‘YOUR TOO LATE IS NOT TOO LATE FOR ME’
IN JOHN 11, verse 25 of the New International Version of the Bible, Jesus told Martha, “… I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”
Easter or Resurrection Sunday is a day of tremendous hope and victory for every person. On this day God says to us, ‘Your too late is not too late for me.’
The Psalmist puts it like this – Psalm 30, verse 5 “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
The fact that Jesus rose again means for each of us that there is life after death. Some still choose to ignore that truth. But if that was the case then why, when a tragedy strikes in life, do we fight on? I believe it is because God has hard-wired the human spirit with the truth that ‘too late is not too late for Him’.
You will have heard this phrase quoted somewhere by somebody (I cannot remember who said it first!) ‘Good Friday represents the worst man could do.’ I want to communicate to everyone who reads this that: ‘Resurrection Sunday represents the best God can do!’
If in some area of your life you are facing a Good Friday situation – all appears lost, doomed and defeated – then Resurrection Sunday, Jesus rising again, is a message of hope, light and victory for you. It may feel like Friday, but Sunday is coming!
Jesus said in John 11, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, though they die… will live again.” I want to let you know today that Jesus was not only talking about eternity and heaven; He was talking about life right here and now!
The context of this statement was to Martha, whose brother had died. She had faith to believe that her brother would rise again on the Resurrection Day, in the future, but Jesus needed her to have faith to make Resurrection Day the day they were living in NOW. Jesus was not just giving her hope in regards to eternity for her brother, but for that situation right there and then.
What is the issue here? FAITH. Because Jesus did not answer the prayers like they thought He would or should. Faith is now lost.
Faith stands not on answered prayers but on announced Words. Jesus said – “I AM the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die… will live again.”
Jesus may not have come through like we would like Him to, but He still is the I AM… Your family member may not have been healed, but Jesus is still I AM… The bill is overdue and God didn’t come through with the finance, but Jesus is still I AM… The person is still getting on your nerves; God has not changed them but Jesus is still I AM.
Faith is the substance of hope, the evidence of the unseen (Hebrews 11, verses 1-6). The substance of the Christian life, the evidence of the Christian walk is faith. So much of how God wants us to live as believers is in the arena of hope and the field of the unseen. God wants us to believe that HE IS, not in what we see and have.
You may have lost your faith today. God did not come through like you wanted. Maybe it is because your prayer was based on what God could DO for you, rather than what God wants to BE to you. He says: “I AM the resurrection and the life.” Believe that no matter what.
If you are struggling with faith today let me tell you it is not too late. God can save you. On Good Friday Jesus was crucified alongside a thief. Some would have said of that man, “It is too late for him!”
But as that thief hung alongside Jesus and with one of his final breaths he said, “Jesus remember me when you come into your Kingdom”.
That thief expressed faith in the resurrection – that his too late was not too late for God. Jesus’ response to him and us is: “today you will be with me in paradise”.
Resurrection Sunday is our assurance that ‘Our too late is not too late for God.’
Pastor Colin Baker
Caversham Baptist Church
