COME AND SEE

A major theme in the new Testament is "come and see." We believe what we see with our own two eyes. Light becomes digital testimony inside our brain. Before we are a witness for others to hear, we are a witness for ourself.

The New Testament often moves from “come and see” to “go and tell.” The inner witness precedes the outward witness. 

John’s Gospel explicitly uses the phrase “come and see” at multiple key turning points. Jesus invites the first disciples, “Come and you will see,” They “came and saw where he was staying,” experiencing him personally before they ever speak to others about him.  

Philip echoes this pattern with Nathanael. When Nathanael doubts, Philip does not argue; he simply says, “Come and see,” trusting that encounter will answer objections. It does. 

The Samaritan woman at the well does the same. After Yeshua proves he knows her, she runs back to her village and implores people to “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did." After meeting Yeshua, her neighbors believe for themselves.

The bible is filled with signs that are meant to be “seen.”  John’s Gospel is written “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah."

Some people are more stubborn and difficult to convince than others. Despite hearing the testimony of witnesses and other believers, they require their own hard physical evidence. Such is the disciple Thomas. He is like a lot of people, who will "never believe unless" they see it for themselves. 

Yeshua meets Thomas where he is and states Thomas’s demands back to him. He knows Thomas just like he knows the Samaritan woman and Nathaniel. Yeshua tells Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” (20:27)

Seeing is ultimately believing for Thomas. He answered Yeshua with the few simple words, “My Lord and my God!” These words sound very similar to "The Lord is our God" in the beginning of the Shema from Deuteronomy 6.4, right after "Here, O Israel." 

For Thomas, "hearing" other people's testimony wasn't sufficient. He needed to hear, see and touch for himself. 

 “Come and see” functions as an invitation to personal encounter, so that people become witnesses of what they themselves have experienced rather than second‑hand reporters.  Sèeing activates our innerwitness.

In John chapter 20 is when the disciples see Yeshua after he has risen. It is at this point in the story, after witnessing the "good news" for themselves, that Yeshua "breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit." This is the moment the disciples received the "inner dwelling" of the Spirit that Yeshua promised to leave them. 

3D Image on the Shroud of Turin

In chapter 20, Yeshua left something else significant for John and Peter, and the world, to see.  Yeshua left his burial clothes lying in the tomb. The linen cloths are Yeshua's own testimony, written by him with his own blood. The burial clothes testify of a man who was brutally beaten, crucified on a wooden tree in Jerusalem, put in the earth for three days and rose from the dead. They are the equivalent of the "sign of Jonah." The scientific evidence on the shroud of Turin is irrefutable. Don't believe me? Come and see it for yourself.  I did. 

For our 40th wedding anniversary, Mary and I visited the Shroud in Turin. It happened to be on Yom Kippur, the very same day Jews read the Book of Jonah. So my day began at the temple in Turin and then we went to see the Shroud. 

Yeshua said something deeply meaningful to Thomas near the end of John chapter 20. He said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

By the same token, Yeshua clearly knew that there would be stubborn people who would hold out to the end of time.  Perhaps that is who the Shroud of Turin was left for. Maybe it was meant for this generation that is looking for a sign. It is most certainly this generation that is discovering the secrets on the shroud of Turin that have been hidden for 2000 years. 

"Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One." Deuteronomy 6.4. 

The image above is the first sentence of Deuteronomy 6.4, the "Shema" in an actual Torah. The Hebrew word "Shema" is the first three Hebrew letters on the right. The Hebrew word Shema means both "hear" and "obey." You should be able to notice that the last letter in the word "shema" is larger than the two preceding letters. That is the letter "Ayin." The letter "Ayin" means "eye." So in the word for "hear," we have eyes to see. 

The shroud of Turin isn't only real; It is also the truth of the burial clothes being revealed now. It is a sign. THIS IS A REVELATION for a time such as this.