The
Raising of Lazarus: THE FAITH IS NOW!
Lazarus
and his two sisters, Mary and
Martha, were friends of Jesus. When Lazarus fell ill, his sisters
sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." When Jesus
heard the news, he waited two more days before going to Lazarus' hometown of
Bethany. Jesus knew that he would do a great miracle
for God's glory and, therefore, he was not in a hurry.
When Jesus arrived in Bethany,
Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb for four days. When Martha
discovered that Jesus was on his way, she went out to meet him.
"Lord," she said, "if you had been here, my brother would not
have died." IS THAT HOW TO WELCOME YOUR GUEST?
Jesus told Martha, "Your
brother will rise again." But Martha thought he was talking about the
final resurrection of the dead. JESUS UNDERSTANDS YOUR SITUATION.
Although Martha had faith in Jesus
for her future when she said “Yes, he will rise when everyone else rises, at
the last day” John 11:14NLT) but Jesus was talking about NOW! “Your brother
will rise again” (John 11:13 NLT). WE OFTEN HAVE FAITH IN GOD FOR THE FUTURE
BUT FAITH IS OF THE PRESENT! (Hebrews 11:1).
Then Jesus said these important
words: "I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever
lives and believes in me will never die." ONLY JESUS COULD SAY THIS!
Martha then went and told Mary that
Jesus wanted to see her. When Mary met Jesus she was grieving with strong
emotion over her brother's death.
The Jews with her were also weeping
and mourning. Deeply moved by their grief, Jesus wept with them apparently because
of their unbelief. HOW MANY TIME HAVE WE LOST HOPE IN JESUS AND BY IMPLICATION
MADE HIM WEEP?
Jesus asked them to take him to his
tomb? WHERE DID YOU LAY THE CORPSE OF YOUR DEAD DREAMS? Jesus then went to the
tomb of Lazarus with Mary, Martha and the rest of the mourners. There he asked
them to remove the stone that covered the hillside burial place. Jesus gave
thanks instead of lamenting or complaining! He looked up to heaven and prayed
to his Father, and then roared being the Lion of the tribe of Judah:
"Lazarus, come out!" When Lazarus came out of the tomb, Jesus told
the people to remove his grave clothes. Often we expect God to do it all for us
but we have roles to play in bringing back our dead situation back to life!
Ref. John 11
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