DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES AND QUOTES

(The Life and Ministry of Jesus # 38)

Lazarus (See Luke 10:38-42, and John 11:1-44)

At the home of Lazarus, Jesus had often found rest. The Savior had no home of His own. He was dependent on the hospitality of His friends and disciples, and often when weary and thirsting for quiet fellowship, He had been glad to escape to this peaceful household, away from the suspicion and jealousy of the angry Pharisees.

Sorrow had entered the peaceful home where Jesus had rested. Lazarus was stricken with a sudden illness, and his sisters sent for the Savior. Anxiously they waited for Jesus, but the messenger returned without Him. Yet he brought this message from Jesus, “This sickness is not unto death,” and they clung to the hope that their brother would live.

When Christ heard the message, the disciples thought He received it coldly. He did not manifest the sorrow they expected Him to show. Then He told them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.”

For two days Jesus remained in the place where He was. This delay was a mystery to the disciples. What a comfort His presence would have been to the afflicted household.

The disciples thought of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. They had wondered why Jesus, with the power to perform wonderful miracles, had permitted John to languish in prison, and to die a violent death. Possessing such power, why didn’t Christ save John’s life?

This question had often been asked by the Pharisees, who had presented it as an unanswerable argument against Christ’s claim to be the Son of God. The Savior had warned His disciples of trials, losses, and persecution. Would He forsake them in trial? Some questioned if they had mistaken His mission. All were deeply troubled.

Had Jesus restored Lazarus from illness to health, the miracle that is the most positive evidence of His divine character would not have been performed.

Christ knew that as all looked upon the face of the deceased Lazarus, their faith would be severely tried. But He knew that because of the struggle through which they were now passing, their faith would shine forth with far greater power.

Jesus suffered every pang of sorrow that they all had endured. He loved them no less because He delayed. But he knew for Lazarus, His disciples, His followers, and Himself, a victory was to be gained.

To all who are reaching out to feel the guiding hand of God, the moment of greatest discouragement is the time when divine help is nearest.

Lazarus had been much beloved, and his sisters wept over him with breaking hearts. In view of this human distress, and the fact that all could mourn while the Savior of the world stood by, thus “Jesus wept.”

Though He was the Son of God, yet He had taken human nature upon Him, He was moved by human sorrow. His tender, pitying heart is ever awakened to sympathy and suffering. He weeps with those who weep, and rejoices with those that rejoice.

“Take away the stone.” Christ could have commanded the stone to remove, and it would have obeyed His voice. He could have bidden the angels that were close by His side to do this. At His bidding, invisible hands would have removed the stone. But it was to be taken away by human hands. Thus Christ would show that humanity is to co-operate with divinity.

After Jesus commands Lazarus to come forth, the beholders are at first speechless with amazement. Then there follows an inexpressible scene of rejoicing. But while brother, sisters, and friends are rejoicing in this reunion, Jesus withdraws from the scene. When they look for the life giver, He is not to be found.

Priestly Plotting’s (See John 11:47-54)

Bethany was so near Jerusalem that the news of the raising of Lazarus was soon carried to the city. Through spies who had witnessed the miracle, the Jewish rulers were speedily in possession of the facts. A meeting of the Sanhedrin was at once called to decide as to what should be done.

The dead had been raised in the full light of day, and before a crowd of witnesses. No artifice could explain away such evidence. For this very reason the enmity of the priests grew deadlier. They were more than ever determined to put a stop to Christ’s work.

The Sadducees, though not favorable to Christ, had not been so full of malignity toward Him as were the Pharisees. Their hatred had not been so bitter. But they were now thoroughly alarmed. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Producing so called science, they had reasoned that an improbability for a dead body to be brought back to life. But by a few words from Christ, their theory had been overthrown. They were shown to be ignorant of both the Scriptures and the power of God.

Jesus had torn aside the cloak of rigorous rites under which their moral deformity was hidden. The pure religion that He taught had condemned their hollow professions of piety.

The miracles He performed on the Sabbath were all for the relief of the afflicted, but the Pharisees had sought to condemn Him as a Sabbath breaker.

The Pharisees had tried every pretext to cut Jesus off from influencing the people. But so far their attempts had been foiled. The multitudes who witnessed His works of mercy and heard His pure and holy teachings knew that these were not the deeds and words of a Sabbath breaker or blasphemer.

Under the impression of the Holy Spirit, the priests and rulers could not banish the conviction that they were fighting against God. Yet they ignored their consciences and pressed on.

While the council was at the height of its perplexity, Caiaphas the high priest arose. Caiaphas was a proud and cruel man, overbearing and intolerant. Even if Jesus were innocent, urged the high priest, He must be put out of the way. He was troublesome, drawing the people to Himself, and lessoning the authority of the rulers.

So Caiaphas proposed by the sacrifice of Jesus to save the guilty nation, not from transgression, but in transgression, that they might continue in sin.

Taking no notice of their forms and ceremonies, Jesus had encouraged sinners to go directly to God as a merciful Father, and make known their wants. Thus, in their opinion, He had set aside the priesthood.

In rejecting the proof of the divinity of Jesus, the priests and rulers had locked themselves in impenetrable darkness. They had come wholly under the sway of Satan, to be hurried by him over the brink of eternal ruin. Yet such was their deception that they were well pleased with themselves. They regarded themselves as patriots, who were seeking the nation’s salvation.

Jesus withdrew from that region, taking the disciples with Him. Thus by His own example Jesus again enforced the instruction, “When they persecute you in this city, flee to another.” (Matthew 10:23)

Christ’s life had been one of persecution and insult. Driven from Bethlehem by a jealous king, rejected by His own people at Nazareth, condemned to death at Jerusalem without a cause, Jesus with His few faithful followers, found temporary asylum in a strange city.

He who was ever touched by human woe, who healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the mute, who fed the hungry and comforted the sorrowful, was driven from the people He labored to save.

He who walked upon the heaving billows, and by a word silenced their angry roaring, who cast out devils that in departing acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, who broke the slumbers of the dead, who held thousands entranced by His words of wisdom, was unable to reach the hearts of those who were blinded by prejudice, hatred, and who stubbornly rejected the light.

Jesus’s life of purity, suffering, and devotion, was known to all. Yet this short period of three years was as long as the world could endure the presence of its Redeemer.