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John's Gospel, chapter four, verse forty six. He that is our Lord came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where he made the water of wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said unto him, except you see signs and wonders, you will in no wise believe.
The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down, ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way, thy son lives. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, saying that his son lived. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the hour in which Jesus said unto him, thy son liveth, and himself believed, and his whole house.
This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee. And may God give us good understanding of his word. Now, the evangelist John tells us, does he not, in his penultimate chapter, that the reason why he has recorded in his gospel a series of miraculous signs which our Lord Jesus did, is that we may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life in his name. That, of course, raises at once another question, does it not?
If we are to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, sooner or later we shall have to ask the question, but what do those terms mean? What do you mean by saying that Jesus is the Christ? And what do you mean by saying, and what is implied when you say that Jesus is the Son of God? You see, suppose you came to me tonight and said, you know, uh, Mr. Smith, he's the best actuary in all the state of Queensland. I might possibly reply to you, well, that's very good for you to tell me that, of course.
So he's the best actuary in the whole state, is he? But would you mind first telling me what is an actuary? For it's no good you're proving to me, is it, that Mr. Smith is the best actuary if I don't know what an actuary is. So what is the use of proving to me that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, if I don't know what the terms mean and what the term Christ means, nor yet the term Son of God? And so it is that the signs which are, which John has recorded, as well as our Lord's preaching and conversation, not only tell us and show to us the evidence that he is indeed the Christ, the Son of God, but they also show us what those wonderful terms mean.
Last night we investigated three of the miraculous signs, didn't we? The healing of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, and then the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes, and finally the miraculous walking across the water which our Lord did to come to his disciples in their distress. We found that those three signs combined to show us, among other things, that Jesus is the source of life, as the Father is the source of life. He, the Son, equally with the Father, is the source of life, and equally with the Father, he is the means and the sustainer of life.
Now, tonight we are to take two more signs, and as you have just been warned, we shall take one in our first session, then we shall have a hymn to give ourselves relief, and then we shall have a second session to consider the second sign. And why we ought tonight to consider two miracles is because we need to get a balanced view of the topic that they are dealing with. For among other things, these two miracles will show us that our Lord Jesus is the Lord of space and time and history.
And perhaps as I enumerate those things, therefore, you're going to say in your heart of hearts, well, isn't that rather abstruse and recondite and rather remote from practical living? Maybe it's a nice thought to while away an evening with, but how is that going to help me in my practical living to know that the Lord Jesus is the Lord of space and time and history. Well, before we have finished, we shall find it is an exceedingly practical consideration, and that one that bears in upon our spiritual life at various angles. You see, take this first story that we have just read.
When it comes to its climax, you hear the nobleman much concerned about a particular question. When he arrived home, his servants met him saying, excitedly saying, your son is alive, your son is better, your son is well. And of course, the nobleman doubtless thanked God for that. His son was well, but he still had a question that rose in his mind, and he wanted to know the answer. So he asked the servants, we're told, at what hour did the boy begin to get better? Well, they said, at what hour?
And they counted it up on their fingers, and they said, let's see now, yes, yes, yes, yeah, oh, it was yesterday at the, uh, at the seventh hour that your son took a turn for the better. In fact, immediately he was made well. And then it was the man's time to do a bit of counting, and he said to himself, now yesterday, yesterday, now wait, let me see, yesterday at the seventh hour, what was happening yesterday at the seventh hour? And he worked it out, and he knew that it was precisely when the Lord Jesus said, thy son lives. It was precisely at that moment, uh seven o'clock yesterday, that according to the servants, the boy, uh, recovered.
And the father, therefore, was interesting, and we shall find out why in a minute, interested to find out exactly when, at what time, what day the boy was well. Now, you may have never have been troubled about that yourselves, but I've known many believers troubled with a similar question, and that is, when were they saved? Now, you hear the really, um, McCoy, uh, testimonies, don't you, from many a preacher. He's asked to give his testimony, and before he got saved, he beat his wife, and he gambled on the horses, and he knocked policemen about, you'll see, and raided banks and engaged in witchcraft and goodness knows what else, and got himself into prison, and then he got converted, you'll see.
Oh, he could tell you the day, the hour, and the moment he got converted. And the likes of me sit in the pew saying, goodness me, that's a marvelous testimony, isn't it? No wonder I don't get asked to give my testimony, because I haven't got anything that can match that at all, you'll see. Now, when was I converted? What exact hour, day, or night was it, you see? There are some people that would tell you, don't they, if you can't tell the exact hour and moment and second on the clock when you got converted, perhaps you're not converted at all, you see. And because of that, I know many believers worried. They don't often tell other people about it, but they do get worried. They'll tell me sometimes in confidence, you know, I, I can't tell the exact moment when I got converted.
