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John 11 and the Seventh Sign in the Fourth Gospel

Now I think for the time we'll forego our reading of Isaiah 14, we'll do so next Lord's Day, Lord willing. And so if you will turn in your Bibles with me please to John chapter 11 as we continue our study of this fourth gospel and today is what the 69th Sunday, Lord's Day that we've given to this and we're a little over halfway now so we'll be here a while yet.

We've been working through the passage before for some time in which we read of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead. Now we first considered the occasion when Jesus first learned that his friend was sick unto death and he determined after two days to travel to him.

We considered that in verses 1 through 16. And then several weeks ago we examined our Lord's interaction with the two sisters of Lazarus first with Marsha, that was two weeks ago, and then last Lord's Day with Mary.

And we now arrive to the passage it relates to us the wondrous miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Now this miracle of course has application in several ways for us. We first of all see the power of the Lord Jesus displayed who can raise the physically dead from the grave even after decomposition has begun its work and that's a significant point of this passage.

Secondly however we also see prefigured our own future resurrection from the dead when we will hear the voice of the Son of God calling forth our bodies from death unto eternal life. And then thirdly it also illustrates however the spiritual resurrection that takes place when any and every soul becomes a Christian, a humble, repentant, trusting believer in Jesus Christ, a spiritual resurrection.

The event of salvation is the Lord Jesus imparting spiritual life to one who is spiritually dead. Paul declares that in Ephesians 1 and 2. And then of course fourthly this event points to our Lord's resurrection from the dead.

When on the third day after his resurrection he rose triumphantly from the dead securing and assuring our own participation in the resurrection life that he bestows upon us by his grace. And we'll touch on all these applications, a little more on one maybe than another today.

And so we want to read this portion of John 11 that addresses this matter, John 11 38. I'm reading from the New King James Version here. Then Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it.

And 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. And Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the.

Glory of God?

And 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. And I know that you always hear me. But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they will believe that you sent me.

And now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, or claws, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.

And Jesus said to them, loose him and let him go. Now when we began to consider this episode, which encompasses all of John Chapter 11, we pointed out that it was a narrative unit and sometimes you'll see the word in a commentary, the word pericope, which is simply a narrative unit within the Gospel.

And within this narrative unit or pericope, we have first an introduction or setting of the episode, that was verses 1 through 16, in which the location, setting, and people are identified. The second stage of a narrative unit within the Gospels will set forth a conflict.

And in our passage, the conflict is in verses 17 through 37, the largest portion of this pericope. And this conflict is both the death of Lazarus, as well as the crisis of faith of his sisters, Martha and Mary, as well as some of the Jews that were present.

The Resolution of the Conflict in Lazarus’s Resurrection

And now before us today, we come to this third section of this pericope, where we have the resolution of the conflict. And so we read of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Now this event can be viewed as the high point of the ministry of Jesus, as recorded by John.

Of course, this would be second to our Lord's own death, resurrection. This event, raising Lazarus from the dead, may be regarded as the seventh of seven signs recorded in John's Gospel. And so that being the seventh sign speaks itself of its importance and the centrality of this event in the fourth Gospel.

Of course, all four Gospels, really the highlight is the passion of our Lord Jesus, is arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension. In fact, it's been commonly said and rightly said that the Gospels are passion stories with extended introductions.

Everything leads up to the passion of our Lord Jesus, and that's forthcoming, of course, in the Gospel of John. But in a way, this miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead brings the larger introduction of our Lord's passion of his sufferings and death to a fitting climax.

It serves as a portrayal of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus that would take place not too long after this incident. But again, it also displays what our own future resurrection will be like when the Lord Jesus returns and raises all people from death to life, and so that we Christians will forever be with the Lord, even as he, of course, passes just judgment upon the wicked.

Jesus at the Tomb of Lazarus

So let's consider Jesus first coming to the tomb of Lazarus, verses 38 -40, and Jesus again groaning in himself, notice the word again, came to the tomb, it was a cave, and a stone lay against it, and 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's been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory.

Of God?

Rhetorical question, implying, of course, the answer being yes, he had told her this. Verse 38, we read, then Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb, it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

We read of the emotion of Jesus in that he was again groaning in himself, it's the same word as we read earlier in verse 33, which reads, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. Same word, different form, one was a verb, the other was a participle, but it was the same word, different form.

