"_EVEN NOW!_"
JOHN xi. 17-31.
Let me consider this marvellous confession of Martha's faith. "I know that
_even now_, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee!" Mark
the "even now"! Lazarus was dead, and it was midnight in the desolate
home. But "even now"! Beautiful it is when a soul's most awful crises are
the seasons of its most radiant faith! Beautiful it is when our lamp
shines steadily in the tempest, and when our spiritual confidence remains
unshaken like a gloriously rooted tree. Beautiful it is when in our
midnight men can hear the strains of the "even now"!
And let me consider the wonder of the Divine response. "_I am the
resurrection and the life._" A faith like Martha's will always win the
Saviour's best. And here is an overwhelming best before which we can only
bow in silent homage and awe. He is the Fountain in whom the stagnant
brook shall find currency again. He is the Life in whom the fallen dead
shall rise to their feet again.
And what is this? "Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me _shall never
die_!" We shall go to sleep, but we shall never taste the bitterness of
death. In the very act of closing our material eyes we shall open our
spiritual eyes, and find ourselves at home!