Gooding, David: The Lord of Space, Time and History

I thought it would not be inappropriate if this morning we thought about our Lord Jesus as he is presented in two stories in the gospel by John that emphasize the fact that he is the Lord of space and time and of the course of history. So let's read parts of those two stories. They are very well known. We shall need solely to remind ourselves of some of their details. The first comes in John's Gospel, chapter four, beginning at verse forty six. um He came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where he had made the water 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 to him, Sir, come down, ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way, thy son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way. Let me pause there. For this story is told us by the evangelist in two parts. And the first part ends with the minor climax in verse fifty, as you see, the man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way. So ends the first part of the story. Now for the second. 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 that hour in which Jesus said unto him, thy son liveth, and he himself believed, and his whole house. So the second part of the story ends, as did the first, with a statement about the belief of this nobleman. And as we read the story and think about it, we shall discover how the man came to believe twice. I understand there is no law against believing in the Savior twice. You'll see. Ha. And, uh, the point that will arise is exactly when the miracle took place in relation to this good man's faith. But with these things in our mind and keeping our thumb into place so that we can find it easily again, let's turn to chapter uh eleven. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her 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, Lazarus, was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was. 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, but they thought that he spake of his taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sake that I was not there. To the intent you may believe, nevertheless, go unto him. Verse seventeen: So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. Verse twenty: Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary still sat in the house. Mary therefore said unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 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. Verse thirty nine, Jesus says, take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou believest, thou should see the glory of God. The signs that are recorded in the gospel by John were recorded there, so we are told, for a distinct purpose. Many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, says the author, that are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And so far, so good. The meaning is clear. The record of these miracles is meant to supply evidence upon which we may found our faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. A moment's thought will show us, however, that in addition to evidence that he is the Christ, the Son of God, the account of these miracles helps us to see what those terms mean. What does it mean that he is the Christ? It's all right, you're convincing me with evidence that he is the Christ, but when you finish convincing me that he is the Christ, I shall come back to you with the question, and what do you mean by Christ? If you say to me that Tom Jones is the best actuary in Lexington, I, with my feeble knowledge of insurance, may come back at you and say, well, I believe what you say, Tom Jones is the best actuary in Lexington, but pray tell me, what is an actuary, for I haven't a clue. You see, you prove to me with the evidence that Jesus is the Christ. What do you mean by the term Christ? Between them, the signs that are recorded here will show us what it means that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And I suggest to you that among the many lessons to be learned from the account of these two miracles from which we have read, is this, these two miracles show us that Jesus, our blessed Lord, is the Lord of space and time and the course of history. This is a vast universe, isn't it, in which we live? So vast that the modern cosmologists and physicists tell us that there is not one universal time throughout the space of our universe, but many different times. And anyway, speed is a relative time, is a relative thing, according as you travel, eh, to a percentage of the speed of light. Thinking about those things sends a chill and a shadow into the hearts of many. It seems too awesome to comprehend. We in our little planet have been traveling this year, haven't we? Traveling at I don't know how many miles an hour round each day. Traveling at other speeds on our yearly journey round the sun, millions of miles. traveling with the sun in the rotating arm of the galaxy that we're in, and then traveling in another direction with the whole of the galaxy, in the direction to which our galaxy is moving, traveling all that length, even though you never got out of bed any day of the