Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

John 11 and the Setting of Lazarus’s Death

Turn your Bibles with me, please back to John chapter 11. John chapter 11 gospel of John chapter 11. Once again, let us ask the Lord's blessing upon our time together. My Grace Heavenly Father we thank you once again for this beautiful scripture.

We confess that because of our familiarity with it. We especially need to ask that you would help us to Look even more closely pay better attention. So we might handle it right and we might hear what it would have for us this evening.

We pray in Christ's name. Amen. This morning we began looking at this text and we came to the point where having informed the disciples that Lazarus died. We have the disciples and Jesus coming back into the area around Jerusalem we can tell that the disciples are filled with trepidation.

What is going to take place in light of what had happened at the end of chapter 10 and the near stoning of? Jesus at that time, but the disciples you'll notice really fall out of the picture. Pretty much for the rest of this particular element this particular part of the story and now the focus turns from Jesus's interaction with them to Jesus's interaction with Martha and Mary and It is of course again very common that the commentators will speculate greatly as to exactly what the motivations were exactly what the Intimations were of hello of the words that were said to Jesus.

We'll look at those as we as we get into it, but it is fascinating to see the interaction that takes place Between these sisters who respond very differently they have clearly very different temperaments and personalities and The Lord Jesus himself.

Especially because we really don't know much about what the background was we don't know. You know, we're just not given much in the way of information as to exactly how this particular relationship began.

What kind of discipling had already taken place how much time had been spent? These were things we just simply are not given any information about at all. We sort of have to fill in some of the blanks and so we noted this morning in verse 19 There seems to be good information that Lazarus and Mary and Martha are fairly well-known amongst the Jews in Jerusalem and Therefore a large number of people have come to mourn and to weep the death of Lazarus and I especially Having a Scottish Orientation to my personality cannot begin really to conceive of any of this.

I am about as far away from the Middle Eastern wailing and Full-on public Emotional Expression that is a part of this society as I could possibly be and It just makes me just creeps me out to put it in a in the vernacular.

But that's the way things were done. And that was what was considered to be normal. And so there's nothing unusual about the fact that there are many who were there. You remember when Jesus comes and raises Jairus his daughter.

He has to put the mourners out and We know that historically there were professional mourners. If you weren't if you weren't the most friendly person on the planet didn't have a whole lot in the way of friends.

You could actually pay to have people come and And mourn for your family members. I'm not sure if there was an extra amount for tears. You know exactly how all of that worked but you could literally have professional mourners who made money Going around weeping and wailing and doing things doing things like that that's.

By the way, when I go don't want any of that. Okay, really? No, that's that's not not my thing and so there are many that have already come to the house and Evidently, that means the house wasn't a really small house either and so verse 20 When Martha hears that Jesus has come she she gets up and goes to him immediately, but notice that Mary remains seated in the house and so Exactly.

Why is that? What's the what does that mean? I'm not really good at trying to read between the lines. I'm not overly good at psychoanalysis, especially from the distance of what about seven eight thousand miles and two thousand years worth of culture and language difference, but Martha obviously seems to be the much more impetuous of the sisters and so she immediately gets up and She leaves the house and she she goes to Jesus and her words are Lord if You had been here My brother would not have died.

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God God will give to you now. How are we to hear these words? Some Have heard an accusation or at least an element of accusation and it certainly would be understandable and from my own perspective if I were Mary and Martha and I had sent word to Jesus It would be very easy for me to read my own personality into this and There would probably be at least some level of restrained complaint and Many commentators have seen this Lord if you had been here, he would not have died.

It was interesting as I Prepared for this text in Looking at some of the commentaries that at least one Individual really emphasized the idea that there could be no death in the presence of Jesus. I'll be honest with you.

I had never really thought of that before. It was pointed out that no one ever died in Jesus's presence. I'm not really sure how relevant that is to be perfectly honest with you most of us have not had someone die directly in our presence, but I didn't have that happen until I started working in a hospital but Certainly Jesus gave life and I'm not I I don't buy the idea that you you could not die in Jesus's presence.

