Brian Taylor Online

It Will Not End In Death

John 11

1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. 7 Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

…11 …he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” 12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

The rest of the story goes something like this: Jesus goes to where Lazarus is. There He encounters His friends, Mary and Martha, as well as many that are grieving Lazarus’ death.  He witnesses a tremendous amount of grief, questions of why He didn’t come sooner, and even the doubt of some present as to whether He really could really have done anything about it.  Jesus, after grieving at the sight of the suffering they were enduring, then commands that the stone be removed and calls for Lazarus to come out from the tomb.  Lazarus walks out resurrected, and because of that many believe!

There are so many incredible things about this story — the display of power of God over death, the comparison to Jesus’ own death and resurrection, and so much more. I, however, would like to focus on the beginning of the story. As I was reading this, Jesus spoke a phrase that really stuck out to me. In verse 4 he says, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory…”  

Jesus knew full well, as we saw in verse 14, that Lazarus was going to die. Yet he tells His disciples, and as normal I don’t even think they really got it, that Lazarus’ sickness was not going to end in death, but rather that this seemingly terrible situation would result in a tremendous display of God’s glory! Literally, the word that is used in the passage means “to the advantage of; at, near, by; to, towards, with regard to.” Jesus was saying that though no hope was apparent, this situation would not end in death’s advantage. There would be more to the story!

I simply wanted to share a word of encouragement today from my heart on this passage.  There are season of life where things seem to be getting sick and dying — our marriages, our ministry, our relationships, our dreams, the seed of truth we’ve planted in the hearts of our children.  Some things may have already died. Life has left them, and they have been bound up and placed in a tomb for some time (Lazarus was in the tomb for four days before Jesus got there).

These are things that we love, things that Jesus loves, things that we believe He asked us to do. Yet, it seems death has begun waving it’s victory flag and the powers of hell are doing a touchdown dance. The word I feel in my heart is simply this:

Take courage. Even if death has arrived, things will not end there, nor will it end to death’s advantage. No, it is for God’s glory, that we may believe and so that Jesus may be glorified. There is more to the story!

Jesus has power over death — spiritual, emotional, physical, or otherwise — and He has and IS the final word. He IS the resurrection and the life.  If we are centered in His perfect will for our lives, and we believe (just as Jesus tells Martha in verse 39), we WILL see the glory of God displayed! In Jesus Name!

Tomorrow I will talk about a few things that these seasons of life teach us and what we can learn from them!