Introduction – Where Is He?
The sun was just breaking over the village of Bethany. Birds began to sing as dawn’s first color brushed the courtyards of Mary and Martha’s home. Inside, a woman stood at the window—Martha—her eyes fixed on the road.
Where is He? she wondered. He should have been here by now.
Two days earlier she had sent an urgent message: The one You love is sick. Surely Jesus would hurry. Everyone knew how deeply He loved Lazarus and this household. This home had been His retreat, a quiet place to rest.
Martha remembered how her sister Mary once poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair—Mary, spontaneous and pure in her devotion. They had given Him their best. Surely He would come now, when they needed Him most.
But Lazarus had grown weaker. The night before, Mary knelt beside his bed all night, cooling his fevered brow and praying through her tears. At dawn Martha whispered to herself again, Where is He? Jesus is cutting it close this time.
She forced herself toward the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the disciples she expected. Then the cry came—Mary’s voice, broken and desperate. Martha rushed back and found Mary clinging to her brother’s still form. Lazarus was gone.
Mary’s anguished question pierced the room: Martha, you said He would come. Where is He?
Martha had no answer. The One who never failed them had not shown up. They wrapped the body, received mourners, and on the third day sealed the tomb. By the fourth day, when decay had set in, even Martha’s slim thread of hope snapped.
And then—too late, it seemed—Jesus appeared on the road.
Point I – Hold On When God Disappoints You
Martha ran to meet Him, her heart a storm of grief and love.
“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died,” she said.
But even in pain she added, “Yet even now I know that whatever You ask of God, He will give You.”
Even now.
That’s the first lesson of this story:
Will you hold on when God seems late?
1. Everyone Faces This Crossroad
At some point every believer stands where Martha stood—hurt, bewildered, asking why God missed the deadline.
You prayed for healing but the illness ended in death.
You begged for a marriage to mend but the papers were signed.
You trusted God for provision and the foreclosure notice came.
Scripture is honest about this pain:
Abraham waited decades while his body aged.
Job sat in ashes scraping sores, crying, Where are You, Lord?
Moses spent forty silent years in the desert.
David fasted for his dying child only to hear the child was gone.
The disciples huddled behind locked doors after Calvary, thinking all hope was buried.
Faithful people, real disappointment.
2. Faith That Trusts the Character of God
There is a faith that holds to promises we can see.
But trust goes deeper: it clings to God’s character when no promise is visible.
Isaiah 42:3 whispers hope:
“A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.”
Jesus told His disciples about Lazarus,
“This sickness will not end in death… it is for God’s glory… so that you may believe.” (John 11:4,15)
Sometimes He waits so that you may believe—so that a deeper revelation of His glory can be born.
3. Refuse to Quit
The enemy’s favorite lie is, Quit. Give up. It’s over.
But Hebrews 10:36 urges,
“You have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise.”
A saint once said in testimony, “It is so sweet to trust in Jesus—just to take Him at His word.”
Sometimes the greatest miracle is simply not quitting.
Martha’s story tells us:
Hold on when God disappoints you. Trust when you cannot trace His hand. Because Jesus is never really late—He is always perfectly on time for His greater purpose.
Point II – Look Beyond What You See
Martha stood on that dusty road with tears drying on her cheeks. Jesus had just said,
“Your brother will rise again.”
She replied with what she knew from Scripture:
“I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
And then Jesus gave words that have thundered through centuries:
“I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
Right there Jesus shifted the conversation from when to Who.
The hope of every believer isn’t just a future date—it is a Person.
1. A Greater Day Is Coming
This world is not the finish line.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:19,
“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”
But listen to the promise that follows (1 Corinthians 15:51-57):
>“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed… Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
That is not just a funeral text; it’s a living hope for every believer who carries unanswered questions and broken dreams.
Job declared in the middle of his ashes,
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And though my flesh be destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”
Job didn’t quit in his lifetime so he could win in the life to come.
2. Eternal Perspective Changes Present Power
When we know this world is not the end, courage rises.
We can forgive when wronged.
We can serve without applause.
We can face sickness, setbacks, and even death with unshakable calm.
Old gospel songs caught this truth:
“Some glad morning when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away.”
“I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop.”
