The United States of Molech

 

February 28, 2021                    NOTES NOT EDITED
The United States of Molech

Psalm 106:37-38; Jeremiah 32:30-35

SIS: Until we reverse the practice of abortion on demand our nation is under a curse and will be judged harshly by God.

 There are three areas I want to cover in regard to the Churches response to abortion:  1.  Molech and America; 2.  Myths vs. Realities of abortion; and 3. the Church’s Mission and the conscience of a nation

1.  MOLECH and Israel America (Psalm 106)

Child sacrifice is as old as human history.  We know the Canaanites, as well as other prehistoric cultures, practiced child sacrifice. The Canaanite culture stretches back beyond pre-written history, at least 4000 B.C.  This is why God constantly warned the Israelites to completely annihilate the Canaanites. Instead, the Israelites intermarried with them and took on their horrendous, depraved customs, including sacrificing their Jewish children to the Canaanite (Ammonite) god of fire, Molech.  Even King Solomon embraced the practice (1Kings 11:5).  This evil practice of child sacrifice, such as to the idol, Molech,  among other evils, brought the hammer of God’s judgment down upon Israel and the nation was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar.  Jeremiah pronounced God’s judgement:  Jeremiah 32:30–35 

³⁰ From their youth, the Israelites and Judeans have done nothing but what is evil in My sight! They have done nothing but provoke Me to anger by the work of their hands” —this is the Lord’s declaration— ³¹ “for this city has caused My wrath and fury from the day it was built until now. I will therefore remove it from My presence, ³² because of all the evil the Israelites and Judeans have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. ³³ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them time and time again, they do not listen and receive discipline. ³⁴ They have placed their detestable things in the house that is called by My name and have defiled it. ³⁵ They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech —something I had not commanded them. I had never entertained the thought that they do this detestable act causing Judah to sin! 

Molech was a “fire god” common among the inhabitants of the ancient Near East.  Canaanites, Moabites, and Ammonites all had a version.  Molech is mentioned at least ten times in the Bible. Idols of Molech were made of brass and a fire would heat up Molech’s outstretched arms.  The child was sacrifice by being placed in the superheated arms of Molech. Drums and loud singing accompanied the sacrifice ritual—most likely to drown out the horrible screams of tortured and dying children. All of this was to gain some future favor with the false god.

Now, we just hide the mess of abortion behind the closed doors of Planned Parenthood and other “killing centers.”

Most people repulse in horror burning children to death, but what happens during an abortion is just as brutal and just as horrendous, and in most cases, we now know scientifically that the child feels the pain of being butchered.!  Yes! Butchered. Murdered.  Tortured.  These are all appropriate words as hard as they are to hear.

Abortion is murder—the matter is as simple as that.  Not only is it murder, in most cases it is the most horrifically brutal murder you could imagine.  Murder is defined as the “premeditated killing of an innocent human being by another.”  The baby in the womb is certainly, “human,” as defined by what it is not—anything else.  The baby in the womb is most certainly innocent for she has committed no crime.  Abortion is “horrific, brutal premeditated murder.”

In order to fully comprehend the depth of American depravity in regard to abortion in America—the modern-day worship of Molech—we must understand the heights the nation, or any nation, reaches when they dedicate themselves to the service of Almighty God.  Psalm 106 shows us the heights from which our nation has fallen—a nation Founded upon the “laws of nature and Nature’s God” (DoI).

Psa 106:1–3  ¹ Hallelujah! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. ² Who can declare the Lord’s mighty acts or proclaim all the praise due Him? ³ How happy are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times.

“How happy are those who uphold justice.”  But, we in America have not upheld justice for the most vulnerable of our citizens, the unborn Americans.  We have sacrificed them on the “altar of abortion” for our own convenience.  Most Christians did not even vote in the last election which was a set-back for the unborn.  Justice continues to be denied for the most innocent, the most vulnerable, the Americans most full of human potential—the American in the womb.

“How unhappy,” therefore, we will be when God’s judgement falls upon us as surely as it did for those who sacrificed their children to the God of Fire, Molech.  The Psalmist goes on to point an accusing finger at America  (verses 34-38)  

³⁴ They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them ³⁵ but mingled with the nations and adopted their ways. ³⁶ They served their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. ³⁸ They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; so the land became polluted with blood.

