27: LAZARUS IS RAISED FROM THE DEAD.. John Chapter11.

Jesus had some special friends in Bethany they were Lazarus and his two sisters Martha and Mary, One day while Jesus was preaching and teaching quite a long way from Bethany, He received a message from the women to tell Him their brother Lazarus was ill. When Jesus received this news, He didn’t immediately go to them. There’s no reason given in Scripture why Jesus didn’t go straight away but, I wonder if The Holy Spirit might have spoken to Him, because in v4, He came out with these words “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” And He stayed there for another two days, and in fact went back to Judea. On the way it seems, He told His disciples Lazarus was asleep and He was going to Bethany. to wake him up. I have to tell you here, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead, but the Sadducees did not. Neither did they believe in hell, Heaven, angels and a few other things, this is what really separated them, So when the Pharisees spoke of death, they often used the word sleep for death, because, they believed if you were asleep you could be woken up. The Sadducees however believed death was the end of ones existence, they did not believe in any after-life. I think it is important to know this, to understand that Lazarus was really dead. It’s interesting that there’s no record in the Bible of anyone telling Jesus that His friend had died, but when His disciples pressed Him further (v14-15) He Himself said “Lazarus is dead and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe”...Believe what? Believe who He “Jesus” really was when they saw the up-coming miracle. And the disciples went with Him to Bethany. (v17) On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days and many friends had come to support Martha and Mary. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming into the town she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed home, she may have been a bit upset with Jesus for not coming when He was first told about her brother’s illness. Sometimes we too get a bit upset with God when He doesn’t answer our requests immediately, but as we will see, He always has a good reason for whatever He does and very often His Will for a situation is quite different from ours. (v21) Martha said to Jesus “If You had been here my brother would not have died. But I know, even now, God will give You whatever You ask.” This speaks of her Faith in God, but Jesus wanted her to to go a step further, to believe in Him as The Word of God and in fact that He was God, and so He said to Martha “Your brother will rise again” to which she replied “Yes I know he’ll rise again in the resurrection on the last day. (she still hadn’t got it) So Jesus spelled it out for her,” I AM the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; (Jesus is talking here about the death of the body) and whoever lives by believing in me will never die..(And here about the Soul) Do you believe this.” It was/is really important for Martha and for us too, not only to believe but understand exactly what Jesus is saying here. In the very words “I Am” He’s lining Himself up with God (Only God can raise someone from death to life) and guess what? I Am that I AM. Do you believe that Martha. And Martha replied “Yes Lord I believe You are the Messiah, The Son of God, who is to come into the world.” That was and is the answer God wants from each of us. With that answer Martha was saying I now truly understand, accept and believe all the Scriptures concerning the coming of the Messiah and Your entry into the world. (v28) After Martha said this she went and called her sister Mary and they both went to accompany Jesus into the town and others from the town followed them. When Mary saw Jesus she fell at His feet weeping, she said “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.” A word here about repentance, sometimes God gives us a negative answer, she was expecting one from Jesus now, and was prepared to accept it, that’s why she was weeping. At the end o verse 28 we read Jesus was asking for Mary, even if we are not happy with The Lord about something, He still is looking for us to come back to Him and repent for having turned away, He’s ready to forgive and renew our relationship with Him. When Jesus saw her and her friends weeping Scripture tells us, He was deeply moved and troubled in spirit and said “Where have you laid him?” “Come and see” they said and Jesus wept. Some of the Jews were saying “See how He loved Him” but others were saying (v37) Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying.” You may be having those same thoughts, or, if He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead why did He weep? Scripture doesn’t tell us, but some Scholars say, because in spite of the miracle which He was about to perform there were those who would not believe in Him, (v38) Jesus once more deeply moved came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. He said “Take away the stone.” But Martha said “By this time there will be a bad odour, He has been in there four days” You see we all want God to work miracles in our lives, but we don’t want to ‘remove “the stone” that is hindering God’s hand from working the miracle for us;. What we don’t understand is,.. when the stone is removed the bad smell and darkness comes out and the fresh breath of the Spirit along with the light of the World can get in. So, do you want God to work a miracle in your life?...A husband or wife to come to The Lord,.. A Child to return to God,.. A serious illness, injury or deformity to be healed. Ask yourself, Do I have a stone in my life? What is it? , that may be hindering God’s miracle from happening for me?. Perhaps some unconfessed sin, Or an elicit relationship,.. Have you injured someone’s character by lying about them or spreading malicious gossip... Had, or assisted in an abortion, or Euthanasia anything that nobody else knows about you, (the Stone) that could be holding you back from deepening your relationship with God and being abundently blessed by Him. Take Your Sin to Jesus, sit at His feet and confess, He is ready, willing and able to forgive, take you back and start working miracles in your life. In v40 Jesus replied to Martha “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the Glory of God” So they took away the stone, THEN Jesus looked up and prayed “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, so they may believe that You sent Me” Notice the word THEN, Jesus didn’t even pray until the stone had been removed, Jesus’ prayer to the Father included the words, “I Know you always hear me.” So if we want Jesus to pray to the Father for us, we need to remove anything that may be blocking the way of His prayer. As Christians, we need to examine our hearts, and motives, asking God to show us anythi8ng that might be hindering or blocking our relationship with Him. We need to humbly ask His forgiveness and clean up any mess that may be lurking there this I believe shows our intent and recognition before a Holy God, that we want to be a pure vessel before Him, especially when we ask Him to work miracles for us and our loved ones. I think, the depth and sincerity of our relationship with God is judged by the purity of the vessel. (Remove the Stone) I believe coming to God for ourselves or for someone else expecting a miracle requires us to pray first for a clean heart and clear conscience “Create in me a Clean heart Oh Lord, and renew a right Spirit within me” was David’s prayer, He prayed that prayer, to remove any barrier that might hinder his relationship with God. I truly believe God wants to answer our prayers, but sometimes there is sin (a stone) in the way and that can’t be removed unless we take it to the cross. Only then is God able to enter into that situation. Often (as in the case of Lazarus,) we are asking God to change a natural situation by Supernatural means, after all that is what a miracle is and only God is capable of doing that. So we who are approaching God for a miracle need to have a pure heart before Him. What happens when we pray and believe? The stone (sin) is removed and “The glory of God can be seen, as Jesus said in v40. A word of caution here, Always end your prayer with “Thy Will Be Done.” My first hand experience is ...Doesn’t matter how desperate the situation may be, or how pure ones heart is. don’t resort to..”Naming, Claiming or demanding.” Always give God the last word, He knows best for all concerned. He can see what we can’t. He is God. When they had taken away the stone, Jesus prayed “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.” Once again Jesus was claiming to be God’s Son by calling Him Father, and proving it by the miracle He was about to perform. But still in the very next chapter the Jews were making plans to kill Him. After Jesus prayed, He called 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 “Take off the grave cloths and let him go.” I believe Jesus never waisted words, So Why did He need to say those words?.. I would say,...To prove this wasn’t a ghost or some sort of ”dead man walking,” No, This was a dead man being brought back to life after four days in the grave, a miracle which only God Himself can perform, for those of us who will remove the stone and have the faith to trust God and believe. Thank you for reading my take on The Raising of Lazarus from the dead. I pray as we search His Word together and learn His Truth as revealed to us by the power of The Holy Spirit we get to believe and trust Him more each day Through Jesus Christ Our Lord, Phaline.