It amazes me that when I take time away and don’t write for a little while I always have the most visitors and new readers subscribe. With that I am taking the hint and using the words from J.C. Ryle and using a portion of his commentary on these verses. Who ever the writer or transcriber I pray that we desire that He is the originator and enlighter.
Extra credit: One dead theologians commentary I guess deserves another dead theologians devotion. Today we go to a short one from J.C. Philpot. Like many of the recurring themes from him this one deals with the Natural Religiosity of the flesh.
Jhn 11:16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Jhn 11:17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
Jhn 11:18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
Jhn 11:19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
- Why are we told of the nearness of Jerusalem to Bethany, verse 18?
"Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16). "This was the language of a despairing and despondent mind, which could see nothing but dark clouds in the picture. The very man who afterwards could not believe that his Master had risen again, and thought the news too good to be true, is just the one of the twelve who thinks that if they go back to Judea they must all die! Things such as these are deeply instructive, and are doubtless recorded for our learning. They show us that the grace of God in conversion does not so re-mold a man as to leave no trace of his natural bent of character. The sanguine do not altogether cease to be sanguine, nor the desponding to be despondent, when they pass from death to life, and become true Christians. This shows us that we must make large allowances for natural temperament in forming our estimate of individual Christians. We must not expect all God’s children to be exactly one and the same. Each tree in a forest has its own peculiarities of shape and growth, and yet all at a distance look one mass of leaf and verdure. Each member of Christ’s body has his own distinct bias, and yet all in the main are led by one Spirit and love one Lord. The two sisters Martha and Mary, the apostles Peter and John and Thomas, were certainly very unlike one another in many respects. But they all had one point in common: they loved Christ and were His friends" (Bishop J.C. Ryle).
