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Friday, April 28, 2017

Some Of God's Morally Sufficient Reasons For Permitting Pain And Suffering In Our World - A Study Of John 11

Image result for jesus raises lazarus from death

Note: The above picture is from a sixth century mosaic of Jesus raising Lazarus. The mosaic is located at The Church Of Sant'Apollinaire Nuovo in Ravenna Italy

John 11:1-4 "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” 4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”

Introduction:

Today's post is going to cover what is perhaps one of the most familiar miracles of Jesus recorded in the four Gospels - the raising of Lazarus from the dead. In this particular post, we want to consider reasons why God delays (or seems to delay) in preventing pain and suffering. This particular issue has been at the epicenter of both philosophical and theological discussion for millennia. In this particular post, I simply want to lay out some of the Biblical and life-practical reasons that explains God's morally sufficient purposes for permitting pain and suffering. What follows is not meant to be exhaustive, since there are morally sufficient reasons that God has for permitting much of what we see and yet, we're not in the position to necessarily know what those reasons are. With that said, we will use Jesus' delay in John 11:1-16 and its larger context to lay out some of these reasons. Note...

1. God's first morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: A Greater Good

John 11:5-6 states - "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was." Jesus purposefully delayed going to Lazarus. Why? a greater good was in view. What was the greater good? John 11:14-15 tells us: "So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.” Jesus knew that if He raised Lazarus when He raised Him, the disciples' faith in Him would be strengthened. They were in no position to see that outcome. In many instances, the possibility of a greater good being worked out by God through His Divine permission of evil and suffering seems quite remote. However, the timing of Jesus was such that the delay proved quite strategic.  

2. God's second morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: Godly Character development

Why else would God permit evil and suffering to persist in our world? for the development of character in people. Think about His conversation with Martha in John 11:20-27 

"Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. 21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” 23 Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”

By the end of the conversation, Martha's faith and perspective on Jesus and the meaning of life had shifted to a more Christ-centered direction. She would never be the same after this miracle. What if Jesus had arrived two days prior? would we had witnessed this conversation? would Martha experience such a life-altering change? As Adrian Rogers has noted about God's seeming delays: "God's delays are not God's denials". So, God's morally sufficient reasons for permitting pain and suffering include some greater good and the development of Godly character. Notice a third possible reason....

3. God's third morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: Genuine response to the Gospel

In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus has the following conversation - "Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? 3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Jesus is dealing with two incidents, both of which He never gives the full reasons for why God permitted them to occur. The only common thread we find in Jesus' recounting is the urgency for His audience to repent. Repentance is both a Divine gifting of grace and secondly, a definite response and turn of the mind and heart from sin unto Christ. Mind you, these morally sufficient reasons cannot on their own explain every instance for why there may be suffering in a given situation. 

Obviously Jesus doesn't lay out the philosophical nor theological reasons for the Tower of Siloam falling on bystanders nor the slaughter of worshipers of God in the temple. But one thing is certain: God can use bad things to get our attention. We may not grasp the "whys". All we know is that it is incumbent upon every person to be sure they are right with God through Jesus. When we return back to John 11:45, we read the following outcome of this miracle - "Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him."

4. God's fourth morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: God's Glory being revealed

One may think that God's permitting evil and suffering would detract from the revelation of all that He is (i.e. His glory). However, notice what Jesus says the outcome will be of Lazarus' sickness in John 11:4 "But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” We know by the tail-end of John 11 that Lazarus does die. But, his death is only temporary. Indeed, Jesus' bringing Lazarus back to life demonstrates the truth of His words, namely, the sickness would not lead to death. Jesus, in effect, was already stating what would be the outcome of Lazarus relative to the miracle He was about to perform. 

We read elsewhere in John's Gospel concerning why a certain man had been born blind in John 9:1-3 "As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him." God can use bad circumstances to reveal His glory. Much like a jeweler placing a black cloth in the background of a precious jewel to make the jewel's facets pop out in their brilliance, so too, God has chosen to create a world populated by free-moral creatures with the permitted possibility of such creatures rejecting Him. Although it may right now look like God's purposes are thwarted, nevertheless, in the end, God will be glorified (see Habakkuk 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Revelation 11:15; 21-22).  

5. God's fifth morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: Generate Trust

The one trait I notice about much of the Biblical record devoted to God's Sovereignty and the reality of pain and suffering is how often God doesn't tell the person all the details. In Job for example, the reader is given a gallery view of the cosmic chain of cause and effect going on between the actions of Satan, various villains in Job's life, the weather patterns and of course God's guidance of the whole process through those secondary causes. God doesn't divulge to Job why Job is undergoing his atrocities. However, by the end of Job, we find Job's trust in God strengthened, as seen in Job 42:5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You".

So when we look once more at Jesus' miracle of raising Lazarus in John 11, do we see evidence of somebody's trust in Jesus being strengthened? we do. Mary, Lazarus' sister, was young in her faith. She was the one who sat at Jesus feet, listening to Him teach in Luke 10:38-42. Did Mary grasp why Jesus delayed his coming? no. She tells Jesus in John 11:32 that if He had gotten their sooner, Lazarus would not had died. Now notice what Jesus does: Jesus weeps, but He doesn't explain to Mary why He delayed. Instead, Jesus does the miracle and then we find an extraordinary outcome beginning in John 12. In short, Mary ends up anointing Jesus six days before His crucifixion. Her faith had been strengthened and we see a prime example of what it means to follow Jesus. 

Closing thoughts:

In today's post we laid out five morally sufficient reasons for which God permits pain and suffering from a study of John 11...

1. God's first morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: A Greater Good

2. God's second morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: Godly Character development

3. God's third morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: Genuine response to the Gospel

4. God's fourth morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: God's Glory being revealed

5. God's fifth morally sufficient reason for permitting pain and suffering: Generate Trust

May the Lord enable us to trust Him more in this world as we find ourselves dealing with what can often-be the hardships of life. I close with these words from John 11:25-27 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”