"This
sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified thereby" (John
11:4).
"He
that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with
graveclothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin.
Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go" (John
11:44).
"But
the chief priests took counsel that they might put
Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many
of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus" (John
12:10-11).
We know
quite well, but it may be as well if we remind ourselves,
that in this Gospel there is brought out the one thing
which governs all the interests and activities of God -
namely, His glory, and His glory in the face of Jesus
Christ: so that the one thing in view, giving meaning to
everything, is the glory of God through the Lord Jesus.
Let us keep that in mind, because if we detach anything
from that we lose both its meaning and value, and
probably lose our way. God is doing everything for His
glory, and that particularly in the lives of those who
are His.
God's Glory Manifested Against a
Background of Suffering
Let us
now come to the first of these three fragments in this
wonderful illustration. "This sickness is not unto
death, but for the glory of God". The statement is
the explanation and the interpretation of a very
mysterious providence, a providence which lifts things
which otherwise could be regarded as the common
happenings in human life on to another level, and clothes
them with majesty, with glory. It is not an uncommon
thing that a man should be taken ill and die, and there
are literally countless things which just happen like
that, making up the sum of human life and experience,
every one of which can be regarded as the common lot, the
everyday experience; but here is something which, by the
illumination of the Lord, has to be seen in another way -
and another way which almost startles us. It is that the
sovereignty of God, moving toward that great object of
His own glory in His Son, acts to make a man ill, to
bring sickness upon a man; and providence stands back and
lets that sickness take its course, until the man dies
and is more than dead, and all the features of an earthly
human tragedy are there, of bereavement, of sorrow and
heartbreak. They are all there - and yet God is in this
thing, involved and implicated by His own act in a most
remarkable way, and it is made known that this thing was
determined by God Himself with a tremendous object in
view, the greatest object in the heart of God - His own
glory.
Now you
see the far-reaching possibilities of such a
consideration, and the tremendous range of application.
We shall be content just now to take the fact that when
God is seeking to glorify Himself, to bring His Son into
His rightful place of recognition, of Lordship, those
things which we may naturally regard and interpret as the
haps and chances of human life, to which all are subject,
may be something predestined of God, under God's control,
to bring out something greatly to the glory of God, to
God's satisfaction.
Now,
friends, this is something to which you and I have to
seek quite diligently to adjust ourselves. Let us widen
and enlarge the application from just human indisposition
or sickness, even if it does culminate in death. Let us
view in the light of this perhaps a lifetime of
difficulty and adversity and suffering, perhaps something
that has come to us for which we have more than thrice
sought the Lord that it might be removed, and the Lord
has in effect said, 'No': there has been no removal; it
is something that we are called upon to experience and
endure. It may be something in our lives as a whole, or
it may be some event in our lives of great distress. Oh,
look at it, whatever it may be in your case that you
would have removed, to which you would take the attitude
that Mary and Martha took - This is a tragedy, this is a
misfortune, this is a great adversity, this is an
overwhelming sorrow, this is all against us, all contrary
to our good and to our blessing and to our joy. The Word
of God makes it clear in more than one place that there
is a sovereignty behind the lives of His own, "the
called according to His purpose", which may have not
just let that thing happen, but actually ordained it, and
made that very thing, ordered by the will of God, the
means by which something should come from our lives very
much to the glory of God. I know that it is not easy to
take that attitude toward things when you are in them -
it is the most difficult thing; but here is something
which is concrete as a statement, and it says in a
general way to us, "to them that love God... that
are called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28):
'You who love the Lord, there is some tremendous
possibility for the Lord's glory, the Lord's
satisfaction, wrapped up in that which you are inclined
to regard as a trouble, suffering, adversity, a setback,
a tragedy, if not a catastrophe, a strange and mysterious
providence which has reversed your hopes and expectations
- all that and much more. That may be something that the
Lord has not only allowed to take place, but has arranged
Himself.' In the end, of course, we recognize that and
acknowledge it, and we shall not be sorry that we went
through that thing. I do not think Mary and Martha were
sorry afterwards that they went through it. I think there
was tremendous gain there, but the point is that in the
lives of those who love the Lord there is in suffering
something for God's glory, and if our hearts are set upon
His glory, we shall share it. "If so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with
him" (Rom. 8:17).
That is
just the first brief but quite real message to us, and it
must be taken by every one of us according to our own
hearts' secret bitterness and sorrow. You know the Lord
has dealt with you in a strange way, upset all your
plans, suspended all your expectations, reversed all your
hopes, brought everything to a standstill, whatever it
might be. Now "this sickness is not unto
death". If Christ, the Resurrection and the Life, is
involved in this, it is unto life; it cannot be unto
death, but for the glory of God.