year, traveling multi-million miles through space. And of course, it raises the practical question, where are we traveling to? Raises the bigger question, doesn't it, of life and life's travel. For life is a journey in another metaphorical sense, isn't it? And even within the confines of our little seventy years, the matter of the past and the future often loom up in front of us, sometimes with worrying concern. Here's a good mother and wife preparing her husband's dinner. He's coming home from work, she says. And she doesn't know that already there's been an accident, and the man is lying dead on the roadside. It'll take some time for the news to catch up with her. You see, we are, generally speaking, behind things, aren't we? They happen, and then later we discover them. And what has already happened, we don't necessarily know. And that future, now past, is still future to us, and we can't learn of it until some hours, maybe some days' time. That could be a worrying thing, couldn't it? How happy are those that have discovered Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God, for of him it says, not only that all things were made by him and through him and for him, but he is before all things. Not he was before them, he is before them. And seeing he belongs to God's eternity, all things in our space and time do not come after him and do not come before him. He is before them. Nothing will happen to you, my brother and sister, and then he have to learn about it six or seven days later. Ha! He is before all things. By him all things hang together, and we go forward into the future, calm and confident that whatever happens, nothing will happen to his surprise. Nothing will happen before he knows it's going to. He is before all things, and when we find out what has happened, if it should be to us a shock and a grief and a calamity, then let us comfort our hearts with this. He knew it was going to happen. It didn't happen because he was asleep in a boat or something. He is before all things, and by all him, all things consist. Because he is the Lord of space and time and the course of history, we shall look in this first story at the implications, the practical implications it had for a certain man's faith. The story is the first one we read in the Gospel chapter four. We'll say there was a nobleman who lived in Capernaum, and his son was exceedingly ill. Day by day, it seems that he was getting worse, and death loomed on the horizon. He had heard of the Lord Jesus, obviously, and of our Lord's power to, uh, do miracles. But then Jesus was away down Jerusalem, gone to the feast, and seemed out of range of the nobleman at this critical time in his experience. But then, to his relief, he heard that Jesus had come back from Jerusalem and was in Cana of Galilee. At least that was within reach, within reasonable space and distance. He would go to, to what for him now was the sole hope for the recovery of his child. Leaving home, he came down, perhaps by road, perhaps by ship, down the lake anyway, and then up into the mountains and over them and to Cana of Galilee. And finding our Lord, he besought him that he would come down and heal his son, for as he explained to the Lord Jesus, his son was at the point of death. And our Lord replied, the trouble with you people around here is, the verb was put in the plural, not just the man himself, but everybody else. The trouble with you people around here is that except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. And the man got exasperated. Look, Lord, he said, I don't know what you're talking about, but anyway, uh, come and come and heal my boy. You don't come soon and lay my hands and lay your hands on him, he'll die. And Capernaum is some twenty-odd odd miles from here, Lord. Come, and we can talk the theology afterwards. Don't stand there talking theology when my boy is so desperately sick. Come and heal him. And our Lord replied, my dear man, you have misunderstood me. Your boy is well. What do you mean, my boy is well? Well, you asked me, didn't you, to heal him? Well, I've healed him. You've healed him? Yes, says Christ, I've healed him. And what I was saying is the trouble with you people is that unless you can see a miracle done in front of your nose, you're not going to believe, are you? And that's true of you, my man, isn't it? Your boy is well, but you can't see it, can you? Ha, because he happens to be twenty-odd odd miles away. You can't see it. I'm telling you, he's well. And except you can believe without signs and miracles, you're going to have a rough time this next twenty four hours. Except you see signs and wonders, you won't believe. Well, all the worse for you. That won't make any difference to the fact the boy is well. But for your own peace of mind's sake, my dear good man, you'd do well to believe what I say right here and now. And without any sign and wonder that you can see, you'll be well advised to get on your way home. You say, Lord, you're being tough. I mean, can't you see the emotional state the man is in, you see? Um, why don't you give him a bit more evidence, Lord? Now, now suppose you did