Good morning. Martha goes out and meets Jesus and says, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. As we will see in a little bit, Mary says the exact same thing. That implies that this was not the first time that they said this. You can imagine them sitting in the house mourning the loss of Lazarus and saying, if Jesus had just been here, our brother would not have died. Martha, however, adds something that Mary does not. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You. What exactly did she mean by that? It sounds like she believes that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead, but the next few verses seem to contradict that. Your brother will rise again. I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Does that mean that she does not believe that Jesus will bring him back to life right then, or is she just asking Him to be more specific? Note when she believes the resurrection will occur – on the last day. That must’ve been the common Jewish belief. While that does not make it doctrine, Jesus did not correct her. Then we have one of the most powerful verses in the Bible. I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. This is the gospel in a nutshell. It is our hope and our comfort; not only for ourselves, but also for those of our friends and relatives who have already or will die. Jesus did not just present the gospel and leave it at that; He brought it to her to make a decision: do you believe this? She does not say yes specifically. I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world. She does not say that she believes that everyone who believes in Jesus will live even if he dies. Father thank You that Jesus is the resurrection and the life; and that because we live and believe in Him, we will never die.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners

  Good morning. So, was the law a bad thing? We know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully (not to control people, as some were), realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane…, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the Blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer etc. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. Formerly Paul was good in the eyes of the law, but unrighteous in the eyes of God. Despite that, God was more than able to use him in a magnificent way to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Father thank You that Your Grace is gre...
Read more

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

  Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
Read more

Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them.

  Good morning. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them. This is the area where Jesus had the discussion with the woman at the well. Remember from Acts 1:8 that after Jerusalem, Samaria was mentioned. Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews and considered more or less half Jews. A lot of the Jews of the northern kingdom were taken away and replaced by others who were not Jews. They intermingled with the Jews that were living in the northern kingdom. Even though Samaria was not far away, the disciples had not come there to preach the word before this. The disciples may have even thought that it was impossible for them to get saved, just like the Gentiles. The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. Even though he was “just a deacon”, God worked throug...
Read more