Jesus was sometimes glad for the bad

JESUS WAS SOMETIMES GLAD FOR THE BAD
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 11:12-15 12His disciples replied, "LORD, if he
sleeps, he will get better." 13Jesushad been speaking
of his death, but his disciplesthought he meant natural
sleep. 14So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is
dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so
that you may believe. But let us go to him."
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
GoodIn Apparent Evil
John 11:15, 21
B. Thomas
Notice -
I. THAT ALL THE MOVEMENTS OF CHRIST ON EARTH HAD AN
IMMEDIATE REGARD TO OTHERS.
1. His life on earth was purely vicarious. "Foryour sakes."Notonly his death
was vicarious, but his life was equally so. Not only he died for others, but he
lived for them as well. His vicarious death was only the natural outcome of his
vicarious life. All his movements, his actions, his miracles, his teaching and

utterances, the fact and sum of his life, were for others - for mankind
generallyand for his disciples particularly. "Foryour sakes."
2. His life on earth was purely self-sacrificing. "Foryour sakes."He sacrificed
every personalfeeling, convenience, andconsiderationfor the advantage of
others. Had he consulted his own personalfeelings - feelings of the tenderest
affectionand the sincerestfriendship - friendship for the dying and the living -
nothing would have kept him awayfrom the death-bed of his beloved friend at
Bethany; but these tenderestfeelings of personal friendship he sacrificedfor
the sake ofothers. For their sakeshe was not there. This was the greatand
grand principle of his whole life.
3. The vicariousness and self-sacrificeofhis life were to him the sources ofthe
greatestpleasure. "Iam glad," etc. He found his highest joy in doing good to
his fellow-men, and the greatestdelight of his life was spending it for the
advantage of others. In benefiting them even his own pain was turned into
pleasure, his sorrow into joy, and the greatestself-sacrifice affordedhim the
greatestsatisfaction.
4. His life on earth was one of untiring activity. Nevertheless, letus go unto
him. His time for sorrow and joy was very limited. His was to act.
(1) His activity was ever timely. He would everact in his own time; but his
time was always right. Some thought he was too late; but if he went, even to a
grave, it was not too late.
(2) His activity was often wonderful in its aim, but ever successful. "Letus go
unto him." Lazarus was dead, and his soul in the spirit world; but he was not
too far for Jesus to reachhim - he was at home there. To human view Lazarus
was a prisoner of death, and it was a bold march to go to him through the
territories of the king of terrors;but, bold as it was, Jesus undertook it
successfully.
(3) His activity was ever inviting and inspiring. "Let us go." The disciples
could not go as far as the Master, but let them go as far as they are able. If
they can only see, weep, andwitness, let them do what they can;he will do the
rest. They were inspired to go.

(4) His activity was ever helpful, in consoling, teaching, and quickening.
II. THAT ALL THE MOVEMENTSOF CHRIST ON EARTH HAD A
SPECIAL REGARD TO THE GREATEST GOODOF OTHERS. "To the
intent that ye may believe."
1. Whateverhe did was done with a definite purpose. "To the intent." He had
one greatand specialaim through life. In every movement and act and
utterance of his there was a definite purpose, and he kept this ever in view. It
was the inspiration and guide of his movements. In all his various and busy
activities there was not a single random shot; but he ever took a definite aim,
on which his whole being centered. This is one of the secrets ofhis ultimate
success.
2. Whateverhe did was done for the best and highestpurpose. In relation to
his ownmission and the salvationof the world. "Thatye may believe." This
implies:
(1) That although his disciples had faith, yet it was weak. It was incomplete.
This was only to be expected. They were as yet but babes in Christ, and their
faith was young and tender. Their wings had net fully grown, and could not
soarvery high - not high enough as yet to reachand fully rest on the Savior.
(2) That it was capable of, and required growth and confirmation. Genuine
faith, howeverweak and small, will grow by trial, by experience, by a fuller
manifestation of its object, and cries out for this. Its growth is certain but
gradual.
(3) That the growth and confirmation of their faith involved their greatest
good. This alone could bring them into closerunion with Christ and with the
Father, and open to them the door of the spiritual kingdom, and fully present
to their view the grand but real visions of the spiritual empire, and Jesus as
the King in his beauty. This was the only true foundation of their character,
and the only hope and sure means of its future perfection.
3. Whateverhe did was done in the best wayto effectthe highest purpose. His
absence from Bethany served the interest of faith far better than his presence
would have done. This implies:

(1) That the death of Lazarus could scarcelytake place in the immediate
presence ofJesus. This is implied in what Jesus saidto his disciples, and in
what the sisters saidto Jesus. We have no accountthat death ever took place
in his presence. Evenat a distance the prayer of faith was sufficient to call
forth his triumphant poweragainstit. When he met the "king of terrors" on
the highway with a lad, a strangerto Jesus, in his prison-van, he had to give
him back to his mother at once:how much more would this be the case with
regard to a sick friend! Death could hardly perform his work in the very
presence oflife. However, Jesus couldhardly trust himself, and was glad that
he was not there.
(2) That the restorationof Lazarus from death was more beneficial to faith
than his preservationfrom it would have been.
(3) That it was the highest aim of Christ to serve the interest of faith in the
most efficient way. He did not expect it to live and thrive on nothing, but
furnished it with the strongestproofs, and with the most nourishing diet. He
not only produces faith, but supports it. His generalaim was to produce faith
where it was not, but especiallyto perfect it where it was. His aim was
concentrationof influence - the perfectionof the few faithful ones, and
through them the perfectionof the many. "Thatye may believe."
4. The confirmation of faith in the disciples produced in Jesus the greatestjoy.
(1) This was the joy of a favorable opportunity of doing the greatestgood.
Such opportunities are rare. Jesus availedhimself of it with delight. Faith was
struggling in the gloom of a friend's death. But this furnished Jesus with a
specialopportunity to display his Divine powerin the grand miracle of life.
(2) The joy of foreseensuccess. He foresaw the successofhis last great
miracle, which involved the success ofhis life, and through the wailof grief
rolled the sweeteststrains of music to his soul. What joy is like that of the joy
of successin the chief aim of life?
III. WHAT PRODUCES REGRETAND SORROW IN US OFTEN
PRODUCES GLADNESSIN JESUS. His absence causedsorrow to the

sisters, but joy to him. The same event producing different feelings in
different persons, as illustrated in Jesus and the sisters, and why?
1. Jesus couldsee the intention of his absence;the sisters could not,
2. Jesus couldsee the ultimate result of his absence;they could not. Jesus
could see the restorationof his friend, the display of Divine power, the
triumph of faith, and the glory of God. This produced in him gladness. The
sisters could not see this, and they were sad.
3. Jesus couldsee the gain of faith by the death of Lazarus to be
immeasurably greaterthan the loss of the family. They could not see this as
yet.
(1) Their loss was only personal, limited to a few. The gain of faith was
universal.
(2) Their loss was only physical and social. The gain of faith was spiritual and
Divine. Socialfeelings are nothing to the ecstasiesoffaith.
(3) Their loss was only temporary, for a short time. The gain of faith was
eternal.
(4) Their loss was made up with interest; but the loss of faith for the want of
the miracle, who could repair? He was the prepared object of the miracle, and
the only one of the family not to begrudge the sacrifice. His death was the
occasionoflife to faith, and doubtless shared the joy of Jesus atits triumph,
and was the willing sacrifice to its life.
LESSONS.
1. When the claims of personal feelings come in collisionwith those of public
good, the former are to give wayat any cost, and give way with joy.
2. In the strange dealings of Providence we should try to learn the Divine
intention; that is our good.
3. This is difficult, if not impossible, often to realize. Therefore let us trust and
wall.

4. In the light of results all will be plain and joyful. Jesus was gladin Peraea,
while the sisters were sadin Bethany; but at the resurrectionthey could join
with Jesus in the song of triumph and the anthem of life. "All is well that ends
well." - B.T.
Biblical Illustrator
Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakesthat! was not there.
John 11:14, 15
The dark enigma of death
W. G. Elmslie, D. D.
The man Jesus lovedlay there on his bed dying. Now, I emphasize that,
because there used to be a greatdeal of thinking about God's relation to those
that love Him and whom He loves — a greatdeal of teaching in the Christian
Church that counted itself most orthodox, and which was, indeed, deadly
heresy, coarse, materialistic, despicable, misunderstanding the ideal grandeur

of the Bible promises. Some of you know the sort of thing that used to prevail
— the idea that God's saints should be exceptionally favoured, the sun would
shine on their plot of corn, and it would not shine on the plot of corn of the
bad man; their ships would not sink at sea, their children would not catch
infectious diseases,Godwould pamper them, exempt them from bearing their
part in the world's greatbattle, with hardness and toil of labour, with struggle
and attainment and achievement. It came of a very despicable conceptionof
what a father cando for a child, as if the best thing for a father to do for his
son was to pet and indulge him, and save him all bodily struggle and all
difficulties, instead of giving him a life of discipline. As if a generalin the
army would, because ofhis faltering heart, refuse to let his son take the postof
danger, as if he would not rather wish for that son — ay, with a greatpang in
his ownsoul — that he should be the bravest, the most daring, the one most
exposedto the deadliesthazard. Ah, we have got to recognize that we whom
God loves may be sick and dying, and yet God does love us. Lazarus was loved
by Jesus, yet he whom Jesus lovedwas sick and dying. Ah, and there is a still
more poisonous difficulty in that materialistic, that worldly way of looking at
God's love; that horrible, revolting misjudgment that Christ condemned,
crushed with indignation when it confronted Him. "The men on whom the
towerof Siloamfell must have been sinners worse than us on whom it did not
fall." Never, never! The greatgovernment of the world is not made up of
patches and strokes ofangerand outbursts of weak indulgence. The world is
God's great workshop, God's greatbattlefield. These have their places. Here a
storm of bullets fall, and brave and goodmen as wellas cowards fallbefore it.
You mistake if you try to forestallGod's judgments, God's verdict on the last
greatday of reckoning. Still we have gotthe factthat Christ does not
interpose to prevent death, that Christ does not hinder those dearestto Him
from bearing their share of life's sicknessesand sufferings, that God Himself
suffers death to go on, apparently wielding an undisputed swayover human
existence. Is not that true of our world today? The best of you Christians,
when death comes to your own homes, do you manage to sing the songs of
triumph right away? Well, you are very wonderful saints if you do. If you do
not, perhaps you say, "If God is in this world, how comes that dark enigma of
death?" And others of you grip hold of your faith, but yet your heart cries out
againstit. You believe that God is good, but has He been quite goodto you?