Our land is polluted, not with plastic bags and drinking straws, but with the “blood of the innocents.”  The stink of our rebellion has reached the nostrils of God and His disgust has triggered His wrath.

Psa. 106:40-41:  ⁴⁰ Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance. ⁴¹ He handed them over to the nations; those who hated them ruled them.

America’s place as a world power is going to come to end if we do not summarily appeal Roe v. Wade and repent of the “innocent blood” of 60 million (or more) American babies!  And . . . as we have learned from our study of the Bible’s silence in regard to America, this prophetic warning of Psalm 106 is taking place as I speak.

God did not tolerate the sacrificing of children to Molech in Israel and He will not tolerate it for long in America either.  Next, let’s consider 

2.  MYTHS versus Realities in regard to abortion

Let me lay a foundation for discussing myths associated with abortion. We live in a day when it is very hard, perhaps impossible without divine intervention, to discuss any matter civilly, reasonably, and biblically.  Isaiah prophesied of this day (Isaiah 5:18, 20):

¹⁸ What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

²⁰ What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark,

For most people in society, truth is as elusive as a Sasquatch riding a unicorn.  People have believed a lie for so long they don’t even know how to think, much less what to think.  The sins of people are so great they have to “pull them along in a cart.”  The very idea of  “Thus saith the Lord” is like a foreign language to most people.  So, the job of combatting the “myths” of abortion is no simple matter.

I’m not going to discuss every “myth” but I’ve chosen some common ones to demonstrate all these myths melt like a snowflake in sunshine when confronted with science and the Word of God. 

❶ Viability 

In the landmark SCOTUS ruling, Roe v. Wade,  the court established the viability rule, and reaffirmed the viability rule in the1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision.  The viability rule created by the Court provides that government “may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.”  Originally set as after 27 weeks, viability has increasingly been pushed back to as little as 21 weeks (of a 40 week pregnancy).  Amillia Sonja Taylor, born in October 2006, at 21 weeks, six days. She weighed in at just under 10 ounces, and who, when fully stretched out, was 9 1/2 inches long, finally went home in February. She is among the youngest babies ever to survive. She beat the Supreme Court mark by six weeks.  The fact is, abortions are performed today even while the child is passing through the birth canal.  So the viability myth fails for two reasons:  1. Viability is not an exact science and will likely continue to shrink in the future, and 2. the abortion advocates don’t adhere to viability anyway.  It’s just a cloak of pseudo-science pro-abortion people hide behind.  The bottom line is:  either all life is sacred, or no life is safe. A human is a human, regardless of size or the need of care. How many one-year olds can survive outside the womb without care?  There are teen-agers who aren’t “viable” in the strict sense without the constant care of mom and dad.  When society can apply arbitrary rules to who is human enough to deserve life, we all suffer. This leads to another myth

❷ Size and Appearance

Like many “myths” offered in defense of abortion, this one is also arbitrary—that is, with no rational or scientific basis.  Some will defend early abortion by calling the baby, “just a clump of cells.” A fetus is a separate, unique individual from conception.  At 21 days, before the mother even knows she is pregnant, the first irregular fetal heartbeats begin—at 21 days!  At 45 days, when many early abortions happen, the child’s brain waves can be detected. By the 11^th week—about when the majority of abortions happen—the child can squint, swallow, move her tongue, has fingerprints, such his thumb, sleeps, feels, tastes and reacts to stimuli. Because of ultrasonic imaging, we now have a window into the womb and see the marvelous development of a baby. The baby is never just, “a mere clump of cells.”  Here’s a quote from the California Journal of Medicine:

“....[it has become] necessary to separate the idea of abortion from the idea of killing, which continues to be socially abhorrent. The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everybody really knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous, whether inter or extra-uterine, until death. The very considerable semantic gymnastics required to rationalize abortion as anything but the taking of human life would be ludicrous if they were not put forth under socially impeccable auspices.” (Copied)

Size and appearance are arbitrary measures of humanness. Is a two-years old less human than a five-years old, or is a twenty-years old less human than a 40 years old?  Of course not.  Size and appearance do not determine humanness, nor does it determine value.

