“Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him.” — John 12:2

He is to be envied. It was well to be Martha and serve, but better to be
Lazarus and commune. There are times for each purpose, and each is
comely in its season, but none of the trees of the garden yield such clusters
as the vine of fellowship. To sit with Jesus, to hear His words, to mark
His acts, and receive His smiles, was such a favour as must have made
Lazarus as happy as the angels. When it has been our happy lot to feast
with our Beloved in His banqueting-hall, we would not have given half a
sigh for all the kingdoms of the world, if so much breath could have bought
them.

He is to be imitated. It would have been a strange thing if…

Lazarus had not
been at the table where Jesus was, for he had been dead, and Jesus had
raised him. For the risen one to be absent when the Lord who gave him life
was at his house, would have been ungrateful indeed. We too were once
dead, yea, and like Lazarus stinking in the grave of sin; Jesus raised us, and
by His life we live — can we be content to live at a distance from Him? Do
we omit to remember Him at His table, where He deigns to feast with His
brethren? Oh, this is cruel! It behoves us to repent, and do as He has
bidden us, for His least wish should be law to us. To have lived without
constant intercourse with one of whom the Jews said, “Behold how He
loved him,” would have been disgraceful to Lazarus, is it excusable in us
whom Jesus has loved with an everlasting love? To have been cold to Him
who wept over his lifeless corpse, would have argued great brutishness in
Lazarus. What does it argue in us over whom the Saviour has not only
wept, but bled? Come, brethren, who read this portion, let us return unto
our heavenly Bridegroom, and ask for His Spirit that we may be on terms
of closer intimacy with Him, and henceforth sit at the table with Him.

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Producer: Todd Adkins
Voice Artist: Ian Cullen