I AM the RESURRECTION and the LIFE!

Jesus loved a man called Lazarus of the town of Bethany. This man had two sisters, one Mary and the other Martha. It was Mary who had on a previous occasion anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair.
Jesus was told that His friend Lazarus was sick, nigh unto death. "Oh his sickness is not unto death, but that the glory of God, and the Son of God might be glorified by it," was Jesus' answer to them.
Jesus made no hurry from the place He was at, but two days later Jesus said to His disciples, "It's time to go to Judea once more."
"Master," the disciples answered, "do you not remember it was there the Jews sought to stone you, and you want to go there again."
Jesus replied, "We go for our friend Lazarus is sleeping; but I go that I may wake him out of sleep."
The disciples told Jesus that if he was asleep, that was good. But Jesus was not talking about a sleep like we take at night time to rest for the next day's work, but Jesus spoke of Lazarus being dead, and He then plainly told them so.
"I'm glad for you that I was not there when he died, that you may believe."

When Jesus arrived he was told that lazarus had been dead for 4 days already. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she ran to meet him. With tears and grief she cried to Jesus, "Lord, oh Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. Yet I know God can do anything we may ask of Him."
"Martha," said Jesus, "your brother shall RISE again!"
"I know Lord, yes I know he shall rise in the RESURRECTION at the last days," responded Martha.
"Martha, I am the resurrection and the life: whoever believes in Me though they were dead, they shall live again. And whoever lives and believes in Me, shall in no wise die forever. Do you believe this?"
"Yes Lord, yes indeed Lord I do believe this, and that You are the Christ, the Son of God, which was to come into the world."

Now Mary was still in the house being comforted by some Jews because of the death of her brother.  She then also ran out to meet Jesus, and crying, said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
Jesus saw her crying and also the Jews that had followed her, crying also, He groaned and was upset in spirit.
"Where have you put Lazarus," Jesus asked.
"Come and see Lord, come and see."

We then have the shortest verse in the Bible....."Jesus wept."

This was not just a few tears running down His cheeks, this was real weeping, with full emotion. The Jews really knew then how much Jesus loved Lazarus, and his sisters.

Can we weep at times? Can we look around and see the sins of our nations, see the way the world is going, see the unbelief, see our nations departing more and more from Jesus, the personification of the word of God, the word of God in the flesh. Do we at times weep over the sins of the world, and where we know those sins will eventually take the world....into reaping the wages of sin - destruction and death. Do you at times read the prophecies of your Bible, and understand the sorrow and pain and death,  that lies ahead for the nations of this earth, because they will not REPENT of sin?

Jesus came to the grave where they had laid Lazarus.

"Take away the stone," Jesus told them.

Martha spoke up, "Lord, he has been dead for 4 days, by now he is stinking of decay."

"Did I not say to you Martha," replied Jesus, "that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"

The stone was taken away. "Father," said Jesus, "I thank you that you hear me, for the people standing by I have said this, that they may believe you sent me."

Jesus lifted up His voice and with a LOUD CRY said, "LAZARUS, COME FORTH!!"

Can you imagine the look on the faces of the people who, with their own eyes, SAW Lazarus WALK OUT OF THAT GRAVE!!

Has it ever been told, has it ever been seen, that someone dead for 4 days came walking out of their grave, ALIVE ONCE MORE, alive, back in the land of the LIVING - from death to LIFE.

Jesus died on that afternoon of the 14th day of the first month. He was fully dead. He put His faith in the Father to raise Him from death back to life, 3 days and 3 nights later. Jesus' resurrection was not just back to physical life as Lazarus' life was, but Jesus was raised to GLORIFIED IMMORTAL LIFE!! The first physical human to ever gain LIFE TO IMMORTALITY!! That is why Paul in one of his letters said Jesus had PREEMINENCE ..... IN ALL THINGS!!

Do you not know,  that we are not only saved by the DEATH of Jesus but also by His LIFE? Yes we are! It takes BOTH the death of Jesus and the life of Jesus to save us. Read it for yourself, MARK it in yellow. It's been in your Bible for two thousand years friends - Romans 5:8-10.

Notice it, again mark with a yellow high-liner!

"Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how is it that some among you say there is NO resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching VAIN, and your faith is also VAIN.....And if Christ be NOT risen, your faith is VAIN, you are yet IN YOUR SINS. Then they also which have fallen asleep (death is sleep friends, death is not life in some other location) in Christ are PERISHED. If in THIS life ONLY we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

Within all this context of death back to LIFE, also note, time during this Feast of Unleavened Bread to note it, verse 33 and 34 of this famous resurrection chapter.

"Be not deceived: EVIL communications CORRUPT good manners. AWAKE to RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SIN NOT! For some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame."

Do you know a Bible definition of "righteousness" friends?  Well if not I'll give it to you .... Psalms 119:172.  Yes mark this in yellow also.  ALL THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD ARE RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!

Do you know a Bible definition of sin? One very plain one is 1 John 3:4 and tie that in with Romans 7:7

Those who teach that only the DEATH of Jesus saves you ARE WRONG!  They are so wrong they are DEAD wrong if they do not come to see the truth of the matter. It takes not only the death of Jesus to save you, it also takes the LIFE of Jesus to save you! I'll explain more on that as this Unleavened Bread Feast moves on.

Those who teach that the commandments of God are "done away with" under grace, well they must be some of the DUMBEST readers of the New Testament that there could ever be. Such teachers of "no law" under grace have not yet got out of the DIAPER stage of understanding the Bible - they are still BABES on the milk of the word, and I sometimes wonder if they have even got to the stage of having the milk of the word of God.

Jesus is indeed the RESURRECTION and the LIFE!!

And it takes His LIFE also to save you!!

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