I Am the Resurrection and the Life

John chapter eleven provides the fifth I Am, yet it does so in light of tragic events. The events of this chapter bring to mind the sorrow of the death of the firstborn in Exodus. However, in this chapter, it is not the death of a firstborn but the death of a friend. Lazarus had passed away, and Mary and Martha were distraught, the disciples were confused, and even Jesus wept.

In the face of grieving sisters who blamed Christ for not being there to heal their brother, Jesus proclaimed that He was the resurrection and life.Jesus did not claim to be able to resurrect, but that He was resurrection. All of the "I Am" sayings have to do with Christ as the life-giver, as is clearly the case here, where we see that he does not just give life but is life itself. As is made evident in some of the other "I am" sayings, he gives life by becoming our life.[1]

This image of Christ as the resurrection is the embodiment of the "I Am" statements of Christ because it is the ultimate revelation of God to humanity. Of all of Christ's attributes, miraculous powers, and boisterous claims, it is the resurrection that provides the highest degree of authentication to His claims. Furthermore, His offer of resurrection to His followers is the most excellent appeal and cause for joy. In a world where all other religions require sacrifice, Jesus revealed the self-sacrifice that turned the world on its heels. Simeon said, He is to the soul, what the soul is to the body; he pervades, animates, and invigorates all our spiritual faculties: by his secret energy our understanding is enabled to apprehend divine truth, and our will inclined to obey it: and, without him, the soul would be as dead as the body without the soul.[2]

Jesus is the resurrection because He is the source and giver of life.

[1] Rodney A. Whitacre, John, vol. 4, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1999), 286. [2] Charles Simeon, Horae Homileticae: Luke XVII to John XII, vol. 13 (London: Holdsworth and Ball, 1833), 527–528.

John 11:1–43 NKJV

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.” 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 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now 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.” 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.” 28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” 32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”

Lazarus - Resurrections Purpose

Ephesians 2:1 NKJV

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Lazarus died so that God would be gorified.

John 9:1–3 NKJV

1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

Thomas - Resurrections Petition

John 11:16 NKJV

16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

John 20:24–25 NKJV

24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

Mary and Martha - Resurrections Plea

John 11:24 NKJV

24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Martha had stated the resurrection rather as a doctrine, a current tenet: Jesus states it as a fact, identified with His own person.[3]

Jesus is the resurrection because He is the source and giver of life. Yet, Martha could not see Jesus as the resurrection but rather as the bringer of resurrection. This is evident in her response when Jesus asked if she believed Lazarus would live again. Martha responded that Lazarus would live again on the last day. Martha failed to recognize that Jesus is not limited by time or circumstances. At this point, the resurrection was only a future, abstract concept to Martha, not a possible, immediate reality in Christ. But Jesus did not mean an eventual, distant resurrection, he meant that Lazarus would rise again that very day![4]

Martha's inability to understand what Christ was expressing until He revealed it to her is the very point that God made in Exodus. Here, Christ saying "I Am" conveys the idea that He is the fulfillment of God's revelation. Matthew 11:37 states that no one can know God apart from Jesus. Thus, Jesus was the fulfillment of the "Am" of Exodus because He reveals the Father to mankind.

[3] Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 2 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 202.

[4] Bruce B. Barton, John, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993), 232.

Jesus - Resurrections Power

This image of Christ as the resurrection is the embodiment of the "I Am" statements of Christ because it is the ultimate revelation of God to humanity. Of all of Christ's attributes, miraculous powers, and boisterous claims, it is the resurrection that provides the highest degree of authentication to His claims. Furthermore, His offer of resurrection to His followers is the most excellent appeal and cause for joy. In a world where all other religions require sacrifice, Jesus revealed the self-sacrifice that turned the world on its heels.

1 Corinthians 15:50–57 NKJV

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why didn’t they just lock up Jesus? That would have stopped Him from teaching, preaching and gathering followers. It worked with John the Baptist. Why didn’t they just lock Him up? The answer is they knew no prison could hold Him. They knew about His miracles of healing and His miracles regarding nature. They knew no prison could hold Him. What they did not know was that no tomb could hold Him—that death could not hold Him. The apostle Peter said it was not possible for death to hold Him (Acts 2:24). Some find it impossible to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Christians find it impossible not to believe. If the world’s one perfect Man could not survive the grave, what hope would there be for us?

Resurrection and the life.