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March /30/ 08
Welcome and thank you for taking a
Bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:
The Jews gathered around Jesus and asked Him,
24 The Jews then gathered around
Him, and were saying to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense?
If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe; the
works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me. 26 "But you
do not believe because you are not of My sheep.
27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and
no one will snatch them out of My hand. (John 10:24-28)
After Jesus fed five thousand men, besides the women and children with them, with five barley loaves and two fish to which some believed (John 6:9-14), while others wanted more,
28 Therefore they said to Him,
"What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?"
29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that
you believe in Him whom He has sent."
30 So they said to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, so that we
may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? (John
6:28-30) Jesus had performed many signs from the beginning by
making water into wine, which manifested His glory and His disciples
believed in Him (John 2:1-11), to healing a paralytic (Mark
2:1-12), casting out demons (Mark 1:21-28), healing the
blind (John 9:1-7), and the leprous (Luke
5:12-15).
Jesus raised some from the dead such as Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:22) and the widow's son (Luke 7:14) probably the same day that they died, which may open discussion to some who do not accept the inspiration of the word, that they "fell into a coma", or some other medical condition which "seemed" to allow Jesus to raise them form the dead.
That brings us to our question, "Whom did Jesus raise from the tomb?". Jesus was good friends with Mary, her sister Martha, and their brother (John 11:5), all of Bethany (John 11:1).
3 So the sisters sent word to Him,
saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."
4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in
death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be
glorified by it." (John 11:3-4).
Jesus stayed on two days longer and;
7 Then after this He said to the
disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking
to stone You, and are You going there again?"
(John 11:7-8).
Jesus then told them the brother of Mary and Martha, and their friend had fallen asleep.
12 The disciples then said to Him,
"Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was
speaking of literal sleep. (John 11:12-13)
Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly that their friend was dead (John 11:14)! Thomas then tells the other disciples; 16 Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him." (John 11:16).
When Jesus arrived at Bethany, Martha came to meet Him;
21 Martha then said to Jesus,
"Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give
You."
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the
resurrection on the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who
believes in Me will live even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you
believe this?" (John 11:21-26).
Then Martha;
28 When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." (John 11:28),
32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." (John 11:32)
When Jesus saw her and the Jews who followed her, 35 Jesus wept. (John 11:35).
36 So the Jews were saying, "See
how He loved him!"
37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of
the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?" (John
11:36-37)
Jesus went to the tomb of their brother, a cave with a stone lying against the entrance, and;
39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone."
Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time
there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days."
40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you
will see the glory of God?" (John 11:39-40).
So then, for the answer to our question we turn and read;
41 So they removed the stone Then
Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have
heard Me.
42 "I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people
standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent
Me."
43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice,
"Lazarus, come forth."
44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with
wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said
to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had
done, believed in Him. (John 11:41-45)
So, there we have the answer to our question as it was Lazarus who was dead for four days and yet the Lord called him from his tomb! Some of the Jews reported these things to the Pharisees who planned to kill Him from that day on (John 11:53) as well as Lazarus since he was a reminder of that great miracle and so many were believing in Him (John 12:10-11).
Let us contemplate these scriptures that have been preserved so that we may also believe, like Martha, and make the good confession for life eternal so that we too may be called from our final resting place for that eternal abode!
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This is Bible Break and have a good day.