❸ Quality of Life

Again, this is an arbitrary standard. The argument goes something like this, “Unwanted children are often abused and tend to become abusers in adult life leading often to perpetual generations of poverty. There is NO (ZERO) evidence that popularizing abortion has reduced child abuse. In fact, data shows just the opposite.  Since Roe v. Wade child abuse rose dramatically and continues to rise.  Abortion kills the conscience as surely as it kills the baby and reduces the quality of life for all in society.  Isn’t it a bit odd to say that the never giving a child a chance to life is a means to prevent him or her from having a “poor quality” of life. That is as absurd as it is evil.  Here’s A STORY of a difficult family circumstance that would likely end in abortion today. This story was told in a class on the ethics of abortion.

The father has syphilis. The mother has T.B.. They already have four children. The first is blind. The second has diabetes. The third is deaf. The fourth has T.B.. The mother is pregnant again. The parents are willing to have an abortion if you decide they should. What do you think?”. The students say, it’s a no-brainer, counsel them have an abortion. “Congratulations”, said the professor, “You have just murdered Beethoven!”

The quality of life myths crumbles under the weight of its own irrationality—any quality of life must first begin with . . . well, life!

❹ Rape or Incest

This myth in support of abortion is a bit weightier than the first three. The question can be asked, “Should a woman be forced to carry the child of a man who has so violated her?" In the infamous Roe v. Wade,  "Jane Roe" claimed to have been the victim of a rape, became pregnant, and upon those facts appealed to the Supreme Court for the right to abort her child. Her real name was Norma Mccorvey. She died 4 years ago after becoming a Christian and staunch defender of life in the womb. She admitted she lied about being raped. Such a circumstance of rape or incest only account for 1-2% of all abortions.  But, that’s not the issue.  The issue is what we have said before:  if all life is not sacred, no life is safe!  God is the giver of life:  “Sons are an indeed a heritage from the Lord, children [are] a reward” (Psa. 127:3). Life begins in the Mind of God (Psa. 139:13-16), and as such is sacred apart from the method by which one is conceived. It is unjust to kill an innocent human being because of the crimes of his or her father! In such a difficult case, love is the key to life and healing—love and support for both mother and child.

❺ My Body/My Choice 

This myth is perhaps the most often cited defense for killing unborn children.  This is so absurd, irrational and unscientific, one wonders how it can persist as a support for killing children. Think of the absurd picture if the fetus is part of the woman’s body. Does she have 2 heads, 4 eyes, 4 arms, and 4 legs? Of course not. That is absurd. The baby is separate in every way. The child in the womb has her own genetic code that every cell in her body shares, but that is distinctly different from the mothers. As mentioned before, the child in the womb has a distinct—different from the mother’s—set of fingerprints. She has her own blood supply. The child’s life in every way is different and distinct from the mother’s.  The mother may die and the baby live.  The baby may die and the mother live.  They are wholly separate. As such, there is no “moral choice” to premeditatively kill that child.  It would be as we said before, “murder.”

❻ The Mother’s Life In Danger 

C. Everett Koop, formerly the Surgeon General under Reagan, stated that during his 35-plus years of practicing medicine, “Never once did a case come across my practice where abortion was necessary to save a mother’s life.”

There are times that a pregnancy may have a medical crisis in which the baby cannot be carried to term.  In these cases, every attempt is made to save both the mother and the child.  In some cases,  the baby cannot be saved. That is the sad reality of life and death—abortion is not a medial procedure for saving the mother.  Abortion is a clinical procedure for killing the child. To say otherwise is simply a “myth” concocted and spread to promote abortion.

❼ What about Capital Punishment?

This often comes up as an attack against a Pro-life position. It is a myth that capital punishment and abortion are the same.  Let’s review the definition of murder:  the premeditated killing of an innocent human being by another human being.  Abortion fits the definition of murder, and is in fact, murder—horrific, heinous, torturous murder in many instances.  What about capital punishment?  It does not fit the definition (either Biblically or judicially) for murder.  First of all, the person being executed is not innocent.  He or she has been found guilty of a heinous crime and after lengthy appeals with guaranteed legal counsel has been found “guilty.”  Second, capital punishment is carried out be the State, not an individual.  Romans 13 gives the biblical foundation for the right of the government to justly carry out capital punishment.  Abortion is murder.  Capital punishment is not.

