John 11:38-44 ESV
Genesis 49:10 ESV
2 Samuel 7:12-13 ESV
Isaiah 7:14 ESV
Hosea 11:1 (Messiah in Egypt)
Micah 5:2 (Messiah born in Bethlehem)
Psalm 40:6-8 ESV
John 16:20 ESV
Many of Jesus’ final remarks were confusing to the disciples.
They thought they knew Him. It seems like many of them would have had clear ideas about what Jesus was doing and where His ministry was headed.
Every where He went people came to follow Him. Plus, Jesus had become famous. He had preached to crowds of thousands of people.
Word had spread that He was the real deal because He could heal. Then after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11) He surpassed anything anyone else had done. I mean, seriously, Lazarus had been dead for four days and he was buried in a tomb.
We learn in John 11:38-44, “Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 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.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Jesus announced to the crowd that He was raising Lazarus so they would believe He was the one. Jesus was the one they had waited for all these years.
The prophets announced that one would come sent by God.
In Genesis 49:10 we are told,
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”
Jesus was from the line of Judah.
Both of Jesus’ earthly parents came from the line of Judah.
In 2 Samuel 7:12-13 the prophet proclaimed that David’s offspring would have an eternal kingdom, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
In Isaiah 7:14 the prophet wrote, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
There were prophecies (Hosea 11:1) that the Messiah would go to Egypt, and as a child, He did.
In Micah 5:2, the prophet foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and He was born there because Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem to be counted.
In Psalm 40:6-8, David foretold,
“ In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
…and it came to pass.
However even after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead when Jesus told His disciples in John 16:20, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. “
His statement was a puzzling thing.
He said they would weep and lament.
Jesus said the world would rejoice.
He told His disciples they would be sorrowful or filled with sorrow.
Then Jesus told them their sorrow would turn to joy.
Two thousand plus years later we can read that and we can see that every word was true, however when Jesus spoke John 16:20 it didn’t seem to make sense.
And so it was. The disciples were lost and confused when Jesus was arrested. They might have expected that Jesus would use His power to break down the walls of the jail, but He didn’t.
Instead, God had an eternal plan.
The Romans and even many Jews rejoiced that Jesus would finally be out of their way.
The disciples were devastated and they scattered when Jesus was crucified. Young John was the only disciple specifically named at the Cross when Jesus died.
We have to remember how distraught and crushed the disciples were when Jesus was crucified.
They were lost and alone.
Everything they believed vanished.
On Friday the disciples would have been devastated.
What would they do now?
All hope was gone.
How could they rejoice? The One they loved was gone.
Spiritual Practice: Empathize
Put yourself in the disciples’ shoes. What would you have felt? What would you think?
In God, Deborah
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