HEALTH, HEALING, AND MIRACLES – PART THIRTY-FIVE
Sunday – November 4, 2018, Cheshvan 26, 5779
Greetings Partners, friends, and visitors to this ongoing teaching concerning the Health, Healing, and Miracles as seen in the earthly Ministry of Jesus. Today I will be looking at the raising of Lazarus from the dead and we will believe our Teacher (Holy Spirit) to uncover Truths we can live by.
Matthew 4:4 (KJV)
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Deuteronomy 8:3)
Let us remind ourselves that every word in the Bible is not from the mouth of God however it is there for our learning, an example. The things that we learn from others, the various accounts can also bring life as we marry it with the Words of God, Truths from His mouth. Life is in the Words of God, the Words from His mouth. The text for the Lazarus account is very lengthy (John 11:1-44) so I will only be publishing key verses that Holy Spirit wants to teach us about to build our faith.
Jesus is a friend of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha who live in Bethany. Bethany is a few miles from Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives to the south and east. Jesus is ministering in an unnamed location some distance from Bethany when He gets word that His friend is sick.
John 11:3-5 (KJV)
3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
Let me strongly caution us all not to misinterpret verse four to mean that God makes people sick or even allows sickness to demonstrate His glory or goodness. Back to Lazarus. My guess is that probably everyone reading this knows that Lazarus does die and is in the ground four days when Jesus arrives in Bethany. Jesus is not saying that the death of Lazarus shows the goodness of God or Jesus but that the raising of Lazarus and restoring him to his sisters shows the goodness or glory of God. Another thing that is interesting in this passage is that the word “lovest” in verse three is not the same as “loved” in verse five. In verse three we find “Phileo” meaning to like or have brotherly love towards, and in verse five it is “Agape” which is Godly love, so Jesus not only loved (agape) Lazarus as commanded of Scripture but He enjoyed and liked him as a brother. When Jesus got the news that Lazarus was sick He did not rush off to Bethany but lingered where He was continuing to minister according to the will of God in that place and in Judea. Jesus is walking in love and ministering according to the will of the Father. Jesus is not walking in fear, in fact he told them when He got the news what the outcome would be when He arrived in Bethany. Let me point out that there are no emergencies in the Kingdom of God, for a man or woman operating at the leadership of Holy Spirit this is no rushing and no emergency and therefore no operation of fear.
The disciples do not want to go to Judea for they are afraid the Jews will stone Jesus and perhaps them right along with Him. Jesus points out to them that He not only walks in the light but there is light in Him and will therefore not stumble (be stoned). Are we full of the light (Word of God) and declaring it so there is light on our path and the Word is being established (Job 22:28)? As we follow this account into verse eleven we see Jesus trying to reassure His disciples that the current condition of Lazarus is very temporary with the use of the term that he is sleeping. Jesus knows Lazarus is dead by the Spirit of God (Word of Knowledge), no one has come and told them. Let’s look at the following verse in two translations.
John 11:15 (KJV)
15 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 11:15 (GW)
15 but I’m glad that I wasn’t there so that you can grow in faith. Let’s go to Lazarus.”
In the King James Version, it is a little hard to understand but the God’s Word Translation perhaps gives us a little insight. The disciples had faith for healing but not a raising from the dead and in just a moment we will see that Mary was in the same boat. In an interesting turn of events Martha is the one this time with the faith (faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God) needed for Lazarus to be raised from the dead not Mary.
John 11:25-27 (KJV)
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:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
Later in our text we find Mary at the feet of Jesus but not like in the Luke account when she is supposedly learning while Martha is busy with serving but she is now at His feet in unbelief. In verse thirty-three we find Jesus indignant and agitated, this is much like when He would ask His disciples why they didn’t have faith. Notice the following exchange between Martha and Jesus, she, her faith is crucial to this event.
John 11:39-40 (KJV)
39 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.
40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
Does this sound somewhat like what happened when Jesus was on the way to Jairus’ home when He commands Jairus to fear not? Martha is the one with the authority here and was in the process of preventing the stone from being removed and following the exchange gives the go ahead in some fashion. I will close with the following passage.
John 11:41-44 (KJV)
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Notice the phrase “thou hast heard me” in verse forty-one is past tense but He has not given the command for Lazarus to arise yet. In the mind of Jesus, it was a done deal, it was the only possible outcome. Do we have the same unshakeable belief when we speak what we know to be the will of God in any given situation? Jesus did not ask the Father to raise Lazarus, Jesus commanded Lazarus to live and the Father raised Lazarus and the Father will do exactly the same for us.
Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
Exodus 15:26 (KJV)
26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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