Isaiah 9:2

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned."


Do not doubt in the dark what you have seen in the light.  When a great storm comes upon you and knocks out the power, you blindly stumble throughout the house.  Suddenly a flash of lightning shakes the house and illuminates the room. For the briefest of moments, you know where you are and how to get to where you are going.  When the room fades again to black, the reality of the room does not disappear but rather is hidden.

Such is faith to us, like lightning in the deep dark of night.  Amidst the sea of doubt and the fog of suffering, our God is a lighthouse, a salvation for those lost at sea.  And you only need to see it once through the cracks of obscurity to forever know it is there, seen or unseen.  We walk in the light whether the light shines or not because it's there whether we see it or not.

But what we cannot do is convince another of what we have seen. All they see is dark and fog without the light.  Only by trust would a man believe solely upon our word, but it would not be real in his mind until he sees what we saw in the light.  All we can do is simply tell him where to look when the lightning strikes.

Luke 24:38

"He said to them, 'Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?  Look at my hands and my feet.  It is I myself!  Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."


No one believed the resurrection.  Even when it was plainly told to them that Christ would be raised on the Third Day, no one believed him at first and even Peter rebuked him.  But not even Christ expected us to believe blindly, but he says, "Touch me and see!"  This is not the testimony of irrational men or blind followers, but men who tested what they saw and believed in the truth.

The very idea of Jesus and His Resurrection sounds like pure and utter nonsense (v11) and Peter must have thought he was investigating a crime scene rather than the truth of our Risen Lord.  Every disciple doubted the resurrection and Peter's first conclusion, being a rational man, was not "He must've walked out".  He saw him beaten.  He saw him die and he is still grieving the loss.  What cruel new insult now is this to the memory of his beloved Lord?

They did not even recognize him as he talked to them (v16), but their hearts burned like fire within them as he spoke.  It was not until they ate with him as he broke the bread that they knew Him(v30-31).  It is not until they touched him (v39) that they believed for they all had doubt in their minds (v38).  No one comes to believe that Christ is risen until they reach out to touch him.  And when we've touched him, He touches us.