be no Christ. He expected that Peter and
James and John and the rest would meet there and talk of a glorious
past that had gone forever. He would have said, "Yes, I know what they
will say. They will tell how Jesus called them at the beginning. They
will tell how they forsook all to follow Him. They will tell of the
great dreams that they dreamed, of the high hopes that they cherished.
They will tell of all the glad, radiant days that have 'dropped into
the sunset.' But they will have nothing to say to relieve the
bitterness of to-day or to fling a bow of hope upon the black skies of
to-morrow. So I will not go to the meeting to-day."

But the meeting was not dull. The meeting was not sad. The meeting
was not a lament for a glory that was passed, for a glad day that had
slipped behind them forever more. It was a service that thrilled with
present joys. It was a meeting that made the future to glow with
glorious possibilities. It was wonderful, because Jesus came. He came
then, and He comes still. Wherever hungry hearts come together who
yearn for Him and make Him welcome, there comes the blessed Christ to
stand in the midst. And therefore I would not absent myself from the
meeting together of the people of God. I would not because I want to
be there when Jesus comes, when the King comes in to see the guests.

"Thomas was not with them when Jesus came." I wonder why it was that
Thomas was missing. I wonder how it came about that he, the neediest
man among the apostles, was not there to receive the inspiration and
the uplift that came from this service. Why was he not there?

It was not, I am sure, because he was indifferent. There are many
to-day who have separated themselves from the services of the church,
from the fellowship of the saints, because of a deadening indifference.
They have become absorbed in a thousand other matters till they have
become doubly uninterested in the things of the church and in the
affairs of the Kingdom.

Thomas was not missing because he had found satisfaction elsewhere.
Thomas was not satisfied. Thomas was not happy. I doubt if there was
a sadder man in all Jerusalem than Thomas. I doubt if there was a more
wretched man in the wide world at that time than was Thomas. Thomas
had not turned aside from Jesus to satisfy his soul on husks. He had
not left Christ because his needs had been met and his thirst satisfied
at some other fountain.

Why was Thomas missing