Back from the dead.
Here is the amazing story of Lazarus. (Which is taken from John 11:1-44)
There will be helpful tips from
Also Batholomew's notes are numbered
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Bartholomew Bookworm.
and are found at the bottom of this page.
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Lazarus became ill and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, were worried about him, so they sent for Jesus who was about 50 miles away, and said......
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"Lord, your friend Lazarus is very sick. Mary and Martha want you to come and heal him. Come quickly!"
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Jesus said:
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"This sickness will not be the death of Lazarus. This will all bring praise to God and to His Son."
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But Jesus did a very strange thing! He stayed in the same place for a further two days - he didn't travel into Judea where Lazarus was!
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Then Jesus said:
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"OK. Now is the time to go back to Judea."
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"You can't go back there!
The last time we were there, the people tried to kill you!"
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"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up!"
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"If he's sleeping, he can wake himself up!
It's too dangerous to go there!"
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What Jesus' disciple's hadn't realised was, that Jesus was talking about sleep meaning death.
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Tip: When a Christian dies, it is like them falling asleep to then wake up on a bright new morning in heaven and to live with the Lord and many others forever!
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"Lazarus has died. For your sake it was good that we weren't there before he died, because you wouldn't have seen what you're going to see now!
This will result in you believing in My power!
Let's go to Lazarus now! "
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"Oh come on, let's go with Jesus
and perhaps we'll die with Him!"
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It took a long time to walk the 50 miles in the blazing sunshine.
So by the time they got near, Lazarus had been dead in the tomb for four days! Martha had heard that Jesus was coming , so she ran to Him and said.....
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"Lord, if only you had got here sooner, then Lazarus wouldn't have died!
But I know that even now, God will give You whatever You ask."
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Tip: Notice that Martha complained to Jesus that He had not hurried to them. But then she seemed to put aside her frustration and her faith became strong within her and she was able to say: "But I know that even now, God will give You whatever You ask."
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"Your brother, Lazarus, will rise again!"
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"I know that he, and all of us, will be raised back to life at the resurrection, at the end of the world."
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"I am the resurrection & the life!
Anyone who believes in Me will live
even though they die!"
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Tip: That means that anyone who believes in Jesus, and who dies, their body will be raised back to life at the end of the world as a new spiritual body, which will never die again!
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"And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die!"
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Tip: That means that anyone who believes in Jesus, their inner soul - the real them - will live on, even after their body has died! At death, the soul of that person (if they are a believer) will go to be with the Lord in heaven.
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"Do you believe this?"
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"Yes Lord, I believe that You are the Christ,
the Son of God,
the One that all the prophesies speak of."
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Martha turned and ran back to her sister Mary and brought her to Jesus. Then they walked to the tomb and a large crowd followed them.
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"Remove the stone door from the tomb!"
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"But Lord! In this heat his body will already be decaying! There will be a dreadful smell!"
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"Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see God's power!
Remove the stone!
Father God, I thank You that You have heard My prayer.
I know that You always hear, but I have said this for the benefit of those people listening here now, that they may believe that You have sent Me.
Lazarus! Come out!"
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"Take off his grave clothes & let him go!"
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Many people witnessed this amazing miracle
and they put their trust and faith in Jesus Christ.
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Note 1
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Many things come too slow for us! We live in a 'now' world. If we want something then we go and buy it now.
But when we want something from God, He may delay giving it for a short while, or even a long time. Why does He do that?
Firstly, He knows everything about everyone. He knows what is in the future for us, so He can make a better decision than we can. We only see the little bit around us, but God sees the whole picture, therefore we can trust the Lord to choose what is best for us.
Secondly, we may not know what is really best for us.
For example, a small child may really like sweets, and so they think that it would be good for them to eat sweets instead of proper meals. Obviously their body would not be getting all the balanced ingredients that should keep their body healthy! They thought that eating sweets was the best thing for them, but a wiser parent says "no".
In a similar way God knows what is best for us, and that may not be how we see the situation at this moment in time!
Thirdly, the Lord may want us to learn how to be patient, and to quietly wait for what we've asked for. The answer to our prayer is coming, but we need to trust in God and wait for Him to act. RETURN
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Note 2
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At the end of the world there will be a resurrection, when whatever is left of our bodies will be raised and changed into new spiritual bodies and our soul (the "real you" inside) will be reunited back together again. Here is a bit from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (15:51-54) that tells us about this resurrection:
"But I am telling you this strange and wonderful secret:
we shall not all die, but we shall all be given new bodies!
It will all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
when the last trumpet is blown.
For there will be a trumpet blast from the sky,
and all the Christians who have died will suddenly become alive,
with new bodies that will never, never die;
and then we who are still alive shall suddenly have new bodies too.
For our earthly bodies, the ones we have now that can die,
must be transformed into heavenly bodies that cannot perish
but will live forever.
When this happens, then at last this Scripture will come true--
"Death is swallowed up in victory."" (Quoted from the Living Bible)
Where it says: "then we who are still alive" that means all those Christians who are living on the Earth at the time when Jesus Christ will appear again, then this resurrection will happen and that will mark the end of the world as we know it. This event is also known in the Bible as "the last day" and Christians sometimes refer to it as the "rapture".
Jesus said these encouraging words:
"For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son (Jesus) and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
John 6:40 (NIV)
Further reading, look this up in your Bible:
Revelation 20:11-15
1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 5:3
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Note 3
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Martha had said to Jesus:
"But I know that even now, God will give You whatever You ask."
What she was forgetting was that Jesus, as the Son of God has power in Himself, so Jesus said to her:
"I am the resurrection and the life! Anyone who believes in Me will live even though they die!"
The next few verses show us two things;
1) The real power that Jesus, the Son of God has in Himself just by speaking His commands.
2) Jesus tells us more about the resurrection:
"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." John 5:25-29 (NIV)
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Note 4
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There are many prophesies in the Old Testament of the Bible which speak about Someone very special who was to come from God and who was to be known as the 'Messiah' or 'Christ'. (Both these names mean 'Anointed One' which is a term for being filled with the Holy Spirit and having God's power and authority).
The prophesies include:
That He was to be a Prophet: (Deuteronomy 18:15)
Born in Bethlehem: (Micah 5:2)
A King riding on a donkey: (Isaiah 62:11)
Silent like a lamb for slaughter when accused: (Psalm 38:13-14)
Suffered on the cross taking our sin upon Himself: (Isaiah 53:4-6 & 12)
All these prophesies were spoken hundreds of years before Jesus and there are many more of them. By Jesus fulfilling these prophesies He proved that He was the One sent by God.
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