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From Heaven With Love
that she might see in the resurrection of Lazarus a pledge of the
resurrection of all the righteous dead.
Martha answered, “I know that he shall rise again in the resur-
rection at the last day.” Seeking to give a true direction to her faith,
Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life.” In Christ is life,
original, unborrowed, underived. “He that hath the Son hath life.”
1 John 5:12
. Said Jesus, “He that believeth in Me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me
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shall never die. Believest thou this?” Christ here looked forward to
the time of His second coming. At the time of His second coming,
the righteous dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living righ-
teous shall be translated to heaven without seeing death. The raising
of Lazarus would represent the resurrection of all the righteous dead.
By His word and His works Jesus asserted His right and power to
give eternal life.
To the Saviour’s words, “Believest thou?” Martha responded,
“Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which
should come into the world.” She confessed her faith in His divinity,
and her confidence that He was able to perform whatever it pleased
Him to do.
“When she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her
sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.”
She delivered her message as quietly as possible; for the priests and
rulers were prepared to arrest Jesus when opportunity offered. The
cries of the mourners prevented her words from being heard.
On hearing the message, Mary rose hastily and left the room.
Thinking that she had gone to the grave to weep, the mourners
followed her. When she reached the place where Jesus was waiting,
she said with quivering lips, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my
brother had not died.” The cries of the mourners were painful to her,
for she longed for a few quiet words alone with Jesus.
“When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weep-
ing which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.”
He saw that with many, what passed as grief was only pretense. Some
now manifesting hypocritical sorrow would plan the death, not only
of the mighty miracle worker, but of the one to be raised from the
dead. “Where have ye laid him?” He asked. “Lord, come and see.”
Together they proceeded to the grave. Lazarus had been much loved,
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