Lazarus

Daily Bible Reading – John 11:1 – 57

We sometimes think of the disciples as “supersaints,” but such was not the case. They often failed their Lord, and He was constantly seeking to increase their faith. After all, one day He would leave them and they would have the responsibility of carrying on the ministry. If their faith was weak, their work could never be strong.

Jesus was at Bethabara, about twenty miles from Bethany (John 1:28;10:40). One day, a messenger arrived with the sad news that our Lord’s dear friend Lazarus was sick. If the man had traveled quickly, without any delay, he could have made the trip in one day. Jesus sent him back the next day with the encouraging message recorded in John 11:4. Then Jesus waited two more days before He left for Bethany; and by the time He and His disciples arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. This means that Lazarus had died the very day the messenger left to contact Jesus!

The schedule of events would look something like this, allowing one day for travel:

Day 1— The messenger comes to Jesus (Lazarus dies).

Day 2— The messenger returns to Bethany.

Day 3— Jesus waits another day, then departs.

Day 4— Jesus arrives in Bethany.

When the messenger arrived back home, he would find Lazarus already dead. What would his message convey to the grieving sisters now that their brother was already dead and buried? Jesus was urging them to believe His word no matter how discouraging the circumstances might appear.

No doubt the disciples were perplexed about several matters. First of all, if Jesus loved Lazarus so much, why did He permit him to get sick? Even more, why did He delay to go to the sisters? For that matter, could He not have healed Lazarus at a distance, as He did the nobleman’s son? (John 4:43–54) The record makes it clear that there was a strong love relationship between Jesus and this family (John 11:3, 5, 36); yet our Lord’s behavior seems to contradict this love.

God’s love for His own is not a pampering love; it is a perfecting love. The fact that He loves us, and we love Him is no guarantee that we will be sheltered from the problems and pains of life. After all, the Father loves His Son: and yet the Father permitted His beloved Son to drink the cup of sorrow and experience the shame and pain of the Cross. We must never think that love and suffering are incompatible. Certainly they unite in Jesus Christ.

Jesus could have prevented Lazarus’ sickness or even healed it from where He was; but He chose not to. He saw in this sickness an opportunity to glorify the Father. It is not important that we Christians are comfortable, but it is important that we glorify God in all that we do.

In their “prayer” to Jesus, the two sisters did not tell Him what to do. They simply informed Him that there was a need, and they reminded Him of His love for Lazarus. They knew that it was dangerous for Jesus to return to Judea because the Jewish leaders were out to destroy Him. Perhaps they hoped that He would “speak the word” and their brother would be restored to health.

Our Lord’s message to the sisters did not say that their brother would not die. It promised only that death would not be the ultimate result, for the ultimate result would be the glory of God. (Note that once again, Jesus called Himself “the Son of God.”) He wanted them to lay hold of this promise; in fact, He reminded Martha of this message when she balked at having the tomb opened (John 11:40).

When we find ourselves confronted by disease, disappointment, delay, and even death, our only encouragement is the Word of God. We must live by faith and not by sight. Their situation seemed hopeless, yet the sisters knew that Jesus was the Master of every situation. The promise in Psalm 50:15 finds a parallel here: “And call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”

Then Came Jesus

Daily Bible Reading – John 9:1 – 10:42

The Lord never ceases to amaze me in the ways in which He continuously demonstrates His presence in my life. As those of you who read this devotional page know, I have not posted in a week. The crush of time has had the best of me and I have also been a little spiritual battle wrestling with the enemy.

It is no accident that the Scripture reading for today includes the passage from John 10. For a little over a year now I have been preaching verse by verse through the Gospel of John. It “just happens” that chapter ten contains the verses that I will be teaching from this coming Sunday morning. In verse ten the Lord says, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.”

There truly is a thief that is the adversary of the Christian. His name is Satan. His objectives are to steak, kill, destroy. The thief has come to steal your life, kill your joy, destroy your faith. I suspect that most have fallen under the influence of this schemer. Has the devil been after you? If not, why not? My Bible tells me, “many are the afflictions of the righteous.”

But the good news is that our Lord Jesus has come to defeat the devil and to destroy his schemes and to give His disciples life. His life is abundant, full-bodied, glorious and free.