a miracle right in front of his nose, then he would get the confidence to believe his son was better, wouldn't he? Well, would he? Suppose our Lord had done another miracle, healed a leper or something. What would that have proved? Well, that would have proved our Lord could do miracles. It wouldn't prove that he had done this miracle, would it? The man already knew the Lord could do miracles. That's why he came to ask him to heal his son. He knew he could do miracles. What he was asking him was to do a special miracle, heal his son. And our Lord could have done one hundred and one miracles there and then. That would not have proved that he had healed the man's son. And that put the man on the spot. Distance meant he couldn't see that the boy was well. What should he do? Should he dare believe without seeing the evidence? Should he dare believe simply on the naked word of Christ. And by God's grace, the man believed and got up and went home. How firm his faith was, we may deduce from the fact that he didn't get home till the next day, late on. I don't know what hotel he put up at on the way, or whether he slept under a hedge or something. But, uh, I imagine that in the course of the night, as perhaps a doubt here and there arose in his heart, I wonder if it's after all true. Is it going to turn out true? That he would come back to this in the hours of the night when the mind is a little feeble and doubts arise so easily, but he said it, and that's enough for me. My dear brothers and sisters, there is evidence galore that Jesus is the Christ. But when we believe that, now in Christ's personal dealings with us, we have to learn this necessary thing because he is the Lord of space and time and history. We have to trust him about the future. For him, it's already past. For us, it's still future. We must trust him, and trusting him, journey on through life. We shall eventually, of course, see evidence that what he said at the time was indeed true. There is one spectacular piece of evidence about that. Uh, you believe in heaven? Mm-hmm. And you're on your way there, journey? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. How do you know it's there? Never seen it. And the Father's house to which you tell me that you are going, you've never seen that either, as far as I know. And yet you journey. How comes your certainty? Well, ultimately, you say the Bible says it, but behind the Bible stands the word of our blessed Lord Jesus. You believe in God, believe also in me. I came down from heaven, and I again, I go from the world to the Father, and we trust his word. Without further evidence, if need be. And as we journey on and at last come home, we shall see that what he told us was true. But the story has two parts, as I said. Uh, the man was a very inquisitive kind of amateur theologian, I suppose. He was sure he journeyed home that night that the boy was well because the Lord had said it. But when he got home and the servants ca- came out excitedly to tell him that his son was well, he had a little question, and that made no difference to the boy's health whatsoever, of course. But, uh, the question was this: at what hour did it happen? Mm-hmm. Some people are a bit curious, you know, they're curious even about their own salvation. When exactly was I saved? And some folks can say it was on the tenth of December nineteen hundred and two, and uh, uh, the hour of five o'clock in the afternoon. And then some folks, some folks don't quite know when the hour was. They feel a little uncomfortable. Well, this man wanted to know at what precise hour, not enough to have the boy well, he wanted to know at what precise hour it happened, you see. And he inquired of the servants at what hour he began to mend, and they said, oh, yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. And he started counting on his fingers yesterday, you know, to the seventh. The seventh hour. When was that? And he knew that it was when... Well, when was it? Don't look at the Bible now just for a minute. When was it? He knew that it was when he believed the boy got better. Yes? Well, that's not what the Bible says, is it? He knew that it was when the Lord said, thy son liveth. That's when it happened. That can't have happened like that. Oh. Read the story again, Mr. Preacher. You'll see, um, if you read the story, it doesn't say the man believed early on. It, it says, uh, uh, the man came and said, come and hear my son, and uh, the Lord said, except you see signs and wonders, you will no believe. And then the Lord said, thy son liveth. And it hasn't yet mentioned the man believed. So how could it be when the Lord said it, if as far as the story goes, the man hadn't yet believed? Do you see the point? The first time it says the man believed is after the Lord said, thy son liveth, isn't it? Hm. How do you work out that doctrinal conundrum? Well, what would, what would you have me to think? That a man came and said, Lord, heal my son. And the Lord said to himself, I have a difficulty here. I mean, suppose I say your son, I heal the man's son, and I say your son lives, and then the man doesn't believe. Be