You think I'm saved? That's a very practical point, isn't it? When was I saved? You ask me, of course, to put your minds at rest. Uh, when was I saved? I shall say, well, consciously I came to faith, uh, when I was a boy of ten, you'll see. It was a very humble and simple thing when I got converted, but there you are. I believed the Lord Jesus, and since then, by his grace, I've never doubted my salvation from that day to this. But I have a sneaking feeling that when I get home to heaven, the Lord will tell me I was saved a long while before that, you'll see. And I can think of potential occasions when perhaps, yes, I did trust the Lord in my childish way, and I'm not quite sure it'll matter when I get home to heaven whether I was saved once, twice, or three times.
You know what I mean, don't you? You will only get saved once, but which was the time that I actually trusted the Lord, whether it was earlier or the later one? I can tell you this, by God's grace, I'm saved now anyway and on my way to glory. But it is a practical problem. And in addition, there were more things that troubled that good nobleman, and we shall see them then as we go over the story together. The Lord Jesus as the Lord of space and time. So then the story goes that this nobleman, this court official, his boy took desperately ill, and doubtless he got all the help he could get from the medical men of his day, but the boy grew steadily worse.
Unfortunately for him, or so it seemed, the Lord Jesus had gone away on a journey down to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival there, the religious feast of the Lord. But presently new hope revived in the father because he heard that the Lord Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, and now it became a practical proposition for him to go and seek out the Lord Jesus and ask the Lord Jesus to come from wherever he was and lay his hands on the boy and heal him. Of course, it was a desperate decision because the boy was now hovering on the very brink of death. And the Lord, and the man heard that our Lord was in Cana, whereas he himself was in Capernaum.
Taking courage in both hands, he said goodbye to his wife and his boy, not knowing whether it be the last time he would see the lad, and took his journey, and I can't tell you whether he came down the lake by boat and got off at Tiberias, or whether he came down the coast road and from Tiberias or elsewhere went up the hills and across the hills and eventually came to Cana. But it was a considerable journey, I suppose about twenty or more miles, and every step for that father, I suspect, was an agony. Would he get there in time? And when he asked the Lord Jesus, would the Lord come? And if the Lord came, and it took them all that while to get back to Capernaum, would the boy still be alive when he got there?
But anyway, he had it in his mind, and he came to the Lord Jesus at last, and he said to the Lord, would he come down? Come down, he said, please, Lord, if you will, and heal my boy. And you can sense the tension in the man's voice, can't you? The Lord Jesus turned round and said at s- something that at first was incomprehensible. He said, except you see signs and wonders, you people around here, you will not believe, will you? And you can see the man getting desperate, can't you? And a look of puzzlement come over his face.
What on earth was the Lord saying now? Lord, he said, don't stop there talking theology, if you don't mind. We can talk theology afterwards, but Lord, my boy is on the very brink of death. Come down, Lord, and heal him. Then we can talk the theology or the doctrine or whatever it is you're wanting to say, but don't stop now. Come down and heal the boy. And the Lord says, it's all right, my man. Your boy is well. Your boy lives. I can see the astonishment come across the man's face. What do you mean, my boy is well? Well, you asked me, didn't you, said the Lord?
You asked me, you asked me just now, didn't you, to heal your boy? Well, I have healed him. You have healed him? But, but don't you have to come down and, and, and, and put your hands on the boy and, uh, say some words and, uh... No, I don't have to do that, says the Lord. He didn't, did he? Because, you see, he was the Lord of space. Space ma- space makes no difference to him, does it? I don't know how far you think heaven is away from where you sit on that seat tonight, but thank God it doesn't matter anyway.
You can be at the North Pole or the South Pole or in the middle of Australia if you like, but you only have to kneel and pray, and the distance is instantaneously covered. He is the Lord of space. And oh, thank God he didn't have to go those weary miles down the road to Capernaum, for if he had had to, the boy might have died before he got there, yes? He could just say the word, the man heard him say it. He could just issue the command, and being Lord of space, the boy those thirty miles off was healed in an instant. And he said to the man, you see, your boy's well.
What I was saying was, he said, you see, that, uh, the trouble with you people around here, and our Lord used the plural form of the verb, he wasn't just complaining at the man himself, he was talking about people in general. He said, the trouble with you people is, you'll see that except you can see signs and wonders, you, you won't believe, will you? You've got to see before you believe. And that being so, my good man, if you're not prepared to believe without seeing signs and wonders, you're now going to have some difficult hours, aren't you? Because your boy is well, but you can't see he's well, can you? Because a man couldn't see from Cana to, to Capernaum, obviously.
So, what will he do now? He can't see the boy is well. So is he going to believe the Lord and just take the Lord's naked word for it, and so have peace of mind? Or is he not going to believe the Lord? It won't make any difference to the fact the boy was well, but it'll make a lot of difference to the man's peace of mind, won't it? What will he do? And perhaps you say in your heart, well, why wasn't the Lord Jesus a little bit merciful, you see?
