Lazarus Come forth!
John 11:39-44 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
How many times can you read a passage and get something new? I am amazed at how God can open the scripture and show us a truth that challenges us and at the same time teaches us to trust Him more.
I was sharing with the staff at AIM this morning about Lazarus. There are so many good things in this miracle that happened. When Jesus came to the town where Lazarus was staying his sisters said to Jesus: “If you were here he would not have died.” – translated as: “if you were on time” or “you are too late.”
How many times did it look like Jesus was late? The problem is that we want Jesus to show up so that we don’t have to deal with things we are uncomfortable with or things we don’t want. To them death was something they didn’t want to deal with. None of us wants to deal with things that look like it might die. Having Lazarus staying alive sounds like a better option than to see him die. To Jesus Lazarus dying was a better option.
When we feel like Jesus is late we are faced with the reality of our own convictions about God. Surely if He is God and He loves us He would not allow this to happen to us? Why does it look like God is allowing bad things to happen to good people? Has circumstances forced you to change your opinion about God?
Are we okay with God’s timing? Are we okay to have faith that if things doesn’t work out the way we want it too work out, that He can still show up with the answer? Is his answer bigger than your solution? No matter what you face today or even in the future, He has the ability to change any circumstance around for His glory.
Another thing I see in this passage is that Jesus asks them to role the stone away from the tomb. “He already stinks” they replied. Well that was true because he has been already dead for four days. What I want you to see is that Mary and Martha expected Lazarus to smell like his last experience. How many times do we still struggle with our failures and keep on beating ourselves up. We think that we still smell like failure. We think we still smell like the mess up we had last week. The memory of failure is the smell the enemy wants us to have because that is his smell. He tempted Jesus and failed! When Lazarus came out of the tomb he didn’t smell like death. He smelled like life. I want you to know that you have the smell of life on you and not the smell of death and failure. The scripture says that we are a fragrance of God.
The third thing I see that really gives me hope is the fact that Lazarus was dead and he had no role to play in his resurrection. Jesus couldn’t wait for him to agree. Jesus couldn’t ask him if he believed. Jesus couldn’t wait for him to go and fast and pray and memorize a few scriptures to build his faith. He was dead! Lazarus couldn’t say: “help my unbelief?” He was dead. You still wonder why God allows some things to die in our lives? He wants us to get to the place where it is all Him! He wants us to come to the place where I play no part, he doesn’t have to get my agreement or he doesn’t have to use my faith. Being dead in Christ is the best place to be!
Fourthly I see that the voice of Jesus calling Lazarus was stronger than the thing that killed him. I have failed many times in my life and I have done things that were really dumb and stupid. I have learned that His voice has always been louder than the thing that killed me. His voice has always been stronger than my failure and because of that I have always experienced His redeeming power and the restoration that comes from repentance. His voice was stronger than the grave cloths that kept Lazarus in the tomb. Death couldn’t hold him down. The sickness that killed him couldn’t hold him down. If you make room for His voice in your life you will always overcome even if you fail at first. His voice will shake every shackle from your life and will set the prisoner free.
