YOU SET THE CAPTIVES FREE MY LORD AND SAVIOR! SPEAK THINGS AS THOUGH THEY ARE

 GOOD MORNING SAINTS ! THE LORD IS WORTHY TO BE PRAISED! FATHER IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS THANK YOU FOR DELIVERING US FROM EVIL AND KEEPING US FROM TEMPTATION. THANK YOU FOR BEING THE YOKE BREAKER AND THE LORD OF LORD AND KING OF KINGS. LORD I THANK YOU FOR MAKING OUR ENEMIES OUR FOOTSTOOL. YOU ARE A KEEPER. WHAT YOU SAY, YOU DO, I AM INDEBTED TO YOU EL ELON , THE MOST HIGH GOD. I SEARCHED ALL OVER AND COULN;T FIND NOBODY LIKE YOU LORD. THE LILY OF THE VALLEY AND THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR. THANK YOU FOR SETTING THE CAPTIVES FREE. https://cappsministries.com/pages/calling-things-that-are-not     Romans 4:17 tells us that God “quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” In other words, God speaks the end result.

     Let’s look at the story of Lazarus of Bethany in John11:3-4. “Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.”

     Jesus said, “This sickness is not unto death.” What are you going to do with that statement? For as you read further, you find that Lazarus died.

Jesus Called the Dead Living

     Jesus said that this sickness was not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Some say, “Jesus said that Lazarus was sick and died so God would be glorified.”

     It wasn’t God’s will for Lazarus to be sick. Neither was it God’s will for Lazarus to die.

Let me show you why you cannot interpret this scripture to mean the sickness or death was for God’s glory. One of the rules of interpretation is to always take a scripture literally if you can. But you cannot take verse four literally. If you do, you make Jesus a liar. But there is a difference between a lie and a confession, or calling things that are not. If you interpret this verse literally, then you would have to say Jesus lied. But a lie is sin, and the Bible says there was no sin in Him. So we have to look at it from a different angle.

He Called End Results

     Jesus is calling the end results of the matter. He said that the end result would not be death; but that the end results of this whole matter would bring glory to God. The glory that God received came when Lazarus was raised from the dead, not when he was sick, nor when he died. Neither the sickness nor the death glorified God. The resurrection glorified God. God raised him from the dead. If it was God’s will for Lazarus to die, then Jesus destroyed the work of His Father when He raised him from the dead. But Jesus came ...that he might destroy the works of the devil (l John 3:8). So Jesus destroyed the works of the devil when He raised Lazarus from the dead.

     If you follow Jesus, you will learn something, as He starts toward Bethany.

Jesus Was Misunderstood Because of His Confession

     “These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. How be it Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.” (John 11:11-13)

     Jesus realized they had misunderstood Him when the disciples said, “If Lazarus is asleep, he is doing well.” Jesus was calling the thing that was not. Lazarus wasn’t asleep, he was dead, and Jesus knew he was dead. It took the runner about a day to get down there with the bad news. Then Jesus stayed there two more days, and then walked to Bethany, which took about one day. On the way to Bethany, Jesus said, “Lazarus sleepeth.”

Jesus was calling the thing that was not.

     What was He doing? He was guarding His conversation so He wouldn’t undo what He had already declared in the beginning (“The end results will not be death.’’) But His disciples misunderstood Him.

Jesus Explained What Was, But Called What Was Not

     Jesus stopped and gave His followers an explanation, Lazarus is dead. (v. 14) That’s the way the King James Version states it. But if you read the Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, the word translated dead in the King James Version is translated died. One is present tense; the other is past tense. Jesus said, “Lazarus died.” There is a difference between someone who died and someone who is dead. If you don’t understand that, look at Jesus. He died, but He is not dead.

     Jesus called the thing that was not manifest. Lazarus was not asleep. He was dead. But Jesus called him “asleep.” Jesus would not admit death. That didn’t mean that He denied it. He just would not establish anything but what He declared when He heard the bad news.

     Again, in this principle, Jesus is not teaching you to go raise all the dead. He is teaching you how the principle of calling things that are not works.

     When Jesus came to Bethany, He said, “...Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.” (John 11:39)This fact that he had been dead for four days proves that he was either dead when the messenger got to Jesus, or died immediately after. For when Jesus arrived, they said that Lazarus had been dead four days. Jesus knew Lazarus was dead.

     Jesus finally talked them into rolling away the stone. “Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.” (John 11:41)

     Notice at this point, Jesus hasn’t said anything yet, but He is thanking God that He has heard Him. Jesus is referring to what He said four days ago. In effect, He was saying, “Father, I thank You that You heard what I decreed by faith four days ago; that the end results will not end in death but bring glory to You.”

Obeying