Poor man, he's a father and distraught in his heart. Why didn't the Lord do a miracle right in front of the man's nose so the Lord could see it, and, and, and, and then the man would be able to believe the Lord's word? That wouldn't work, would it? Suppose the Lord had done a miracle right in front of the man's nose and cured somebody. That would only prove that our Lord could cure, could cure ill. It wouldn't prove, would it, that he had cured that boy in Capernaum. There was nothing for it, you know. The man had to believe just the naked word of Christ without seeing any evidence.
And so it comes about in life, it did for that nobleman, that there are situations in life, are there not? When everything will depend on our willingness to believe the Lord's naked word and go on our journey without seeing any evidence, at least for the time being. And it says that that point the man believed the word of the Lord Jesus, and you can see he did, can't you? If he hadn't have believed, he'd have kept kneeling there and say, but oh Lord, come down and heal him. That would have been not faith at all, would it?
To carry on praying like that would have been a form of doubt, wouldn't it? The evidence that he believed the word of the Lord, your son lives, was that he stopped praying, got up, and walked away. Acting now in faith upon the word of the Lord Jesus. I don't know what he did that night, for you notice from the story he didn't get home till the next day. Whether he walked all through the night, I don't know, or whether he put up in a cheap hotel. He didn't get back until the next day, did he? I suspect, you know, as the hours went by and he was making his way home, and the doubts would come flooding back, well, I wonder if it's really true, is my boy well or not?
It wouldn't have been any good relying on feelings, would it? He would comfort himself, but the Lord Jesus said so, full stop. So he proceeded without any evidence except the word of the Lord, but when he got home, there was evidence in abundance, wasn't there? The servants came out to meet him, and uh, they said, sir, your boy's well. Here now was the evidence, because the Lord's word was true, and sooner or later there would, of course, inevitably be, thank God, solid evidence that you could see. But the man was interested not only that his boy was healed, but as we said earlier, he was interested in another question.
When was that boy healed? When exactly? And in addition to that question, I've got one for you as well, and that is, when did the man believe? The text says he believed twice over, doesn't it? For it says, you'll see in verse, uh, uh, 50, that when the Lord Jesus said, go thy way, thy son liveth, the man believed the word that Jesus spoke, and he went his way. So there's number one, believing. And then when he got home, good man, verse fifty three says, and himself believed and his whole house.
So that's number two, believing. Mm, I don't know how many times you're allowed to believe, do you? Anyway, this man believed twice, uh, on sheer counting. But tell me, when did he first believe? Because this is an important point. Uh, the boy was made well, according to the later account, when, well, when was it? When the man believed? Or when the Lord spoke? When was it? The father, it says, recognized, you see, he knew it was the hour in which he himself believed.
No, doesn't say that, does it? The father knew that it was at the hour in which Jesus said unto him, thy son liveth. It was when the Lord spoke. But then if you look back in your chapter, the order of events is this. The Lord said, thy son lives, and then the man believed. Doesn't it? That's what it says. Was that right? I mean, didn't the man have to believe first? And then the Lord say, your son lives. Or was it, you think, that the Lord said to himself, now, this man has asked me to heal his son.
Well, now, let me see now. I'll say your son lives, but I won't make the boy well just yet. I'll say your son lives, and uh, then see what the response is, and if the man believes, then I'll, then I'll heal his son. But if I say your son lives, you know, pretend that's so, and uh, see what the man does, uh, uh, and he doesn't believe, then I'll say, well, of course he wasn't w- well after all. That can't be that, can it? No, surely it can't. So when did the man believe? Did he get the gift of the healing of his son before he believed? How do you read? Well, I tell you what my answer to the question is, Josie.
I think it is this. There are two things necessary for salvation, aren't they? They are repentance and faith. And I want to suggest to you that that man both repented and believed before he even left home. You just, uh, you just, uh, think about what happened. Here was his son, desperately ill. He'd used every means he knew how, and now the boy was sinking slowly and surely to death. And you imagine how a father would have felt at the moment. To leave his son and risk the fact that before he got home, he'd never see the boy again.
That must have been a heart wrench to the father, mustn't it? But he came to the conclusion, there was only one hope. It was this or nothing. Only one hope would be Jesus. That must have been a struggle, for to go to Jesus meant leaving every other hope and setting out to seek the Lord. That's repentance, isn't it? Abandoning hope in all else and deciding that your only hope is in Jesus Christ.
That is repentance, and that is faith. And listen to the man, he comes, Lord, says he, come down and heal my boy. And scripture says, doesn't it? Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And God is true to his word. Whoever thus calls, meaningfully, of course, in true repentance and in true faith, owning the Lord has his only hope, he has no other hope, and calls on the name of the Lord for salvation, then the Lord is true to his word. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But you see, the man had to believe the boy was saved, and we come back to our first point, without at once seeing any evidence, didn't he? Just the naked word of Christ, and he was asked to journey the long way back home without any other evidence, save the word of the Lord. And you say, what's it got to do with me? Well, perhaps I speak to a young convert tonight, I don't know. Or somebody worried about whether they are truly saved or not, and you can't remember the date or the hour, as the preachers say, and you wonder, well, well, well, why, I wish I could say the date and the hour.
