Jesus as the Resurrection and Life

The Story of Lazarus

John 11.35
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June 29th 2014
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Come back John 11 at verse 25.

If you were here last week you will remember that Jesus and the twelve traveled back to Bethany after waiting two days. A messenger was sent to fetch them as Jesus' friend Lazarus (brother to Martha and Mary) was ill. Due to the chronology, it is thought that Lazarus died shortly after the messenger left to find Jesus a full day’s journey away. Jesus waited the two days, and then returned learning Lazarus had been in the grave for four. Last week we read where Martha came to Him and had a good reading of the meeting.

This is some of what she said:

John 11:20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said unto her, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”

Martha's Faith and Jesus' Teaching

And that is where we left off. So before finishing the story of Lazarus today, let’s talk about what is said here between Martha and the Lord. If we are reading it right it seems Martha was sort of petitioning Jesus to raise her brother from the dead. Jesus told her that “her brother would rise again” and Martha said with her mouth: “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (But it seems her heart was saying, “but I want you to raise him now, Lord.”) As we mentioned last week she said she believed Jesus could ask God anything and God would hear Him. The way she asked it in the Greek separated Him from God in a way Jesus never separated Himself for the way she said it was, “I know that as an inferior you can ask God the superior and He will hear you.”

Jesus wanted Martha to understand that He was God in the flesh, that He was her salvation, that He had the power over life and deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God.. And so after admitting that she believed her brother would rise in the resurrection we read that Jesus said unto her, (verse 25) “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Spiritual Application of Jesus' Words

Now, I’m not sure you realize this – I certainly didn’t – but there is a whole lot that seems to be said here that really aren’t being said and there are things being said that have application. We know the context here – Lazarus has died and lay in the grave. Martha has said (and later Mary will also say): “We know if you were here our brother would not have died.” Martha added, “And even now, we know God will give you whatever you ask Him.” (implying that she is convinced that Jesus could get God to raise him from the grave). Jesus confirms to Martha that her brother will rise again and Martha replies saying that she knows that he will rise in the resurrection.

Jesus then says: I am the resurrection AND the life.

Now, there is something very important that needs to be understood here. Almost everything Jesus speaks of has a basis in spiritual things regarding spiritual matters. His parables about sheep and harvesting and everything else are teaching spiritual lessons – and while based in material stories not really being shared to teach people how to farm or ranch – they have spiritual application. I say this because I think it can be very easy to miss what the Lord is saying to Martha here. We might easily get tempted to think He is speaking about raising Lazarus back from the grave and therefore might try and assign these words to the situation of his death. There may be some ties to it but I truly believe this is doctrine Jesus is teaching Martha plain and simple. She has told the Lord she knows whatever He asks God, God will give it to Him and He seems to redirect her comment to himself by directly telling her: Martha had admitted a belief that her

Understanding Resurrection and Eternal Life

Brother would rise in the resurrection. Regarding the resurrection Jesus plainly puts the whole thing in His camp saying to her, “I am the resurrection. Me.” Meaning in and through me all will be resurrected. I point this out for clarity's sake because Jesus follows saying this up by saying: “he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Stay with me.

The Universal Nature of Resurrection

Do people have to believe on Him to be resurrected? No. Not in the least. Resurrection comes to all human beings. We know Jesus said in John 5:

28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Acts 24:15 says

“And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

Distinguishing Physical Resurrection From Eternal Life

So, here with Martha, when Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life he that believe in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” Jesus IS NOT talking about physical resurrection. He is speaking of eternal life, the spiritual implication of His bringing people to life. The key to understanding this comes in where Jesus tells Martha: “I am the resurrection,” (in other words, I am the reason all (just and unjust) will resurrect but note He said: “I am the resurrection AND THE LIFE.” And when He continues and says: “he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” He is speaking of eternal life NOT resurrection. All will be resurrected, yes, because of Him for sure, but those who BELIEVE on Him, though they were dead will live (eternally) is what He is saying.

We note that Martha asked Him to pray (as an inferior to God) and Jesus responds to her with “he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (And then the next verse)

26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

So let me go through these two very important verses one more time to point out what I believe Jesus is telling Martha (who has come to Him). Martha has indirectly asked the Lord to petition God on behalf of her deceased brother. Jesus says: He will rise again. Martha admits: I know he will rise in the resurrection. And Jesus says:

“Martha, I am the resurrection,” which clearly and plainly lays everything about resurrection in and on Him. But He doesn’t stop with the resurrection (that all will receive) He says: “Martha, I am the resurrection AND THE LIFE.” What life? Eternal life made possible by spiritual regeneration in and through Him which comes by believing.