And when we consider the first occasion in which Jesus is described in this way, we said that it may reflect not just grief on his part, but irritation, and we happen to mention when we came across that, that Martin Luther in translating the Greek New Testament into German, he actually translated that, not that Jesus groaned, but he was angered, as it were, as though death had brought this great difficulty and calamity on the ones that he loved.

The same idea may be suggested here in the word groaned, and so as Jesus approached the tomb, as one wrote, the feeling of indignation again rises in him. But here we read that he was groaning in himself.

It was apparently more demonstrative and visible back in verse 33, but it's in himself here. It may not have been as apparent to others as on the earlier occasion, but we see that the Holy Spirit gave the Apostle John insight in the inner affections of Jesus in having recorded this for us.

And just by a word of application, you may be groaning in yourself today over some matter that's only known to you, especially to you, but your Savior knows intimately and personally your grief, for he himself experienced the same.

He is a faithful and sympathetic high priest, and he knows what you and I experience, and he's able to comfort us in doing so, not just understand, but minister grace to us in that time of difficulty.

We read of this tomb that it was a cave and a stone lay against it. Now most Jews were buried in the ground like we are most of the time, buried in a grave. But the more well-to-do or notable would be buried in a cave.

Our Lord of course was buried in a cave or a tomb that had been prepared by a rich man. He had prepared it for himself, Joseph of Arimathea. It was Joseph himself along with Nicodemus who gained permission of the Roman governor Pilate to bury the body of Jesus.

So they came and took the body off of the cross, and they prepared it for burial. We read of this in Mark 1546. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, laid it in his own new tomb which he had cut in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Notice the dignity and care they showed the body of Jesus. In societies that tend not to treat and regard the bodies of the dead with decency and regard, they tend to have a rather poor view of human life itself.

There ought to be honor and respect shown to those who die. Both a grave as well as a cave would have been covered or closed up with a stone, and that stone would have marked as a tombstone as it were, a headstone, a memorial, so as to seal and secure the body away from the living as it were.

This miracle was so remarkable that the location of the tomb of Lazarus, by the way, continued to be acknowledged into the Christian era. So I read that by the fourth century, the site had become important enough for Christians for a church to be built over the crypt, believed to be Lazarus' tomb and called it Lazarion.

From this word derives the modern Muslim name for Bethany. This is what they call Bethany, El-Azariah. We read in verse 39a, Jesus said, take away the stone. So Jesus commanded the stone be taken away from the mouth of the tomb.

This would have taken perhaps a handful of men to do as generally these were heavy stones and they were settled in a depression at the entrance of the tomb. You know, there's two traditional sites, one more ancient than the other, of the burial of Jesus in Jerusalem and the one that you go to down in the garden, Gordon's tomb.

You have this carved out of the stone face and you have a place, you can see the depression where the large stone was rolled in place and once it was there, it was hard to move. And so it would have taken some effort probably to move this stone.

Joseph, of course, Nicodemus had prepared the body of Jesus. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own tomb cut from the rock and so he rolled a great stone over the entrance and so this was probably a large stone as well.

Now in verse 39a, Jesus said, take away the stone. He commanded that it be removed. Later of course, you remember how the women came to the tomb of Jesus early on the first day of the week and they kind of wondered to themselves, who's going to move this stone.

For us?

After the Sabbath, they wanted to come and prepare the body of Jesus. We have a record of that in Mark's Gospel. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him.

And very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb and they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone from us from the entrance of the tomb? These women knew they couldn't do it themselves.

Too large, too difficult a task. Then looking up, they saw the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And so this was probably a large stone itself blocking the tomb of Lazarus. Well, it was at this point, of course, that Martha objected when Jesus commanded the stone to be removed.

Verse 39, Martha, the sister of him who is dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there's a stench for he has been dead four days. Although Martha believed that her brother would rise on the last day, she apparently still did not believe that he was about to rise from the dead on this day.

But Jesus is the resurrection and life. He declared that to her. We saw that last week. Where Jesus is present, the power to bring about resurrection is present. And Jesus is the life and he has the authority to impart life to whomever he wills.

Jesus has free will in this and he's thankfully a merciful and gracious God and desires to give life where there's death. Embalming was not practiced by most of the Jews. Well, actually most of the nations of the ancient world as it was practiced in Egypt,.

However.

Yes, bodies were wrapped in cloth. We see that here. And very strong aromatic spices were used. But these spices were used to counteract or mask the repulsive odor of decomposition. This is a graphic thought, but it's here and it's an important detail.

