”But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.“
Ecclesiastes 9:1-3 ESV
Of all the difficulties that lay upon the heart, perhaps the heaviest is death. Since it’s true that Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification, we might very well ask the question of why then do believers need to experience death in this lifetime at all. We might ask why God doesn’t go about the whole plan of salvation in some other way.
Well, we may ask.
But we should and must ask carefully. In faith.
We must remember who we’re talking to…and about.
We must remember that all of our confusion in life, no matter the issue or area, is due to our inability to see the enormity of the Lord and not because He is in error. A great lie of our age tells us to have confidence. But there’s a way that seems right unto a man but its end is death. Our confidence is in the Lord, not ourselves. Christian boldness is the result of our humility before Him. Thus, all our questions come down to the spirit in which we ask them. The man who assumes that contradiction exists in Scripture rather than himself is, frankly, picking a fight with the Almighty.
A good sign of a false believer is the critical spirit; the graceless heart is always proud. On the contrary, the best evidence of Christian maturity is found in that boldness that comes from resting in the assurance of salvation through faith alone.
After all, the sum of the matter, after all has been heard, is that we must fear God and keep His commandments. This is the simple truth but the thing is, truth is simple but not easy. It’s simple because God is holy and true and sovereign. But it isn’t easy because God isn’t bigger than we think, he’s bigger than our ability to think. Our minds are finite and at best are capable of thinking in types and shadows or, as Van Til put it, analogically.
To fear God certainly precludes putting Him in the dock. To fear God means that when we arrive at a hard saying we say with Peter, “where else will we go, for who else has the words of life?” Yes, the fear of the Lord is the beginning and end of knowledge.
That said, let’s approach the subject through what we know to be true. What is that? God’s word/law, of course. All theological errors and heresy have this in common: they start with the Serpent’s great challenge. “Did God really say?” It isn’t a mere question of small detail alone. It runs deeper. It means, “does God have all authority…does He have the right to set the terms of life?” In other words: do we have the authority/right to think of life in our own terms?
We know that God created the world and everything in it. We know that He made man and woman in His image. We know that sin entered the world due to Adam’s seemingly small compromise with Satan. And then we know that death followed. All the problems, troubles, and issues of this life are downstream of sin and because of sin. Directly and indirectly sin’s fires burn through our villages and homes and hearts.
The apparently small “compromise” with sin by questioning God’s word/character leads to great tragedy.
Ah, but we also know that God has dealt with sin through restoring men to right standing with Himself. How? Through the life and work of Jesus Christ. The “problem” of death is in actuality the problem of sin and sin has been defeated by Christ living a perfect life. His perfection is imputed to us through faith so that our record of debt is expunged by the sweet righteousness of our Savior!
That death still claims every single person on earth is testimony to the facts of Scripture. Sin brings death and since all of us were born into Adam, we must die. But we will be raised with Him just as He died and was raised again. To be like Christ is to follow this same pattern. That which is flesh can’t inherit the Kingdom of God so that when we die it’s the flesh that dies and we’re raised in the Spirit with the new resurrection life. We live now in the great glow of this hope even as our earthly tents moan and age and decay. We live now in the expectancy of glory and believe that the momentary afflictions and injustices of this life aren’t worth being compared to eternal life with Christ.
Some protest as to why it’s this way, though. They grumble against God and complain that there’s death and suffering at all. We note the danger of this…as well as all complaining. Faith waits, sin blames and whines. The Serpent offers us pleasure without the cross. That’s what sin is. It’s faithlessness.
In John 11 we learn that Mary and Martha’s brother, Lazarus, was sick. The sisters sent a message to Jesus that His “dear friend” was very ill. This is like a prayer in a way. It’s like when we encounter some trial or tragedy and we send up the message – “Lord, your servant is in trouble…and desperately needs help.”
Scripture tells us (John 11:4) that Jesus heard the message clearly.
He hears our prayers. Every single one. Do you, dear child of God, ever wonder about that? Well, fear not! He hears every cry, every whimper. He feels deeply every tear.
Oh, but then why…why? Why do we suffer as we do? Let’s read on.
Jesus tells those with Him that Lazarus’ sickness won’t end in death (v. 4). Everyone must have thought, “oh, well, that’s good…it’ll all work out.” On the heels of that Jesus stayed where He was for another two days. No big deal, right. Lazarus will be fine.