So He says: Martha, I am the resurrection AND THE LIFE (and speaking of being the life He adds: “he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (And then the next verse) 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Exploring the Spiritual Implications

Let’s talk about these two lines. First, “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” We could read this as “He that believeth in me, though he is dead in sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace., yet shall he live eternally.” Or we could read this as “He that believeth in me, though he has died physically, yet shall he live eternally.” However it applies (and I believe it applies to ANYTIME and ANYWHERE someone has come to faith in Him) the Lord is saying that when people are in a state of death, if they believe on Him they will live eternally. (this is what He means by live here. Again, He is not speaking of resurrection when He speaks of living because all are resurrected, whether they believe or not). Got that? So that is speaking of those who are either spiritually dead or physically dead – believe on Him, and they will live.

Then He says (in verse 26) 26 AND . . . whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Now, again, we know the Lord is speaking (once again) spiritually here because believers in Him die physically all the time. So what He seems to be saying here is, and, Martha, let me also tell you this. Anyone who is alive (physically (and I would add) spiritually) AND WHO BELIEVES will never die (spiritually). The phrasing is paradoxical. He who is “dead” will “live” that believes on Him and He would “lives” will “never die,” who

The Importance of True Belief

Believe on Him too. The point – whether we are dead or alive, if We believe on HIM we will live eternally and never die in the second death, which waits for all who refuse to believe! This is what verse 26 is speaking to – people dying (not physically) but in the second death, which Revelation says is another name for the Lake of Fire.

“Whoever is alive and living by their faith and believe in me will never experience the second death,” is what He is saying in my humble opinion. He has taken the time here to explain to Martha that raising her brother, whether in the resurrection “at the last day” or to life now, or to giving life eternal to him or anyone else comes by only to those who believe on Him, period. And then He takes the time with her individual person and asks her, after saying all this (in verse 26) “believest thou this?” IOW, “Martha, do YOU believe that believing in me is this vital to life eternal?”

Martha's Confession of Faith

Verse 27

27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, (the Messiah) the Son of God, which should come into the world.

What a profession. One sufficient for salvation. We note that Jesus does not tell her to “say a sinner prayer,” at this point. And why doesn’t He tell her to repent? Listen carefully – she has repented. See, repenting means “a change of mind.” It does NOT mean a change of action. This is important to understand because in Christianity when the mind changes first (like about who a person sees themselves as, who they see God as for the first time in their lives, who realizes what sin is intellectually and from their heart) THIS is the place where sin is first conquered – in the mind. Once the mind has changed the body follows in naturally. To view repentance as a change or turning away from actual sin is to misread the biblical definition and such an approach will quickly turn into religion.

Here, apparently, Martha’s mind has been changed. Something within her person was altered as when asked if she believed what Jesus had told her the first word out of her mouth was, “Yes, Lord.” And then her mouth confessed the contents of her heart as she said: “I believe that thou art the Christ, (the Messiah) the Son of God, which should come into the world.”

The Distinction Between Real and False Faith

Now . . . one more important point in what we have witnessed between the Lord and His love and care and time with Martha. ANYONE on earth could have responded to the Lord the way Martha did. Even Satan could have said to Him when He asked: “Believest thou this?” Even Satan could have said: “Yeah, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, (the Messiah) the Son of God, which should come into the world.” James wrote (in James 2:19) “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” My point in bringing this up is Words spoken and even intellectual acknowledgement does not guarantee salvation.

Listen – true belief will always reveal itself in action (which, biblically speaking, means greater love for God and/or Man) from the professor of the faith or belief. I would suggest that because Jesus could read thoughts and intents of the heart He knew Martha’s expressions were authentic. In her case she must have made her profession by the Spirit and not from any other means (like from platitude or feigning or anything else). By all appearances the Lord knew this. But not all who say, “Lord, Lord will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven,” Jesus said in Matthew 7, “but those who do the will of the Father,” which we learn through scripture is to believe on the Son whom He has given and love – the two great Christian commandments.