Oh my good friend, the Bible word stands, doesn't it? And here is an example of it. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Would you like to see a lot of evidence? Yes, but sometimes the Lord asks us, doesn't he, to take him at his word, for that is the fundamental thing. If we don't believe God, we've made him a liar, you know. And in the nature of things, sometimes there can be no other evidence for the time being than the naked word of the law.
It is as we journey on through life, and the results of salvation begin to work themselves out in our lives, that we begin to see the evidence, do we not? But at the first, it is the naked word of Christ. Oh yes, but then I look at you, a silvery-haired, uh, uh, venerable believer sitting in front of me. You're going to heaven, aren't you? Mm-hmm. What evidence have you got for the existence of heaven, may I ask you? How do you know it's there? Have you been? You haven't seen it yet?
Well, what evidence have you got for its existence? And you've made it the whole goal of your life, you're traveling with might and main and deliberate step towards heaven, you say, and you haven't even seen the place. How then do you know it's there? You're journeying, aren't you? On the naked word of the Lord. In that state, if ever it comes that you are called to pass over through death, you'll go out into the great eternity with nothing but the word of the Lord, that there is a heaven, and he's waiting for you there.
Ah, we better learn the lesson right now, hadn't we? He's the Lord of space, you see. He can save at a distance. He's the Lord of time, and because he is, we often ourselves, limited to space and time as we are, have to take him simply at his naked word and journey on the strength of it. And then, and then, and then, later comes the evidence, and we do what the man did, don't we? We we believe again. Well, why not? Go on believing, my brother, as the evidence piles up? Believe a thousand and one time.
You've got a lot of time in eternity, and you'll be believing God every minute of all the whole of eternity. Shall we not? As all the wonders of his love and grace unroll before us, and we shall find ourselves saying, yes, well, that's what the Lord said when we were on earth, you know, and we kind of believed it, but, but, but somehow or another we we believe it more now anyway. So be as ages to come, he shows you the exceeding riches of his grace towards you. What it is to know him who is the Lord of space and time, and indeed of eternity.
And that's the one lesson. But there is another. And when we first hear it, it won't seem to fit very well with the lesson that we have just learned. But courage up, we'll sing a hymn before we face our second lesson. Second story, shall we turn to John's gospel, chapter eleven to consider again the lovely and well-known record of the death and the raising again of Lazarus. It comes in John chapter eleven. We have known it maybe over many, many years, but tonight we're going to read it in the light of the story that we have just studied.
It too will tell us that our blessed Lord is the Lord of space and time and of history. But as we read it in the light of that earlier story, we may at first find that it raises certain questions and difficulties in our mind. For if one thing stands out about another in that first story we read, it was this, was it not? That our blessed Lord was able to heal at a distance. He didn't have to go to Capernaum to heal the nobleman's boy.
He could stay where he was in Cana and heal the boy and stop him from dying without having to go all the miles to Capernaum. And we've learned that now, haven't we? That is one of the major lessons we've learned. He doesn't have to be there to stop the boy dying. But now you listen to the story. It's John chapter eleven. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and his sister Martha. And it was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. But when Jesus heard it, he said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed at that time two days in the place where he was. Well, that won't matter, will it? Because, uh, he can heal at a distance, you see. We've learned that much.
Hm. Then after this, he saith to the disciples, let us go into Judea again. Verse eleven: these things spake he, and after this he saith unto them, our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. The disciples therefore said unto him, Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death. They thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not.
Well, wait a minute. What difference did it make whether he was there or not? Thought he could heal at a distance and stop people from dying at a distance. What is this? Nevertheless, he says, let's go unto him. Thomas, therefore, who is called Didymus, said unto his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary still sat in the house. Martha, therefore, said unto Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died. And even now I, I, I, even now I know that whatever thou shalt ask of God, God will give unto thee. Jesus said unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Verse thirty two: Mary therefore, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
And this is no mere academic problem, is it? You listen to the grief in the voice of those sisters. When Lazarus had sent a note, uh, when Lazarus had died, they sent a note tactfully written, Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick. An unspoken prayer, wasn't it, that the Lord would come and save Lazarus from dying. And the days went by, and he didn't come. They'd reason to know he'd received the note. Then why didn't he come? Before he came, Lazarus died, and their tear-filled, puzzled voices said to him twice over, oh Lord, why didn't you come?
If only you'd come, Lord, Lazarus wouldn't have died. And I thought he was Lord of space and time, and we did our best to learn our lesson in the first half, didn't we? And thought we'd got it, that because he's Lord of space and time, he can heal at a distance, and he can stop people dying at a distance. What shall we make of it? Well, anyway, the raising of Lazarus is by some people thought to be the very biggest of all the miracles that our blessed Lord Jesus performed when he was here on earth.
