
Having a child at 100, when his wife was 90.
Not only that, but being willing to sacrifice that child (Gen 22), because God told him to.
Thomas was always relieved, when that story was read, to hear that Abraham didn’t have to go through with it.
God told him to stop.
But Abraham would have been willing to do it.
That’s the bit that always niggled Thomas.
Would Thomas have been willing to do that?
Thomas had been willing to die with Jesus.
Jesus had been determined to go to Bethany - despite the recent death threats against Him - so, in the end, Thomas persuaded the others to go, and they all went.
Jesus hadn’t died then. In fact, he’d raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11).
‘I AM the Resurrection and the Life’ (John 11:25)
When Jesus was eventually arrested, though, Thomas had run away with the other disciples.
He wasn’t sure where the other disciples went, they all scattered.
But he hadn’t expected them to find him, a few days later, and tell him that they’d seen Jesus.
Thomas knew that Jesus had been mocked, and tried, and crucified.
Thomas was a realist. Jesus couldn’t be alive.
‘There’s no way I am going to believe this unless I personally see the wounds of the nails in his hands and touch them with my finger….’ (John 20:25)
Just over a week later, Thomas was locked in a room with the other disciples. There was a lot of unrest around since Jesus died, and they’d locked themselves in. It felt safer.
Suddenly, Jesus was in the room.
‘Peace to you.’
And Jesus invites Thomas to touch His wounds.
Thomas responds: ‘You are my Lord, you are my God!’
Stop! I don’t need to touch his hands to prove I believe.
Echoes of ‘Stop!’ to Abraham, all those years ago. He didn’t need to kill his son to prove his faith.
You don’t need to do it.
…because he was mighty in faith and convinced that God had all the power needed to fulfil his promises, Abraham glorified God!
Unlike Abraham, Thomas is not mentioned in Hebrews 11 list of faith.
But, like Abraham’s, Thomas’ faith glorified God.
You are my Lord, You are my God.
Faith gives Jesus His proper place in everything.
Thomas could have said, ‘You are Lord. You are God’, which would have been true.
Faith helped Thomas add ‘my’.
He personalises it.
Perhaps this Lent, we can take time to realise - for the first or the five hundredth time - that Jesus came for us individually.
My.
For this is how much God loved the world – he gave his one and only unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. John 3:16
Emily Owen
Emily grew up in Leicester. Aged 16, she was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition, neurofibromatosis type 2, which has led to numerous operations and left her deaf. Emily delivers lessons and assemblies in schools, and enjoys speaking at meetings and events.