Like Martha, you feel as if you had some doubt; you feel bound in your
prayers; you say, "O God, I do not mean to reproachThee;" weak, sinful, if
you will, yet the sign of a true followerof the Christ. And then the enemies of
Christ, the worldlings all about in this earth of ours, as they look upon death's
ravages, theyare saying: "If there were a God, if there were a Father, if there
were a greatheart that could love, why does not He show it?" Now, I said to
you that at first it looks as if nothing but evil came of God's delay to interpose
againstdeath; but when you look a little deeper, I think you begin to discover
an infinitely greatergoodand benefit come out of that evil. I must very
briefly, very rapidly, trace to you in the story, and you canparallel it in the
life of yourselves, that discipline of goodnessthere is in God's refraining from
checking sickness anddeath. Christ said the end of it is first of all death, but
that is not the termination. Through death this sickness, this struggle of doubt
and faith, should end in the glory of God. That tremendous miracle compelled
the rulers of Jerusalemto resolve on and carry out His death. That miracle of
Lazarus's resurrection gave to the faith of the disciples and of Christ's
followers a strength of clinging attachmentthat carried them through the
eclipse of their belief when they saw Him die on Calvary. Now, what would
you say? Was it cruel of Christ to allow His friend Lazarus, His dear friends
Mary and Martha, to go through that period of suspense, ofanxiety, of
sickness, ofdeath, and of the grave, that they might do one of the greatdeeds
in bringing in the world's Redeemer"Ah" you say"you have still got to show
God's goodness andkindness to me individually. My death may be for God's
glory, it may be for the goodof others;but how about me and those who
mourn?" Well, now, look at it. You must get to the end of the story before you
venture to judge the measure, the worth of God's goodness. Afterall, was that
period of sicknessand death unmitigated gloom, and horror, and agony? Oh,
I put it to you, men and women, who have passedthrough it, watching by the
death of dearfather or mother that loved the Lord and loved you, and whom
you loved — dark, and sore, and painful enough at the time; but oh, if I called
you to speak out, would you not say it was one of the most sacredperiods of
your life — the unspeakable tenderness, the sweet, clinging love, the untiring
service, the grateful responses,the sacredness thatcame into life? Ay, and
when the tie was snapped, the new tenderness that you gave to the friends that
are left, the new pledge binding you to heaven, and to hope for it, and long for

it — death is not all an evil to our eyes. Deathcannotultimately be an evil,
since it is universal — the consummation, climax, crown, of every human life.
It is going home to one's Father. Yes, but you want the guarantee that death is
not the end, and that day it was right and lawful for Christ to give it to
anticipate the last greatday, when in one unbroken army, radiant and
resplendent, shining like jewels in a crown, He shall bring from the dark
grave all that loved Him, fought for Him, and were loyal to Him on the road,
and went down into the dark waters singlyone by one, in circumstances of
ignominy often, and yet dying with Christ within them, the Resurrectionand
the Life. Ah, that greatgrand vindication of God and interpretation of this
world's enigma was made clearthat day when Christ calledLazarus back and
gave him alive to his sisters in the sight of His doubting disciples, in the sight
of those sneering enemies.
(W. G. Elmslie, D. D.)
Lazarus dead and Jesus glad
W. Arnot, D. D.
What strange paradox is here. There was room in Christ's heart for both
emotions. The grief belongedto the Brother born for our adversity; the
gladness to the omniscient God who sees the end from the be ginning, Note —
I. THE SYMPATHY OF CHRIST WITH HIS PEOPLE. Somewhat
analogous to the sympathy of the severalorgans ofa living frame. Such is the
vital union that every wound inflicted on the members pierces with pain the
Head. He "knew the sorrows"ofIsraelin Egypt, and now He felt the grief
which was rending the householdat Bethany. By a message, Jesus andHis
disciples had learned that Lazarus was sick;but the Head, being in closer
communion with the member, had secretand better intelligence. The dying
throb of Lazarus beatalso in the heart of Jesus. "Lo, I am with you alway," in
the dark days of pain as in the bright days of joy.
II. CHRIST HEARS THE CRY OF HIS PEOPLE AND SENDS THEM
HELP. They were right in saying, "If Thou hadst been here." He cannot

endure to hear the prayer of His people and permanently to deny their
request. Hence He could not remain in visible presence with His followers. It
became expedient for Him to go away, permitting multitudes of His friends to
sickenand die preparatory to a glorious resurrection.
III. ALIKE CHRIST'S ACTIONS AND EMOTIONSCONTEMPLATETHE
PROFIT OF HIS PEOPLE. If He remained distant while Lazarus was
battling with death it was for your sakes. If He rejoicedin the immediate issue
of that unequal conflict, it was for your sakes. All things are for your sakes. In
this case it was that they might believe. The death of Lazarus afforded
opportunity for the display of omnipotence, thereby to confirm the disciples'
faith. But other benefits followed. The discipline the bereavedfamily endured
was a means of purging away their dross. Application: The lessonbears on —
1. The ordinary affairs of life. You try to obtain a lawful object in a lawful
way, but your plans miscarry. This, however, does not prove that Christ lacks
the will or powerto help. Had He been in visible presence He would have put
forth His power, but He is glad for your sake He was not. From the height of
His throne He sees thatthe world on your side at this point would not be
profitable for you.
2. Bereavements."ifChrist were standing weeping by the bed your child
would not die, but for your sake He is not there. A mother who had lost all her
children but the youngest said, "Every bereavementhas knit me closerto
Christ, and every child I have in heaven is another cord to hold me up": —
(W. Arnot, D. D.)
A mystery! Saints sorrowing and Jesus glad
C. H. Spurgeon.
Jesus was gladthat the trial had come.
I. FOR THE STRENGTHENING OF THE FAITH OF THE APOSTLES.

1. The trial itself would do this. Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure
to be little faith. It never prospers so much as when all things are againstit.
No flowers wearso lovely a blue as those which grow at the feetof the frozen
glacier;no waterso sweetas that which springs amid the desertsand.(1) Tried
faith brings experience, and experience makes religionmore real. You never
know your weaknessnorGod's strength till you have been in the deep
waters.(2)Trialremoves many of the impediments of faith. Carnalsecurity is
the worstfoe to confidence in God, and blessedis the axe that removes it. The
balloon never rises until the cords are cut.(3) Affliction helps faith when it
exposes the weaknessofthe creature. This trial would show the apostles not to
depend on the bounty of any one man, for though Lazarus entertained them,
Lazarus had died. We are in danger of making idols of our mercies.(4)Trial
drives faith to God. When the world's wells are full of sweetbut poisonous
waterwe pitch our tents at the well's mouth; but when earth's waterbecomes
bitter we turn awaysick and faint and cry for the waterof life.(5) Trial has a
hardening effecton faith. As the Spartan boys were prepared for fighting by
the sharp discipline of their boyish days, so are God's servants trained for war
by the affliction which He sends upon them. We must be thrown into the
waterto learn to swim. If you want to ruin your child, let him never know a
hardship.
2. The deliverance of Lazarus would do this.(1) At the worstChrist can work;
in the very worstHe is not brought to a nonplus. The physician, Herod,
Caesar, andall their powercan do nothing here; and Deathsits smiling as he
says, "I have Lazarus." Yet Christ wins the day.(2) Divine sympathy became
most manifest — "Jesuswept."(3)Divine powerwas put forth — "Lazarus,
come forth." All this was the best educationthe disciples could have for their
future ministry. When in prison they would remember how Lazarus was
brought out. When preaching to dead sinners they would remember the
powerof the word which brought Lazarus to life.
II. FOR THE GOOD OF THE FAMILY. The sisters had faith, but it was not
very strong, for they doubted both Christ's love and His power. BecauseHe
speciallyloved these people:

1. He sent them a specialtrial. The lapidary will not spend much time on an
ordinary stone, but a diamond of the first waterhe will cut and cut again. So
the gardenerwill a choice tree.
2. Specialtrial was attended with a specialvisit. Perhaps Christ would not
have come to Bethany had not Lazarus died. If you are in trouble Christ will
go out of His way to see you.
3. The specialvisit was attended with specialfellowship. Jesus weptwith those
who wept. You may be well and strong, and have but little fellowship with
Christ, but He shall make all your bed in your sickness.
4. And soonyou shall have specialdeliverance.
III. FOR GIVING FAITH TO OTHERS. Afflictions often lead men to faith in
Christ because —
1. They give space forthought.
2. They prevent sin. A lad had resolvedagainstadvice to climb a mountain. A
mist soonsurrounded him, and compelled him to return. His father was glad
because, hadhe gone a little further, he would have perished.
3. They compel them to stand face to face with stern realities. How often has
God's Spirit wrought in illnesses that have seemedhopeless.
4. They are sometimes followedby greatdeliverances.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Five paradoxes
C. S. Robinson, D. D.
I. IN THE LIFE OF AN INTELLIGENT BELIEVER GLADNESS
SOMETIMESGROWSOUT OF GRIEF. Jesus weptat the death of Lazarus,
for it was a personal bereavement, but He was gladbecause it was a fine
opportunity for glorifying God. This is the lowestform of Christian
experience. Our light affliction works out an eternal weightof glory, This,

understood as a means of exalting God, will enable the believer to glory in
tribulations.
II. ONE'S ADVANTAGE IS SOMETIMESHID UNDERNEATH
ANOTHER'S TRIALS. It was a surprising thing to announce that He had not
intended to prevent Lazarus's death; but it was still more surprising that it
was for their sakes. Whathad they to do with it? Now, while all believers are
independent of eachother, and eachstands or falls to his ownmaster, yet the
trials of one are often intended to benefit another. The law of vicarious
suffering holds the race. A parent suffers for a child, a child for a parent.
Josephwas soldinto Egypt that Israel might go into Palestine. Peter's
imprisonment may have been neededto discipline Rhoda's faith, and Paul's
confinement may have been ordered for the jailor's conversion. Let us be
resigned, then, when we suffer for others, and attentive when others suffer for
us.
III. INCREASE OF A CHRISTIAN'S SORROW SOMETIMES
ALLEVIATES IT. In the opinion of the disciples the sickness ofLazarus was
a disaster, but the most unfortunate circumstance was the absence ofJesus.
But a strange comfortnow entered their hearts. They were worse off than
they supposed, but they were better off, too. Up to this disclosure the event
was a hard calamity of domestic life, and Jesus'absence a melancholy
accident. But now they perceived that Divine knowledge embracedthis also,
Divine wisdomwas dealing with it, and Divine mercy was going to turn it to
fine advantage. A greatsorrow with a purpose in it is easierto bear than a
smaller one which seems to have no aim now and no benefit hereafter.
IV. IN THE TRUE BELIEVER'S EXPERIENCEDOUBT IS SOMETIMES
EMPLOYED TO DEEPEN TRUST. The one simple intention of this
bereavementwas to increase the faith of those who felt it. This was
accomplishedby permitting them to imagine for a while that they were
forgottenof God. Just as a mother hides herself from a child who has grown
carelessofher presence that the child may run impulsively into her embrace
and love her all the more, so God says, "In a little wrath I hid My face," etc.
The way to render faith confident is to make large demands upon it by onsets
of trying doubt.

