Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Acts 1:1-3
Jesus Appears to His Disciples Over a Period of Forty Days
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
Isaiah 55:6-9
God's Thoughts are not Our Thoughts
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
John 11:1-7
Jesus Stays Where He is for Two More Days
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
John 11:39
Lazarus Had Been Dead for Four Days
39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
John 7:1-9
Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles
1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.
John 8:19-20
Jesus Hour Had Not Yet Come
19 Then they asked him, "Where is your father?" "You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
God works in His own time and at His own speed and pace...He knows the perfect time to do anything and everything...It seems there is a proper time in everything we do...His patience runneth over...To be divine, one certainly thinks differently...His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways...And God can use time differently than we can...After Jesus died and resurrected, it seems as if He comfortably moved in and out of time, over a period of forty days...
Jewish tradition believed that the soul stayed with and around the body for three days...So in St. John's gospel the details that Lazarus had been dead for four days is significant...We are told there may have bee an odor was around the body of Lazarus...Tradition was the spirit hovers the body and tomb and then takes its flight from the departed one...After four days, we know that Lazarus was truly dead...
Normally when one is dying like Lazarus was, people, family, and doctors are hurrying around to do something to save the the one who they love that is sick...Jesus had received a message, and the message from Mary and Martha was clear...They sent word to Him, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”...Jesus did not hurry to get to the sick one, the one He loved...Instead, He intentionally waits...So when He gets the word about Lazarus from the troubled sisters St. John writes about this...When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death...No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”...Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus...So when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days, and then He said to His disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”...
Jesus intentionally waits two more days where He was...But why would He want to delay going and helping His friend?...He knew Lazarus was dying, and shortly did die...He also knew that the two sisters were grieving and praying, along with their friends over their brother's illness and then his death...But Jesus waits for two days so that He might do this act for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it...
Sometime earlier when Jesus went to the Festival of the Tabernacles, it seems He needed to go at a precise moment...Jesus said, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do...The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify that its works are evil...You go to the festival...I AM not going up to this festival, because My time has not yet fully come.” After He had said this, he stayed in Galilee...So He stayed a little longer in Galilee than His disciples did, because it was not the proper time yet...The hour to leave was not right yet for Him...But anytime is the proper time for man...It made no difference when the disciples left for the festival...
When Jesus taught at the temple, His opposition were looking at ways to seize Him and have Him arrested...They ask Him questions to trap Him...Once they ask Him, "Where is your Father?" "You do not know Me or My Father," Jesus replied..."If you knew me, you would know my Father also."...He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put...Yet no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come...
Jesus does everything in the right time and in the right way...He does everything at Godspeed...He is in control of time, and our time and times...Jesus healed Lazarus at Godspeed...