What IS the Purpose of These Strange Events?

John 11:4 "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.'"

Have you ever wondered why on earth crazy things were happening in the world, or in your town, your neighborhood, your home, your family, or in YOU?  I am certain we have all wondered about such things at one time or another in our lives;  probably more often than not in recent times.  In many cases there just isn't any good reason that we can discover in our human minds and hearts.  Bad things happen, people get sick, people die, countries have earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tidal waves, wars, terrorists...and the list goes on and on. We hurt, we grieve, we cry.  We wonder why.

I am not going to attempt to give an answer for all of the world's ills in this short blog...I could give a brief explanation in one sentence, but it would raise a lot of other questions that man has been debated since the beginning of time:  The Fall of Man.  That is the whole reason in a nutshell...read the book of Genesis...that's where it all began...but I am not going there tonight.  That is something for each individual to discover and either accept or refuse to believe for themselves.

What I want to look at tonight is this verse in John's Gospel, when Jesus was told that His good friend Lazarus was very sick.  It says that "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.'"  And then He waited two more days before He went on to visit at the home of Lazarus.  By the time He arrived there, Lazarus had already died.  When Jesus heard that news, He said to His disciples in verse 15, "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.  Nevertheless let us go to him."  When you read through this story you see that Jesus truly loved Lazarus and his family.  He was touched by the sisters' sorrow, so much so that Jesus also wept.  But Jesus was on a mission...there was a deeper purpose to this whole scene that goes beyond grief and comfort at the death of a friend and loved one. 

As Jesus was talking to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, He told her something that was extremely important...Jesus said to her in verses 25-26, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die...."  

And then He commanded that they remove the stone from the tomb where Lazarus, by this time, had already been entombed for four days.  Martha was almost hysterical as she cried to Jesus, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days!" (verse 39)

"Jesus said to her, 'did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" (vs. 40)

Then He called Lazarus forth from the tomb, and it says in verse 44 that "he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Loose him, and let him go!'"  Then it says that many of the Jews who saw the things that Jesus did believed in Him. (vs. 45)

What does this mean to us today?  No, we cannot expect to be brought back to life after being dead for four days...probably not gonna happen today...but there again, if God wanted to do that, He could. He still has the same power today as He had 2000 years ago. But what can He do?  Why is it that in some cases, many days after an earthquake has toppled all of the buildings in a town and crushed many people to death, a child or even an adult is found alive in the rubble?...Or a little girl who lives not too far from here, who was lost in the swampy, mosquito infested, alligator and poisonous reptile laden dense woods for four days is found alive and quite well, considering her situation.  Just yesterday, people in Mississippi hid in a closet or a freezer when a monster tornado took their community by storm, and they survived when the rest of their whole building was destroyed...one man hid under a church pew, and the church was demolished, but he survived to tell the world that God saved him!

We don't always understand why one person lives and so many others have to die...it doesn't seems to make any sense...but in the larger scheme of things...the view from heaven...there is a purpose that goes beyond our ability to understand at this present time.  There is something going on behind the scenes that we can't see or fully comprehend...but there is one thing I do know and believe with all of my heart...God is in control.  This world is NOT our final home...There is a life to come...and the things that happen here are all a part of that Divine plan to bring us safely into the harbor of heaven...

Revelation 7:15-17 tells us of that heavenly home:  "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.  They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the LAMB who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Regardless of what happens here on the earth, good or bad, happy or sad, we have a glorious future ahead.  I will trust and praise God no matter what.