You can imagine everyone’s shock when, lo and behold, Lazarus died! In fact, Jesus Himself tells them. And in a most confounding way too. He says basically that He’s glad He wasn’t there because now they’ll really believe.
What?
Can you imagine their confusion?
You probably can because you’ve been there in one way or another. Something has happened to you that you can’t believe. Something you prayed would be avoided wasn’t. Some battle was lost. Something was taken that you never thought would be. All this. Yes. Jesus waited for two days while His dear friend died and Mary and Martha, who’d sent to Him for help and knew of His power, had to be devastated and shocked.
Where was He? Why didn’t He come and fix this problem?!
Well, Jesus finally gets to Bethany and Lazarus has been dead for four days. It’s been about a week since Mary and Martha sent for help. Can you imagine how abandoned and puzzled they must feel? Have you felt like that when life’s sharks have taken a dreadful bite and you’re left bleeding in the water? Alone. Afraid.
What was He doing?
Jesus was coming and Martha went out to intercept Him. She couldn’t wait. She couldn’t contain herself, so she goes and tells Him what she knows and what we all know. It’s one of the greatest statements of faith during grief in history. She says, “if you’d been here he wouldn’t have died…but even now, I know that whatever you ask of God will be done.”
Notice the utter absence of pride in Martha’s statement. Despite her boldness of going out to Him and telling Him what has to be crushing her heart to millions of shattered little pieces – that He could have stopped the whole thing had He been there (and why did He wait!?), she falls only on faith. She says only that she knows He can do whatever He pleases and that is enough. In her grief this is her lifeline.
Mary, on the other hand, for whatever reason, unlike Martha, stays where she is. Like her sister, she’s deep in suffering for Lazarus and wracked by confusion. Jesus told Martha to tell Mary that He wanted to see her and when Mary heard it she got up right away and went to Him. One went to Him and He made sure He got to the other as well.
The Lord will make all His children stand!
None will ever be lost or abandoned regardless of their personality type.
So, Mary goes to Him and tells Him the same thing. In effect, “Lord, why weren’t you here? We called and you didn’t answer and now we have suffered such a terrible loss.” But Mary’s faith tempers the soul’s storm and she says, “If you’d been here, my brother would still be alive.”
Neither sister questioned either the Lord’s goodness or authority. That would be a sin. Grief and confusion are not sin’s…in fact, when presented to the Lord, they are the seeds of faith’s greatest moments.
And Mary, we’re told, was weeping. And the Lord beheld His sweet and broken child there in great tears and in utter confusion of the soul and He wept too! He weeps with His children…oh, what a God this is! Who could fathom such a thing as this?
What happens next is the whole point of our lives. Listen ever so closely with the ear of your heart…in your sufferings and your confusions especially. Here is where the whole of it comes together. Jesus has a crowd there at the tomb and He tells them to take the stone away from the tomb. It lies before Him dark and quiet just as death and defeats always are. They mock us in their quiet. He’s there now as He was then. He’s there in front of our tombs just as He was in front of Lazarus’.
But before He raises that dear friend from the dead, before He rattles everyone’s perception of reality and does the seemingly impossible with a mere spoken word, He tells us the most important thing in the world. He says,
”So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”“
John 11:41-42 ESV
You see, it’s belief through the trials that marks the life of the Christian. Believing God is the goal of life and not any other thing downstream though that (belief) puts every thing else in motion. When He cries out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out,” here came the dead man walking and the long week of worry and fear and death are all gone. In an instant He has changed all. He says, “Lazarus, come out” because if He just said, “come out,” everyone would have been raised.
Such is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, the God who weeps with you through your agonies and losses has this power indeed. And someday when the time is right, though He may tarry two days or more, He will come to you. He will come for you. He will avenge you. He will restore you and mend you and nothing that has happened will ever be but a glory you give to Him in the future! Just as Mary later anointed the Lord with expensive ointment and wiped His blessed feet with her very hair, so will you be. What will you do when you see Him at last? Will you dance and sing with joy? Will you hug Him and cry?
It is in this truth that we live. So, go now. Go and live for Him and through Him and to Him. Your day with Him is coming. It’s your destiny.
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