And so apparently even the treatment of these spices would have only temporarily been effective until the body was sealed into the tomb. But after four days, the spices would have provided little benefit.

You get the picture. Well, Jesus responded to Martha's objection recorded in verse 40. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory.

Of God?

Jesus speaks only to Martha, as one wrote, because she is the only one who uttered the startled exclamation. Yet all present may heed what Jesus says. The emphasis is on faith. If thou shalt believe is the air of subjunctive and that speaks about the tense and the mood of the verb.

To express the act of believing now, if it had been in present tense, it would have emphasized the act of believing now. The condition of expectancy counts on Martha's act of believing at this juncture.

Thou shalt see is a positive promise. You believe, you will see. And of course in a moment Martha did see, as her brother came forth from the tomb. Now, the glory of God had been explained by Jesus back in verse 4.

Remember when Jesus was far away and he told his disciples that the sickness of Lazarus was for the glory of God? But if you read again the interaction between Jesus and Martha, there's no direct mention of the glory of God.

And yet here Jesus says to Martha, did not I tell you if you believe you see the glory.

Of God?

So Jesus must have given more of an explanation, more words to Martha than what's necessarily recorded for us. You know, the Holy Spirit moved to only record that which is essential for us, helpful for.

Us.

And so Jesus encourages the faith that is already in Martha's heart. At the same time, we must remember the purpose clause in Jesus' prayer, verse 42, in order that they may believe. For when the glory shines forth, this glory will impel those not yet believing unto faith, and so these too will see that glory.

And so Martha's faith would be enhanced and the faith of those who are unbelieving would be generated. Now the gospel recorded Jesus telling his disciples again, before they had traveled to Bethany, Lazarus' sickness was for the furtherance of the glory of God.

But it's not recorded that Jesus said this to Mary. Apparently he had done so. Jesus asked the question, did I not tell you? And so it's a given that whatever our Lord did, of course, resulted in the glory of God.

And this event was for the glory of God as well. Jesus issued the command to Lazarus to come out of his tomb, verses 41 through 43. They took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.

Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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.

And now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. So Martha gave this objection and then Jesus kind of rebuked her and it would seem that she rather resigned herself to what was about to take place, but you can imagine the sense of anxiety, perhaps even trepidation that Martha must have felt as this was taking place.

Can you imagine what she was thinking as the men rolled away this stone? Notice Jesus lifted up his eyes as he was going to pray to his Father. And this is apparently rather the common way in which the Lord Jesus prayed.

We read in John 17, 1, Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven. Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that your Son also may glorify you. We tend not to lift up our eyes toward heaven when we pray.

Perhaps we identify more readily with the humble and repentant publican in the temple who standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

We tend to bow our heads, but Jesus lifted his head and lifted his eyes, which does instruct.

Us.

What does it teach us? Well, I appreciate what Matthew Henry wrote, the gesture he used was very significant. He lifted up his eyes, an outward expression of the elevation of his mind, and to show those who stood by whence or from where he derived his power, also to set us an example.

This outward sign is hereby recommended to our practice. Look how those will answer it who profanely ridicule it, but that which is especially charged upon us hereby is to lift up our hearts to God in the heavens.

What is prayer but the ascent of the soul to God and the directing of its affections and motions heavenward? He lifted up his eyes as looking above, looking beyond the grave where Lazarus lay and overlooking all the difficulties that arose thence that he might have his eyes fixed upon the divine omnipotence to teach us to do as Abraham, who considered not his own body now dead, nor the deadness of Sarah's womb, never took these into his thoughts, and so gained such a degree of faith as not to stagger at the promise.

And each of us could probably relate to this. When we have great difficulty, we tend to focus on that difficulty, don't we? Rather than lifting up our eyes to look to God, we tend to look at those things themselves, and that's not what we ought to be doing.

Our troubles and trials and afflictions should cause us to immediately lift up our eyes and hearts to the Lord from whence comes our help. Jesus prayed, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. It would seem that Jesus had already been praying to the Father that Lazarus would rise from the dead.

But he didn't pray, Father, I pray that you hear me, but he thanked the Father for already hearing him. And the tense of the verb betrays that. Perhaps Jesus had been praying to this end when he first heard that Lazarus was sick and died.

Again here, Jesus is thanking the Father for already having already heard and granted him his request. As Donald Carson wrote, the prayer assumes that Jesus has already asked for Lazarus' life. That is not surprising.

Verse 11 also assumes that the raising of Lazarus had been determined for some time. In his prayer then, Jesus said to his Father, and I know that you always hear me. Our Lord seemed to have an ongoing communication with the Father.

