Jesus and Lazarus

From the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John. And then Ruth is going to sing to us a piece that fits in very well with this particular chapter. John's Gospel in chapter 11.

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.

So the sister sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory, so that God's Son may be glorified through it.

Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Then he said to his disciples, Let us go back to Judea.

But Rabbi, they said, A short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there? Verse 11. After he had said this, the Lord Jesus went on to tell them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up. His disciples replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.

Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and for your sake, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.

Then Thomas called Didymus, said to the rest of the disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem.

Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, If you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? Yes, Lord, she told him. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world. And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside.

The teacher is here, she said, and is asking for you. When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting her noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

Where have you laid him? He asked. Come and see. Lord, they replied.

Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, See how he loved him. But some of them said, Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Jesus once more, deeply moved, came to the tomb.

It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.

Then Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you would always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, Take off the grave clothes and let him go.

Let's turn in the word of God to the Gospel of John and the 12th chapter. John's Gospel in chapter 12, rather chapter 11. Jesus says in the 25th verse, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live even though he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? In the earlier verses written out on our news bulletin, verses 11, next track from 11 and 15, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.

Lazarus is dead and for your sake, I am glad I was not there, but let us go to him. Last Sunday evening, I was endeavoring to preach on the subject of what happens to me at the point of death. And there was a great deal on my heart which I wanted to share and to some measure, I ran out of time.

So it seemed to me quite appropriate on Advent Sunday morning to bring you back to this theme because if it were not for the advent of our Lord Jesus, then when we are confronted with the spectacle of death, fearful of our own death, maybe mournful because of the home call of loved ones, then we would be utterly confused. We would be utterly miserable, as Paul says, and without hope. But of course, the reason for the advent, the reason why Christ was born in Bethlehem, why he died on the cross, why he was raised again on the third day, was to prove that he had come to bring to us hope after our own physical death.

And indeed, during the course of our earthly life before physical death, we could enjoy something of the benefits of a relationship with him. So this is what I have in mind to try to add on to some of the things that I was sharing with you last Sunday night. And I do so in rather a piecemeal fashion.

I want to bring to your attention some of the things that are precious to me within this chapter that is chock-a-block full of meaning and truth. There were two men in Scripture, you recall, who had the name of Lazarus. It's interesting sometimes to run a comparison between these two.

You read of the first one in Luke 16. You read of the second one here in this 11th chapter. One was a rich man.

Turn over the chapter to the 12th of John's Gospel and you'll discover that Lazarus in Bethany was able to throw parties to hold feasts. The Lazarus of Luke 16 was a very poor man. He was a beggar.

One had food fit for a king. The other waited for the scraps to fall from off the table of a rich man so that he might eat. The Lazarus of John 11 was well looked after by his two sisters, Mary and Martha.

The Lazarus of Luke 16, well, the dogs came and they licked his sores. But this these men had in common. They were loved by the Lord.

And those of you who are familiar with the parable that the Lord Jesus told in Luke's Gospel will recall how Lazarus is ultimately on death taken into what is known as Abraham's bosom, the Hades of the Old Testament. And there certain things happened to him which are very interesting but mainly as far as we are concerned at this moment to indicate the fact that there is life after death. When Lazarus in John chapter 11 dies, he is brought back from the grave by the Lord Jesus who comes alongside the tomb and says, Lazarus, come forth.

But I only mention this by way of interest for you to understand this, that whoever dies, whether rich or poor, whether male or female, in the purposes of God, he, the Lord, never loses interest in them. The person who died, nor the people who mourn. Now, it may well be this morning that you are not in that condition.

You have not lost a loved one recently. But it might well be that there is some cause in your life that is causing you anxiety and confusion and you wonder how to cope with a particular problem that's in front of you. Well, whether your circumstance is the former or the latter, I think that certain things here in the 11th of John's Gospel have to speak, will speak to you.

