Participants:
Series Code: PJU
Program Code: PJU190007A
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00:03 Were the people in the Bible any different to us today?
00:10 Or ordinary people like you and me? 00:21 What can we find out 00:23 from their lives that will help us? 00:29 Find out with Pastor Geoff Youlden 00:31 and Rosemary Malkiewycz here on People Just Like Us. 00:38 Death is something that touches every one of us. 00:41 If you're alive, 00:42 you can be sure that sometime you're going to die. 00:46 We just don't know when. 00:48 Today we will be discussing what happens 00:50 when we die through a story found in the Gospel of John. 00:54 And Pastor Geoff is here to lead us 00:56 through this topic. 00:58 Welcome, Geoff. 00:59 Thank you very much, Rosemary. 01:00 It's good to be here. Good. 01:02 I'm glad that you're here with us 01:03 because this is an important subject. 01:05 It is an important subject 01:06 and it's a very thrilling subject actually. 01:08 And it's a very thrilling story. 01:10 It's one of the largest stories in the New Testament. 01:14 Yes. 01:15 Jesus enacted with... 01:18 Our friend Lazarus, was Jesus' friend Lazarus. 01:21 And so we want to talk about him. 01:25 Maybe, 01:26 you know, one evening after working in the vineyard 01:30 or perhaps after visiting Jerusalem on business, 01:35 Lazarus was feeling very unwell. 01:37 His two sisters made sure 01:39 he went to bed early that night giving him, 01:41 you know, the medicine that they thought that he needed. 01:44 But when he woke up in the morning, 01:46 he was no better. 01:48 The next day the sisters did, I guess what we'd all do, 01:52 called the doctor. 01:55 Who left a few more potions for him to take 01:58 and then the following day 02:00 when he was no better the sisters were very worried 02:02 and they said to one another, 02:04 "If only Jesus was here." 02:07 But Jesus wasn't there, 02:09 He was far away on the other side of the Jordan River. 02:13 So they did the only thing that they could do in those days. 02:15 They sent a messenger to find Jesus and tell Him. 02:19 They did not ask the messenger to say, 02:21 "Come at once." 02:23 But they said that he said, 02:24 "Whom you love is very sick." 02:27 And they left the rest to Jesus. 02:30 When Jesus got the message, 02:31 He said to the messenger and to the disciples, 02:34 in John 11:4, 02:38 and perhaps we ought to read that, 02:39 Rosemary. Yes. 02:41 John 11:4, 02:44 and if our viewers have got their Bible handy, 02:47 you might like to open it to the 11th chapter of John, 02:50 because that's where we're going to get 02:51 our story from today. 02:53 Verse 4, it says, "When Jesus heard that, 02:56 He said, 02:57 'This sickness is not unto death, 02:59 but for the glory of God, 03:01 that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'" 03:04 Well, that's good to know it's not unto death, 03:06 obviously, he's not going to die. 03:08 Well, that's what you would immediately think, 03:10 wouldn't you from what Jesus said. 03:12 And I would imagine that that sounded very strange 03:15 to the disciples, 03:18 because to all intents and purposes, they thought, 03:23 well, he's not going to die. 03:24 That's why there was no rush to get to Bethany. 03:28 But He immediately waited another two days. 03:32 And once again, 03:33 the disciples would not have thought 03:34 that that was very unusual, 03:36 because it was not unto death. 03:39 And He was busy. 03:40 Yes, very busy, 03:42 you can just imagine the crowds around Him wherever He went. 03:44 Now, back at Bethany, 03:46 the two sisters were worried sick 03:48 and distraught over the turns that poor Lazarus was taking, 03:53 as they were sitting by his bedside 03:56 of their brother. 03:58 Another friend was out on the fork of the road 04:01 where the road comes up from Jericho. 04:04 It's actually, Rosemary, 04:05 a very steep climb coming up from the Jordan River 04:08 up to Jerusalem and... 04:11 To Bethlehem to Bethany there. 04:13 Yes, to Bethany. 04:14 And it's the road to Jerusalem really, 04:17 Bethany is on the other side of the Mount of Olives. 04:19 Yes. But... 04:21 It is very steep. 04:23 Very steep and you need to be fit back in those days 04:26 because everywhere you went, you had to walk. 04:29 And as I said, 04:31 the Jerusalem is about 2,500 feet above sea level. 04:35 And the Jordan is about down 04:39 there would be around about 600 feet below sea level. 04:44 So it's quite a climb, 04:46 coming up. 04:47 And every time they saw the crowd, 04:50 you know, coming up the road they thought, 04:53 this is Him, this is Him. 04:55 But as the group got closer they were disappointed again. 