John 11:1-6 : Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.

Jesus had some very close friends and it happened that one of them, Lazarus, got deathly sick. This is a very interesting situation because we know that Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters a lot. I believe that this may have been a difficult thing for Jesus to endure. What we read here is that it was clear to Jesus in His spirit that the sickness of Lazarus was “for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”

So, the Bible says, Jesus stayed and didn’t go to see them. The Bible doesn’t say how hard that was for Him, but I think we can understand from what was said. People seemed to know that this family was one that He had “great affection” for and He knew that He also had the power to make it better immediately. God, the Father, knew that Jesus was to be “glorified by it,” so it would be worth it all in the end. It takes a faith in what God says to make it to the “glory” part. We need God’s help to get to the end.

Some have said that being sick is not what God wants for anyone. We see here that this is clearly an incorrect teaching. “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God.” These are Jesus’ exact words. Sometimes, our sickness, or handicap may be allowed to be for a time; for the sake of glory of God.

It can help us when we have trials to know that Jesus is to be glorified at the end, and we can also remember what happened to Lazarus in the end as is written a little bit later here in John. Never stop hoping for the day of salvation. It will come:

Revelation 21:3,4 : I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”