After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples. One disciple in particular, Thomas, became known as the “doubting Thomas.” In the Gospel of John 20:25, the other disciples told Thomas that Jesus has risen, to which he replied, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger into the nail marks and into his side, I will not believe.” When Jesus arrived, Thomas did just that. Thomas changed his tune after that and said, “My Lord and My God,” knowing that it was the true Jesus. 

Jesus went to the cross in place of us. He took the punishment that we deserve so that we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only perfection gets in there and we are by no means perfect. That is, until the nails were driven into the hands of Jesus Christ on the cross. We will walk into Heaven by the perfecting blood of Jesus washing us clean. He died, was buried, and was raised from the dead, but the nail holes were still there in his earthly body. That’s a representation of ourselves. We are dead to sin, thanks to Jesus on the cross, but the earthly consequences of sin still remain in some cases.

When we sin, it is like driving a nail into a plank of wood. Through our acceptance of Jesus’ payment on the cross and our repentance of our sins, the nail comes out. But, all sin carries an earthly, mortal consequence with it. The nail hole is still there. Repentance means a changing of your mind and will, turning away from your sins and sinful nature. You shall, however, still have those temptations now and again. That’s how the devil gets to you. The devil is an opportunist and will aim for your weak spot time and time again.

If you get a cut on your arm and you don’t constantly cover it up with a sterile dressing, bad things can get into that cut and infect the whole body. If you let that infection get too far, death arrives. The same thing can be said for our souls. Even though Christ took away your sins, you will still possess the earthly remains of that sin. The nail left a hole. The good news is that with a close, personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you will eventually heal. That hole will become smaller and smaller until one day, you won’t even be able to notice it. That’s not saying the devil won’t keep aiming for you, but through a closer walk with Jesus, it will be harder for the devil and sin to get into you.