Render to Caesar. . .

Daily Bible Reading – 20:1 – 21:38

The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus and condemn Him, but they did not know how to do it successfully during the Passover. The population of Jerusalem nearly tripled during the feast, and Jesus was popular with the people. It was a volatile situation, and they had to find evidence great enough to convict Him. Judas eventually solved their problem; but meanwhile, the various religious and political parties in Jerusalem tried to get evidence against Him. This chapter tells us how Jesus dealt with these hypocritical religious leaders.

The chief priests, scribes, and elders were the first to attack, using His cleansing of the temple as their weapon. What authority did He have to do such a thing, and who gave Him this authority? When Jesus took them back three years to the ministry of John the Baptist, He was not evading the question; He was bringing them face-to-face with the basic issue of authority. Where did John get his authority? These religious leaders had rejected the authority of John’s ministry, so why should they ask about the authority of Jesus’ ministry? If they had accepted John, they would have accepted Jesus.

The parable (vv. 9–18) is based on Isa. 5:1–7 and Ps. 80, so the temple leaders knew what Jesus was talking about. For centuries, Israel had been guilty of abusing and even killing the messengers God sent to them; and they would treat the Son of God the same way. Jesus quoted Ps. 118:22 to show them how ignorant they were of the truth of God. They were the “religious experts” in the nation and did not even know when their own Messiah had come! (See Acts 4:11 and 1 Peter 2:7–8.) Verse 18 refers to Daniel 2:34–35 and 44.

His enemies kept watching Him, looking for an opportunity to catch Him in what He said; but He did not say anything that they could use as evidence to arrest Him. So they tried a new strategy and hoped to “bait Him” into saying something that was criminal. One of the most explosive questions of the day was whether or not Jews should pay the Roman poll tax. If Jesus said no, He would be in trouble with the Romans; but if He said yes, He would be in trouble with the Jews. It was a perfect trap!

But Jesus did not deal with it as a political question. He saw it as a spiritual issue. Just as the coin bore the image of Caesar, so man bears the image of God and has a responsibility to Him. But that also means he has a responsibility to Caesar (human government) because government was instituted by God (Rom. 13). It is not an either/or situation, but both/and. Even the Prophet Jeremiah counseled the people to cooperate with officials and seek to be peacemakers (Jer. 29:4–7; see 1 Peter 2:9–17 and 3:8–17). Our Lord’s answer silenced His enemies.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Daily Bible Reading – Luke 18:1 – 19:48

We are now introduced to two men, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The prevailing sin of the Pharisees was a fussy, self-righteous, hypocritical, religious smugness. Throughout the Gospels, they were the Lord's chief foes. That people could be so bigoted and so blind is incredible. The purpose of the parable was plain: “He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others” (18:9).

“Two men,” Jesus said, “went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector.” We can be quite sure that they did not go up to the temple together.

The very word Pharisee became the Hebrew term for one who was separated by his beliefs and practices. Their goals were to observe in the strictest manner all of the requirements of the traditions of the elders and of the Levitical law and to be scrupulous in carrying out all religious duties. They disdained those who were ignorant of the law and the traditions. As a group, they were most noted for their hypocrisy. Many Jews despised them. The rabbis spoke scathingly of them from time to time. It was said that they tormented themselves in this world only to gain nothing by it in the next. They were the incarnation of legalism, and they have many heirs in the church.

By sharp contrast, the tax collectors were the tax collectors. They owed their power, wealth, and privileges to the occupying Roman rulers. They were dishonest and

unscrupulous and despised by one and all. They were regarded as traitors and were treated as untouchables. The outstanding characteristic of the Pharisee as he took his place in the temple court and began to pray was his self-righteousness. With fine sarcasm, Jesus said that “[he] prayed thus with himself” (18:11). “I thank You, that I am not as other men are,” he told God. Other men are “extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess” (18:11-12). He stood there in the temple, posturing as the people passed by, congratulating himself on his goodness. He used the word I five times in a single breath. He boasted that he tithed all. The Mosaic Law required only tithes of corn, wine, oil, and cattle. The Pharisee threw out his chest.

The outstanding characteristic of the tax collector was his repentance. Jesus said that the tax collector stood “afar off.” He “would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (18:13) All he could do was plead for mercy. He availed himself, though he did not know it, of the coming work of Christ on the cross.