05:00 And it's interesting 05:03 that as we listen to Jesus' statement 05:08 a little further on here in verse 11, 05:11 that says, "These things He said, 05:15 and after that He said to them, 05:17 'Our friend Lazarus sleeps, 05:20 but I go that I may wake him.'" 05:23 Because what happened is that Lazarus died 05:26 and they buried him 05:28 in this tomb cut out of the rock. 05:30 And it's very common back in those days 05:33 to actually bury the person in a tomb in the rock, 05:37 and then on the mouth of the tomb, 05:39 they would have a rolling stone. 05:42 If any of our friends want to go to Jerusalem, 05:46 opposite to the King David Hotel, 05:49 there is a very clear illustration 05:53 of a tomb with a rolling stone in front 05:55 Well, actually, I've got a photo of one 05:56 because when we were in Israel, 05:58 they were excavating. 06:00 There it is on the screen now. 06:02 There were excavating the road there 06:05 and as they were preparing to build for the road, 06:08 and they were digging out the side of the hill, 06:11 they found a tomb that had been 06:14 underneath all the earth 06:16 over the centuries the earth had covered it 06:18 and now they found it again. 06:19 So it's right just off the road, 06:23 just a couple of meters. 06:25 And they've preserved it now. 06:27 And so our bus driver stopped on the road 06:32 just for a couple of minutes so we all had our cameras ready 06:35 so we could take photos 06:36 and it was just marvelous to see 06:38 it because this is the same sort of tomb 06:39 that Lazarus was in and Jesus was in. 06:42 The same one with that big, 06:44 round rock to roll like a doorway. 06:46 There it is, there. 06:48 It's a very clear picture that one. 06:50 And it's there right by the road, 06:51 we saw it. 06:52 And the one that 06:55 I saw opposite to King David Hotel 06:57 has been used as a latrine. 06:59 And so the stench inside, 07:02 it wasn't particularly inviting, 07:05 and I didn't want to stay in there too long. 07:07 But you can see that 07:08 the different niches in the rocks 07:09 where they would have different family members had been placed. 07:13 Very real and helps us to understand 07:15 the story here in John 11. 07:18 And as He said, Jesus said in John 11:11, 07:22 "These things He said, after that He said to them, 07:25 'Our friend Lazarus sleeps.'" 07:28 In other words, when He talked about Lazarus, 07:33 He didn't just refer to him as dying. 07:35 He did mention that he was dead, 07:38 but He calls death here a sleep. 07:40 Yes. 07:42 Now I find that very, 07:43 very interesting because as you read the Bible through, 07:47 you will find time after time, in fact, 07:50 55 times in the Bible, 07:52 which is a lot of times 07:55 that the Bible refers to death as a sleep. 07:59 You know, when you go to sleep, Rosemary. 08:03 We don't know anything because, I mean, 08:06 you... 08:07 I wake up in the middle of the night, 08:09 and I have no idea how long I've been asleep 08:12 until I look at the clock. 08:15 I look at this when I had an operation 08:17 and I was talking to the people in the operating theatre 08:20 and the very next moment they were saying, 08:23 wake up, wake up. 08:24 It's all over and I'm going, 08:26 "What are you talking about?" 08:28 I had no idea that I had been through the operation 08:31 and now I was coming out of the anesthetic 08:33 in the recovery ward. 08:34 Yes. 08:36 And I thought this is what it is like when you die 08:39 and Jesus comes again. 08:40 It's like the very next moment. 08:41 It was a wonderful experience as far as that goes. 08:44 Well, I love the way the Bible expresses. 08:47 In fact, let me just read you a couple of other verses 08:50 on this very point 08:51 before we get back to the story of Lazarus. 08:54 In 1 Thessalonians 4 08:59 here Paul writes the 4th chapter 09:03 and verse 15, it says, 09:05 "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord..." 09:08 God is speaking here, 09:10 Paul is saying, this is what the Lord says, 09:12 "That we who are alive 09:13 and remain until the coming of the Lord," 09:17 so may the Second Coming, 09:19 "will by no means precede 09:20 or go before those who are asleep." 09:25 So, God has said... 09:27 This is not just Paul speaking, 09:28 this is God saying, 09:30 those of us who are living on the earth 09:33 when Jesus comes back 09:34 are not going to get to heaven 09:35 before those who are asleep. 