“We shall behold Him, face to face in all of His glory.”
These aren’t escapist fantasies; they’re fuel for perseverance.
1 John 3:2-3 says,
“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
A missionary once returned home after decades overseas. No band met him at the dock, no dignitaries, no applause. As he walked off the ship, the Spirit whispered,
“Son, you’re not home yet.”
That’s the heart of Christian hope.
3. Living for the Ultimate Victory
When Jesus delayed coming to Bethany, He wasn’t cruel; He was lifting their eyes beyond today’s heartbreak to a glory that death cannot touch.
So Paul concludes in 1 Corinthians 15:58:
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
Christians live best when we live for that Day.
Our service makes sense.
Our suffering finds purpose.
Our sacrifices are not wasted.
Martha began to sense it that morning: the One standing before her was not just a healer of fevers—He was the Lord of life and death.
Transition
But Jesus wasn’t finished. Hope alone wasn’t enough; He wanted to break the chains of yesterday’s grief and prove that His resurrection power works right now.
For that to happen, Martha had to take one more bold step of faith.
“Take away the stone,” Jesus said.
That brings us to the third and most challenging movement of this message.
Point III – Open the Door
Jesus’ next words stunned everyone:
“Take away the stone.”
Silence fell. Faces blanched. The request was unthinkable.
Martha, always practical, protested:
>“Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
The King James puts it starkly: “Lord… he stinketh.”
Martha still believed, but she wanted to remember her brother as he was. To open that tomb meant revisiting pain and risking public embarrassment.
Jesus met her objection with quiet authority:
>“Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
1. Trust Him Enough to Roll Away the Stone
Every one of us has places we’ve sealed shut—wounds and disappointments we’ve locked behind heavy stones:
Betrayals we never talk about
Prayers we buried because they weren’t answered
Failures that still whisper, Don’t try again; you’ll only get hurt
Life teaches us to wall those tombs up for survival.
But Jesus says, Roll away the stone.
He will not force the door. He asks for our consent because healing is relational.
Revelation 3:20 echoes His invitation:
>“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in.”
Only God can resurrect, but we must open the door.
2. Let the Resurrection Power In
When they finally obeyed and rolled the stone aside, Jesus lifted His eyes and prayed.
Then He shouted with the authority of heaven:
>“Lazarus, come forth!”
The crowd gasped. From the darkness came movement—then the figure of a man, wrapped head to foot in grave clothes, stepping into daylight.
Jesus turned to the stunned onlookers:
>“Loose him, and let him go.”
What had been impossible moments earlier now stood breathing before them.
And Martha—the sister who had questioned, wept, and wrestled—watched her brother alive again and whispered through tears,
“Thank You, Jesus. I didn’t know…”
3. Your Stone, Your Miracle
The God who called Lazarus still calls today.
To the wounded heart He says, Open the door and let Me heal.
To the addict He says, Come forth into freedom.
To the weary believer He says, Let Me breathe life into what you think is beyond hope.
Some of us need to roll away the stone of fear—fear of disappointment, fear of failure, fear of letting God into that secret room.
Others need to open the door on bitterness or unforgiveness that has kept joy entombed.
Jesus will not pry it open, but if you’ll trust Him enough to roll the stone away, resurrection power will meet you there.
Conclusion – Beyond Hope
This is the God we serve:
A God who resurrects the dead within us and around us.
A God who turns the darkest Saturday into a resurrection morning.
A God who goes beyond our schedules, our logic, and even our dreams.
Some victories only come when we refuse to quit in the valley of delay.
Some answers only dawn when we lift our eyes beyond this life to the life to come.
And some miracles only happen when we open the door and let Him into the tomb that smells like failure.
Hebrews 4:9-11 promises:
“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God… Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest.”
So the call today is threefold:
>Hold on when God seems late.
Trust His character when you cannot trace His hand.
>Look beyond this world.
Fix your eyes on the coming resurrection and eternal reward.
>Open the door.
Let Jesus speak life into the sealed places of your soul.
Then stand and sing with confidence:
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.
Breathe on me, breath of God.
He is Lord, He is risen from the dead and He is Lord.
Because the same voice that cried “Lazarus, come forth!”
still calls today—and nothing, not even death itself,
can resist His word.
Amen.
