Well, you really need a word of introduction
to prepare you for the hearing of another
kind of word through another kind of personality
Jewish and melancholy ever sorrowing but always rejoicing
I have very heavy burdens to bear the
Lord is always testing my faith as I
look out on his people can they really
hear such a word?
can they really understand it?
can they really even desire it?
or will I hear their collective shout this
man is not fit to live so strange
as for example tonight I almost have a
desire to speak in a monotone that I
should be deliberately unattractive that I wouldn't even
so much as raise my voice to make
a point that it would almost invite your
boredom and you will look at your watches
nervously wondering when will this be over and
yet it would be the word of spirit
and of life stripped of all human
attractiveness void of all emotion
nothing given by which you can be excited
nothing given just the word of God alone
in all purity by the spirit that will
either bore you to death or raise you
from the dead one or the other shall
we go for it?
because the subject of resurrection is very much
on my heart it is the issue of
the faith it is the issue of Israel
not as she is presently constituted but what
she will become after her death and her
resurrection we
are moving toward the conclusion of the age
radical forces are working to move us radically
one direction or another and when the smoke
clears on that last day there will be
two kinds of Christian entities a greater
number and a smaller number a world church
and a remnant an apostate Christendom or
an apostolic people nothing in between you
can't know how critical a question this is
for Israel herself because I hope to make
it clear to you that God is already
so working to bring that nation and that
people to a place of death you
say why is that necessary?
why can't she succeed as she is presently
constituted?
because the millennial and eternal purpose of God
for Israel will not accept anything less the
magnitude of her calling demands that it be
fulfilled only from the resurrection side for
only in the power and the ability of
that life will she bless all the families
of the earth Israel will be
brought to such a place of helplessness and
hopelessness and death of itself that the resurrection
that comes to it must come to it
from outside itself it will be as helpless
to affect its own resurrection as Lazarus himself
was in his own grave every nation will
be brought to such a place where everything
rests upon the son of man who stands
by the mouth of that tomb and can
speak the word of God that brings life
but what a word in what an authority
in what a power so honored by the
father that it releases death it's not a
glib formula the speaking is the statement of
the man himself it's an ultimate man
speaking an ultimate word that brings an ultimate
resurrection from the dead and
tonight I must bring to light that
the word that is required that is necessary
is spoken by you as if you together
with one voice in such a perfect place
of agreement and obedience to God, and that
you have been brought to such a prophetic
maturity, that your word would be something more
than hopeful or wishful thinking.
It would constitute an event, Israel's life from
the dead.
That, I believe, is the scenario of the
last days for the church.
And I want to speak tonight from John
chapter 11, of the actual resurrection of Lazarus
through Jesus, because it is very
suggestive of this last-time event that I'm
describing to you.
For the purposes
of my message, Lazarus will represent the whole
people Israel.
Hold up in the grave powerless to release
itself, and Jesus is the picture of ourselves,
a statement of his corporate son, a son
of obedience, and the step-by-step process
by which his obedience results in Lazarus's resurrection.
Do you have the patience to hear this?
Or do you want to go home and
take a shower and go to bed?
Let's pray for a resurrection event for us,
by the word which is spoken.
And Lord, we ask that in Jesus' name,
that this speaking in these nights would not
only be an instruction, but a demonstration of
the kind of thing to which we ourselves
are called as the church.
Work a work by it, in kind like
what you will actually perform for Israel.
You who will raise a nation in a
day, bring us to a place of apostolic
and prophetic maturity in a night.
Thank you for the privilege and the occasion
that you have given.
Come and fill it now by the word
of your own power.
Thank you and give you the praise in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Why don't you read Klaus the first four
verses of chapter 11 of John.
So commences one of the final episodes of
Jesus' earthly ministry.
One can say that it set in motion
the things that resulted in his own death.
For resurrection is the ultimate offense to men.
For it is the ultimate testimony
of God.
Other miracles might be more tolerated.
One can question whether in fact they indeed
happened.
