I Am The Resurrection.... Come Forth!

John 11:1-54 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible (link on links Page)

The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ³ So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. ⁷ Then after this He *said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples *said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹ This He said, and after that He *said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.” ¹² The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” ¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.” ¹⁶ Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”

¹⁷ So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. ²⁰ Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. ²¹ Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” ²³ Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”

²⁸ When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she *got up quickly and was coming to Him.

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. ³¹ Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, ³⁴ and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”

³⁸ So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus *said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” ⁴³ When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

Today's text is a powerful account of Jesus authority over things in the natural world. Jesus being God in flesh showed His authority over natural elements, calming the storm. He showed His authority over time and space when He got into the boat with His disciples and immediately they were at their destination. He continually showed His authority over sickness, disease and evil spirits, through healings and deliverences. In today's text we see Jesus displays His authority over death. There are also many other more subtle messages within this account of the resurrection of Lazarus. 

Jesus says: “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”  It wasn't that Lazarus wasn't going to die, it was that death was not the end of the story of Lazarus. This story is about the glory of God, it's about Jesus, the Son of God being glorified. Jesus had been speaking figuratively about Lazarus being asleep and the disciples were not understanding so Jesus says: Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe"      The text tells us that Jesus waited two days after receiving word that Lazarus was sick. Jesus Himself said of the things He did:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.(John 5:19)       Jesus could have left immediately, or He could have spoken to the sickness which gripped Lazarus from across the miles that separated them. Jesus could have healed Lazarus, but that wasn't what the Father was doing, there was a greater revelation of Jesus authority that God wanted to show.

In verses 32-37   we again see this emphasis on what Jesus could have done. The text says:     Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, ³⁴ and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”      This text also says Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, it says Jesus wept. There are many people who have tried to make out that Jesus tears were due to the unbelief of the people. I believe that Jesus tears and the troubled spirit were due to the compassion He had and has for us. Jesus says: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.(Matthew 5:4) Jesus knows we will mourn the loss of loved ones. He is compassionate of our sorrow and mourning.  His desire is that we be comforted and He will bring us that comfort, yet in our sorrow and mourning, He feels our hurt. He weeps with us and for us.

When Jesus had first arrived, He said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,.   The power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from His grave displays without question Jesus authority over death. Here though before His own resurrection Jesus says that resurrection power and authority is part of His very character. He does not cause just  the resurrection from the dead, He is the resurrection. 

Our text continues:  Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus *said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” This was not a lack of faith on Martha's part, she was simply stating a natural fact. In this fallen world things die. There are many things that happen in this world throughout our lives that can cause us to say that stinks. It is not necessarily a lack of faith on our part. The natural tendency of things in this world will be for us to have troubles and trial. Truthfully sometimes we all say that stinks. Jesus came into the world to seek and save the lost. He came to redeem man from sin. He also came as the restoration of all things.

Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” ⁴³ When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”      

Today, whatever has you bound, whatever there maybe in your life that stinks, what ever it is that is causing you to weep and mourn. Jesus is the resurrection. He came to restore all that was lost. He feels your pain and your sorrow. He wants today to raise up that which has a stench in your life. He wants to unbind you and let you go, to walk again in the fullness of life. Raise your eyes with Him and say Father I thank You that You have heard me. Cry out to the Lazarus in your life  Come Forth.