Right on time

Right on time.

John 11:17, 39.

17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. … 39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

Introduction: 

The sickness and death of Lazarus shines a bright light on the fact of Jesus being an “on-time God.” We are creatures of time, but time is putty in the hands of God. By man’s standards and calculations, Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus four days late. However, with a long look of faith, may we study, see, and believe that Jesus arrived right on time! A popular inspirational or spiritual song is “He’s an on- time God.” “[Jesus is] an on-time God, yes, he is. He may not come when you want him, but he’ll be there right on time. He’s an on-time God, yes, he is.”

1. By the time Jesus came to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days.

• He came four days late, right on time. His not coming when they wanted him:

o Was not because he did not know. Mary and Martha sent him a message, verse 3.

o Was not because he did not care. Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, verse 5.

o Was not because of the circumstances. He stayed in place for two more days, verse 6.

o Was not because he could not do anything to help. He could have healed him, verses 21 and 32.

2. By the time Jesus came to Bethany: 

• Lazarus was dead & buried (v. 17)

• Martha & Mary were distraught (vs. 21, 32)

• Friends had gathered to comfort them (v. 19)

• The disciples were confused (vs. 7-16).

3. When Jesus spoke to Martha & Mary, they testified their belief in him.

• They believed Jesus could have healed him, verses 31, 32.

• They believed Jesus was Israel’s Messiah and God’s Son, verse 28.

• They could not quite believe that Jesus had arrived right on time.

• They are about to see Jesus “do exceeding abundantly above all that [they could] ask or think” Ephesians 3:20

4. When Jesus came to Lazarus’s tomb, he spoke life into the dead.

• If Jesus had arrived early, he could have merely healed Lazarus. Verses 31, 32.

• Since Jesus arrived right on time, he raised Lazarus from the dead! Verse 43.

• John 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

Conclusion:

We walk by faith and not by sight. By faith may we see, understand, and believe that Jesus is an on-time God. He may not come when you want him, but he’ll be there right on time. Jesus came to his own, right on time. When he sprang from Mary’s womb in a stable in Bethlehem, he arrived right on time. Paul said, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.” Jesus grew up in the carpenter’s home and was subject to his parents, till in his purpose he came to reveal himself, he went to be baptized of John in Jordan right on time! “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” When Jesus came to Lazarus’s tomb, it may have seemed like he was four days late, but he was right on time! Jesus said he came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost, and to give his life a ransom for many. Six days before the Passover, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt the foal of an ass, right on time! The people strewed branches before him and cried, “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” When he was sufficiently ready, he was arrested and tried. The Jews thought they had achieved exactly what they wanted; Pilate and the Roman authorities thought they were in charge of things. But when they nailed Jesus to that old rugged cross, then slammed that cross into the ground, so that he hung between heaven and earth, they did it right on time! Jesus hung between heaven and earth from the third hour to the sixth hour, and from the sixth hour to the ninth hour a thick darkness engulfed the earth, and in the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice of victory, “It is finished” – right on time. They took Jesus down from the cross, laid him in a borrowed tomb, “as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The first day, the first night, sadness reigns. The second day, the second night, all is silent. The third day, the third night passes, and when he fulfilled had three days and three nights, Jesus came up out of that tomb, right on time! For forty days he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs, then in the presence of his disciples ascended back into heaven, right on time! He left them with this blessed promise, “I will come again.” The angels said “why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Fifty years. No return. One hundred years pass. One thousand years pass. Two thousand years pass. Scoffers and mockers, unbelievers all, ask  “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Oh, but things will not continue as they were. One day Jesus will split the eastern sky. We are looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and I assure you, brothers and sisters, by the authority of God’s word, and by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is coming back RIGHT ON TIME!

Comfort one another with these words. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.