These are just seven representative “myths” or arguments for abortion.  There are many others.  They all fail the test of science, morality, or reason, or perhaps all three.  The bottom-line is this:  THERE IS NEVER ANY JUSTIFICATION FOR ABORTION.

First, we examined the fact that the child sacrifices of Jewish children to the false god, Molech, for some future, perceived benefit, is no different from the sacrificing of innocent children to the false god of convenience in an abortion clinic. Second, we addressed the idea of the “Myths” offered to support the practice of abortion.  Now, let’s turn our attention to setting forth a positive “action plan” for doing something to end the evil practice of abortion

3. The Church’s MISSION and the Conscience of a Nation 

It is extremely rare for a sitting president to write and publish a book length essay.  That is exactly what President Ronald Reagan did in a feature length article in 1983, published in book form in 1984.  Adding to the intrigue of this writing is the topic President Reagan chose to write about:  “the most controversial issue of his time, and indeed our time as well.”

In 1983, Reagan wrote, “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation.”  When published it would include a chapter by the venerable Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Cope and the esteemed British journalist, Malcolm Muggeridge.

In this radical verbal assault on abortion, President Reagan quotes the venerable Mother Teresa.  Mother Teresa rarely spoke in public forums without condemning abortion.  Mother Teresa said, “Abortion is a crime that not only kills the child but the consciences of all involved.”  Literally national, legalized, widespread abortion has “murdered the conscience of America.”  Reagan argued in this book, “Abortion concerns not only the unborn child, it concerns every one of us.”

In a chapter titled, “The Slide to Auschwitz,” Dr. C. Everett Koop, a board certified, respected pediatrician, compares the horrors of the abortion industry with the industrialized killing camp of Auschwitz and the monstrous policies of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. There is no logical or moral difference.

It seems hypocritical for any in our time to condemn the Israelites and other ancients for “infant” sacrifice by the hundreds or thousands, if we sacrifice infants on the altar of the abortion table by the millions!  Indeed, our conscience as a nation has been so irreparably seared by decades of sacrificing to Molech, that we have no mental compulsion to any act.  Once a nation embraces murder as a judicial right and societal norm, there’s no downhill from the very bottom. 

If indeed our nation has lost its conscience to where even infant sacrifice has not only become permissible, but celebrated, what then is the Mission of the Church.  What CAN we do?  What MUST we do? 

I want us to commit to a simple “action plan” as individuals and as members of this Christian fellowship.  It is a simple plan, but can bring enormous results. 

1.  Pray—Really Pray! If the church of the last 50 years, perhaps more, has failed at anything, we have failed at prevailing prayer. It does not good for us to share our grievances about life with other persons until we have spoken of them to Our Heavenly Father. We are in the mess we are in in the U.S. because of a failure to “stay in constant touch with God through prevailing prayer.” Most Christians I’ve met over the years really do not know how to pray in a way that actually connects them with God in heaven.  I am trying so hard to spend more time in more fervent prayer—and I find it the hardest work that I do.  Will you commit with me to learning how to pray effectively and then . . . well praying—really praying?

2.  Study—the Word and the World

Hosea speaks of the importance of knowledge—particularly the knowledge of God’s Word.  He said  (Hosea 4:6),  ⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons.

God’s people always face destruction, despair, and even sink into depravity when we “forget” or “neglect” the serious study of God’s Word.  But, we also can become ineffective if we neglect to study God’s World.  When David was choosing men for his army the Word says that from the Tribe of Issachar he chose men, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do:. 1Chron 12:32

We must learn to read the news of current event through the spectacles of God’s inspired word.  We need to be the best informed citizens in the nation.  Will you commit to serious study? 

