I Am the Resurrection and the Life

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2021 · 20 June 2021

Let us continue the story of Lazarus in John 11. This is the final public miracle that Jesus did, and it is the capstone of all His miracles because of the nature of the situation. This remarkable miracle is done at a strategic time just prior to the Passover in a place called Bethany, which is two miles east of Jerusalem on the road from Jericho that was literally filled with pilgrims heading to the Passover.

So everybody coming that way would have heard the story about Lazarus. It circulated through the whole city. The raising of Lazarus strengthened the faith of the disciples. But it was not enough to cause them to believe in our Lord's resurrection. The resurrection of Lazarus gave a preview of the resurrection of Christ, which helped them to believe that it could happen because they had seen His power in Lazarus.

The resurrection of Lazarus also was a monumental evidence of His deity. And the resurrection of Lazarus was so well-known that it forced the leaders of Judaism to press the issue of the execution of Jesus because He was just having too much influence. So the whole chapter is about this miracle and its results. So we will be looking at that for another couple of weeks.

Let us focus in the beginning of our message on these two verses in John 11. This is really the high point. This is the essence of what is being conveyed in this miracle. It says in John 11:25-26, “Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

Believing that Jesus is the resurrection and the life is supported by this incredible miracle, and that's why there's so much detail here and all of the detail is important. There are a lot of other elements to it as we have been learning and will continue to learn. But the main focus is to demonstrate that Christ is the resurrection and the life. He is the Son of God, and that believing in His name brings everlasting life in heaven.

That's the message of John. "It is written that you might believe and that you might receive eternal life." The message that you need to get is that you are going to die and you are not in charge of when. You're not in charge of where, and you're not in charge of how. Even if you decide to kill yourself, you're not in charge of the circumstances. You are not in charge of your death, but you better be ready for it.

Ecclesiastes 8:8 puts it this way, "No man has authority to restrain the wind, so also no man has authority over the day of death." Job 18:14 says, "When that day comes, man is torn from the security of his tent, and they march him off before the king of terrors.” King of terrors is death. 1 Timothy 6, "We brought nothing into the world so we cannot take anything out of it either."

Job 14:1-2 says, “How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! 2 We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.” And Moses says in Psalm 90:10, “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and then we fly away.”

Is that where evolution has brought us after billions of years, to this kind of non-existence called death. The problem is that is a lie. You are more than mere protoplasm waiting to become manure. Every human being will live forever. That is the word from God, the Creator. And not only will you live forever in spirit, but you will live forever in a resurrected body, both in heaven and in hell.

In hell, a body to absorb eternal punishment. In heaven, a body to enjoy eternal bliss. You will live forever. Remember John 5:28-29, our Lord said this, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming, in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and will come forth; those who have done good to a resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Here our Lord not only says He will be the judge and the one who raises the dead, but He is, in fact, the resurrection and the life. It's not just something He does to give life. It is who He is. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Our Lord was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being.”

He is the source of everything that lives. He is the resurrection and the life because He is life. He has the power to create out of nothing, and He has the power to raise the dead because He is life. Everything that exists, everything that exists in the spiritual and physical world, He made. From the smallest cell to the most complex human being, He gave life to everything that lives.

Here in the resurrection of Lazarus, our Lord Jesus puts on a display of the power of life that He possesses. Now, He raised two people, one was the daughter of Jairus, a young girl who was dying at home. By the time Jesus got there, she was dead. Some people might say, "Well, maybe she only passed out, because the miracle happened only a few moments after she died.”

And then there the case of the widow who was taking her son to be buried with the procession of people who were mourning. Jesus stopped the procession and raised the dead young man. Some might argue that this was just a resuscitation of someone who was thought to be dead. But in the case of Lazarus, that was not possible because this was someone who had been dead four days.

The Jews did not embalm to stop the decay. They wrapped the body and sprinkled spices on it to mitigate the smell. Here's what happens in four days, when the heart stops beating, the body cells are deprived of oxygen and they begin to die. Blood drains from throughout the circulatory system and pools in the low places. Muscles begin to stiffen in rigor mortis. That sets in after three hours.

By 24 hours, the body has lost all its heat. The muscles then lose their rigor mortis in 36 hours, and by 72 hours rigor mortis has vanished. All stiffness is gone and the body is soft. As cells begin to die, bacteria go to work. The bacteria in the body of a dead person begin to break the cells down. The decomposing tissue takes on a horrific look and smell and emits green liquids by the 72nd hour.