09:40 "For the Lord Himself 09:42 will descend from heaven with a shout, 09:43 with the voice of an archangel, 09:45 and with the trumpet of God. 09:47 And the dead in Christ will rise first." 09:51 So the very first thing that's going to happen 09:53 according to the record is that when Jesus comes back 09:58 then the dead in Christ are going to rise first, 10:01 then we who are alive and remain... 10:05 So there's going to be a whole generation 10:06 who are alive when Jesus comes back. 10:09 "We who are alive and remain 10:11 shall be caught up together with them," 10:14 that is the dead that have just been raised, 10:16 "in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, 10:19 and thus we shall always be with the Lord." 10:22 And Paul adds here, 10:24 "Comfort one another with these words." 10:26 Yes. 10:27 And what a wonderful comfort they are. 10:29 And I just love the idea of sleep 10:31 because when our loved ones die, 10:35 and we see them dead, 10:37 they just look like they're asleep. 10:38 They do. 10:40 And that's exactly how the Bible describes death. 10:42 And that verse in Corinthians 10:46 that all of us know well 10:49 who listened to Handel's Messiah. 10:54 Here in Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians 10:57 and I want to pick it up in verse 51 10:59 where the Bible says, "Behold, 11:03 I tell you a mystery. 11:05 We shall not all sleep," there it is again, 11:09 "but we shall all be changed, 11:12 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, 11:14 at the last trumpet. 11:16 For the trumpet will sound." Yes. So 11:19 It doesn't happen before that. 11:20 The dead are not going to be woken... 11:21 until the last trumpet sounds It's going to be 11:23 Yep. 11:24 They won't be changed until the last trumpet. 11:26 Correct. 11:27 "For the trumpet will sound, 11:29 and the dead will be raised incorruptible, 11:33 and we shall be changed. 11:35 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, 11:39 and this mortal must put on immortality." 11:42 So this actually takes place 11:44 when Jesus comes back when the last trumpet sound. 11:48 And so when Jesus returns, 11:50 it's going to be a very noisy event. 11:53 Sometimes people have thought that the coming of Jesus 11:55 is going to be very secret, 11:57 that there's nothing secret about blowing the trumpet. 11:59 No, that's right. 12:01 And with the voice of the angels and so forth. 12:03 And all these people coming up out of the grave. 12:04 Absolutely. 12:06 There would be a tremendous amount of noise. 12:08 You know, our... 12:10 Even secular world recognizes 12:14 that what the Bible saying here is true. 12:16 For example, 12:17 you've been to the cemetery like I have, 12:19 Rosemary, and we see on some graves, three letters. 12:23 Yes. What are they? 12:24 Rip. Rip, yes. 12:26 Which simply means rest in peace. 12:30 So long, long ago, 12:33 it was always taught by the church. 12:37 That's why they still have it on the traditions, 12:40 continues on in many areas 12:43 where the words rip because the person is resting in peace. 12:46 They're not riding in hell or somewhere else, 12:49 they're resting in peace, 12:50 whether they're good or bad. 12:51 And they're not sitting on a cloud playing a harp. 12:53 Correct. 12:55 Another, you know, 12:56 the word cemetery is an interesting... 12:58 It's an old English word, old Latin word, 13:00 which means to lulled the sleep, 13:02 you know our English word cemetery. 13:05 And so when we get to a cemetery, 13:07 when we use that word, 13:09 we're saying they have been lulled to sleep, 13:12 they're asleep. 13:13 So our very terminology today 13:16 is it agrees with what the Bible teaches. 13:20 It's very unfortunate that many of us 13:22 have been influenced by Greek paganism, 13:26 in the teaching of this immortal soul. 13:31 But the Bible doesn't teach that, 13:32 the Bible teaches that when we die, 13:34 we sleep. 13:36 And, of course, 13:37 going back to the story of John 13:39 and Lazarus in John Chapter 11. 13:43 We find that Jesus finally arrives 13:47 back in Bethany, 13:49 and it's now four days have gone past since He... 13:54 Since the message came through, 13:55 and He died. 13:57 So there's been a long period of time 13:58 and it says here in the 11th Chapter of John, 14:03 and I'm going to read verse 17 when I can find it, 14:08 John 11:17, it says, 14:12 "So when Jesus came, 14:13 He found that he had already been in the tomb four days." 14:20 You know, we got to remember something too that, 14:22 over in those countries, they back... 14:24 Especially back in these days, 14:26 they didn't have freezers to keep the body. 14:29 No. 14:30 That's why they buried their persons quickly. 