“… and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:26)
Jesus’ claim to be the resurrection and the life is so significant, and so frequently quoted, that the last sentence in verse 26 is often often missed. But that last little sentence is a vital one. Continue reading
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
These words of Jesus are some of the most familiar in the New Testament. But they come as Jesus’ answer to Martha’s confession that her brother Lazarus, now dead, would “rise again on the resurrection on the last day.” Martha was putting her faith in the FUTURE; in a DOCTRINE: “the resurrrection … the last day.” But Jesus indicates here that there was more than that, and it was available for her right NOW! Continue reading
“Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give You.” (John 11:22)
The situation Martha faced with Lazarus was as bad as it gets, humanly speaking. Her brother was dead. Who could do anything about that? Had Jesus come a few days earlier, sure, He could healed him; but now Lazarus was dead, and had been so for four days. But in the face of that, Martha demonstrated great faith: Continue reading
“Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.'” (John 11:16)
Thomas’ words here were very courageous. They also remind us of the heart of discipleship, and of Christianity. Continue reading
“Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.'” (John 11:16)
The disciple Thomas is almost universally known for one thing: not believing, without having seen, that Jesus had been resurrected. The phrase “doubting Thomas” has come to our language because of that episode. And yet, that well-known failure was not the only chapter of his life. Continue reading
“It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.” (John 11:2)
What is it that are you known for? Sometimes we are known by others for being related to someone: “This is Beth’s husband.” Or for something you’ve done: “This is the guy who egged the principal’s house in high school”, and so forth. We find in this verse what Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, was known for: “It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair”. Continue reading
The yellow footprints you see are scattered all over our Marine Corps Recruit Depots in San Diego and in Parris Island. In the early stages of a Marine recruit’s time at the training base, these footprints show the young Recruits where to go, where to stand, and what to do. And after following these steps during their training, these young men earn the title of United States Marine.
The Bible tells us in I Peter 2:21 that Jesus left us an example to “follow in His steps.” Jesus did not leave us yellow footprints to follow on the ground like at those Marine bases, but He HAS left us His example in His word. We just saw a couple of weeks ago in our study of Matthew 4:18-22 that Jesus calls us to follow Him, and we saw that that means that we are to follow Him by doing the same things that He was doing in the world. If that is so, then one of the most important questions we can ask is: “What was Jesus doing in the world, so that we may imitate it?” Now, there is SO much that Jesus did, recorded for us the Gospels. Is there a way that we can “condense” or “summarize” it, so that we can get a handle on it and imitate it? As a matter of fact, the Lord did provide for us just such a summary, here in Matthew 4:23 and again later in this book. Let’s look at verse 23, and its summary of Jesus’ ministry to people:
“Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.” (Matthew 4:23)
Here the Bible give us Jesus’ ministry in a nutshell. In fact, if you turn to Matthew 9:35, you will find this EXACT verse repeated again — word for word — as a summary of Jesus’ earthly ministry to people. In between we find many of the instances of healing and teaching that Matthew records. It is like these two verses (Matt. 4:23 & 9:35) put a “parenthesis” around the earthly ministry of Jesus, saying, Here is the summary of Jesus’ ministry here on earth; here is what He did while He was here: He was “teaching” in the synagogues; He was “proclaiming the gospel” of the Kingdom; and He was “healing” sicknesses among the people. Continue reading
“So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, ‘Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.'” (John 11:3)
The words of Mary & Martha to Jesus in 11:3 are not merely the record of a message between friends; but they also serve as a good model for us as we pray for those we love today: Continue reading
“This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” (John 11:4)
The Bible repeatedly teaches us that God is to be glorified in everything in our lives (I Corinthians 10:31 et al). Here Jesus indicates that He is to glorified even in our infirmities. Continue reading
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
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