He spoke to the Father and the Father spoke to his Son. Their communion with one another was from eternity, of course. The Father was never apart from his Son and the Son was never apart from his Father.

Even in his incarnation, the Son of God was with the Father. As John wrote, no one has ever seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has declared him. Even while Jesus was walking on earth, he was beside, in the bosom of the Father.

And so, even in his incarnation, the divine nature of the Son was one in essence with the Father, even as the two persons of the Trinity related with one another as Father and Son. Well, what about in his human nature?

Jesus grew in his understanding and his relationship with his Father as he matured from childhood to adulthood. So when Jesus was 12 years of age, he was cognizant of his relationship with God as his Father.

After his parents had searched for him for three days, they found him in the temple conversing with the religious leaders of the day, asking questions that rather surprised them at the intelligence and the understanding that this young man had.

And so, upon his parents' inquiry of him, he said to them, Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business? At 12 years of age, Jesus, in his human nature, was cognizant that God was his Father and he was God's Son.

And then we read a few verses later in Luke 2 that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature in favor with God and men. Jesus, in his human nature, increased in his understanding and fellowship with the Father as he grew to age.

Then we read, Jesus could say, I know that you always hear me, because their communion with one another had been continuous and unbroken. And in his human nature, he had grown to intimate fellowship, intimate fellowship, unbroken.

Communion.

Jesus knew that his Father always heard him. As one wrote,. Let none think that this was some uncommon favor granted him now, such as he never had before, nor should ever have again. No, he had the same divine power going along with him in his whole undertaking, and undertook nothing but what he knew to be agreeable to the counsel of God's will.

I gave thanks, saith he, for being heard of this, because I am sure to be heard in everything. Now after confessing that he knew the Father always heard him on this occasion, he prayed openly in the hearing of the people, largely for their benefit, that they might believe him, that indeed he was sent from the Father.

And so verse 42 records our Lord's words,. But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. Jesus knew what he was about to do. He would raise Lazarus from the dead.

And I might interject this at this time, although, and we're going to cite some examples, there were numbers of people that came from the dead recorded in the Bible, including Lazarus, but really they were just resuscitations back to life from the state of the dead.

Really, the only resurrection that's ever taken place in history is that of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a resurrection into a new existence, a new creation, which one day we'll also participate in. He did not want the people to perceive this great miracle was due to him, apparently.

He wanted them to understand that God the Father was working through him. Here our Lord Jesus has taught us that we are to pray to our Father in heaven. He lifted up his eyes toward heaven, which we understand to be the place where God most wonderfully manifests his presence.

Now we know, of course, that God is omnipresent. He's everywhere in his fullness. He's not more there than here, not more somewhere else than here. He's everywhere in his fullness, his spirit. He's omnipresent.

But he manifests himself in a special way in heaven, as we find throughout the Bible. This is where his majesty and sovereignty is displayed. Our Lord taught his disciples to pray in this way. He said, in this manner, therefore pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

And so here he taught his disciples by his example. He looked to heaven and then he addressed his Father. Several matters are suggested here for us when we pray. First, here our Lord Jesus has taught us that when we pray, we are to express our thanksgiving to the Father.

Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. We are to thank God for his previous kindness that he has shown to us. As one wrote, when we come to beg for further mercy, we are to do so thankfully to acknowledge former favors.

Good principle of prayer. Secondly, here our Lord Jesus taught us that when we pray, we are to acknowledge that God has called us and enabled us to serve him in whatever lies before us. Thanksgiving to God is rendering glory to God for having been gracious to us.

This miracle that Jesus was about to perform was an answer to his prayer granted to him by the Father. And then thirdly, here our Lord teaches us that when we pray, we are to pray in faith, that he has already granted us our petition.

This is quite amazing when you consider it and its implications. As one wrote, though the miracle was not yet wrought, yet the prayer was answered and he triumphs before the victory. No other can pretend to such an assurance as Christ had.

And yet, notice Matthew Henry's words, yet we may by faith in the promise have a prospect of mercy before it be actually given in and may rejoice in that prospect and give God thanks for it. In other words, you thank God in advance of what you know he's going to do.

In David's devotions, the same psalm begins with prayer for mercy and closes with thanksgiving for it, obviously before the mercy was bestowed. Our Lord has taught his disciples that when they pray, they are to do so with faith that God has granted their petition.