So, here are these two women, Mary and Martha, a choice pair of women if ever there were such. These to whom the Lord Jesus will one, in an hour or so, say, I am the resurrection and the life, speaks that word to Martha. And ultimately, doubtless, she passes on to Mary what the Lord has told her about his resurrection power, his life-giving abilities.

But that's to anticipate the story. Here they are in the beginning of this chapter and they are most distressed. Why? Well, you see, their brother is sick, not dead, but the language that he's used gives the impression that he is sinking.

He's terminally ill, as we would say. And news is communicated to Jesus. You see, Jesus is some miles from the scene.

And so we're told in the third verse, the sisters sent word to Jesus. If you like, a form of telegram, obviously taken by a messenger. Lord, the one you love is sick.

Now, it seems to me that for starters, you've got a good lesson to take from the example of these two women folk just at this juncture. You see, they're in need. So what do they do? What do John's disciples do when the Baptist has been butchered by Herod? Well, having buried the Baptist, they come and they tell Jesus.

What must you and I do when we are in a state of mourning because a loved one has been taken from us? Or whether we're perplexed because there are certain situations we can't cope with? Well, the Bible says, call on me in the day of trouble. It also tells us that our God is a very present help in those circumstances. So here are Martha and Mary and they teach us a fundamental lesson.

When we're in difficulty, we let Jesus know. Now, will you further observe that when they send this sort of telegraphic message, they don't ask Jesus to do anything. They simply say to him, Lord, the one you love is sick.

Now, very often, when we are in difficulty, we sort of prescribe to the Lord what he's going to do. Not so? It's not easy for us to accept the absolute sovereignty of God in every situation. We rather work out what the resolution to our problem is and we dash a message off to the Lord.

Here's the difficulty. Here's the answer. Now, please get working.

Mary and Martha just find that they're satisfied in telling the Lord about the problem. The one you love is sick. And they leave it there.

And it seems to me that every word of that little message has a meaning. Lord. You see, they're respectful of Jesus.

They realize that he can do for them what no one else can do. They're really well-to-do people, or reasonably so, it would appear, are Martha and Mary. But their money will not get them out of this dilemma.

But they do recognize that some miles away is the master whom they call Lord. And so they tell him of the difficulty. And when they refer to the problem, notice the way they put it.

Not, our brother is desperately ill. Not, one of your disciples who loves you needs your assistance. Now, either of those two forms of expression would have been perfectly honorable.

But it seems to me that it's very necessary for us to appreciate the way that Mary and Martha go about this message. Lord, the one who you love is sick. Do you understand this, what they're saying? Do you understand this as far as God's attitude to you is concerned? You see, my love to the Lord Jesus, I must say, is like the flickering flame of a fire.

Sometimes it burns oh so brightly. And it's easy to worship Him. I feel so much in contact with Him that praising Him, interceding before His throne is the most exquisite experience in life.

But my love, as the hymn writer says, is often frail. There are times when I don't feel like that. There's an inconsistency about me and my attitudes.

Not so with regard to yourself. One of my favorite hymns says, Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father. You see, the flickering flame of our love is not reproduced by God.

His love remains utterly consistent. So Martha and Mary, speaking to the Lord by way of a message, Lord, the one who you love is sick. One thing they knew, these women, Jesus loved Lazarus.

And later on, as you'll discover in this chapter, that love He had for Lazarus overflows and it embraces both Martha and Mary. And so the Lord gets this message. The terminal illness of a dear friend, one of the few people who has opened his home to Jesus so that he has at times somewhere to get a decent night's sleep and presumably a good breakfast in the morning.

That hospitable man, his thinking. Now, what do you do, my friend, when somebody who you love tells you that they're upset? Well, as a pastor, what I would invariably do, get in my car and go and see them, sympathize with them. And that's very good in some circumstances and more often than not.

It's the best thing to do. But it's not always sympathy that we should first be thinking of when confronted with human difficulty. What we should be asking ourselves is how is God going to be glorified in this situation? You see, sympathy is a very good thing.

