I AM the Resurrection and the Life

I AM the Resurrection and the Life

John 11:1-44

Review and Context

Text:

v. 2—John refers to an event that he has not recorded yet. It goes to show that the purpose of John’s Gospel is not to record a chronology of Jesus life but to write a convincing argument for faith in him.

v. 4—Jesus here makes a promise that Lazarus’ sickness will not END in death. He did not say that he would not experience death only that death would not be the end result.

Again we have the teaching directly from Jesus about why bad things sometimes happen to the ones he loves. It is not because he doesn’t love us or didn’t notice but that he might receive glory from it!

v. 5-6—Jesus wanted Lazarus to die. Not because he was cruel, but as we will see he wanted there to be no doubt that the miracle he was about to perform was Supernatural and that he did not simply get better.

v. 7-16—To get to Lazarus Jesus had to return to where he had just come from. Jesus had just left Judea because they tried to stone him after he announced the Good Shepherd discourse. Now he was going back.

Thomas the twin (doubting Thomas) shows here that he was capable of great courage and faith. It wasn’t Peter or John who speaks up, but Thomas. How terrible must the crucifixion have been to shake him so badly?

v. 17—There was a common Jewish belief at the time that the soul stayed near the body for 3 days after death hoping to be reunited with the body. I think that is why Jesus waited 2 extra days so that there was no doubt that Lazarus was irrevocably dead!

v. 21—Martha tries to put God in a box. Jesus could, and did on many occasions, heal people without ever seeing them. Again, he wanted Lazarus to die!

v. 25-26—Again we have the divine declaration. Jesus follows it with a somewhat confusing statement. Basically he says, Everyone who believes in me will LIVE even though he DIES, and whoever believes WILL NEVER DIE.

Jesus is speaking of 2 kinds of lives and deaths…Physical and Spiritual.

What he is says is, “He who believes in me will live SPIRITUALLY, even though he dies PHYSICALLY; and whoever lives PHYSICALLY and believes in me will never die SPIRITUALLY.

When Jesus says I am the Resurrection and the Life, he is saying that he has the power raise people from the death both Physically and Spiritually.

If you are a Christian you have experienced a Spiritual Resurrection—Rom. 6:11

If you are not a Christian you are still dead in your sin…BUT Christ has the Power to raise you from the dead as well!!!

Some people have been dead for 18 years…and you thought Lazarus stunk after 4 days.

v. 35—Why do you cry at a Christian’s funeral? Because of the sense of loss for yourself and the family. That isn’t why Jesus was crying. He wasn’t crying for Lazarus, here Jesus shows the deep of his humanity! He saw that the people he loved were hurting and he wept for them.