Smallest Verse In The Bible And Its Significance
Question : Which is the Smallest Verse in the Bible? Can you please explain its significance.
Answer : "Jesus wept." ( John 11:35, NKJV).
There we have it, my dear friend, the shortest verse in the entire Bible!
The gospels tell us that on two occasions, Jesus did weep. The first time was in Bethany, immediately before he raised Lazarus from death, and the second was his weeping over Jerusalem. It means that Jesus is concerned for the harships that we as individual believers face in this world, where trials and tribulations continue to oppress the hearts of all of us at various times. And then He is concerned about all those who are deceived in to thinking that their names are registered in the Heavenly Jerusalem which is the Church when they are really not (Heb 12:22), but live conformed to the world and its ways in deception. He wants to save these religious people by extending mercy and grace to them continually. But when He sees that they are denying His offer and are hell bent to go and do their own will, Jesus cries for them (Matt 23:37-38). Many times Jesus cries for the state of the Church and the crisis they are in because of their stubbornness to receive Him and obey His voice. When God's judgment comes to the Church, Jesus' hearts gets broken because of His compassion towards those erring people who will be chastised if they are born again and who will receive the wrath of God if they are unbelievers (1 Peter 4:17-18; John 3:18-21, 36).
This verse "Jesus wept" was taken from the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. We must ponder over this Scripture to understand the deeper meaning and nuances of it. Did Jesus know that he will raise Lazarus from the dead? Yes ofcourse, because Jesus himself just that day before he came to the town of Lazarus said to his disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” (John 11:11). If Jesus knew that He is going to raise Lazarus up alive, then why did He cry later just before the miracle of resurrection happened? The Bible says that "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Heb 4:15). In other words, Jesus as a perfect man understood the pain of Mary who fell at the feet of Jesus crying that if He has been there at the time of Lazarus death, her brother would not have died (John 11:32). It was a time of temptation for Jesus because he was saddened in his soul to see his friend Lazarus die and also Mary cry to him in great regret that He has failed to appear on the day before her brother's death. At that point of time, in the soul of Jesus questions like, "Why God why, why have you failed?" would have risen. But Jesus did not sin by asking God that question by giving in to unbelief. Jesus knew that God cannot fail at any time when we are in the will of God by walking in faith. It is a sin to speak to God in unbelief (Rom 14:23).
But instead, in his spirit he groaned and was troubled (John 11:33). Groaning in itself is a prayer to God and allowing the soul to be troubled is to accept the sovereign God's decision to allow His trial in our lives willingly (1 Cor 10:13; Mat 26:37). The Holy Spirit groans and produces prayers even in our weakness during the trials we face (Rom 8:26-27). In other words, Jesus allowed the Holy Spirit's intercession of groaning to come out of him towards God in the midst of all pain he faced personally in his soul. Even our groans do have meaning when we face the trial of God willingly by the power of the Holy Spirit (Psa 6:6; 22:1). Then he wept. Jesus allowed the natural emotions which comes to all human beings to take over him in the midst of the sorrow of the death of his friend and their bereaving family. At that moment of time, God collected that tears of Jesus in a bottle and wrote in His book, the great moment of Jesus faith as a human (Psa 56:8). Before He raised the dead body of Lazarus to life, he did again a groaning prayer to receive wisdom to do the right thing for resurrection and thus as a result of it gave a command under the anointing to remove the stone from the grave (John 11:38-39). The miracle finally was ready to happen and Jesus need not pray again as he has already prayed through groaning and could feel the power of God all over him, but He prayed again with His words, just for the people to know that God is already ready to answer the grief of God-seekers like the Sisters Mary and Martha who come to God through Jesus (John 11:41-42). Then one command "Lazarus, come forth!" from Jesus in faith under the anointing, raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:43). Use the word of faith to command the dead circumstances in your life to arise, it will obey you and will get ressurected (2 Cor 4:13-14).
We can learn from this? We should be ready to "groan in our spirit" when the Holy Spirit starts to pray to God through us in the midst of our trials. We should not restrain ourselves but allow ourselves to be troubled when it weighs too much on our soul, to show that we are willing to go under the soverign hand of God (Mat 26:37). It is not wrong to weep when we are troubled, cause it will become a memorial before God as God collects our tears in His supernatural heavenly bottle, and also writes it in the book of heaven because we have wept towards God in faith (Psa 42:3; 56:8-9; Job 16:20). God will always have a special compassion on us when we cry to Him with tears by faith, He will do a miracle even when we least expect it (Luke 7:13-15). Jesus will have compassion on us as we face harship and trials of death in our family, friends and relatives lives here on earth (Psa 116:15; Isa 57:1). He will comfort us through His miraculous power when we have faith, trust and confidence in Him (2 Cor 1:3-4). We must go to the throne of grace like Jesus did in our deathly situations to receive life from God and overcome the sorrows through the joy that comes from the throne of God in His perfect appointed time for us (Heb 4:16; Psa 30:5). Jesus is ready to turn your mourning in to dancing, are you willing (Psa 30:11)? If you are, shout "YES!!!!" by faith and receive the power of God now in JESUS name. Praise the Lord!
