God’s Gift

John 11:⁴ “But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” (emphasis added)

Jesus’ statement is very profound. If you are a child of God, you can safely conclude that what you are going through will not end in death. What you are going through will end in God’s glory. Am I saying that people will not die? Of course not. What I am saying is like God’s Word says, “All things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to His purpose.” [Rom.8:28]. So, you may be in a tight place, you may be in a situation that does not even make sense. But hold on to God because it is going to work for your favour in Jesus Name, that is the message Jesus has for us in John 11:4.

John 11:^{7-8, 16} “Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?” …Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.” Thomas is someone we do not give enough credit in scriptures. We call him doubting Thomas, making him look like a whip. All the disciples were convinced that Jesus was going to be killed in Judea. But Thomas was the only one that said, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.” Another thing we see from these verses is that Jesus did not allow fear to cage Him or to dictate His movement, where He could or could not go. As followers of Jesus, fear should not dictate our movement. There may be people that want to stone us or people plotting for us, but we will move by God’s Spirit and not by fear in Jesus Name.

John 11:^11-14 “Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!” They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. So, he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” Jesus always refers to death as sleep and the early Church used the same terminology. They would say, ‘We are not going to die, some will sleep. Those of us that sleep, Jesus will wake us up in the resurrection morning’. Really, Christians do not die, we sleep, and everybody that sleeps wakes up. Mark 5:³⁹ “He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”. Jesus will use the phrase, ‘raise you again’ and it means, ‘I will wake you up again’. Some of our loved ones that have gone to be with the Lord, God is going to wake them up again.

John 6:^39-40 “And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.” Also, read John 6:44 and 54. Christians should not be afraid of dying because we never really die, we only sleep.

Prayer: Father, I thank You for the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus and I thank You because my life is for Your glory, in Jesus Name. Amen!