Faith is the gateway to miracles.

Faith is the gateway to miracles. 

"Faith in Jesus Christ" is a term that often seems to be misunderstood in the kingdom. Only when we begin to talk of the attributes of Christ - his power, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his patience, his long-suffering can we begin to understand the nature of our faith. Only then can our faith in him as the source of these needed blessings begin to transform us in Christlike beings worthy of exaltation. Thus the first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ - faith in his willingness to love us and forgive us and help us and save us.

Faith is a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness. It is always given when righteousness is present, and the greater the measure of obedience to God's laws the greater will be the endowment of faith. 

Bruce R. McConkie

A number of events in the life and ministry of Christ forced the Jewish leaders into circumstances in which they had to make choices and declarations about this man who claimed to be the Son of God. But none of them was more significant than the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Consider the overwhelming evidence presented by this miracle:

Jesus, even when he knew that this man whom he loved was sick, waited until he was certain that he was dead before he went to him.

When he arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Family members were reluctant to open the grave because of the smell.

Bethany was so close to Jerusalem that many Jews came from that city to comfort Lazarus' sisters. 

Jesus prayed vocally to the Father before the miracle, so that there could be no question in the minds of the disciples about who had sent him and by whose authority he was acting.

The nature of this miracle was so unexpected that even faithful, devoted disciples were unprepared for its reality. Both Mary and Martha, Lazarus' sisters, had no hope of the raising of this dead brother. It was clearly too late for that.

A multitude of Jews were converted by this miracle.

Leaders of the Jews were convinced that unless they did something, "all men would believe on him".

The shock waves of the emergence of Lazarus from the tomb rolled from Bethany across the Mount of Olives, spanned the Kidron Valley, and beat against Caiaphas' Palace. 

Alive? But it is not possible! 

Nevertheless, it is true . . .

Confronted with irrefutable proof of Christ's divinity and his power over death, and reeling under the impact of their cultural collision with this incredible miracle which caused many of the Jews and even their leaders to believe, the Sanhedrin were forced to act decisively. Either they must admit that they had been wrong about him or they must stop him once and for all.

In addition, the witness of the living, testifying Lazarus to the power and divinity of Christ was a terrible embarrassment and hinderment to the Jewish leaders. They "consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, because that by reason of him many of the Jews . . . believed on Jesus".

Among the lessons to be learned from this event, one seems to stand forth clearly: Christ wants us and all men to have faith in him. Every circumstance of the raising of Lazarus, and of many other portions of the ministry of Christ, were designed to invite people to have faith in him as the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind. We can almost hear the echoing words of Gabriel to Mary in "For with God, nothing shall be impossible."
Ted L. Gibbons

Lazarus come forth