His Delay is Not His Denial

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. – English Standard Bible

Martha and Mary rightly expected that Jesus should do something about their brother Lazarus’ sickness. Mary’s extravagant act of worship was indelibly chiselled into the collective memory of the followers of Jesus. Martha had hosted Jesus and his disciples in their family home, faithfully served them while Mary sat and listened to Jesus’ teaching, much to Martha’s censure but Jesus’ commendation (Luke 10:38-42).

So when their brother was sick, it was only natural to assume that the One who had healed so many, their friend, would quickly heed their cry for help. If they ever needed His help, it was now. However, things didn’t turn out exactly that way. On hearing the message that “the one whom he loved was ill”, Jesus actually delayed another two days before going to attend to Martha and Mary’s request. Of course, by the time Jesus gets to the Bethany, Lazarus is dead, four days dead. 

It must have been a heart-wrenching realization for Martha and Mary to hear that though Jesus had heard their cry for help, he did not urgently come to their rescue. So much for prophets! They come to you with their whole posse of disciples when they need food but not when you really need them. Of course, Jesus wasn’t just another prophet for the sisters. They had seen his care and love for their family. And that was exactly why his not coming just didn’t make sense. Knowing Jesus, they must have thought, he should have been at their door like yesterday. 

That’s where John, the author of the Gospel, lets us in on what is going on in Jesus’ mind. Jesus already has a purpose for the situation: it’s going to be for God’s glory. He is going to turn this hopeless and helpless situation around by God’s power to show that he is the Sent One of God. And so he delays. Another two days. It’s almost like Jesus is waiting for the situation to get beyond human repair. And he is.

Friend, may be you have been praying and asking Jesus’ help with that seemingly impossible situation yet Jesus is silent. It could be your marriage, your finances, your peace of mind, or whatever abominable combination of these. The great news is that he has heard you and, most important of all, he loves you. “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28)

May you know that that problem is not the end of you, it’s for God’s glory to be seen. May you realize that the more intense the pressure, the greater the glory. May you know that though it’s beyond human despair it is within divine repair. His delay is not his denial.

You Trust Jesus? Can Jesus Trust You?

Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like. John 2:23-25, New Living Translation

We live in a day and age when signs and wonders abound in the land. It is exciting to see many people in society embrace the name of Christ and profess faith in Him. It’s just like after Jesus turned water into wine at Cana (John 2:1-12) and attended the Jewish feast of Passover in Jerusalem where He chased out the merchants out of the temple (John 2:13-22) and did so many miraculous signs that many trusted in Him because of the wonders (John 2:23-25). Exciting stuff! If I was Jesus sent on a mission by God the Father to save the world, I would be like, “Yes! It’s happening! That’s what I’m talking about!” But not Jesus. John the Gospel author writes in this chapter that though many trusted in Him because of the miracles He did, He did not trust them (I like the NLT as it clarifies that it’s the very same word translated “trust/believe” in the original Greek of the text of John 2:23, 24). Why not? Because He knew human nature and didn’t need anybody to tell Him what the “trust” in Him was all about. They “trusted” in Him because of what they could benefit from Him so Jesus did not “trust” them.

Here is my point: It is possible to see the miracles that are happening around us – whether genuine or fake, is another story altogether – and trust in Jesus because of them but not be regarded as a believer by Jesus. The key lies in seeing the contrast between these Passover believers and the disciples of Jesus who believed in Him when he performed His first miracle of turning water into wine at Cana (again the issue of the church reversing the miracle is for another post) in John 2:1-12. The disciples of Jesus believed John the Baptizer’s testimony that Jesus was the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29-36), followed Him on that basis (John 1:37-39, 43-44), and invited others to put their faith in Christ as the Saviour of the world (John 1:40-42, 45-51). In other words, the disciples had faith in the person of Jesus Himself. So when the miracle at Cana happened, it was just confirmation of what they had already believed, that He was truly the sacrificial Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.

