How greatly blest are they who have the knowledge of the Son of God; what joy in knowing Him as the revealer of the Father; what comfort in knowing Him on the risen side of death. We have to do with One Who knows the end from the beginning, and Who watches over every exercise of our poor hearts so that we may reap the rich blessing He has for us in every circumstance of life, be it trying, painful, or sorrowful. Little did Martha and Mary know what the Lord had in store for them through the deep trial of the sickness and death of their brother Lazarus. They knew that the Lord loved Lazarus, and were doubtless conscious of what we are told, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus;" but if conscious of His love they had still to learn of His glory as Son of God; and how blessed for them, even if painful for the moment, that the glory of God and the glory of the Son of God were bound up with the sickness and death of their loved one.
The sickness of Lazarus looked at naturally was indeed a sickness unto death, yet the blessed Lord said "This sickness is not unto death," for death was not the great end in view, only the means of bringing out into display the glory of God and His Son. Divine glory was about to be manifested in resurrection power, and how great the grace that had chosen Lazarus as the subject of it. Martha and Mary could not then know what was about to transpire, but how different with us today who have learned through the events of that day, and through all that has taken place in connection with the death and resurrection of the Lord Himself; we can face similar circumstances in the full knowledge that the glory of God and the glory of the Son of God are bound up with the trials of His loved ones. What rest of spirit, what comfort of heart, does this knowledge bring to us in all the distresses, sorrows, and perplexities of the present scene. It does not make us insensible to the sorrows or remove the grief that bereavement brings, but it brings the Son of God into the circumstances and lifts the spirit into His presence.
No doubt the sorrowing sisters would expect Jesus to hasten to Bethany on receipt of the news, and the delay for two days in the place where Jesus was would be inexplicable also to the disciples, but the Lord had already told them that the glory of God was bound up with the sickness of Lazarus, and this was the secret of His waiting. All the while His eye and heart were engaged with what was transpiring at the loved home at Bethany; and when the moment of death's entry came He observed it, His heart entering into the sorrow of the loved ones. Because of this He could say to the disciples, "Lazarus, our friend, is fallen asleep." What wonderful divine teaching for the disciples; they were being taught by the Son of God that death for the Christian is but sleep; not sleep for the soul, but sleep for the body. This is brought out plainly in the teaching of the Spirit, for when Stephens spirit is received by the Lord Jesus "he fell asleep;" and the saints of Thessalonica who had died were "fallen asleep through Jesus."
But those that sleep through Jesus will soon awake from the sleep of death: God is about to bring them out of heaven in glory with Jesus: and to manifest the power that will bring this to pass the Lord said to the disciples regarding Lazarus, "I go that I may awake him out of sleep." It is not surprising that the disciples did not enter into the meaning of the Lord's words, for like ourselves, they were slow to understand the things pertaining to the new sphere the Lord was opening out to them. But He is a most patient Teacher, so tells them plainly that Lazarus had died. What an opportunity for their faith to lay hold of: Lazarus is dead and Jesus is going to wake him up from the sleep of death. They are not up to this, their faith is weak: but Jesus can rejoice in the occasion that will make known to them the power of God and the glory of His Person as something for their faith to rest on. And it is this that brings to us the great gain of death. If there is the deep sorrow, there is the great consolation of Jesus but there is the joy that perceives death as that which gives the blessed Lord the occasion for the manifestation of the glory of His Person, the completeness of His power over it, and the final triumph in which He will destroy it as the last enemy. All this has been signified in "Lazarus OUR FRIEND." And how often has the preciousness of the truth concerning the outshining of the glory of the Son of God, been known and the power of His blessed Person Who sets death aside, when of some loved one in Christ it has been said, "OUR FRIEND SLEEPETH." How sweet and touching are these words from the lips of the Son of God: He recognises the friendship of the loved circle in Bethany, where His spirit was refreshed in the company of those who valued Him.
Coming to Bethany, Jesus is greeted by Martha with these words, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died: but even now I know, that whatsoever Thou shalt ask of God, God will give Thee." These were remarkable words, clearly telling of faith in the Lords ability to hinder the working of death, and apparently suggesting faith in anything the Lord would ask His Father for. But when under test poor Martha's faith does not reach to the heights suggested in her words. She believed that her brother would rise again, even as Jesus had said, but she can only see resurrection connected with the last day, not with the Person of the Son of God present before her. Then when the Lord speaks of Himself thus, and asks if she believed it, she assents that she believes in Him as presented in the prophecy of the second Psalm. Evidently feeling that the precious communications of Jesus were beyond her, and doubtless thinking that Mary could commune with Him in them, she goes to her sister, who knew what it was to sit at Jesus' feet to hear His word, saying "The Teacher is come and calls thee."
Martha had professed faith for anything that the Son would ask: and this is what He was going to ask for. "Thy brother shall rise again." Jesus had already told the disciples that He was going to awake Lazarus from his sleep; now He tells the same thing to Martha; but neither the disciples, who can only think of dying with Jesus, nor Martha, who can only look on to the last day for resurrection, can perceive in Him "the resurrection and the life." The mighty power of resurrection was there in Him Who stood before them; He was the originator of life, and come into the world to communicate a life that death could not touch. What a different aspect things down here bear for those who see in the Son of God One Who has power to set aside all the dread results of death, and Who has brought into this world the light of a scene where death cannot come, and Who gives even now the eternal life to those who believe in Him.