3.  Act.  All of the prayer we can pray, and all the knowledge we can gain will be impotent if we don’t DO SOMETHING about abortion.  Read carefully the words of Our Lord:  Matthew 5:16

¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Notice the words, “good deeds,” not “good doctrines.”  Doctrine that don’t lead to deeds are dead. 

We must “act.”  That means attending rallies and holding signs.  That means giving and volunteering at our Crisis Pregnancy Center.  That means joining with others to be the united face of the Pro-life, Pro-people, Pro-God movement. Most of all, it means voting knowledgeably and responsibly and supporting actively those running for office. When you discover someone who has fallen to the lie of the Devil and had an abortion, share the sin-busting, victory-giving gospel of Jesus Christ that can cleanse them and set them free.  Abortion is a failure, but it does not need to be final! There is forgiveness in the grace of God even for abortion.

Let me conclude by saying that America is under a curse.  We have become the United States of Molech and “innocent blood” is on our hands as a nation because we have embraced child sacrifice under the sterilized name of abortion.

If we don’t turn abortion around, we will never turn our nation around.  The only way for America to have any hope is to end the practice of child sacrifice we call abortion, repent, and turn back to God.

Emotions of Faith

 

February 21, 2021        NOTES NOT EDITED

“The Emotions of Faith”

John 11:1-45

SIS—God has given us emotions and we need to master them in order to harness their power to bring glory to God, even in the most challenging of circumstances.

Our nation is in an “emotional crisis,” a collective nervous breakdown. Employment is down; suicides are up. Drug overdose which had been a crisis before Covid, had become an apocalypse during Covid. Families are starting to feel the pressure of nearly a year of talking about nothing but the potential of dying from Covid.  Covid is driving everything, and driving people to the emotional brink. Someone has said, and maybe it was me, “Emotions are what drive us and what can drive us astray.”

Someone else has noted the spelling:  “e . . .motion” and noted that feelings put us “into motion--emovere:  L. “e,” meaning out or away from, and “movere,” meaning to move.  For example, fear puts us to flight, anger pushes us to fight, and confusion pretty much spins us like a top. Every action was first an emotion of some sort.

Emotions can even be analyzed physiologically.  When we experience strong emotions our muscles tense or relax and blood vessels dilate or contract, depending on the emotion.

Emotions are primarily designed to keep us alive, and so most emotions are negative reactions.  They can also be trained to be “positive responses.” Therefore, we need to use caution and control to harness our emotions for the purpose to bring honor and glory to God.

Let’s read the introduction to an “emotion-packed” story:

11 Now a man was sick, Lazarus, from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Him: “Lord, the one You love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard it, He said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 (Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.) 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after that, He said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.” 8 “•Rabbi,” the disciples told Him, “just now the Jews tried to stone You, and You’re going there again?” 9 “Aren’t there 12 hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.   10 If anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.” 11 He said this, and then He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen •asleep, but I’m on My way to wake him up.” 12 Then the disciples said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.” 13 Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought He was speaking about natural sleep. 14 So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died.  15 I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.” 16 Then Thomas (called “Twin”) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go so that we may die with Him.”

BACKGROUND

The event exposing the emotions surrounding death occur a little over a week before Easter Sunday.  Our text involves a story that may be at least two weeks away from Easter.  Shortly after Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, He himself will ride into Jerusalem in great triumph, only to end up dead Himself within days.  Like Lazarus, Jesus won’t stay dead.  Unlike Lazarus, Jesus will never die again. So here’s a major principle to note regarding “emotions or how you feel about a situation:  with Jesus, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over and it ain’t over ‘til we are enjoying the bliss of God’s Presence in Heaven!” I’ll get back to this a little bit later.

Jesus refers to Lazarus as “a friend.”  This family of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha in Bethany (the Bethany just outside Jerusalem) was very dear to Jesus and their home was sort of a refuge for Jesus and His disciples. Lazarus takes ill and word is sent to Jesus who was in the area.  Notice in verse 4 Jesus uses a significant play on words:

“This sickness will not END in death.”

The disciples did not understand this fully, then, but they would come to understand it later and we have the benefit of full knowledge, now.

For a believer, death is not an “end,” but a beginning. That’s the whole purpose for this story, and indeed the purpose for the entire message of the Bible.  Jesus came to die so our lives would not “end in death.”

