FRIDAY January 24th
I wonder which of the miracles of Jesus that we read of that you find the most fascinating, maybe it is one of the healing miracles, and they are incredible as we consider that it didn’t matter what the sickness or disease happened to be, not one was beyond his healing power.
It may be one of the miracles such as the water into wine, the catch of fish, stilling the storm, the feeding of the five thousand, or maybe the instances when he delivered those who were possessed of demons.
I cannot define a miracle specifically as a favourite of mine but would perhaps be drawn close to choosing the raising of Lazarus from the dead. One of the reasons being that prior to performing this incredible miracle, Jesus talks about what is my favourite subject, the resurrection.
Let’s just read some of the verses surrounding this miracle.
One of the most important verses is the statement Jesus made when he was first told that his friend Lazarus was sick, it is verse 4 ‘This sickness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it’. Now it seems a strange thing to say, especially when we read a few verses later that Jesus tells the disciples that Lazarus has died (v14) and when he arrives to the town, Marth says ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’.
But Jesus knows what he is doing! Notice from verse 6 that despite what was the urgency of the situation with Lazarus, that Jesus remained where he was for two more days! He didn’t hurry, and the reason being he knew exactly what was going to happen—Lazarus dying, and what he would do—raise him back to life.
We can learn that even in what we would consider to be the delay in an answer to our prayers, God knows what he is doing. He has it all planned out, and Jesus made his way to Bethany, with not an ounce of worry, because although he wasn’t there physically, it was nevertheless all under his control.
And of course, it leads to the incredible declaration that Jesus made to Martha first in verse 23 and then in verses 25-26. ‘Your brother will rise again’, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die . . .’
Yes this miracle led to the raising from the dead of a man who by that time should have been decomposing and stinking, it also proved without any shadow of doubt as to who Jesus really was as the Son of God, and it gives to us the proof that we need today to understand that Jesus really does mean what he says when he claims to have power over death, and to grant eternal life and of course he gave even greater proof by himself being the One who later would die, be buried and three days later rise again.
Now I suggested at the beginning of this devotion that one of the most important verses was possibly verse 4, but perhaps the most important words that I can ask today as you read this devotion are the words that Jesus concluded verses 25-26 with, which I deliberately left out to conclude the devotion with and they are this:
‘Do you believe this?’
Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast, we can only have and know the sweet thoughts concerning Jesus when we have come to know and to believe who he is and all he has done for us. Your eternal destiny is dependent upon whether you believe or not.