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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Do you see desperation in the faces of some people as our world continues to shake from an unstoppable illness and many global economies are trembling? Listen to Psalm 42 today: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God… Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” (Ps. 42:1,2,5,11)
Everywhere, people are looking for something solid, sure, reliable, in which to put their hope. The choice to praise God and have hope in God is based on who God is, and His unchanging reliability, right? Did you know that in 1857 things were very much like today in America. The stock market crashed on October 10th 1857. Banks and railroads, all across our nation failed, unemployment skyrocketed, despair swept America. But so did HOPE in an unusual way!
On Sept. 23,1857 a man named Jeremiah Lamphier and five other men gathered for a short prayer meeting in downtown New York City, as they sensed a rising fear in America. One week later they met again, and 20 people came to pray with Mr Lamphier at noon. The third week 40 people gathered, and later that week the stock market collapsed. Noon time prayer meetings spread rapidly across America and soon, in every major city, the biggest meeting halls were filled to capacity, as people cried out to God for help, in a nationwide time of despair.
Over the next two years (1857-1859) some reports say more than 2 million people trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior, while the entire population of America was only 30 million. Newspapers across the country carried this prayer revival as front page news for many weeks. From America this great spiritual revival spread to Europe and then on to Asia. I’ve given you an article link, at the end of this “Walking with Jesus”, if you’d like to know more about this remarkable time of desperate seeking for God in America, and what God did in response! May I urge you to reach out to some friends this week, by telephone or ZOOM or whatever means you can, and pray. And may a great prayer movement begin sweeping our world, as we follow the admonition of Psalm 42, and seek God and His miraculous intervention in our crisis.
One week from today is often called “Maundy Thursday”, in memory of the evening Jesus spent with His disciples in the upper room before He was crucified on “Good Friday”. All next week we’ll look closely at what took place that evening in John 13-18, as Jesus prepared to die for your sin and mine!
Today, let’s join Jesus and His friends in a situation very much like what is happening all over the world today. A man named Lazarus was dying, and his sisters Mary & Martha had cried out to God. They also sent word to Jesus, urging Him to come quickly and help. Jesus and His disciples knew these three very well, and had often shared a meal in their home in Bethany, only two miles from Jerusalem. When word came, I’m confident Jesus’ friends fully expected they’d go, immediately, as quickly as possible.
But instead John tells us “When He heard this, Jesus said, ‘this sickness will not end in death. No it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.’ Jesus loved Martha and her sister Mary and Lazarus. Yet when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed were He was two more days.” (John 11:4-6)
Does God’s action or apparent inaction, sometimes baffle you my friends? How often have you cried out to God with an urgent matter, and heaven seems silent? Or what happens next after you call out to God seems contrary to what you expected God to do in your desperate situation? This is exactly what happens here to both Mary & Martha, and Jesus’ disciples. So let’s join them as they scratch their heads trying to understand why Jesus is not running down the road toward Bethany and his dying friend?
Several places in the Bible tell us that God is watching everything taking place on planet earth with us, the human race He has created in His image. Ps. 14:2 says “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.“ One of God’s daily desires is that every human being He has created will seek Him. and enter into a loving, trusting relationship with God. Our life is designed to be lived to the fullest in relationship with God. Do you believe that?
Psalm 33:13-15 says “From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth – He who forms the hearts of all, considers everything they do.” God is eternal, holy, loving, and desires for us to live God honoring lives, that are helpful to each other and honest. He closely watches what we do, say, think and He can even see the motives of our hearts!
In God’s love for us, He desires that in our relationship with Him we will grow daily, learning more and more about Him. And as we ‘walk with Jesus’, He will refine our character, our worldview, our attitudes, our relationships, so we will more and more honor God with our lives, and make a positive difference in our world. So in the case of Lazarus’ illness, do you see Jesus said “This sickness is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified.” God’s ultimate desire is that HE receives great glory and honor through your life and mine everyday, in every set of circumstances, perhaps especially the difficult ones.
In this case of dying Lazarus, Jesus had several options. He could have simply healed Lazarus from a distance, from right where He was, as He had done before in John 4:43-53. He could have hurried and hopefully arrived in Bethany before Lazarus died, and cured him, for He had certainly healed many people of a variety of diseases. But Jesus was always looking for the way in which His Father could be most honored and glorified.
Also, Jesus knew the time was short now, before He would be going to Jerusalem to complete His Redemption mission. It was important every event now was strategic and helped build the case that Jesus was Immanuel, God incarnate, and that He was always obedient to His Father, doing things in a way that would point people to Almighty God, as their ultimate Hope in life. So Jesus stayed right where He was, for two days, knowing Lazarus would die while He delayed. WHY? He knew a dead Lazarus would provide the opportunity for Jesus to do the greatest miracle of all. . . prove Jesus’ authority over life and death, and raise a dead man to life!
Of course, neither Jesus’ disciples nor those in Bethany were thinking that. . .they were fearful, increasingly troubled that Jesus appeared unconcerned, almost indifferent toward the crisis! Finally He said “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.” (John 11:11) Of course they thought normal sleep so urged Jesus to let Lazarus sleep as it will probably help him get well.
“So Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let’s go to him now.” (John 11:14) Do you see Jesus preparing them to move from what might have been a good miracle of healing, to the greatest, most amazing miracle of restoring life to a dead man. . .all for the purpose of helping them and others believe that Jesus is Immanuel?