But sometimes it can be misplaced. Sometimes it can be overdone. There are occasions when people do not need our sympathy, they need our firmness.

They need straight speaking into their lives. Now, here is our Lord, tenderhearted more so than you are or I am. He receives a message and he does absolutely nothing about it.

He stays put. And then, verse 7, it's not so much that he changes his mind, but he now thinks the time is right for him to physically respond to the telegram that's been said. You see, his immediate reaction was just to speak and stay where he was.

What he said was, this sickness is not to death. The messenger took that word back with him to Mary and Martha. And yet, our Lord remains where he is two days elapsed and then he says to the disciples, verse 7, let's go back to Judea.

Let's go back. And they tried to dissuade him. The reason being, well, if you read in the previous chapter, you'll discover Jesus was very badly handled last time he was in Jerusalem.

And Bethany is just down the road, so to speak. In fact, he was almost stoned. They wanted to stone him, but they couldn't.

The Jewish authorities and the disciples were concerned not only for his physical well-being, but also for their own. Look, you didn't go immediately. Why bother to go now? And Jesus said, the reason why I haven't bothered to go is so that the greater glory of God could result from my delay.

I mean, isn't that in effect what he's saying in verse 14? The disciples, you see, by the time you get to this verse, think that Lazarus is not just dead, or rather, is not dead, but is asleep. They've misunderstood Jesus' metaphorical use of the word sleep. And so, Jesus cuts in on their inadequate logic and he says, Lazarus is dead and what's more, in excess of this information, let me tell you, verse 15, for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.

But let us go to him. Now, that seems to be, again, a factor that doesn't square immediately with our knowledge of the tender-hearted Jesus. Lazarus was terminally sick and I'm glad I wasn't there at the moment of his departure, of his death.

I'm glad for your sake. He might also have added, and indeed, the inference is that he does when he meets Mary and Martha. I'm glad I wasn't there for their sake.

You see, Jesus has more in mind than the immediate ministry to the needs of Mary and Martha. That's necessary, but there's more in the balance than this, you see. I'm glad I wasn't there.

Why, Lord Jesus, are you glad you weren't there when your friend, our friend, you call him, as you're speaking to the disciples, our friend has died. Why are you glad that you weren't there? Now, I've been trying to work on that problem during this week and here is my answer. You may not agree with this, but at least it satisfies me.

Jesus was glad he wasn't at Bethany because had he been there, Lazarus wouldn't have died. Had he been there, Lazarus would not have died. You see, there is no record in the whole of the Gospels of anyone dying when Jesus was around.

Jesus is referred to in Acts chapter 3 as the Prince of Life. He is the one who gives life. He exudes life.

There is something about death which is incompatible with the presence of Jesus Christ. So Jairus' daughter is raised. And when our Lord finds himself, inverted commas, accidentally in the path of a funeral procession, you remember, the widow of Nain's son has died.

Without being asked to intervene, he puts his hand on the beer on the coffin and the boy is brought back from the dead. I believe that when Peter was in the garden of Gethsemane and he reached to take out his sword, and some Bible commentators believe that actually he really was going for the high priest, but he missed him. You can accept that or not, as you please, but he certainly went for the high priest's servant.

And the possible implication is that he wasn't just going for his ear, he was going for him, the man. But the high priest's servant will not die that day. Why not? Well, you see, he's in the presence of Jesus.

And nobody dies in the presence of the Lord, the life giver. And even the two who die on the cross of Calvary, who are either side the cross of our Savior, they die after Jesus has given up his own life. Nobody dies in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ when he is physically there.

I'm glad, disciples, I'm glad Mary and Martha, though you don't understand my delay at this point, nor do you grasp the fullness of my reasoning, I am glad I was not there. Why? So that you might see the glory of God. You see, this is always the controlling purpose of our Lord's ministry.

