I Am the Resurrection and the Life

The Feast of Dedication (also known as Hanukkah) commemorated the cleansing and rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus in 164 B.C. after it had been defiled by Antiochus IV (1 Macc. 1:10–36; 4:41–61; 2 Macc 6–7). Because the festival was celebrated with lamps in the temple, synagogue, and homes, it came to be known as the “Feast of Lights.”11 The celebration represented the deliverance and freedom of God’s people. Borchert explains the background of the feast in the context of John 10. Stephen S. Kim, “The Significance of Jesus’ Raising Lazarus from the Dead in John 11,” Bibliotheca Sacra 168 (2011): 55.

I believe chap. 10 represents a new theme that builds upon the inadequacy of the Jewish leadership and the rejection of Jesus’ messianic calling evident throughout the Tabernacles section of John (chaps. 7–9). But the Festival of Dedication (which is the focus of chap. 10) also has a messianic aspect because that festival had been celebrated as a memorial to the rejection of false rulers, epitomized by Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), who among other things desecrated the temple by slaughtering a pig on the altar of sacrifice and also erected a statue of Zeus (Jupiter) in the most holy place, the inner sanctuary of the temple. The subsequent victory and expulsion of the Syrians from Israel in 164 B.C. under Judas Maccabeus and the accompanying reconsecration of the temple was thereafter established in the Jewish calendar as a national religious freedom festival, which at that time definitely implied messianic expectations.12 Borchert, John 1–11, 328

So into the darkness of death, comes a light from the Lord.

Similar to Light and Darkness, Life and death are mutually exclusive.

You can’t have part life and part death. You are either alive or dead.

Jesus has come to show the power of Life over death. For millennia man has lived with the view of death being at the end, yet, Jesus has come to show that for those who are in Christ Life is at the end.

This is some ways is the proof of Genesis, that God did not create death, but that death came as a judgment on mankind for our sin. It is not an eternal night, but a temporary stop before standing in front of the Lord, for good or for bad.

This is the Last of seven Miracles in the book of John, each one chosen to show that Jesus is the Christ.

John 20:30–31 “30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

This is also the culmination of the miracles.

It is one of the last ones done.

It is done publically, after Lazarus has been dead for 4 days, the only example of someone being dead for a long period of time.

Decay had already set in. The flesh would have been breaking down.

This is all revived with the revival of Lazarus.

This was written and done, not for the Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, but for the witness that it would be.

It was planned. God knew what was happening and chose to wait until Lazarus was dead.

God planned this with a crowd of Jews from Jerusalem being their.

God planned this with us in mind as well. It is a testimony to the power of the Lord, a capstone, or testimony to the vilidity of His words.

The Book of John

John 1:4–5 “4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

This was the second claim John has made about Jesus, the Word.

He was God, was with God and was involved in creation.

Now we hear that “In Him was Life, and the life was the light of men.”

This life that is in Him is eternal life, something that we don’t have.

Ephesians 2:1–7 “1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

1 John 5:11–12 “11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

1 John 5:20 “20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

This book of John is full of references to this New Life, eternal life, everlasting life.

1 John 1:12–13 “12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

John 3:5–8 “5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.””

John 3:14–16 “14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 4:13–14 “13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.””

John 6:35 “35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

John 6:39–40 “39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.””

How do you prove that you are the resurrection and the life?

Luke 5:19–25 “19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. 20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.”

Jesus makes a claim that only God can do.

Then He backs it up by showing an ‘easy to see and verify’ miracle.

Many of Jesus’s miracles can’t be argued with. People would have known the man, known the background, known the family.... It wasn’t possible in this community to continue to do things like this openly if it wasn’t true.

Application

There is a new life in Christ that is available for those who will call out to Him in faith and give up their lives for His sake.

This life is a joy, a light in darkness. It is ununderstandable to the world....

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