After 35 years of serving as a church pastor, I have learned something about why people come to celebrations or ceremonies. I’ve learned that at a baptism, we come to see the candidate take a public stand for following the Lord. At a wedding, we come to see the beauty of a bride and her happily ever after. But at a funeral or a memorial service, we come to see God.

We come to see God, because death is so final. Death is beyond any capability to do-over, to restore, or reverse course. The heart beats, then it is still. Breath is taken in, then it is gone. Our medical professionals do all they can do but death halts their progress and steals away the loved ones life. There is no going back when death is present. This is why at the funeral we come to see God.

We seek encouragement, knowing that their life was meaningful. We seek strength, knowing that we can go forward without them. We seek hope, knowing that the future is coming when we’ll see them again in eternal glory. They will be missed, their absence will hurt, and your grief will remind you that for a long time.

PREFACE

On the occasion of this gathering I wish to draw our attention to the Gospel of John and the 11th chapter, because in its story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus we will see three things about God in the midst of a person’s death.

Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus, in fact the Lord often spent time with their family at their home in Bethany. If you remember the story of Martha pouring expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet, Lazarus is her brother. As we open to John 11 we find that Jesus is with His disciples about 20 miles away from Bethany in the Jordan River Valley when Lazarus got sick and died.

So, allow me to jump into the chapter and share with you these three things we learn about God when it comes to death…

1) GOD’S TIMING IS NOT OUR TIMING [John 11:3, 6, 17]

I realize that there is never a good time for anyone we love to die. Dying young, dying old, dying suddenly, or dying slowly are not good choices for any of us if we really had the choice to make. It’s likely that given a choice we’d all choose to die in our sleep. In surveys the number one fear of dying is having to endure pain and suffering. I’m guessing we could all identify with Woody Allen who said, “I’m not afraid of dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

In this story in John 11 Lazarus is about to die so Lazarus’ “sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick” (John 11:3). Jesus does not immediately leave and head for Bethany, verse 6 says that “he stayed where he was two more days.” Then John 11:17 points out that “On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.” Jesus delayed getting to Lazarus and by the time He got there Lazarus was already in the tomb for four days.

Mary and Martha wanted Jesus to return immediately. John 11:21 says they said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” We don’t always know why God’s timing is different than ours, but in this case we know that the fact that Jesus performed the miracle of resurrected Lazarus from the dead four days later caused a big stir that set up His own crucifixion.

Sometimes things happen to us when our timing is off because it leads to greater glory to God and influences more people than if our timing was followed. Ultimately the timing of a person’s death is in God’s hand. Ecclesiastes 3:2 reminds us that there is “a time to be born and a time to die” and Hebrews 9:27 states that we are “destined to die once.”

2) GOD WEEPS WITH US  [John 11:32-33, 35]

When Mary heard that Jesus was approaching the village and that Martha had already left to greet Him, it says, “When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:32 NIV). The next verse, John 11:33, says “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.”

Next we read, “Jesus wept.”  John 11:35 says of Lazarus’ death, “Jesus wept.” God knows the overwhelming grief and realization of its finality on this side Heaven. Death is the direct result of original human parents choosing sin over obedience in the Garden of Eden. Jesus felt the sorrow of Lazarus’ death and God weeps with us.

There is a verse in Bible book of Hebrews 4:15 that states that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” The verse is speaking about Jesus now in Heaven being able to identify with our humanity and weakness like the sorrows of observing death.

There is no need to hold back tears when you think of your loved one, because you will think about them and you will do it at some of the most unexpected moments. When you do, remember that if “Jesus wept” you can too. Those tears are cleansing and God is right there with you missing them and hurting with you.

3) GOD HAS A PLAN  [John 11:25-26, 41-44]

When Martha was suffering in her sadness, John 11:25-26 says, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Bob Dylan sings a song called Death is not the End and some of its lyrics go, “When you’re standing at the crossroads That you cannot comprehend Just remember that death is not the end And all your dreams have vanished And you don’t know what’s up the bend Just remember that death is not the end.”

Thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, death is not the end and we that in John 11:41-44, “So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.”

Some scoff at the Bible and its prophecy because they cannot comprehend that God is working a deliberate, intentional, and thorough plan of redemption to benefit all of humanity and that includes Revelation 21:1-4, “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

The plan for man’s redemption cannot be hurried nor haphazardly executed without consideration of incorporating all mankind into its good and assuring evil’s thorough demise. So take heart that God’s plan of redemption is in deliberative motion and its completion will be soon. The day will come when God declares, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still” (Revelation 22:11).

At that time “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). God’s plan when it comes to death includes 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

The day is coming when we’ll see our deceased loved ones again, and that will be an eternity of life without aging, without disease, and without death.

CONCLUSION

When it comes to death, we know that God’s timing is not always our timing, that God weeps with us, and that God has a plan to end death and reunite us with our loved ones again throughout all eternity in Heaven.

There is a verse in the book of Psalms that sometimes leaves readers scratching their heads, it’s Psalm 116: 15 and it says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants” (NIV).

The verse doesn’t say that the Lord finds death precious. Death is the enemy. What the Lord finds precious is when we’ve come to the end of our mortal life and are beginning the joy of our immortal life. What’s precious is the transitioning from this fallen world of sin into the glory of Heaven eternal.

Goodbyes are not always forever,

Goodbyes are not always the end,

Goodbyes sometimes means,

we’ll miss you,

until we see you again.