“I tell you,” Jesus said, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be humbled; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted" (18:14).

The Prodigal Son

Daily Bible Reading – 15:1 – 17:37

What does it mean to be lost? It means, like the sheep, to be away from safety and in a place of danger; or like the coin, to be useless and out of circulation. In the case of the younger son, it means to be out of fellowship with the Father and away from the joys of the family.

It is significant that the father did not go searching for his son, but waited at home for the boy to come back. When the boy did come back, the father ran to meet him. Like sheep gone astray, some sinners are lost through their own stupidity; and, like coins, some are lost by the carelessness of others. But the son was lost because of his own willfulness, and the father had to wait until that will was broken and submissive.

For the younger son to ask for an early inheritance was like asking his father to die! It must have broken the father’s heart, but he gave the boy his share of the wealth! God likewise has shared His wealth with a world of lost sinners, and they have wasted it (Acts 14:15–17; 17:24–28). It was not the badness of his life that brought the boy to his senses but the goodness of his father (v. 17; Rom. 2:4).

In the East, it is unusual for older men to run; but the Father had to run because of his compassion for the boy. Also, the son had disgraced his family and his village and could have been stoned to death (Deut. 21:18–21). If they threw any stones, they would have to hit the father! The best robe would be the father’s expensive festal robe; the shoes indicated that the son was not a servant (in spite of his request); and the ring was the proof of sonship. Again, there is joy, for the lost has been found!

The elder brother is the forgotten person in this parable, and yet he is the key to the story. If the prodigal son symbolizes the “publicans and sinners,” then the elder brother represents the scribes and Pharisees. There are sins of the spirit as well as sins of the flesh (2 Cor. 7:1). The religious leaders may not have been guilty of the gross things that the younger son did, but they were still sinners, guilty of a critical and unloving spirit, pride, and an unwillingness to forgive.

Because the younger son had received his inheritance, the estate belonged to the elder brother; but it was run by the father, who benefited from the profits. If the younger brother came back home, it would confuse the inheritance even more, so the elder brother did not want him back, nor was he looking for him.

Now we discover that the elder brother had a “hidden agenda” of his own, a longing to have a big party for his friends. He was angry with his brother for coming home and with his father for welcoming him and forgiving him. Like the scribes and Pharisees, he stayed outside the joy and fellowship of those who had been forgiven.

By staying outside the house, the elder brother humiliated his father and his brother. The father could have commanded him to come in, but he preferred to go out and plead with him. That is what Jesus did with the Jewish religious leaders, but they would not be persuaded. They thought they were saved because of their exemplary conduct, but they were out of fellowship with the Father and needed to repent and seek forgiveness.

O Jerusalem!

Daily Bible Reading – Luke 13:1 – 14:35

The Lord had been on His way to Jerusalem for a considerable time. He now had three things to say to that city before He even arrived as recorded in Luke 13:34-35. First, He had a factual description of Jerusalem: “0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (13:34). This sad lament was repeated later when He arrived in the vicinity of Jerusalem. He loved that city. He knew every market and stall, every tower and tree. He knew its history from the days of the royal priest Melchizedek to the days of the sly Herod Antipas. He had seen it defiled by foul Antiochus and freed by the mighty Maccabees. The Romans came so that now the synagogue and Sanhedrin ruled the land under the iron scepter of Rome. Many a time, His heart had been broken by the wickedness of those in power. How often He would have sheltered the city from the folly of its ways. But the city would have no part of it.

He moved on. Down the road, there would be a fearful destruction of Jerusalem: “See! Your house is left to you desolate.” (13:35). The siege and sack of Jerusalem was to be one of the most terrible events of history. When it was over, the walls and gates would be reduced to rubble, the temple would be wrapped in flames, and the corpses would be strewn far and wide, and the Romans would be so infuriated by the strength and stubbornness of the siege that they would wreak fearful vengeance on those who were still alive.