V. ABSOLUTE HOPELESSNESS AND HELPLESSNESS ARE THE
CONDITIONSOF HOPE AND HELP. The turning point of the story is in the
"nevertheless letus go," and He goes to work His most stupendous miracle to
remedy what His delay had permitted. By this time the sisters had given up all
hope; but Hope was on the way. So one after another of our props must drop
away, till at lastwe are shut up to God.
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Deathknocking awayour props
"See, father!" said a lad who was walking with his father, "they are knocking
awaythe props from under the bridge. What are they doing that for? Won't
the bridge fall?" "They are knocking them away," saidthe father, "that the
timbers may rest more firmly upon the stone piers, which are now finished."
God only takes awayour earthly props that we may rest more firmly upon
Him.
The uses of bereavement
H. W. Beecher.
When engineers would bridge a stream, they often carry over at first but a
single cord; with that, next they stretcha wire across;then strand is added to
strand, until a foundation is laid for planks;and now the bold engineerfinds
safe footway, and walks from side to side. So God takes from us some golden-
threaded pleasure, and stretches it hence into heaven; then He takes a child,
and then a friend: thus He bridges death, and teaches the thoughts of the most
timid to find their way hither and thither betweenthe shores.
(H. W. Beecher.)
Build beyond the reachof death

S. Rutherford.
Build your nest upon no tree here, for ye see Godhath sold the forestto
Death; and every tree whereupon we would rest is ready to be cut down, to
the end that we might flee and mount up, and build upon the Rock, anddwell
in the holes of the Rock.
(S. Rutherford.)
Reliefunder bereavement
1. There are reliefs arising from our constitution. There is a self-healing
principle in nature. Break a branch from a tree, etc., wound the body, cut the
flesh, or break a limb, and you see the self-healing powerexude and work. It
is so in the soul. Thought succeedsthought like the waves of the ocean, and
eachtends to wearout the impressionits predecessorhad made.
2. There are incidental reliefs. New events, new engagements, new
relationships, tend to heal the wound.
3. There are Christian reliefs, the assurance ofafterlife, the hope of a future
reunion, etc. Such are the reliefs. These, like the flowers and shrubs of a lovely
garden, spring up around our hearts and coverthe grave of our sorrows and
trials with the shadow of their foliage. Yes;though we have our trials, we have
still our blessings.
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
I am gladfor your sakes thatI was not there - "I tell you plainly, Lazarus is
dead: and I am gladI was not there - if I had been, I should have been
prevailed on to have healed him almost as soonas he fell sick, and I should not

have had so striking an occasionto manifest the glory of God to you, and to
establishyou in the faith." It was a miracle to discoverthat Lazarus was dead,
as no personhad come to announce it. It was a greatermiracle to raise a dead
man than to cure a sick man. And it was a still greatermiracle, to raise one
that was three or four days buried, and in whose body putrefaction might
have begun to take place, than to raise one that was but newly dead. See John
11:39.
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
I am glad… - The meaning of this verse may be thus expressed:“If I had
been there during his sickness,the entreaties ofhis sisters and friends would
have prevailed with me to restore him to health. I could not have refused them
without appearing to be unkind. Thougha restorationto health would have
been a miracle, and sufficient to convince you, yet the miracle of raising him
after being four days dead will be far more impressive, and on that accountI
rejoice that an opportunity is thus given so strikingly to confirm your faith.”
To the intent - To furnish you evidence on which you might be establishedin
the belief that I am the Messiah.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And I am glad for your sakesthat I was not there,.... At Bethany, before he
died, or when he died; because he might have been prevailed upon through
the solicitations ofhis dear friends, Mary and Martha, and through tender
affectionto Lazarus, to have prevented his death, by rebuking the distemper,
and restoring him to health, or to have raisedhim immediately as soonas he
was dead; and in either case the miracle would not have been so illustrious,
nor have been such a means of confirming the faith of his disciples, as now it
would be:
to the intent ye may believe; more strongly, that he was the Sonof God, and
true Messiah:

nevertheless, letus go unto him; to Lazarus, to the grave where he lies:the
Syriac version reads, "let us go there";to Bethany, where he lived, and died,
and now lay interred.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I am gladfor your sakes Iwas not there — This certainly implies that if He
had been present, Lazarus would not have died; not because He could not
have resistedthe importunities of the sisters, but because, inpresence of the
personalLife, death could not have reachedHis friend [Luthardt]. “It is
beautifully congruous to the divine decorum that in presence ofthe Prince of
Life no one is ever said to have died” [Bengel].
that ye may believe — This is added to explain His “gladness”atnot having
been present. His friend‘s death, as such, could not have been to Him
“joyous”;the sequelshows it was “grievous”;but for them it was safe
(Philemon 3:1).
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
For your sakes(δι υμας — di' humas). That they may witness his raising from
the grave.
That I was not there (οτι ουκ ημην εκει — hoti ouk ēmēn ekei). Imperfect
middle ημην— ēmēn of the later Greek insteadof the common active ην — ēn
in indirect discourse in place of the usual present retained as in John 11:13.
To the intent ye may believe (ινα πιστευσητε — hina pisteusēte). Purpose
clause with ινα — hina and the ingressive aoristactive subjunctive, “that ye
may come to believe” (more than you do). See the same use of the ingressive
aoristin επιστευσαν — episteusan(John 2:11) where the disciples gained in
belief.

Nevertheless letus go to him (αλλα αγωμεν προς αυτον — alla agōmenpros
auton). Volitive subjunctive, repeating the proposalof John 11:7. He is dead,
but no matter, yea all the more let us go on to him.
Vincent's Word Studies
For your sakes - to the intent ye may believe
These two clauses, whichare separatedin the A.V. and Rev., are, in the Greek
order, placedtogether: for your sakes,to the intent ye may believe;the latter
clause being explanatory of the former.
That I was not there
Bengel's commentis beautiful and characteristic. “Itaccords beautifully with
divine propriety that we read of no one having died while the Prince of life
was present. If you suppose that death could not, in the presence ofJesus,
have assailedLazarus, the language of the two sisters, John11:21, John 11:32,
attains loftier meaning; and the Lord's joy at His own absence is explained.”
Unto him ( πρὸς αὐτόν)
Mosttouching. To him, as though he were yet living. Deathhas not broken the
personalrelation of the Lord with His friend.
The Fourfold Gospel
And I am glad for your sakesthat I was not there1, to the intent ye may
believe2;nevertheless let us go unto him.
And I am glad for your sakesthat I was not there. Had Jesus beenpresent
during the sickness ofLazarus, he would have felt constrainedto heal him,
and so would have lostthe opportunity of presenting to his disciples a more
striking proof of his divine power, a proof which has been the joy of each
succeeding age.

To the intent ye may believe. The disciples were soonto learn by sad
experience how little belief they really had (Mark 14:50; Mark 16:11 Luke
24:11,21,25).
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
15.And I rejoice, on your account, that I was not there. He means that his
absence was profitable to them, because his powerwould have been less
illustriously displayed, if he had instantly given assistance to Lazarus. For the
more nearly the works of God approachto the ordinary course of nature, the
less highly are they valued, and the less illustriously is their glory displayed.
This is what we experience daily; for if God immediately stretches out his
hand, we do not perceive his assistance.Thatthe resurrectionof Lazarus,
therefore, might be acknowledgedby the disciples to be truly a Divine work, it
must be delayed, that it might be very widely removed from a human remedy.
We ought to remember, however, what I formerly observed, that the fatherly
kindness of God towards us is here representedin the personof Christ. When
God permits us to be overwhelmedwith distresses, andto languish long under
them, let us know that, in this manner, he promotes our salvation. At such a
time, no doubt, we groan and are perplexed and sorrowful, but the Lord
rejoices onaccountof our benefit, and gives a twofold display of his kindness
to us in this respect, that he not only pardons our sins, but gladly finds means
of correcting them.
That you may believe. He does not mean that this was the first feeble
commencementof faith in them, but that it was a confirmation of faith
already begun, though it was still exceedinglysmall and weak. Yet he
indirectly suggests that, if the hand of God had not been openly displayed,
they would not have believed.

John Trapp Complete Commentary
15 And I am glad for your sakes thatI was not there, to the intent ye may
believe; nevertheless letus go unto him.
Ver. 15. I am glad for your sakes]If the confirmation and increase offaith in
his be so greata joy to Christ, how acceptable must it needs be unto him, that
we believe at first on his name! we cannot do him a greaterhonour, a more
pleasing service. None greaterin the father’s house than the prodigal
returned. And what a high price did our Saviour set on the centurion’s faith.
Sermon Bible Commentary
John 11:15
Five Paradoxes
In the single verse of our text we find no less than five paradoxes. They are
disclosedin the words, but interpreted in the deeds of Jesus Himself. If their
force and significance be carefully studied, they will help our understanding
of many a mystery in the providential dealings of God.
I. In the life of an intelligent believer gladness sometimes grows outof grief.
This is the lowestform of true Christian experience. It means no more nor less
than that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, will work out a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
II. One's advantage is sometimes hid under another's trials. Two inferences
may be suggestedhere. (1) When we are in deepestaffliction, it is quite
possible our sorrow is sent in some measure for another's advantage. (2)
When others are afflicted, it may possibly be they are suffering for our sakes.