I don't I don't see exactly where that's being derived from but certainly In light of what Jesus said to his disciples. There is some Propriety in Recognizing that had Jesus been there Now again, we're stepping outside of the divine decree of God and the purposes of God and all the rest that type of stuff but But even Jesus when he said I'm I am glad for your sakes.

I was not there it seems to indicate that that yes, Jesus would have been so moved by the Suffering that he would have alleviated that suffering. That's just simply in the human realm Not in the divine realm in the sense of of the decree of God but Others have not seen a complaint But an actual statement of faith.

But again, how how well formed and full of faith is this that we see from Martha, I mean certainly we look at verse 22 and Even now I know that whatsoever you ask of God God will give it to you. Is there a implicit hope That Jesus can raise Lazarus from the dead.

Well, I suppose it's possible Even when they go to the tomb you've got the but Lord he stinketh and so on and so forth. And so even when when Jesus presses his claims In just a matter of verses the response is gonna be yet Yes, I know that my my brother will will rise in the resurrection of the dead.

But is could we read verse 22 fairly as a Request for what actually takes place. It's hard to say. It's hard to say clearly Martha is professing faith that Jesus is the Son of God that Jesus is. She's gonna say all of this a little bit later on.

But there is much emotion and there is much confusion there is much sorrow in her statement Jesus says to her Your brother will rise again. Now it's interesting We immediately Knowing the rest of the story.

It's just it's hard for us to follow the story and To interpret the story in its own context because we already know what's going to happen we can't filter that out of our thinking and We also already know what Jesus has said to his disciples but Martha doesn't know any of that and So when Jesus says your brother will rise again It seems that her response Would be identified as an understandable Orthodox Jewish reply an understandable Orthodox Jewish reply.

Why do I say that? Well Her response is I know That he will rise in the resurrection on the last day. Now what that means is we can tell immediately that Lazarus and his sisters were good Pharisees not good Sadducees.

That is they held to the common Pharisaic understanding and pharisaic has become a bad word for us, but That's unfortunate because obviously the Pharisees were significantly more Biblically Orthodox and their understanding of things especially the resurrection than the Sadducees were.

Sadducees were much more defined by politics than they were by theology and so the common Jewish eschatology. If you want to feel like you're in seminary the common Jewish eschatology of Second Temple Judaism was this that's a good way to make Everybody fall asleep before we get everything done.

But that is the that's the the scholarly way of saying well the Jewish people in the days of Jesus, what did they believe about resurrection and. And What they believed was that there would be a general resurrection at the last day at the judgment.

That is what made Jesus's resurrection so Outside the norm. That's why he's called the firstfruits of those that slept. Yes, there was already a common belief that there would be a resurrection at the last day but the idea of that happening beforehand and The idea that there would be a spiritual resurrection, which we'd identify with regeneration.

That would even precede that final resurrection. These are things that awaited the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. And so what she says is I know that he will rise in the resurrection last day. That is a an Orthodox Jewish statement That God will resurrect the dead.

There's going to be a general judgment. This was the common belief of what's called Taniatic Judaism or more likely you'll hear it today described as Second Temple Judaism the temple had been rebuilt.

And so this is called the Second Temple. That's the temple that is destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 and so Jesus's response to her Orthodox statement Cannot be what she expected she had given a perfectly orthodox interpretation of his words your brother will rise again but Jesus has more in mind than merely a Restatement of what she had probably already heard from the local rabbi.

Probably one of the first things that had been said to her Upon Lazarus's death Was well, Mary Martha. We know that he will rise again someday at the at the great the great resurrection, right? Yes, rabbi, we We believe that we understand and that does give hope.

So she probably figured she was just giving the response that she should have given. But Jesus's response goes well beyond anything that any rabbi could have Possibly said to her or even understood in his response Jesus said to her I.

