The Promise of Resurrection and Life John 11:1-27
The time Jesus spent beyond the Jordan was short-lived and Jesus moves back into the area of Jerusalem in John 11, his death on the cross only days away. The rejection and hatred toward Jesus would not dim the unmistakable witness of the glory of Christ, especially through the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11.
Six miracles have already taken place in John: the changing of the water into wine (2:1-11), the healing of the official’s son (4:46-54), restoring the lame man in 5:1-15, the feeding of the 5,000 in 6:1-14, walking on the water in 6:15-21, and giving sight to the man born blind in 9:1-12. The seventh is the raising of Lazarus from the grave, which is far more monumental than raising the widow’s son in Luke 7 or Jairus’s daughter in Luke 8 because Lazarus had been in the tomb for 4 days, with the process of decomposition no doubt taking its mortal toll.
Look at John 11: 1-15: 1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." 4 When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." 11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." 12 Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well." 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him."
Snapshots of Death and Glory
In the beginning of chapter eleven John gives us snapshots of that final enemy which is the result of every human being’s final and fatal illness, namely death. Jesus was in Bethany “beyond the Jordan” and now the story will move to the village of Mary and Martha in Bethany in Judea about two miles east of Jerusalem.
John mentions the anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary which does not occur until chapter 12. He may have mentioned this since the readers were already familiar with the event, since John wrote his account many years later, but it still reminds us of preparing one for death. Anointing one’s feet could have been construed as somewhat of a “last rite” showing love and admiration for the person, and certainly pointing us to the imminent death of Jesus.
The fact that Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus concerning Lazarus’ sickness in verse 3 shows us that they were gravely concerned about the seriousness of his illness. No doubt they recognized that his illness could lead to death, and as we all know, every human dies of the last sickness he has. 2 Kings 13:14 mentioned that concerning Elisha and all men: “Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died.” Sickness and eventual death is a fact of life.
A key verse in this section is verse 4: “When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." It is important to understand the word “glory” and “glorified” in this verse. In the Old Testament, the word for glory denotes God’s divine heavenly radiance and majesty. It denotes “heaviness” to us as human beings: because God is so great and man is so finite and sinful, the weight of his esteem or value should cause human beings to bow down and worship Him when considering His mighty acts of salvation, deliverance and judgment. He alone is GOD!
In the New Testament, the word “Glory” takes on a different meaning. God’s Glory is God’s manifestation and revelation of Himself. It is God’s self-disclosure in His activity. Here in our context, the Father and the Son will be revealed for who they are in the miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead. In John’s gospel in general, The Eternal Self-existent God, the Great I am, the YAHWEH of the Old Testament glorifies Himself through His self-disclosure of His one and only unique eternal Son.
Listen to the marvelous revelation in these verses: John 1:1-2: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 18: 8 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.(Jesus in His Prayer in 17:4:) I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.
14:9: Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 12:28: Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."
The son is the embodiment of the Father’s essence, character, works, will, power and splendor: It is the Son who makes this glory manifest to the human race. To recognize the Son is to recognize the Father. This Glory as the activity of God reaches its apex and zenith on the cross for the salvation of God’s elect: The extravagant Glory of God’s grace and Love on full display at Calvary.
It is curious that Jesus decides to wait for two days before traveling some 93 miles, but His delay is not so that He gives Lazarus time to die but rather so that a greater miracle could be done. He already knew beforehand that Lazarus would die and He already knew what He would do to in order accomplish God’s will and purpose. The great love that Mary, Martha and Lazarus had for Jesus and the love Jesus had for them would be greatly multiplied in Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead, and there would be no doubt that he had been risen by the power of God, having been dead for so long: More importantly, this miracle would cause them to Believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be, and countless others would also come to faith through this miracle.
It is important that we see that Jesus redefines death for the believer as “sleep”. Sleep and death are quite different matters, but the beauty for the believer is that there should be no more fear of death than our nightly sleep. Jesus has taken the sting out of death in His own resurrection that would soon come. Jesus, therefore, describes death as sleep to the believer because He Himself maintains the power over death. What a glorious promise and truth in the Lord Jesus: He reveals His glory over death.
Jesus’ Power to Save
Look at these marvelous verses 16-27: 16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." 17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Then Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." (There is a true statement of faith in Jesus!)23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."
