John 11:26
Do you believe this?
Kind of an unusual question don’t you think? Jesus is asking his friend Martha this question after her brother died. Here’s what happened. The disciples and Jesus were ministering to people when they received word that a good friend of Jesus’, named Lazarus, was sick. Lazarus had two sisters who loved him very much. One was Martha, and the other was Mary, the same Mary that anointed the feet of Jesus with expensive perfume and dried his feet with her hair. She had been healed by Jesus, and she loved Jesus. Jesus loved the three of them, so when he received word that his friend Lazarus was sick, he said , ‘this is a sickness not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through it’ He stayed where they were two more days before leaving to go to Bethany to see Lazarus.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, and in fact was nearby, she ran out to meet him. She was crying and said ‘Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you’. Jesus told her ‘Your brother will rise again’. She said, ‘I know my brother will rise again in the resurrection at the last day’.
Then Jesus tells Martha something so beautiful that we quote this, memorize it, and take much comfort in it; Jesus says,
‘I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME, THOUGH HE MAY DIE, SHALL LIVE, AND WHOEVER LIVES AND BELIEVES IN ME SHALL NEVER DIE. Do you believe this?’
She said, ‘yes!’.
Martha left room in her heart for the possibility that something out of the natural realm we know, could happen. And it did!
That’s when God does His best work! When we believe God can reach into our world, and for a moment in time, break the reality we are accustomed to in this world, and do something we call, ‘miraculous’!
Jesus stood in front of a tomb and cried out, “Lazarus, come forth!” Some say Jesus had to call specifically for Lazarus because if he said a random, ‘come forth’, all the dead would have come out of their graves! When Jesus speaks, even the dead listen!
And, Lazarus walked out of the grave, four days after he had died! (John 11:43)
‘Do YOU believe this?’
This is the same thing that Jesus does in our lives when we ask him to forgive our sins and take over as Lord. He calls our name, COME FORTH from that life of sin, and be BORN AGAIN! And we come out of that muck and mire, and toss off those grave clothes, becoming a new creation!
And we feel all brand new! Hallelujah!
I would love to hear about your experiences coming out of that ‘grave’. You can share in the reply section!
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