WWUTT 913 The Resurrection and the Life?

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Jesus raised a dead man to life just by speaking a command. And you know what?

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You and I have been raised from death to life exactly the same way. We heard the

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Word of God spoken and believed when we understand the text. This is

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When We Understand The Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will.

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For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue our study of John chapter 11, finishing up the story of Jesus raising

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Lazarus from the dead. I'll start reading in verse 38. Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb.

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It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,

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Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her,

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Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone.

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And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.

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When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

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The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth.

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Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go. Many of the

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Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary had seen what he did and believed in him. But some of them went to the

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Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said,

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What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the

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Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. But one of them,

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Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.

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He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

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So from that day on, they made plans to put him to death. Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the

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Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

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Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the

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Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus, and saying to one another as they stood in the temple,

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What do you think, that he will not come to the feast at all? Now the chief priests and the

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Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know so that they might arrest him.

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We come back again to verse 38, where Jesus, deeply moved again, came to Lazarus' tomb.

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Now remember what I had mentioned yesterday, this phrase deeply moved is synonymous with Jesus feeling indignant, like he was angry.

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What would he have been angry about? Well, he was angry about sin, and the wages of sin, which is death.

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And as I mentioned yesterday, Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, death is the last enemy to be destroyed.

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Consider what we read in Revelation 21, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

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And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

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And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

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He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their

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God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

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Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.

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And this is at the conclusion of Christ coming as a conqueror to put to death his enemies, destroying even

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Satan and his angels, and death itself.

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And so we have in verse 4, He will wipe away every tear, and death shall be no more.

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So what we have here with Jesus' feeling of indignation, deeply moved as he comes to the womb of Lazarus, there's kind of a taste of the anger, a very slight glimpse of the righteous anger that he will demonstrate at the final judgment, when all things are placed under the feet of Christ.

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And when he says to Lazarus, Come out, it is a demonstration of destroying death, that Christ has the power over death itself, and raises his own from the grave.

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All of this is wrapped up in understanding what it means when it says Jesus is deeply moved again.

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He was deeply moved before at the weeping of his friends because of the sorrow they felt after the loss of their friend, and he's deeply moved here when he comes to the tomb.

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It was a cave, the scripture says, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said,

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Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead for four days.

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So once again, we saw glimpses of Martha's faith, but then we also see evidence of her doubt.

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And in this particular instance, she doesn't really think he's going to raise him from the dead. She thinks he wants to go see him.

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Why would he do that when he's been dead for four days? What is that going to accomplish? Are you even going to be able to walk into that tomb?

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Because there's going to be an odor, a stench that's going to come out from this corpse that's been in there for four days.

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And Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?

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Previously, Jesus had said to Martha, Your brother will rise again when they first encountered one another, when

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Jesus was coming up on Bethany and Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

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She's getting, you know, theological. I know. I know my Sunday school lessons, Jesus. And Jesus says to her, verse twenty five,

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I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

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And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

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And she said once again, her Sunday school answer, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the son of God who is coming into the world.

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But he said, whoever believes in me shall never die, though he die, yet shall he live, though the body will die, yet he will live forever with God.

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So now putting it before Martha again, did I not tell you that if you believed in me, you would see the glory of God and then shows her exactly what he's talking about?

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They took away the stone and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

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I knew that you always hear me. But I said this on account of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.

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Jesus is praying to the father and thanking him for hearing

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Jesus. So this would be a testament. It would be a testimony to the people who were around, who heard

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Jesus praying to the father. But he's praying so that they would hear and that they would believe that Jesus was sent by the father.

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When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice calling out to the tomb. Lazarus, come out.

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A few years back, I went to go see the movie Son of God in the theaters. I went to go see it because I was going to make fun of it.

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That's I already knew it was going to be a terrible film. It was a movie that was basically made with the extras, the cuts from the

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Bible miniseries that aired on the History Channel. Incidentally, right now, the History Channel is doing another series.

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It's called Jesus, His Life. It's absolutely terrible. And I'm covering it on my blog.

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So if you want to read about this current series, of course, history has always got to do something like this right around Easter.

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But you can check out my blog, go to PastorGabe .com. That's the fastest way to get you there.

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Anyway, watching Son of God in the theater, I remember one of the most disappointing scenes was the way that they shot

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Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, because he actually goes in the tomb and he kind of like breathes on Lazarus.

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He just whispers to him and just says, Lazarus, wake up or something like I can't remember what it was.

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It was dumb, whatever they had Jesus doing to raise Lazarus from the dead.

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And it was totally not even close to what it is that we see in the story. Jesus did this before many witnesses.

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He prays to be heard. He cries out in a loud voice, just as we will see later on.

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He cries out with a loud voice as he yields up his spirit to the Father when he's dying on the cross. So here he cries out with a loud voice to the tomb and he says,

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Lazarus, come out. And it's by the call of Christ, by his very command, by the utterance of his voice that Lazarus obeys a dead man in a tomb, obeys the voice of the

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Son of God and stands up and walks out. And my friends, the way that Jesus raised

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Lazarus from the dead is exactly the same way that he raises us from the dead.

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It is by the hearing of the word of Christ, the preaching of the gospel that we had turned from sin.

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We were raised from the dead person that we were, dead in our sins and our transgressions. And we were raised to life.

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We previously had a dead spirit, a living body, but a dead spirit. Having received the curse of Adam, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

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We were as dead men, dead in our sins and our transgressions in which we once walked,

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Ephesians 2 .1. And it was when the gospel was spoken to us, the way that Jesus began preaching the gospel,

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Matthew chapter four, Mark chapter one, he began by saying, repent and believe the gospel.

