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Volume 33   Number 37 Sep 13, 2009

        Vs 1-6: Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha... Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.
        WAITING: Jesus waited to go up. When Jesus waits, we wait. Sometime the wait gets long and hard, but we must stand faithful. Regardless of what we are waiting for, the question is, who/what are we looking at/for during the wait? We can learn from Paul & Silas in prison (Acts 16:25) and Stephen being stoned (Acts 7:55). During times of waiting or distress, what are our eyes fixed on - the circumstance, or the Lord of glory?
        John 11:40: Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? There is a tension between faith for something to manifest and patient endurance with praise during the wait, but our life does not start when the promise is fulfilled. Our life is NOW. We are not seeking the Lord just for the promise, but for who He is. We are standing in faith for what is to come, yet yielded to His sovereignty and surrendering our days, our lives to Him… for our life is not our own, we were bought with a price, and we are glorifying Him in our bodies... even in our sickness while we stand for our healing. (1 Corinth 6:19-20) Does sickness glorify God? No! We glorify God in the way we carry our sickness while we are waiting to be healed. Don’t be ashamed of sickness, thinking you don’t have enough faith. Use your faith to stand in the midst of sickness, on your journey to healing. Job proved that there are a people in God who will stand faithful no matter what. We are those people!
        Jesus waited 2 days: Vs 7-10: Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." Jesus was not unconcerned about Lazarus, but would not go until it would do kingdom work. There was danger in going, but He was going in the light of the Father’s revelation. Going in God timing with God purpose is walking in the light
        Vs 11-15: These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” This was not just about Lazarus. It was about faith. Lazarus and his sisters expected Jesus to come and heal him. But Jesus can do exceedingly more than heal. He can resurrect the dead!
        THOMAS – DISMISSING JESUS: Vs 16: Then Thomas… said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." Thomas was very focused on the natural situation, being so painfully aware of the opposition against them in that region that he totally dismissed what Jesus had just said. Do we sometimes totally dismiss what Jesus has said? Are there times when we are so focused on our situation that we compromise truth and witness without realizing it? Thinking and acting out of the natural mind, and not out of the spirit, can cause us to dismiss the words of Jesus.
        THE RESURRECTION & THE LIFE: Vs 17-26: So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. None of our sickness is unto death. Death has been defeated!
        UNBELIEF & ACCUSATION: Vs 26b-40 …Do you believe this?” She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there." Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” [This is the second time He heard that. What is this saying? Jesus, you let us down.] Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!” And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?" [accusation] Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
        Look at the unbelief (Let us die with Him) and accusation (Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?) Jesus is dealing with. He has come to give life and they are giving power to death and grief. Now, Martha is questioning his command to take away the stone. Was He weeping over Lazarus death? No! He was glad he was dead, that they might believe (vs. 15). Was He groaning in the spirit for this miracle to take place? No! He already knew it was going to take place. (vs. 11). Jesus was weeping and groaning over their unbelief.
        LAZARUS, COME FORTH! Vs 41-44: Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." [The very thing that caused their unbelief, the delay, was about to build their faith beyond imagination] Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."
        Vs 40: Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?
        WE HAVE BEEN CREATED FOR HIS GLORY: Isaiah 43:5-7: Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west… Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory.
        WE ARE BEING TRANSFORMED INTO HIS GLORY: 2 Corinthians 3:18: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
        WE SHARE IN HIS GLORY - already: John 17: 22: And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.
        Jesus left and then later returned later to Bethany. John 12:9-11: Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. They came to see Lazarus! Lazarus shared in the glory! He also shared in the persecution. There is a price for the glory.
        Philippians 3:7-10: But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
        Jesus rose Lazarus up to be with him where He was. So it is with us. John 17:24: "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me.
        Not just eternally, but even now, we are being changed & prepared for a greater glory, for we are called to fulfill Habakkuk 2:14: For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.
        Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. We can have life, but still be covered with graveclothes. We have to shake off those things of death, and embrace the life of Christ. As we seek to glorify Him in our circumstances, His glory will manifest in our lives.
        "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"

Barbara Martin