After all, Lazarus had now been in the grave four days, and if you know what the eastern Middle Eastern sun does to a dead body, and you think of how Lazarus would have been in the grave after four days, that our blessed Lord should raise a man from the dead who four days had been in the grave was certainly a stupendous miracle. But then, as we think about it, we shall remember that this miracle, like all the others that our Lord did, was only a sign, wasn't it? It is one of the signs, the miraculous signs that John has recorded.
And that means that as great as the miracle was, it was pointing to something even bigger. Let me illustrate what I mean. The multiplication of the loaves and the fishes that we thought about last night was certainly a miraculous thing, wasn't it? A miraculous multiplying of the loaves and the fishes. But great a miracle as it was, it was a sign that pointed to something infinitely bigger. It pointed to the great reality that our Lord Jesus is the bread of life and is the living bread.
And similarly, when our Lord did a miracle and gave to the man of John chapter nine his sight, when the man had never seen before, that was a great miracle, but it was only a sign. It was the sign of the greater thing that our Lord Jesus could give to people who are spiritually blind. He could give them spiritual sight. And now we come to Lazarus and his being raised from the dead, and great a miracle as it was, it was a sign of something bigger. But of what was it a sign? And the answer is what our Lord Jesus told to Martha and Mary when eventually he came, uh, to Bethany.
When Martha came to him, she said, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died, Lord. And the Lord Jesus replied, thy brother shall rise again. And Martha, perhaps with a bit of impatience in her voice, said, I know that, Lord, I know that. Always known that. I suspect Martha was a good Pharisee, don't you? Not a bad Pharisee, a good Pharisee. Uh, she certainly wasn't a Sadducee. Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection, but Pharisees did. And I suspect Martha was a good Pharisee if she wasn't an Essene, and of course she believed in resurrection. And when the Lord Jesus said, your brother is going to rise again, Martha, well, she said, of course he is, Lord, I know that.
He'll rise again at the last day. But of course, the last day is a long, long, long, long way off, isn't it? And Lord, it would have been nice to have my brother with me a little longer, and if only you had been here, he could have been, you know, Lord. And now I've got to wait till the last day before I see him again. And you can hear the sorrow and puzzlement in her voice, can't you? Lord, if only you had been here. And our Lord picked up her response at the last day. Listen, Martha, he said, I am the resurrection and the life.
And then what he said next, we shall have to be very careful as we translate it. Do be careful if you have an ancient version, that glorious and wonderful version, the authorized version, will be a little bit difficult unless you translate it into modern English just at this point, for everything turns on the tenses of the verbs that our Lord uses. And this is what he said to Martha: He who believes on me, even if he dies, not though he were dead, no, the Greek says, even if he dies, yet shall he live.
And whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die. Do you believe that, Martha? You believe he'll rise again at the last day, but do you believe this that I'm telling you, that I am the resurrection and the life? He who believes on me, even if he dies, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die. And how shall we understand that? Two groups of people are envisaged. The one, both are believers, of course, he that believes on me in both sides, in both groups, it's talking about believers.
Two groups of them, and of the one group it is said, he who believes on me, even if he dies. What do you mean, even if he dies? Don't all people die? Well, no, they don't actually. And we know it from later revelation, don't we, that we shall not all sleep, thank the Lord. No, indeed. It is always an even if he or she die, for we, none of us might die, might we? For we shall not all sleep, says Paul, I show you a mystery. For the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel.
Certainly the dead which are in Christ shall rise first, but then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. They shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Oh, let's pause a minute and rejoice before the Lord, shall we? We shall not all sleep. Oh, joy, oh, delight, should we go without dying. No weakness, no pain, no darkness, no crying. Caught up with the Lord in a moment into glory when Jesus returns for his own.
Yes, we shall not all sleep, but he who believes on me, she who believes on me, even if he dies, yet shall he live, in the fullest sense of that word. For in the New Testament, the verb to live is very often used of resurrection. For this cause Jesus died and lived, meaning he lived again. So even if he dies, yet shall he live when the Lord comes.
And he who keeps on living and doesn't die, but of course we're talking about believers, he who lives and believes on me, but he who keeps on living shall never die. That is, the person who keeps on living until the Lord Jesus comes, shall never die. I am the resurrection and the life. And how wonderfully he phrased himself, didn't he? Not saying I will raise the dead, though he will do that. He said that in John chapter five, but I am the resurrection and the life, from which we learn that our loved ones who have passed on and are believers, they are in Christ, aren't they?
They're in him. I don't know, and I don't know that anybody knows just exactly how will God work the resurrection, do you? For the bodies that we lay in the grave go all to dust, don't they? And yet we believe in the resurrection of the body, and what the connection is between the body that is laid in the grave and the body that comes out, perhaps we couldn't fully understand if we were told the imagery that Paul uses is of a corn of wheat that falls into the ground, and then it dies, but then it comes up again, and God gives it a body even as it pleases him.
