Jesus Wept Don't you get it, Don't you Understand "Who I AM"

Jesus Wept

Don’t you get it, Don’t you understand?

Who “I AM”

Another misunderstood verse in the Bible is John 11:35: “Jesus wept.” It is believed by so many in the past and present that Jesus wept because of His compassion for the sadness and broken hearts of Mary and Martha over the death of their brother Lazarus. This was indeed a very sad occasion, and yet their commentary is the most misquoted interpretation of Scripture.

I am going to give you a glimpse of what has been taught and believed—by even the most astute of teachers of God’s Word—by giving you this short story I got off the internet. So pay close attention to the interpretation given, and then will examine the true meaning of the verse “Jesus wept.”

It is God's mercy statement to the world.

I do not have to tell you that this world has problems; drug addiction, divorce, suicides, and terrorism to name a few. I believe the natural thing for people to do in life is to jump ahead without reading instructions when the Word of God is food for our spirit and guide for our life. Looking at society today obviously we are in need of guidance.

After receiving the Vision from God about putting God's Word out there among His people, I was compelled to enquire about the boundary advertising at Football Park, Adelaide, which had become available mid-season. This was miraculously offered at a fraction of the cost normally demanded for such a high profile position, with a local derby still to be staged.

My next dilemma was what verse to use? What would speak to the multitudes? I had reservations about using "Jesus wept" (John 11 Verse 35) but my staff suggested this message because its brevity meant it could be legible from afar - and of course because it is a verse from the Holy Bible. I also did not fully understand what the verse meant.

In the middle of deciding whether to use it or not, I had a phone call from a friend who told me of a younger mutual friend, who had always looked up to me; of his death in an accident overseas. I cannot remember weeping so hard as I did that day and it was odd to have my staff watch a grown man cry.

I believe God spoke to me showing me that that is how he feels for us. That was confirmation for me to put that verse on the boundary sign at Football Park, where according to research, 600,000 people, per game, would see it.

In John Chapter 11 Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus. Before that Jesus saw Lazarus' friends mourning and weeping, and he was deeply moved in spirit and then Jesus wept. I believe that Jesus was not weeping for Lazarus. He wept for the weeping. In Matthew 5 Verse 4 Jesus said "blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted" and also he came to heal the broken-hearted.

This is God's mercy statement to the world.

Right now as you are reading this, tens of thousands of people are weeping, crying with a broken heart. Even if people do not understand the message, it is the Word of God and again the Word of God, Jesus said, is the seed. God wants us to prepare the way for His harvest.[1]

I read the end of the Bible, and it will get worse before Jesus comes back and changes this world forever.

2 Timothy 3:1-8 – This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

Which brings me to the story of Jesus when He wept. This story has a different meaning than most sermons you have heard, so let us look at it in a different way by putting the story in context. First, let us speak of something that has been on the cheeks of so many people throughout the ages—their tears. Tears often come from broken hearts of parents, of brothers and sisters, and of close friends that have shed tears from a hurting and grieving soul, particularly for those whose loved ones are caught up in their sins and even death.

Let us speak from a Christian perspective. You know this verse: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:66). As a Christian parent, you have lived this verse. Then one day, you’re cleaning up your child’s room and come across a bag of marijuana or you get a call from the police and they ask you to come to the station, because your child was pulled over for driving while intoxicated. Even worse, you get a call that they are severely injured or even dead, and you did not even know that he or she ever drank before.

How about the teenage daughter that comes to you and tells you she is pregnant, or a Christian husband that is involved deep into pornography, or a spouse is caught cheating on you? The list can go on. Because people have individual soul liberty and people are responsible for their own choices, even as much as we would like those we love to make the right choices in life, they have to make those choices for themselves—just like Adam and Eve did in making the wrong choice in the Garden.

You want to tell that child—or whoever it is—that is caught up in their sin, “Don’t you understand? Don’t you get it? I mean when you break God’s laws there are consequences with your actions, which not only affects you, but others around you. Don’t you get it? Don’t you understand? When you pick up one side of the stick, you pick up the other side too.”

Jesus wept because we just don’t get it. We just don’t understand when it comes to whom He is. Jesus on the Cross said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Let us examine John 11:1-57 in detail.

