Articles
The Other Side
Wouldn't you like to talk to Lazarus? Wouldn't you like to know what he saw in the 4 days he was dead?
If you recall the account in the Gospel of John, in Chapter-11, after Jesus comes to the family, he was "deeply moved in spirit and troubled" scripture says. Verse 35, the shortest in the Bible says, "Jesus wept." Some of the Jews when they saw His tears said, "See how He loved him!". That may be the one and only reason Jesus wept, out of love for Lazarus's family in their grief, because Jesus knows where Lazarus is. Maybe He had additional sorrow for other reasons too, perhaps Jesus wept because He was about to bring Lazarus back to this old sin filled, carnal, troubled world from a place of peace, comfort and perfection.
Scripture doesn't spell that out, but Jesus knew the other side, having come from there Himself. He knew Lazarus was far better off with God in Paradise, just as He teaches us how much better of a place we are be longing for.
I'd like to have been able to ask Lazarus about the other side, but God tells us enough about it that we should long to be there with Him. That is the prize, the goal that Paul said he was pressing on toward as he navigated the troubled waters of this earthy existence. Let us each day that we wake up, determine that Heaven is our end game, and let us live each day striving toward it.