And he uses the emphatic form ago. I mean, I am the resurrection and the life. The one believing in me Even if he died shall live. And everyone living and believing in me shall never die. Do you believe this now?

Do you believe this? What was she supposed to say? Her response is a high-level response. You'll notice verse 27. I have believed That you are the Christ the Son of God the one coming into the world so there was already a high level of revelation on the part of The Spirit of God to Mary and Martha and Lazarus as to who Jesus was.

The Resurrection and the Life in John 11

But when Jesus says I am the resurrection once again For those of you who have been here for years and years and years Not only have you heard pastor Fry quote from Pilgrim's Progress So often that in a sense we have canonized it as the 28th book in the New Testament.

I Mean if usage is a measurement of canonicity then what can you say? But you have heard me say over and over again that we as Christians we tend to overlook so many of the strongest lines of evidence.

Concerning the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ we let ourselves get trapped into just discussing a small number of texts and we're debating John 1 1 and John 8 58 and 8 24 and 13 19 Titus 2 13 2nd Peter 1 1 and all the rest of the verses and and and the reality is the the scope and the breadth and the depth of the testimony of the deity of Christ is found on almost every page in the New Testament if we will but put ourselves back into the context in which these words originally spoken and here is a tremendous example a tremendous example Within the context of a orthodox Jewish confession of the coming resurrection.

What on earth could someone mean by saying I am the resurrection? The resurrection is is a necessary element of the eschatological work of God whereby he brings about justice in this world and there is going to be judgments and it's it's something that God's going to do so as to be able to To bring about the completion of all things.

What do you mean? You are the resurrection and he says so emphatically I Myself am the resurrection and the life. How can you be a future eschatological reality? Well, obviously he means something far greater than just the idea of the revivification of Bodies in a future context so that there can be judgment for the things that were done in That body on this earth and What is the relationship between?

Resurrection and life a lot of people just sort of conflate the two. I am the resurrection and the life. Just put them together. They're almost renaming one another. But I think that would be a mistake.

Especially in light of the fact that in the rest of what Jesus teaches He makes obviously a distinction between spiritual and physical life. He speaks of a person first of all Who will live even though he dies and then in another context will never die.

How does that work? Well, clearly there is a spiritual element and then there is the physical element. That is being referred to here so we say the resurrection and the life they're clearly related and They're tied up in one person, but if if resurrection is something that only God does and if the Jews of this time period were united in Their recognition that only God is the source of life only God can give life.

Put yourself in Martha's sandals for a moment. She she believes that he's the Messiah. She believes he's the Son of God. She believes he's been sent into the world that very language. If you've been sent into the world That seems to indicate that you pre-existed you're being sent that you you're a pre-existent being and so That's a pretty high confession.

There's no question about it. But still when you hear Jesus say to Martha I Myself am the resurrection the very embodiment of what God is going to do in bringing life back to all of mankind and I am the life that we know we've already Heard Jesus talking about himself is the only way you can have life John chapter 6 unless you eat his flesh drink his blood.

You have no life within yourself. In John chapter 14, we're gonna hear him say again. I am the way the truth and the life no one in the history of the Jewish people spoke like this every Every Martha every Mary every Lazarus every Joseph Knew all the stories of the prophets.

They knew what they had said they knew about Moses and they honored Moses and they knew about Abraham and they honored Abraham and and David and Isaiah and in all the great men that God had sent. And so they knew what they had said about themselves and they could not help.

But be struck by the fact that how Jesus speaks of himself is utterly unlike What any of those men had ever said you cannot put these words Into the mouth of any of the Old Testament prophets without producing absolute blasphemy.

Moses never says I am the resurrection the life David Abraham. They point people To God they point people To the source of life, but They never claimed to be that life the resurrection and the life. Well That would seem if we put them together to emphasize the Transition out of death.