III. Increase ofa Christian's sorrow sometimes alleviates it. Lazarus' illness
may be taken for a mere annoyance or a vexation; but Lazarus' positive
death, especiallyafterwe discoverthat the Lord knew all about it forty-eight
hours before, opens our eyes to see Divine wisdom has unflinching hold of the
reins. A greatsorrow, with a purpose in it, is easierto bear than a smaller one
which seems to have no aim now, and promises no benefit hereafter.
IV. In the true believer's experience doubt is sometimes employed to deepen
trust. Earthly perplexity is a heavenly discipline. The way to make a careless
Christian careful is to increase His cares. The way to render faith confident
and unbroken is to make large demands upon it by onsets of trying doubt.
V. Absolute hopelessness andhelplessness are the conditions of hope and help.
In all our bewildering experiences, while sorrow keeps increasing, Jesus
intentionally keeps away, so that our entire reserve of human reliances is used
up. When the case becomesutterly desperate, we may be sure He has started
for Bethany, and will soonbe here for our relief.
C. S. Robinson, Sermons on NeglectedTexts, p. 90.
References:John 11:15.—T. M. Herbert, Sketches ofSermons, p. 220. John
11:16.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iii., p. 295;J. Foster, Christian World
Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 24;W. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 206. John11:21.—
Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 140;W. Simpson, Christian World Pulpit,
vol. xiii., p. 312;J. E. C., Welldon, Ibid., vol. xxvi., p. 280.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
John 11:15. And I am glad for your sakes, &c.— "Iam gladfor your sakes,
that I was not in Judea before he died; for had I been there and recovered
him, your faith in me as the Messiahmust have wanted that great
confirmation, which it will receive by your beholding me raising him again
from the dead. Nevertheless,—(rathertherefore, αλλα, see Acts 10:20;Acts
26:16.)to confirm your faith, and to manifest the greatdesigns of my Father

and myself, let us go unto him." Thus Jesus, who could have raisedup
Lazarus without opening his lips, or rising from his seat, leaves the place of
his retirement beyond Jordan, and takes a journey into Judea, where the Jews
lately attempted to kill him. The reasonwas, his being presentin person, and
raising Lazarus to life again before so many witnesses, atBethany, where he
died, and was well known, would be a means, under divine grace, ofbringing
the men of that and future ages to believe in his doctrine, which is so well
fitted to prepare them for a resurrectionto life eternal,—anadmirable proof
and emblem of which, he gave them in this great miracle.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
15.]“Notice that Jesus rejoicesnot overthe sad event itself, but that He was
not there, which might prove salutary to the disciples’ faith.” Meyer. The ἵνα
πιστ. is not to be taken as the greatend of the miracle (expressedin John
11:4), but the end as regardedthem. Beware ofthe imaginary ecbatic ἵνα,
which does not exist.
ἀλλά breaks off: “indicat, satis argumentorum allatum esse.” Herm. ad Viger.
p. 811.
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
John 11:15. ὅτι οὐκ ἤμηνἐκεῖ, that I was not there) It is beautifully consonant
with Divine propriety, that no one is everread of as having died whilst the
Prince of life was present. If you suppose that death could not, in the presence
of Jesus, have assailedLazarus, the language of the two sisters, John11:21;
John 11:32, attains thereby a more sublime conception, “Lord, if Thou hadst
been here, my brother had not died:” and thereby also the joy of the Lord at
His own absence is illustrated.— πρὸς αὐτόν, unto him) to the place where he
lies dead.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible

Had I been upon the place, my kindness to his sisters, and pity, would have
prevailed far with me to have prevented his death; but it is better, for your
sakes atleast, and I am glad. I was not there. For by this means I shalt have
an advantage, by putting forth my Divine power in raising him from the dead,
to confirm your faith in me as the Son of God, and the true Messias;therefore,
though he be dead,
let us go unto him.
Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
15. χαίρω. Christ rejoices, notat His friend’s death, but at His own absence
from the scene, forthe disciples’sake. HadHe been there, Lazarus would not
have died, and the disciples would have lostthis greatsign of His Messiahship.
ἴνα πιστεύσητε. S. John’s favourite construction, indicating the Divine
purpose: see on John 9:2-3. Would any forger have written this? Would it not
seemutterly improbable that at the close of His ministry Christ should still be
working in order that Apostles might believe? Yet S. John, who heard the
words, records them, and he knew from sad experience (Mark 14:50;Mark
16:11;Luke 24:11;Luke 24:21) that this work was not superfluous. Just
before the trial of faith which His Passionand Deathwould bring to them, His
disciples had need of all the help and strength that He could give. see on John
2:11.
ἀλλὰ ἄγωμεν. He breaks off suddenly. Πρὸς αὐτόνis significant; not to the
mourning sisters, but to the sleeping friend.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
15. I am glad—Jesus, here, seems to rejoice atthe opportunity for the miracle.
But was not miracle always in his power? Doubtless in his power always;but
not always accordantlywith the divine will. He who moved by the Father’s
will, and timed his steps by the divine clock, (see notes on John 11:7; John

11:9-10,)rejoicedwhen the hour struck for some greatwork confirmatory of
his mission.
Ye may believe—Johnuses the word believe for the various degrees and
stages offaith. See note on John 2:11. This greatwork would stand in memory
and on record, one of the pillars for faith to repose upon.
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
Christ says, that you may believe, we must not suppose he means, that they
might begin than for the first time to believe, but that their faith, already
begun, might be increased;for the faith of the disciples still stoodin need of
miracles, to make it grow more strong and rooted. (St. Augustine, as above.)
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
And I am glad for your sakesthat I was not there, to the intent ye may
believe; nevertheless letus go unto And I am glad for your sakesthat I was
not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless letus go unto him.
And I am glad for your sakesthat I was not there. This, as is finely remarked
by Luthardt, certainly implies that if He had been present, Lazarus would not
have died; not because He could not have resistedthe importunities of the
sisters, but because, in presence ofthe personalLife, death could not have
reachedHis friend. And Bengelagainmakes this exquisite remark, that it is
beautifully congruous to the divine decorum that in presence ofthe Prince of
Life no one is ever said to have died.
To the intent ye may believe. This is added to explain His "gladness"atnot
having been present. His friend's death, as such, could not have been to Him
"joyous;" the sequel shows it was "grievous;" but "forthem it was safe"
(Philippians 3:1).
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) And I am glad for your sakesthat I was not there.—The words are at
first sound startling, as following immediately upon the plain statement,
“Lazarus is dead.” The utterance is not of sorrow, but of joy; but the joy is
not at the fact of death, but at the fact that He was not there. Had He been
there, Lazarus would not have died (John 11:21; John 11:32), and his
recoverywould have added to the work of healing. There is the assured
consciousnessofpowerover death itself, which sees as presentall that is to
follow, and sees in the strengthening of their faith ground for joy.
To the intent ye may believe.—Theywere alreadydisciples, but this sign
would be to them the vehicle of a higher spiritual truth, and the growth of
their spiritual life would be such that it may be regardedas a new act of faith.
(Comp. Note on John 2:11.)
Nevertheless letus go unto him.—The thought of the final issue of the sleep
brings the whole future before the mind. But for this, His presence is needed
at Bethany, and He abruptly breaks off this conversationabout it, by what is
at once a resolution and a summons to go there.
PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
STEVEN COLE
Using Time Rightly (John 11:7-16)
RelatedMedia

June 22, 2014
In a conversationwith WoodyAllen, Groucho Marx said he was often asked
what he’d like people to be saying about him a hundred years from now. “I
know what I’d like them to say about me,” Woody replied. “I’d like them to
say, ‘He looks goodfor his age.’” (Reader’s Digest, exactissue unknown)
We chuckle, but we all know the reality: None of us (except perhaps a few
babies) have any chance of being here a hundred years from now. But our
main aim should not be to live a long life, but a life that counts in terms of
eternity.
For many people, life consists ofgetting up, going to work, coming home,
eating dinner, spending a couple of hours watching TV or being on the
computer, going to bed, and repeating that cycle for 40 years or so. Their goal
is to save up enoughmoney to buy an RV so that they can travel around
taking videos of the NationalParks before they die. But to live like that is to
waste your life. As believers, we have a higher purpose. Jesus said (Matt. 6:33)
that we are to seek first His kingdom and righteousness. WhetherGod grants
us a relatively long life or a short one, our focus should be on using the time,
abilities, and resources that God entrusts to us to seek His kingdom.
When you think about the life of Jesus, it’s amazing that in three short years
He chose, trained, and equipped the disciples to carry on what He began. To
do that, He had to use His time rightly. Our text gives us a glimpse of how He
used His time rightly and taught His disciples to do the same.
Jesus was ministering on the far side of the Jordan River to avoid the Jewish
leaders in Jerusalem, who were seeking to kill Him (10:39-40), whenword
came that His friend Lazarus in Bethany, near Jerusalem, was sick. Johnsays
that because JesuslovedLazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary, He stayed
two days longerin the place where He was (11:5-6). Jesus knew that the
highest goodfor them was not just for Lazarus to be healed, but for them to
get a biggervision of God’s and His own glory so that their faith would grow.

But then, after the two days, He said to His disciples (11:7), “Let us go to
Judea again.” By saying “Judea” ratherthan “Bethany” or “to Lazarus,”
Jesus triggereda shockedresponse from the disciples (11:8), “Rabbi, the Jews
were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” Note
that Jesus said, “Let us go” and the disciples replied, “Are You going there
again?” Theirreply reminds me of the joke about the Lone Rangerand
Tonto, his Indian sidekick. The Lone Rangersaid, “Tonto, we’re surrounded
by hostile Indians. What are we going to do?” Tonto replied, “What do you
mean ‘we,’ White Man?”
Well, with Thomas’glum resignation(11:16), they all go back to Judea with
Jesus, but they probably thought that it was a suicide mission. But Jesus’
reply shows how, in spite of the threats againstHis life, He used His time
rightly to further God’s purpose. Applied to us, the principle is:
We use time rightly when we make wise decisions in light of eternity, fully
surrendered to doing God’s will.
Considerthree main factors:
1. God has given eachof us a certain amount of time to be used in light of
eternity.
To the disciples’incredulous question Jesus replied(11:9-10): “Are there not
twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble,
because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he
stumbles, because the light is not in him.” There were no clocks back then, but
they divided the day into twelve equal “hours” from sunrise to sunset, no
matter what time of year it was. I’ll saymore about what Jesus meant by this
as we go, but for now note that one point of having twelve hours in a day is
that we all have only so much time allotted to us to do what we’re supposed to
do for God. We should take advantage of the time we have, because night is
coming, when we cannot work for God (9:4). There are four things to note
here:
A. From God’s perspective, we cannotlive longeror shorterthan the time
that He has ordained for us.

