TUESDAY 11th
John 12:1-11
NIV (v10-11) – ‘So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.’
ESV (v10-11) – ‘So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.’
It always amazes me when I see how the chief priests reacted after the amazing miracle Jesus performed by raising to life again a man who had been dead for a few days. Even those standing around Jesus at the time had suggested that the decaying corpse would have been smelling by the time Jesus had got there, and yet it mattered not as he exercised his authority as the Son of God and he called Lazarus to come out of the grave. I don’t know how they bound the dead up, but his legs must have been bound separately for it says that he came out (unless he jumped out!) and Jesus gave the orders, ‘unbind him and let him go’. This miracle caused some who saw it happen to believe in Jesus, while others decided to go and report to the authorities, looking at the text it would seem to indicate they wanted to cause trouble, for the Chief priests and the Pharisees were at a loss to know what to do with Jesus! They could not cope with the fact that Jesus was performing many signs and they thought it would eventually lead to everyone believing in Jesus and the Romans coming to remove them from office and to take over the country.
As we read through the chapter we discover that the high priest called Caiaphas had some understanding of spiritual matters and prophesied that it was expedient for one man to die for the nation, and for the nations of the world to gather together into one the children of God. (vv48-53)
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Church, that is you and me included, operated in such a way that the power of the Holy Spirit at work through us was bringing about miracles that would catch the attention of the unbelieving world and point them to Jesus? The trouble is we see from Scripture that even when miracles and wonders were taking place, not all believed, in fact as we see time and time again it brought opposition and resentment. And although some believed, others just stood back and did not as it were bat an eyelid, in fact many responded not out of any desire to surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ, but to get out of him what they personally wanted, such as was the case after the feeding of the five thousand. Too often perhaps as I started this paragraph, we think if only such and such would happen then the world would see and believe, but it is not guaranteed, what we need I believe is a Holy Spirit revival of the anointed preaching of the Word of God, the whole counsel of the Word of God that will bring the conviction of sin upon the hearers, miracles will never save individuals, it is the preaching of the Cross, what is needed is genuine conviction which will lead to repentance and to salvation. Yes, miracles, signs and wonders happening amongst us would be great, but we need to remember that our priority is to point people to Jesus.