This has always been a troublesome verse for me, verses for me, in different ways. Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt his heart but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. And I know this verse is hopped upon by the health and wealth guys all the time, but because of their abuse, we will not neglect it.

These are words of our Lord to us. His confidence, of course, would be based on knowledge of God's will as revealed in his word. We can pray with confidence if we know from God's word that his will is respecting the thing for which we are praying.

Sometimes however, this is quite incredible, sometimes however, the Lord gives a supernatural assurance of faith when we make a specific prayer to the Father. He just assures us in our soul, he is going to grant what we've asked of him, even though there's no evidence otherwise to suggest that is going to take place.

He gives a subjective sense of peace, I know it's going to happen. I recall this event in Charles Spurgeon's life, it was providential folks, I've got two volumes that thick, you know, and I opened up, mostly in volume two, opened it up, bang, there it was.

And so I wanted to relate this to you, this is a wonderful story. Spurgeon, at the close of one of our services, a poor woman accompanied by two of her neighbors came to my vestry in deep distress. Her husband had fled the country and in her sorrow, she had gone to the house of God and something I said in the sermon made her think that I was personally familiar with her case.

Of course I had really known nothing about her, I made use of a general illustration which just fitted her particular case. She told me her story in a very sad one it was, I said there's nothing that we can do but kneel down and cry to the Lord for the immediate conversion of your husband.

We knelt down, I prayed that the Lord would touch the heart of the deserter, convert his soul and bring him back to his home. And when we rose from our knees, I said to the poor woman, and I embolden this for emphasis, do not fret about the matter, I feel sure your husband will come home and that he will yet become connected with our church.

Wow.

She went away and I forgot all about her. Some months afterwards, she reappeared with her neighbors and a man whom she introduced to me as her husband. He had indeed come back and had returned a converted man.

On making inquiring, comparing notes, we found out the very day on which we had prayed for his conversion, he, being at that time aboard a ship far away on the sea, stumbled most unexpectedly upon a stray copy of one of my sermons.

He read it and the truth went to his heart, he repented and sought the Lord and as soon as possible, he came back to his wife and to his daily calling. He was admitted as a member of the Tabernacle, Spurgeon's church, and his wife, who up to that time had not joined the church, was also received into fellowship with us.

That woman does not doubt the power of prayer. All the infidels in the world cannot shake her conviction that there is a God that hears and answers supplications of his people. I should be the most irrational creature in the world if with a life every day of which is full of experiences so remarkable, I entertain the slightest doubt on the subject.

I do not regard it as miraculous. It is part and parcel of the established order of the universe that the shadow of a coming event should fall in advance upon some believing soul in the shape of a prayer for its realization.

The prayer of faith is a divine decree commencing its operation. I would commend the two volumes, the Autobiography of Charles Spurgeon, published by the Banner of Truth Trust. It's quite amazing. What else does the Lord teach us here in his prayer to the Father?

Here the Lord teaches us that when we pray, we are to pray with the desire that others would glorify God when they witness God granting our prayers. Jesus prayed, Father, I thank you that you have heard me 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.

I think there's some practical instruction here for us. We should tell people that we encounter who relate to us some need or concern that they have that we will pray to our Father to grant that request.

We should be specific. Sometimes we pray in generality to take us off the hot seat, right? We ought to pray with specifics, as it were. Perhaps we should pray out loud in their presence. Let us do so, so that when prayer is granted, they will only be able to conclude there is a God who has intervened on my behalf and he's granted the request made for me by that man or that woman of God.

That's a powerful witness, is it not? When that takes place, I think we ought to practice that. You're not going to be putting God on a spot. That can't be done. We ought to ask him in believing his capability.

We don't always know it's his will, but we ought to be as the leper, Lord, if you're willing, I know you can make me clean. No question about his power. He wasn't too sure whether Lord Jesus was willing, but he certainly had evidence to go on that Jesus was a merciful, you know, man of God who went around healing people like himself.

We may be reminded of the 19th century German Christian, George Muller, born and raised in Prussia. He traveled to England and he began an orphanage in the city of London with his primary desire to show forth the power of God in providing for those orphans.

And so he did so by never publicly or privately asking for financial assistance in any way. He prayed to his father. Over his lifetime, he cared for 10 ,024 orphans. Here's one account of one day in the maintenance of the orphanage.

The children are dressed, ready for school, but there's no food for them to eat. The house mother of the orphanage informed George Muller. George asked her to take the 300 children into the dining room, have them sit at the tables.