difficult, won't it? Hmm, yet come. So I, I think I know what I'll do. I'll say your son lives, but I won't heal him just yet. I'll say your son lives and wait to see if he believes, and if he believes, I'll say righto, and then I'll heal your son. But if I say your son lives and he doesn't believe, then I won't heal the son. How would that do? You'll say, don't be so irreverent, Mr. Preacher. If the Lord said thy son lives, he lived. And many did. Oh, my dear fellow believer, this is exceedingly important. When did it happen? When the Lord said it. Of course, the man had believed before the text actually says he did. Of course he did. What do you think happened when he was by the bedside of his child, and the child thinking now within a few days would be dead? He had tried everything he possibly could. They had all failed. His one hope was the blessed Lord Jesus. And doing what for a father was a desperate thing, turning his back on his child, he left the child and came to Christ as his only hope and called on the name of the Lord and said, come and heal my boy. And it is written elsewhere in scripture that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. When does it happen? Why, when in response to the man's call, the Lord said, thy son lives, then the boy mended. What's all the fuss about believing afterwards? Well, it's a question of the evidence, isn't it? In response to his repentance, giving up hope in all else, and his faith in coming to call upon the Savior, the Lord had healed his boy. Now it was a question of the evidence that the boy was healed. And that's where our Lord called for faith, first of all, faith in the naked word of Christ. Our Lord will a- a challenge us in many an aspect in life, because he is the Christ. He will promise us this and ask us to believe the promise with no more evidence than his naked word. And if we would have peace of mind, we have to learn to trust his naked word. That's no cheat. Later on, as we journey, we shall find the evidence that his word was true. Yesterday at the seventh hour, and he knew it was at the moment the Lord said. What you did, man, he believed. Which I thought he believed before. It doesn't matter how many times you believe, you know. I think sometimes when I get home to heaven and I inquire the blessed Lord, when was I saved? He may well tell me I was saved before the time I think I was. I know for certain when, with my full heart and mind, I dare to trust his word. Who knows whether before, when as an infant I called upon his name. What will that matter anyway, so long as I did believe? And that my faith is founded in the word of Christ. So we have learned that our Lord could heal at a distance. The story of Lazarus' death and then his raising from the dead by our Lord is so well known, I need but sketch in a few of its details. But let me emphasize something in that story full of poignancy. John, as he records it, has not failed to miss it or to emphasize it. This was so poignant. There was a certain man called Lazarus of Bethany, and he fell sick. And his sisters sent a note to the Lord Jesus saying, he whom thou lovest is sick. It wasn't in the form of a prayer. They knew the Lord so well, they thought it was simply sufficient to point the need to the Lord, and the Lord would come and deal with it. Or, says the text, Jesus loved Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus. And then it adds, Jesus loved them, and therefore, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed in the same place. Really? Ah, you say, and we've got the answer to that. You see, we're very good students, and we already got credit for the first part of the course, and now we have just learned that Christ can heal at a distance, you see. Hurrah, hurrah, we can see how the story is going. Uh, Bethany was some way off, and the dear man was sick, but there you are, you see. The Lord can heal at a distance, can he? So he doesn't need to go. He stayed in the same place where he was, and now just presently he'll speak the word, and Lazarus at a distance will be healed. About some days later, he said to the disciples, Lazarus is dead. Dead? And then he added, and I was glad I wasn't there. How can you make sense of that bit? You say, what, Lord, you didn't need to be there. Surely you could have saved him at a distance. What are you glad that you weren't there for? Jesus arrived at, uh, Bethany. It was four days later. And he was already stinky. You say, Lord, this is very perplexing. If you were going to let him die when you could have healed him at the distance, why on earth couldn't you have r- did you say you were going to raise him again? Why couldn't you have done that at the distance? Just spoken the word where you were and let us come out of the tomb. You've left it late now, Lord. When he came four days later to Bethany, Martha came to see him. Listen, Lord, she said, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Lord, said Mary as she came out through her sob. Lord, if you had been here, he wouldn't have died. Take away the stone, said our Lord. Oh no, said Martha, not now, Lord. If you didn't come, you could