John 11:1–7

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

There are a number of striking things in this passage. Jesus says, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

But Lazarus does die. Jesus then raises him, which the rest of the sentence alludes to.

But why say, “This sickness is not unto death.”? That sounds like a blown prediction. Why does Jesus say that?

Then He deliberately tarries two more days in the place where He was. The Greek word that’s translated as “so” at the beginning of verse 6 carries the sense that Jesus tarries two more days because He knew Lazarus was sick.

This two day wait seems to be why Lazarus dies. That’s what blows His prediction. Why do it this way?

It’s all a set-up. Jesus wants everyone to get hit with a full dose of grief.

That will make Him raising Lazarus all the more elating.

This same depression-elation sequence will be repeated with Jesus’s death and resurrection.

But His disciples will have seen this before. It won’t be a totally new lesson; it’ll be review.

Review is when the best learning takes place. This is standard educational theory. The lesson being reviewed moves into long-term memory. That makes the learning permanent.

This whole sequence of events is to teach, in the best, most permanent possible way, the lesson of who Jesus is.

His disciples need to know this lesson in their bones. They must not forget it under duress.

And duress is coming.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.