“And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent you may believe.” John 11:15
Dear Ones:
Who can fathom the ways of God? It is a true saying, “When we cannot trace His hand, we can trust His heart.” How else can one explain the Lord’s dealings with this family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus? One would have thought that He would have spared Mary and Martha the crushing sorrow of seeing their brother die, especially when the One who could have prevented it, was not there. And yet, the Lord Jesus purposely delayed his return to Bethany until Lazarus had died, and been buried for four days. Why? There are times in the economy of God that, in spite of the suffering, there is a higher, greater, and more extensive GOOD. This was the case here. Though sorrow would be turned to joy, the great overriding revelation is that the Lord Jesus has the power and the authority to raise the dead, thus revealing Himself as Sovereign God. There will come a day when He will be face to face with His own death. It will be three days after that moment, that He will overcome death, triumphing over it. Thus, Christ declares Himself to be not only the Conqueror of death, but the very essence of the resurrection. “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (Jn. 11:25) What then are the ramifications of this revelation of Christ with respect to death?
The first thing that confronts us is the certain reality of death, and man’s total incapacity to escape and overcome it. Physical death is only one aspect of this reality. The other aspect is that which is “Life-less,” without the Life of God. Ezekiel wrote: “The soul that sinneth will die.” (Ez. 18:20) Spiritual death is not “non-existence,” but the conscious realization and experience of the deprivation of ALL that is good, coming from God. It is the opposite of all that is good. It is separation forever from all that is good. The Lord Jesus, at the occasion of the death and burial of Lazarus, demonstrated that, not only did He have the power and authority to raise a person from the dead physically, but also, that “the keys of death and hell” were His. This is why He would go on to say, “And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall NEVER die.” (Jn. 11:26) When the Father raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, triumphing over ALL the powers of darkness, He made Him to sit “…at His own right hand in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 1:20) Wonder of wonders, “…(He) hath raised US up together, and made US to sit together in heavenly places IN CHRIST JESUS.” (Eph. 2:6) Death has been conquered. The last great enemy has been dealt with completely, that all men should truly LIVE with God, in Christ, by the Holy Spirit. The question then becomes for the believer: “And how shall we live the reality of the resurrection?”
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he makes a declaration concerning his pursuit and experience of Christ: “…that I may know HIM, and the POWER of His resurrection.” (3:10) The context of this phrase is dealing, not only with regard to a future event, but to present blessing and power. The power of Pentecost is the same for which Paul prayed to God in behalf of the Ephesian church, and which he experienced in his declaration to the Colossians: “…strengthened with all might, according to HIS glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.” (Col. 1:11) When Christ declared that He IS the “Resurrection and the Life,” He has declared to us how we are to live, in Him, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God.
Dear Father, may the same power that raised up Lazarus from the dead, quicken us in all of our being this day, to follow the Lord Jesus. Strengthen us to overcome the downward pull of this world, and live as “lights on the hill,” that all may see and know the reality of Christ’s life in us by the Spirit. We praise and thank Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad