The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

John 11:39-45, “Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

41 And so they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me. 42 “And I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me.”

43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”

44 He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

45 Many therefore of the Jews, who had come to Mary and beheld what He had done, believed in Him.”

Basicly, there are five senses in our human bodies: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Four of the five are mentioned in our passage above. Lazarus had been dead for four days, and Jesus had come to raise him from the dead. The Jews believed that the spirit of man lingered around the body for three days and then corruption set in. The stench of the deteriorating body was an indication that the spirit of Lazarus had departed.

Jesus came to the grave and commanded the people to “remove the stone” behind which Lazarus had been buried. This involved their physically touching the stone. He then turned His eyes toward Heaven as He prayed aloud to the Father, enabling that the people might hear and believe upon Him. Then, He cried aloud in the presence of everyone, “Lazarus, come forth!” And Lazarus came forth from death and from the grave. Again, Jesus said, “Unbind him, and let him go,” requiring them again to touch the resurrected man. There is no mention of the stench that Mary feared to smell.

Have you ever thought of applying these basic senses to our witnessing? Unbelievers have to see us living the Christ-like life. They need to hear us speaking truth and honoring Him in all that we say and do. We need to be careful what we touch, as they are watching what we view and what we taste. They even smell the oder emanates from our bodies. Thus, everything about us is open for their inspection. If what we profess does not resemble Christ, our witness is stymied. We surrendered everything to Him and to His control when we trusted Him as our LORD and Savior. If we hope to “resurrect” others from their lives of sin, we must demonstrate that Christ has resurrected our own lives. Salvation is an ongoing experience with Jesus.

Our prayers are first for ourselves, and then for you,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”