John 11:17-44……………...17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.
21
Then Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would
not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give
You." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection
at the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and
the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And
whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" 27
She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of
God, who is to come into the world."
NKJV
28
And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary
her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you." 29
As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had
not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then
the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that
Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to
the tomb to weep there."
32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was,
and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had
been here, my brother would not have died." 33 Therefore, when Jesus saw
her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit
and was troubled. 34 And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They
said to Him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews
said, "See how He loved him!" 37 And some of them said, "Could
not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"
38
Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a
stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha,
the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is
a stench, for he has been dead four days."
40
Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you
would see the glory of God?" 41 Then they took away the stone from the
place where the dead man was lying.
And
Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have
heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who
are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." 43
Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus,
come forth!" 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with
grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them,
"Loose him, and let him go."
A favorite passage of mine. It is a favorite of the power of Jesus revealing God's glory!
Seen in Mark 9:1-2: And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power." Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.
Jesus tells them they will see the Kingdom of God present with power, and within a week they see Him transfigured. His being revealed to them in glory was a demonstration of the power of God's Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God had come upon them. Jesus was and is the central figure. Taking it a step further.....where the King abides in any person, you or me, where a person is in Christ, the Kingdom is also present.
John records, "He came
to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11). Jesus stood before His own and they knew Him not.
The gospel
message was not popular. It bore fruit in those who were being called (Isaiah
55:11). Others hoped that the kingdom of Judah would be restored, and they were
probably content to wait and watch this Man as He went
about—as curiosity-seekers rather
than opponents. However, for those who had a vested interest in
maintaining the political and religious status quo, the gospel was seen
as a threat, and those linked with the Kingdom of Jesus Christ were the object
of all manner of resistance and persecution, both before and especially after
His death. It holds true through this day and hour!
In verse 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
The power of Jesus in the Kingdom of God found in people willing to participate there. Odd, a cemetery....yet here Jesus told them to take away the stone from the place Lazarus, the dead man was lying.
Take away the stone....remove a stony heart from those still alive but lacking faith in the truth Jesus spoke!
And then Jesus spoke this:And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."
Jesus gave these words in Matthew 23:13: "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." Some were then in the process of entering the Kingdom, and the resistance and oppression of the scribes and Pharisees were obstacles to that entrance. John 9:22 records that "the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue." The scribes and Pharisees, as well as those influenced by them, persecuted those God was drawing into His Kingdom. There was such animosity that the King Himself suffered the most awful violence that has ever been perpetrated: a mob of creatures wantonly crucifying their sinless Creator.
1. Today even nominal Christians suffer
Muslim persecution in one part of the world, while others are blocked,
ridiculed, and constrained by secularists and humanists in another. True
Christianity is denounced as being heretical and cultic, and its adherents
suffer violence in various ways. This violence does not have to be physical
violence. It can be verbal. It can be passive. It can be persecution or
opposition in any number of ways.
2. College campuses are overflowing with those who choose the persecutors over the those who have chosen life in Jesus.
3. Do we believe but are unwilling to accept His offer of life? John 5:40
Teaching at: Voice of Prayer
Uphill with Jesus Christ: The Witness that Glorifies God
Deceit and Deception
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