Lesson 8 - Jesus - Resurrection and Life

This is the last study in the Seven Signs of the Savior. I hope you have gained some help and encouragement from this study as I have. I love to study about Jesus. I like that song, "More, more about Jesus" There is so much about Who he is, and what it was like when he was here. As John said, if everything was written that he did we wouldn't be able to contain the books. John has given us seven little vignettes of Jesus trying to prove and persuade his very purpose in writing was as he puts it, "John 20:31 (KJV) 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. "

We have looked at:

John 2:1-11 Turning the water into wine - we see that John portrays Jesus as the source of all blessing John 4:43-54 Healing the nobleman's sin points to Jesus as the giver of life John 5:1-18 Jesus heals the cripple of 38 years points to Jesus as the coworker of the Father John 6:1-15 Multiplying the loves and fish for over 5000 people Jesus is shown as the Life-Giving Bread from Heaven Supplies our need, sustains our life Tonight we are looking at Jesus the Divine I AM as John give us the story in John 6:16-21 Jesus - Provider of Spiritual Sight John 9:1-41

Tonight we are going to look at Jesus - The Resurrection and the Life. To me this is one of the most powerful, and amazing of the miracles Jesus performed as it showed his as more than just master of the molecular of nature such as turning the water into wine, and more than master of sickness and disease, more than master of crippling ailments, more than master of multiplication as when he multiplied the loaves and fish, more than master of the elements as when he walked on the water, and more than blindness, something they thought only God could do, Jesus here goes beyond the natural world and does battle with the last foe itself God will have to face - DEATH - and even before the cross, even before the atonement, even as he walked the dusty shores of Galilee he proves his power to look death square in the eyes, throw it to the ground, and step on its head and bruise it. This by the way won't be the first time, and it certainly isn't the last.

An Outline

The Call From Lazarus and Delay of Jesus 1-6 The Contention of the Disciples and Death of Lazarus 7-16 The Cry for faith and the Display of Jesus 17-44

The Call and Delay of Jesus 1-6

Lazarus, Mary & Martha - These were siblings and the centerpiece of this story.

Mary and Martha you remember were in an incident in Luke 10:38-42 where Martha who is possibly the oldest as she is listed as the host, and wanted Jesus to get on to Mary so she would help her. and here in this story she is shown to be the family representative 11:5. Mary is simply identified as the one who anointed Jesus with oil, he says this out of chronological order, as that probably has not happened yet, but it seems John thought her well known enough Lazarus obviously lives in this village as well - and was a close friend to Jesus

there is no reason to believe they lived together no doubt they all had their own families. Bethany - This was a small Judean village just East of Jerusalem over the Mount of Olives- around 1 1/2 miles away. The fourth century historian Eusebius said it was at the second Roman milestone from Jerusalem to Jericho. Today Bethany is the Palestinian town of El-Aziriyeh named after Lazarus.

Jesus used Bethany as a base just as he used Capernaum in Galilee - there are several stories in the Gospels from this area. Jesus probably lived his final week in Bethany. The Call of Jesus - Lazarus was ill The delay of Jesus wasn't just for effect or to add suspense -we are given another purpose clause - verse 4 "This sickness is not unto death, (Or that death will ultimately win) but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby."

Nor was Jesus' delay the reason Lazarus died, I'm not sure that an immediate response could have even avoided it.

John 11:17 tells us that when Jesus arrives in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days.

It likely took the messengers one day to find Jesus Jesus stays where he is for two more days They take a day to travel to Bethany

This shows that Lazarus must have died right after the messengers left Bethany, and Lazarus is already buried, by the time they get to Jesus.

The significance of the Four Days -

"There was a well-known Jewish belief (attested from about A.D. 200) that the soul of a dead person remained in the vicinity of the body “hoping to reenter it” for three days, but once decomposition set in, the soul departed.10 John wants us to know clearly that Lazarus is truly dead and that the miracle of Jesus cannot be construed as a resuscitation."