This raises the question we’ll be dealing with over the next few days as we ‘walk with Jesus’ toward Easter…WHO is Jesus Christ, and WHY are the events of EASTER so vital to every person’s eternal destiny?
As you read John 11 you’ll see that when Jesus and His friends arrived in Bethany, they were met with the same questions you and I have asked when we felt God was late or unresponsive to our call, right?
Martha said “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21) She was right. Out of His great love for these three siblings, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, who had often welcomed Jesus into their home with a great meal and friendship, IF Jesus had come when beckoned, certainly He would have healed His friend Lazarus. And I can see everyone who overheard her comments shaking their heads in agreement. They all had expected Jesus would help. . .but He had not done what they expected, and Lazarus was dead. It was over…right? And if they would be honest, they were frustrated, maybe even hurt that Jesus had apparently delayed when He could have helped!
But look at the next words that came out of Martha’s mouth: “But I know that even now God will give You whatever You ask.” What was Martha implying? Do you and I have that same amount of faith, my friends?
I wonder if Jesus just paused, and let her profound statement hang in the air for a moment, giving everyone the chance to ask themselves, “Do I believe that even now, with a man dead several days, that God will give Jesus whatever He asks?” As you and I watch the global news each day… what do you think God is feeling as daily He watches more people die? What do you think God is longing to see happen here among a humanity in fear? Do you think He’s waiting for people to turn to Him in faith and humility, asking Him for help, and repenting of our sin, and trusting Him to do what only God can do in this crisis?
Look at Jesus’ response: “Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (John 11:23,24) Do you notice that even normal Jewish people were well versed in Biblical truth. Martha understood there will be a resurrection in which all the dead will rise and stand accountable before God for the lives they had lived. While she didn’t have the detail that John wrote years later in Revelation 20:11-15, she had sufficient understanding of this resurrection from many Old Testament teachings.
Jesus’ answer to Martha was another ‘defining moment’, for her and all who were eyewitnesses to the conversation, and thanks to John having written it, for billions of people who have heard of this conversation in the 2000 years since: “Jesus said to Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though they die,and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25,26)
There it is friends, Jesus once again speaking with authority, of eternal life. The truth that what we know as death, is simply the death of our body, not the death of our soul & spirit. That part of us, made in God’s image, will live forever, and if we’ve trusted in Jesus, we will live forever with Him, and all others who have trusted in Him, in heaven!
Martha’s response is God inspired and a foundational truth for life: “Yes Lord, I believe that You are the Christ (Messiah) the Son of God who was to come into the world.” Martha has just answered the central life question every human being will have to answer. . .who is Jesus Christ? As we have ‘walked with Jesus’ over these weeks, many others have made similar statements, and Jesus Himself has declared it. But how about you TODAY, right now, my friends all over the world. Who do you say Jesus is? Your relationship with God and your eternal destiny hinge on your answer!!
As you read through the remainder of this powerful chapter, you’ll see Jesus asks Mary & Martha to take Him to the tomb where they had laid Lazarus’ dead body. John tells us “Jesus wept” there. Why do you supposed He wept? Perhaps because of the pain that death brings to so many, especially those who are unprepared for eternity. Perhaps because of the plight of two dear sisters who now would live without a brother who likely provided for them and cared for them. God has a very tender heart for widows, we see that throughout the Bible.
They led Jesus to Lazarus’s tomb, but did not expect Jesus to do the unthinkable! “Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone’, Jesus said. ‘But Lord’, said Martha, ‘by this time there is a bad odor for he has been in there four days.’ (John 11:38-39) This is another reason I think Jesus wept. The DECAY of sin.
We understand death is one of the penalties of sin God imposed on the human race after Adam and Eve turned away from God. And when death happens, decay begins immediately. That decay is a picture of the affect of sin on all of us. Decay of our integrity, decay of our relationships with each other, decay of our promises, decay of our hopes and dreams, decay of our potential. Oh the terribly effects of sin on everything it touches…do you agree?
But then in contrast to the decay of sin, there’s the power and glory of God. “Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I know that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me.’
And when He had said this, Jesus called out in a loud voice ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grace clothes and set him free.” (John 11:40-44)
Put yourself in the group of people standing with Mary, Martha and Jesus’ disciples. What have you just witnessed? What would you have said or done? How would your life have changed that day? And what if you were Lazarus, being loosed from death and the grave clothes, to have a second chance at life?
If you have trusted Jesus to be your Savior, this has been your experience and mine! We have been delivered from the stronghold of death, and we are now living a second chance at life! When finally death comes to our bodies, we will continue living with Jesus in His presence! Do I hear Amen?
In the rest of this 11 chapter, John continues the story telling us how various people responded to this remarkable miracle. Some placed their full trust in Jesus as the Son of God. Some turned angry and developed a plan to kill Him. Some turned away confused… how could it be true, who was this guy, what does it mean?
You’ll see in vs. 54 Jesus took His disciples and “…withdrew to a region near the desert,to a village called Ephriam, where He stayed with His disciples.” For several days Jesus and His friends had some quiet time together…preparing to go up to Jerusalem for what the disciples could not imagine, even though Jesus had told them what would happen to Him… Easter weekend!
For today… what does the miracle of Lazarus tell you about Jesus? What does it tell you about why God sometimes delays in His response to our cry? And what is your response to all this my friend?
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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