The Perplexity (John 11:37)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/27/2016 8:48 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  The Perplexity

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  John 11:37

            Message of the verses:  “37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?’”

            We want to begin this SD by looking at some verses in the gospel of John where we see that Jesus polarized the people.  “There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, "He is a good man"; others were saying, "No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray’ (John 7:12).”  “So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him (John 7:43).”  “Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And there was a division among them’ (John 9:16).”  “A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words (John 10:19).” 

            Here is what we saw in verse 35 “Jesus wept” and then in verse 36 we saw “So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!’”  So Jesus was visibly upset over the death of Lazarus, as the crowd noticed, and then because of this the crowds could see that Jesus loved Lazarus, and so they come up with the same things that Mary and Martha were saying, and that is if Jesus would have been there when Lazarus was so sick that He probably could have healed him and then he would not have died, for they go on to say “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?’”  Of course they were speaking of the man born blind that is recorded in chapter nine.  The people remembered that for it had not happened too long ago.  We can see from the verses above that the people had different opinions about who Jesus was, and that still goes on today, for some still say that He was a prophet, a good man, and some even say that He is God, God who came in the flesh.  That of course is the correct way to see Jesus for John writes in 1Jo “5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him,” and in 1Jo 5:5 “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  1Jo 4:2 “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;” 2Jo 1:7 “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”

            I think that it is safe to say that they professional mourners who stated that if Jesus was there Lazarus would not have died were saying this in a way that mocked Him.  They may have been thinking that if Jesus really loved Lazarus that He would have got there sooner so that He could have healed him, so perhaps He did not love him as much as He was showing.  You know if there is a way out of believing in Jesus many people will run to that, for coming to Jesus as Lord and Savior is defiantly a change of life, for Paul writes that “Old things have passed away and all things are new.” 

            John MacArthur answers the question as to why Jesus did not make every effort to make it to Lazarus’s bedside before he died:  “The answer is that God ‘works all things after the counsel of His will’ (Eph. 1:11) and ‘does not give an account of all His doings’ (Job 33:13; cf. 40:2; Deut. 29:29).  Jesus delayed because His purpose was not to heal Lazarus, but to raise him from the dead and thereby bring glory to Himself and to the Father (vv. 4:40).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can learn from this verse that the things that I would want Jesus to do in my life and in the lives of those I pray for may not be what He wants to do, but that what He wants to do will be the best.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).” 

Memory verse for the week:  (Romans 6:8) “8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with Him;”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Pharaoh’s daughter” (Exodus 2:10).

Today’s Bible question:  “What book records the history of the pre-mosaic time?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/27/2016 9:23 AM