But that was not all. Finally, He had a final destiny for Jerusalem: “You shall not see Me, until the time comes when you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (13:35). This prophecy had a near and partial fulfillment. An immediate fulfillment occurred on “Palm Sunday,” when the Lord received the hosannas of the city and especially the cheers of the Galileans who thronged the city in anticipation of Passover. Probably few people realized it, but that Triumphal Entry marked the termination of Daniel 9:22-26b. In keeping with that prophecy, He would be dead within the week. The crowds who thronged and cheered Him would shout just as lustily for His crucifixion.

The real fulfillment went beyond the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, beyond the Bar Cochba rebellion in A.D. 135, on and on, past the two thousand-year church age to the time of His coming again. A blindness has descended on the Jews concerning Christ (Rom. 11:1-10). But when Christ comes back, all of that will change. The first reaction of the Hebrew people to sudden appearing of the Lord in splendor in the sky will be to mourn (Rev. 1:7). But then will come His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Then indeed the Jews will sing their loud hosannas, and Psalm 118:26 (here quoted by the Lord) will come into its own.

The Model Prayer

Daily Bible Reading – Luke 11:1 – 12:59

The disciples observed their Lord as He engaged in prayer. They asked Him to teach them how to pray, just as John had taught his disciples. This is the sixth of seven occasions in Luke's gospel when we see the Lord at prayer. The next time will be in Gethsemane. The Lord knew what lay ahead for Him, and He prayed.

The Lord responded to His disciples at once. Actually, He had already given them the prototype in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13). Here He extracts a few sentences from it.

When we pray we must be occupied with the Father's person. We begin with the words Our Father, presuming that the person praying is a child of God (John 1:11-13). Prayer is a God centered activity. It lifts our thoughts and hearts to God Himself.

We are also to be occupied with the Father's place: “Our Father in heaven.” Heaven is a real place; it is God's home. Jesus came from there, and, when His days on earth were done, He went back there. The Lord would have us school our thoughts heavenward to God's dwelling place on high.

Then, too, we are to be occupied with the Father's purity: "Hallowed be Your name.” God's name is holy and reverend (Ps. 111:9). He exalts His name. He promises to punish those who take that holy name in vain (Exod. 20:7). As a believer approaches God's throne in prayer, he must come with the hallowed name of God upon his lips. He must pay tribute to the holiness of God.

Moreover, in prayer we are to be occupied with the Father's purposes: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It has always been God's purpose to establish a glorious, righteous kingdom here on earth. God anointed Adam to have dominion. Adam, however, surrendered his sovereignty to Satan, so we live in a world where sin and death now reign. Then Jesus came, and the kingdom was offered to Israel, the representative nation, but the Jews rejected the king and worked for His execution at the hands of the Romans. The Lord saw beyond all of that. He saw beyond Calvary to the church age and beyond that to the long-awaited kingdom. God's kingdom purposes have not been canceled, only postponed (Rom. 9-11). So we continue to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10). And come it will one of these days. In prayer, we are to be occupied with these things.

Then, too, we are to be occupied with the Father's provision: “Give us day by day our daily bread.” There is to be bread for today, just as there was manna day by day for Israel of old (Exod. 16). We are urged to pray for our current needs, not for wealth and vast cash reserves. After all, we live our lives one day at a time. God has planned it so: “As your days, so shall your strength be” (Deut. 33:25).

In prayer, we are to be occupied with the Father's pardon: “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.” When we preach the gospel to those who are outside the kingdom of God, we do not say to the unsaved, “If you promise to forgive, you will be forgiven.” We preach an unconditional salvation. We preach the gospel of the grace of God. Grace is unmerited favor; it is getting something that we don't deserve. We preach salvation full and free. However, once a person is in the kingdom of God's dear Son, has received God's grace, has become a child of God, is indwelt by the Spirit of God, is baptized into the mystical body of Christ, and has become an heir of heaven and a joint heir with Jesus Christ, much more is expected of him. Those who are part of the family of God cannot expect to receive forgiveness themselves while they are harboring an unforgiving spirit toward someone else. We must exhibit the spirit of Christ.

In prayer, we are to be occupied with the Father's protection: “And do not lead us into temptation; but deliver us from the evil one.” Certainly, we need to be protected from Satan and from his agents, both demonic and human. We need, just as much, to be protected from the evil that we carry around within our own fallen nature. When a child of God falls into evil, not only is he hurt himself but also he brings discredit to the family of God and does dishonor to the Father.