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And when we heard the proclamation of the gospel that Jesus Christ died for sinners, that he rose again from the dead and whoever believes in him will be forgiven their sins and have eternal life.

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And a day of judgment is coming and everyone who believes in Jesus will be saved on the day of judgment.

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And when we heard these words and we turned from our sin and we believed them, we were obedient to the call to be raised from the dead, just as Jesus had said it to Lazarus.

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The very same way he brings Lazarus from the dead is the same way he brings a dead soul back to life.

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Furthermore, when Christ returns and he raises the dead to life in his second coming, when the, when the dead in Christ shall rise, as Paul talks about in first Thessalonians chapter four, he mentions that the

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Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first verse 17.

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Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

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And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore we are to encourage one another with these words.

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So Jesus is even going to raise dead corpses back to life at his second coming the same way by the cry of a command and the dead in Christ will rise first.

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And so Jesus crying out in a loud voice says, Lazarus come out. And the man who had died came out his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth.

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And Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. What a beautiful story demonstrating the power of Christ over death itself, our last enemy.

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And he will conquer death for the last time at his second coming.

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And once again, as we read in revelation 21, we will dwell with him forever where death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away.

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Revelation 21, five, and he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new.

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Many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the

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Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, what are we to do?

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For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him and the

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Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.

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See the Romans and the Jews had this arrangement. It was called religio la cita. It meant permitted religion.

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The Romans allowed the Jews to have their religion as long as there wasn't a revolt. As long as they submitted to the

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Romans, they could have their temple. They could have their temple sacrifices. They could do all of their rituals.

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They still had to pay their taxes. They had to submit to Rome. Oh, and they could not make any converts.

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It had to be the Jews, the nation of the Jews doing the Jewish religion. But they couldn't be converting people to that religion.

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Jesus is performing these miracles and people are following him, not just Jews, but also

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Romans as well. Remember the centurion who went to Jesus and asked him to heal his son. So as or heal his servant, the healing of the official son that was earlier.

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But, you know, there's another example. So there were Romans who were even coming to Jesus and looking for the miracles that he was doing.

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As long as he kept doing these signs, there were going to be both Roman and Jewish converts.

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And so the Jews were concerned about this because they're going to lose their their status with the

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Romans. They're also losing their power over the people. And really, when it comes down to it, they weren't they weren't worried about the

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Romans coming in and taking away both our place and our nation. They were they were just being hyper on that particular point.

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Their greatest concern was the fact that they were losing the people. And so the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the

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Sanhedrin was no longer being submitted to Sadducees, by the way, are not mentioned in John because they didn't exist anymore since the

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Gospel of John was written after 70 A .D. and the Sadducees sect of the

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Sanhedrin no longer existed, which is why we only have the Pharisees mentioned in John and not the

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Sadducees. Nevertheless, the Sanhedrin was worried about losing control. So now they're like going into worst case scenarios.

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The Romans are going to come and they're going to take away everything from us. But one of them, Caiaphas, the high priest at that particular time, he said to them and usually the high priest was was was from the

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Sadducees, by the way, he said, you know, nothing at all, nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.

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Now, Caiaphas was talking about turning Jesus over to the Romans so that the wrath of the Romans would be satisfied.

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We've got the guy who would be leading this revolt against us. That would be

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Jesus. And so if he dies, then maybe the Romans won't take everything from us.

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Now, if you know the story, if you know your history, you know, eventually Rome did take everything away from the

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Sadducees and the Pharisees and all the Jewish people when they raided Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in 70

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AD. So even though they were trying to feed morsels to the crocodile to keep the crocodile from jumping up and snapping their arm off, that's exactly what the crocodile ends up doing.

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So they were unsuccessful in trying to keep the predator appeased as Rome eventually did take everything away from the

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Jews. But Caiaphas's statement here is not regarding the substitutionary atonement of Christ, even though, ironically, that is what ends up happening.

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Jesus dies as a sacrifice for his people, an atonement by his blood.

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He dies for our sake. It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.

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And Jesus died for us so that we would not perish under the wrath of God. Caiaphas didn't know that's what he was saying.

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And it goes on here to to say that he did not say this of his own accord. Verse 51. But being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

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So from that day forth, they made plans to put him put him to death. Now, once again,

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Caiaphas did not know that his prophecy was regarding us today, Christians who are one in Christ, because we believe he who died for our sins and rose again from the grave has brought us from death to life.

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And we are the people of God adopted into the family of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

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But Caiaphas thought his prophecy was concerning, turning Jesus over to the Romans so that he might die to appease the

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Romans. Deuteronomy 13 tells us the following. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass.

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And if he says, let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.

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For the Lord, your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

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How was it that Caiaphas was encouraging the Jews to follow after another God? Well, he was telling them to put the son of God to death.

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He has taught rebellion against the Lord, your God, as it says in verse five.

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So Caiaphas becomes the very kind of prophet warned about in Deuteronomy 13.

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So verse 54, therefore, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but he went from there to the region near the wilderness to a town called

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Ephraim, and he stayed there with his disciples. Now, the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the

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Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple.

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What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all? Now, the chief priests and the

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Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know so that they might arrest him.

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It wasn't my intention when we started our study of John that we would come into Passover and Jesus' time with his disciples at the

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Last Supper and then even the crucifixion itself. I didn't think that we were going to come up on that during Easter.

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That wasn't my intention. But that's where we're headed. We're getting closer and closer to Easter, and we're getting closer and closer to that portion of the story.

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When we pick up next week, we will read about Mary anointing Jesus at Bethany in John 12.

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Join me again tomorrow for the devotional when we begin our study of the Psalms.

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Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.

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Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word when we understand the text.