ERCC DEVOTIONAL (TEKAN) DAILY SPIRITUAL DIET; WENESDAY 6TH DECEMBER, 2023.
TEXT: JOHN 11: 28 - 44.
SPIRITUAL FOCUS: JESUS RAISED LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD.
At last year's reading we heard that Lazarus' death was a gospel message. Yesterday at a study Jesus confirmed to the relatives of the dead that it was a resurrection. In today's reading we can say that there is no miracle that can be performed other than the resurrection of the dead.
Especially the kind of Lazarus who had already spent four days in the tomb (vs. 39). To the Lord long or short time does not prevent Him from expressing His power because time is His. Yesterday, Martha expressed her faith (vs. 21) and than told Mary, her sister, in secret what Jesus had said to her (verses 23, 25, 26).
Like Martha, Mary said, "Lord, You are here and my brother is not dead" (vs. 32). Despite this belief, she wondered in her heart, whether the Lord would raise her brother since he had already spent some days in the grave.
When Jesus saw her weeping, He "groaned in the spirit and became troubled... where did you get him to drink?" (vs. 33, 34). At the tomb of Jesus, He wept and prayed because the Father always hears Him as a result of a good relationship between them. Then He called out with a loud voice and Lazarus came. He did this to demonstrate His divinity.
If He had not called Lazarus by name, it would have been possible for him to have been raised from the dead. He ordered him to lie down and leave (vs. 44).
Even today, everyone who has been redeemed by Jesus has been freed from sin, and we are all freed by grace.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Jesus is our victory.
PRAYER: Lord God help me, strengthen the authority of Christ Jesus in my life and help me witness it to the world, Amen.
JOHN 11: 28 - 44 (GOOD NEWS).
28 After Martha said this, she went back and called her sister Mary privately. “The Teacher is here,” she told her, “and is asking for you.”
29 When Mary heard this, she got up and hurried out to meet him.
30 (Jesus had not yet arrived in the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.)
31 The people who were in the house with Mary, comforting her, followed her when they saw her get up and hurry out. They thought that she was going to the grave to weep there.
32 Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw him, she fell at his feet. “Lord,” she said, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”
33 Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people who were with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.
34 “Where have you buried him?” he asked them.“Come and see, Lord,” they answered.
35 Jesus wept.
36 “See how much he loved him!” the people said.
37 But some of them said, “He gave sight to the blind man, didn't he? Could he not have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38 Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance.
39 “Take the stone away!” Jesus ordered.Martha, the dead man's sister, answered, “There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days!”
40 Jesus said to her, “Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believed?”
41 They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, “I thank you, Father, that you listen to me.
42 I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me.”
43 After he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 He came out, his hands and feet wrapped in grave clothes, and with a cloth round his face. “Untie him,” Jesus told them, “and let him go.”