The disciples were concernedthat returning to Judea would not only get Jesus
killed, but they’d probably die with Him. But Jesus is saying, “A day’s time is
fixed. Nothing you do can lengthen it or shorten it.” He was constantlyaware
of the hour that the Father had fixed for Him (12:27). As we’ve seen
repeatedly, until that hour came, no one could lay a hand on Him. Or, as
David said (Ps. 139:16), all our days were written in God’s book before we
were born. We won’t live a day longer or shorter than He has ordained. While
that’s a greatcomfort, there is another side of it to consider:
B. From our perspective, we need to be prudent and sensible.
J. Vernon McGee once toldof a man who had been studying the doctrine of
predestination and he had become so convincedof God’s sovereignprotection
of the believer under any and every circumstance that he said to Dr. McGee,
“You know, sir, I’m so convinced that God is keeping me no matter what I do
that I think I could step out right into the midst of the busiest traffic and if my
time had not come, I would be perfectly safe.” In his folksymanner, Dr.
McGee replied, “Brother, if you step out into the midst of busy traffic, your
time has come!”
In other words, as believers we’re invincible until it’s our time to die, but at
the same time we shouldn’t take foolishchances with our lives and expect God
to protect us. Jesus had left Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him
and He did so wisely in the will of God. But now He knew that God wanted
Him to return to Judea, where shortly after raising Lazarus from the dead,
His hour would come to go to the cross. We see the same thing with the apostle
Paul. There were times in his life when he wisely escapedfrom dangerous
situations. But at other times, he risked his life to take the gospelinto
dangerous places. So we need the balance betweentrusting God to keepus all
the days that He has ordained for us and yet at the same time, being prudent
and sensible.
C. The time that God gives us is sufficient to accomplishwhat He wants us to
do for Him.
Although Jesus was sometimes so busy that He didn’t have time to eat (Mark
3:20), He never seemedrushed or stressedout. Sometimes He left the needy

crowds to getalone for prayer (Mark 1:35-37), but He always had time to do
the Father’s work. As I said, it’s remarkable that at the end of three short
years He could pray (John 17:4), “I glorified You on the earth, having
accomplishedthe work which You have given Me to do.” When life gets hectic
it’s helpful to remember that God never gives us more to do than the time that
we have to do it.
D. To accomplishGod’s will, we must use our time wiselyin light of eternity.
As Jesus said(John 9:4), “Night is coming when no one can work.” Justas
there is a balance betweenGod’s sovereignprotectionand our being prudent
and sensible, there is also a balance betweenusing our time wisely in light of
eternity and knowing your limitations. I’ve known of people who are driven to
make every minute count for eternity. The famous missionary, C. T. Studd
(1860-1931)was so consumedwith reaching the lost that he left his wife, who
was suffering from a heart condition, in England while he went to Africa.
When he receivedword there that she had suffered further heart
complications, he refusedto return home. He worked18-hourdays, took no
time off, had no time for diversions, and expectedall his fellow workers to do
the same (see Ruth Tucker, FromJerusalemto Irian Jaya [Zondervan], pp.
265-266)!I think he was wayout of balance.
On the other hand, some Christians live with no thought of making their lives
count for eternity. Except for going to church on Sundays, they live just as the
world lives: to accumulate enoughmoney to retire and then to live their final
years for personal enjoyment. They don’t give any thought to how God may
want to use them in His purpose. They don’t commit to serve Him because
they don’t want to be tied down. They aren’t living wisely in light of eternity.
So, the first point that we can gleanfrom Jesus’resolve to return to Judea to
raise Lazarus is that we all have been given a certain amount of time to be
used in light of eternity. But how we use our time depends on the decisions
that we make. Thus,
2. To use our time rightly, we must make wise decisions.

How we spend our time depends in large part on our priorities and the
decisions that we make in light of our priorities. Jesus’priority was to glorify
God by accomplishing His work (4:34; 17:4). To considerhow Jesus usedHis
time, it’s helpful to note both how He did not make decisions and how He
made them. To limit ourselves to John 11, note the following:
A. How Jesus did not make decisions:
1) Jesus did not make decisions basedon the pressure of His friends or loved
ones.
We saw this in the accountof Jesus’first miracle, when His mother subtly
suggestedthat He do something about the lack of wine at the wedding, but He
replied (2:4), “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not
yet come.” Thatcomment was not impolite in that culture, as it sounds in
English, but Jesus was making it clearthat He would not actunless it was the
Father’s time for Him to act. We saw the same thing in 7:3-9, when Jesus’
brothers advised Him to go up to the FeastofTabernacles,but He refused to
act on their timetable.
So here, even though Jesus lovedMartha, Mary, and Lazarus, He didn’t drop
everything and rush to their side the moment He gotword that Lazarus was
sick. Rather, He actedin a way that would display the glory of Godand His
own glory so that the faith of His friends and the disciples would grow.
2) Jesus did not make decisions basedon the emotions of the moment.
No doubt in His humanity, Jesus was movedand concernedfor the grave
situation facing His goodfriends. But He didn’t act on the basis of His
emotions, but rather, as I said, on what would glorify God and accomplishHis
purpose in the lives of others. Usually, it’s not wise to make decisions basedon
the emotions that flood in when a crisis hits. It’s best to pause, pray, and think
through the situation in light of Scripture before you act.
3) Jesus did not make decisions basedon the threats of His enemies.
Jesus knew that His enemies were plotting to kill Him, but that didn’t deter
Him from doing the will of God. While, as I said, there is a place for caution

and prudence, it’s also true that it’s safer to be in the will of God in a place of
danger than to be outside His will in a place of seeming safety.
B. How Jesus did make decisions:
1) Jesus made decisions basedon what would glorify God.
We saw this in 11:4, where Jesus said: “This sicknessis not to end in death,
but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” (Note
that Jesus put Himself on the same level as God and His glory, which is a clear
claim to deity.) Of course, Jesus raisedLazarus to relieve Martha’s and
Mary’s sorrow and grief. I don’t know whether or not Lazarus was excited
about leaving heaven to come back to earth with all of its sorrows and
problems! But Jesus actedon the principle that God’s glory takes priority
even above our relief from trials. The highest goodfor everyone is to gain a
greatervision of God’s glory in Jesus Christ.
2) Jesus make decisions basedon walking in the light of God’s presence and
His purposes.
This is the point of Jesus’word picture of walking in the day rather than at
night (11:9-10). Jesus says (11:9) that the one who walks in the day “sees the
light of this world.” There is a double reference here. On one level, Jesus is
saying that those who walk during daylight hours do not stumble in the dark.
But on a deeper level, since Jesus is the Light of the world (8:12), those who
walk in the light of His presence and His purposes do not stumble. It’s always
wise to make decisions basedon whether you can do it with the assurance of
God being with you because you are seeking to do His will.
3) Jesus made decisions basedon helping others come to faith and/or grow in
faith.
This story is all about building eachperson’s faith in Jesus. The disciples
already believed in Jesus, but their faith neededto grow. So Jesus makes what
at first sounds like an outrageous statement(11:14-15), “Lazarus is dead, and
I am gladfor your sakes thatI was not there, so that you may believe.” Jesus
wasn’t glad that Lazarus was dead, but He was glad for this situation because
it would result in greaterfaith for the disciples.

Also, to the grieving Martha, Jesus states (11:25-26), “Iam 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. Do you believe this?” Jesus knew that
Martha already believed in Him, but He wanted her faith to grow so that she
believed in Him as the resurrectionand the life.
Also, when Jesus prays aloud at the tomb of Lazarus (11:42), He states plainly
that He did so in order that the people standing around the tomb would
believe that the Father had sent Him. Thus one of His main aims in waiting
before coming to raise Lazarus was to bring some to saving faith and to
strengthen the faith of those who alreadybelieved in Him. That should be a
factorin our decisions about how to use our time: will it increase our faith and
the faith of other believers? And, will it help bring others who do not yet
believe to saving faith?
So, to use your time rightly, recognize that God has given you a certain
amount of time to be used in light of eternity. To use your time rightly, you
have to make wise decisions, as Jesus did. Finally,
3. To use time rightly, surrender it completelyto doing the will of God.
Again, Jesus is our example here:
A. Jesus’aim was to do the Father’s will and to accomplishHis work.
We saw this when Jesus was talking with the womanof Samaria and the
disciples were trying to getHim to eat the lunch that they had brought from
the village. He replied (4:34), “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me
and to accomplishHis work.” In other words, He was saying, “Doing God’s
will and accomplishing His work is better to Me than eating!”
To do the Father’s will and accomplishHis work, we must be fully
surrendered and committed to that goal. You must give God a blank check
with your life. As Paul wrote (Rom. 12:1-2),
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to presentyour bodies
a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of
worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the

renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that
which is goodand acceptable and perfect.
You’ll only know God’s will when you’re fully surrendered to Him and
committed to do it, no matter what the cost. Thomas here was committed,
although not excelling yet in faith. He glumly says (11:16), “Let us also go, so
that we may die with Him.” The other disciples went along, too. Although they
all fled in fear when Jesus was arrested(Matt. 26:56), their defectionwas
temporary. All of them later went on to be bold witnesses forChrist and most
suffered martyr’s deaths.
B. God’s will and His work always have an eternalfocus.
Jesus was concernedaboutrelieving Martha’s and Mary’s suffering in the
loss of their brother, but He was more concernedthat they and the disciples
grow in their faith and that the unbelievers who witnessedthe miracle of
raising Lazarus come to faith (11:42).
Note that Jesus uses the common biblical metaphor of sleepwhen He refers to
Lazarus’ death (11:11):“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep;but I go, so
that I may awakenhim out of sleep.” The disciples misunderstood, probably
because they really didn’t want to go back to Judea where their lives would be
endangered, so they said (11:12), “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will
recover.” Sleepis goodfor those who are sick!But Jesus was speaking of
Lazarus’ death, which He goes onto plainly state (11:13-14).
The “sleep” ofdeath refers to the body, not to the soul. The Bible is clearthat
at death, the soul goes immediately to be with the Lord in “paradise” (Luke
23:43;2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:21-23), but the body “sleeps” in the grave until the
day when Christ returns. At that point, the dead in Christ will rise (1 Thess.
4:16) and receive perfecteternal bodies suited for the new heavens and earth
(1 Cor. 15:35-54). The wickedwill also be raisedfor judgment and castinto
the lake of fire forever (Rev. 20:5-15). Because life is short and eternity is
forever, doing God’s will and God’s work must always keepthe eternal in
focus. We should help people with their earthly problems, but the main thing
is to help them believe in Jesus so that they go to heaven.