There is a connection. And the wonder is, of course, that when the resurrected body rises, God will know how to put it together again, won't he? And my good sir, it will be your body and not somebody else's body either. It is true, of course, isn't it, of our present bodies, even now tonight in this place. The cells in our body, apart from our brain cells, are constantly changing. So for the most part, the cells that are now in your body weren't there ten years ago, you'll see, that were a different lot of cells. They have gone, and there's a new lot of cells. And marvelously, uh, God in his great wisdom, his creatorial wisdom, manages to keep the same, uh...
pattern of cells, doesn't he? He knows their coding, you know. He knows how to arrange the DNA and all the rest of it, doesn't he? Does God? And he knows what goes up to make you, you. He knows the coding. And beyond that, even though your body going to the grave, the real you is with Christ, and what is more, in Christ. Oh, we do say, don't we, when we bury our loved ones, we say we've lost them. We oughtn't to say we've lost them, though we know what we mean, don't we? They're in Christ.
When a little child gets tired and fretful and can't put up with life's multifaceted experience anymore, it's too much for his little temperament to take. Mama gets him, doesn't she, and she puts him to bed, and the child goes to sleep for the time being. And the parents don't come downstairs and say, we've lost Johnny, do they? We've lost him. You can't talk with him now. Of course you can't. You can't have a living conversation with the lad, but you've not lost him, he's only sleeping. Thus, for our loved ones that have gone, their body lies in the tomb, they sleep, but they themselves are in Christ.
He has all that computes them. One day he will raise their very bodies. Marvelous, isn't it? So what are we saying now? We're saying that the resurrection of Lazarus was a miracle, but it was a sign pointing to something bigger than itself. You see, when all is said and done, Raz- Lazarus is being raised from the tomb was only a resuscitation, wasn't it? He didn't come out with a body of glory, like unto our Lord's glorious body, for even our Lord had not been raised from the dead yet.
He came up in an ordinary body, just as he had had before, and after the years, he presumably died again and went into the grave. It was only, at best, a resuscitation. But it was a marvelous demonstration, wasn't it? A miracle of resuscitation that pointed to the greater thing of what shall happen one day when the trumpet sounds and the dead are raised incorruptible, and we are changed. Well, if that was a sign, then we have a question to ask ourselves. How much of the story, how much of the detail of the story is meant to be part of the sign, if it is a parable pointing forward to the Lord's coming?
Well, the first bits obviously are, are, are, are meant to be part of the sign, isn't it? For when, uh, the sisters sent the word to the Lord that Lazarus was sick, they were expecting him to come and heal him and stop him dying. He didn't come. And then he said to the disciples, you know, he stayed in the place where he was, and we say, but well, it's not going to make any difference because we just learned that he can save at a distance, he can, he can stop people dying at a distance. But he didn't. He let Lazarus die. And he had to tell the disciples plainly, Lazarus is dead.
And then he added, I'm glad I wasn't there. And we say to ourselves, what do you mean, Lord, you're glad you weren't there? Because you could have, you could have saved him from dying at a distance. What do you mean you were glad you weren't there? Why didn't he go? And why didn't he leave it until he actually came to Bethany before he raised Lazarus? And the answer is simple, isn't it? For in the great reality, he is not going to raise the dead at a distance, now is he? No. You see, when our loved ones take ill, we do like Martha and Mary did, don't we?
We don't send a note, we get down on our knees, perhaps, or we ask the church to pray, and we send a message to the Lord, and we say, Aunt Emmalina or whoever it is, Lord, you know she loves you and she's sick, Lord, look upon her, and if it's your will, heal her. And he may choose to intervene and heal miraculously, or he may not. But I tell you this, if he doesn't come back for the next, uh, seventy five years, some of you are not going to be here anymore, are you? If he doesn't come. You say, I hope he comes. I hope he comes. I hope he do think it was coming, I, next week perhaps, or next year.
Well, that would be lovely, but suppose it doesn't come, my brother, my sister. I say, as I say, if it doesn't come for the next seventy five years, some of you are going to die, aren't you? Why do you think he let Lazarus die and stayed where he was and let him die? Because he wanted to teach us a lesson and in the end build our confidence. He may not heal Aunt Emmalina, may he? In fact, he might remain in glory for the next ten years, twenty years, fifty years, who knows how many. And we ourselves may die, and still the Lord haven't come.
And he wanted us to know the pattern. If that happens, you needn't be surprised. It's all right. There's no disaster. God's plans haven't gone wrong. He may not come. Yet. And you know, even when it comes to the resurrection of the body, the Lord is not going to sit on his throne in glory, is he, and issue the command that the dead in Christ are to rise and the living be caught up and taken to heaven. No, no, he's not going to do it that way either. How and when will the dead be raised? Well, I tell you, the Lord himself shall come. That's how it's going to happen.
