April 20, 2025
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John 11:25-26
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easter
On this day Easter Sunday we are reminded that Jesus claimed to be the Resurrection and the Life. He claimed that He was not only able to defeat death, but that He is the only way that we can receive this resurrection life. Where do you need this resurrection life today? Where are you experiencing death today? For there are many kinds of death: death of an unfulfilled dream; death of a relationship due to divorce or discord among former friends or family; and of course the finality of death itself. How do you face death? What do you believe about this?
Jesus not only claimed to be the resurrection and the life. He proved it! His resurrection is a fact and a matter of historical record. Do you believe this?
In the gospel of John 11:25-26, about two weeks before the first Easter Sunday, Jesus called Martha, whose brother Lazarus had died, to believe in Him as the resurrection and the life. We can experience resurrection life by believing in Jesus.
May 20, 2024
“Jesus wept” (John 11:35 ESV). The shortest verse in the Bible is one of the most revealing. Did Jesus cry in grief because Lazarus had died? No, it doesn’t seem so. For He had already told His disciples that He was going to “awaken” Lazarus (John 11:11). So why did He cry? Perhaps it was
August 13, 2023
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Matthew 5:4, John 11:17-44
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beatitudes, grief, recovery
For many of us, we don’t know how to grieve. We don’t know how to mourn. So, we just bottle it up. We deny it. Or we try to medicate it with booze, or pills, or overeating, or over-working, or materialism or… But the pain remains. Unresolved grief can cause us to give up on happiness.
The blessed life, the supremely happy life, is ours when we are willing to admit that we’re powerless to change, to overcome our hurts, habits, and hangups. And that we need to mourn, grieve, and trust Jesus as the only One truly able to comfort and heal us. In the gospel of John, Jesus called those who were grieving the death of Lazarus to believe in Him as the only One who could truly comfort their grief and turn their mourning into blessing. We can release our grief to Jesus to receive His comfort.
May 20, 2023
‘Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”‘ (John 11:43-44 NLT). When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He instructed his family and friends to help him out of
May 21, 2022
CHRIST IS OUR PURIFICATION Over 100 purification pools or “mikvehs” have been discovered in the ruins surrounding the Temple Mount. The Jewish pilgrims who came from all over the Roman Empire for Passover would arrive early to bathe in one of these mikvehs, cleansing themselves and putting on clean clothes before entering the Temple. Yet,
May 20, 2022
THE WORD THAT RAISES THE DEAD The One who had said, “Let there be light,” later entered into this sin darkened world to bring light once again. He spoke resurrection life to a four-days-dead man, shouting, “Lazarus, come forth!” He called to him specifically because otherwise all the dead on planet earth would have burst
May 20, 2021
NEW LIFE, NEW CLOTHES! When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He instructed his family and friends to help him out of his graveclothes. Surely the clothes must have smelled of death just as Martha had warned, for Lazarus had been dead for four days. The dead man Lazarus was raised to life by the
May 20, 2020
JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE The One who had said, “Let there be light,” now entered into His fallen creation, speaking resurrection life to those dead in their sins. He called to “Lazarus” specifically because otherwise every dead body on planet earth would have burst forth from the grave at His command, “Come
May 20, 2019
DO YOU KNOW THE ONE WHO CAN COMMAND THE DEAD TO RISE? The One who had said, “Let there be light,” later entered into this sin darkened world to bring light once again. He spoke resurrection life to a four-days-dead man, shouting, “Lazarus, come forth!” He called to him specifically because otherwise all the dead
May 21, 2018
NO FURTHER NEED FOR RITUAL PURIFICATION
Over 100 purification pools or “mikvehs” have been discovered in the ruins surrounding the Temple Mount. The Jewish pilgrims who came from all over the Roman Empire for Passover would arrive early to bathe in one of these mikvehs, cleansing themselves and putting on clean clothes before entering the Temple. Yet, the Passover week that John wrote of would change everything. For by the end of that week, Jesus would offer His blood for the purification of sin to all those who would believe.
As we read in the book of Hebrews, “Dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:19-22).
There is no further need of ritual cleansing. Jesus is our spiritual mikveh.