C. Doing God’s will always requires walking in holiness and walking by faith.
1) Doing God’s will always requires walking in holiness.
This is implied by the metaphor of walking in the day or light. God’s will is
our sanctification, orgrowth in holiness (1 Thess. 4:1-8). In typical fashion,
John doesn’t offer a mediating position, where you can walk in the twilight.
Either you walk in the light with Jesus or you walk in the darkness and
stumble, because youhave no light. John wrote (1 John 1:6-7), “If we say that
we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Soncleanses us
from all sin.” (See, also, Eph. 5:3-10.)Doing God’s will requires walking in the
light.
2) Doing God’s will always requires walking by faith.
As I’ve said, Jesus’ aim here was to increase the faith of the disciples and of
Martha and Mary. Faith often requires taking risks in obedience to Godto
further His kingdom. It’s not always easyto know when it’s wise to flee
danger and when faith would stay and face danger, since godly men (including
Jesus)did both at different times. Jim Elliot and his four companion
missionaries believedthat God wanted them to risk their lives making contact
with the fierce Auca tribe, and it costthem their lives. But God used it to open
up that tribe to the gospel. J. C. Ryle observes (ExpositoryThoughts on the
Gospels [Baker], p. 42), “To make us believe more is the end of all Christ’s
dealings with us.”
Conclusion
Probably this messageapplies to eachof you in different ways. Some may
need to surrender your life to Jesus. Thatis the starting point of using your
time rightly so that you don’t waste your life. Others may need to sort through
your priorities. What does it mean for you to seek first God’s kingdom and
righteousness?Jotdown a few goals that will help move you in that direction.
Don’t waste your life. Make it count for eternity.
Application Questions

What one or two things do you most need to incorporate into your schedule so
that you are aiming to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness?
How can you decide when to play it safe and when to take risks for God’s
kingdom? What factors should you consider?
How can you know the proper balance betweennecessary“downtime” and
using your time for eternalpurposes?
Prayerfully think through and write down a purpose statement for your life
and a few spiritual goals in light of that statement.
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2014,All Rights Reserved.
JOHN MACARTHUR
Turn to John 11, John 11. When we go through books as we do, we sort of
take what comes, wonderfully so, joyfully so. That means that passages have
different characteras we go, depending on the passage. We’ve beenthrough a
lot in the gospelof John that’s theological, and we’ve been dealing with some
profound theologicaltruth. In fact, really, that is the essenceofthe gospelof
John. It is of the four gospels, the most theological. Profoundtruth that we
have lookedat, propositionaltruth, absolute truth has been disclosedthrough
John’s history of our Lord Jesus Christ, but as we come to chapter 11, we
come to a narrative. Really, an accountof a miracle, and it takes up the whole
chapter, and it’s a long chapter. We’re going to have to break it into four
sections, whichmeans I can’t tell the whole story. I wouldn’t do that to this
story. I wouldn’t do that to this text. I wouldn’t do that to you. We need to
take this slowlyso that we canabsorb all of its incredible truth.
It was J.C. Ryle, the English cleric, who lookedatthis chapter and wrote these
words, “Forgrandeur and simplicity, for pathos and solemnity, nothing was
ever written like it.” It’s a pretty amazing statement from a man such as he
was. This is an amazing chapter. It is the accountof the miracle of our Lord
raising Lazarus from the dead. And while the story, of course, in short is very

familiar to us, in its detail, it is much more rich. So we want to make sure that
we cover the detail. This is the climactic, culminating, fitting signto end
John’s list of signs in this gospelthat point to the deity of Christ.
Johns purpose, we all know that, is to present Jesus Christ so that you might
believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might
have life in His name. He has an apologetic purpose that you might believe
Jesus is the Christ, and he has an evangelistic purpose that in believing you
might receive eternal life, but it’s all about Christ. It’s all about Christ. Here,
in chapter 11, we come to the lastand most monumental public miracle that
Jesus did. It’s the climactic one for John. There is one later miracle, but it’s
in the dark and very private because ofhow it happened. It’s in the garden
and it was Jesus reaching overand giving Malchus a new ear after Peterhad
hackedit off. But apart from that miracle in the dark, this is the last great
public miracle that Jesus did.
Nowhere in no other accountof His miraculous work do we see more
magnificently the coming togetherof His humanity and His deity. We see
Him in His full majesty, in His full person. We see His humanity and His
sympathy and His affections and His relationships to an earthly family. We
see His sovereigntyin His powerand His display of glory in overwhelming
death. This miracle, as important as it was, and being the culminating
miracle in His public ministry, it is important, but this miracle occurs only in
John. The other gospelwriters don’t give us an accountof this.
But John writes that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with very careful
detail, and I think a unique beauty of expression. This accountis provided for
us for a number of reasons. Firstofall, as I said, to declare one more final
supreme, incomparable, undeniable proof of the claims of Jesus, affirmed by
many, many eye witnessesthat He is who He claimed to be. This is the
resurrectionof a man who had been dead for four days. Decaywould have set
in because Jews do not embalm, not like Egyptians who did everything they
could to preserve the corpse. Whensomeone died, they were in the grave as
fast as possible because decaysetin immediately.

The purpose of this miracle is, again, to put on display the powerand
sovereign, divine nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it’s not just that. It’s
that for the sake ofincreasing the faith of those who were eagerto believe. If
you look at verse 15 in this passage,Jesussays aboutnot being there when he
died, “I’m glad for your sakes,I was not there so that you may believe.” This
miracle not only is an undeniable permanent evidence of the deity of Christ.
It was for the purpose of producing greaterfaith in the disciples.
But there’s also a third purpose of this miracle and that is to give the impetus
to the skeptics to press the issue of Jesus’s murder because God’s timing is
very near. This happens just before His final Passover. He is to die by God’s
plan on the Passoveras the true PassoverLamb.
And while the Jews, the religious establishment and those who followedHim
had tried on a number of occasions to kill Him, even spontaneouslyas well as
plotting His death, they had never been able to succeedat that because it was
never His hour. It was never His time. It was never in God’s purpose, but
now with this undeniable miracle, many, many eye witnessesin the hundreds
and thousands who knew of this miracle, the unbelief, the rigid, fixed,
permanent, irreconcilable unbelief of the Jews reachesa hostile level that
leads to His execution, that within God’s plan.
So this one greatmiracle precipitates His death and provides proof for His
deity. It is a monumental thing. And by the way, I need to say this as an
aside, we live in a culture that is overwhelmedwith pseudo-supernaturalism.
We live in a culture that is engulfed in phony stories about the supernatural,
fake miracles, fake healings, fake resurrections. Theyare basically
propagatedas if they were realities all the time within the framework of “the
church.” And all of that nonsense tends to diminish the reality of this kind of
real miracle.
Then you can add this. We live in a culture that is relentless barragedwith
entertainment that elevates,escalates,and saturates with fantasy, unreal
things. Unreal things are normalized in our culture, and I’m sure there are
many people who don’t know the difference betweenfantasy and reality. The
line gets rubbed out. Movies and televisionare just jam packedwith the

unreal offeredas if it’s reality, the fantasy world. And in a culture that is
engulfed in those kinds of pseudo-supernatural realities, it’s hard for people
to see the resurrectionof a man 4 days dead who walks out of his grave in a
small village in Judea 2,000 years ago as anything that matters.
There were no specialeffects. How do you compare that with Harry Potter,
flying witches, angels, vampires, transformers, aliens who constantly defy
natural law, time travelers, people who morph into some other entity,
displaying supernatural powers? So what’s the big deal about a resurrection
in a village in Israel2,000 years ago? Again, this is Satan’s successfuleffortat
confusing people about the miraculous and confusing them about reality, and
Satanis very adept at this. By the way, as a footnote, Jesus toldstories. He
made up stories. They’re calledparables. He invented them. Not one parable
Jesus evercreatedis a fantasy. It has no components of fantasy.
All His stories are in the real world, real people, real things, real issues, real
relationships. He never used fantasy to articular a spiritual truth, never.
You’re not going to find things like J.R.R. TolkienandC.S. Lewis in
Scripture. You’re not going to find them in the teaching of Jesus. Jesus never
moved into the world of fantasy, but the closestHe came as His depiction of
the realworld when He talked about the rich man in torment and Lazarus in
the presence ofGod. But Jesus didn’t use fantasy. He used reality to
communicate reality.
So I know it’s an uphill struggle to make this as meaningful as it should be.
New Testamentmiracles somehow seemlike insignificant competition to the
bizarre world of specialeffects. Still, this is a miracle that is, frankly,
undeniable, and it does expose skepticism. Do you remember in the Luke 16
story of the rich man who went to hell and Lazarus who was in Abraham’s
bosom? And the rich man said to Abraham, “SendLazarus back from the
dead to warn my brothers,” and Jesus saidin the story, “If they don’t believe
Moses andthe prophets, they won’t believe though one rose from the dead.”
And this is evidence of that. This massive miracle that everybody knew about,
the raising of a man four days dead, who walkedout of his grave, had no
other explanation than that it was just exactlywhat it declaredto be. But,
again, this exposes skepticismand unbelief for what it is.

