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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conflict - The Clash of Belief and Unbelief, The Raising of Lazarus, Part XCVII, John 11:37-40 - Lesson 94
Read Verses John 11:32-36 for review: Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
John 11:37, And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
The ever present question of unbelief!
Why should have the Almighty allowed this to happen?
Why did he permit this?
Job says that God giveth not account of any of his matters but John tells us this particular instance was for the glory of God and that the Son of God might be glorified.
We need no other explanation!
Faith means trust.
Trust means accepting the will of God without question.
John 11:38, Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
Christ endured the contradiction of sinners against himself.
He knew their unbelief.
He continues to groan with indignation against the results of sin.
Death was contrary to his holy nature.
He is life and when death was around it brought him to holy groaning.
His indignation against sin is the indignation of the believer magnified a thousand times more.
He was indeed a man of sorrows because he came into a world of sin and death.
His holy nature recoiled from the presence of the evil surrounding him as he approached the cave where the body of Lazarus lay.
John 11:39,40, Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
Notice that Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection, orders the removal of the stone.
As in the first miracle of this Gospel when he ordered men to fill the jars with water so that he might make wine, he orders work to be done by men that can be done by men.
He knows that men cannot raise the dead but they can remove a stone.
God expects us to do what we can and he will do the rest.
So he again displays the principle that we are laborers together with God.
He allows us to enter into the fields and work together with him.
But as is the usual case his will is questioned.
He earlier said to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again.
His disciples said the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again?
Thomas said Let us also go, that we may die with him.
And now at the tomb of Lazarus, Martha opposes his will by reasoning that her brother's body is corrupt and not fit to see.
Oh, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.
Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
Didn't you declare that I am the Christ, the Son of God?
Didn't I tell you that I am the resurrection and the life?
Why be troubled when the Master is present, and when he instructs?
Take away the stone if he so instructs.
How many stones of this life do we leave in place hindering the glory of God?
Faith rolls the stones away!
That is our part.
The Lord tells us to roll the stones of our life away and we say No, Lord!
If the stone is removed it will stink!
Don't open up the tombs of our heart!
We do not want the whited sepulchers which appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness, to be revealed!
We do not want the unclean thing revealed when the stone is removed.
We do not want the stone to be removed and reveal the filthy rags of our self righteousness.
But if we are to pass from death unto life eternal the stone that covers our sin must be taken away for God to work his work of salvation in us.
For the glory of God to be revealed the stone must be taken away.
That is God's remedy!
Martha, take ye away the stone!
The tomb must be opened to see the glory of God. |