KBM The Resurrection And The Life
Notes
Transcript
Over the last several studies we have been looking at the Names of Jesus and recently we have been studying through the Book of John on the I Am’s of Jesus. Up to this point we have see Jesus describe or name himself, from the Book of John, as the Bread of Life, Light of the World, the Door, and in our last study the Good Shepherd. Today’s study focuses on the text found in John 11:17-57. Now having read this already, which I assume you have, you noticed that this was a very emotional situation that Jesus was helping with concerning his dear friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Lazarus passed the day the messenger arrived to inform Jesus of Lazarus’ condition. Jesus waited two days and then traveled the days journey to see Mary & Martha. There was an old Rabbinical superstition that said the soul stayed with the body for three to four days before it departed. Thus, Jesus’ wait so that there was no doubt about what was to come. When Jesus comes Martha says Jesus could have saved her brother. Now Martha isn’t upset with Jesus as she knows her brother died before Jesus could have gotten there physically but in her grief she is simply giving the “what ifs” many do during great emotional pain. However, this exchange is what leads to Jesus calling himself the Resurrection & the Life. Let’s read John 11:21-26.
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?”
Now there is a major revelation being made by Jesus by calling himself the Resurrection & the Life. That revelation is that Jesus is the Savior of not just those living right then and to come but even of those that lived faithfully in the past. Notice what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:10.
10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Jesus is the Resurrection & the Life because his blood is not bound by time and flows backward and forwards. That means Abraham, though Christ hadn’t come yet in his life, could have his sins removed because of Christ’s blood just like you and I. Thanks be to God for his love, mercy, and grace for all of us created in his image.