His Friends Must Also Die

John 11

John chapter 11 tells of the death and resurrection of Lazarus. We hope that the Lord gives us a new light on this well known passage, and that it may be useful to those that want to serve to the Lord.

A home in Bethany

There was a special home in Bethany. A home where the Lord found rest after an exhausting day. When he arrived there, his feet were washed, and his soul was refreshed.

It was the home of Lazarus, and of his sisters Mary and Martha.

Such was the affection that the Lord had for them that he loved them in a special way. The Lord called Lazarus his friend (11:11). It is stated three times in John 11 that Jesus loved this family.

In spite of this, there was one day in which the sun did not shine upon them.

That day they sent a very urgent message to Jesus: –Lord, the one you love it is sick.

This expression, "the one you love" was not a presumption. It was true: Jesus loved Lazarus. However, the Lord reacted strangely to that call. Instead of going to him, he stayed where he was two more days.

The Lord Jesus loved these three brothers and sisters, but when he knew that Lazarus was sick he didn't do what was expected of him. It was expected that he would rise and go quickly to prevent Lazarus' death. However, he did exactly the opposite: he stayed there more two days. Instead of extending his hand, he allowed it to fall.

This then is the issue. Jesus loved Lazarus, but he didn't do anything to prevent him from dying. Only when the time had been completed, that is to say, when Lazarus was dead, did he go: "On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days." (v.17)

Lazarus stank

When Jesus arrived, Martha went to find him, and she said to him: –Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

Mary, her sister, soon after, tells him the same: –Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

They had good reason. Being who he is, it would have been impossible that there could be death wherever the Lord Jesus was present. Death ran from him, because he is the resurrection and the life. When the Lord Jesus is present, death has to run, and life gives forth fruit, it flourishes and expands.

They were sure of this, because they knew the Lord.

Then they came closer to the tomb, and the Lord said: –Take away the stone.

Then Martha said: –But Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.

If Lazarus stank, then it meant that he was very dead.

An allegory

Lazarus represents all of us. Lazarus is you and I. After having received the Lord visiting our house for some time; after having sat down with us at the table and having enjoyed his affection and his word, a moment arrives in which the Lord moves away from us.

Or rather, we move away.

This is what happened to that Shulammite woman in the book of Song of Songs. (Songs of Solomon) (cap.5:2-3). In the moment in which she slept, she heard her lover's voice calling, and he told her: –Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.

The Lord came, as ever, kind, affectionate, speaking sweet words to her, and inviting her to open up for him. However, she responds to him saying: –I have taken off my robe, must I put it back on again? I have washed my feet, must I soil them again?

She has gotten so used to the Lord, and to his affection that a moment arrives in which she does not appreciate him. She is comfortable in her bed, she has washed, and lies placidly recumbent. He, on the other hand, comes with dirty feet, covered with the dew of the night. It is a nuisance to have to get up and to open the door.

Likewise the same happens to us. Having enjoyed the friendship of the Lord, suddenly we get conceited, and allow ourselves to end up thinking that we do him a favor by serving him. We have toiled alone in his work, and have done so well at it -apparently anyway - that we find that we can continue carrying it out, without really needing him.

We end up being experts, and we can direct whole conferences, the subject of which would be our successes. Therefore, in what appears to be our best moment, the Lord pulls away for some time, and then the work that is our glory, begins to wither, and we begin to die.

The heart -that is deceiving - doesn't always react to follow after him, as the Shulammite woman did. So contempt becomes indifference, or an insistence to continue in our own way that spiritually leads us to death. It is, then, the Lord stays away for two more days. Until we, and all those that surround us, know that we have died.

The despair arrives

It is possible that those who surround us will despair. The wife realizes first, and later the children. They ask: –What's the matter with you?

There is a great insensitivity, a hardness of heart or a distressing inability to leave this stagnant state.

The Lord is far off. It would seem that he has hidden from our sight; that he is looking toward someone else, not us. It is then that the situation becomes dramatic, death surrounds us. We realize -a little too late - that without him everything is darkness. Without him, the forces of evil rush toward us and threaten to swallow us.

Without him there is no joy, nor faith, nor hope. There is no cleansing of the conscience. That praise that flowed out of us when we walked along the street has dried in our throat. There is only dryness, sterility, a desert. There is a lack of appetite, heaviness and regret.

Then those that see us in that condition come and say to the Lord: –Lord, things have gone too far.

And they add, with tears: –If you had been here... If you had intervened... Why didn't you save him? Lord, he died!

The morning of the resurrection

John 11 says that, when the Lord saw the sisters crying, he also wept. This means that he is not happy with our death and with the pain of those that surround us. He is not happy with our suffering, but rather, that he sympathizes with us.

The Lord wept.

The Lord felt a deep pain for his dead friend Lazarus. However, he had allowed him to die.
Yet after the dark night of the soul, after the tunnel of death, there is a light that glows. Beyond the four days there is a morning of resurrection.

The moment arrives in which the tomb shivers, in which the angel of the death leaves, and the demons run. Which is the cause? The Lord Jesus has simply said: –Lazarus, come out!