So, as we come to chapter 11, this story will unfold for us. And I feel a little
bit badly today because we’re just going to kind of setthe scene, but you’re
going to be rewardedgreatly through the rest of the process. The light has
been shining in the darkness. The darkness hatedit, but couldn’t put it out,
referring to Christ. The deep sin guilt of man has been demonstrated. The
public ministry is over. With all the evidence provided over the three-year
ministry of Jesus, the nation has rejectedHim. The leadership has rejected
Him, but he gives one great monumental final testimony to His nature.
And what’s the purpose of this miracle? The purpose of this miracle is in
verse 4, “Forthe glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”
This is to put His glory on display so that people might believe and some did,
and some who already believed had their faith strengthened. Now, a little
context; this is the seventh miracle John records in his gospel. The other six:
turning waterto wine, healing the nobleman’s son, restoring the impotent
man, multiplying loaves and fish, walking on the lake, and giving sight to the
blind man, and now number seven, giving life to a dead man. Is this is the
first time Jesus raisedsomeone from the dead? No, it is not. We have two
others that are explicitly indicated in the New Testamentgospels.
In the gospelof Mark, Jesus raisedJairus’daughter, who when He started the
encounter with Jairus was only sick, but she did die, and He raised her
immediately. And then there is the accountin Luke’s gospelof the funeral
processionofthe son of the widow of Nain. And while the funeral procession
is headed to the place of internment, Jesus stops the processionand raises that
dead son. But in both cases, they are recent deaths. We could assume that
they had been very little time for decay, but in the case of Lazarus, by the time
Jesus comes to the grave to find Lazarus there, verse 17 says he’s already been
dead for four days.
I don’t think I need to be graphic to describe what a four-day old lifeless
corpse would look like. This sets the miracle of the raising of Lazarus apart
from all the other resurrections because ofthe very evidence decay. And
there was a kind of tradition among the Jews thatthe spirit of a person
hovered over the body for a first couple of days, and then vacated. So even in
their tradition, if that’s a legitimate tradition, there would have been the sense

that this a realdeath, and that whateverspirit may have hovered was long
gone.
Now, as we open the chapter, let me read you the beginning of the account.
“A certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, in the village of Mary and her
sister, Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and
wiped His feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters
sent word to Him saying, ‘Lord, behold he whom you love is sick,’but when
Jesus heard this, He said, ‘This sickness is not to end in death, but for the
glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.’ Now, Jesus loved
Martha and her sisterand Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He
then stayedtwo days longer in the place where He was. Thenafter this, He
said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ The disciples said to Him,
‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there
again?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone
walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble because he sees the light of the world.
But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.’
This He said, and after that, He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen
asleep, but I go so that I may awakenhim out of sleep.’ The disciples then
said to Him, ‘Lord, if he’s fallen asleep, he will recover.’ Now, Jesus had
spokenof his death, but they thought that He was speaking ofliteral sleep. So
Jesus then said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and I’m glad for your sakes,
that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him.’”
Now, as you look at this story and its initial section, we’re just going to look at
the characters inthe story, which means the man Lazarus, the sisters, andthe
disciples. But, of course, as we look at those characters, the dominant
characterin the whole story is obviously going to be Christ, but let’s meet this
man. Back to verse one. “A certain man.” That’s about all we know, folks, a
certain man. We don’t know anything about him. This is the only time he’s
mentioned. We have no idea about his past. We canassume that he was a
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus lovedhim. We canassume
that he was a believer in Jesus Christ because his sisters confirmed that down
in verse 27. “Lord,” says Martha, “I have believed that you are the Christ,
the Sonof God, even He who comes into the world.” And Mary responds the
same way, “The Teacheris here and is calling for you.”

So this is a family that had come to believe in Christ. That’s all we know
about them. His name, Lazarus, not to be confusedwith the Lazarus in the
beggarstory, but an interesting parallel, isn’t it? That it was an issue of
resurrectionthat was brought up in that story about that other Lazarus. That
was a fictional Lazarus in the story that Jesus invented. But why two named
Lazarus? It was a very common name, a very common name from the Old
Testamentname, Eleazar, Eleazar, a very familiar Old TestamentHebrew
name. It means, whom God helps, whom Godhelps.
So here is a man, a Jewishman, given a wonderful familiar, common name.
We know nothing about him exceptthat he had two sisters who were
believers, and we assume he was a believer by what we read in this account.
They lived in the village of Bethany. That’s another interesting note because
at the time that Jesus gets this message,He’s in another Bethany. The tenth
chapter ends in verse 40. “He went awayagainbeyond the Jordan to the
place where John was first baptizing and was staying there.” That place,
according to 1:28 of John was also calledBethany. So there was a Bethany
beyond Jordan a day awayfrom the Bethany of Lazarus and his two sisters.
Bethany is a small village. It means, house of the poor, house of poverty.
That would be characteristic ofthat village. Perhaps that’s characteristic of
the other village where Jesus was currently ministering. And by the way,
many were coming and believing in Him. That’s how chapter 10 ends. Once
He got out of Jerusalem, and out beyond the Jordan back where John started
to minister, He began to reap the harvestof what John had planted in
proclaiming Him. And the people out there said everything John said about
Him is true, and they came to believe. That’s how chapter 10 ends.
So they’re having a wonderful ministry there in that other Bethany, but here
comes a messengerto Him with word about this man, Lazarus. It also tells us
that Bethany was the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. Now, that’s fine.
Those are also very common names, especiallyMary. Mary is an extremely
common name. When we getto the story of the cross, there are going to be
Mary’s everywhere. It was a very popular name because it was a variation on
the name Miriam. Miriam was the sisterof Moses. Miriamwas the deliverer
of the deliverers. She was the saviorof the savior. She is the one who saved

the life of Israel’s greatesthero, Moses. So many parents named their
children, their daughters, Miriam.
But this Mary, verse 2, is further identified for us. This is the Mary, who
anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. It’s that Mary, that Mary from Bethany. Bethany,
two miles from the easternwallof Jerusalem, down the back slope of the
easternwall, across the Kidron brook, up the Mount of Olives around the
bend and you’re in this little village of Bethany.
I can remember many years ago when Patricia and I were there and a
number of times visiting there myself, but Patricia and I were there. I would
say when we were there to find the traditional site of the grave of Lazarus and
to go down the deep stairs into what is traditional said to be the place where
he was entombed. I remember it was an Arab village at the time. There were
Arabic womenliving there, Palestinianwomen living there, and we had the
very bizarre occasion– Patricia will remember this – of having a lady offering
us the opportunity to purchase her baby.
Now, I don’t know whether that was something she used as a device, but we
were not interestedin buying her baby. But that village, to this very day, is in
Arabic named after Lazarus. So that’s the little village, and it is as
nondescript, the last time I was there perhaps as it was even in ancient times.
This is the Mary who lived there with her brother. Now, notice verse 2. “It
was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her
hair.”
Oh, that Mary. But wait a minute, that story doesn’t come until chapter12.
What’s going on here? Thatstory doesn’tcome until chapter12. But listen,
that’s okaybecause that story had already been told in detail in Matthew and
already told in detail in Mark and Matthew and Mark had been circulating
for a very long time by the year 90 in the first century when John writes this
gospel. And so even though he hasn’t yet given his accountof it, he knows
they know that that Mary is the one he’s talking about.
And so he literally builds his comment on the knowledge ofMatthew and
Mark, gospels writtenvery much earlier. So, it is this Lazarus, the brother of

this Mary and this Martha in this place calledBethany. Now, allwe know
about him is he was sick. Thatis the only thing we know about him. No
diagnosis. We don’t know what his illness was. We know why he was sick,
which is pretty important. We don’t know what he was sick with, but we
know why he was sick. You say, why was he sick? Verse 4, “This sicknessis
not to end in death, but for the glory of God.” He is sick for the glory of God.
Well, that’s not new to us. Who else had an infirmity for the glory of God?
Chapter 9, the man born blind, and what did the leaders say? “Who sinned?
This man or his parents?” Jesussaid, “Nobodysinned, but this is for the
glory of God.” I’m going to put my divine glory on display.
Mark that out folks. There is sicknessthat is just natural sickness. It’s just
natural sickness. Itjust comes because we live in a fallen world. It’s
inevitable. There is sickness thatis a discipline from God on His own people.
“Some of you,” Paul says, “are weak andsick, and some of you sleepbecause
of tampering with the sanctity of the Lord’s Table.” Carefulhow you deal
with the Lord’s Table. And there is sicknessthat is a divine judgment. God
actually smites a man in Acts 12, and he’s eatenwith worms, but there is
sicknessthat is for the glory of God.
I was at the hospital yesterday and stoodover the bed of a man in serious
condition with heart issues, and I prayed that his sickness wouldbe for the
glory of God, and that God would graciouslyraise him up and give him
strength and bring him back if it would glorify God. I don’t know what God’s
purpose is in his sickness, but Jesus tells us what the purpose was in this
man’s sickness,to put His glory on display.
So we meet Lazarus. We can callhim the criticalman. Yeah, he’s in critical
condition. His case is critical to the declarationof the deity of Christ and then
we meet the concernedsisters. So the sisters in verse 3, Mary and Martha,
sent word to Him. So this is going to take a day, a day to getfrom Bethany
one to Bethany two. The messageis very cryptic, very short. “Lord,” they
acknowledge He is Lord. “Behold,” which means, this is urgent; this is
sudden; this demands immediate response. “He whomyou love is sick.”
That’s the whole message. “He whom you love is sick.”

