Sermon Central
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Before There Can Be A Resurrection There Must Be A Death, Burial.
Contributed by Timothy Lee on Aug 19, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: In our walk with God we too have to face with: Death of a vision Burial of a vision Resurrection of a vision
Before there can be a Resurrection there must be a death, burial.
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." 4When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." [NKJV]
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." [NKJV]
Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. 15And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him." [NKJV]
So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. [NKJV]
Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21Then Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." 23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" [NKJV]
Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." 35Jesus wept. 36Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!" 37And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"
38Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days." 40Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" 41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." 43Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" 44And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go." [NKJV]
• When Jesus received Word that His good friend, Lazarus was sick, he deliberately delayed His coming and allowed Lazarus to die.
• Lazarus died and was buried. It is even more impossible. Jesus wanted to let His disciples know that it is an impossible situation.
• Lazarus was resurrected
In our walk with God we too have to face with similar situation.
Death of a vision
Burial of a vision
Resurrection of a vision
Now, the real truth about God’s promises. Many of us think that when God gives assurances He is going to do something for us that within a short amount of time the event will take place. We are then shocked to find that we are receiving the “reverse of the promise.”
Usually God will give us exactly the opposite of what we asked for before He ultimately delivers the anticipated prize.
Abraham – He was seventy-five years old when God promised him a son. At that age, I can assure you he knew the son would have to come quickly. Any one of us would have justified in thinking that he and his wife Sarah would be given a son within the next few months. Instead, Abraham received the reverse of the promise, and had twenty-five years of barrenness.
Joseph’s another beautiful example of this truth. As you know he was given a dream from the Lord predicting his brothers would bow down to him. Through a second corroborating dream, he saw the sun, the moon, and even the stars doing obeisance (which he interpreted to mean his parents also). Being the second to the youngest in the family, these were pretty heady expectations.
