Jesus’ Delay After Lazarus’ Death¹

A Sermon by William Guthrie

John 11:5,6. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was.

In this text four things are to be observed: (1.) Jesus loved these poor people; (2.) Notwithstanding this they were visited by affliction; (3.) In their affliction they sent for the Master; (4.) Although He knew of their affliction, He made no haste to relieve it.

1. Jesus loved them. We are here reminded of that special and everlasting love with which the Son of God regards some of the posterity of Adam. The evidences of this love are manifold. In Proverbs 8:31, He is represented as “rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth”. In Romans 5:8, we are told that “God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. And in the various relations of Brother, Husband, Head, Shepherd, Leader, in which He is represented to us, His love is revealed.

The properties of His love are also manifold. It is free and unmerited; there is nothing in us to deserve or attract it. It is strong and resistless; all the love which is found in the creatures is but a spark of that which exists in Him. “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned” (Song 8:7). It is such a love as refuses to take a denial from anyone towards whom it is manifested.

This love is everlasting and unchangeable. Those whom He loves He loves to the end. It is also satisfying, and may well counterbalance any sad situation or affliction that may befall us. This is apparent from three considerations: (1.) If Jesus Christ loves any person, that person is sure of his lodging at night. At death he will enter into rest. (2.) Those whom He loves are sure to lack nothing that is good. “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing” (Ps 34:10). “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Ps 84:11). (3.) Their hearts are even now upheld by foretastes of His love. But many of you would not understand this though I should speak of it all the day long. However, it is true; His love sweetens whatever bitterness there is in the cup of His people’s afflictions.

Application. 1. God’s children should be ashamed of their conduct to Him who has so loved them.

1. We should not bemoan too bitterly the condition of God’s afflicted people. We are accustomed to say, Poor man, or poor woman, they are to be pitied. They are not so much to be pitied as you suppose. It may surely suffice them that Jesus loves them.

2. Believers should not make much ado about anything that is sad in their own lot. Remember (1) that, when God showed you your sins, you were content upon any terms to be beloved of Him. You said, Let me live in pain or die a beggar; let me be distracted and a wonder to the world, I will submit to it if He but love me. Now He loves you, and what ails you?

Remember (2) that on the day you gave yourselves away to Christ, you gave away all that was yours to be at His disposal; and if you did not do this, I know you did not do it at all. Why then do you willfully and knowingly return and retract your promise? It may be you think if He takes a godly minister or husband from you, He has harried you, and with Micah you begin to say, What can He take more? Be silent before Him lest you provoke Him to more wrath.

1. Seeing His love is satisfying, whatever your situation may be, make sure of His love. I will not stay here to give many of the marks of His love; I only take these:

(1) He loves them that love Him (Prov 8:17).

(2) Those whom He loves, He rebukes them sharply when they offend (Rev 3:19, Heb 12:10).

I shall stay no longer on this, but surely there are few who believe that God loves them. However, the Lord is not ashamed to profess His love to believers, even when their back is to the wall.

2. Notwithstanding His love, they were visited with affliction. The love of Christ for His people does not exempt them from affliction. Jesus loved Martha and Mary, yet Lazarus was sick and they were afflicted in his sickness (Ps 34:19, Heb 12:6).

The reasons of the doctrine are these:

1. He chastens His people for their transgressions, that they may know that it is an evil and a bitter thing to depart from Him.

2. He does it to bring to their remembrance the sins they committed a long time ago. “Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth” (Job 13:26).

3. He afflicts those whom He loves, to try and to revive His grace in them. How little does the Lord think of anything in comparison with grace! He falls upon Job’s children and his worldly substance and takes them away, and He smites Job’s body also, that a little of His grace may be seen. The men of the world are apt to think that the people of God are only hypocrites; but by their affliction the Lord makes the reality of their grace to appear, when He makes them rejoice under what would make others distracted.

4. He afflicts them so that His glory may be displayed (Jn 9:3). So in the words preceding the text, “This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God”, (1) He will have His sovereignty acknowledged when He strikes, although He does not give any living man a reason; (2) He will have His power acknowledged in bearing the person up under his affliction. (3) He will have the wisdom of His power and providence acknowledged, in that it comes seasonably for the afflicted one as he stands in need of it.

Application. 1. Do not mistake God in His dealings. A beloved person may be an afflicted person.

1. Any of you that have aught to do with afflictions, study them well, and the way and causes of them.

I know you will object to this: How shall I know if they are because of sin or for trial? Take these considerations.

(1) If for trial, the affliction will usually overtake you when you are carrying out a duty. The stroke came on Job when he had been offering sacrifices for his children’s faults. But if it finds you with foul fingers, though you have taken alarm, you have reason to regard it as sent for your sin.

