We continue our study of the Gospel of John. Picking up at verse 36, the Word says:
“Then the Jews said, ‘See how He loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
‘Take away the stone,’ He said. ‘But Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for four days.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God.'” John 11: 36-40
John had written that “Jesus wept”, when He had seen all of the sadness. Here John writes that “once more He was deeply moved”, and He may have wept again, but for sure He was deeply into the pain they felt. He had come to give them a picture of what belief in Him would bring. If they believed in Him, “The Resurrection”, then there would be no need for tears. For in Him, when we leave this body, we do not die. The body only goes away, allowing us to be in glory in His eternal presence. We will receive a new and perfect body when it is time.
As He told them to “take away the stone,” the first reaction was in the natural. Lazarus had been in that grave four days, and by then under ‘normal circumstances’, the body would be smelling. But this was to bring a truth to them, and to us. That truth is: BELIEVE in HIM. Regardless of what you think you see, or what is ‘normal’, Believe in Him. Believe His Word. He came to earth to speak it in person to us. To tell us the truth about what happens at the end of this earthly journey. He told us, and He personally showed us with His life, death, and resurrection.
We recently lost my wife’s baby brother to cancer. The Lord took him out that body within two weeks from when he was diagnosed. We who are still here miss him, but we rejoice in the fact that we know He is with our Lord in glory. We wept, but then rejoiced in his victory over death in Christ Jesus. If he had recovered physically, we would have given praise for that. But since that was not to be, we give praise for the Lord allowing him to come into glory now.
Either way, we see the glory of God when we Believe.