John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
Oh Friends, Easter is fast approaching! That most wonderful time when our Lord and Saviour rose from the dead in glory, when He beat the evil sting of death and came back to life victorious. Glory Hallelujah! Now that is one of the three most important tenets of our faith: Christ’s death, which took away our sins; His resurrection, which showed us cleansed, risen like a new being, and His ascension, where He went back to the Father to prepare a place for us. To be a true believer, it’s necessary to accept those three vital truths. Today though, we’ll only deal with the resurrection aspect. And to whom, and in what context did Jesus speak our Bit today? He was talking to Martha, His friend Lazarus’ sister when He finally arrived several days after He’d gotten the emergency message that Lazarus was sick unto death. Now we know that everything Jesus did, had some specific purpose to it, so let’s review the situation which is all found at the beginning of John 11. On receiving the news of His friend’s illness, Jesus declares to His disciples: ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.’ (John 11:4) It’s obvious Jesus had some divine purpose up His sleeve, for the Good Book states that He LOVED Lazarus and his sisters, yet after hearing the urgent news, He still remains where He is for two days, before finally saying: ‘Let us go into Judea again.’ (John 11:7) The disciples though fear for Him since the Jews wanted to stone Him for blasphemy the last time He was in Judea, after declaring that He was the Son of God. Jesus however waves their concern aside, telling them about not stumbling if one walks in the day and not the night because of the light available in the day. Then He cleverly changes the topic by saying; ‘Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.’ (John 11:11) The disciples, thinking that He means real sleep, say that rest would do Lazarus good. ‘Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.’ (John 11:14-15) Jesus is stating again that there is method to His madness for not getting to Lazarus early. Whatever His plans, they would increase the disciples’ faith and awareness of His awesome power. ‘The said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him.’ (John 11:16) It’s amusing to hear the disciples brimming with confidence about dying with Jesus, but when the time really comes for them to prove their talk, every last one runs away, totally scared. Anyway, by the time Jesus gets to Bethany where Lazarus lives, he’s already been in the grave (tomb) for four days. Now there are all sorts of assumptions and theories as to why Jesus purposely gets there so late. Here’s the scholars’ accounting. The Good Book says that after the Jews in Jerusalem tried to stone Jesus for blasphemy, He ‘went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized, and there he abode.’ (John 10:40) So Jesus is not in Judea when He receives the news about Lazarus. According to the scholars, it took the messenger a day to go from Bethany across the Jordan to find Jesus, a journey of approximately 18 miles minimum. Then Jesus waits two days before heading for Bethany, and it also takes Him a day to get there, which accounts for the four days. However, they claim that since the Jews bury the dead on the day of death, Lazarus is already dead by the time Jesus gets the message of His illness. That means the two days He waits, are not for him to die. They propose another theory for that, namely: ‘Some Jews apparently believed that the soul hovered near a body for three days hoping to reinhabit the body. By the fourth day they believed the soul abandoned hope and left. Perhaps Jesus tarried two days so that the resurrection would take place after the fourth day – and convince even those who felt his earlier resurrection miracles could be explained by this theory about the soul. (The others had taken place shortly after death, or in the case of the son of the widow Nain in Luke 7, and Jairus’s daughter in Matthew 9, apparently on the very day of death.)’ Wow! An interesting theory to be sure. Isn’t the Bible an awesome book Friends? Although some claim it’s false, or has lots of discrepancies, it’s still powerful enough to cause all sots of controversies, and has been doing so for thousands of years. The long and short of the story though, is that by the time Jesus reaches Bethany, Lazarus has lain in the tomb for four days. Hn, hn, hn! By now Friends you all must realize that we’re not going to complete this today. I knew that from the beginning, but never realized how much good, juicy stuff, varied aperitifs and appetizers there were to share before we got to the meat and potatoes of the main course. (smile) And now that we’ve gotten there, sadly I have to end. But don’t fret mih people, once the Lord’s willing, and I don’t see why not, we’ll get into the true substance of the Bit tomorrow. I hope, like a good suspense writer, I’ve left you all with mouths open, tongues hanging down, just dying to hear more. (smile) Till tomorrow then. Much LOVE!…remember…there’s always a significant purpose…to God’s every move…