(2) If for trial, the soul usually has clear exercises; it is free from those confusions which overwhelm it when it is otherwise. This was eminently seen in Job, who, in all his conflicts with his friends, maintained his integrity – whose feet held God’s way, and who could say, “O that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat!”

(3) If for trial, you will not find, upon serious search, any transgression that has a reference to it, or can be regarded as its cause or father. But if it is for sin, you will readily see the sin written upon it. Job saw iniquities enough in himself, and he besought God to show him wherefore He contended with him, but never got one that he could settle on as the cause of it.

(4) If for trial, the smitten person falls down lovingly before God, whereas one who is guilty is like metal with much dross in it or a stone cast into the fire, which starts, cracks and makes a noise. Job says nothing at the beginning of his troubles, but sits down quietly to his prayers, though afterwards he breaks out, as a godly man sometimes may till he is humbled.

And now, whatever God’s end may be in affliction, I will tell you what your duty is: (1.) To suspect sin. In a time of war, when you hear an alarm, you will run to the weakest part of the wall and fortify that, and we ought to do so in affliction by seeking out sin and humbling ourselves before God. (2.) Because the Lord may not be punishing for sin, but afflicting for trial, you should set yourselves to have the grace of God acting vigorously. Let patience have its perfect work. Let faith, hope and love be kept in exercise, that they may be seen by this atheistical generation. (3.) Observe the outgoings of God as much as you can. Acknowledge His sovereignty and confess that He has a right to smite where and when He pleases, without giving a reason for His doings.

3. In their affliction they sent for the Master. God has commanded us to do this. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble”. To this He has attached a promise, “I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me”. Now, in sending a message to Christ, we must attend to three things:

1. We must do it in the use of means, among which prayer is to have the first place. We should be as attentive to these as if our case entirely depended on them. But when we obtain what we seek we must give the glory to God. Use the means and give God the glory; this is the rule we should follow.

2. We should do it with confidence, and this confidence has reference to three things: (1) We should be sure we have an interest in Christ. (2) We should see to it that we do not regard iniquity in our hearts, and (3) We should feel confident that, whatever is good in what we ask, it will be granted to us as sure as the sun is in the firmament.

3. There should be submission as well as confidence. We should submit to God in whatever we ask, if it is not absolutely necessary to salvation for us; if it is necessary, submission is not asked from us. We should submit as to the time or season of granting our request – for in reference to this, as well as to the day of judgement, it may be said, It is not for us “to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power”. And whatever answer we receive, we should always think well of the Master. As Hezekiah said, “Good is the will of the Lord”, though his children were to be carried to Babylon.

4. Jesus made no haste to come, but abode two days where He was, although they sent a specific message to the Master. This teaches us:

1. That the Lord often delays, or withholds for a time, from His own people the wished-for blessing. The reasons why He does so may be these:

(1) To prepare their hearts for receiving it when it comes.

(2) That patience may have its perfect work. It is well when we are brought to this: “Not my will but Thine be done!”

(3) That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Do not then misinterpret the delays of God. Reflect and see if you are prepared for the blessing and if patience has had its perfect work and if your hearts have been brought to submission. We find in the Old Testament that a godly woman (1 Sam 1) could not obtain a child till she wept and prayed a long time, while another woman could perhaps have obtained one at the very first. And since nothing has befallen you but what has been the ordinary lot of God’s people, you ought to be silent.

1. That these delays are the results and evidences of Jesus’ love. It was because He loved Mary and Martha that He abode two days where He was. This appears: (1) From the testimony of God’s Word, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies” (Ps 25:10). “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom 8:28). (2) From the experiences of God’s people. Must you not say that, whenever mercy was delayed, it was better for you? You found that it was better than if it had been granted when it was first asked. This was made out to Job. It is above all controversy that there is more advantage to a soul in the honest and diligent pursuit of a mercy than in the immediate attainment of it.

Application. (1) Do not misinterpret the delays of mercy since these are an effect of His love, but rather labour to make out for yourselves in what respects they are good for you.

(2) Do not be afraid of any delays in mercies when honestly pursuing them, but be afraid when you receive them if you do not rightly derive benefit from them. It is good to have your stock in God’s hand. As long as it is there, you may be sure that He will pay good interest and still give the soul as much as it requires to live upon. Whereas if it was in our hands it is a hundred to one that we would despatch it as soon as Hezekiah did, when he had no sooner recovered than he played the fool with the ambassadors of Babylon. Therefore, till the mercies come, wait on God and believe they will come in the right season.

¹This sermon was preached in 1658. It is taken, with editing, from W H Carslaw, The Life and Times of William Guthrie, 1900. Carslaw claims that the sermon had not previously been published and states that it probably refers to private rather than public calamities. Guthrie (1620-65) was minister of Fenwick, in Ayrshire, and is best known for his The Christian’s Great Interest, which is kept in print by the Banner of Truth Trust.