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Thoughts on John 11:43 Elder Philip N. Conley

Had Lazarus been given life and then told to "get all the way to Christ," he still would
have failed. How many of us, even after being given life, have lived a perfect day?
Should any be so bold to claim such holiness, how about a perfect week, month, or
year? Unless Christ did the work all the way, and thereby commanded us all the way

to Him, we would have an unpopulated heaven and brimming capacity of hell. To
show how secure our direction and conclusion with Christ is, let us consider how
David describes being called out of a deplorable state.

In Psalm 40:2, David describes the work of the Lord in pulling him from the horrible
pit and miry clay. However, David does not leave us to wonder what the Lord did after
that. After pulling him out, God set his feet upon a rock and established his goings.
The word "set" means to complete and secure something, as we today often speak of

"setting concrete." Once concrete has reached its "set" point of hardening, it is there,
like it or not. If one does not like it, you either bust it up and start over or deal with it.
Since no one can bust up Christ's work, our best course is to thankfully view it with
reverence and praise. What God did in setting David's feet upon a rock shows security

in the work.

Still, look at David's ultimate completion: "established my goings." By comparing
Hebrew words, the English words "set" and "established" come from the same

Hebrew word. Therefore, the security we ascribe to David's position on the rock
(Christ), is the same security we ascribe to his goings. Now, the fatalist might delight-
fully state, "Aha! What David did from that moment on was just as bedrock as his po-
sition on Christ." Is that what David meant? Such would contradict the highest tenor

of Scriptural injunction for us to walk in a godly way and keep ourselves unspotted
from the world. (James 1:27)

Instead, what David means is that his "goings" are just as secure and complete as his

position. Someone's "goings" references their end. Like the end of a journey, the final
place is "established. " David's intended thought is that heaven awaiting at the end of
his journey is just as bedrock as his current position on the Rock of Jesus Christ. Laza-
rus was called by Christ's command to a position not a fraction short of being where

Christ was. While I do not know how far Lazarus' body physically had to come to be
with Christ, he came forth however far that was to be with Christ.