Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29).

Blessed! That describes you and me and everyone throughout this world who has truly believed in Jesus Christ since His ascension into heaven. We “did not see” Jesus after He was raised from the dead, as His apostles did, yet we believed.

A couple of verses after these words of the resurrected Jesus to Thomas, one of the Twelve, John makes clear in what sense we are “blessed” when we have believed without seeing. John wrote: “But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31, emphasis added). We are blessed because God in His grace has granted life—eternal life—to all who have truly believed in both who Jesus is (the Christ, the Son of God), and what He did. (He died for my sins on the cross and rose again from the dead.) Blessed indeed!

But in looking at this precious blessing, here’s the question I’d like to address: Since we have believed in Him without seeing Him, is our belief just a random shot in the dark, a blind “leap of faith”? Answer: No! Absolutely not! Despite statements we often hear, such as “You have your truth, I have mine” and “All religions lead to God,” the Bible is clear that our faith is not based on opinions (“truth for me”) or human inventions but rather on objective, historic, eyewitness-verified truth. Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead is at the heart of that truth. It was the exclamation point at the end of all that He said and did as He walked upon this earth. It was the declaration with power that He truly was the Son of God (Romans 1:4), and that His sacrificial death on the cross for our sins was accepted by God the Father (Romans 4:25). It is at the core of what we must believe to be saved from both our slavery to sin and its penalty (Romans 10:9).

The New Testament’s emphasis on the certainty and truth of Jesus’ resurrection stands in sharp contrast to the spirit of our age. For instance, in contrast to the idea that there really is no objective truth, Paul wrote that if this is not true—if Christ has not been bodily raised from the dead—“your faith also is vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14); “your faith is worthless” (verse 17); “we are of all men most to be pitied” (verse 19). In other words, if there is no objective reality behind what we believe, then it does us no more good than believing in the tooth fairy. But—Paul did know that these things were true because Christ, after His resurrection from the dead, had personally appeared to him after previously appearing to more than five hundred others (verses 6-8). So after even considering the horrific possibilities if Christ had not been raised from the dead, Paul immediately wrote: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead” (verse 20a). It is true. It is real. It is not a “leap of faith.”

And this brings us back to John 20. If we recall, it is at the end of this chapter in which we find Jesus blessing those who had not seen and yet had believed (verse 29). But this very chapter seems to be designed to emphasize that our faith in Jesus, whom we have not seen, is based upon the witness of those who truly had seen Him after His resurrection. How so? John said this very thing after describing Jesus’ death. In chapter 19 he wrote: “And he who has seen [he’s referring to himself] has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe” (verse 35; emphasis added). In addition to this direct statement, John gave us four accounts in chapter 20 of those who did see Christ after He was raised bodily from the dead. Their eyewitness meetings with Jesus after His resurrection serve as an objective basis for our belief in Christ, despite our not seeing Him.

First, John and the empty tomb. “Simon Peter therefore also came, following him [John], and entered the tomb; and he beheld the linen wrappings lying there, and the facecloth, which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple [John] who had first come to the tomb entered then also, and he saw and believed” (John 20:6-8).

The second account is of Mary Magdalene and the “gardener.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). . . . Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” and that He had said these things to her (John 20:15-16,18).

The third account is of the apostles and the upper room. When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord (John 20:19-20).

The final account that John gives of those who did see and believe is that of Thomas— and here his skepticism is smashed. The other disciples therefore were saying to him [Thomas], “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:25-28).

Here is the point: Our not seeing and yet believing is not a blind faith because it is based on the eyewitness testimonies of those who did see and believe. As D. A. Carson notes: “Blessed, then, are those who cannot share Thomas’ experience of sight, but who, in part because they read of Thomas’ experience, come to share Thomas’ faith” (The Gospel According to John, p. 660). In a world of so many competing religions and philosophies—a world which often denies the very concept of truth—rejoice that we have a firm, unchanging, objective foundation for our faith recorded for us in the New Testament. And in the midst of a doubting world, continue confidently, boldly proclaiming what we know of Jesus Christ: “My Lord and my God.”