WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday January 31, 2016
Over 95,000 readers worldwide
larrydalexander.blogspot.com
THE DEATH OF A FRIEND
(This life is not the final act of the human drama)
(John 11:1-44)
The
sins of Adam and Eve ushered into the world, “physical death”. By contrast, the resurrection of CHRIST JESUS, offers into the world, “spiritual
life”. “I AM the RESURRECTION and the
LIFE” is the fifth of JESUS’ seven great “I AM”
statements
that are found in the Gospel of John.
The resurrection of
CHRIST marked the start of a new age in human
history that is still present today, because JESUS is still LORD over all of life, both the physical, and the spiritual. When
we accept the cup of salvation that JESUS offers, the end of
physical life becomes the beginning of a much more anticipated spiritual life of eternity in Heaven in the glorious
presence of the ALMIGHTY GOD.
In the gospel according
to the Apostle John, in chapter 11, taking up at verse 17, we see JESUS arriving at Bethany some four days after HIS friends,
Mary and Martha, had summoned HIM by
messenger. They had sought JESUS out to tell HIM of the declining health of their brother Lazarus, who was also a close
friend of JESUS’. They had wanted JESUS to
hurry to Bethany so HE could heal their brother from what turned out to be a fatal illness.
The day that JESUS got
word of Lazarus’ illness, HE informed HIS
disciples that the illness would not result in a permanent demise, but rather, would be an event staged by GOD for HIS OWN
glorification. And so they lingered on where they
were for two more days before making the two-day
journey
to Bethany, just a few miles outside of Jerusalem.
When Martha got word
that JESUS was near, she ran down the road to meet HIM. When she came to HIM she said to HIM, “LORD, if you had been here
my brother would not have died. But
even now I know that GOD will give YOU whatever YOU ask”.
Here we see in this
statement by Martha, that, even in the short time since
JESUS had begun HIS ministry, it had already become quite noticeable that
nobody ever died while HE was around. It is
a statement that was later echoed by her sister Mary, as soon as she came upon JESUS at the burial site of her brother
Lazarus.
We, as Christians, are
all too well familiar with the ending to this, now famous, biblical account of what was then considered to be, JESUS’
greatest miracle. “I AM the RESURRECTION and
the LIFE” is what JESUS said to HIS friend Martha in John 11:25. For JESUS
is LORD, over both, the “physical” and, the “spiritual” life. Our
belief in HIM infuses in us a spiritual life that will persists, even after death. That is why the greatest miracle of JESUS was not
raising Lazarus back to the physical life,
because we all know that, Mary and Martha’s brother would again die. The greatest miracle was, and is, in JESUS’ power to
grant endless spiritual life to those,
who believe in HIM. JESUS goes on to tell Martha that, “those who believe in HIM, even though they die like everyone else, will live
again. They are given eternal life, just
for believing in HIM, and will never die. And HE then asked HIS friend, “Did she believe?”
In John 11:27 Martha
makes what I consider to be, one of the great “confession statements of faith” in all the annals of New Testament biblical
history. Here she states, “I have always believed YOU
are the MESSIAH, the SON of GOD, the ONE WHO has come into the world
from GOD”. Here she confesses three things about JESUS that are paramount to our understanding the theology of
Christianity.
·
First, we must
understand that JESUS is the MESSIAH, WHO died on the cross at Golgotha for our
sins.
·
Secondly, we must know
that HE is the SON of the LIVING GOD, and the most precious thing that GOD
could give us as a sacrifice, simply because HE so loved the world that HE
created.
·
And finally, we must
know that JESUS is the only ONE WHO was qualified as a perfect sacrifice, which
is GOD’s unwavering requirement for sin.
Salvation for us was the
reason that GOD sent HIS only begotten SON into the world. JESUS had to be born of woman, so that HE could die for all
mankind in general, and all Christians, in particular. This story of JESUS’ raising Lazarus from the dead, back into the physical life, presents us with a perfect
picture of what JESUS does spiritually for all who
choose to believe in HIM. But in our case, we will be raised into a spiritual eternal life, never to die again, as Lazarus
would later do. And we will live in the very presence of the ALMIGHTY GOD in Heaven, as no doubt, Lazarus now is. We will
be forever removed from the deadness of sin in this life, and placed into an
eternity of love and joy, with CHRIST JESUS our LORD, in the life to come.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
Website
No comments:
Post a Comment