I’ve learned through experience that when a person possesses what we might call, “said faith” (meaning they might intellectually say the right words but don’t really believe it nor do the results of true faith abide in them (love) but instead religion, the reason is almost always due to some sort of disconnect or misunderstanding (or faulty understanding) of who they think God is and who they think they are. In other words they either don’t see God as holy as He is, or they see themselves as better than they are. This (and other variations) often led to them thinking that they somehow do not need to really rely on Jesus completely. And so

Faith and Response

they settle with an attitude that sort of says, “yeah, yeah, yeah, I believe in Him and everything, buuuut, you know, I think I’m a good person, and God loves me and yadayadayada.” Those who possess life-changing faith in Him, like Martha, when they say they believe, believe from the depths of their heart. We call this believing unto salvation.

Alright. So let’s read through our text for the day beginning at verse 28.

28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. 30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. 31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. 32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. 35 Jesus wept.

Martha and Mary's Response

Alright, let’s go back to verse 28.

28 And when she (Martha) had so said (To Jesus, that she believed He was the Christ, the Son of God) that “she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, “The Master is come, and calleth for thee.”

It’s really impossible to know the intent behind much of what is in this verse. Our imaginations can run wild with supposition. But this is what we do know: Martha went to Mary secretly and told her that the master is come and called for her. We also know that John does not report Him telling Martha to call Mary for him. Nor do we know what calleth thee means. Additionally, we do know that Martha referred to Jesus as the Master, which in the Greek means teacher and it was a title that Jesus applied to his own person. Finally, we know that we do not know why Martha did this in secret – maybe the Lord told her to keep His arrival quiet, or maybe Martha wanted Mary to have some quiet time with the Lord. And finally, we do know how Mary responded to the news:

29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.

I love this. I love this heart in Mary. Devoted. Dutiful. Ready to serve and help and attend to the Lord. Her response is greatly indicative of her love and faith in the King, isn’t it? And from her response, we discover a very telling paradox.

Jesus' Timing and Control

Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus but when He was told Lazarus was ill he took two days to come to them. On the other hand, Martha (and Mary), when they heard He was near jumped quickly and came to Him. Ever think about this? About what’s behind the different reactions as both sides loved the other?

I would suggest that Jesus' reaction typified the actions of a being that was in control, who had unlimited faith, who knew the outcome before the outcome occurred. And I would suggest the reaction of Mary and Martha was the reaction of subservient souls – people who were in need and were reliant on someone superior. The Lord was in charge and Mary and Martha were subject to His decisions. Love was flowing both directions but we have in each of their responses a model on how believers relate to God (full allegiance) and how God relates back to them (according to His timing). (vs. 30-31)

30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. 31 The Jews then which were with her (Mary) in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, “She goeth unto the grave to weep there.

They had obviously not heard Martha tell Mary that Jesus was in town so they assumed she was going to go to the tomb to weep there. And so they followed her out expecting to go to the grave.

32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and…

Jesus' Emotional Response to Loss

When Mary saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

We have a slightly different response here from Mary than we had from Martha. Both made the same statement to the Lord – “IF you would have been here my brother would not have died,” but Mary fell down at His feet, and John does not tell us this occurred with Martha. The word for literally falling down is pipto in the Greek versus to fall down and worship is proscuneo. Since the writer used pipto, we know it was an act of great emotional turmoil and surrender of energy.

This—in conjunction with other events that are about to take place—had a profound effect on the Lord.

Jesus' Agitation and Grief

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.

The word rendered “groaned” here is typically thought to originate from some sort of agitation produced by an annoying situation. We might liken it to the father of a company strictly telling his employees not to chew gum in the factory and then discovering fresh gum on the floor, going ballistic, only to be told by the employees that his wife was the one who was chewing it when she visited that afternoon. It’s like annoyance with a situation while at the same time being touched or moved.

The word is EM BREM AHOM AHEE. It is interesting that here Jesus seems to be agitated by grief. I know we typically think of groaning as a noise we make when in some heightened state of sorrow or ecstasy, but that Greek word is “Stenatzo.” I would suggest that Jesus is groaning over the troubling situation at hand—that someone He loves is lying dead in the grave, that the Jews are all about Him weeping and wailing, that one of the women He loves, Mary, is there and she is weeping (which I believe greatly affects Him) and that He, even though He knows He is going to raise Lazarus from the dead, groans over the scene of woe and misery.