It's not just to meet in a sympathetic fashion with people. That is a by-product. That is a secondary thing.

His basic objective is to glorify God. And God will be glorified if the human nature of our Lord Jesus at the moment, his tenderheartedness, which still remains, is not allowed to constrain him to move too precipitously towards Martha and Mary, towards Bethany. He has to stay two days.

And they're in that nightmare for 48 hours. Jesus knows, but he hasn't come. And yet he sent the peculiar message that this sickness is not unto death, and yet we've put our brother's remains in a tomb.

Oh, the majesty of Christ. The sweet marvel of our Lord Jesus. You see, you never crack his logic because he operates on a different plane from the way that you operate and I operate.

And sometimes, my friend, don't you see, if you lift this principle and apply it to your own circumstance, it begins at least to bring some light into those troublesome areas of difficulty as they confront you. And you wonder, why on earth has God allowed this? The heart has its reasons. As Shakespeare once said, through one of his characters, God has reasons which he does not always immediately disclose.

And so let's come back to this statement of our Savior. He's cleared up for the disciples the fact that when he speaks of sleep, he's only been using this in a figurative fashion. Lazarus is dead.

I'm glad I wasn't there so that you may believe but let us go to him. Now, isn't it nice the way he expresses this? Lazarus is dead but let's go to him. Not let's go to it, the corpse.

Not let's go and pay our final respects but let's go to him. You know, you and I, we can be faithful to one another to the brink of death but you can't go beyond in terms of companionship at that moment, can you? You have to say goodbye because death severs you from your loved one at least for a while. Wouldn't it be lovely, some of you who are very happily married, wouldn't it be lovely and I wish that I could grant it for you in the name of God that you both die together.

You both went into the presence of God together. That very rarely happens. We can stay close to our loved ones throughout our physical lives but ultimately when death comes we're severed at least for a while.

You see, that's a problem with us mortals but it's not the problem with our Lord Jesus. You see, there is nothing that can keep us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. You remember Paul, his reasoning in Romans 8? What shall separate us? Shall death or life? He starts with number one right at the end of that glorious chapter.

If you're feeling despondent or discouraged then read the final verses of Romans 8. They really are wonderful and read them in the amplified version of the Bible or in the living Bible. It really is a marvellous rendering there. Now you see, Jesus is confronted with the fact that his friend Lazarus is dead and yet he says let's go to him.

You see, there's nothing that's going to separate Lazarus from me. He's already safe in as much as his eternal well-being is vouched for by my life, my ultimate death and glorious resurrection. And when our loved ones die, when they die in the Lord, they're safe in his keeping.

They don't go into a state of non-existence. There's no annihilation. They are preserved within the bosom of God.

Let us go to him. And so the disciples with a bit of a sort of fatalistic piece of reasoning from Thomas, verse 16, they set off and they go towards Bethany. Now isn't it interesting that John here fills in a little bit of geographical information for us.

Verse 18, Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem. And a bit more information, not geographical, social. Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.

So you see, there's quite a lot of people who've come out of Jerusalem because Lazarus is very well known and they're there during these days of mourning. Now the Jews, they knew how to mourn. They really did know how to mourn.

I mean, they had professional mourners. It was such a row that took place in a wedding, I was going to say a wedding, in a funeral. And so, the whole thing was being done properly.

Many, many people had assembled who incidentally wouldn't have been there, would they, if Jesus had come quickly on receiving the telegram from Mary and Martha. So his delay has not only spiritual advantages, but it brings to Bethany to the point, to the place where Lazarus has died, many people from Jerusalem. And Bethany is near Jerusalem, just two miles.

The significance of that, well you see, in a matter of days, our Lord Jesus shall be arrested in the precincts of Jerusalem, at least in the confines just beyond the city of Jerusalem. He'll be brought back into the holy city. He will be tried, so to speak.

He will be whipped. He will be scourged. And ultimately, he will die.

