A Simple Declaration

“And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” (Joh 20:28 AV)

 

A very simple profession of faith and submission.  Thomas gets a few knocks now and then for taking his time in accepting the truth of the resurrection.  But when he does, he really does!  The statement above is not a simple one-off.  It is not a simple statement uttered because there was nothing else to say.  Thomas’ profession of faith is as deep as it gets.  We may wonder why he doubted as he did.  But no one can dispute the absolutely sound and complete declaration of who Jesus is in five words or less.  When I read this verse this morning, I could not help but be reminded of the topic at hand in our Wednesday evening prayer meeting.  We are studying the person of Jesus.  Not necessarily in a doctrinal way, but more in a personal way.  Our hope and prayer are that we develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the person of Jesus Christ so that when we meet Him, we are already deeply in love with Him.

Many elections ago, I remember a particular presidential debate and a specific moment in that debate that pretty much sealed the loser’s fate.  I cannot recall who the two opponents were, but I want to think it was President Ronald Reagan and his second opponent.  The challenger continuously addressed the sitting President by his first name only.  Not only that, but he used the shortened form of his first name.  This challenger spoke down to a sitting president and addressed him as though they had been familiar acquaintances for their entire lives.  The moderator said nothing about it.  Nor was the challenger corrected.  Our sitting president took this insult with a grain of salt.  He let it slide for a good bit of the debate.  However, when the opportunity arose, he said something I will never forget.  The topic at hand was to the advantage of the challenger.  But, the challenger was misrepresenting the facts as we knew them and accusing the sitting president of a falsehood.  This challenger was not answering the moderator’s question as much as he was trying to bait our President to react in an unpresidential way.  After our President answered the question at hand and responded to the challenger's rebuttal, our President did something that forever changed the trajectory of the debate and campaign.  The challenger did not stop with a rebuttal.  He personally addressed our President again by his shortened first name and directly challenged our President. To which our President said, “It is not Mr. Reagan or Ron from you.  It is President Reagan.  And you will address me as such for the remainder of this debate.”  You could have heard a pin drop.  In that simple statement, all rebellion from the challenger to the moderator to the audience was squelched.  The simple statement of what and who he has put an air of respect in the hearts of all those who sat there listening.

When I see Thomas’ profession of faith, I wonder to myself what my impression of the LORD Jesus Christ resides in my heart?  Do I always see and think of Him as my Lord and my God?  Coming from a faith tradition that stressed the humanity of Christ over the divinity of Christ, there has been quite an adjustment.  We can study about our LORD.  We can write papers on His divine attributes.  But there is a difference between knowing doctrine about Christ and seeing Him as He truly is.  He is indeed our Lord and our God.  The LORD Jesus may have come in the form of a man.  He may have had a human nature, but that doesn’t change the fact of His divinity.  Jesus is both Lord and God.  He is no led God than the Father.  We are told to pray to the Father because it is the will of the Father we are addressing.  Yet, we can still pray to the Son as both LORD and God.  I appreciate Thomas’ simple words above.  These words of acknowledgment and worship need to be on my lips more than they ever have before and in the hearts of those who claim His name.