have saved him, of course, but now don't take away the stone. Don't you know what time does to dead bodies? Change and decay in all around we see. Why didn't our Lord heal him at a distance? Why didn't he raise him at a distance? And the answer, of course, is this. That Lazarus' death was no accident. It was staged for the glory of God. It was to be a great sign. A sign of what? Lazarus died physically. He was raised physically. But his raising again, revivification, if you like, was not the same as the great resurrection when the Lord comes, was it? Lazarus eventually went back to the grave. But that limited raising again was a sign of the bigger thing. You are the resurrection and the life, says Mary. Yes, said our Lord, and he who believes on me, even though he die, yet shall he live again. And he who lives and continues living shall never die. Do you believe that, Martha? He said, yes, Lord. And that is the wonderful fact. Why did he not come? Because the whole thing was staged as an illustration to comfort us, to buttress our faith, to know what is the program for, uh, the resurrection. One day, the dead in Christ shall rise. Those who believe on me, even though they have dead, are dead, they shall rise. And those who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, they shall be changed. Well, observe. When and how shall that happen? Our Lord will not remain upon the throne of his glory and just speak a word, not according to the New Testament. How it will be done is this: the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. He shall come, my brothers and sisters. Oh, Jesus is coming. Sing a glad word coming for those he redeemed by his blood. He shall come with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise. But it won't happen until he comes. And therefore we need the sign to buttress our hearts in the interval. For many of us have already, and some will still perhaps, in this coming year maybe, stand by the de- bed, the bed of a loved one who is seriously ill. And we shall send our note to the risen Lord, can't we? Like Mary and Martha sent their note. Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick. We hope the Lord will intervene, speak a word from a distance, and raise them up again for an extra period of life. Suppose he doesn't, my brother, my sister. Suppose he stays away. What shall we say then? I like that other story of our Lord raising a person from the dead that we find in Luke's gospel. You remember it? This time it was Jairus, and his daughter was desperately ill, and he pushed his way through the crowd and came to the Lord Jesus and said, Master, my daughter is seriously ill, come and raise her up. And the Lord began to go. But as he went, there came this woman, uh, with her chronic illness, and she touched the hem of the garment, and she was healed. Whereupon our Lord stopped and said, somebody touched me. And Peter said, don't be silly, Lord. Look at the crowd around, and you say somebody touched me, that's silly, Lord. No, somebody touched me, he said. Who is it? And he stopped. Uh, uh, I can imagine Anjara getting hotter and hotter, and the temperature rising this. Lord, don't bother, you can come back and be with her. She's been like this for twelve years, Lord. Why can't you wait? My daughter's on the point of death. Come, Lord. And no, our Lord made the woman come out to the front and said, now, my woman, why did you do this? And there was her, uh, telling all the story, and Jairus saying, under his breath, stupid woman, getting in the way and stopping the Lord coming to my house. And then the, the friends arrived from the house, didn't they, and said, Jairus, your daughter is dead, don't trouble the master anymore. What do you think, Jairus? If only that woman hadn't got in the way. And our Lord said, fear not, only believe, and she shall be saved. And then he went to Jairus' house, and at his coming, he raised the sleeping child from the dead. How marvelous, isn't it? You see, the Lord is coming. The dead shall not be raised until he comes. What is more, if he doesn't come for the next seventy years, I and some others sitting here will be gone, won't we? Will it matter? You say, what keeps him? Well, there's a lot of folks in the Philippines need to get saved, what ho? There are millions in China that have never heard. Would you begrudge it to them? And if the Lord keeps busy reaching and saving lost people in the vast continents of our world, and he doesn't come, and we get ill and die, what does it matter, my brother, my sister? He will come. He will surely come, and in his timescale he will not tarry. He will come, and in the meanwhile, if he allows us to pass by the way of death, that's no disaster. We can claim the victory to him because of his resurrection and his coming again. We have the victory, God gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord, and we shall be raised when he comes. So may the Lord bless us and give us that confidence in him as the Lord of space and time and of the course of history, so that we go forward with confidence and peace to the work he gives us in the year that is to come.