And it's within the, almost within sight of Jerusalem, that this, his most staggering miracle takes place. I find the timing here very, very interesting. Almost the final supernatural act which our Lord does which is the, the Everest, if you like, of his miracle working power.

It occurs just down the road from Jerusalem where he, in a few days time, will be done to death in one of the most terrible ways in which a man can rob his fellow of life. Isn't that significant? You see, he is going to show those people in Jerusalem that when they physically got him, they don't have his power in their authority. And even they will discover later on, as he allows himself to be arrested, all the authority remains on his side.

All that ultimately happens, happens as a result of Jesus allowing it to happen because God is going to be glorified in his life, in his death, in his mighty resurrection. And so our Savior comes near to Jerusalem. He comes to the scene where these two distressed women are.

And they come and greet him. First of all, Martha, and then ultimately at her request, Mary. And Jesus speaks to both of them.

And both seem to have the same sort of reasoning in their mind. Verse 21, Lord, Martha said to Jesus, If you had been here, my brother would not have died. And then verse 32, Mary, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

You see, their great love for the Lord Jesus, a tremendous understanding as to who he was. And they came to the conclusion themselves. They may have reasoned it a little differently from me, but nonetheless, they came to the conclusion that Jesus would not have died, that Lazarus would not have died if Jesus had been present.

Not so? That's what they're saying. But here is the measure of their confusion. They seem to feel that when Jesus is distant from the scene, then his power is somehow limited.

Now, you have the Martha and Mary theology and wrong theology, many of you, in your lack of understanding of the purposes of God. You see, how many times do you say, my friend, if only we had lived in the days when Jesus was alive. You know, instead of living in the 1980s, why can't we catapult ourselves back down the corridor two thousand years and be there when He is there? Why? Well, you see, it would have been so much easier then.

He was present. His power, His authority, we could have heard Him, we could have seen it. As though Jesus is limited by geography and He's limited by space and time.

But none of these limitations apply to Him. They apply to the likes of you and me because we are human. But He is the great I am.

I am the resurrection and the life. I am the bread of life. I am the one who speaks and the worlds come into existence before Abraham was.

I am. Time in no way, nor space, is a barrier to this great Christ. Don't you understand that? You see, this is what He has to do in terms of correcting Martha and Mary.

I wasn't there, but I still know what has happened. You said your brother was sinking. I knew at the point when he had died.

No second telegram came because our Lord, you see, has omniscience. That means all knowledge. And for you, my dear friend, whatever your circumstances this morning, whatever perhaps is baffling you, take thought and start from this, that our Lord has every knowledge of your situation and He reacts according to the level on which He sees your difficulty, which is a different level from your own.

Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. Mary, Martha, didn't you get the message? You know, you send a man down with the telegram. I sent one back.

I said his sickness is not unto death, but that God might be glorified. I always feel that the way that our Savior handles women in terms of being a pastor shows His consummate skill. Do you remember when He's with the woman by Bethany's, by the well of Syca? Jesus talks to her about worship and she says, Lord, I know that when Messiah comes, when Messiah comes, then we'll understand all these things.

Do you remember how she goes on in that conversation? And Jesus says, I that speak unto you am He. What you predict for the future is now realized in the present. Verse 23 has got a semblance of this.

Jesus says to Martha, your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection and at the last day. Verse 25, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live even though he dies and so forth. So our Lord moves towards the tomb. And when He comes towards that place where His friend, our friend as He calls Him, as He's talking to the disciples has been laid, then He's distressed beyond measure.

Verse 33, when Jesus saw her, that is Mary who He loved weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Deeply moved in spirit, and the Greek says, and He troubled Himself. You see, we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

Three times Jesus weeps. And on each occasion, He weeps at the consequence of what sin has brought into the world. You see, He loved Mary.

He loved Martha. He empathizes with all. He loved Lazarus, the one who you love is sick.