May we be careful in this day of signs and wonders that our focus is not on the miracles of God but on the God of the miracles who has shown that our greatest problem is not poverty, sickness, generational curses, witchcraft, or indeed any other terrifying thing we can pull out of our cultural backgrounds. Our greatest problem is that of sin which has damned us to hell.  And that sin can only be taken away by our genuine trust in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of those who trust in Him for eternal life. It is possible to trust in Him because of His miracles but not follow Him even on the path of suffering that He calls all that name His Name to take. Remember He said, “Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38). So the real issue is not whether you believe in Him because of what He can do but whether you will believe in Him enough to follow Him daily in your life. When that happens, you move from being just another religious junkie looking for the next anointed fix – or perhaps a religious consumer moving from one anointed water factory to another – to being a disciple of Jesus whom He can trust.

Covenantal Provision & Covenantal Promise

 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Genesis 26:1-5, English Standard Version

There is provision; then there is covenantal provision. Provision flows out of God’s common grace, His goodness showered to all people like good rains, sunshine and the like; covenantal provision flows out of His special grace to those who have set themselves apart to His mission in the earth. So when the economy goes belly up, a drought sets in, or things just don’t work out, covenantal provision kicks in to provide for God’s person on His mission.

Covenantal provision is always based on God’s covenant promise. He made covenant with Abraham and promised to bless him with land, innumerable descendants, and use him and his children as a conduit for blessing to this cursed world fulfilled by the redemption brought by His son Jesus Christ. Abraham’s obedience set his son Isaac to be in line for God’s covenantal provision when there was a famine in the Promised Land. (By the way, the fact that you are where God said you should be or done what God said you should do, is no guarantee that things won’t go bad. The only guarantee the saint has in this fallen world is God’s ability to pull him/her through to complete his/her mission. And, of course, the guarantee of the ever-present evil of this fallen world).  

So Isaac moves to Gerar from the Promised Land. Before he makes his way to Egypt – read big city, big lights – God says to him to remain in Gerar and that He would bless him according to His covenant with Abraham his father. That should have gone against the grain of thinking in such hard times when people flock to the big cities where there is the hope sustenance. For God’s person on mission what matters is not what everybody says makes sense or what one thinks makes sense but what God says. Because when Isaac stayed, he set himself up for covenantal provision that manifested itself in God’s protection, prosperity, perseverance, and promotion.

May you not make a decision today based simply on what makes sense to you, is profitable to you, or is easy to do! May you not move where you are to “greener pastures” just because everyone around you is doing so! May you seek to hear from God and move when God says to! May you remember today that His path is the one of greater glory for you than your survival path!

Testing the Spirits

Fakes only exist because the genuine articles exist. In fact, the presence of many counterfeits is somewhat proof that the real thing exists. And so in a time when there is genuine prophetic activity we should also expect fake prophetic activity (whether the charismatic gifts continue is a discussion for another blog). We hear of so many prophets today, some may be genuine some may just be charlatans, but how do we know who is real and who is fake?

Here is what Apostle John says:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:1-6

The first test is the confession that Jesus has come in the flesh. That is the belief that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man and that the Father sent him to appease the wrath of God on all mankind due to their sin so that whosoever puts his/her trust in him will not be destroyed at the final judgment but have eternal life. This is because he has fulfilled all God’s requirements for salvation for those that believe in him by living a sinless life and shedding his blood on the cross as a payment for their sins. This is the Good News of Christianity: when a sinner puts his/her trust in Christ, his/her sin is forgiven and God saves that person from eternal punishment, gives him/her eternal life, and enables him/her to live a life that is pleasing to God and loving to others.

May you not believe anything less than the Good News today! May you not trade the eternal riches of the Good News of Jesus Christ for temporal “blessings” that fade and rust with age! May you sift through the many so-called “prophecies” and “words from God” to test them if they are consistent with the Gospel or mere enticements to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life! May you test the spirits by God’s Gospel standard! Amen!