Christ the Creator according to John 11 Part 8
Dr. Rafat Amari
We need to learn to move on God’s promise and not on past philosophy or the failures we have experienced.
Here is the importance of us being in a group that loves Jesus and moves with him in prayer and perseveres in a high quality relationship of spiritual fellowship, so that we might be among that small group who spend much time with Jesus in prayer, and if they hear a rare promise from Jesus, have disciplined themselves to move with him in spiritual life, believing the promise and waiting for it to come to realization, thus vindicating the word of Jesus.
In these studies, we have been following the events recorded in John 11, when Jesus brought Lazarus back to life after he had been in the grave for four days. One disciple mentioned in the account is Thomas.
Although Thomas was traveling with the One whose word is trustworthy in any and every situation, we learn that Thomas’ thinking was not controlled by what he heard Jesus say. Rather, faced with something which had never happened before, Thomas let the situation determine whether or not to have faith in Jesus’ words. Thomas never expected what Jesus had revealed would actually happen.
Our spiritual walk with Jesus should never be built on human opinion or the philosophy and experiences of the past. Nothing should affect the nature of our spiritual expectations apart from Jesus’ own words, which we read in the Bible and study intently. We can’t walk in Jesus’ highest calling for us without the certainty that comes from hearing the words of Jesus and having faith that they will come about. We must remember this even in the most difficult situation in which we find ourselves. Nothing apart from the words of Jesus should guide our expectations and fashion our faith.
Jesus gave Thomas the greatest invitation he would ever receive in his lifetime-to enter the field of the miraculous where Jesus operates. However, Thomas was controlled by dangerous negative expectations, looking for death rather than the glorious resurrection of an already decomposing body. Thomas failed to walk in a disciplined way. He did not respect the promise that had been planned for him by the Father.
John, the reporter of the account in the eleventh chapter of his gospel, tells us that Thomas, upon hearing that Lazarus was dead, said, “Let us go that we might die with him.”
Even though Thomas walked with Jesus, he had the problem of someone who hears a great promise and continues to doubt that it is possible for the promise to be realized.
There are no bounds to the moral and spiritual decline we may reach when we doubt the words of Jesus. The doubter lives on a natural plane, seeing only natural possibilities and not the permanent truth of Jesus’ power to accomplish what He has spoken. We don’t share the goal Jesus has revealed and toward which He invites us to move.
Walking with Jesus without believing in Him and His promise is a journey full of negative aspects which take the place of the true purpose of the journey and the clear revelation of Jesus in His word.
In the richness of their revelations and promises, the words of Jesus possess all that’s necessary for us to discipline ourselves and walk in holiness. Even the most troubled soul can enter into the circle of His purpose, His joy and His expectation for us.
When we walk with Him, we become prepared to accept great sacrifices, knowing what a great privilege it is to be chosen to travel with Jesus and to see accomplished what we have never seen before. The Father has carefully planned for each individual to walk with Jesus to accomplish supreme goals that are only realized through powerful prayer and constant fellowship. These are spiritual mysteries leading us to spiritual life and fellowship planned by the Father for us, so that we can live close to Him.
Respecting these principles guarantees that we will persevere in our walk which will discipline us spiritually, enabling us to reach great goals and to maintain the highest level of prayer and fellowship with Jesus.
Thomas’ words reveal that he failed to understand Jesus. Even though Thomas walked with Jesus, he didn’t yet believe Jesus was the One who brought the universe into being with a word. Thomas didn’t yet believe that to be in the company of Jesus was to see new examples of new creation ,supervised by Jesus as great Creator. Thomas didn’t yet believe that, through his own powerful fellowship with Jesus, he would see Lazarus rise from the grave and embrace new life.
It is not an earthly walk, so that we have to weep with the assembly of those who weep over a buried body, without hope. Rather it is in order that there might be shouts of celebration for the Creator in the party celebrating the restoration of the lost Lazarus, the renewed servant of Jesus.
Thomas is an example of someone making a journey with negative expectations opposite to what Jesus had revealed. It is a revolution against the promise and the plan. It is an expression of the inability of natural human thought to discipline itself in the journey of the spirit and the word of God.
It’s as though Jesus’ great promise, and the journey ordered by Him which carries this promise, had no certainty of accomplishing what had never been accomplished before.
We ask ourselves just how much we are like Thomas. Have we failed to trust Jesus in the decisions we are called on to make? Do we really believe He can do great things for us?
I invite you to place your faith in Jesus, without reservation. If you do, you’ll find a whole new life opening before you-one in which you see Jesus at work in the world and in your own life. You’ll walk in the footsteps of the Creator toward what you thought would be impossible.
Copyright 2006 by Dr. Rafat Amari. All rights reserved.