Alas! He had to say to the Jews, "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." Men will not own the Son as the resurrection and the life: they have not eyes to discern His glory or to perceive the greatness of His Person. But He had not only brought light into the world, He had come that "they which see not may see;" and His work of grace and power in John 9 is the effect of this. Now He says, "He that believes on Me, though he have died, shall live and every one who lives and believes on Me shall never die." There was not only power in Him to bring men out of their graves, but He had power to bring them into life: an entirely new kind of life that man after the flesh knows nothing of. This He will do for every one who believes in Him. The resurrection of Lazarus was the indication, the manifestation of the power and glory of Him Who would accomplish for His own all that He had spoken. The dead in Christ will assuredly be raised and brought in their glorified bodies into heavenly life with the Son of God; for He is not only the resurrection, but also the LIFE. The dead out of Christ will also be raised, but they will not have part in the RESURRECTION OF LIFE.
There are also those who live: and the mighty power of the Son of God will be exercised in them also. We have to await the coming of the Holy Spirit to get the details of what the Lord speaks of here. The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says, "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Cor. 15:51). Those who live, at the time of the coming of the Lord for His own, believing in the Son of God, will not be touched by death, but will receive the quickening touch of the Son of God that will change their bodies into His likeness. But is there not another view of this precious passage of Scripture, "He that … believes on me shall never die" in line with what the Lord had said earlier, "He that keepeth my word shall never see death" (8:51)? Can we not have by faith the present sense in our souls that we have received from the Son of God a life on which death has no claim and over which it has no power? This life is not seen or known by the natural man, and only faith in the believer can lay hold of it; but it is a living present reality for us in the Son of God, and in the measure of our communion with Him shall we live in the enjoyment and power of this heavenly life, and realise that we have what death can never touch.
When Mary comes to Jesus she repeats the words that Martha had spoken, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died; words that disclose what had been in the minds of the devoted sisters at the crisis of their brothers sickness. Was there some slight thought of reproach at the delay of the Lord in coming? was it rather the expression of the perplexity in the heart that knew His love but understood not His ways? At the feet of Jesus Mary weeps. It was at the feet of Jesus she had sat to hear His word: now she falls at His feet to tell out the deep sorrow of her heart; and later she anoints His feet and wipes them with the hair of her head (John 12:3). This is indeed the place to bring our grief and sorrows, for the Son of God knows the pangs, the woes, the deepest feelings of the human heart. Knowing as none other could, and feeling as none else could feel, the dread results of death in this world, the Son of God is deeply moved in spirit and troubled. How wonderful this is! He has power over death, can stay its action, can recover from its grasp; and yet He is found groaning, troubled, weeping, as beholding its effects in those He loved. His love and His sympathy are as great as His power! and if He allows death to enter the homes of His loved ones, it is that they might realise His comfort and consolation in their sorrows and troubles. But the great end in view, what was ever before Him, and what should ever be before us is, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God."
If Martha is divinely taught, and Mary divinely comforted, Lazarus is the subject of the manifestation of divine power. It is in him who had come under death's power that the power of God in resurrection is shown forth for the display of the divine glory, and the glory of the Son of God. But poor Martha has not the faith for what is about to take place, and would forbid the removal of the stone that sealed the corruption of the dead. Her eyes were on the corruption of death, not on HIM Who is the resurrection and the life. There was no need to take the stone away, but the Lord commands the removal of the outward seal of death: was it to awaken the thought in the hearts of His own that the resurrection of Lazarus was impending? Was it to give the opportunity for faith before the actual exercise of the divine power and the outshining of His glory? And it was when the stone was removed that He turned to His Father. His action was to manifest His glory, and it was to be an act of dependence. Every step of the perfect path, and its every action, were in dependence upon the Father Whose glory He ever sought. This was an occasion for thanksgiving to the Father. What had the Father heard? Was it the groanings of verses 33 and 38? Groanings that expressed the deep feelings of His spirit in the presence of the ravages of death; groanings that told out the sympathy of His heart for those who were immediately affected by death: groanings that called to the Father for the intervention of His power in the scene of suffering? Yes, the Father had heard Him, and He knew it well; but He turned to the Father that those around might know and believe His relationship to the Father.
Crying with a loud voice, the voice of authority and victory, "Lazarus come forth," the dead comes forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes; and at the word of Jesus he is brought into liberty. This is how the glory of God is manifested, in power over death, in the resurrection of the dead, in the communication of life. And it is thus that Jesus is declared the Son of God with power; in resurrection His glory shines out; here in the raising of Lazarus, later in His own resurrection, and in that great day for which we wait, when He shall call the sleeping saints from the tomb and change the living, and rapture all to be forever with Himself. How blessedly do we see in this wonderful scene at Bethany the truth of the words spoken by Jesus, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it." Death may appear for the moment to be triumphant, but faith sees Him Who has power over it, the Resurrection and the Life, and seeing Him the believer sees death robbed of its power and its sting. Death is the servant of the believer to take him into Christ's presence, into the fuller enjoyment of the life that is already ours in the Son of God, and there to await the blissful moment when the body will receive the quickening touch that will bring the saints into eternal glory with Jesus.
Wm. C. Reid.