I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE

ME:

We have been going through the I AM Statements found in the gospel of John. We’ve talked about how Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the true vine, the bread of life, the Light of the World, and the door or gate to eternal life! All of this points to who Jesus is and His identity.

Now obviously making claims like these, Jesus made some enemies. The religious elite of His day such as the pharisees did not like this at all. All because Jesus just proclaimed who He was. That He is the long awaited Messiah who would save people from their Sin.

I had some enemies who weren’t FOR me entering the ministry. They didn’t exactly say that but I could tell. I had a family member say “You should pursue something else besides being a pastor” and another family member tell me that I was “Just wasting my time”, and another say that I should get a “real job”.

WE

We all have enemies. Those who are on the other side. Those who are against us and don’t want us to succeed. Sadly sometimes it can be those who are close to us such as a family member, friend, or co-worker.

Who is your enemy? For the one in the military the enemy are the ones they do battle against. For law enforcement it’s the ones who has committed crimes. In the friendship it’s the one who betrayed you. In the relationship, it’s the one who cheated on you, in the daughter it’s the father who sexually abused her. To the son, it’s the father who abandoned him. We all have or have had people in our lives that we considered enemies and those who were against us.

But if God is for us, who can be against us? I think Jesus had it right in Matthew 16 when he said this....

Matthew 16:21–23 (ESV)

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Jesus didn’t say that because he thought Peter was satan in the flesh but he knew the thoughts that came to Peter at this time weren’t from the Spirit of God!

In other words, Jesus knew His enemy wasn’t Peter. The real enemy is death, in which Jesus would meet face to face at the Cross. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ that we can sing “O death where is your sting, O grave where is your victory!

Jesus wouldn’t only raise himself from the dead. He’d also raise others from the dead for the glory of God. Lets go a head and read about one of those as he proclaims “I AM the resurrection and the Life”

GOD

John 11:17–27 (ESV)

17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 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 from 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 on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who 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 coming into the world.”

Background:

This is a story that is familiar to all of us. We might of learned it in Sunday school, heard it in a sermon or read it in our devotional time. It’s the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. This is the final public miracle that Jesus did. It was done with a strategic purpose and time in mind. It was done just before the passover and the miracle was done in the village of Bethany. It is obvious that this was a special place for our Lord.

It was where He performed his last public miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead.

It was where a woman with a alabaster jar came in the house of Simon the Leper and anointed Jesus with a costly perfume

It was where Jesus blessed His disciples after His own resurrection and then departed from them

The Setting

Bethany is located just two miles east of Jerusalem. So there is no doubt that people who were traveling to the passover would of heard about the miracle that happened to Lazarus.

News of this spread quickly because it was a little more than turning water into wine, feeding the 5,000, walking on water, or healing the sick. This was about raising a dead, corpse back to life!

Funeral’s then and now

Now the funeral process back then is a lot different then how it is now. Today, a funeral last about an hour long. You will have the viewing, the eulogy, and people will say a few words of how the deceased has touched their life.

You find a lot of people weeping and some that are not. Then afterwards, that’s about it. People mostly go on to their new norm of life with the occasional phone call and card asking the deceased family members how they are doing?

According to Jewish customs there were seven days of mourning. Three days after death were the days of weeping which was followed with four days of lamentation.

According to their beliefs, the spirit would wander around the casket or burial place for three days seeking a way to return into the body of the deceased but, there would come a point where the body was so deteriated that the spirit would hover no more.

It was common for Family and friends to visit the burial place up to three days after death to be closer to the deceased. The Jews did not embalm or do anything to delay decay.

They would wrap the corpse and put different spices on it to help with the odor. It’’s pretty gruesome stuff that happens to the body after death

During the first day...

The heart stops beating

Cells in the body are deprived of oxygen and die

Muscles stiffen which are known in Latin as “Rigor Mortis”

A condition known as lividity occurs, in which all the blood will pool towards the lowest point of the body's resting place

After one day and 24 hours

the body loses all it’s heat and all flesh becomes soft

Leaked enzymes from the first stage begin producing many gases.

The sulfur-containing compounds that the bacteria release also cause skin discoloration.

After three days

Due to the gases, the human body can double in size. In addition, insect activity can be present.