In verse 25 Jesus proclaims His fifth I AM statement in the Gospel of John; “I am the Resurrection and the Life” proclaims that salvation lies in the power and ability of the Lord Jesus alone by faith not by works. I AM the Resurrection is explained in the phrase, “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” Resurrection (anastasis) is raising up, awakening, arising from the dead. In our context, Lazarus will be raised from the dead after being dead for four days, but it foreshadows Jesus’ rising from the dead after His crucifixion. If Jesus has the power to bring Lazarus back from the dead, surely death has no power over the Lord Jesus. Who else on earth possesses such extraordinary ability?
Death and the grave were the lethal effects of divine judgment imposed upon the person who sins. In Genesis 2:16-17: God promised: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” Ezekiel 18:20: “The soul who sins shall die.” Sin is transgression against the law of the Holy Almighty God and so in essence it is rebellion against the God who created you. The smallest, slightest, seemingly insignificant sin is “cosmic treason” against this Mighty God and deserving of Death.
But Jesus is the only one who gives hope to this desperately hopeless situation: “He who believes in me shall live even if he dies” Although a believer in the Lord Jesus dies physically because of his inherited sin from parents, his imputed sin from Adam, and his personal sin. Thankfully, all of our sin has been imputed to Christ and He bore it all as He was crucified on the cross, so that now by faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
We know that Jesus is the One who grants physical life but more importantly He grants spiritual life. John 1:4 says: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 10:10 says: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The life that Jesus gives comes from above and is life, not in the abundance of possessions, but life in its fullest sense: it is spiritual vitality, it is the life of God which comes from Him; It is saving life, eternal life; it is life in the Kingdom of God, so that although a believer dies physically, through Christ he will live…through His resurrection. That is why Jesus could promise: “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
The person living in and believing in Christ as an ongoing, continual lifestyle, throws himself upon Jesus Christ in loving, self-abandoning faith and trust in the Savior. That person “shall by no means die eternally” (Compare with 3:15-16). It does not mean we are spared physical death, but death for the one who casts himself upon Jesus and His Work, physical death has no eternal significance: It is by no means final because Life actually awaits the believer at death. The death of those who do NOT LIVE and BELIEVE in Christ do NOT have eternal life.
When Jesus asked Martha: “Do you believe this? He was not asking whether she believed Lazarus would be raised at that point but rather: Do you believe in the One who is able to give eternal life and that He holds the power of resurrection to life with God eternally.
Martha’s response includes the highest view of Jesus: 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." The word “I believe” is actually the present active indicative and would be translated “I HAVE believed, indicating a settled fact with continuing results. She has received faith and permanently remains in faith as her confession indicates. She believes in Christ the anointed one, the Messiah promised to come as Savior to God’s people, she indicates her belief in Him as the Son of God, the one alone who has existed in intimacy of relationship with YHWH, the God of Israel. Her description of Him as one who is to come into the world (or who comes into the world) reveals that Jesus has come from a higher place and is not of this world. Martha acknowledges the three essentials of saving faith: Knowledge of the Lord Jesus, Assent to that knowledge, and trust in the one who alone can save.
These are the three things included in true saving faith: Do you have knowledge of who Jesus is? Do you have confidence that this knowledge is true? Do you trust and believe in Him in all things, even unto death? Then you have been given the firm promise of resurrection after death and life that will not end. Praise be to God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power and working of the Holy Spirit of God to bring us to life that will not end!
OUTLINE
I. John gives us some snapshots of death and God’s Glory.
A. Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet could be considered a “last rite”.
B. Every human dies of the last sickness he has.(2 kings 13:14)
C. God’s Glory and Self-disclosure is made manifest through the Son.(John 1:1, 14, 18, 17:4, 14:9, 12:28)
D. Jesus did not wait until Lazarus dies: He already knew that Lazarus would be dead and He already knew what He would do to accomplish God’s will and purpose: Believe!
E. Jesus redefines death for the believer as “sleep”.
II. Jesus proclaims His Power to Save by Faith: I AM the Resurrection and the Life.
A. I am the Resurrection--He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
B. I am the Life--whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.
C. The Person Living in and believing in Christ as an ongoing, continual lifestyle, throws himself upon Jesus Christ in loving, self-abandoning faith and trust in the Savior.