Attribute the result to some natural cause perhaps.
But there's something about resurrection that is incontrovertible
proof of God.
And it is this issue that will distinguish
the apostate church from the true church at
the end of the age.
The unbelieving and powerless church that will still
retain the Christian name and form will
subscribe to the truth of the doctrine of
resurrection.
That's cheap.
Anyone can do that.
There's not one of us here tonight who
does not subscribe to the truth of the
doctrine.
But how many of us are here tonight
living in the power of that life?
That you can say with impeccable honesty, for
me to live is Christ.
There is the nub of the offense.
That's been my own experience as a believer
and as a preacher.
If I only would accept the compliments of
men for my ability as a speaker and
as a personality, there'd be no offense.
But when I say as a Jew without
guile, that the words that I have spoken
are not my words, but the Lord's, and
spoken in the power of his life and
in the form and the manner in which
he is given, men become irritated.
They almost want to put their fingers in
their ears as if not to hear or
gnash on me with their teeth.
And indeed our charismatic Christianity is full of
human compliment and back slapping and the approval
of each other's ministries.
Let a man say that the words I
speak are not my words, but the words
which the Father has given.
And what a shriek and a howl comes
up from Christians.
I almost have the feeling tonight as if
the issue of Israel's destiny and future rests
with you.
That somehow you are representative of God's people
generally everywhere.
And that God has no other instrument or
agent whom he will employ other than his
church.
And that somehow what we're speaking tonight is
more than a message.
It's the issue of Israel's future and destiny.
Whether it will in fact actually come out
of its historic grave and fulfill its original
gift and calling.
A nation of priests and a light unto
the world.
Had we been fulfilling that in the 20th
century, Hitler would never have come to power
in Germany.
If we were fulfilling it now, abortion would
be unknown.
And also incest and child molestation and insanity
and the whole thing that is freaking out
mankind.
For the priest shall teach the people the
difference between the sacred and the profane.
It's in the absence of such a priesthood
in the world that the world is becoming
profane.
Vulgar and obscene and perverse.
I want to elevate your understanding that Israel
is more than a cute people.
And that you have a natural desire to
affiliate with them and have an affectionate response
toward them.
I cannot express how central this nation is
in the ultimate and eternal purposes of God.
Though I cannot take the time tonight to
demonstrate this out of the scriptures, will you
believe these things?
That the whole issue of God's kingdom rests
upon their restoration.
There will be no kingdom come.
There will be no law going forth out
of Zion and a word of the Lord
out of Jerusalem.
There will be no nations beating their swords
into plowshares and studying war no more.
Except his literal theocratic kingdom come.
And it's coming is altogether keyed to the
fact of Israel's restoration as a nation in
the last days.
The powers of darkness know this better than
you.
The powers that have enjoyed an unswayed rule
and influence over the nations to this very
hour.
And if there's any nation that should know
the authenticity of these powers of darkness and
their ability to possess an entire state and
nation and rule them in their characteristic wisdom,
you should know it as Germans.
Nazism is inexplicable without the knowledge of these
demonic powers.
And they brood over the earth tonight.
Over nations, over races.
Working their malevolent and evil purposes unchecked and
unswayed.
The gods of this world, who want to
distract men from the living God and obtain
their worship and their obedience.
Whether it comes through sport or rock culture,
music or any other form in which they
have their power.
They have a power lust.
They want to remain the gods of this
world.
And the only thing that will remove them
from their place of influence is the coming
of God's own kingdom and rule.
And that is connected with this small nation's
restoration.
For the angel said to Mary that he
shall be very great.
He shall rule over the kingdom of David
forever.
Verse 33.
He shall be great, he shall be called
the son of the highest.
Luke chapter 1 verse 32.
And the Lord God shall give unto him
the throne of his father David.
And
he
shall reign.
I'm stopping right in the middle of the
beginning of verse 33.
And he shall reign.
But from one place only.
The throne of his father David.
For the kingdom is a Davidic kingdom.
