Did Jesus allow Lazarus to die so that He could raise Him from the dead?

  • Amber Rice Miller
  • September 14, 2014
  • 7210
                        
Summary: Amber counters traditional teaching on the death of Lazarus If you have been following my column you know that I have been talking about how God wants us all well and that He would never put sickness on us. At this point I think I need to address a teaching that goes against what I have been talking about so far. A few years ago, I was in a group setting and we were watching a preacher talk about ways to grow your faith. He used the death of Lazarus in John chapter 11 to say that sickness can be from God and that Jesus allowed Lazarus to die to grow Mary and Martha’s faith when He raised him from the dead. I did not agree with that teaching and was determined dig into the scriptures more to find out what really happened. What I am sharing is the result of studying out those scriptures. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were all siblings. Lazarus was sick, and the sisters sent a messenger to Jesus so He would come back to their place to heal Lazarus. When the messenger finally arrives and tells Jesus the news, He replies, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”- John 11:4. Jesus then proceeds to stay in the place where He was at two more days. Now this is where the teaching usually goes astray. People say that God gave Lazarus the sickness so that God would be glorified through it when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. First of all, it doesn’t say that God wanted or allowed this sickness to happen. People read into it to say that, but we know sickness isn’t from God. I believe Jesus was saying something like this: “Look, Lazarus is not going to die; I am going to bring him back to life and in turn I will be glorified through him living.” Yes, God is glorified when people are healed, but He doesn’t want the sickness to be on them in the first place. Then the next wrong thing I have heard taught is that Jesus allowed Lazarus to die to grow Mary and Martha’s faith since He stayed two more days where He was at. But guess what? When Jesus got the news LAZARUS WAS ALREADY DEAD! That is huge detail that people seem to leave out. John 11:17 states: So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Jesus stayed two more days where He was at when He got the message. When He returned to Bethany, Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already. Jesus was east of the Jordan river in Bethabara (see John 10:40 and John 1:28), about 20 miles away. So it probably took Him a day to walk back. That equals three days. Lazarus had been in the tomb four days, so He had to have been dead already when Jesus got the message. Jesus didn’t stay where He was at to allow Lazarus to die so that He could raise Him from the dead. By the time He got the message Lazarus had already died and the Holy Spirit revealed that to Jesus. I have no doubt that if Jesus would have been there He would have healed Lazarus so he wouldn’t have died in the first place. That is why He told His disciples, “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.” – John 11:15. If Jesus had been there, He would have healed Lazarus, just like He healed many people before. But to raise a person from the dead after four days? Now that should open up some eyes and hearts! I think that is part of the reason Jesus didn’t go back right away. It wasn’t to punish the sisters or make them suffer. But since Lazarus was already dead why not finish His business where He was and then go back, raise Him from the dead after four days, and really draw the people in? Yes, that would grow people’s faith, but it wasn’t a set up by God creating or allowing the sickness to do so. John 11:45 says, “Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.” Miracles and healings are ways we can make believers out of unbelievers. They can definitely grow our faith, but we need to make sure we are aware that God doesn’t cause or allow the sickness so miracles can happen. Sickness is not from Him but we can use the authority we have been given as believers to heal others and in turn draw others to Jesus as well.


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