Wednesday in the Word...John 11:38-46

Today's Wednesday in the Word is John chapter 11 and verses 38 through 46.

v.38 - So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb.  Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

After Jesus had stayed put for two more days, He arrives in the vicinity of the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary.  Jesus speaks to Martha in theological terms about the resurrection and that He was the resurrection.  Later, when Jesus is with Mary, the same response is echoed that her sister said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."  This time Jesus doesn't not go into the theological answer but weeps with those who are weeping.  As noted last time, this weeping is more than just the shedding of tears but also a distressed sorrow for the lament of physical death in the light of a physical resurrection and eternal life.

What is tremendous about this verse is that it describes the scene that will be played out in a few months.  Lazarus is in the tomb but soon Jesus will be in one.  The tomb has a stone lying against it and so will the tomb of Jesus that will need to be rolled away.  As they are coming to this tomb, an early morning party of women will come to His tomb.  Keep this scene in mind as we go through this next few verses.  Don't be just thinking about the tomb of Lazarus and his resurrection from the dead but also be thinking about Jesus' resurrection and what His disciples are witnessing before the big event happens.

v.39 - Jesus said, "Remove the stone."  Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days."

Keep thinking about this scene in light of the Resurrection Morning scene.  This stone will be moved by men but the stone at Jesus' grave will be moved by heavenly forces.  Lazarus has been in the tomb for 4 days but Jesus said He would rise on the 3rd day prior to a stench forming or decay as the Scriptures prophesied.  Psalm 16:10 says,

For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;

nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

This is the prophetic Scripture that Peter refers to in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:31 before the crowd in which 3000 came to faith.

The Jewish people did not embalm their dead.  They used many spices to cover the smell but they wrapped them the same day of the death and put them in the tomb.  They did not wrap them tightly like the Egyptians but loosely and with a separate linen for the head.  This explains how Lazarus would be able to walk out of the grave unassisted before being unwrapped and also how the disciples would find Jesus' head wrapping neatly folded in His tomb separate from the linen cloths to wrap Him up.  A side note to remember is how Jesus came into this world.  You will find that Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.  Jesus would be wrapped in linen cloths again and lying in another holding place.

v.40 - Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"

Jesus goes back to His theological conversation with Martha.  She is the practical one thinking only of the physical but He was pushing her to believe in the spiritual.  We find ourselves in the place of Martha in the world that we live in.  We are children of God, saved by Jesus Christ's death and resurrection but we still look just at what is around us and not think of what is secured for us for all eternity.  We focus on the possible stench rather than the certain Savior.  

v.41, 42 - So they removed the stone.  Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me."

This death and His death were for our benefit of others.  Those at this tomb site will see Jesus fulfill another far prophesy of the activities of the coming Messiah to raise the dead and those at His tomb site would see the near prophesy given by Himself that He would rise again on the third day.  Jesus came to save sinners.  He came that we might believe that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

v.43, 44 - When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth."  The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.  Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Someone has said that Jesus had to make sure to say Lazarus' name because if He would have just said, "come forth" with no specification then all the dead would have come forth!  Keep thinking again of Jesus' tomb scene.  Jesus would be unbound and let go to meet again with His disciples in the near future.  I can't imagine the show of emotion the sisters must have displayed when their brother came waddling out of tomb.  This would be a foretaste of the amazement at another tomb on another day.

v.45, 46 - Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him.  But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

There is always a mixed crowd around Jesus.  Some believed and some went to tattled on Him.  The raising of someone from the dead, 4 days in the grave, was not enough to have an unanimous vote in favor of Jesus.  It reminds me of a passage covered in church recently when the rich man in hell spoke to Abraham about relief to his brothers.  Abraham pointed him to the Scriptures and that his brothers had the Scriptures but the rich man said,

"No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!"

Abraham responded in relationship to the outcome of this passage today,

"If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead."

Belief is not a matter of the eyes but a matter of the heart.  The eyes can see many wonderful things but the heart needs to be renewed by God to believe in the One who raises people from the dead and has risen from the dead.  Let us keep praying for hearts to be changed by God so they can believe in what He has already done.

"Heavenly Father, may I not rely on my eyes to believe but what is written on my heart from what You have already done.  You have loved me before I ever loved You.  You made it possible for me to love You.  I thank You that my life has already been raised from the dead.  My spiritual life which was dead is alive in Christ and through Christ.  Amen."

Pastor Adam

p.s.  Off on vacation for a week to see some of the family in Texas.  God has provided for this to happen through His servants on this earth so to Him and His faithful followers, we humbly say thanks.