14:36 Yes. 14:38 And it's still practiced by... 14:39 In many countries. 14:41 By Middle Eastern countries today, 14:43 because it's a tradition that's been held, 14:44 right from the days when they didn't have freezers. 14:47 Well, some of the hospitals I know when we were in Nepal. 14:50 Some of the hospitals still don't have proper mortuary. 14:53 No. Yes. 14:54 They have to... 14:56 Well, in Hinduism, 14:57 they have to cremate the day they die. 14:59 There's no way of holding the body somewhere. 15:01 No. 15:03 Well, this is true in the days of Jesus. 15:05 Now, it says here in verse 18, 15:07 "Bethany was near Jerusalem, 15:09 about two miles away." 15:11 As I said, it's not very far. 15:14 "And many of the Jews had joined 15:17 the women around Martha and Mary, 15:19 to comfort them concerning their brother." 15:21 And you can just imagine this, 15:22 you can picture it in your mind. 15:24 Their friends were there to comfort 15:27 like we would do today. 15:28 Well, it says there were many 15:30 so obviously they are a very popular family. 15:32 Well known. Yes. 15:33 "Then Martha, as soon as she heard that 15:36 Jesus was coming, went and met Him, 15:38 but Mary was sitting in the house." 15:42 And so that it says in verse 21, 15:45 "Now Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, 15:49 if You had been here, 15:51 my brother would not have died.'" 15:54 What a condemnation. 15:55 Well, I don't know 15:56 whether she was saying it as a condemnation. 15:58 I think she was saying as a matter of faith "Look, 16:00 if you had been here, 16:01 this thing would never have happened." 16:02 Yeah, why weren't you here? 16:04 why weren't you here? Because... 16:05 That's what I mean by the condemnation. 16:07 Yes. 16:08 Why weren't you here? We sent you a message. 16:09 It's a very human reaction. 16:11 It is. 16:13 And verse 22 says, 16:15 "But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, 16:19 God will give You." 16:21 You know, she had a tremendous amount 16:22 of faith in Jesus, didn't she? 16:24 She did. 16:25 And, "Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' 16:29 And Martha said to Him, 16:31 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection... 16:34 at the last day.'" 16:35 So that's what we've just been reading 16:36 about in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4. 16:41 Correct. 16:42 And once again, 16:44 Mary and Martha knew very well 16:46 that they would see their brother 16:48 in the resurrection. 16:49 That "Jesus said to her, 16:53 'I am the resurrection and the life. 16:54 He who believes in Me, 16:56 though he may die, he shall live. 16:59 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. 17:03 Do you believe this?'" 17:04 That sounds like a contradiction of terms. 17:07 And I used to have a problem with verses like that. 17:11 I remember someone showing me the state of the dead one time 17:14 and it just all made sense. 17:16 Now I understood what the Bible said. 17:18 But then one time I heard about the second death, 17:21 which I hadn't known anything about in Revelation Chapter 20, 17:25 I think it is, 17:27 talks about the second death and with the second death, 17:30 it's the penalty of sin, 17:33 whereas this sleep is a consequence of sin. 17:38 And so Jesus is saying here, 17:40 "He who believes in me though he may die, 17:43 he shall live." 17:44 So if we believe in Jesus, 17:46 though we die a physical death, 17:48 and we are put in the grave or cremated, whichever, 17:52 that we shall live again when Jesus comes 17:55 but then in the next verse He says, 17:57 "And whoever lives and believes in me 17:59 shall never die." 18:00 I mean, but then He's just saying 18:01 in the verse before that He's shown He may die, 18:04 you know. 18:05 And I thought that's a contradiction 18:07 until I learned the second death. 18:09 Because the second death is the death 18:12 that the believer in Jesus will not die. 18:14 Well, the second death is the eternal death. 18:17 That's right. 18:18 There is no resurrection from that. 18:20 This, the death that we all experience 18:21 here on earth but then there's another death 18:23 that we don't experience if we are followers of Jesus. 18:27 And that's what that verse is talking about. 