What Thomas Saw

Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and BEHOLD MY HANDS…” —John 20:27

When Jesus held up His nail pierced, Thomas saw more than the nail prints. Those scars in Jesus’ palms probably reminded him of a practice of the scribes who copied the Scriptures. They had such a reverence for God’s name that they would not write it for fear of taking God’s name in vain.  Instead when a scribe came to the name “Jehovah,” he would would substitute two small marks, like apostrophes.  The empty space between those two marks [‘   ’] would signify the name of God.

As Thomas looked at those two nail prints held up before him and between the nail prints he saw the resurrected and glorified Christ, he was reminded of those two marks in Scripture with the name “Jehovah” implied in between.  He immediately “sees” the connection and makes one of the most profound statements in the Bible saying, “My Lord and my God.”

Thomas recognized Christ’s sovereignty—“My Lord”—and His deity—“my God.”  And Jesus accepted Thomas’ profession!

These were not the hands of a weakling… Not the hands of a defeated martyr… Not the hands of a frustrated politician.  These are the hands that created the heaven and the earth!  Isaiah 45:12, “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens.” David wrote in Psalm 95:4-5, “In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.”

As the song goes, “He’s got the whole world in His hands!” You can trust your life in these hands—They are able to do all He said.