The Resurrection of Lazarus

Transcript

GR 378
11/9/1980
The Resurrection of Lazarus
John 11:30-46
Gil Rugh

John chapter 11 in your Bibles. John's Gospel and the 11th chapter. We come to the account in our consideration of the 11th chapter today of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. It is a very striking miracle, and as we've noted several times previously the most outstanding miracle that Christ ever performed. Now as soon as you start talking about miracles and you want to say this one is greater than this one, obviously it is a relative thing. Any time you have someone doing the supernatural like Christ did, any supernatural display of power is supernatural. And we're simply dealing with what strikes us as more overwhelming in character. Jesus raised other people from the dead on earlier occasions in His ministry. But the circumstances surrounding those resurrections were not as striking as the one with Lazarus, particularly none of those Christ raised previously had been dead and buried for 4 days.

Now leading up to this miracle, the groundwork has been laid very clearly and purposely, as Jesus prepares His disciples and then prepares Martha and then prepares Mary for what is about to transpire. Mary has confronted Him and in verses 25 and 26, Jesus revealed Himself as the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. So if you believe in Me, you will never die; and even if you do die, if you believe in Me you will live again. Now that is a preparation for her. She's not going to be ready for what He is going to do, but nonetheless it is the groundwork for the fact that He will bring about this tremendous miracle.

When He is done with Martha and she gives that tremendous statement of faith where she acknowledges that she believes that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the One who has been sent into the world, in v. 27, then He sends her to call for Mary. And she went and called Mary secretly, perhaps so Mary would have time to spend some moments with Jesus before the multitude presses in again. It's interesting to me the way the statement at the end of v. 28 is put—"The teacher is here and is calling for you." We’re going to see in these verses leading up to the actual miracle the tremendous personal involvement on Jesus' part with the people that are involved. Tremendous compassion would be displayed, interest in them. And here you have Jesus calling Mary specifically. The Teacher is here and He is calling for you. He’s concerned for Mary—her heartaches, her needs on this occasion and He is going to minister to her personally before He brings about this great miracle.

Now Jesus has remained outside the village of Bethany, and Mary gets up to go out to Him. And the Jews in the house who have been there with her, to console her, to mourn with her, think she’s going to the grave, to the tomb to weep. So they get up to follow her. When Jesus comes to the tomb, there will be a multitude who are following along.

Verse 21 tells us that they went out of the house and followed her thinking she was going to the tomb. Verse 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.’" Same thing that Martha said in verse 21 when she confronted the Lord. And again, the statement of tremendous faith—we know that you could have made the difference, that you have the power that would have been able to prevent his death. That's a manifestation of great faith. That they believed that Jesus was powerful enough to have prevented the death of Lazarus. They didn't just think He had power when the illness was rather minor, but rather He healed illnesses that could have been fatal and were fatal on this occasion. So there is no discussion of whether there was any other conversation with Mary.

Verse 33. Jesus beholds Mary and the crowd, and you get the idea that this is done all the time, that Mary and has come and this crowd of people is following her thinking she was going to the tomb and she sees Jesus and just falls down before Him acknowledges Him as Lord. And acknowledges her faith. Oh, if you could have been here, you would have made the difference.