This encounter is, as I said, and emotion-packed encounter.  God has given us emotions and we need to master them in order to harness their power to bring glory to God, even in the most challenging of circumstances.  I want to unpack the emotions in this passage and show how we can glorify God even in the most “emotionally draining” circumstances of life. The first emotion we encounter is: 

❶ CONFUSION (4-14; 21-24)

As this story begins, one can almost see the confused looks on the face of the disciples.  The get a message that Lazarus is sick, and it must be an urgent message or the sisters would not have taken the time to send it.

But, Jesus, who the disciples know really loves Lazarus, acts as if it is no big deal.  Then Jesus says after two days, “Let’s head to Judea (the region of Jerusalem where the people took up stones to kill Jesus).  They probably were scratching their heads at such a move.  Then Jesus gives this rather odd reply in verses 9-10:

9 “Aren’t there 12 hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.   10 If anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”

Jesus was pointing out that God had a plan—God always has a plan—and nothing can stop it, not even death, and certainly not an angry mob.  The disciples were very confused by all this.  Then Jesus adds to their confusion by saying,  Verse 11:

“Our friend Lazarus has fallen •asleep, 
but I’m on My way to wake him up.”

So, now Jesus is a “wake up service.”  This was all very confusing to the disciples.  The events surrounding a death are always confusing and filled with mystery, and even misunderstanding.  Confusion is a natural emotion we experience frequently.

Humor:  Life Is Just So Confusing! 

·         Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?

·         Is there another word for synonym?

·         If a #2 is the most popular pencil used, why is it still #2?

·         What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?

·         If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

·         Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

·         If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

·         Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

·         Is it called “sand” because it is between the “sea” and “land?”

·         If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to speak?

·         Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?

·         Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

·         Is it true, cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?

·         If you try to fail, and succeed, is it failure or success?

·         If time heals all wounds, why do we still have belly buttons?

·         If rabbits feet are so lucky, what happened to the rabbit?

I’ll leave you with one more idea that will bend your mind:  “If you change the ‘W’ to a ‘T’ in the following words—When? What? and Where?—you will have the answer.

One of the emotions we experience frequently in life is confusion.  If we patiently seek God through His Word, by the end of the story, the confusion will nearly always be gone.  **I wonder how many of you are still working on “When, What, and Where?”

Another emotion we experience often is one that Martha and Mary (and others as well) experienced when their brother died.

❷ ANGER (21, 32)

Both Martha and Mary said the exact same thing when they encountered Jesus after their brother died:

21 “Lord, if You had been here,
my brother wouldn’t have died.”

A natural reaction when something bad happens is to get angry and look for someone to blame. Jesus is going to use their “anger” as a backdrop to teach an important lesson about “trust.”  Now, later on Jesus will display a “righteous anger,” but here he addresses a misplaced anger—and anger is often, very often, misplaced.

It seems rather apparent (and natural) that Mary and Martha had a discussion about the delay of the Lord.  Verse 6 makes the “two day delay” an intentional part of the story, intended to make sure that Lazarus would indeed die in order for God’s greater purpose to be realized.

NOTE:  God does not always spare us (in fact often does not spare us) difficulties in life.  His goal for us is not that we would have a “comfortable life,” but that we would have an “effective life.”  Sometimes the only way we can learn is through experience. 

You must connect the “intentional delay for a greater purpose” with Martha and Mary’s statement in order to properly understand what they were feeling.

They were not expressing “unqualified trust in Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life” (otherwise Jesus would not have needed to instruct Martha in this very matter in verses 25-27).

The only way to naturally read the statements of both Martha and Mary is that they had discussed the Lord tarrying, and they were angry.

Anger is perhaps the strongest of the negative emotions.  Anger, left unchecked, can turn to bitterness and bitterness becomes like acid in a tin can, destroying the container that is holding it.

But, anger can be managed.  Paul says in Eph. 4:26:

“In your anger, do not sin. 
Do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

There is no sin in having the emotion of anger (or any other emotion) but the sin comes by not dealing with the emotion in a way that honors and glorifies God.

