Christian Living
Welcome, this is the second part of this blogpost series. You can locate the first part by clicking this link.. https://graceobomanu.com/john-chapter-11/
In this series, we are studying John Chapter 11, verse after verse. Today, we continue from verse 3 of John Chapter 11.
John Chapter 11 Verses 3 To 7
“Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. John 11:3-6 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/jhn.11.3-6.NKJV
I remember something that happened when I was in middle school (junior secondary school). I was schooling in a different town from where my family lived. One day, my little sister took ill and stayed ill for so many days. My mom in her usual way, tried to get her the best available medical care in the setting at the time. But instead of get better, my sister got worse. She ate little or no food and so became increasingly weak every day.
My sister got worse every passing day. And as you can imagine, my mom became very apprehensive. But strangely and interestingly, one day, my sister asked that I return home or she’d die . So I was summoned home at once. Not that I really minded, actually I was in a hurry to get home, to pray for and watch over my sister. And as it turned out, the little girl recovered within 2/3 days of my return (smart kid huh? maybe)
There’s hardly anyone who would receive news of a very loved one being sick and not make quick plans to reach them. We see from verses John 11: 1-3 that Jesus undeniably loved Lazarus, so His response to Mary & Martha’s notice to him of Lazarus’ ill health was both unusual and abnormal. I mean, Jesus intentionally stayed back where he was, for 2 more days! Why? See His reason in verse 4.
“When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
While Jesus’s reaction can very well be described as odd, His response must have suggested to the disciples that there was still hope for Lazarus. In addition, His response also seemed to suggest 3 possible outcomes of sickness ;
1. Death
2. To the glory of God
3. To help others believe in Jesus Christ.
How do these apply to a Christian?
Truths/Lessons from John Chapter 11 verses 3 to 7.
Truth #1
Jesus loves us. At the risk of sounding repetitive, Jesus really does love us. Please refer to Truth #4 in part 1 of this series. https://graceobomanu.com/john-chapter-11/
Truth #2
Death is not a threat to Jesus and it should not be a threat to us.. Notice Jesus’s choice of word for Lazarus’ death (sleep).
‘Sleep, by dictionary definition; is “a condition of body and mind which typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended”
Meaning that sleep is beneficial to health. For better health, adults are expected to get between 7-9hours sleep. The assumption is that they’d wake up after sleeping.
So for Jesus, it didn’t matter how long He took to get to Lazarus. He will simply wake Lazarus up. Afterall, He is the “Resurrection & Life“. So no fuss, no threat, and no need to hurry. (We will consider this in more detail later).
In 1 Corinthians 15:51, we find that for a Christian, what is generally regarded as death, is actually sleep.
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—”
I Corinthians 15:51 NKJV
“But listen, I tell you this secret: We will not all die, but we will all be changed.“
1 Corinthians 15:51 ERV
And according to Romans 14:8 and 2 Corinthians 5, our focus as Christians should be to please The Lord while alive. We are to serve The Lord wholehearted as well as lead others to Him.
“For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”
Romans 14:8 NKJV.
“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”
II Corinthians 5:8-9 NKJV
So, the primary reason we reject death is to get our work done. It is not that we’re afraid of death or that we lose anything.
In that sense therefore, death only succeeds in taking away from us the opportunity to get others to know, love and serve the Lord.
Truth #3
Sickness, disease and death do not put Jesus under pressure. Jesus was not under pressure for Lazarus, neither is He under pressure for us.
For us, He conquered sickness and disease. In Isaiah 53: 5 and 1 Peter 2:24, we see that Christ paid the perfect price for every sickness and disease. He took every pain, every cut, every hurt.
“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed.”
I Peter 2:24 NKJV
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.“
Isaiah 53:5 NKJV
It therefore doesn’t matter how long those symptoms have stayed in our bodies, they will one day be no more. Neither does it matter how dead a situation around us is, the power of God can and will make it alive. We have to gird our waist with the truth…..the Word of God is truth (Ephesians 6:14).
I encourage you to read my 4-part blogpost series on “By His Stripes” available online @ https://graceobomanu.com/by-his-stripes-blogpost-3/
Well, this has been a long post. We’ll continue with the Truths/lessons under John Chapter 11 verses 3 to 7 next time.
As we go through this series, please know that you can share your insights on John Chapter 11 so that together we can enjoy a richer discourse. Please send as email to graceobomanu@gmail.com
My Love Always ❤
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