John 14:6-7
Jesus is Truth
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Matthew 16:13-20
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[b] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[d] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Mark 11:22-25
Moving Mountains
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
Hebrews 11:1-3
Faith
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
John 20:19-29
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 21:17
Jesus Knows All Things
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Teaches for Forty More Days and Then Ascends to Heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Who do you think Jesus is -is a very important and very personal question...If you believe as Peter did and does that He is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God -then He is from heaven and is God's Son...And if you believe that, then also would believe that God's Son would tell no lies, and would always be guiding and leading you toward the Truth...
Jesus once said that faith with no doubt and believing in God can move mountains...Jesus no doubt can move mountains...And as He taught His disciples and others, He knew and knows our thoughts...He knows our motives and beliefs...He knows if we are sincerely seeking Him, or if we have skeptic thoughts about Him...And when He taught about God, He made Him feel (to me) much as a human, even though He is Spirit...And we could relate much to what He was teaching...And since He knows all things, He knew the true believer or one who was trying to set Him up for something else...Jesus knows when we are reading the Bible or listening to one talking or sharing the Scripture who believes in Him and who does not...And because He does knows all things He can move mountains...
Faith, I think, has always had a mystery to it, and that mystery in the past was always seen in a positive Light...It seems to me that when people hear the word faith today, it is not quite the same as when Jesus walked the earth and taught...I believe the word faith is taken more lightly today, maybe not as serious as it was in His time...Faith for some people faith may mean it is for those people who believe in miracles...Faith is about moving mountains to some...People who follow Jesus believe in the impossible...People who follow Jesus are also thought of as, and this is only my opinion, as ones who believe in things a little contrary to reality...And when I think of these ideas on faith, I think I do believe in miracles, and I do believe in the impossible...And when read what Jesus said and did while He was on earth, I definitely believe in things a little contrary to reality...After all, He is born of a virgin, impregnated by the Holy Spirit, did many miracles, died on a cross, then resurrected, and if that was not enough He ascended into heaven...
Even though the Bible is the book of and all about faith, it actually does not give us a lengthy definition of faith...In fact, the Old Testament does not even give us a definition of faith...The first time we see a definition of faith is by the author of Hebrews who wrote over a thousand of years after the book of Genesis and tells us that faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see...This is what the ancients were commended for...By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible...If one believes that God created the universe, then moving one mountain is not even a large task for Him...And this definition in the Book of Hebrews is not really a lengthy definition at all, when we consider the Bible is all about faith in the Father and His Son...How are we to take that faith is something we hope for, and in faith we have this confidence?...Assurance, hope, and confidence are words of faith...Yet, we get no detail from the Hebrew's author...We do get examples of people with great faith from the writer...
When we look at Thomas' faith, we see one who did not believe that Jesus had resurrected from the dead...And Thomas is one of the original hand chosen Disciples by Jesus...Even though the other disciples had seen Jesus after His death, and his friends and fellow disciples explained about Jesus to him, Thomas would not believe...Thomas could not come to believe or the idea or have the faith to believe that Jesus had actually resurrected...Thomas could not believe against his own reality (after all the other Disciples had seen Him and He was real)...Was it possible or impossible that Jesus was still alive three days after His death?...Was it possible that Thomas must see one more miracle after Jesus died, before he could believe?...It just did not seem possible that Jesus could still be alive to Thomas, after His Teacher died on the cross and was buried...Doubting Thomas said “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”...
But the Bible does not say to us or to Thomas that you have to believe in one more miracle, or that you have to believe in the impossible, or that you have to believe in what goes against our thinking of how reality goes...Thomas may never have believed in the One that taught him so many things for the past three years, had he not got to touch his LORD and his God...The Bible does not tell us we have to believe in the impossible or miracles to believe in Jesus...But faith does believe in things like moving mountains...And as Thomas found out, faith moved Him past his own reality into the world of Jesus...Thomas say that the resurrection was a fact, and was real...He touched a live-dead man...Thomas' faith, I think, is in line with the faith of many people's faith today...I think many people can relate to St. Thomas...
Jesus was on earth for forty days after His death...Thomas and the other Disciples would see Him again...Jesus would give them many convincing proofs that he was alive...He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God...No doubt after this forty days their views of faith and of death and what happens to us after death, would forever change...Jesus gave them hope, assurance, and confidence about faith and the Kingdom of God...
For those that believe in Jesus and believe He is Truth and what He says is Truth believe He has done the things above and the miracles in the four gospels...Jesus who says He is Absolute Truth, would not want us to believe in a lie..If I believe He is the Son of the Living God, God does not want us believing in things that are lies and not true...He wants us to believe in the evidence of the Truth...One who is sacred and holy, and who died for us would not want us to believe in anything that is not the Truth...How could He, and why would He?...God would not want us to believe in anything that is not Truth...And why would we believe in anything -we believe in things because they are Truth...Faith is a response to the Truth, and it is the proper response...This is why Thomas after finally touching His Teacher's glorious wounds said, "My LORD and my God."...Faith leads us to the Truth...