Oh Friends, Easter is fast approaching! That most wonderful time when our Lord and Saviour rose from the dead in glory, when He beat the evil sting of death and came back to life victorious. Glory Hallelujah! Now that is one of the three most important tenets of our faith: Christ’s death, which took away our sins; His resurrection, which showed us cleansed, risen like a new being, and His ascension, where He went back to the Father to prepare a place for us. To be a true believer, it’s necessary to accept those three vital truths. Today though, we’ll only deal with the resurrection aspect. And to whom, and in what context did Jesus speak our Bit today? He was talking to Martha, His friend Lazarus’ sister when He finally arrived several days after He’d gotten the emergency message that Lazarus was sick unto death. Now we know that everything Jesus did, had some specific purpose to it, so let’s review the situation which is all found at the beginning of John 11. On receiving the news of His friend’s illness, Jesus declares to His disciples: ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.’ (John 11:4) It’s obvious Jesus had some divine purpose up His sleeve, for the Good Book states that He LOVED Lazarus and his sisters, yet after hearing the urgent news, He still remains where He is for two days, before finally saying: ‘Let us go into Judea again.’ (John 11:7) The disciples though fear for Him since the Jews wanted to stone Him for blasphemy the last time He was in Judea, after declaring that He was the Son of God. Jesus however waves their concern aside, telling them about not stumbling if one walks in the day and not the night because of the light available in the day. Then He cleverly changes the topic by saying; ‘Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.’ (John 11:11) The disciples, thinking that He means real sleep, say that rest would do Lazarus good. ‘Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.’ (John 11:14-15) Jesus is stating again that there is method to His madness for not getting to Lazarus early. Whatever His plans, they would increase the disciples’ faith and awareness of His awesome power. ‘The said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him.’ (John 11:16) It’s amusing to hear the disciples brimming with confidence about dying with Jesus, but when the time really comes for them to prove their talk, every last one runs away, totally scared. Anyway, by the time Jesus gets to Bethany where Lazarus lives, he’s already been in the grave (tomb) for four days. Now there are all sorts of assumptions and theories as to why Jesus purposely gets there so late. Here’s the scholars’ accounting. The Good Book says that after the Jews in Jerusalem tried to stone Jesus for blasphemy, He ‘went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized, and there he abode.’ (John 10:40) So Jesus is not in Judea when He receives the news about Lazarus. According to the scholars, it took the messenger a day to go from Bethany across the Jordan to find Jesus, a journey of approximately 18 miles minimum. Then Jesus waits two days before heading for Bethany, and it also takes Him a day to get there, which accounts for the four days. However, they claim that since the Jews bury the dead on the day of death, Lazarus is already dead by the time Jesus gets the message of His illness. That means the two days He waits, are not for him to die. They propose another theory for that, namely: ‘Some Jews apparently believed that the soul hovered near a body for three days hoping to reinhabit the body. By the fourth day they believed the soul abandoned hope and left. Perhaps Jesus tarried two days so that the resurrection would take place after the fourth day – and convince even those who felt his earlier resurrection miracles could be explained by this theory about the soul. (The others had taken place shortly after death, or in the case of the son of the widow Nain in Luke 7, and Jairus’s daughter in Matthew 9, apparently on the very day of death.)’ Wow! An interesting theory to be sure. Isn’t the Bible an awesome book Friends? Although some claim it’s false, or has lots of discrepancies, it’s still powerful enough to cause all sots of controversies, and has been doing so for thousands of years. The long and short of the story though, is that by the time Jesus reaches Bethany, Lazarus has lain in the tomb for four days. Hn, hn, hn! By now Friends you all must realize that we’re not going to complete this today. I knew that from the beginning, but never realized how much good, juicy stuff, varied aperitifs and appetizers there were to share before we got to the meat and potatoes of the main course. (smile) And now that we’ve gotten there, sadly I have to end. But don’t fret mih people, once the Lord’s willing, and I don’t see why not, we’ll get into the true substance of the Bit tomorrow. I hope, like a good suspense writer, I’ve left you all with mouths open, tongues hanging down, just dying to hear more. (smile) Till tomorrow then. Much LOVE!…remember…there’s always a significant purpose…to God’s every move…
SCRIP-BITS 