18:30 Then the story goes on. 18:32 Thank you for that, Rosemary, 18:33 that's very good. 18:34 Then the story goes on to say in verse 32, 18:36 "Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw him, 18:39 she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, 18:41 'Lord, if You had been here, 18:43 my brother would not have died.'" 18:44 So isn't that what the sister said? 18:46 She's saying exactly the same as Martha had said. 18:51 Maybe they'd rehearsed 18:53 it in their minds many times before He came. 18:54 I'm sure they said to one another 18:56 "Why isn't He here? He can heal him." 19:00 He would have still being here. 19:01 So I'm sure they were... 19:03 He heals everybody else, 19:04 why doesn't he heal our brother? 19:06 Well rehearsed, yes. 19:07 And 30, verse 33 says, 19:12 "Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, 19:15 and the Jews who came with her weeping, 19:17 He groaned in His spirit and was troubled. 19:20 And He said, 'Where have you laid him?' 19:23 And they said to Him, 'Lord, 19:25 come and see.'" 19:28 And then it says, verse 35, 19:31 this shortest verse, 19:33 "Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, 19:35 'See how He loved him!' 19:37 And some of them said, 'Could not this Man, 19:40 who opened the eyes of the blind, 19:42 also have kept this man from dying?'" 19:46 Isn't it interesting that Jesus wept. 19:49 Yes. Yes. 19:50 Well, that's a very interesting comment, 19:55 and we need to talk about that in a moment 19:59 because it does show that Jesus was human, doesn't it? 20:02 Well, He was God but He walked among humanity 20:05 as a human being, 20:07 and so He felt the same as we feel. 20:09 But He was able to... 20:13 As a human being, 20:15 be touched by what we go through because of death, 20:19 because of sin. 20:21 Death is an enemy, it wasn't God's plan. 20:23 Yes. 20:24 And so Jesus felt our pain 20:27 and our grief at losing a loved one. 20:30 He knew what it was like, 20:32 from being one of us not, 20:34 you know, he would have lost Joseph. 20:38 And who will... 20:39 Who else knows what other loved ones 20:42 or close people that He actually experienced 20:44 losing in life? 20:46 But He was well aware of how we feel. 20:51 Well then it goes on to say 20:52 because we're now getting to the kernel of the story, 20:56 verse 38, that says, 20:57 "Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, 20:59 came to the tomb. 21:00 It was a cave, 21:02 and a stone lay against it." 21:04 It's like we saw in the picture. 21:06 "Jesus said, 21:07 'Take away the stone.'" 21:10 I find that interesting because, 21:12 I mean, Jesus could have said "Stone rollaway" 21:14 and it would have just rolled away. 21:17 But once again, 21:18 it shows how Christ always works with us 21:21 in the story of salvation as He does in the story. 21:24 "Take away the stone," He said. 21:26 And it wasn't something that was impossible 21:28 for another person to do 21:29 so He wasn't going to use divine action 21:32 to do something that could easily be done. 21:36 And then Martha becomes very practical, she says... 21:40 "Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, 21:42 'Lord, by this time there is a stench, 21:44 for he has been dead four days.'" 21:47 "Jesus said to her, 21:48 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe 21:51 you would see the glory of God.' 21:53 Then they took away the stone from the place 21:56 where the dead man was lying. 21:58 And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, 22:00 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 22:04 And I know that you always hear me, 22:07 because of the people who are standing by, 22:09 I said that they may believe that You have sent Me.' 22:12 And when He had said these things, 22:14 He cried with a loud voice, 22:17 'Lazarus, come forth.'" 22:19 And I can just hear that voice of Christ calling Lazarus. 22:24 It's a sound of triumph. 22:26 Absolutely. 22:28 And I think, Rosemary, 22:29 if Jesus had not said, "Lazarus, 22:34 come forth." 22:36 Every person who had died in the Lord 22:38 would have come forth. 22:40 If He said, "Come forth" 22:42 then all of the dead would have been raised. 22:44 But He located Specific. 22:47 Yes, the specific name Lazarus. 22:49 And it wasn't Lazarus, 22:52 if possible, 22:53 would you resurrect? 22:56 It was "Lazarus, come forth" it was a command. 22:59 "And when he who had died 23:01 bound hand and foot and came forth." 23:03 You know, that evening, 23:04 I can just imagine the wake in Bethany. 23:08 I don't think there was a wake any more. 23:10 Well, the wake where everyone, 23:12 all the neighbors would have come in that evening. 23:16 Because we don't know what time the resurrection 23:19 of Lazarus took place. 