Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

May 15, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO BE RIGHT ON TIME (part 2)

John 11: 3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Before we continue with the personal struggles of this story, let’s deal with the spiritual victories described in verse four.

1. “This sickness is not unto death”
Jesus knew that lazarus’ death was not going to be final. Jesus knew that His own death would not be final. What a picture of salvation. When you and I have trusted in Christ, no sickness will ultimately end up in death. It will end up in heaven. Believers do not ever face death. “Absent from the body” will mean “present with the Lord”. The Lord wasn’t worried about Lazarus’ future, but the family had already planned the funeral. While it appeared that Jesus was too late, He had time to spare.

2. “For the glory of God”
So God says that this sickness was not to be used to show death, this sickness is ultimately going to be used to show the glory of God. God would get more glory to show His power raising Lazarus from the dead, than to simply come and heal before Lazarus died. Jesus was not going to let anything or anybody get the glory in Lazarus’ life except God. That’s how our life is. God is only going to allow and do those things that would give total, complete glory to God. You and I may think that God needs to do something particular, but God might know, if He did, that somebody else would get the glory.

* I Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

3. “That the Son of God might be glorified”
What is interesting is that God never mentioned that Mary, Martha, or Lazarus should get any glory for anything. This was not about their wishes, it was about God’s will. God had purposed that God the Son should be glorified. In fact, Jesus says that if He had been there for Lazarus before he died, others would not have believed:

* John 11: 14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

* Trying to figure God out, and trying to match wits the Creator is like playing a chess match against a chess master, when you have no idea how to play chess. It will not end well. Our priority should always be the same as God’s priority. For Jesus to get the glory.