Jesus: Our Eternal Hope
Notes
Transcript
In 2022, the year began with four funerals that impacted our church. We did not host all of them, but they impacted the lives of people in our church. Cathy Dockery, Becky Wilson, Alton Zamzow, and Jim Keese. That was a tough start to the year. Funerals always remind us of our own mortality. As we pick up in the story of Jesus, the context will be the mourning of a dear friend and brother.
We jump back into the story of Jesus after he had declared he was the door of the sheepfold and the Good Shepherd. The latter half of chapter ten records Jesus making a very controversial statement. He claimed that he and the Father are one. The Jews wanted to know whether he was the Christ. He claimed equality with God. They did not believe him, so they picked up stones to kill him. After this exchange, he left Jerusalem and traveled north to the area where John the Baptist had been doing his baptisms.
While he was there, chapter eleven reports that a good friend of his, Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha had fallen gravely ill. His sisters sent word to Jesus. He responds with,
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.”
It seems apparent that Jesus has something up his sleeve. His statement seems to indicate that what the sisters are asking for is not needed, but at the same time, this sickness will result in glorifying God and himself. Jesus knows something the disciples, Mary, and Martha don’t know. He decides to stay where he is for two more days.
After those two days had passed, Jesus tells his disciples they are going back to Judea, where Bethany is, the town of Lazarus and family. The disciples are concerned because the hostile Jews had just threatened to kill him not too long ago. He explains that Lazarus has fallen asleep (a euphemism for death) and he needs to go awaken him. The disciples think if he’s asleep, then he will recover, therefore, there is no need to go. Jesus is going anyway, so Thomas expresses his commitment to go, even if it leads to their deaths as well.
They arrive in Bethany and Jesus learns that Lazarus has been dead four days. People from nearby came to console and mourn with Mary and Martha. Martha leaves the house to go meet Jesus and Mary stays home. I want you to see Martha’s response to Jesus’ arrival.
Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
“Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
Martha was convinced if Jesus had been there, Lazarus would still be alive. Even in the midst of her grief she knows that whatever Jesus asks of the Father, he will do. Martha doesn’t expect Lazarus to rise from the dead. She doesn’t know what Jesus is going to do, but she does know Jesus will do something now that he has come. She trusts him. Even in her grief, she trusts that Jesus will act.
Jesus replies:
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”
I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus tells her Lazarus will live again. She believes in the resurrection on the last day. She has no idea what Jesus is about to do. Life is for Christ to control. He is in charge of this situation and everyone else’s. He reiterates the promise he has said numerous times. Anyone who believes in him will never die. But hold on a minute. He also said even if he dies, he will live. So which one it it? Do people die if they believe in Jesus, or don’t they?
It is clear that everyone dies. Everyone who lives will die unless Jesus returns before that day. So Jesus can’t be promising that people who believe in him will never die in the physical sense. What he is referring to is death in the spiritual and more final sense.
Jesus does not see death like you and I do. He has an eternal perspective. Though we may physically die, we can have confidence in his promise that by believing in him death does not close the final chapter on our lives. There are yet more chapters to be written that we are simply unaware of. There are more chapters in the stories of People like Royce White, Rebecca Dockery, Sue Nance, Cathy Dockery, Ray Briscoe, Linda and Tommy Brosig, and countless others. Belief in Christ carries with it the promise that when your body dies, the essence of you lives on and the chapters of your life will continue. The central figure in all the chapters in all those books will be Jesus Christ.
The story moves on and Jesus meets Mary, who shares the same sentiments as her sister. He asked where the body had been laid and they said, “come and see.” What comes next is the shortest verse in the Bible:
Jesus wept.
He was moved by compassion for those grieving around him and for the loss of his friend. And people took notice. He then asks for the stone to be rolled away from the tomb. There is an objection because of how much time had passed. They are certain Lazarus is going to be stinky. He reminds Martha that she would see the glory of God. She obeys, Jesus prays, and calls out into the doorway of the tomb, “Lazarus, come forth.” All of a sudden, Lazarus, still wrapped in his burial cloths, makes his way to the entrance. The people unwrap him, and many of the people who came to console Mary and Martha saw it, and believed in Jesus.
What are we to draw from this story? I want to offer a few truths that help us have confidence in Christ for our eternal hope.
The past, present, and future are all in God’s hands.
The past, present, and future are all in God’s hands.
We have talked about this a lot on Wednesdays for the past few weeks. The truth is that control is an illusion. We are not in control of our own lives. God knows all things past, present, and future. Therefore, nothing catches him by surprise. We can never make a choice in which God will say, “Wait, I didn’t expect him to do that.”
In verses 4-6, Jesus already knows the outcome of Lazarus’ illness. How does he know this? God the Father told him. Remember that Jesus, while on this earth, was totally dependent on God the Father and he repeatedly says he only does the things in which the Father shows him. He is so trusting of the Father that he agrees with the Father to delay leaving for Bethany by two days. The purpose is to do something far greater than heal a man, which he didn’t have to be present to do anyway.