The Lord has got to come before the dead are raised, and that's why he enacted the whole thing in parable, wasn't it? Lazarus wasn't raised until the Lord came to Bethany. That's how it's going to be, my dear brothers and my sister, and the plan is there so that we shall not grieve and think all things have gone wrong if he should allow us to pass away before he comes. He's the Lord, you see, of history. And though it was important that, uh, Lazarus would be raised again, he, he couldn't, uh, live for nineteen centuries, could he?
And Martha and Mary had to resign themselves that he and they eventually would go to the grave because the Lord had multitudes of folks down the century to save, even some, you know, in Bundaberg itself, living in the 20th century. And aren't you glad? Aren't you glad he let Martha and Mary die and, uh, waited for you to come so you too could be saved? And if the Lord had many more thousands to save, would you mind dying, my brother, in the interval? It'd be no disaster, would it? Because that's the plan of things. He is the Lord of history, the Lord of the centuries, and therefore that demands that many of his people shall pass away and sleep until he comes.
And so at length he came to the grave with the two sisters saying, Lord, if you had been here, my brother hadn't died. And he came to the grave and ordered the stone to be removed. What a poignant moment that was. Oh, don't do that, Lord, said Martha. You can feel her distress, can't you? By this time, she says, he stinks. What time does, doesn't it, to a dead body? Change and decay in all around we see. Death is a terrible thing, isn't it?
By this time, says Martha, he stinks. You know, we live in a dying world. The way they count time now is to measure it by the decay of an atom, don't they? We live in a decaying world. Ah, but let's not look at it like that, shall we? Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, you see, and our way of looking at it, taught by the Lord Jesus, is that the dead are asleep in Jesus. And I love that word, cemetery. I hope you like the word cemetery. It sounds in English a dull, dreary, horrible, off-putting word, doesn't it, cemetery?
But actually, in Greek, it's a very nice word, you'll see. Cemetery in English is but the Anglicization of the Greek word kemite- kemeterion, kemeterion, meaning a bedroom, a place where people sleep, koimedarion in classical Greek, a place where people sleep. And the early Christians who spoke Greek called it that because they'd been taught by the Lord Jesus that the loved ones who were believers in him, when they passed away and they laid their bodies to rest in Mother Earth, the place where they laid them to rest was a bedroom, a place where people sleep, a koime terion, a cemetery.
Yes, so though that part of the story is significant, isn't it? And we now have to ask ourselves whether the rest of the story is significant, for that wasn't the end of the matter, was it? For our later on, our Lord presently withdrew, and then as the great Passover festival drew near, he came to the city for his public and last visit to his capital city, Jerusalem. On the third visit to Jerusalem, he had come deliberately in secret, so chapter seven says. But on the final visit, he didn't come in secret. He came with the tremendous publicity of the coming king.
And the order of events was this. First, six days before the Passover, he came to Bethany, where was Martha and Mary, of course, and Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, and they made him a supper. And then after that he came out and catch- having the do- g- taking the donkey, he rode on it into Jerusalem, and they hailed him coming, blessed is the king that comes in the name of the Lord. And the whole of Jerusalem went out to meet him. Then when the Pharisees and the Sadducees saw what was happening, they said to one another, perceive you how you avail nothing.
The whole world is gone after him. Lovely, isn't it? And unless I'm a Dutchman, that too is a part of the parable. For when he came as king, they first made him a supper in Bethany. And Martha was there and Mary, and they hadn't been through death, but Lazarus was there, and he had been through death, and now reunited with the Lord Jesus, they made him a supper at Bethany. Oh, surely too, that's a picture and a prototype of what shall be, for when the Lord Jesus comes again, there shall take place the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The believers shall be there, those that have gone through death and those that have not gone through death, reunited at last in the Father's home on high, we shall attend the marriage supper of the Lamb. Then, just as the Lord Jesus came on the donkey, cla- proclaimed as king, one day we shall see him coming again, can't we? This time not on a donkey. We shall see him coming in the clouds of heaven. Oh, what a wonderful sight that was. Can you picture it as the people in Jerusalem stood at the eastern gate, and then they saw coming over the brow of the Mount of Olives this wonderful procession, the thousands upon thousands of our Lord's disciples that had collected behind him on his road down from Galilee.
And now, as he took the donkey, they put their clothes in the way, and they waved their palm branches, the great multitude, and they cried, Hosanna, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. What an exciting thing that would have been to stand in Jerusalem and see the king coming. Have a greater sight than that to see, have we not? For one day the Lord shall come in all his glory. Oh, Jesus is coming again. Sweet as the promise, as weary years fly, oh, I shall see him descend from the sky, coming for me, for me.
After that, he shall put down all rule and authority, and he shall reign from shore to shore, the world will be under his feet. That is the program then. Now we must come back in these fi- final moments with a jolt, mustn't we? We must come back to earth. I said those details in the story, they were but signs. They weren't the real thing, of course. Lazarus went back to the grave, didn't he? His resurrection only a picture, only a sign. And at the supper, though it was delightful with Martha and Mary and the Lord and his apostles, and Lazarus raised from the dead, some at the supper grumbled and criticized, felt the ointment was far too expensive and costly to waste in sacrifice for the Lord.
