38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me….. 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” (John 11:38-44)(NKJV)
By the time Jesus reached Martha and Mary, Lazarus was already dead for four days. The sisters had pleaded with him a few days earlier to come to Bethany whilst their brother was sick but still alive. In John 11:6, it mentions that when Jesus heard it, he stayed two more days where he was. Anyone reading that verse would have expected Him to be on His way there as soon as He heard the news.
The events that unfolded subsequently shows us that God was in control of the entire situation, which involves even death. If it was not a hopeless situation from a human perspective, there would be no opportunity for us to witness one of His greatest miracles: bringing Lazarus back to life. But even more that that, He wanted to deal with something within us: our faith.
For many of us, there could be areas in our lives which may have “died”. It could be our relationships, for example, between husband and wife. or a parent and a child, or between siblings. It could be our dreams, something that we have always wanted to engage in, but because of the demands of our careers, family, church etc., we have let it die a natural death. It could also be our finances and debt, and we have to lock ourselves into a job just to pay bills and loan installments. Or it may be a physical condition, like hypertension, elevated cholesterol levels or diabetes. Have we rolled a stone over these areas of our lives, believing them to be hopeless or “dead”?
Jesus is asking us today to take away the “stone”. He cannot do it for us. So what does the “stone” represent in our life?
This stone could be our unbelief that God can do the impossible. We may believe that our relationships, dreams, career, finances etc., would remain dead forever, and that it would be impossible for anyone, including ourselves, to revive it.
Or this stone could be our unwillingness to let Go and let God. We may not even realize that it is we ourselves who may be preventing the miracle from happening. Just like Martha would say to Jesus, “Lord, by this time, there is a stench…”, we may be saying to Jesus, “Lord, let’s not deal with this situation, for it may cause a lot of heartache, inconvenience, bitterness etc.”.
The Lord would say to us today, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (verse 40). The key to unlocking the power and grace of God is just this: believe. Obey the Lord and “take away the stone” of unbelief and unwillingness, and let Him perform the healing work in that area of your life. We need to come before God in all humility and to seek Him with all our hearts. We need to lay that area of our lives that is “dead” at the foot of His throne and ask God for that faith to believe that it can “come alive” again. The decision is in our hands. Are there any stones that need to be removed?