Every move Jesus makes is according to a mater divine timetable. Every event, past, present, and future are in God’s hands. Because we know God to be good, gracious, loving, merciful, just, and more, especially to his children, we know that he has guided us in the past, is guiding us in the present, and will guide us where we need to be if we will trust him to do so.
The keys to eternal life and resurrection are in Christ’s hands.
The keys to eternal life and resurrection are in Christ’s hands.
Jesus is the resurrection and the life. As the author of life, all life is in his hands. In the sermon last week, Jesus said,
“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
“No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Jesus has authority to lay down his own life and take it up again, which he demonstrated on the cross as he laid down his life and took it up again three days later when he rose from the dead. Jesus demonstrated power over life and death when he called Lazarus to come forth. He has already demonstrated the truth of his statement that anyone who believes in him, though he may die, will live. Eternal life and your future resurrection rest securely in the hands of Jesus who has been given all authority on heaven and earth. That should provide us with great confidence that no matter when our last day comes, it will indeed not be our last day.
We don’t serve a God who cannot sympathize with our deepest hurts.
We don’t serve a God who cannot sympathize with our deepest hurts.
The shortest verse in the Bible has so much to say about the God that we serve. Jesus knew days before that he would travel to Bethany and raise Lazarus from the dead. One might think that since Lazarus was going to live again anyway, this might not be such an emotional ordeal, but it was. Jesus was deeply moved and troubled. Though he has the power over death, it still affects him. This is the heart of a true shepherd.
He wept for his dear friend Lazarus. He wept because he watched the suffering his friends were going through. He wept for the terrible reminder of sin’s curse on the world he created. He wept because even though he is loving and compassionate, he is just and he sees and experiences the hurt of his people. Perhaps he also wept because he knew that not too long from this moment, his lifeless body would be placed in a tomb just like this one and even though he had the certainty of God’s plan, there was still a measure of trust he had to have in God as he bore the sin of the world and would experience being forsaken by God as his wrath was poured out on him.
The author of Hebrews writes,
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
There is not a thing we go through that Christ has not felt in some measure. He is the God who got close to his creation. He is the God who became like one of us. He is the God who experienced humanness in a real way. He is the God who sympathizes with our deepest hurts because he was here and continues to be here through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Now that we have talked about the truths that help us have confidence in Christ as our eternal hope, let’s look at how we can apply those truths in our everyday lives.
APPLICATION
Walk in confidence of the promises of Jesus.
I hope that by now, through the resurrection of Lazarus, you can see that your past, present, and future are all in God’s hands and that he can be trusted to take you where you need to go. So it may be this morning that you need to renew your trust in the promises of Christ. Your future is secure. Jesus knew he wasn’t going to be arrested or killed by travelling to Bethany because it wasn’t his time yet. He trusted God with his future. He was confident that nothing was going to happen on his way to doing his Father’s will.
The question is, where is God directing you to go? What is he guiding you to do? Are you convinced that it is he who is guiding? Have you immersed yourself in the word and prayer? Are you certain but terrified? Remember that God is already wherever he is calling you to go. Step out in faith and see what God will do.
Turn to Jesus at all times, but especially in the darkest hours.
One of the challenges of the Christian walk is resisting turning to Christ just for the hard stuff as if we can do the rest on our own. In all times, but especially the darkest times, we must turn to him for guidance. We are to live a life with God posture that seeks partnership with God in all things, even the little stuff.
The question is who is in the driver’s seat of your life right now? Is it you, or is it God? Every week there may be a measure of control we have to give up so we can pursue the path God wants us to take. In the good times and the bad, we must always reassess where we are with God so we can be sure we have not taken control and gone in a direction that leads us away from his plans and purposes for our lives.
Look for the miracles he is already doing.
Sometimes we wait around for God to do some grand gesture in our lives so we know it was him. Sometimes we wonder why he doesn’t do big miracles like raising people from the dead anymore. I think he does, but they are rare (By the way, so was this one). Why did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead? Because Lazarus was such a great guy? Because Mary and Martha deserved it? No. He did it so that God would be glorified and that the people around them would believe Jesus is the Son of God. Why doesn’t he do this now?
“If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”
There were those who refused to believe the works Jesus did right in front of their eyes. Jesus healed a man born blind. Jesus raised someone from the dead. The whole purpose of those miracles was to authenticate Jesus’ claim that he was the Son of God. There are people who will not believe what Christ has already said and done. What makes you so sure you would believe the miracles that happen right in front of your face?
Rather, we need to be reminded to notice the miracles that take place all around us. They are more subtle, but they are miracles nonetheless. If you want to see God at work. Slow down, take a look around, and allow him to show you. How have you seen the hand of God moving in your life? How can you direct people to him through those stories?