Gary M. Burge John: The NIV Application Commentary

Jesus works in his own sense of timing. The urgency felt by us and others is not the same as his divine timing. His purpose in his seeming delay, which really isn't a delay, was to show God's glory through Him and promote the faith of his followers.

The Contention of the Disciples and the Death of Lazarus

The disciples contention is they are afraid to go through Judea again as Jesus caused quite a stir the last time they were there. Jesus then begins to try to explain that Lazarus is dead

Jesus knows that Lazarus has died, and yet it seems this doesn't sink in with the disciples, if he knows the very moment Lazarus has died, he wasn't trying to just share information but to give a foreshadowing of his own miraculous work. The Cry for Faith and the Display of Jesus

Jesus asked for faith numerous times in this story, not just faith in God, faith in Him, but also Faith that He was who he claimed to be.

21-27 Jesus talks with Martha, trying to get her to look past what seems to be the end, and see it is really just the beginning. I like what Jesus says in verse 25, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die, Believest thou this?

Martha says yes, but I'm not sure she fully understood what Jesus meant until it was over. Jesus is not saying that he can provide the resurrection and life - we have record in other places of Jesus being able to gain the victory over death -

the widow’s son in Nain in Luke 7:11–17; Jairus’s daughter in Mark 5:21–43

but that HE IS THE RESURRECTION AND LIFE - Probably one of the most famous of the "I Am" statements of Jesus. Martha tells Mary that Jesus had come and called for her, I find Mary's response so typical of us, we just have trouble getting the big picture, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."

Verse 33 "When Jesus sees her and the others weeping, the Bible says, "He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." Verse 35 "Jesus wept" Verse 38 "Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave…"

Now I think all three of the occurrences are related, but what do they mean. I'll give three different opinions and will let you draw your own conclusions.

Some think Jesus was in or feeling his humanity, sensing the grief and loss, coming down to our level understanding what it is like to experience pain. If this is true he forgets for a moment that He is the Resurrection and the Life, that he just talked about. Some teach and believe that he is angry or upset at the lack of faith that is so prevalent.

In classical Greek this word used for groaning means or indicates an outburst of anger , fury or outrage. One writer even goes so far as to say "The word “indicates an outburst of anger, and any attempt to reinterpret it in terms of an internal emotional upset caused by grief, pain, or sympathy is illegitimate." Some teach that Jesus is angry at death itself and the devastation it brings. His main focus now is to get to the tomb and display God's power and victory over death. Martha’s response to Jesus command to take away the stone in 11:39 is critical for John’s report of the scene. Note how Martha is described as “the sister of the dead man.” She further warns that since Lazarus has been dead four days, decomposition has set in and there will be an odor. In an early medieval Jewish tradition (which may well go back to the first century) Jews would return to the cemetery after three days to check to see if the person was living (b. Semahot 8:1) The Prayer of Jesus - 41-42

This prayer is interesting on at least two counts.

(1) It implies that Jesus had prayed already for Lazarus and that he is now coming to this great miracle fully prepared for what will take place. This is not a “last minute” request.

(2) Jesus prays publicly, and he does so “looking up” (no doubt with hands upraised). This was a common posture for Jewish prayer. Audible prayers were more common in Jesus’ world than private prayers. Jesus is certainly not praying to impress the audience of mourners. But his followers could use prayers to

Gary M. Burge (1996-05-02T05:00:00+00:00). John: The NIV Application Commentary

The Call for Lazarus - This is the highpoint of the story. Jesus Calls out to Lazarus. He does not whisper, he doesn't give a firm request, but this command is "a shout of raw authority."

Let's get this picture -

Lazarus has been dead four days He was probably buried the day he died During the burial the body was wrapped in strips of fabric and filled with burial spices.

They also tied the jaw closed, and covered the face with a linen cloth. Jesus shows us that linen cloth, sickness, death, four days dead, none of that stops the Resurrection and Life.