The Lord was not a fan of misery and pain and suffering. He came to stop it, to give relief, and to provide comfort in the face of it. Suffering and woe and prison and bondage are the tools and desires of Satan, and Jesus came to shut his operations down. It must have greatly moved Him to witness the diseased, the suffering, and the poverty and conditions of this fallen world. We know when He overlooked Jerusalem He wept. And we know in the face of all that was going on around Him here he wept as well. He was touched. In any case, the groaning that He does here was not a sound related to being troubled in mind, nor tortured or pleased in his flesh.

34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

The Humanity of Jesus

Sometimes we discover Jesus asking questions that you would think He knew the answer to. I mean, if He knew that He was going to raise Lazarus, and knew that He had died, and was able to read the minds and hearts of many people throughout His ministry, wouldn’t He have known where they laid Lazarus? Not sure.

Maybe He experienced things in a similar (but much more powerful way) like we experience them, meaning there were some things He intuitively knew or knew by the Spirit, and other things He was left to His flesh and had to ask directions like the rest of us. There is also the idea that He knew everything but asked others questions to challenge them or to get them involved in whatever was happening at the time. All we do know is He asked where they had laid Lazarus, and they said come and see.

And apparently along the way, we read some of the most poetic, even though it is the shortest verse in the Bible:

35 Jesus wept.

Now, there have been a lot of thoughts on this verse – and I enjoy them all. My daughter Cassidy loves this passage because it tends to perfectly evince the human composition of the Lord Jesus. I mean, He knew He was going to raise Him from the grave, and only God could do such a thing, but the verse clearly reveals His humanity, His feelings.

The Weeping of Jesus

For this family whom He loved, for the pain and misery they were going through. It is likely that this was the cause of God with us weeping – the fact that those around Him were suffering greatly at the passing of their loved one and He was privy to knowing what it was like to watch both someone He loved (Lazarus) die and people who remained behind mourning over Lazarus’s passing. Others suggest that He was caught up in the mourning of the Jews – the weeping and wailing and the emotionalism of the whole procession, as they moved toward the grave, got ahold of Him.

But there are a number of other reasons why Jesus wept at this point. Maybe He was looking forward to His own passion on the cross, and was thinking of the sorrow some of these very same people would experience when He died – their only hope – and the three days of doubt and wonderment they would face?

Maybe He was mourning the fact that what the nation of Israel was heading into after His death was going to be so reprehensible and that some of the very people who were weeping over the temporary departure of Lazarus are headed into some really, really difficult times. I personally wonder if He was overwhelmed by the faith and hope that may have shown upon the faces of the people when He asked: “Where is He?” and they (possibly excitedly and with hearts full of faith that He could raise Lazarus) replied: “Come and see, come and see!” And just maybe He was moved by their child-like demeanor and hope. Again, we don’t know. And maybe all of these things (or none of them) are true.

What we do know is Jesus, fully aware of what He was about to do for the people there and the one laying in the grave, wept. Now, before we wrap it up, allow me to point out one more unique insight to this passage – one that may initially surprise you but when you think about it will make sense.

The Greek Words for Weeping

There are two Greek words that are used to describe the weeping of Jesus.

Dakruo – to weep silently
Declayo – to sob loudly

One is used to describe His weeping over Jerusalem (as found in Luke 19:41 and which says:

“And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it.”

And the other is found here in John 11 at the scene of Lazarus passing. Now just to yourselves ask:

At which setting do you think Jesus sobbed out-loud and with great emotion and where do you think He cried silently, as in quietly let tears fall from His eyes?

Here in John 11 Jesus wept to Himself. Tears fell without a sound. I would suggest that this tells us He was either relating to their pain or moved with emotion by their faith in Him, but in the end He knew there was something He was going to do in the situation and the tears would be replaced with joy.

Sobbing Over Jerusalem

But in the case of looking over Jerusalem the Greek word used (Declayo) describes our King sobbing out loud and with great emotion over the City of David. From this we might say it was due to the fact that there was nothing He could do to save them… they were headed into absolute destruction, and like the prophets of old who came before Him, they would not rise to His words, but lay dead as spiritual doornails, not knowing what was about to fall. This caused our King to sob.

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