▪︎ God has defined life to be be a series of cycles, cycles of renewal… days, years, seasons, epochs, eras. They all repeat. If used according to God’s plan, they can be periods of renewal.
▪︎ In John 11:3-4, Lazarus was sick (astheneia), but Jesus said this situation would not end in death (thanatos). He later described the situation to His disciples as Lazarus’ sleeping (koimaómai) in John 11:11-12, 13-14. Finally, Jesus confirms that Lazarus had died (apothnéskó).
▪︎ sleep – (κοιμάομαι – Greek) – koimaómai ► sleep, fall asleep, sometimes of the sleep of death… Acts 12:6; Acts 13:36; 1Cor 15:3-4, 5-6; 1Thes 4:13, 14, 15;
▪︎ sick (ἀσθένεια – Greek) – astheneia ► sickness, weakness, frailty, want of strength, weakness, illness, suffering, calamity, frailty… John 5:5; Luke 13:11-12, 13; Matt 8:17; Luke 5:15; Heb 4:15; 2Cor 12:9;
▪︎ die (θάνατος – Greek) – thanatos ► derived from “to die”, physical or spiritual death; (figuratively) separation from the life (salvation) of God… Matt 4:16; Phil 2:8; James 1:14-15; Rom 6:23; 1Cor 15:3-4; Rom 8:2, 6; Heb 2:14, 15; 1Cor 15:55; John 5:24;
▪︎ death (ἀποθνῄσκω – Greek) – apothnéskó ► dying, about to die, wither, decay, from apó, “away from,” which intensifies thnḗskō, “to die”) – properly, die off (away from), focusing on the separation that goes with the “dying off (away from).” stresses the significance of the separation. Matt 9:24, 22:24; Luke 16:22; John 4:47; Rom 7:2,
▪︎ We have the fortune of being outside the cycle, looking back in time at Lazarus’ situation. We see that Jesus would intervene to bring glory to God, in God’s timing. Not every cycle ends the way we may want, but in Jesus we can be assured that every situation brings glory to God. Another example was Jesus’ healing of the blind man in John 9:1-2, 3-4, to glorify God.
▪︎ Other scriptures: Eccl 3:1-2, 11;