Answer : "Jesus wept." ( John 11:35, NKJV).
There we have it, my dear friend, the shortest verse in the entire Bible!
The gospels tell us that on two occasions, Jesus did weep. The first time was in Bethany, immediately before he raised Lazarus from death, and the second was his weeping over Jerusalem. It means that Jesus is concerned for the harships that we as individual believers face in this world, where trials and tribulations continue to oppress the hearts of all of us at various times. And then He is concerned about all those who are deceived in to thinking that their names are registered in the Heavenly Jerusalem which is the Church when they are really not (Heb 12:22), but live conformed to the world and its ways in deception. He wants to save these religious people by extending mercy and grace to them continually. But when He sees that they are denying His offer and are hell bent to go and do their own will, Jesus cries for them (Matt 23:37-38). Many times Jesus cries for the state of the Church and the crisis they are in because of their stubbornness to receive Him and obey His voice. When God's judgment comes to the Church, Jesus' hearts gets broken because of His compassion towards those erring people who will be chastised if they are born again and who will receive the wrath of God if they are unbelievers (1 Peter 4:17-18; John 3:18-21, 36).
This verse "Jesus wept" was taken from the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. We must ponder over this Scripture to understand the deeper meaning and nuances of it. Did Jesus know that he will raise Lazarus from the dead? Yes ofcourse, because Jesus himself just that day before he came to the town of Lazarus said to his disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” (John 11:11). If Jesus knew that He is going to raise Lazarus up alive, then why did He cry later just before the miracle of resurrection happened? The Bible says that "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Heb 4:15). In other words, Jesus as a perfect man understood the pain of Mary who fell at the feet of Jesus crying that if He has been there at the time of Lazarus death, her brother would not have died (John 11:32). It was a time of temptation for Jesus because he was saddened in his soul to see his friend Lazarus die and also Mary cry to him in great regret that He has failed to appear on the day before her brother's death. At that point of time, in the soul of Jesus questions like, "Why God why, why have you failed?" would have risen. But Jesus did not sin by asking God that question by giving in to unbelief. Jesus knew that God cannot fail at any time when we are in the will of God by walking in faith. It is a sin to speak to God in unbelief (Rom 14:23).
But instead, in his spirit he groaned and was troubled (John 11:33). Groaning in itself is a prayer to God and allowing the soul to be troubled is to accept the sovereign God's decision to allow His trial in our lives willingly (1 Cor 10:13; Mat 26:37). The Holy Spirit groans and produces prayers even in our weakness during the trials we face (Rom 8:26-27). In other words, Jesus allowed the Holy Spirit's intercession of groaning to come out of him towards God in the midst of all pain he faced personally in his soul. Even our groans do have meaning when we face the trial of God willingly by the power of the Holy Spirit (Psa 6:6; 22:1). Then he wept. Jesus allowed the natural emotions which comes to all human beings to take over him in the midst of the sorrow of the death of his friend and their bereaving family. At that moment of time, God collected that tears of Jesus in a bottle and wrote in His book, the great moment of Jesus faith as a human (Psa 56:8). Before He raised the dead body of Lazarus to life, he did again a groaning prayer to receive wisdom to do the right thing for resurrection and thus as a result of it gave a command under the anointing to remove the stone from the grave (John 11:38-39). The miracle finally was ready to happen and Jesus need not pray again as he has already prayed through groaning and could feel the power of God all over him, but He prayed again with His words, just for the people to know that God is already ready to answer the grief of God-seekers like the Sisters Mary and Martha who come to God through Jesus (John 11:41-42). Then one command "Lazarus, come forth!" from Jesus in faith under the anointing, raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:43). Use the word of faith to command the dead circumstances in your life to arise, it will obey you and will get ressurected (2 Cor 4:13-14).
We can learn from this? We should be ready to "groan in our spirit" when the Holy Spirit starts to pray to God through us in the midst of our trials. We should not restrain ourselves but allow ourselves to be troubled when it weighs too much on our soul, to show that we are willing to go under the soverign hand of God (Mat 26:37). It is not wrong to weep when we are troubled, cause it will become a memorial before God as God collects our tears in His supernatural heavenly bottle, and also writes it in the book of heaven because we have wept towards God in faith (Psa 42:3; 56:8-9; Job 16:20). God will always have a special compassion on us when we cry to Him with tears by faith, He will do a miracle even when we least expect it (Luke 7:13-15). Jesus will have compassion on us as we face harship and trials of death in our family, friends and relatives lives here on earth (Psa 116:15; Isa 57:1). He will comfort us through His miraculous power when we have faith, trust and confidence in Him (2 Cor 1:3-4). We must go to the throne of grace like Jesus did in our deathly situations to receive life from God and overcome the sorrows through the joy that comes from the throne of God in His perfect appointed time for us (Heb 4:16; Psa 30:5). Jesus is ready to turn your mourning in to dancing, are you willing (Psa 30:11)? If you are, shout "YES!!!!" by faith and receive the power of God now in JESUS name. Praise the Lord!
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