Did Jesus delay coming to heal Lazarus so he could die?

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Originally Posted by Colonel

...An added byproduct of his delay was that Lazarus stayed in his grave sufficiently long that the resurrection miracle became undeniable, the chances of an apparently dead person reviving grow much slimmer as the days pass and the body starts to decompose.

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Right, there was a superstition about that at the time:

According to a Jewish belief, the soul stays near the body for three days after a person's death: "For three days the soul hovers over the grave, contemplating a return to the body, but once it sees that the facial color has faded, it goes away, never to return" (Gen. Rab. 50:10). That is, after 3 days from death the body is so decomposed that the face is not recognisable anymore, see article. The point here is not whether or not this idea of 3 days is true or not, the point is that they believed so...

http://www.albatrus.org/english/potp...jesus_wept.htm

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Originally Posted by Colonel

In general, Jesus wasn't able attend personally to every sick person or dead person in all of Israel anyway, he had to make some choices about where to be and when. Maybe he had other things to do in the meantime.

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Jesus did not have to go to Bethany...this event was in the plan of God to play out exactly as God intended. I agree with Cardinal TT in the respect that God's plans and intent fo His Kingdom sometimes don't fit our carnal desires..He sent Paul to Jerusalem knowing the events that would unfold...it did not surprise Him and Paul understood it was to accomplish something in the Kingdom work which was all that mattered..

It's a concept that has been misplaced in some of the recent teachings of happiness and prosperity and happy ending...

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Originally Posted by Quest

Jesus did not have to go to Bethany...this event was in the plan of God to play out exactly as God intended. I agree with Cardinal TT in the respect that God's plans and intent fo His Kingdom sometimes don't fit our carnal desires..He sent Paul to Jerusalem knowing the events that would unfold...it did not surprise Him and Paul understood it was to accomplish something in the Kingdom work which was all that mattered..

It's a concept that has been misplaced in some of the recent teachings of happiness and prosperity and happy ending...

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There's a clear difference between sickness and persecution in the Bible. We have a provision for healing and divine health but not a provision for being exempt from persecution. Note that Lazarus would have been two days dead if Jesus had departed immediately, this was a resurrection from the dead regardless and not a matter of travelling to somewhere to heal someone.

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Originally Posted by Colonel

There's a clear difference between sickness and persecution in the Bible. We have a provision for healing and divine health but not a provision for being exempt from persecution. Note that Lazarus would have been two days dead if Jesus had departed immediately, this was a resurrection from the dead regardless and not a matter of travelling to somewhere to heal someone.

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I did not realize we were talking about sickness..I was responding to Cardinal speaking of the grieving of the family..

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Originally Posted by Quest

I did not realize we were talking about sickness..I was responding to Cardinal speaking of the grieving of the family..

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Again, there is a provision for families being protected against sickness, premature death etc but not for being protected against persecution, which is what your example with Paul related.