That's the resurrection and then the life is the resultant Supernatural life that is of a completely different kind of life that had been experienced before and so the resurrection points us to the entrance into spiritual life and Then the life itself.

How can Jesus be the life? We have to ponder this we cannot rush past these words, even though we've all heard them over and over again and everyone in this room Even if you didn't have the specific biblical reference memorized You Knew these words you've heard these words anyone of almost any age whatsoever who has Started going to those funerals which you go to more often the older you get has heard these words uttered by Believing Pastors in a proper context of speaking of Jesus as the resurrection in the life.

Sadly, you will hear them being uttered by the most Liberal Unbelieving Christ denying heretics on the planet at a funeral as well and Believe you me. You will hear these words being uttered at the graveside of many a man and woman That live their life in utter rejection of the Lordship of Christ never gave him a second thought other than to how to pronounce his name as a curse word and Yet piously these words will be repeated even At the graveside of one who will not receive any type of spiritual resurrection in the sense of a right standing with God and peace and joy in his presence and So sometimes it is the fact that we've heard the phrase over and over again that it ends up taking on a meaning that Would not necessarily have been intended by the original author.

Because Jesus is not pointing Martha to some fulfillment of Jewish theology. She is pointing Martha. He is pointing Martha to himself. I am I Am the resurrection. I am the life. It's astounding it's astounding especially if it's not true.

I Mean We've recently had some there was a film put out a while ago that sort of presented a confused Jesus who was sort of being pushed along as a as he slowly Discovers his messianic identity and this type of stuff.

Words like this Just Can't be put upon the lips of Some confused person just going oh, I wonder if I'm sort of special in my relationship to God type thing. No, I Am the resurrection. If you're going to experience true resurrection because remember We use that term somewhat ambiguously We refer to a resurrection of all the dead in the sense of a general judgment, yes, but just like the word Shalom peace in Hebrew Doesn't just simply mean a cessation of hostilities.

It means a wellness of relationship in the same way resurrection in the sense of what God's people experience Fundamentally different in nature from what God's enemies experience. It's not just the revivification of a particular body it is a Bringing to life and It's a spiritual life.

John chapter 5 he who believes in me has passed out of death into life. It's a different kind of life. We had been physically alive in our death and Now we are spiritually alive. Even if we die, that's the point that's here as well and so The only place where you can experience that resurrection is in Jesus Christ.

Only in him. That's why he can say I am the resurrection and if you desire to experience Life everlasting the presence of God. The only way to experience that is in the one who has been sent in the world who is the resurrection hence union with him being in him this continues fulfills fleshes out in a sense the intimacy of the words of John 6 About eating his flesh and drinking his blood believing seeing coming to him continuously, etc, etc.

This is what is being referred to. And so if you are in him you receive from him what you can only receive from him and that is resurrection. He is the resurrection and That's why he's called the first fruits.

That's why Paul can say if he did not rise from the dead. We are of all men most to be pitied. Because it is his resurrection that is the absolute epitome and proof of our own resurrection. The only reason that we truly have a promise that we will experience resurrection is because he has experienced that resurrection and We are united with him.

So he becomes he is the resurrection. But he is also the life. It's not just a kind of life. He is the life. There is only one Species of eternal life and Jesus has already taught the one believing in him possesses right now eternal life.

It's a life that does not manifest itself in the world in the sense that you can get out of particular kind of meter and Around a Christian. Oh, it's one way and we're on a non-christian. It's another way.

No you can't photograph it and yet It is a life. Lived in union with Christ is a life that is to change how we respond to this world and it's a life that cannot be touched by the powers of this world and so If we are going to live forever It's not like we simply have implanted within us some kind of really long-lasting energizer.

It's the it's the spiritual energizer that never gives up. No. The reason that we have eternal life and that it lasts forever is because of the nature of that life. And the nature of the one to whom we have become united.

So When Jesus says I am the resurrection and the life he has totally changed Martha's focus and perspective from a theological Discussion of what is in the future to the one who is standing right in front of her she Wasn't focused upon him.