When there was no longer hope; when Martha had deferred the resurrection for the last day, and when everyone had already cried at his funeral, the Lord brought Lazarus out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, his face wrapped in a shroud.

Lazarus, and also all of us. You and I.

For a friend of Jesus, death is not the end. There is always a morning of resurrection beyond it. Men fear death because they don't see anything beyond it. They don't have hope. But for those that love Jesus, death is only the step to a superior life. It is the beginning of everything.

His friends must also die

John 11:51-52 tells us that Jesus had to die to save to the nations and to bring together the scattered children of God and make them one. Jesus did what he had to do. He died. That is very clear. Now it corresponds to his friends to do the same thing.

Lazarus was one of the Lord's friends. But he was not the only one.

The Lord told his disciples, on another occasion: –You are my friends...

And he also says this to us: –You are my friends.

If you are his friend, you have to know this: –His friends must also die.

You might say: –This is absurd. Why do I have to die?

Or: – This is for other people.

While you are on the pinnacle of glory, or on the mount of the transfiguration, you may think that it is not necessary for you to die.

However, Lazarus died, and Jesus' other friends must also die.

Catalepsy

There is something very similar to death. It is called catalepsy. What does this mean? Being cataleptic means the loss of external sensibility and movement, but without the loss of consciousness. A person that is in a cataleptic state is seemingly dead, but he is able to reason.

It is possible that in some moment we end up understanding the doctrine about our death and we accept it. It is possible that we agree that the Lord wants us to die. And then we make arrangements to produce our death, and -better yet - to make it appear that that we really have died. However, the Lord cannot be deceived. He won't allow us to conform to a simple state of drowsiness. He will draw away from us during the entire time necessary, until we are very dead.

How much revelation, how much life, how much communion is being impeded because some of us are not really willing to die? Lazarus died, and all the Lord's friends must also die.

It's easy to only be a sympathizer, to go, to listen and to return. And come back and say:

–The teaching was beautiful-
–The preaching was good.
–The worship was wonderful.

But to be a friend of the Lord is something much more delicate and jeopardizing. Lazarus died. And in John 15:14 it says: –You are my friends if you do what I command.

And what is his command for you and for me? Today the Lord commands us to die, and to die properly.
The Lord stayed away two extra days, far from Bethany, so that there was no doubt as to whether Lazarus was suffering from a cataleptic state. The bad odor of his body indicated that he wasn't catatonic. Lazarus really was dead.

The fruits of dying

Lazarus' death caused one of the most prodigious acts in the Lord Jesus' ministry: the resurrection of Lazarus. Without the death of Lazarus there could have been no resurrection. And what happened when Lazarus was resurrected? "Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him." (v.45)

If we don't allow Lazarus to die, there won't be any resurrection, and if there is no resurrection, the unbelievers that hope to see power and miracles won't believe. When Lazarus is resurrected by the power of God, then the news is spread and many come to see.

Verse 51 says that Jesus had to die for the nation and also to unite the scattered children of God into one. And he died.

In these days, there are many of God's people that are dispersed. There are many that are misplaced and that feel far from the fold. Others are hungry and thirsty. God wants to gather them together.

If Lazarus refuses to die, God won't be able to use him to reach others. Because -and you must know this - God is working today: he is saving many, and is congregating all the scattered children into one.
But to carry out this work, you, just like Lazarus, you must die.

They don't want to die

There are many people eating of the world's fruits. There are many that don't know the House of God. To gather them into one, the Lord Jesus had to die. In order for him to gather them into one today, his friends have to die.

We need to break the bonds of ungodliness; we need to open up paths, to pray intensely, morning and night. But there are children of God that love sleeping. They don't want to die.

It is necessary to deny the appetites of the flesh, but there are children of God that don't want to die.
There are bonds of ungodliness that don't break, because the people of God don't fast. There are offenses that one receives, there are small things that make the heart, or the soul hurt, there is bitterness, there are discords. But the children of God don't want to die.

There are small sacrifices to make, but the children of God don't want to die. Therefore, the scattered children will continue to be dispersed, and the hungry will continue to be hungry.

There are children of God that work from sunrise to sunset, because they have many things to buy, and many debts to pay. They don't want to be restricted. They don't want to die.

They live to work and to make a lot of money. Even though half that amount would be enough for their expenses and those of their family, they feel that they need to earn more. They have to maintain a standard of life, a certain "status." They have to change the car and to improve their housing. They don't want to die.

Therefore those that are outside remain frozen; they continue dying from hunger. They remain with an empty stomach. They remain the scattered children of God, because these Lazarus' don't want to die.

Dearly beloved: This is not only an interpretation of John 11! This is a call to the heart of God's people; to Jesus' friends. It is not for strangers: it is for friends.

Many Lazarus' don't want to die. They make an effort to appear well, even though they are far from the Lord. The Lord no longer gives testimony in their hearts, nor supports the work of their hands, but they don't want to die. They cling hopelessly to their life and their own glory.

If that is your condition, beloved brother, beloved sister, you should know that the Lord will stay away for another two days, until you die.

Why? Because you are his friend, because he loves you and because he wants to work through you