John 11:10-11, “10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
The Lord Jesus is with his disciples one day and someone comes to Jesus and tells Him that a good friend (Lazarus) was sick. Jesus goes to Bethany and while in route, Lazarus dies. This death so moved Jesus that He cried. God then manifested His ultimate power by restoring Lazarus to life. Through this awesome miracle, many people came to believe in Jesus.
God’s overall intent for humanity is to have life and to enjoy it. When considering the abundance of natural and spiritual gifts He has bestowed upon us to achieve this end, we can do nothing but marvel in the excellence of His work as our hearts are filled with such transcendent joy that we can barely comprehend the full heights of His splendor. Everything God does, has done, and will do involves the furtherance of His desire that we have, enjoy, and preserve life. I want you to consider this point. Think about the commandments of God. The only things that God has forbidden are those things that will cut our lives short! Think about it. I challenge you to name a single thing that God has forbidden that does humanity any good. God only wants us to walk in the beauty of creation experiencing life without insulting His majesty by reducing our dignity through base living.
The chief priests who represented the established church of the day harassed the Lord at every opportunity despite overwhelming evidence signaling His Identity. We are not told why Lazarus was sick, but it was clear that even the last effect of sin and the ultimate condition of man was eclipsed by the love of God, which brought life. The established church witnessed God’s great work and shortly decided that they would KILL Lazarus.
Imagine that. The Lord Jesus raises a man from the dead and because the chief priests were so fixated on limiting Jesus’ actions and preventing Him from expelling the death that resulted from the law that the chief priests decided to assassinate Jesus and flat-out MURDER Lazarus. They wanted to kill Life itself- the Source of Life, and all things that Life impacted.
Much can be said about all of this. I want us to remember that the mission of Christ’s church is to champion life and remember to value people over systems, rules, laws, and religions- all of which create and maintain death. Beloved, our agenda in this society encompasses more and is broader than our struggle against abortion. Jesus has the ability to remedy every irritant that impacts humanity and is presently restoring life and setting at liberty everything that encounters His Presence and embraces His Word. Whenever people were in danger, Jesus did not miss a single opportunity to suspend the mechanism that empowered death in order to allow life to prevail. Let us go into the world with the same mission. Our message? Receiving the gospel brings spiritual life and obeying the gospel causes natural life to take on new dimensions that will ultimately bring about the fulfillment that we all seek, as our will is conformed to His! Blessings, David Jackson
He Has Magnified His Word 