The flesh releases hydrogen sulfide and methane as well as other gases. Insects and animals will consume parts of the body if they can get at it. That's the condition Lazarus is in when Jesus arrives. Everyone knows he is dead. As Martha says in verse 39, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench." Because he has been dead four days. The people lived with the horrors of death.

It's also very important to understand what a funeral was like then. When someone died, family, friends, neighbors and even connected strangers poured into their life. In the case of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, they must have been a very prominent family. Let's read verse 17, “When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days.”

Verses 18-19, “Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss.” Jesus comes because He is sympathetic. But it's not just this compassion for them. It is the purpose of God that He would raise this man from the dead in a public place on the very road from Jericho because the funeral has attracted this huge crowd.

Everybody there is becoming an eye witness to a resurrection, and they're going to tell their story far and wide. There are literally going to be hundreds of eye witnesses to this miracle. This is important to strengthen the faith of the disciples, and to put the capstone on miracles that demonstrated His deity. And to force the Jews to kill Him because He is having way too much impact.

So Jesus was coming to a very crowded scene and there were all these people there, hundreds who are all being set up. They are to be eye witnesses of a resurrection. Jesus comes back to a scene of death, announces that He is the life, and gives life. So Jesus makes His great claim beginning in verse 20, “When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house.”

Mary is the pensive, thoughtful, inward kind of personality and Martha is the busy one, the active one, the aggressive one. She gets the word that the Savior is on the way, and as soon as she gets the word that He's on the way, she charges in that direction. Mary stays back. She's broken hearted. She's sad. She doesn't even know Jesus is coming. She is just agonizing over the loss of her brother.

But as Martha reached Jesus, the thought was that Jesus should have been there; and if Jesus hadn't left, this wouldn't have happened. Verse 21, “Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Did she know He had healing power? Sure. She has no question about His ability to heal the sick because He did that virtually His entire ministry.

She knew Jesus was capable of healing Lazarus’ illness, but her faith comes short of believing that He could raise him from the dead. There's doubt, but then there's also hope in verse 22, “But even now I know that God will give You whatever you ask.” She also understands by her testimony that Jesus in His incarnation has submitted Himself to the will of the Father.

This lady got a solid Christology. She got it. And Jesus no doubt stayed at their home many times, but somehow with all that she knew, there was this pain that testifies to a faith that comes short of believing His power to raise the dead. Verse 23-24, Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”

Martha knows there is a future resurrection. How does she know that? She knows the book of Job. What did it say in Job 19:25-27, “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! 27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.” Job was confident of a resurrection.

She knew Daniel 12:2, “Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace.” She heard the Lord in John 5:28-29, “For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear My voice 29 and come forth. Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Verse 25, “Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.” This is the fifth of seven ‘I Ams’ in the gospel of John. That's the Tetragrammaton, the name of God. Verse 26, “Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” So here is this great claim to be the ‘I Am’, the one who is the source of life.

Verse 27, “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” That's the salvation path. She didn't even know about the cross yet because He hadn't died. She didn't know about His resurrection yet because it hadn't happened, but she believed everything that had been revealed up to that point. She is an Old Testament believer.

The evidence is massive. After His resurrection, He appeared to the apostles. He appeared to 500 brethren at once in one place. There's so much evidence. Do you believe? If you do not believe, it is not because there is not enough evidence. This entire gospel is written, "That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing you might have eternal life in His name."

Verse 28-31, “Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” 29 So Mary immediately went to Him. 30 Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met Him.” 31, When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there.”

Verse 32-35, When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a He groaned in the Spirit, and he was deeply troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” He asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept.”

This is a word that shows everything. There is sorrow, indigence and suffering. Every emotion grips Him in His spirit, in His inner person, and He was troubled. He let Himself feel everything. This is like what Hebrews says, "He is in all points tempted like as we are." He has been touched with the feelings of our infirmities as our High Priest.

He understands the pain and suffering of all humanity that faces the same inevitable hour of human loss. He understands what sin has done to the world and what unbelief has done to these people who are gathered around Him. He felt the pain that will literally be imposed on every human family yet to live on this planet that faces the same reality. And worse, the pain of unbelief and its horrendous result.

Verse 36, “Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” That was true. But they didn't see the whole picture. They didn't know that what led to that outburst was far more than His affection for Lazarus. It was all the reality of sin and death and unbelief and judgment in hell that was behind that scene, and there He stands at the edge of the tomb, sobbing. What happens next you will hear next week. Let us pray.