Son of Man

John 11:^51-52 “He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation. And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.”

John 11:⁴⁴ “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” [KJV]. Jesus had already brought Lazarus back to life, but He chose not to do the remaining work for them. He instructed them to “Loose him, and let him go.” In other words, you cannot raise him, I can raise him. I can loosen the grave clothes from him, but I choose not to. I want you to be a part of this miracle. Most times, there are two parts to a miracle; there is a God part and there is a man part. You have to understand the part you are to play. Jesus said, “Loose him, and let him go”, what if they did not do their part? Lazarus would probably still be bound. They had to do it because that is not Jesus’ work. Can you imagine who would be the first person to rush and loosen Lazarus? Martha for sure. This miracle caused an immediate response.

John 11:^45-47 “Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.” Even though they had been doubting the miracles of Jesus, finally they confessed that there was nothing we could say or do against this one. This Jesus is causing problems, what should we do? John 11:⁴⁸ “If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”  Our temple, in the original, was the phrase this place – this place of authority, this place of dominance; this was just an ego struggle for the leading priests. So they chose to protect it even at the cost of killing an innocent man. What men will do! The crux of the matter was if they allowed Jesus to continue performing miracles, everyone would believe Him which means they would lose their followership.

John 11:^49-50 “Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! You don’t realize that it’s better for you, that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” Even in his evil intent, Caiaphas was actually prophesying. What we can learn from this is, like Jesus said from the beginning, ‘this is for the glory of God’. Even in the schemes of the enemy, even in the things that are supposed to be against you, or your family, or your business, it is going to line up with God’s purpose for your life. Even when Pilate wrote the king of the Jews and they asked him to change it. His response was, what is written is written. This should give you a lot of comfort because your life is not in anybody’s hands. Nobody can decide to kill you, the plan will not work in the Name of Jesus. Study John chapters 12, 13 and 14.

Prayer: [song]: …No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand: Till He returns or calls me home, Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand. Amen!