A FRIEND OF JESUS

^[p. 442] A FRIEND OF JESUS

Lazarus was the Lord’s immediate product. He raised him. He was the Lord’s friend. Is it not lovely to be the Lord’s friend? “Our friend Lazarus”, He said. Moses called his firstborn Gershom, “I have been a stranger in a strange land”. That is what the world was to Jesus. He made it: “The world was made by him, and the world knew him not”. How strange it must have been that there was no response — but He had a friend in it! Lazarus was a friend of Jesus in this strange place that He had to do with. I believe that the conditions that He found in the world caused the Lord constant sorrow; the whole scene was blighted and opposed. Every step He took caused strange opposition. It was most unfair and uncalled for, as He said, “They hated me without a cause”, John 15: 25. How valuable was a friend in it! That is what Lazarus was, and what the disciples were according to John, “I call you not servants ... but I have called you friends”, John 15: 15. Wonderful, indeed, to be a friend to Jesus in a strange place like this!

I wonder if all our dear young brothers and sisters look upon this world as strange, or is it just what you like and where you aspire to be? When Jesus came into it, it was a strange place to Him. Ah! it was very strange, but He found a friend in it and He finds friends now.