He loves you. And there are various things that you go through as these women are going through problems. And when our Lord looks down from His high heaven, He does not have a heart of flint, of stone.

It's one of compassion. We who go through so much as the consequence of our sin, our Savior empathizes with that. And He troubles Himself over it, a sort of vicarious troubling.

Where have you laid Him, He asked. Come and see. They replied, and Jesus, the shortest verse of the Bible, verse 35, Jesus wept.

And then some say, well, couldn't He who would open the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? And then our Lord, oh, and the consummate skill, not only of Him handling the dilemma of two beloved women, but the way that He handles this situation now as He stands by the cave in which has been placed the body of Lazarus. Now, if our Lord had wanted to, He could have made this so much more dramatic than it ultimately was. He could have caused Lazarus to have come out of the grave and for the stone to have been miraculously rolled over.

But instead of that, He speaks to ordinary men and women and He asks for their assistance, having told the sisters, did I not tell you if you believed, you would see the glory of God. Now move that stone. So they took away the stone.

Then Jesus looked up to the Father. Father, I thank you. That remarkable description of the confidence that the Lord Jesus had in the Father.

I know that you always hear me, but I say it for the benefit of these people. Now hear me, let them believe. Let them believe, oh Lord, and make such an impact upon their minds and the minds of all who shall read of this account in the centuries to come that they shall understand what is about to happen to me two or three days hence in Jerusalem.

That they might understand something of my life and my death and my mighty resurrection. That they may comprehend the reason for the advent, why you have sent me into the world. Lord, let them understand.

Lazarus, come forth. And out he comes, feet wrapped with strips of linen and the cloth around his face. And Jesus says, take off the grave clothes and let him go.

And so he goes, Lazarus back to the privacy of the home with Martha and Mary. We're giving no insight into the conversation. That's not for anyone else to hear, but those two.

But what we understand now, what we are given intimation of is the reaction to this remarkable miracle on the part of all those, all those who having seen yet do not believe. And as a result, they take the information to Jerusalem. And it's the miracle of the raising again of Lazarus that causes the Pharisees to meet with the Sanhedrin, verse 47, and the whole stage is set for the arrest of the Lord Jesus the next time he comes to Jerusalem.

But you remember that other Lazarus, the Lazarus who we looked at before in the bosom of Abraham. The rich man said, who was in hell, Father Abraham, let someone go to tell my brothers what it's like here. Let even Lazarus go.

And Abraham said, even though a man were raised from the dead, they would not believe. Lazarus is literally raised from the dead. But there are those in Jerusalem who do not believe, but seek as a result of the miracle to bring to an end the ministry of our Lord Jesus.

But those of us who've taken a sneak look at the end of the story, we know why he died. We know why he was raised from the dead. And we're now beginning to appreciate why the last great miracle occurred at Bethany.

Jesus has shown what he can do when he comes on the scene, having been away from his friends for some four days. And don't you see, my friend, that's prophetic parabolism. It shows what Jesus can do and will do, having been away physically from this earth for some 2,000 years.

On his return, the trumpet shall sound, and those who are in the grave shall be raised again. And those who are alive at that time will be caught up with them to meet the Lord, the dead to be repatriated with their spirits, and ultimately to enjoy God within the confines of the new heaven and the new earth. Now, those of you who can look at death from the way that I've tried to sketch it out, from this study from John's Gospel, and from what I shared last week, will be well prepared for all that lies ahead for you and for your loved ones in the future.

For at the back of our minds will always re-echo that declaration of our Savior to Mary and Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes on me shall never die. May God bless this message to your hearts.

Christ, my Lord Jesus, speak, let us speak. Father, we thank you again for the message of the resurrection. We thank you that Advent, the story of Advent, anticipates it.

Now, enable us as we come around this table to praise you with fresh insights as to the marvelous consequences of the ministry of our Lord Jesus and send us on our way ultimately rejoicing into the remainder of this day. For his sake. Amen.