"Then when Jesus came, he found that he [Lazarus] had lain in the grave for four days already. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem ..." ~ John 11:17, 18aDear Rufus Mosely used to say, "Jesus never conducted funerals. He only conducted resurrections!" This is true. There is no account in the Bible anywhere of Jesus having preached at a funeral. No Christian ever needs his or her funeral preached. Where Christ is, there are only resurrections. And the key to this tremendous fact is in the first phrase of John 11:18 quoted above as a part of this "red stone." It would seem to be merely factual. To locate Bethany. It is. "now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem ..."
At a garden grave in Jerusalem, just a few days after Jesus raised Lazarus from His grave in Bethany, He demonstrated how He did it! How it was Lazarus was raised from the dead. It was hard for them to understand or grasp then. You see they stood weeping at the grave of Lazarus on the other side of Jerusalem. Jesus has now "gone up to Jerusalem." Calvary is complete. He is out of His own tomb. He has demonstrated resurrection.
The grave by which you stand weeping now, or by which you have stood weeping in the past, is located even nearer to Jerusalem. But more important, it is on this side of it. True to God's great and flawless timing, it was exactly the right time for Jesus to do what He did at Bethany that day.
He knew that "Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem" and He knew what He would do at Jerusalem just a little later on. He has already done it now. His own tomb is empty. We can rejoice through our tears that our Bethany is located on the resurrection side of the Cross. Nigh unto the new Jerusalem.
"... Said I not unto the, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
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