You Will See, If You Believe

John 11:1-6 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. [2] (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) [3] Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. [4] When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. [5] Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. [6] When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

I'm going to say something here that you probably won't like, but I have to say it, in order to clarify the thought that we are developing throughout tis text.

We are talking about the glory of God, and yet the setting of this text is anything but glory.

When we read this text, Mary and Martha are very sad. In fact there is death, loss, grief, disappointment, anger, frustration, and confusion all at the same time. Their brother Lazarus has died, and they are convinced that Jesus could have prevented his death.

So they are not happy with Jesus at all. They can't understand how or why Jesus who could have stopped this tragedy, and could have prevented all this pain from entering their lives, didn't.

Let me ask you a question, have you ever felt like that? Maybe you feel that way right now. You're going through things that don't make any sense, and you can't see any glory in it whatsoever. And you are confused, bewildered, frustrated, and maybe if you're honest about it, you may even be a little miffed at the Lord right now, because he hasn't come through for you.

I think one of the reasons we get so angry, agitated, disappointed, and frustrated, is because we have a lopsided view of what the glory of God is.

Our human tendency is to think of the glory of God as glorious streams of radient light shining from heaven, and a choir of angels singing Hallelujah.

That's beautiful, but the problem with that is... that is not usually the setting for the glory of God, and if that's your perception about the glory of God, you could very easily miss it when the glory of God shows up.

Jesus said to Mary and Martha, if you believe you will see the glory of God.

Why did Jesus require them to believe in order to see the glory of God? Because there was nothing in their present conditions that spoke of glory.

Let me park here for just a minute. Sickness and disease do not glorify God.

Sickness and disease and death, is not the glory of God. If it was, then Jesus was robbing God of his glory by healing the sick, casting out devils, and raising the dead.

When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he said to his disciples... this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby.

What Jesus was saying was, this sickness was not going to be the last word even though it would lead to death.

I need to say this to someone today. This sickness is not the last word.

—That bad doctors report you got is not the last word.

—That notice of foreclosure is not the last word.

—That eviction notice is not the last word.

—That little slip saying, you're fired, is not the last word.

Oh yeah, it's a word alright, but it's not the last word.

Jesus said, this sickness or this present dilema is not the last word.

In fact the Bible says... This present tribulation is actually working for you.

2 Co 4:12 "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Did you get that? It's working for you a heavy weight of glory.

Then the Bible says, "And all things work together for the good to them who love the Lord, and who are the called according to his purpose." Ro 8:28

But there's a condition here. Somehow you have to look past and beyond the present pains. You have to see with the eye of faith a glory not yet revealed.

Paul said, these tribulations and afflictions are bringing us to a weighty glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

Then he says, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

That's exactly what Jesus was saying to Mary and Martha. He was saying... if you want to see the glory of God, you are going to have to look with eyes of faith. You are going to have to see right through that mountain with the xray vision of faith.