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I. MARTHA IS A TYPE OF ANXIOUS BELIEVERS. They believe truly, but not with such confidence as to lay aside their care.

1. She set a practical bound to the Saviour's words: "Of course there will be a resurrection, and Lazarus will rise with the rest." We limit the words of the Holy One. Of course they mean so much, but we cannot allow that they mean more.

2. She laid the words of Jesus on the shelf, as things so trite and sure that they were of small practical importance. When you believe a truth, but neglect it, it is the same as not believing. Some never question a doctrine, that is not their temptation; they accept the gospel as true, but never expect to see its promises carried out.

3. She set the promise in the remote distance. This is a common folly. Telescopes are meant to bring objects near to the eye, but some look through the mental telescope at the wrong end. Do not refuse the present blessing and say, "My Lord delayeth His coming."

4. She made the promise unreal and impersonal, mixing Lazarus with the rest of the dead. We take the promises and say, "That is true to all God's people." If so, it is true to us; but we miss that point. There is such a thing as speaking of the promises in a magnificent style, and yet being in deep spiritual poverty: as if a man should boast of the wealth of England while he has not a penny. If you are a child of God, all things are yours and you may help yourself.

II. HOW JESUS DEALT WITH MARTHA.

1. He did not grow angry with her and say, "I am ashamed of you that you should have such low thoughts of Me." She thought that she was honouring Jesus by her acknowledgment of His special power with God. And in similar cases it ill becomes a servant to lose patience where the Master shows so much.

2. With gentle spirit Jesus proceeds to teach her more of the things concerning Himself. This is the true way to cure despondency. "I am," not "I can get the Resurrection." God's people want to know more of Jesus. Some of them know more than enough of themselves, and they will break their hearts if they go on reading much longer in that black letter book. Poor Martha was looking up into the sky for life, or down into the deeps for resurrection, when the Resurrection and the Life was by.Learn —

1. To construe the promises in their largest sense.

2. To look to the Promiser, and not to the difficulties which surround the accomplishment of the promise.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

WEB: So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.