I Am the Resurrection and the Life

INTRO

We’ve talked about people coming back to life: in Luke 7, the widow’s son; and in Luke 8, Jairus’s daughter. Both came back to life right away. But in John 11, there was a little more time between Lazarus’s death and when he came back to life. In John, there were seven miracles where Jesus radically showed up in someone’s life. Jesus raising Lazarus back to life was the seventh of these miracles.

TEACHING

MacArthur said the resurrection of Lazarus pointed to Jesus’ deity. Jesus showed He was God by doing this. It strengthened the faith of the disciples. It led directly to the Cross because some of the religious didn’t believe in the Resurrection.¹

John 11:1–16: The Disciples

John 11:1–3: Lazarus of Bethany was sick. (This was not Lazarus, the poor man sitting at Abraham’s bosom in Luke 16.) His sister Mary had anointed Jesus’ feet with oil and wiped His feet with her hair. This was a prominent family in Bethany. Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was sick. Note: Lazarus was not yet dead.

John 11:4–7: Jesus responded: “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God.” This pointed to Jesus’ deity. These events would take place to glorify God. This is the key verse chapter 11, if not the whole book of John. “Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus” (v. 5). This showed Jesus’ compassion and love. He wasn’t blowing them off. Jesus was setting the stage for what was to come. “He stayed two more days in the place where He was” (v. 6). It was all about God’s timing. Day 1: The messenger came to Jesus with the news of Lazarus’s illness. Day 2: The messenger returned to Bethany. Day 3: Jesus waited. Day 4: Jesus arrived in Bethany.²Then Jesus led the disciples back to Judea, back into danger because He was hated in Judea.

John 11:8: The disciples protested this return to Judea because the Jews had tried to stone Jesus there. Look back at John 8:59: “At that, they picked up stones to throw at Him.” Look back at John 10:31: “Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone Him.” Over and over again, because Jesus pushed the envelope with the religious people, they wanted to kill Him.

John 11:9–10: These verses are all about timing. Wiersbe said: “Jesus lived on a divine timetable.”³In John 2:4, Jesus said, “My hour has not yet come.” In John 7:6–8, Jesus said, “My time has not yet arrived . . . My time has not yet fully come.” He knew when His time would come. John 8:20 says, “But no one seized Him, because His hour had not come.” Later in John 17:1, Jesus said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son.” Was there any significance to Jesus’ statement (v. 10) about stumbling in the night? In Matthew 26:47-49, Judas betrayed Jesus in the darkness of night. In Matthew 26:57, Jesus was led before the high priest, scribes, and elders during the night. How do you know all this took place at night? In Matthew 26:74-75, Peter denied Jesus three times and then a rooster crowed. Roosters usually crow at sunrise. Finally, Matthew 27:1 explains, “When daybreak came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death.”

John 11:11–13: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on My way to wake him up.” The disciples thought Jesus was talking about natural sleep. They were clueless that Jesus was talking about Lazarus’s actual death. As the New Testament unfolded, death was increasingly compared to sleep. In Acts 7:60, when Stephen was stoned to death, Luke said that “he fell asleep.” In 1 Corinthians 15:51, Paul wrote, “We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed.” In 1 Thessalonians 4:13–17, Paul said “those who are asleep . . . will rise first . . . to meet the Lord in the air.” Whether asleep or dead, we will be raised to life to be with the Lord.

John 11:14–16: Jesus told them: “Lazarus has died. I’m glad . . . so that you may believe.” Jesus had a specific purpose to fulfill when He allowed Lazarus to die. “Then Thomas said, ‘Let’s go so that we may die with Him.’” Wiersbe said we don’t know the name of Thomas’s twin, but we are all probably his twin. Sometimes Thomas demanded proof before believing

Christ, but at other times he was quick to follow Jesus into danger.⁴The disciples were just trying to figure out how to follow Christ.

John 11:17–40: The Sisters

John 11:17–23: When Jesus arrived in Bethany (near Jerusalem), Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Many had come to comfort Martha and Mary. Luke 10:38-42 revealed Martha was the busy sister, while Mary was the one who sat at Jesus’ feet. Martha rushed out to meet Jesus. “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died” (v. 21). Do you wonder what her tone was like? Was she accusing Him? Perhaps realizing only Jesus could help her, she went on, “Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You” (v. 22). Jesus told Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” This exchange shows it’s healthy to grieve and safe to express all our emotions to Jesus. We can say, “I don’t understand, but I know you’re in control.” We can give everything to Jesus realizing that He knows what He’s doing.

John 11:24–27: Martha clearly thought Jesus was talking about the end times. Daniel 12:2 says, “Man of those who sleep in the dust . . . will awake, some to eternal life.” Jesus then made His fifth “I am” statement: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.” When asked if she believed this, Martha said, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.” This statement supports the purpose of the book of John, “so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God” (John 20:31).

John 11:28–34: Martha went back to tell Mary, “The Teacher is here.” When Mary left the village, the Jews went with her assuming she was going to the tomb to cry. Like Martha, Mary said, “Lord, if You had been here . . .” At every funeral, according to oral tradition, families hired a minimum of two flute players and one professional wailing woman to mourn the dead. As Mary and Martha approached, these people followed. When Jesus saw this, He was angry because of their unbelief. He asked them, “Where have you put him?”

John 11:35–42: Jesus wept. The term indicated silent weeping rather than the wailing of the professional mourners.⁵Jesus was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3 ESV). Even as the Jews commented on Jesus’ love for Lazarus, they mocked Him for not preventing him from dying in the first place. Undeterred, Jesus told them to remove the stone, saying, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” Jesus prayed aloud so the crowd would believe God sent Him.

John 11:43–45: Jesus shouted, “Lazarus come out!” Go back to John 10:1-5, where Jesus taught that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. When Lazarus came out, Jesus told the people to “Loose him and let him go!” Many of the Jews believed in Him at that moment.

CLOSING

Jesus clearly said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus is the only One who can give life! Regardless of where you’re at in life, whether you’re grieving or finding joy: trust the heart of God, trust that He wants what is best for you, trust His timing, trust He’s always working for you (Romans 8:28). When the circumstances still don’t make sense, trust that God’s timing is bigger than yours. Don’t try to force the hand of God - hold back and wait. Jeremiah 17:7 says, “The man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes . . . or cease producing fruit.” Regardless of your situation, trust in the Lord’s timing.