John 11:38-40

The arrival at the grave: V. 38. Jesus, therefore, again groaning in Himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. V. 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.

V. 40. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

When Jesus was aware of the bitter mockery which His enemies were trying to heap upon Him even at this time, He was again strongly agitated, filled with indignation, but this time over their unreasonableness and blindness. That is the height of hypocrisy, when people assume a pious behavior, but incidentally are full of enmity and hatred toward Christ.

Meanwhile they had come to the grave, which was an opening hewn into the rock, upon which a large stone had been laid. When Jesus told some of the men present to lift off the stone, Martha interposed. The body was now, literally, one of four days; it had lain in the grave for four days, and therefore she knew that decay had progressed to such an extent as to make the odor extremely unpleasant.

In the greatness of her grief Martha was not using her spiritual mind. She probably thought that Jesus merely wanted to take a last look at the face of His friend. Thus the believers, in the bitter hour, when they see the evidences of death and decay before their eyes, are so absorbed in the contemplation of their terrors that they no longer lift up their minds to the King of Life.

The Lord reproved Martha for the smallness of her faith, for He had held out to her the certainty of seeing the glory of God before her eyes. In the resurrection of the dead the glory of God is revealed. If we but believe with all our hearts in Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life, we shall see the glory of God, when He raises the dead from their graves.