She was focused upon her grief her loss. And even when he comes even with her great respect for him He is not the focus of her thinking. It's her loss. It's what could have been it's what might still be.

And so what does Jesus do? He changes her focus. I am Not it shall be. He doesn't say well said Martha you did well in synagogue school. You listened better than anybody else did. That's not what he says.

He's not rebuking her understanding. He's not rebuking the orthodoxy of her statement. He's not even rebuking her for not immediately understanding when he says your brother will rise again that he's talking about in a few minutes.

She couldn't have understood that couldn't have seen that coming but what he does do is he changes her focus and Puts the focus directly upon who he is. Now it's common Christian teaching to say that Jesus Christ is our all-in-all and that we find everything in him and and we put him forward as as Our everything.

Now that gets you into trouble with certain leftist socialist secularists in our government as we discovered this week when a Person was attacked for daring to think that Jesus Christ could possibly be the only way of having true peace with God we understand that the people of the world don't like that idea, but This is one of the reasons why Christians down through the ages Have seemed to be so argumentative about the person of Jesus Christ.

Because you see once you no longer have the Jesus Christ of all of Scripture. Once you start chipping away at that and once you end up with the well We had to come a different way down here this evening because of i -17 and the stuff going on there.

And so we went down 7th Avenue and I think it's a Glendale and 7th Avenue is the church the bad attitudes. And some of you are trying to translate that but and They have a big old sign out and it was always safe.

I Forget what it was, but it was progressive theology. It had this big sign about Always risky always safe. Sometimes risky or something along those lines. Yeah and Progressive theology and we got stuck at the light there.

So we had to read it and And I was talking about how even back in seminary, which is long time ago that church was known as the church of the bad attitudes, but Those folks Do not have a Jesus that could give any meaning to these words.

Oh, they'll quote it all the time. But then they'll have to spiritualize it and and they could put these words in the mouth of Gandhi or anybody else you see once you start chipping away and you end up with just a moral teacher a Moral teacher cannot be the resurrection and the life and so when you say well Christians are so argumentative about this.

There's a reason the whole message we have for the world requires That Jesus Christ be the God man. If he's anything less than that We really don't have a message for the world. Jesus can't be a mere prophet he can't be merely the Messiah as Jesus himself had said in John chapter 8 unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins and So for Jesus to be these this beautiful promise The one believing in me will never die.

I'm the resurrection the life. There are certain truths that must Be connected to that and who Jesus is is central to that. So we're not being argumentative simply for the sake of being argumentative.

Oh, believe me. There are people who are who call themselves Christians who are argumentative solely for the reason of being argumentative. I experience that every single day, but The Christian people down through the centuries the reason We have emphasized this so strongly is because we recognize once you lose that we don't have anything to tell you.

We have no way of helping you With your sin and your suffering and your misery or anything else because we don't have anything More than all the rest of religions in the world, maybe less. Because we don't have the emphasis upon all the self-help methodologies I Am the resurrection the life requires Jesus to be the one who in John 1 1 in the beginning was the word.

The word was with God and the word was God and it was that word that became flesh. And that's why the one who in that flesh Says I am the resurrection the life the beauty of the whole Must be kept together.

We must see it. Indeed, we must rejoice in it. Let's pray together our gracious Heavenly Father indeed we have heard these words so many times and we've rejoiced in them we have In our own times. The loss of loved ones close to us have held on to these words and the promise they contain.

But Lord we can never truly plumb the depth of them. Help us father to understand them even better this evening. May this not be something we just simply listen to and go that's interesting and then set it aside.

May you remind us in the course this week to to ponder? What does it mean? That Jesus is the resurrection the life. May he truly in our lives be our life in this coming week May our lives reflect him.

Mary for lives reflect who he is and who he is making us to be. We thank you for this day of fellowship instruction from your word. May we be profitable servants of yours in this coming week. We pray in Christ's name.