Promise to a particular nation on the throne
of David to order and to establish it.
This is the brute fact of truth.
And we need to come alive to it
and understand it.
For your generation is going to see such
a hatred poured out against Jews in this
nation again as has not been since the
Nazi time.
You will not be able to understand the
phenomenon or withstand or resist it unless you
understand what I'm now saying.
The disciples said to Jesus, is it time
now to restore the kingdom to Israel.
Jesus said it's not time now for you
to consider that question.
But I believe the Lord would say tonight
it is time now to consider that question.
The subject of Israel's restoration is the issue
of God's rule over the nations.
And how would the powers of darkness rid
themselves of such a threat that would remove
their own rule.
They will exterminate the people through whom that
threat comes.
And this will be the source, the animation,
the locus of the hatred that is already
being formed and being poured out against Jews
today.
We need to see things from the prophetic
perspective, lest we become occupied with Israel only
from a sentimental perspective.
And not understand that God will even allow
and employ these forces to obtain his own
end.
Like Lazarus, Israel is already in a process
of sickness unto death.
Every day's report testifies to that.
Waiting so long for the Russian Jews to
come.
And now that they're coming they cannot be
housed, they cannot be employed.
It brings upsetting and complex and insoluble problems.
Some of these Russian Jews are already so
disappointed in Israel's failure that they would rather
consider coming to Germany.
And come they will.
The Intifada, the Palestinian crisis, is not going
to be resolved.
It is insoluble.
God himself has seen to that.
And this compounds Israel's distress.
Its perplexities from within and from without.
And I don't believe we're going to see
these situations resolved.
They represent something coming from the hand of
God.
To bring a nation down that he might
raise it up.
For resurrection is not merely being made alive
again.
But coming to life in a totally other
character and kind.
Something like Paul, who in his own natural
and religious life was the enemy of the
church.
But in the three days in which he
did not eat and drink and was blinded
by his encounter with Christ, that when the
Spirit of God came to him and he
was baptized, he became entirely another man.
So will Israel become another kind of nation.
And in that character bless all the families
of the earth.
So let's study this text intently.
In John 11 it's full of significant insight.
Even the name Lazarus means one whom God
helps.
Who is from Bethany, the house of affliction
or suffering.
And Jesus heard that his friend was sick
whom he loved.
But he said this sickness is not unto
death but for the glory of God.
And this is our first requirement.
To see and to interpret things not naturally
but spiritually.
To recognize natural circumstances for what they really
mean from the perspective of prophecy.
We profoundly need this perspective.
For if Jesus himself did not have it,
he would have rushed quickly to the bedside
of his friend.
Well that's the natural thing to do.
That's the thing that is humane to do.
But we read the peculiar verse, verse 6.
That when he heard that he was sick,
he abode two days still in the same
place where he was.
What kind of friend is that?
I wonder what the disciples must have thought
to themselves.
He's afraid to go up to Bethany.
It's too close to Jerusalem.
And he almost lost his life the last
time he was there.
He wants to protect his own skin.
He's afraid to expose himself to personal threat.
Some love for a friend.
Yeah, he could perform miracles when it doesn't
require anything from him.
But if his own life is in danger,
he's staying where he is.
Don't think that they did not think those
thoughts.
Don't think that the accuser of the brethren
was not there to inspire them.
Don't think that Jesus was unaware of what
they were thinking.
But he answered them not a word.
Nor did he alter his course.
Because there was something more important to him
than reputation with men.
Or that he would be misunderstood.
The thing that was greater was obedience to
the Father.
Whatever the misunderstanding with men.
And this is the kind of obedience that
will be required of us.
It's presently being required of me now.
That means that you yourself must have come
to a certain place of death.
Or you cannot be the agent for the
resurrection of another.
But if you're alive to yourself, if you're
alive to yourself, concerned for how you appear
to others, wanting to be considered spiritual
or successful, and living your Christian life to
fulfill the anticipation of others, or even your
own design of what you think spirituality ought
to be, rather than being formed in his
image, you'll not be the instrument
for his use.
