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Warrenton SDA Church

Mark Finley

Living with Hope

Abu Saud was constructing a new home on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives near the road from Bethany.

Now if you know Israel at all, you know that Bethany is about 2 to 3 miles from Jerusalem.

But to get to Bethany, you have to leave Jerusalem, cross the Kidron Valley, go up the western slope of the Mount of Olives, and then come down the eastern slope onto Bethany.

Saud was building his new home on this beautiful section of the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives, as the construction men were digging the foundations, they came across a large, open, empty cave.

Now, in that part of the world, often caves were used for burial grounds for families.

Many families would bury their dead together.

It was like a communal familial cemetery.

When you are digging in Israel, if you come across 1 of these caves, you stop immediately and bring in the archaeologist.

Now it was 1874, so there was a French archaeologist by the name of Clermont-Ganon that was working in Israel, very renowned archaeologist.

He came in and the first thing he began to do was date the cave.

And he dated the cave and this burial plot as 2000 years old.

Well, that was significant because it took you back to the first century, the days of Christ.

As they began examining the cave, 1 of the first things you look for is ossuaries.

Now, ossuaries are like coffins, but they're stone coffins.

And they looked at the ossuaries and they studied them.

Sure enough, the ossuaries were 2, 000 years old.

The artwork on these ossuaries came back to the first century.

The next thing you look at is symbols or names.

We're at a family grave that's fairly well to do, and this family grave is 2, 000 years old.

As they're looking at the ossuaries, they notice 1 that says Mary.

They notice another ossuary that says Martha.

Are the wheels begin turning in your mind?

They look at another 1 and it says Eleazar.

Now Eleazar is the Hebrew form of the Greek word Lazarus.

So by this time, Professor Claremont-Ganoon is absolutely amazed because he senses he has a tomb that's 2, 000 years old, that is next to Bethany, that's a family tomb, that has no doubt the ossuaries of the co-authors of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Further studies on that tomb by the world's leading archaeologists discover that indeed, Ghanun's observations were right.

1 of the most amazing stories in the Bible is the resurrection of Lazarus.

He was resurrected from the dead, but he didn't live forever.

If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, take your Bible and turn to John chapter 11.

Because this morning we want to study that amazing story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

This story speaks hope and encouragement to us today.

This story brings us hope for the challenging days ahead.

The ground beneath our feet is shaking, it's crumbling.

Natural disasters are increasing every single week and month and year it seems.

The next terrorist attack is just around the corner.

Last weekend I was in New York City preparing for some large meetings there.

I was with our General Conference President, Elder Ted Wilson, traveling.

And our driver happens to be a man who's deeply entrenched in the security systems of New York.

And he said to me as he drove us, he said, you know, Pastor Finlay, the leading officials in New York, the mayor of this city, the controller of the city, the financial people of this city, the security people of this city, know that another terrorist attack is coming.

So it's not if there will be a terrorist attack, it's when there will be a terrorist attack.

Natural disasters, a crumbling economy, terrorist attacks, violence increasing in unprecedented numbers in our schools, the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, and it seems that you turn on the news today and there's 1 disaster after another.

You look at the uncertainty in northern Africa today, and northern Africa is becoming the new home for Al-Qaeda.

And the recent kidnappings and terrorist attack at the Algeria oil refinery indicates that northern Africa is becoming incredibly unstable, and it seems like we deal with al-Qaeda in Iraq and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, but like mushrooms in a North Virginia spring, Al-Qaeda seems to sprout up someplace else, and now Northern Africa's become the new area.

What will you do if the economic bottom falls out of America?

What will you do if natural disasters hit with unprecedented numbers?

How will you survive if, indeed, everything we know is changed?

If life as we now know it is changed, where can we find hope and encouragement?

As we study John the 11th chapter, there are 7 great principles that enable us to live with hope in times of crisis.

There are 7 great principles that enable us to live in hope in times of challenge.

We'll follow the story throughout the text.

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

In the ancient world, names had significance.

The name Lazarus meant simply, God is my help.

When the economy falls apart, God is my help.

When the ground beneath my feet is shaking, God is my help.

When terrorist attacks hit, God is my help.

So the very name of the 1 that was resurrected from the dead speaks hope and courage to you and to me today.

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany." Lazarus, God is my help.

"'The town of Mary and her sister Martha.

It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil, wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

Therefore, the sisters sent to him saying, Lord, behold, him whom you love is sick.

Jesus loved to go to the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.

Bethany was this little village outside of Jerusalem.

And Jesus could go there away from the hustle and the bustle of the crowd.

He could go there away from the taunts and the skepticism and the cynicism of the Pharisees.

Jesus was able to go and when he walked into the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, he knew he'd get a good meal, he knew he was among friends, he knew he could sit and nap if he wanted to, or he could openly discuss.

He didn't have to watch his words at all.

It's a wonderful thing to create an atmosphere in your home where there is little or no tension.

An atmosphere in your home where people can come and say, you know, when I walk into that home, I just feel incredibly relaxed.

That's the way Jesus felt in the home of Mary and Martha.

Now in verse 3, there is something quite significant that brings us to our first principle.

Often in the Bible, if you look at things from a surface perspective, you miss them.

But When you look at things with eyes divinely anointed, you see things that you never saw before.

Therefore the sister sent him saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.

There is no pleading with Jesus to come here.

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Living with Hope

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