John 11:1-6 – Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 5Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

Let me ask you a question? Verse 5, if Jesus really loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus and knew Lazarus was about to die, why wait two days? Don’t people run to the side of those they love that are dying? Martha was wondering where Jesus was and why He was taking so long. In verse 3, we learn that Martha knew Jesus loved Lazarus. But in verse 4, we are told the “Why” Jesus waited. He wanted to be glorified as God. Sometimes when things happen, it is not always all about us.

John 11:7-10 – Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again. 8His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? 9Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 10But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

In verse 8, His disciples were all worried about dying, maybe along with Jesus. Verse 9 explains that Jesus is the light. They just don’t get it. They just don’t understand that He is God. Didn’t they believe in the miracles that Jesus had done?

John 11:11-15 – These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 12Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 13Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 14Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

They just don’t get it. They just don’t understand. Didn’t Jesus tell them in verse 4 that He was God? He explained that it was His claim that He was the Son of God that the Jews were going to stone Him for, because of his claim of Deity in the first place.

John 11:16-22 – Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. (Didn’t I tell you that they thought that they were going to die too if they went back with Jesus to see Lazarus?) when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. 18Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: 19And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. 21Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord (this is the beginning of a debate on exactly when Lazarus was going to rise from the dead), if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

Doesn’t she get it? Doesn’t she understand who she is speaking to? He is the I Am! Was she not speaking to God?

John 11:23-26 – Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

In verse 22, was Martha not speaking to God Himself? Jesus is going to explain that He is the resurrection in verse 25. Remember, Lazarus believed in God. Isn’t that what happens to a man, woman or child today that believe, even though we are dead, we are made alive?

John 11:27-32 – She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world .(Did she really believe, we will soon see.)28And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. 29As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. 30Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. 31The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. 32Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Apparently, Martha did not tell Mary what Jesus had said to the same question back in verse 21.

John 11:33 – When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.

If Jesus is God, did He not know that Martha went to Mary? And didn’t He tell Mary that Lazarus would rise again? Apparently, Martha just didn’t get it or just didn’t understand. If you missed it, Jesus groaned in the spirit and was troubled by Martha’s actions in not believing that He is God and that everyone was weeping for no cause. Jesus knew He was going to bring Lazarus back from the grave, they did not quite believe in the miracles Jesus had already done in proving He is God just like most Christians.

John 11:34-36 – And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. 35Jesus wept. 36Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!

The emphasis of this passage is on what the Jews thought about Jesus’ weeping. Remember Isaiah 55:8-9? “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Jesus wept for their unbelief, not because Lazarus was dead. Jesus knew Lazarus was going to hop out of the grave.

John 11:37 – And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

These are man’s thoughts, which caused Jesus to once again groan in Himself. Don’t you understand? Don’t you get it? He is going to prove Himself to be God.

John 11:38-45 – Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39Jesus 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. 40Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? (What is it going to take, before it sinks in, Martha?)41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. 45Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

They only believed because they had seen with their own eyes a man come back to life, a man which was dead and rotted.

John 11:46-57 – But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. (The sad thing is for even the many, seeing isn’t believing.)47Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. 48If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. 49And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, 50Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 51And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. 53Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. 54Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples. 55And the Jews' passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves. 56Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? 57Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.

If Satan knew that by killing Jesus on the Cross it would change the way the Holy Spirit of God worked in the life of man the way it did, Satan would not have crucified Jesus. Before the Cross, the Holy Spirit came unto man and did its work then left, but after the Cross, the Holy Spirit comes and stays for eternity.

Jesus had another perspective on weeping. It will be a heartbreaking day when the time comes that people would be begging for death only to find out that death is even worse when it comes.

Jesus was being taken to the Cross:

Luke 23:27-30 – And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. 28But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. 29For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. 30Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

You may wonder why Jesus hasn’t come back yet. And it is because of the Cross. The last soul has not been saved yet!

If you are a soul winner, you know how frustrating it is trying to explain what Jesus did for people. People hear the Word and just don’t get it or just don’t understand it! They bring up works or add something to Jesus to get you to heaven! They are like Satan in the Garden who twisted the Word or like Eve who added to it. You are astounded that they don’t understand it! You wonder why they don’t get it! And yet Jesus was very specific about this: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He is not a way, but the Way.

Ever since the very moment Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Jesus has wept. He had already decided to go to the Cross if Adam made the wrong choice and decided he did not need God and wanted to be God.