Or you can go on with your meetings.
And enjoy yourself greatly.
And sing choruses and dance and all these
things.
But I want to tell you that you'll
be exempt from the use of God in
his final, last days purposes.
How important is that to you?
That the glory of the Father might be
obtained thereby.
This sickness is not unto death, but for
the glory of God.
Let me ask you a question tonight.
Young as you are in the Lord, how
much in your active consciousness is the subject
of God's glory?
How much is that the decisive question about
anything that you choose to do?
You ask, will I enjoy it?
Or will it bring me a benefit?
Or do you ask, will this result in
the glory of God?
Is that the foundational question of all of
your life and being?
This one question separates the men from the
boys.
It's the difference between being charismatic or apostolic.
Charismatic asks, how can we enjoy this?
Or be impressed by it.
But apostolic insanity has but one question.
Will this result in the glory of God?
However much it will not be understood by
men.
However much it will offend men.
However much it will offend me.
And be contrary even to my own thought
and desire.
Yet will I be single-eyed in my
obedience, even unto a death, if
this will affect the glory of God.
You want to be as foolish as that?
As radical as that?
As insane as that?
It will ruin your life.
And you are much too young for that.
There are so many good things yet to
enjoy.
And be a Christian too.
But to take apostolic jealousy for the glory
of God that seriously.
And apply it to every question of your
life.
Marriage, job, family, future.
Not whether I'll be comforted or be prospered
or enjoy it.
Lord, I'll shovel manure, if this is required
for your glory.
If you take that seriously, and few Christians
do, it will make you very strange
to others.
Even when you don't say anything, there's just
something about you.
Certain strangeness that marks you as different.
You're just not one of the boys.
You can't be turned on and off from
the platform.
If your spirit is not alive in God,
you'll sit there like a lump while everyone
else is jumping and having a ball.
Because you're dead and hid with God in
Christ.
Until his life is revealed.
And I don't know how many Christians can
discern the difference between that which issues from
his life without explanation.
It's inhuman.
Poor Lazarus, writhing in his fever and in
his sweat.
His eyes glazed with terrible sickness.
His head pounding with the pain of it.
His sisters looking upon him helplessly.
A young man in the prime of life,
who has every right to continue, waiting for
his friend Jesus to come.
And you can hear the clock ticking.
And he doesn't come.
And Satan is right at his elbow.
Some friend you have.
Jesus isn't coming.
He never was the Messiah.
He's not the resurrection in life.
He's a man like any man.
He's a coward.
He's afraid to take the risks.
And not one word of comfort.
This is suffering, saints.
Not only physically, but psychologically.
And there's only one who can bear such
suffering.
A friend of Jesus.
Would you allow him to do that to
you?
Inexplicable sickness?
While you're at the height of your ministry?
And have such qualifications?
And without explanation?
Boom, you're down.
In such a fever.
In such a devastation.
In such a pitiful emptying, you're incapable even
of praying for yourself.
You who have prayed for others.
Powerfully and authoritatively.
And God has answered.
Are too feeble now even to pray for
yourself.
Too weak and too sick even to believe
the prayers of others for you.
What a wretched condition.
And Jesus does not come.
And God does not appear.
And the thing that is hoped for perishes.
Even into death.
How far will God go when the issue
is his glory forever?
How far will you go to be his
instrument that reveals it?
If he would call you in a sickness
unto death without explanation.
Isn't that the greatest suffering of all?
We can somehow bear our afflictions if we
can understand them.
If they make some kind of spiritual sense.
But when there is no sense.
Is no explanation.
Is no word of comfort.
And you continue to suffer it.
And that without remedy.
Unto death.
Where is God?
And if he is, what kind of a
God is he?
I can tell from your silence that you
have never experienced that.
But the question is would you be willing
to?
Or do you prefer another kind of Christianity?
Much happier.
With full explanation.
And enjoyable.
But somehow it does not touch the question
of God's glory.