Since Jesus had left back in verse 40 of chapter 10 some weeks earlier, this
man had become sick. His sickness has reacheda critical point, and they send
this messengerto say, “He whom you love is sick.” Theyneedto saynothing
more. They don’t give Jesus any instructions. They don’t demand a healing.
They don’t say they have faith to believe. They just give Him the information.
“He whom you love is sick.” And their appeal, listen, is not based on
Lazarus’s love for Jesus. Theydon’t use Lazarus’s love for Jesus as if it’s
some kind of mechanism that activates Jesus.
They talk only of Jesus’s love for Lazarus. They think that will catch His
heart, and here’s a very important insight: “He whom you love.” The word
love here is not agapaō, not divine love. This is phileō, the love of a friend,
personalaffection, human love. Jesus lovedthis man as a friend. He had
personalaffectionfor him. It’s obvious that as God, He loves the world, that
as God He loves His own who are in the world, and He loves them to
perfection. He will tell them that in the upper room, but that’s not the
thought here. Thatthought comes later. The thought here is this is a man for
whom Jesus had deep affection. This is a man who filled a need in his own life
for a friend.
I know we talk about the humanity of Jesus and we have to, and He’s fully
human. But almostall the time you hear someone talk about the humanity of
Jesus they say, “Well, He lived and He hungered, and He thirsted, and He
slept, and He was weary, and He died.” And all of those are human things,
but what makes humans unique is relationships, and this is explains why when
He gets to the grave, He cries. He cries at the thought that His friend is dead.
This is a beautiful insight into the full humanity of Jesus. He is a man and like
every person, He requires a friend, somebody who cares aboutHim. A
perfect man with all the needs of a man.
You see, this is part of what makes Him such a merciful, faithful High Priest
able to be touched with all the feelings of our infirmities because some ofour
infirmities have nothing to do with physical well-being. Theyhad to do with
relationships, right? Right? I mean isn’t the worstof it all? Isn’t that where
the most pain comes from? You could probably take the cancerif all the
relationships were what they should be, but His sympathy extends to

understanding relationships. He’s been there. His friend that He had great
affectionfor was sick, seriouslysick.
So the sisters sendthat message,and they know that’s all that has to be said.
The messengerarrives after a day. It’s a day’s journey. And when Jesus
hears from him, verse 4, He said, “This sicknessis not to end in death.” It’s
not going to end in death. There will be death. There already is death
because by the time the messengergets there, Lazarus is dead. He may have
died as soonas the messengerleft. They may have realized the critical
condition of Lazarus and dispatched the messenger, and he died right after
that.
But it’s not going to end that way. That’s not the end of the story. “But for
the glory of God so that the Sonof Godmay be glorified by it.” This sickness
is not unto death. It is a sicknessto the glory of God. Verse 5 adds another
component. “Now, Jesus lovedMartha and her sisterand Lazarus.” This
time the word changes. This is agapaō. This is divine love. He loved this man
Lazarus, about which we don’t know anything. He loved an obscure man like
a man loves a friends. But he also loved this whole family with a divine love
because they belongedto Him spiritually, like He loves His ownwho are in the
world even to the maximum. So much love. He loves with a divine love and
He loves with a human love.
So when He heard that he was sick, you expectto read, “He went as fast as He
could.” It doesn’t saythat. He stayed two days longer in the place where He
was. He’s been dead a day while the messengerhas gottenthere. He waits
two more days, and then after two days, and the disciples are probably
processing this because they’re aware of the meeting. Why is He waiting?
But they’re grateful. They think this is good. This is really good. He’s not
going back. He’s gotenough common sense to know you can’t go back
because we just escapeda stoning. Chapter10, verse 31 and the end of
chapter 10, they tried to grab Him againto kill Him. We just gotout of that
situation.
This is goodand so for two days they keeppreaching and ministering, and
people are believing and they’re having a greattime. And then after two

days, He says to His disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.” Theirworst fears.
The disciples said to Him in verse 8, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now recently
seeking to stone you and are you going there again?” Are you thinking this
through? I mean the sisters wishedHe had been there and never left. Verse
21, Martha says to Him when He gets there, “If you had been here, my
brother would not have died.” And later on, Mary says in verse 32 the same
thing, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” But He
couldn’t be there because He had to run for His life.
But now it’s time to go back, and of course they see it as highly dangerous. So
they remind Him that He just escapeda stoning and it makes no sense to go
there again; to which He answers with a very interesting Proverb. Verses 9
and 10, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he
doesn’t stumble. That is, nothing bad happens to him because he is in the
light and he can see whathe is doing and where he is going. But if anyone
walks in the night, he stumbles. Bad things happen because the light is not in
him.” What is the point of that sortof strange introduction?
Well, at this point we are now moving from the man, the critical man and the
concernedsisters to the disciples. Now, they are puzzles. Why would you step
back into this and here’s His answer. It’s a proverb, and the proverb is
simple, very simple proverb. You can’t lengthen the daylight. You can’t
shorten the daylight, right? Nothing any friend cando canlengthen the
daylight. Nothing any enemy cando canshorten the daylight. It is what it is
and it is fixed by God, and so is my life. No enemy canshorten it. No friend
can lengthen it. It is what it is. And in that light of life which God has
ordained for me, I will not stumble. That is to say, nothing will happen to me
that is outside the plan. I’m not going in the dark. I’m going in the light of
God’s divine day. A day can’t finish before it’s ordained end.
The time allotted to me to accomplishmy earthly ministry is fixed. It’s fixed
by God. It can’t be lengthened by any precautionary measures. You don’t
have to go hide somewhere in a cave. You don’t have to avoid conflict. You
don’t have to run from your enemies because you can’t lengthen your life, and
you canbe bold and you can step right into the face of your enemies because
they can’t shorten it. I tell you, just from my ownpersonal standpoint, I live

in that confidence. I can’t do anything. Neither can anybody else to lengthen
my life. I’m not afraid that somebody, some enemy can do anything to
shorten my life. My day is what God has ordained it will be, and in that I go
forward with confidence and boldness.
Jesus knew that His hour was coming, but it hadn’t come yet, and many times
He’d said, “My hour hasn’t come. My hour hasn’t come.” And He escaped
all of the plots and all of the mob violence. This has greatapplication for us I
think to realize that if you’re walking in the Spirit and serving the Lord, you
have your day. Being a cowardand taking all kinds of precautionary steps
and not being faithful isn’t going to lengthen it; and being bold in the face of
enemies isn’t going to shorten it because it is what Godhas ordained it to be.
So this He said, verse 11, “And after that He said to them, ‘Our friend.’” Now
we know Lazarus knows everybody. He knows all the disciples. They’ve
probably stayed in his house many times because it was right on the road
from Jericho to Jerusalem, which is the way that everybody came from
Galilee to go to the Passoverand every other feast. It must have been like an
inn on the way, especiallyfor believers. “Our friend, Lazarus,” He says, “has
fallen asleep.” That’s a tender way to refer to his death, isn’t it? And it was
temporary. That’s why He used that symbol.
“‘But I go so that I may awakenhim out of sleep.’ So the disciples said to
Him, ‘Lord, if he’s fallen asleep, he will recover.’” They’re diagnosing the
situation saying, “Well, if he’s sleeping, that’s a goodthing, right? If he’s
sleeping, he’s going to gain strength. That’s what you want to do when you’re
sick is getlots of sleep. So he’s going to be fine. Let’s just stay here. He’s
sleeping. Don’t go. He’ll recover. He’s going to get better.”
“Jesus hadspokenof his death, verse 13, but they thought He was speaking of
literal sleep. So then Jesus saidto them plainly, ‘Lazarus is,’ read my lips,
‘dead.’” Dead. Wow, the messengersaidhe’s sick. The Lord said this
sicknessis not going to end in death. Now, the Lord declares he is dead, plain
and simple, and they need to understand that when He said I’m going to
awakenhim out of sleep, He means that I’m going to raise him from the dead.

Jesus didn’t know Jairus’ family. Jesus didn’t know the widow of Nain’s
family when He raised those two people. This is somebody He really loved,
and He is going to raise him from the dead for His glory and the glory of God.
So in verse 15 He says, “I’m glad he’s dead.” I’m glad he’s dead, on the
divine level. “Foryour sakes, I’m glad that I wasn’t there. Let us go to him.”
Let’s go, guys. The disciples were always struggling with faith, weren’t they?
“O ye of little faith, O ye of little faith, O ye of little faith. Why don’t you
believe?”
Yes, they believed in Him. Yes, they had affirmed that He was the Christ, the
Son of God, but they needed faith to be strengthened and strengthenedand
strengthened. I mean it wasn’t just that they would believe, but that Mary
and Martha would have their faith strengthened. And then down in verse 45,
many Jews who came to Mary and gotthe whole story of the resurrectionfirst
hand, and were eyewitnessesofthe living brother, believed in Him. This is a
glory display that’ll produce faith, and it’ll also produce hostility that drives
Him to the cross right on schedule.
Then in verse 16 we meet Thomas. He doesn’t say much, but he’s well-known
for being a pessimistand a doubter. “Therefore, Thomas, who is called
Didymus, means the Twin,” he obviously had a twin, “said to his fellow
disciples, ‘Let us also go so that we may die with Him.’” Hey, what a downer.
“Let us also go that we may die with Him.” He gets a lot of bad press for that,
but just think about this. This is a courageouspessimist. This is not a
cowardlypessimist. He didn’t say, “Let’s getout of here or we will all die
with Him.” He said, “Let’s go and die with Him.” This man has greatfaith,
and this man knows what Luke 9:23 means. “If you want to come after Me,
deny yourself. Take up your – “what? “ - cross.” It might costus our lives,
men. Let’s go.
And so they go, and when they arrive he’s been dead four days; the day the
messengercame, the two days, the day back, four days. Now the story gets
very fascinating, and that’s for next time, as you could well tell.
Lord, we’re grateful for such rich textured detail about real people, real
places, realissues oflife. The Bible is so historical, natural, and at the same

time supernatural. Such a wonderful thing to be in a position now to become
eye witnessestogetherofthis most monumental miracle. This miracle that is
John’s culminating evidence of Jesus’s deity, this miracle, which strengthens
the faith of those who already believed and becomes the motivation for the
faith of those who are about to believe. This miracle, which becomes the final
impetus to hard-hearted unbelievers to execute the Son of God, but only on
your schedule, your time, your place, your means.
Father, we look forward to all that is head of us, and at the same time, we’re
grateful for what we’ve seeneven at this juncture in the story; that you desire
to be glorified, that you call people to believe and be saved, to be delivered
from hell and death and judgment by putting trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Christians, may our faith be strengthened. Give us greaterfaith as we see
this unfolding glorious evidence of our Lord’s divine nature. May it be the
means that you use to bring people to saving faith; and, Lord, if necessary, let
it be a saver of death unto death to those who deny what is undeniable. But,
Lord, accomplishyour purpose to your glory because that’s the purpose for
which we have this record. Be glorified, every way. We pray in Christ’s
name, Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly
beyond all that we ask or think according to the powerthat works within us,
to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations
forever and ever. Amen.”
When Jesus Waits
Sermon by Billy Dempsey on Apr 14, 2013
John 11:1-15

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The Lord's Day Evening
April 14, 2013
“When Jesus Waits”
John 11:1-57
The ReverendMr. William E. Dempsey
Father, how we thank You for Your Word. It is rich, it is true, it is sweetness
to our souls. Now Father, let us lay aside everything else. We have nothing
better to do than sit at Your feetand hear from You and learn of You. We
would ask You, as we do so, make our hearts like Jesus’. And when we leave
here and go about the business of the week that You have prepared for us in
the days ahead, would it be knownthat we're among those who have been
with Jesus. Hearus, as we make our prayer in His name and for His sake.
Amen.
Let's give our attention to the reading of God's Word, the whole of John
chapter 11:

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