23:21 But the neighbors were there, 23:22 I mean, the disciples were there, 23:25 as well as that there were Mary and Martha. 23:28 There was Lazarus, 23:30 I mean, who wouldn't want to be talking to Lazarus? 23:33 And then, of course, there was Jesus Himself. 23:36 And it's interesting that in this record, 23:41 if you believed that Lazarus had gone to heaven 23:43 when he died, 23:45 the natural expression would be "What was it like? 23:48 Tell me about it." 23:50 Because they would be so inquisitive, 23:52 but those questions are never asked 23:54 because they didn't believe that he's going to heaven. 23:55 There is no answer given like that. 23:57 He being in the tomb. 23:59 And this was really the greatest of miracles. 24:03 And it's recorded here to comfort our broken hearts 24:06 is that to record, 24:08 to encourage the faith of the disciples 24:12 and you could imagine Lazarus walking around 24:15 after he'd been raised from the dead. 24:17 Four days. Well, no. 24:19 I'm talking about... Now, 24:20 after he'd been raised from the dead. 24:22 Four days dead. Yes. Oh, yes. 24:23 Yes! Imagine how people would want to stop him, 24:27 and talk to him, and touch him, 24:29 and ask questions. 24:31 And this is why if you read the story on you'll find that, 24:35 of course the Jews wanted to kill him, because he... 24:37 As well as Jesus. 24:38 He was now a testimony to the power of Christ, 24:41 because no one else could raise the dead. 24:43 That's right. 24:45 You know, the shortest verse in the Bible 24:47 tells us something about Jesus. 24:49 Why did He weep? 24:51 Jesus knew that He was about to raise Lazarus 24:53 from the dead. 24:54 So it was not because Lazarus was dead that He wept, 24:57 He wept because He wanted to show His sympathy 25:00 and compassion. 25:01 He wanted people to understand 25:03 that as a human being He identified with us, 25:07 He understood the feelings that we experience, 25:10 He was one with us. 25:12 On the other hand, 25:13 John lays great emphasis on Christ divinity. 25:17 His gospel starts with a statement 25:19 that "In the beginning was the Word 25:21 and the Word was with God, 25:23 and the Word was God." 25:25 A little further down the chapter, John says, 25:27 "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." 25:31 Then he ends his gospel 25:33 with a statement that these things are written, 25:35 that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God. 25:40 Yet John says in the same gospel, 25:42 that Jesus grew weary at Jacob's well. 25:46 He asked for a drink, to quench his thirst. 25:50 Then he tells us, Jesus wept. 25:52 So we have a savior who is both God and man. 25:57 And 40 days after the resurrection, 25:59 He was taken up in to heaven, 26:00 and today He's making intercession for us 26:03 in the heavenly sanctuary. 26:05 And I like to think that when the winds of trouble blow, 26:10 and we feel depressed, and down and out, 26:14 or we are going through great pain and sorrow, 26:18 that we have a savior today in heaven, 26:20 who understands our humanity, 26:23 He understands our needs, 26:26 He understands our sorrows. 26:28 He's the one who says He will never, 26:31 ever leave us or forsake us. 26:35 There is no place where our earthly pain 26:38 is felt more keenly than in heaven. 26:42 The other great thing that the story tells us 26:44 is that Jesus is able to conquer death. 26:47 No other religious leader has ever been able to say that, 26:51 and then demonstrate the fact that 26:54 He is the resurrection and the life, 26:56 only Jesus. 26:59 In the gospels, Jesus raised three people from the dead. 27:02 Remember, Rosemary, there was First of all, 27:05 there was Jairus' daughter. 27:07 That's right. 27:08 And then there was the widow's son at Nain. 27:11 And then, of course Lazarus, 27:13 who had been dead for four days. 27:15 Now it was true that there were plenty of others, 27:19 homes that weren't raised but Jesus saw 27:22 the raising of Lazarus as an illustration 27:25 of the great resurrection 27:26 that's going to take place very soon before He comes back. 27:29 That's right. 27:31 And I hope that you've been encouraged today, 27:33 as we've talked about Lazarus 27:35 and what happens when you die, 27:37 that God has a special plan. 27:40 Those who have died are asleep. 27:42 They're not in heaven watching 27:44 and wailing or somewhere else 27:45 where it's a terrible place to be. 27:48 Read the Bible. 27:49 Learn what it says about the truth of God, 27:51 and be confident and encouraged. 27:53 We'll see you next time. |
Revised 2020-01-08