The Resurrection of Lazarus - The Church of Today Part I

     Recently the Holy Spirit gave me a word for the church and He told me that the enemy had released more demons upon the earth. He said that satin senses that time is short and he wants to do all that he can to stop the church of Jesus Christ.

     He also said that we would hear more and more about the occult, witchcraft, strange happening in the earth, a darkness of fear that would spread over the lands, deceptive voices and a falling away,  but we were not to fear, because Jesus was about to resurrect His church in power and victory.

     The Lord said, before restoration can come, a resurrection has to take place.

I will be teaching from the book of John chapter 11 verses 1-44 and will be going into detail concerning some key words and giving the meaning to better understand what the Lord is saying to us. Let's being with verse 1

     Verse 1:  Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

The word "sick" in this scripture means: To be feeble, diseased and comes from a word that means strength less.

And the word "Lazarus" means:  To desist, to despond, cause to despair, one that is desperate and to be of no hope.

In Proverbs 13:12 it says:  Hope deferred makes the heart sick.

The word "Lazarus" in this verse is representative of those in the body of Christ that have become despondent and distant to the voice of the spirit.  They have allowed the enemy to bring death to their hopes and dreams because they choose to walk in despair.  They have been looking through the shroud of death that has distorted their view; therefore they have become feeble in their faith, they see no hope and the enemy has put a death sentence of them.   

The word "Bethany" in this verse means:  House, a place of unripe figs or unfruitful.

Bethany, which was a village that lay East of the Jordan river, was known as the house of misery, because of it's location that was said to be a lonely situation and also because of the invalids who congregated their.

Spiritually speaking, Bethany represents the place that we the body of Christ can sometimes find ourselves in.  Remember one of the meanings of Bethany represented a place of unripe figs or unfruitful?  It's interesting to note that the fig trees leaves are figurative of the outward manifestation of life in the tree and a faded leaf shows a lack of moisture and nourishment, thus becomes an emblem of adversity and decay.

The fruit of the tree, the fig itself meant productiveness and was a token of peace and divine favor.  "Now hear what the Spirit is saying".  The fig tree differs from most other fruit trees in that it's fruit is green and inconspicuous and concealed among leaves until near the time of ripening.

Can you perceive what the Spirit is saying to us?  You see, the Lord has hidden, protected and concealed away a people that have been tested by fire, trained by the Holy Spirit, died to self and are ready to be reveal unto a lost and dieing world.  They will show forth the fruits of the Spirit in power and authority.  They will speak forth the word of God with boldness that is tempered with grace because of where, what and how God brought them out of their darkness of death and despair and resurrected their lives for His glory and for their Divine destiny and purpose.

     Verse 2:  And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

     Verse 3:  The sisters therefore sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick".

     Verse 4:  But when Jesus heard it, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it".

The word "sickness" in this verse means:  Weakness, an active disease, bondage's and strongholds.

And the word "death" means:  Cease to function or perform with power.

Body of Christ, the sickness, the bondage's and strongholds that seem to be controlling your life, weakening your faith, testimony and depleting you of power will not bring a death to your life physically or spiritually.  Yes, the Spirit has been cutting away at the flesh and pealing away at the layers to expose the sin and sickness so He can work His glory through you and a resurrection of life and power can take place in you.  Lord, be glorified in our lives.

     Verse 5:  Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

     Verse 6:  When therefore He heard that he was sick, He stayed then two days longer in the place where He was.

The word "stayed" in verse 6 means:  To make your abode in a given place, state or
relation.

And the word "two" has a spiritual significance that can either mean:  Difference, opposition, enmity or division.

Some of us in the body of Christ are in a state of indifference, division and our hearts have been hardened because of a lack of grace and unforgiveness.  Our relationship with Jesus is not where is should be because we have lost our first love.  We have sought for more power financially, more status and the approval of man rater than the approval of God.  When
things become difficult and opposition comes we want to blame everything on the devil or on God and not look at ourselves and the condition of our hearts.  We haven't got to thepoint of wanting Jesus and power of the Holy Spirit enough to say, Ok Lord, what ever it takes, You lead and I'll follow.  Remember:  The Holy Spirit will stay right where you place Him in your lives because He is a gentleman and He won't force himself on anyone. 

Next week part II.

Blessings,

Elma Garlock