2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

So, what is it going to take? We have all types of religions, including Alcoholics Anonymous as a religion. You cannot take God the Father and leave out God the Son. The moment I became a child of God, I wanted to tell others that He is alive and that I’m alive too. I began to attend AA meetings again, but when I stood up and told those that were there that I was no longer shackled to the desire to drink, that I was saved, and that they too could be free from, not only alcohol, but all types of character defects, one of the alcoholics stood up and said, “My god is Buddha, and I don’t need your God.” Yet he never said Buddha had helped him to stop drinking but was relying on working the program for that. They would have a spiritual experience and not a life changing experience like I had. They were happy with their adulteries and smoking and pornography. All they wanted was to stop drinking. They were only concerned with this side of death. This is what they wanted. and this is what they got and were thankful for—spoken of in a letter to Carl Jung.

One of the projects that Bill had planned for his “retirement” was to deal with an unfinished task: acknowledging AA’s indebtedness to the countless people he felt were responsible for its creation. At the top of his list was Carl Jung, the psychoanalyst who had pointed Rowland H. and subsequently Bill himself—via Ebby—in a spiritual direction.

Bill’s letter to Jung, dated January 23, 1961, is among the most eloquent of the thousands of letters he wrote in his lifetime. After first introducing himself, Bill wrote:

I doubt if you are aware that a certain conversation you once had with one of your patients, a Mr. Roland [sic] H----, back in the early 1930’s, did play a critical role in the founding of our Fellowship.

Our remembrance of Roland H.---‘s statements about his experience with you is as follows:

Having exhausted other means of recovery from his alcoholism, it was about 1931 that he became your patient. I believe he remained under your care for perhaps a year. His admiration for you was boundless, and he left you with a feeling of much confidence.

To his great consternation, he soon relapsed into intoxication. Certain that you were his ‘court of last resort,’ he again returned to your care. Then followed the conversation between you that was to become the first link in the chain of events that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous…

First of all, you frankly told him of his hopelessness, so far as any further medical or psychiatric treatment might be concerned. This candid and humble statement of yours was beyond doubt the first foundation stone upon which our Society has since been built.

Coming from you, one he so trusted and admired the impact upon him was immense.

When he then asked you if there was any other hope, you told him that there might be, provided he could become the subject of a spiritual or religious experience – in short, a genuine conversion: You pointed out how such an experience, if brought about, might re-motivate him when nothing else could. But you did caution, though, that while such experiences had sometimes brought recovery to alcoholics, they were, nevertheless, comparatively rare. You recommended that he place himself in a religious atmosphere and hope for the best. This I believe was the substance of your advice.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. H---- joined the Oxford Group, an evangelical movement then at the height of its success in Europe, and one with which you are doubtless familiar. You will remember their large emphasis upon the principles of self-survey, confession, restitution, and the giving of oneself in service to others. They strongly stressed meditation and prayer. In these surroundings, Roland H---- did find a conversion experience that released him for the time being from his compulsion to drink.[2]

The letter is long and goes on to tell Jung how the message reached Bill at the low point of his own alcoholism. It described his own spiritual awakening, the subsequent founding of AA, and the spiritual experiences of its many thousands of members. As Bill put it, “This Concept proved to be the foundation of such success as Alcoholics Anonymous has since achieved. This has made conversion experience…available on an almost wholesale basis.”[3]

The road is wide unto destruction. The god of this world is quick to help. Do you see why Jesus weeps today? He has sent us a love letter we call the Bible, and we don’t get it! We don’t understand. We must first have life in Jesus before we can even begin to know Him. Jesus did not die on the Cross to fix our worldly troubles. He did not die so the alcoholic can be sober. He did not die so the drug addict can abstain from drugs. He did not die so the overeater can eat reasonably. He did not die so we can control our sexual desires. He died to being us back to fellowship with Him, to have a relationship with Him: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

John 14:17-21 – Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

This is the reason this book was written, to reach those that are so close, but will miss it if they do not get it right. So many have been lost to Satan, because of the lie. The one unique thing that God gave us was the power of choice and the ability to make our own decisions in life. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit comes, we must make a choice. So, choose sin and death or Life. Who will you worship and serve? Jesus or Satan?

Since I wrote this chapter in a book I wrote “Worshipping the Serpent” another program came to be, a works program called Reformer Unanimous RU” with a Christian twist. So, beware of the one that wants a Contract and not gives a Promise.

[1]http://www.aboutjesuswept.org, accessed 5/5/2016. [2] Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984 “PASS IT ON” the story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A. message reached the world, p.381-383. [3] Ibid.