That Time Jesus Waited Four Days... On Purpose (Sermon)

I almost called this sermon “God Is Never Late (But He’s Rarely Early Either).”

Because let’s be real, waiting on God can feel like absolute torture sometimes. You pray. You believe. You quote every promise you can find. And then nothing. Crickets. The doctor’s report stays the same. The prodigal still hasn’t come home. The job door stays shut. And around month six or year six you start wondering if God lost your file somewhere in heaven’s inbox.

If that’s where you’re living right now, John 11 is about to wreck you in the best possible way.

Mary and Martha send Jesus the ancient equivalent of an SOS text: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” That’s code for “Get here yesterday.” Any normal friend would have run to Bethany. Jesus? He stays put for two extra days. By the time He strolls into town, Lazarus has been in the tomb four days. Four days. The mourners are on payroll, the spices are bought, hope is dead and buried.

Martha marches out to meet Him and lets Him have it (politely, but still): “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Translation: You’re late.

Then she drops one of the most faith-filled lines ever spoken at a funeral: “But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.”

Even now. After the funeral. After the stone was rolled. After it stinks. Even now.

Jesus basically says, “Martha, roll that stone away, because you’re about to find out why I waited.”

He shouts into the darkness the three most powerful words ever spoken at a graveside: “Lazarus, come out!”

And the dead man walks out, still wrapped in grave clothes like the world’s worst fashion choice.

Here’s the part that hit me hardest this week: Jesus said the sickness and the delay and even the death were all “for the glory of God” (John 11:4). A healing would have been great. A resurrection is legendary. Sometimes God lets the thing die so He can do something bigger than we dared to ask.

You see the same rhythm everywhere in Scripture.

Abraham and Sarah wait twenty-five long years for Isaac. God could have done it earlier, but He waited until it was humanly impossible so everyone would know it was divine.

Joseph gets forgotten in prison for two extra years after the cupbearer promised to remember him. Then one random morning Pharaoh has nightmares and suddenly Joseph is running the empire by sunset.

Daniel prays and fasts twenty-one days with no answer because a demonic prince is holding up traffic in the heavens. The second that resistance breaks, the angel shows up and says, “Good news! Your prayer was answered the first day you prayed it.”

Delay isn’t denial. Most of the time it’s design.

Habakkuk 2:3 says the vision is for an appointed time. It might seem slow, but wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. From God’s viewpoint, the moment it arrives is the exact second it was scheduled. One tick earlier would actually have been too soon for the real plan.

And when God does move? He moves suddenly. Joseph: dungeon to throne room in hours. Zacchaeus: crooked tax collector in the morning, saved host of Jesus by supper. Disciples: total despair Friday, empty tomb Sunday.

He even redeems the time we thought was lost. Joel 2:25 promises He’ll restore the years the locusts have eaten, not just the crops, the years.

So if you’re on day four right now, if it stinks, if everyone else has gone home, if you’ve started to make peace with the death of that dream, hear Martha’s words again:

Even now.

Even now He can call life from your tomb. Even now He can turn your biggest disappointment into His greatest miracle.

Your acceleration is coming. And one day soon you’ll look back at this delay and actually thank Him for it.

Because the God who waited four days to raise Lazarus hasn’t forgotten your address. He’s just setting the stage for a greater glory.

What’s your “even now” today? Tell me in the comments. I’d love to stand with you and pray, because your resurrection morning is closer than you think.