And though the crowd the next day welcomed him and said, Hosanna is he that came in the name of the Lord, a few days later, and he knew it, they would shout for his crucifixion. At best, these events were only pictures, weren't they? Only visions of what could be, but as yet wasn't the reality. What would it take to turn those pictures, those signs into reality? There came some Greeks to worship the Lord Jesus, and as they came, our Lord Jesus turned, and he said as follows: Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abides by itself alone, but if it die, it bears much fruit.
He that loveth his life loses it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. And can you imagine the scene? Blessed Son of God himself. Lord of space and time and history and eternity. Now facing on the streets of Jerusalem the reality of the cross.
Yes, he had known it from all eternity. Knowing it in eternity is one thing, isn't it? And knowing it by experience here on earth is a another and very different thing. And now, if this had to be the price of turning the vision into reality, the question necessarily arises, was it worth it? Was it worth it? What would you say? Martha and Mary were nice two dear sisters, weren't they? And Lazarus, he was a good fellow.
But was it worth it? For God's son to fall into the ground like a corn of wheat and die. If you had been he, would you have done it? Tell me, my brother, my sister, have you got round to thinking yet and asking yourself, was it worth the Lord dying to save you? How do you value yourself? Are you so vastly important that you think the Son of God was, well, it was well worth it, Lord, saving me.
Would you talk like that to the Lord? What shall I say, says he. To turn Martha and Mary and Lazarus into the great shining redeemed princes and princesses that they shall be in glory was going to cost him his death. Who of us would have the impertinence to tell him, Lord, it was worth your while doing it? And if to come to his kingship at last, he first must die. Why ever didn't he choose the alternative road and blot out this planet like a man squashes a mosquito?
Start again. And he stood on the Jerusalem street contemplating the thing. Was it worth it? What shall I say, says he? Father, save me from this hour. But then for this cause came I to this hour. And if now he didn't go through with Calvary, the whole of creation came to an end in utter and abysmal meaninglessness and defeat. The thing that made it worthwhile, according to him at this moment, was this.
Father, he said, glorify your name. So that multitudes of men and women might come to see God as God really is, and be drawn back to God, and be reconciled and forgiven, made into heavenly princesses and princes against the day of his coming again. Glorify thy name. And there came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. And he went through with it. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us its comment for the joy that was set before him.
He endured the cross and despised the shame, and is now sat down at the right hand of God. There's an epilogue, isn't it? My brothers, my sisters, if these visions of the future of which we have thought tonight are going to be turned finally into complete reality, we too have a part to play, don't we? Listen to our Lord again. If any man serve me, let him follow me. Where to?
Follow me in the process that the corn of wheat must die and fall into the ground, else it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit. Oh, my dear brothers and my sisters, you don't need an Englishman to exhort you. The fact is self-evident, isn't it? But you elders in this church, you know. We're not perfect yet, are we? All sorts of grumblings go on underneath the surface at the Lord's Supper, don't they, now here on earth, in many a church. And if that church is going to be transformed into the image and glory of God, it will require you elders, will it not, to be willing to sow yourself in the ground and die, my dear brethren.
To invest your time, to invest your gifts, to invest your very life in the pastoring and shepherding and teaching of the church. It's our Lord's own invitation and command, isn't it? He went to Calvary and was sown in the very ground to bring forth the harvest. And I want my men to follow me, says he. Any man follow me, serve me, let him follow me. Oh, and you, my dear sister. Shall we turn the vision to reality and train the younger women, as Holy Scripture exhorts you, the true meaning of Christian faith and Christian life in the family, in a world that becomes ever more corrupt, where the family is being destroyed ever more every year.
How are we going to transform our young folks, by the Lord's grace, into devoted believers and more like the Lord each day? It'll mean sowing ourselves, won't it? Dying, giving all we have. And my dear brothers and sisters, God help us, for if we don't go out with the gospel and give ourselves according to our varied abilities, to the reaching of the lost, then the word of the Lord will come true. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it will abide alone, won't it?
And the church will die out. Is it worth it? The sacrifice that will be required of time, talent, money, energy, and all the rest to translate these glorious visions of the Lord's coming into the reality that he will want them to be. And as I speak to you, I speak more to my own hearts. How soon life has gone by.
I thought, and it seems now only a few years ago, I was going to do so much, and suddenly life was near its end before I had scarce begun. Oh God, help me before the Lord come to take all that I have and am and sow it for God, lest keeping my life in this world, I lose it and stand alone when the Lord comes with nothing but my naked soul saved and no other gift to bring him.
So may the Lord bless his word to our hearts and use it for our encouragement and use it as an exhortation to nerve us to the fight, for the eternal glories gleam afar to nerve our faint endeavor. So now to work, to strive, to war, and then to rest forever.