Now, neither Martha nor Mary allowed their anger to get the best of them.  Notice that Martha “talked it out,” and Mary “cried it out,” but they both got it out.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Anger is never without a reason, but seldom a good one.”  We must recognize that while we cannot control the emotion, we can control the actions that come from it.

A while ago a group of doctors in Coral Gables, Fla., arranged a study of 18 men:  nine with heart disease and nine healthy.  They then put each of the men through a series of different types of stress.  They gave them a ❶physical test on a treadmill.  The gave them an ❷emotional stress test by having them do math in their heads!, and they gave them an ❸emotional stress test by having them dwell on an incident in their past that really made them angry.

The discovered that in all the men, the stress tests caused the heart to pump less blood to the body.  They also discovered that the “emotional stress” caused the greatest reduction in the hearts pumping ability, especially in the group with heart disease. Dwelling on anger is deadly.

Clearly, anger is an emotion with powerfully negative consequences if it is not dealt with properly.  Like Martha and Mary, we should not internalize our anger, nor externalize it by lashing out at others.  We have to deal with it in a positive way:  through talking with God and others, or simply by crying it out.  But, you do have to get it out!

The greatest emotional response in this story comes from the Lord Jesus Himself, especially if you look at the original language that describes His emotions.

❸ COMPASSION (11, 35-36)

Whatever we make of the complex emotional response in these verses one thing is without question:  Jesus loved Lazarus and His family deeply.  Look at vv. 35-36:

³⁵ Jesus wept.  ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

The past tense (imperfect) here translated love, actually carries a more intense meaing of “See how He WAS LOVING him,” a CONTINUOUS action.  Jesus’ love for Lazarus and his family was not a passing feeling, but an on-going, meaningful, deep compassion.

Even the Jews who would find it a bitter taste in their mouths to say something good about Jesus could recognize the Lord’s deep compassion. 

But, there is something more than compassion here—much more.  The emotions of Jesus are intense at this point and the original language is complex.

❹ RIGHTEOUS AGITATION (33, 38) 

In verse 33 it says,  33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was angry [stern indignation]  in His spirit  and deeply moved [waters of His soul were troubled].

Again in verse 38 we read, ³⁸ Then Jesus, angry in Himself again,
came to the tomb.

There is a lot of emotion happening here across the whole spectrum of emotions—anger to deep compassion.  At this point, the emotion of Jesus is a “righteous agitation.”

① In the first case, I think Jesus was rebuking in His soul the exaggerated, hypocritical behavior of Jews when someone died.  They made a big deal of it and even hired “professional mourners” to cry and wail.  Bodies were not embalmed in Palestine, so burials happened the same day of death, and the mourning took place afterward. Mourning was intense for a week or so.  The word for weeping means to “cry loudly.”  In verse 35 when it talks of Jesus crying, it is a different word meaning “to burst into tears.”  The professional mourners had not tears.  It was all for show.  This no doubt agitated Our Lord.

② In another sense, Jesus was agitated or indignant at the very fact that death had ever entered the human condition for that was never God’s intention. Death appears to give a “temporary victory” over Satan—not only temporary, but false.  This agitated the Lord.  We see this issue come up again in verse 38.

Whatever the case, the fog of emotion was thick at this point.  The HCSB translates the ① first Greek expression as, “angry.”  I think agitated better fits the description of the original word that means “to make a snorting sound,” almost a guttural sigh.  The ② second word, translated, “deeply moved,” in verse 33 paint a picture of crashing waves on an ocean.  It refers to any substance that is “stirred up.” Jesus was agitated and stirred up about something. 

It is too simplistic to simply account for all this inner turmoil of the Lord to the death of a good friend.  He knew Lazarus was not going to stay dead.  There is something more. Death itself is the object of the Lord’s wrath at this point. 

Maybe He was agitated at the lack of understanding from His disciples, including Martha and Mary.

Maybe He was agitated at the very idea that there even was such a thing as death, since it was not in God’s plan.

Maybe, He was agitated because death represented the on-going rebellion of the Fallen Angel Lucifer.

Maybe He was deeply troubled because this death foreshadowed what was soon to come in His own life.

