The story of a friend of Jesus
1.Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3. Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 5. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.(John 11:1-5)
1. Friend of Jesus, But Sick
Lazarus the sick man was described as one whom the Lord loved. “He whom thou loveth is sick,” went the urgent message to Jesus (Jn 11:3). The fifth verse makes the same point that not only Lazarus but also his whole family was beloved of the Lord. Why then should Lazarus be sick? Can he or they whom the Lord loves be sick? Can one be such a friend of Jesus and anything would go wrong with him? In a family so totally beloved by God, should not everything go on smoothly? In this family of Lazarus, however, as we find here, the presence of the Lord with them did not mean the absence of the storms of life.
2. Sickness that leads to death
Sickness is not death, but sickness can lead to death. That is why no sickness should be ignored. Sometimes God reveal to a man that his temper is his ‘sickness’, but he excuses it as just his ‘mild headache,’ which would soon be overcome. He neglects it until it develops into something more critical, even death. Or God lets a lady realize that she has a ‘sick tongue.’ But what does she do? She excuses it as the peculiar sickness, in a long or short while, that sickness of her tongue eventually results in a death. One little sickness ignored today could be the cause of tomorrow’s lamentation. Sickness, spiritual or physical, is not death, but a sickness ignored can lead to death.
3. Not unto death
As soon as the sisters of Lazarus discovered that he was sick, they sent to Jesus for help, Jesus, on receiving he message, at once prophesied that the sickness of Lazarus would not be “unto death” but for the glory of God. And because Jesus had spoken, the sickness was no more to be feared, no matter how critical it seemed to get thereafter.
Let us go to Jesus, so that He may speak into our circumstances, so that our several sicknesses may lose their fatal hold. Amen.
4. The Master Never Panics
Jesus did not rush down to see Lazarus as soon as He had heard about the case. He gave Satan, and Death his messenger, the ‘extra time’ of four more days to perfect their worst. Why? Because He was Master, and could not be set in panic by Satan, for He could destroy in one moment what Satan had been building for years.
5. Ripe for a Miracle
Jesus was Master. He would not panic, because He was in control of the situation. When you have the authority of God, you do not panic at the news of Satan’s havoc. Jesus did not arrive when all men expected Him to, but He never arrived late. For men, four days after death was “too late.” But for God, that was just the ripe time for a miracle. So also shall it be for you, that although men have counted you as now beyond hope, they shall find out that your God is never late. He knows just when it is ripe enough for a miracle. Your condition is not now hopeless. According to the Master, YOU are just ripe enough for a miracle.
In One Day
In four days, Death had worked on the already lifeless body of Lazarus to ruin and wreck it thoroughly, apparently further beyond help. The sisters of Lazarus said to Jesus: “It is four days since Death and Grave have had custody of him. It is now totally hopeless. had custody of him. It is now totally hopeless. By now he stinketh.” In the several days before then, Sickness had been working on the body gradually, wickedly, wrecking it, until the point from which Death had taken over the baton. Yet in one day, and with only few words – “Lazarus come forth! – Jesus undid what Satan, through Sickness and Death and the Grave, had taken to long to accomplish and, as it were, secure with the ‘padlock’ and ‘bolt’ of the grace stone.
It does not matter how ancient are the problems that bring tears into your family. It does not matter for how many years or generations sickness and dearth have gloated over you. It will take the Master only one day to rectify the ancient ruins; and He would need to speak only a few words to restore joy and wipe the tears away. Therefore, weep no more.
7. The Master is Come
When Jesus got on the scene, it was announced, “The Master is come” (v28). How true. The Master! The Lord of all. The Master over sickness and death and even over Satan himself who is the master of those mischievous agents. When He was called on the scene of the stormy sea, by the terrified disciples, He turned their “great storm” into a “great calm,” so that everyone declared: “even the wind and the sea obey Him”(Mark 4:41).
When He arrives on a scene, He turns storms into bliss, tears into smiles, sorrow into joy, weeping into laughter. When He comes on the scene, sickness becomes health, and death becomes life. He turns darkness into light; night into day, failures into triumphs; defeats into victories, and losses into gains. He is the Master of all. Even now, may it be announced to your situation, as it was in Lazarus’ situation: “The Master is come!” Amen.
8. Alive, But Bound
Lazarus needed two kinds of miracles. The first miracle he needed was deliverance from the hands of Death. That was something only God could do, so it had to take Jesus to do it. But coming out of the grave was not the end of the miracle. There were grave clothes, the tokens of death, with which he had been bound while he was dead. Those had to be loosed. That was something which men could do, so the Master had to say to them, “Loose him, and let him go” (v..44).
There are several who, while they were dead in sins and trespasses, had had themselves bound (by men or devils) with grave clothes of several kinds. Today, although the Master has spoken them back to life, they still go about “bound had and foot with grave clothes” (v.44), limited by and bound with the carry-overs from and the customs and conventions of the evil world of death. They need to be delivered from those vestiges of Death; those tokens of the Grave; those limiting costumes of the dead. A man cannot be alive (restored from the region of the Dead) and still be carrying those costumes about on his person. Light and darkness, or Death and Life, cannot dwell together. The restored, Living New Man must be SEPARATED from those properties and tokens and conventions of Death, otherwise, although he is now alive, he remains limited bound by those grave clothes.
9. Hindered by the Tombstone
After Jesus had healed and brought Lazarus back to life, there was a feast (John 12). At that feast, Lazarus was one of those who sat at the hightable with Jesus. Imagine this man, destined to have a place with the Master, but cut short by Death, and prevented by the stone which had been placed over his tomb! Thank God, that stone was the very first thing Jesus had to address when He got on the scene. He asked them to roll away that stone of limitation. The removal of the stone of limitation become the starting point of Lazarus’ miracle.
There are several who today are rotting away in graves of sin, and hindered or limited by the covenant-tombstones that have been placed over those graves to keep then there perpetually. The Master shall come again. The grave could not hold Him back when Resurrection Day came for Him. So shall the grave limit you no more, because the Master is come. You are limited until you have met the Master. Death, that life of sin, is a limitation. But Jesus is come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly. The Master is come. Amen
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