We do not understand God as we ought.
Nor his purposes.
Nor his glory.
We exploit him.
We turn him to our ends.
Even while we sincerely believe we are serving
him.
I'll just stop tonight with one more scripture.
It's in the book of Hosea.
And it bears a strange correspondence to the
situation of Lazarus.
Come and let us return unto the Lord.
For he hath torn and he will heal
us.
He hath split and he will bind us
up.
In the third day he
will
raise us up.
And we shall live in his sight.
Then shall we know if we follow on
to know the Lord.
His going forth is prepared as the morning.
He shall come to us as the rain
as the latter and former rain unto the
earth.
Two thousand years in death.
Two thousand years separated from the God of
our fathers.
And in that time he has torn us.
And he has smitten us.
Where else was he when we suffered in
the holocaust?
And all of our sufferings through these two
thousand years.
Why wasn't he there to help us?
And save us from our distress?
The verses that precede this may explain it.
For this is God himself speaking about himself.
I will be unto Ephraim as a lion
and as a young lion to the house
of Judah.
I even I will tear and go away.
I will take away and none shall rescue
him.
What kind of God is that who will
be himself a lion to his own people?
He not only will tear them, he will
go away.
And none shall rescue them.
Have you ever considered the subject of the
holocaust?
I hope I'm not depressing you tonight.
You're too young to consider such a subject.
Of course it's the work of a previous
generation with which you have no connection.
But it's a remarkable thing even to the
military strategists and experts that to the very
last day of the war, when Germany was
in a virtually hopeless military situation, there never
ceased to be a flow of material and
gas and everything needed for the extermination of
the Jewish people.
When there was every reason to divert these
materials to their own armed forces, those forces
were allowed to languish so long as the
process of extermination would take place until the
end.
The nations of the world had had an
earlier conference what to do about Jewish refugees
and fight.
And I think except for Costa Rica, none
would take them in.
And I think except for Costa Rica, none
would take them in.
And men suffer at the hands of men
without explanation, or there is a God while
these things are taking place, who is allowing
them in the fulfillment of his own purposes.
And God allows these things to take place
so that his own purposes will eventually come
to fruition.
Just as he allowed Lazarus to become ill
until his death.
I, even I, I will take away and
none shall rescue him.
I will go and return to my place
until they acknowledge their offense and seek my
face.
In their affliction they will seek me early.
When they are in need they will seek
me.
And then the text comes in chapter 6
verse 1.
Come, let us return to the Lord.
He will revive us.
Not the United Nations.
Not some international peace conference.
He will revive us.
For he has smitten us and has torn
us.
And the same one will heal us and
bind us up.
When?
After two days.
When Jesus heard that his friend Lazarus was
sick.
He remained two days longer where he was.
Sufficient for his friend to die.
That there might be a resurrection.
For this sickness is not unto death.
Neither Lazarus nor the history of Israel.
But to glorify the God of Israel thereby.
For he will raise us up.
And we shall live in his sight.
Not our own sight.
Or the approval of men or the world.
In his sight.
That's ultimate living.
True living.
And in that condition will Israel bless the
nations of the earth.
Then shall we know if we go on
to follow after the Lord.
Really know who our God is.
Who raises the dead.
By a word that is spoken.
When every basis for human hope is God.
That God may become our hope.
Who heals and binds and is full of
mercy.
That we might make him known.
As he in fact is.
The true and the living God.
Forever.
Let's stop here tonight.
It will be interesting to see who will
come back tomorrow.
I'm expecting a much smaller audience.
Who has a taste for a message like
this?
Hallelujah!
But here's the point, saints.
The obedience that is required of me.
Is to speak this word that is given.
Even if you will not come back.
Even if it will offend you.
Even if you will reject me.
And it's this obedience.
That Jesus demonstrated.
To which we ourselves also are called.
As one people together.
That Israel may be raised from the dead.
For if the falling away of them has
been the riches of the world.
What shall their return be?
But life from the dead.
Let's pray.