Maybe, the “righteous agitation” involved all these issues.  I’m not sure why the Lord was agitated to the point of anger, but I know this:  He never lost His composure.  His agitation was righteous because it was “controlled” and brought honor and glory to God.  In both verse 33 and verse 38, the emotion Jesus experienced was controlled.  In verse 33 we read, “in His spirit.” In verse 38, “in Himself.” Jesus experienced intense emotions, but controlled them and contained them to the glory of God.

We get agitated, even with those we deeply love.  We need to do what the Lord did:  turn our emotions into a positive action that will bring honor and glory to God.  Look what Jesus did with His emotions:

38 Then Jesus, angry in Himself again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.   39 “Remove the stone,” Jesus said. Martha, the dead man’s sister, told Him, “Lord, he already stinks. It’s been four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You heard Me.   42 I know that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so they may believe You sent Me.” 43 After He said this, He shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him and let him go.”

Turning emotions into actions that lead people to “live free, Spirit-filled lives” is the essence of being a follower of Christ.  Christ-followers should be the most passionate, the most emotional people in the world. We “set people loose through our service and witness.”

Emotions are powerful and can be harnessed to bring honor and glory to God.  Perhaps the most powerful, and most positive of all our emotions is:

4.  Hope (22-27)

Hope is not technically a “feeling or emotion.”  It is the lampstand upon which the candle of our emotions burn.  Hope is the “harness” that reigns in the power of our emotions to the glory of God.  Amidst all the tragic circumstances of life, just like in this situation, there is always hope in Christ.  Through tear-blurred eyes and cracking voice Martha declared:

22 Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God,
God will give You.”

Jesus went on to give Martha, and you and I, this hope:

23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.  24 Martha said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.  26 Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever.  Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told Him, “I believe You are the Messiah, the Son  of God, who was to come into the world.”

Someone has said, “Life without Christ comes to a hopeless end, but life with Christ is an endless hope.” Hope makes all things possible.

WHAT IS POSSIBLE WHEN THERE IS HOPE?  The story of a school teacher who was assigned to visit children in a large city hospital who received a routine call requesting that she visit a particular child. The teacher took the boy’s name and room number, and was told by the teacher on the other end of the line, "We’re studying nouns and adverbs in this class now. I’d be grateful if you could help him with his homework, so he doesn’t fall behind the others."

It wasn’t until the visiting teacher got outside the boy’s room that she realized that it was located in the hospital’s burn unit. No one had prepared her to find a young boy horribly burned and in great pain.

The teacher felt that she couldn’t just turn around and walk out. And so she stammered awkwardly, "I’m the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs." This boy was in so much pain that he barely responded. The young teacher stumbled through his English lesson, ashamed at putting him through such a senseless exercise.

The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" Before the teacher could finish her outburst of apologies, the nurse interrupted her: "You don’t understand. We’ve been very worried about him. But ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back; he’s responding to treatment. It’s as if he has decided to live."

The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope until he saw the teacher. It all changed when he came to a simple realization. With joyful tears, the boy said: "They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a boy who was dying, would they?"

Without hope, life is nothing more than a string of meaningless—often painful—events.  There’s no power.  There’s no drive to push through difficult circumstances.  Like the little boy, without hope, we just give up, and give in to our circumstances. Without the hope of heaven, death is a horrible end to our earthly life.  With the hope of heaven, secured by the grace of God, death is the blissful beginning of eternal life.

We need to harness the power of hope, as with the power in all our emotions.  We need to meet the challenges of life head-on.  We need to roll up our sleeves and roll away the stone.  We need to unwrap the grave bindings of our circumstances that keep us in bondage.

All around us in this world is death, destruction, and despair, especially in these days of Covid.  Things are likely to get worse, before they get worser.  As Christians, we must control our emotions, especially our fear, and forge forward with great hope.

The love of God should stir our emotions.  We should turn those emotions into actions.  It’s not enough just to have an emotional response to the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we must be moved to action—e-moted.  It should cause us to repent of our sins and make a life-changing decision to passionately pursue a holy life in honor of God.

—“God has given us emotions and we need to master them in order to harness their power to bring glory to God, even in the most challenging of circumstances.