When we read the Bible, it’s easy to forget that these are historical accounts about real people. It’s easy to keep moving through the text, not considering that these people lived through the events recorded, had internal responses to what happened, and had to deal with the realities they created. Reading Scripture with this frame of mind helps us draw more out of the texts and better understand what’s going on. For example, I was reading a passage in the Gospel of John recently that made me stop and think:

John 12:1-2 NKJV:  Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.  2  There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.

If we read back in John chapter 11, we find the account of Jesus raising His good friend Lazarus from the dead–an amazing miracle. In the very next chapter, Jesus goes to eat supper in Bethany where Lazarus lived. They both attend, and Lazarus ends up sitting at the same table with Jesus. Imagine for a moment what this meeting might have been like for Lazarus.

Lazarus had been four days dead in a tomb. By the will of God, Jesus called Lazarus back to the realm of the living, walking out again. Now, he sits at supper with the One who rescued him from the dead. What do you talk about? What sort of feelings might Lazarus have had toward Jesus? Gratitude? Awe? Love? How might their relationship have been different in light of what Jesus did for Lazarus?

Now consider this. In 1 Corinthians 11:28, we are commanded to examine ourselves when we partake of the communion of the Lord. We eat and drink with the Savior when we do, and we should remember what He did for us. Put yourself in the place of Lazarus. As we eat with Jesus, remember that He died on the cross to bring us back from the dead and give us spiritual life again. When we sit across the table, what do we say to Jesus? How do we feel toward Jesus? How should what He did change our relationship forever?

I challenge you to remember Lazarus this Lord’s Day when you commune with Christ.

In this passage, God foretells how His remnant of Judah that would escape the judgement coming upon their nation would undergo a two-part process to accomplish His will:

And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.  32  For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. Isaiah 37:31-32 NKJV

In a clever parallel to the botanical kingdom, God stated that Judah’s remnant would first put down a strong root system to support the “plant,” then reach upward with stalk, leaf, bud and bloom to produce the fruit of righteousness. This is the rule with plants. No fruit until bloom, no bloom until bud, no bud until leaf, no leaf until stalk. And no stalk without root.

So where’s the application for us? Have you ever experienced (or are currently experiencing) a season of barren-ness in your service to God? So often we have a change in heart today, and want to eat the sweet fruits of righteousness by evening. Listen to Peter’s admonition:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,  3  as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,  4  by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  5  But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,  6  to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,  7  to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.  8  For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9  For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 2 Peter 1:2-9 NKJV 

Our desire as Christians is to partake in God’s divine nature. Part of this is escaping from the trap of lust (evil desires). If we desire to bear fruit in God’s Kingdom, we must root downward into the behaviors and attitudes Peter lists. Just like the plant, it’s a step-by-step process. He promises us that if we graft these things into our life, they cause us to be fruitful. If we lack these things, we are suffering from spiritual short-sightedness and blindness, forgetting that we have been purged from sin to seek God instead. Let’s not forget. Let’s root downward so that we may bear fruit upward.