Manifested Glory Limited by an
Earth Touch
The
second passage - "Jesus saith... Loose him, and let
him go". Do not forget that the glory of God is
still governing, though that glory may be partially under
arrest. The glory of God is found in the uncreated life
of God, or the risen life of Christ, the life of the One
who is the Resurrection and the Life. The glory is
inherent in that Divine eternal life. Lazarus has got to
the point where he has the life, it is in him, he has
come forth in the power of that resurrection life, but it
is in limitation; therefore the glory is in limitation,
and the full realization of the Divine intention, the
full display of glory, requires that that life shall be
loosed, shall be freed. From what? We say, Grave-clothes.
What are the grave-clothes? Well, "dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19). The
grave-clothes are just the 'earth touch'. That is a very
very full phrase. It is some link with old mother Earth,
it is some still remaining tie with that cursed creation
where nothing can go right through to fullness. Here it
is the question of fullness of life, full release and
resultant full glory; and, in any realm where the curse
still rests, we know that the mark of the curse is that
things go so far and then they fade out, die away,
nothing really comes right through to fullness.
Here is
Lazarus; he has got so far - but what is the good of this
man tied hand and foot? Even though he has life, he
cannot do very much, he cannot be of much use. He is not
going to walk about and display the glory of God as a
living corpse, always speaking of the grave - his one
testimony being, even though he has life, the grave. He
speaks of the grave, bears marks of the grave on him all
the time - there is an earth touch. You see the
comprehensiveness of application. We have to learn under
the instruction of the Holy Spirit what and where is the
earth touch in our case. It may be some ambition, natural
ambition, some personal craving, something that we
ourselves want for our own satisfaction. It may be any
one of a thousand things that is still an earth touch,
that means that we are not completely released for God,
we are not really free for the Lord, still some ground of
controversy, still some ground of bargaining with the
Lord - If You will do this, then I will... There is still
some earth touch somewhere, some bit of worldliness - oh,
anything that touches that earth realm; and therefore,
although we may have this wonderful life and have heard
the call of the Son of God, we are still in limitation,
still in straitness, still tied up, still not absolutely
free and emancipated that the glory of God should be
served in fullness. "Loose him, and let him
go"; cut the earth ties.
I know,
of course, that there is the dispensational outworking of
this thing and that these grave-clothes dispensationally
speak of the law, the Jewish law, because it is here,
right in the midst of Judaism, that the testimony is
borne. This is Galatians. The whole letter to the
Galatians is in the words "Loose him, and let him
go". Get rid of the legalism of the law and let this
raised man go free. But there is a spiritual
interpretation, and it is a wider one. There is this more
extensive application, and the principle is universal -
have an earth touch, and your life comes under arrest,
the glory of God is limited. What is your earth touch?
Well, let us ask ourselves, are we free? Are we really
living in the fullness of this life and the effectiveness
of this life in service? If not, why not? Are we still
clinging to something for ourselves, still holding on
somewhere to that which is banned by God, which cannot
live? It is the death touch because it is the earth
touch. The word is: "Loose him, and let him
go".
Satan's Opposition to the
Manifestation of the Glory
And the
third passage - "the chief priests took counsel that
they might put Lazarus also to death; BECAUSE
that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed
on Jesus". Anything that is in the full way of the
glory of God, loosed for Divine purpose that God may be
glorified in it, becomes the object of Satan's malice.
That is a third truth, which perhaps we need not
emphasize, for we know it well, that if God does
something in our lives out of which He gets glory to
Himself through His Son, it is not long before the hate
and spite of the enemy is directed against us. That is a
part of our fellowship with the Lord. If they are going
to put Jesus to death, they are going to put Lazarus to
death as well, because these two are one. We are bound up
with the Lord in this, and we shall find that if the Lord
is after getting glory in and through our lives, and yet
more glory, then the enemy will make us the targets of
his real venom and he and his will take counsel to put us
to death.
But how
far can he go? He cannot go any further at any time than
the Lord of Life permits him to go, because now His Son
has been offered at Calvary, and for us it is our
privilege, not to be killed, but to lay down our lives of
our own free will.
Well,
three things - "not unto death, but for the glory of
God". What is it that you and I are wrestling with?
See in it the possibility of Divine glory: it may be
something ordained of God - tragic as it seems to you -
ordained of God to be in the long run for His glory. Get
free from that which limits the glory and frustrates the
purpose of God in your adversity and trial - that is, any
earth touch, any personal clinging; and remember that,
even when you have done that, you are not going to escape
the attention of the enemy - you are going to be an
object of his consideration; and if the devil thinks
anyone or anything is worth his consideration, it must be
of value to the Lord.
First published in
"A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Jan-Feb 1953, Vol. 31-1.