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

This is the condition Lazarus is in. As he has been dead now for four days. There is no doubt that during the seven days of mourning many have came to Mary and Martha(the sisters of Lazarus) to try to comfort them in their pain.

These are the same two sisters who were with Jesus before. Mary was the one who would put the world of pause and be found at the master’s feet anointing him where as Martha was too busy serving.

We see this episode with Mary, Martha, and Jesus not too much different. The sisters were in their home when they heard Jesus was coming. Mary, who is the poised and calm one remained seated in the house.

Then you have Martha, who i’d compare to being a female version of Peter. She is abrasive, high strung. The type who shouts “If I don’t do it, it will never get done”, or “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done the way I want it”. She was use to doing everything herself that even when she had help, she just couldn’t let go and trust in the Lord.

Maybe you know someone like that. Maybe you are someone like that?

What did Martha do? She left the house to meet up with Jesus. She say’s to Him what many of us say to God when crisis hits, when a loved one dies.

She says “Where were you God, when my loved one died? Why didn’t you heal them from their sickness? Why did you let them die?

At first glance we might ask “Where is Martha’s faith”? She is grieving and in pain. Her words aren’t ones of rebuke or condemnation. They are one’s of faith and conviction. Knowing that Jesus is the son of God! Knowing that Jesus could provide her comfort, peace, and healing.

She continues on to say “But even now, I know whatever you ask from God He will give you”

What she is missing though is Gods presence in the here and now because she is too focused on what He could of done in the past and what He is going to do in the future. She didn’t see what HE was doing for her now. She didn’t see the promise.

Now she has had several people come and go that gave their “respects” to her. To comfort her in her distress. I am sure she heard things such as “Lazarus is in a much better place now” “At least he is free from pain and suffering”

We often confuse grief and mourning

Grief is the heavyness of spirit someone feels after experiencing loss.

The Grieving person can be laughing on the outside but crying on the inside.

Mourning is an observable sadness such as crying and loss of interest.

As Martha is lamenting in her sorrow and meets up with Jesus who she expects to give her some kind of cli-shay words of comfort.

As she responds to him saying Lazarus will rise again with “I know he will rise again on the last day” She is dumb founded with His response as it transforms her thinking from the resurrection in the written word to a resurrection in the living word as Jesus declares “I AM: THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE”!

This is the promise we have. We no longer have to fear.

Jesus is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end

he holds the keys of death and the grave, He is the king of kings and Lord of Lords,

He is faithful and true, He is the lion and the lamb that was led to slaughter and slained for the sin of the world

but, he would raise up and say death where is your victory oh death where is your sting

we can proclaim that the final enemy death has been defeated for the glory of the father!

That at the cross Jesus said it is finished but at the resurrection we can say that Satan is finished!

The purpose for the resurrection of Lazarus is to Glorify the Son of God

When Jesus first heard about the news of his sick friend Lazarus he said “it happened for the glory of God so that the son of God will receive Glory from this”

This was the purpose of Jesus displaying His power and authority He recieved from the father. He waited a couple days before going to see Lazarus.

It was four days before he reached him. This reminds me that God isn’t always on our time table but, he is always on time. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like that though. Such as when the cancer isn’t cured, the money doesn’t come in, or a relationship ends.

John 11:25b–26 (ESV)

Jesus then says this to Martha “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

That’s a question we have all been asked. It’s usually easier to believe when we are younger and comes harder to believe once you get older.

Do you believe Jesus is who He says He is? Even when He seems to be not on time. Even when He allows things you think he shouldn’t. When he could of, should of or would of done something but He didnt.

We all are dead in our tresspasses and sin once it entered the world through Adam. We weren’t just a little bit of dead but we we’re dead.dead.dead.

The smell and stench of our spiritual death flares up in the nostrails of our creator but He still chooses to exhale life into us if we believe who He says He is. That He is the resurrection and the life!

YOU:

What about you. Do you believe He is the Christ. The son of the living God. The Resurrection and the life. There are parts of you that have died that I believe God wants to resurrect.

Things or people that drain your time and energy. Things or people that just suck the life right out of you. Jesus says come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. He will fill you with His strength and power!

WE:

What if we walked in His resurrection power.

Not as mere victims but as those who are victorious!

Not as those who have been Conquered but as those who ARE the conquerers.

Not as those who are battling a storm but AS those who ARE the storm!