Author: kezha1

The disciples couldn’t believe what they had just heard Jesus say. They were incredulous to the thought of returning to Jerusalem and the Jews that not only wanted to kill Jesus, but in all reality, them also. “If we go back all our lives will be in danger, and it will only give the Jews more reason to finish what they started.” Yet by now the disciples should have realized that Jesus’ death would not occur until the “hour” appointed by His Heavenly Father. (John 7:30 & 8:20) and that it would not happen by accident or miscalculation…for His sole reason & purpose coming to earth was for this to be accomplished…and He had been more than plain in telling them exactly about it. (Matthew 16:21 & Mark 8:31 & Luke 9:22)

To Jesus… Mary, Martha, & Lazarus had become very precious friends…their home in Bethany, always a welcoming place to stay. But yet when Jesus got word that Lazarus was ill, He didn’t run to his bedside but rather stayed put…for two more days it says. But why? The old Jewish custom was that upon death there would be a gradual process of separation – soul from body… and the soul would linger & hover near the body for three days before departing. So in order that there would be no question that Lazarus was indeed good & dead…Jesus was silent & waited. But as you can only imagine, Mary & Martha found this delay most difficult to understand. There will come times in your life when God will trust you with His silence. But it’s an intimate silence of peace, not despair, as you wait for Him…for time is nothing to God and His sovereignty reigns over all. Yet the most wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious…..building up your faith, trust, and confidence that He has not only heard your prayer, but is in fact actively at work in the situation.

Jesus isn’t denying that Lazarus would die…He was rather denying that death itself would triumph. From the start, the Lord’s intention was to vanquish death…swallowed up in victory, or as He asked, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (Hosea 13:14) And with this, God’s sovereign rule over the whole of history would be shown as death was forced to give back one it had taken.

Mary & Martha had been watching their beloved younger brother, Lazarus, slip from being sick, to gravely ill. So in their panic they sent a friend to find Jesus and tell Him to, “Come quickly and do something so Your friend & our brother won’t die!” Death & dying are hard things to deal with…and we’d rather not have anything to do with them…but in reality, we can’t avoid the unavoidable. They are both inevitable parts of life and just because we’re uncomfortable doesn’t mean we should elude that friend that just lost her husband, or dodge a funeral of a neighbor, or refuse to visit a Hospice patient. Death & dying are as natural and part of life as birth is, and should be treated with the same respect & dignity.

Hope, namely hope in God, is a firm conviction that the future promises of Him will be fulfilled in our life. Another way to say it is that hope is faith directed towards the future. But when hope eludes us because of a loved one’s death, a terminal illness, or some other hardship, we need to securely anchor our life to Him, so as to not be tossed & battered by the storms of life we’re encountering. (Psalm 107:23-30) It says here that hope enters into the Most Holy Place by way of the blood of Jesus, when He entered once for all into The Holy Of Holies. (Hebrews 9:12) And because of this, we can build upon this hope in Jesus…a hope that will never fail or wavier….a hope that will hold us fast to Him.

In describing hope, Charles Spurgeon once wrote, ” Hope itself is like a star – not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, but only to be discovered in the night of adversity.” When life is going well for us, the promise of the future is bright & rosy and the commodity of hope is easy to come by. But when misfortune & difficultly suddenly come crashing into our lives…hope dries up. And when we’re consumed & exhausted by hardship it’s difficult to see hope…just like it’s impossible to see the stars shining during the daytime. But the stars haven’t disappeared from the sky, it’s just that we can’t see them. So we must then search to find hope in the night of adversity…looking for God’s promises in His Word and His grace in times of distress.

When we’re going through a season of adversity, times of unhappiness, or an occurrence of serious illness, we might ask the same question – “Why are You hiding Yourself from me Lord?” And as the problem drags on & on with no relief in site, we may lament like David in Psalm 13:1-2, who asks four times in frustration & anguish, “How long Lord?” So we’re in pretty good company when it comes to these feelings of abandonment & dismay. But we then need to look at how the Psalmist turned their focus from the problem to the Problem-Solver…from “feelings” to solid Biblical Scripture…from pity-party to praise. “I am with you always.” Jesus reassures us in Matthew 28:20. In Joshua 1:5 God declared, “I will never leave nor forsake you.” And as for God’s timing, Psalm 18:30 tells us, “As for God, His way is perfect.” So just because we can’t “feel” God doesn’t mean He’s not at work at that moment in our life…and besides, what about the indwelling Holy Spirit that has taken up residency within you…He’s not chopped liver! And so as we dwell on the Scriptures & not the problem, our lamenting will turn to praise…for we will be confident that God is near & directing our course.

Here Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6-7 which states, “I said, You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High. But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler.” No, this doesn’t mean human beings can be equal to God…the difference lying in the capital G & the small g. In the Old Testament, earthly rulers & judges acted as divinely appointed representatives of God and were accountable to Him to act accordingly….realizing that they were still mere mortals. But Jesus focuses in on one phrase here…”the Scripture cannot be broken” …basing His whole argument on it. If God set apart earthly rulers & judges, why wouldn’t He set apart His very own Son to come into the world to save it?

Jesus’ claim to deity hit the Jewish leaders right where it hurt. For it was them who had appointed themselves as rulers & judges for God…not this guy & His ragtag group of followers. He was encroaching on their turf & they didn’t like it. But neither did they appropriately interpretate the Mosaic Law of religious regulations in Leviticus 24:16 that stated that anyone who blasphemed the Name of the Lord must be put to death. Jesus never cursed, slandered, or treated His Father in contempt… but in their distain, the Jews twisted & perverted this Law to fit their own vile-filled needs. And when Jesus pointed out His “works” (of which they couldn’t deny that miracles had really happened) …they instead focused on their made-up “words” in order to kill Him.

Jesus addresses the age-old question that all of us has thought of one time or another…”Can I lose my Salvation?” Earlier in John 6:39, Jesus said, “And this is the Will of Him Who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given Me.” We tend to think that the gift of eternal life & salvation are something that God “lends” to us on a temporary & conditional basis…depending on how good or bad we are. But the Scriptures here emphatically refute that idea. Nothing can pluck you from His hand…Jesus’ redemptive accomplishment and the Holy Spirit’s personal application are completely effective in securing the Salvation of everyone chosen by God… called the elect… who God gave to Jesus our Redeemer…that through His perfect obedience & atoning death saved us from eternal punishment. (John 17:2-6)