Jesus Wept

By Zakhele Nogaga

“Jesus wept.” (John, chapter 11, verse 35.) This is the shortest verse in the Bible, yet it carries such great revelation.
This book is packed with mind-blowing teachings that will show you that God, through every detail and every word in the Bible, is teaching us something. In Jesus Wept you will learn about this wonderful and important truth. Learn within these pages about how Jesus did something remarkable by expressing His emotions to show us just how much it means to Him that we believe in Him but also, above all, that we believe Him. Jesus Wept is a must read for anyone who wants to learn more about Jesus’ heart, His love for us and His wonderful teachings.

About the Author
Zakhele Sidney Nogaga was born in the simple historic dusty streets of Soweto, in a township called Jabulane. He attended both primary and high school in this township and like many boys his age, loved playing soccer. After he suffered what he describes as the most traumatic loss in his life, he gave up his positive mindset and gave his life over to negative and detrimental things. God’s Grace reached him when he was in a dark place in the most amazing way. He received Grace and an opportunity to give his life to Jesus and has never looked back. He was ordained as a pastor and has been ministering the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ever since. He is a Sinior Pastor of Holy Spirit Led Global Church South Africa. Zakhele Nogaga has also been blessed with a beautiful wife and four amazing children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zakhele Nogaga
• Release date: Nov 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005862541

Book preview

Jesus Wept

Copyright © 2021 Zakhele S. Nogaga

First edition 2021

Published by Zakhele S. Nogaga Publishing at Smashwords

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Zakhele S. Nogaga using Reach Publishers’ services,

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Edited by Gerard Peter for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

Website: www.reachpublishers.org

E-mail: [e-mail]

Zakhele S. Nogaga

[e-mail]

Scripture taken from New King James Vision

Table of Contents

1. Why Jesus Wept

2. God Turns Bitter Situations Into Sweet Situations

3. Does God Make People Sick to Glorify Himself?

4. If Sin Did Not Enter This World, How Would We Know The Love He Has for us?

5. Believing is Receiving

6. Unbelief is The Root of All Sin

7. Faith Releases Belief

8. Abide in His Word

9. This Sickness is Not Unto Death, But For The Glory of God

Chapter 1

Why Jesus Wept

John 11:35. I remember when this scripture first stood out for me; it’s one of the shortest verses in the holy book called the Bible. It was during the early days of my Christian journey and it is something I have always asked myself: Why did Jesus cry? At that time, I was still serving in church as an Assistant to the Senior Pastor. I had already participated in the Youth Group and in the Evangelising Group. We went out every Saturday morning, going door to door, inviting people to come to church. We would also organise a taxi to go and fetch the people we had invited to church if they did not have the means to get there on their own. We had two services on Saturday and Sunday and four services from Monday to Friday. Also, we would come very early to church before the service started and used to stand outside the door of the church and invite people walking past and nearby to come and join the services of the day. Then I was raised to be a Helper (Usher) which then led to me becoming an Assistant.

Now, in order for you to be appointed as an Assistant in the church, the Senior Pastor will have to ensure that you have been called into ministry and that you are really faithful and committed to the church and to serving God. They raise and ordain you as an Assistant and then you are allowed to lay hands on people because there was healing and deliverance services in that church and only Bishops, Pastors and Assistants were allowed to lay hands on people, cast out evil spirits and release healing to people.

As an Assistant you have more responsibilities in the church and even minister in prisons, hospitals and home cells as well as at funerals when a member of the church passes on. It so happened that one of our church members had passed on and I was asked along with other Assistants to go to the home of the deceased and share words of comfort.

When we arrived at the home of the deceased, there was a pastor from another church also sharing a few words of comfort with the family and I remember well as he was talking to the family, advising them that they should not hold back if they feel that they want to weep for their loved one. He told them they were free to do so saying, It’s not wrong to cry for your loved one because even Jesus the Saviour of the world Himself did not hold back but wept for His loved one, Lazarus. And if Jesus, the Son of God Himself, wept for the dead, then who are we not to cry when we are feeling the pain of losing a loved one?

Those were the only words of comfort I can remember from the pastor we met in that house. After that, me and the other assistants also got the opportunity to share words of comfort and then we left. Believe me, I’m not taking anything away from the pastor and I saw that he was really concerned about the family and he was not wrong to give advice to the family if they felt the need to release themselves and weep.

But what really concerned me was to weep because Jesus wept because Lazarus was dead. And immediately when he said that the spirit inside of me made me feel as though something was missing but I didn’t have any idea what it could be. That is why those were the only words I remembered from the pastor and I was bit confused but I did not know why.

From that day I was battling with the spirit inside me because I was not convinced that Jesus wept for Lazarus when he was dead and that was one of the reasons I asked myself why Jesus wept. That was until one day after sometime the Holy Spirit spoke to me, saying that I must go through John 11 and read it from the first verse to the last chapter, again and again, until I understood the context of the scripture. It was then that I understood that the reason Jesus decided to go back to Bethany where Lazarus lived, to the very same place where the Jews wanted to stone Him (John 11:8) (John 8:59) (John 10:31,39), was to raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11:11).

Then I asked myself: How can you weep for someone that to you is not dead because to Jesus, Lazarus was just in a deep sleep and not dead. Why do I say that? Because Jesus had faith that as soon as he arrived at Lazarus’s tomb, he would be resurrected. Jesus even told His disciples in John 11:11-14, These things He said, and after that He said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.

Then His disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well. However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Really, we can see that when He said Lazarus is asleep Jesus was meaning to His disciples, ‘’Lazarus is dead and I’m going to raise him up."

There was only one reason why Jesus stopped everything He was doing and decided to go Bethany where Lazarus lived and that was to raise him from the dead. Jesus knew very well that when He arrived at the tomb of Lazarus he would rise again. And if Jesus knew very well that Lazarus will rise again, then how could he possibly weep knowing that Lazarus will be brought back to life? To Jesus, Lazarus was not dead to begin with.

Now put yourself in Jesus’s shoes at that time for a second. You are definitely sure that your loved one will come back to life again as soon as you arrive, not in the resurrection and life during last days, no!

(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Rather, it would happen instantly. Knowing this truth, would you weep for your loved one’s death? No, I don’t think so but again putting yourself in the shoes of Jesus Christ. It’s not an easy task because He doesn’t think like us and His heart is not like ours. The love we have for each other is not the same as the love that Jesus has for us. His love for us is deep and unconditional, unlike the love we have for each other as humans. He is very concerned about everything that concerns us, no matter how big or small it is.

It says in the Bible that every hair of your head is numbered (Luke 12:6-7). Imagine every hair, even the ones that fall off. He knows how many they are; it shows how much he is concerned about us. Even if you are bothered by a small pimple on your face, as long it concerns you, it concerns Him. Now, also even in Lazarus’s situation, He was concerned about his death because it concerned them and He knows us very well because He is the one who created us. We were created through Him, for Him and we were not created to die (Colossians 1:16) (John 1:3).

Death is a stranger to us all and no matter how much we know about it or whether we know that we are all going to die one day, it is painful to lose a loved one. Why? Because we are not created for it