The timid believer looks at danger rather than the mind of Christ John 11:8-15Verses 6, the perfect timing of the Son of God.
John 11:6 When therefore He heard that he was sick, He stayed then two days longer in the place where He was.
John 11:7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
John 11:8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?"
John 9:4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.
“while it is day” – one day actually, any day. Also the day refers to His incarnation; “the night is coming when no man can work” – the night is His physical death when it is all over.
He can’t work after that. The day here, then, refers to the believer’s whole Christian life.
When that is over through death or the Rapture there is nothing more for you to work as a priest and ambassador.
The only chance you have to concentrate on doctrine as over against the danger is now. You won’t have this chance in eternity because there will be no problems in eternity.
John 11:6 When therefore He heard that he was sick, He stayed then two days longer in the place where He was.
John 11:7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
John 11:8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?"
John 11:9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
Jesus refers to a little sarcasm here. The twelve hours in the day refers to the normal work day. It’s daytime so we work, period.
Walking in the day refers to forward progress. To the disciples this is forward progress in the plan of God for their lives. That plan required them to go to Bethany in spite of the danger.
But because they are concentrating on the danger only, they stumble as if they were walking at night.
If a person only sees danger in his work day then he isn’t going to accomplish anything. Walking out the door there is danger.
Crossing the street there is danger. There are hundreds and hundreds of phobias. Fear is one of satan’s number one weapons against the hearts of men. Phobias only lead to a sedentary life. This is not the life of the believer priest. He is in full time Christian service.
If he is going forward in the plan of God for his life then he will see the light of the world. This is very significant here because the Lord, just a few months ago, told them and everyone in the temple that He was the light of the world.
John 8:12 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."
And that’s what He said to them, “Let’s go!”
Timid believers make no progress in the spiritual life. If you think the Lord is telling you to do something through your own daily intake of doctrine then go for it. Don’t look at the dangers and then self-justify some lame excuse as to why you cannot. Don’t look to others for confirmation, they are not priests for you, they are only priests for themselves.
Rev 1:4-6 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
John 11:10 "But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
Walking in the night is analogous to walking without Christ, therefore you are not focusing on doctrine but on the problems you’re currently handling.
If you concentrate on the problem instead of BD then you will stumble.
The light in you is Christ in you – the light of the world.
In the CA every believer is indwelt with the deity of JC, however not every believer walks in the light, therefore this reference is to the mind of Christ in you, which is CA mystery doctrine.
John 11:11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep."
No one had told Jesus while He was in Perea that Lazarus was death. The last message He heard was, ‘Lazarus is sick; come quickly.’ No one came and brought another message that said Lazarus is dead, but Lazarus is dead. How did Jesus know that Lazarus in a suburb of Jerusalem was dead? He is God, that’s why!
The humanity of Christ would have no way of knowing but the deity of Christ knew it. When He says that Lazarus is dead He is talking from His deity, not His humanity. In His deity He knew the moment Lazarus died.
And this is going to be one of the most significant deaths ever. And, not that this is about any of us, but there will come a time when our death is upon us, whether we know it or not, God does, and if you are His son, it’s a precious time to Him because we’re coming home.
Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His godly ones.
But what Christ says to the disciples they didn’t understand.
At this point they didn’t doubt that He was God. They have seen six signs to prove that He is God.
Here is the point: What Jesus says is what Jesus thinks.
At that time not one jot or tittle of the New Testament had been written and the New Testament therefore was what Jesus said!
Remember that the Bible is the mind, the thinking of Jesus Christ, and what Jesus said to the disciples is like reading a Bible.
You have to come to the place where you say what Jesus said is more real than anything in the world. You read what Jesus says in every line of the Bible! All of it is His mind.
“Our friend” – philos, the strongest word for love.
It is rapport love. We understand by this that one of the closest friends that Jesus had during His earthly ministry was Lazarus.
What a compliment to Lazarus! Jesus enjoyed him. Question: Would Jesus have enjoyed you?
“has fallen asleep” – perfect passive indicative of koimao, a verb which is used not for sleeping but for death.
It describes death under two conditions. Koimao refers to the body. The body sleeps; the soul never sleeps. (Soul sleep is a heresy)
The reason the verb koimaw is used for death is because of two things: a) This body will be resuscitated; b) every body is going to be in a resurrection body.
So physical death for the believer only is described by koimao, never the unbeliever.
It means the body sleeps, not the soul; and in resuscitation (Lazarus) the soul comes back into the old body and he lives again on the earth in his body of corruption.
In the resurrection the soul goes back into a new body which will live forever and last forever. The body sleeps in anticipation of resurrection. Acts 7:60; 13:36; Matthew 27:52; 1 Corinthians 7:39; 11:30; 15:51; 2 Peter 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:10. John 11:11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep."
“I go” – present active indicative of poreuomai. It means to go from one place to another. In this case it means to cross the border and go back to where the dead body is located.
“that I may awaken him” – aorist active subjunctive of exupnizo.
The subjunctive shows that this is a purpose clause, that’s all. There is no potential here, it is going to happen. Jesus has a purpose in crossing the border; He is going to wake up Lazarus.
This verb does not refer to resurrection, it refers to resuscitation.
Bringing back Lazarus from the dead will be the seventh sign of Messiahship.
John 11:12 The disciples therefore said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
Verse 12 – “Then said his disciples, Lord,” kurios means deity. One thing they do not question is the fact that He is God.
“if he sleep” – ‘if’ is a 1st class condition; they accept it as true. Jesus said it; they accept it.
1st class condition: the reality of the words of Christ. 1st class condition to us: the reality of doctrine.
However, believing in a wrong interpretation only leads to confusion. They think that Lazarus is literally sleeping and that Jesus wants to walk 15 miles to wake him up.
Believers can believe the stupidest things when they’re living in fear.
When they say, “he will recover,” they use the future passive indicative of sozo means he shall be delivered or saved from his ailment.
‘He’s sleeping, he’ll recover, he’s saved, and we don’t have to go back Lord.’
John 11:13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.
John 11:14 Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead,
John 11:15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him. "
And it is here that we see the real reason for this miracle. It is the seventh credit card that will fully reveal His Messiahship but the main goal of this miracle is to increase the faith of the disciples.
Every miracle is designed to hit a target. That target is the soul of the observer. Sometimes certain observers are targeted, and although many unbelievers will see this miracle and a certain portion of them will come to a saving faith because of it and the message, the main target of this miracle is the doubting souls of the disciples.
Matt 16:4 "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah." And He left them, and went away.
|