Now this has an impact upon Jesus in verse 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..." I think in this section and in these verses particularly we have laid the groundwork regarding the humanity of Jesus Christ. As Lazarus is raised from the dead, we're going to see a tremendous display of the deity of Jesus Christ, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that He is only deity but He is also humanity. And here He enters in to the suffering and sorrow that is going on this occasion. Sometimes we might have the idea that Jesus went through these circumstances unmoved because He is the Son of God. He knows that within a short period of time He is going to stand before the tomb of Lazarus and call him back to life so there's nothing to be upset about. Nothing to weep over. And yet He enters in to the suffering and the sorrow and the heartache that is going on with those around Him. You see something of the true humanity of Christ displayed here. It says, "He was deeply moved in spirit..." That's an unusual word, only used about three other times in the gospels apart from this particular setting in John 11. A couple of times it means or is translated to warn sternly. Some take the position here that the idea is that Jesus is angered on this occasion. As He looks around and sees the weeping and much of the wailing of these Jews, many who are really not believers, He is angry about the whole situation. But you really don't get that feeling as you read the context. You read verse 33, and it says "He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled" and in verse 35, "Jesus wept." That's more of the idea of strong emotional involvement, a strong commitment to the people here. Their sorrows become His sorrows. Their heartaches become His heartaches. Their burdens become His burden. And I think that's the picture in view here—that He is deeply moved in spirit. There is a strong emotional response to what goes on. And many of us, most of us probably, have been in situations where someone close to us or you're close to someone who has died, and when you're there you enter in to their suffering. You become sorrowful with them. You can go to a funeral and see that some people are greatly moved. For some people, they are not moved emotionally at all. They have come to pay their respects. But to a large extent, the depth of involvement will determine how much you are moved in the situation. You won't find too many people who are not emotionally moved at the death of a loved one or someone close to them. So Jesus here is just manifesting His closeness to Lazarus, to Martha, and to Mary in seeing the rending experience this has been for them. It has its impact upon Him. It also must press upon Him that His own death is impending within but a couple of months, and the reason He will be able to overcome the death of Lazarus, demonstrate Himself to be the resurrection and life is because He Himself will lay down His life on their behalf. That will bring suffering and sorrow to them on that occasion so that they might ultimately share in the victory. So He is deeply moved, He is troubled. The word troubled means to be agitated, to be stirred. So the emphasis here is on how involved He becomes in this situation, how much a part of it He is. And this is seen in verse 35 where after He asks where he is laid, and they say 'Lord, come and see.' "Jesus wept." Shortest verse in the English Bible. "Jesus wept." You see something of the emotional involvement here, the emotional commitment. It is an emotional experience, an emotional occasion. And we ought to keep that in mind, that Jesus just does not move through unaffected by what is going on. Rather He enters in to it. You know, sometimes we go through cycles in our growth as believers. We'll go through a period of time where we understand something of the sovereignty of God, and He does all things for our good and for His glory. And we think that ought to cause us to be unmoved in a moving situation. That a real mark of spirituality would be able to go to a funeral of a loved one and not shed a tear. As though that demonstrated something of a commitment to the sovereignty of God and an understanding of that. But I think it's more of a misunderstanding. Our understanding of God's power and God's working does not make us less human. Paul writes to the Romans in chapter 12 and tells them, "Weep with those who weep." We ought to be entering in to the experiences of other believers, sharing with them in their joys and in their sorrows. Sometimes we can be so calloused by just throwing off a verse. "Well, yes, but you know God is sufficient and He does all things for your good and for His glory, shall we pray." And it comes down to the fact that we don't really empathize with them. We haven't really entered in to their sufferings and their sorrows. And here you see Jesus Christ who knows what He's going to do, He knows what the outcome is going to be, but He is not simply callously saying, "Show me the tomb; I'll take care of it" and moves on. He is part of what is happening here.

"Jesus wept." There is a contrast here in the weeping. The word for weeping in verse 33 denotes more of a wailing, more of an external display perhaps—not in a bad sense, but a more vocal and open shedding of tears. Totally different word used in verse 35 where Jesus wept. It means to sob. It was more of a restraint demonstrated here. But you see it has made an impact on Him. On one other occasion in the New Testament is it said that Jesus wept, there may be other occasions. But in the Gospel of Luke we're told that on an occasion of confronting and considering the Jewish situation at Jerusalem Jesus wept over the condition of the people that He loved, and came to be king of, and the destitution which lay before them—in Luke chapter 19.

Now interestingly, on that occasion, the word for weeping is the word used in verse 33 denoting more of an external display of the weeping and the sorrow. But neither are bad. Simply on this occasion the contrast is evident. Jesus' weeping here is more personal, silent kind of sobbing. And it has an impact on the Jews. "The Jews were saying, 'Behold how He loved him." 'And that causes them to think further. If He had such great love for Lazarus, could not this One who opened the eyes of the blind, wouldn’t He have been able to prevent him from dying? Similar kind of thinking that went through the mind of Mary and Martha—wouldn't you think it would have been possible that He would have prevented the death of Lazarus? Now they interpret His weeping here as a demonstration of love, but also of an inability to do anything about it. Their mind set is the same. Couldn't He have done something back then? You know, it doesn't enter their mind, could this One who heals the eyes of the blind bring him back to life if He wanted to? But rather, they see it as an inability to act. An inability to do something. People often interpret this. Because God doesn't do something they assume it means that He cannot or will not. II Peter chapter 3 talks about this in regard to the coming climax of this age, that there are people who say "all things continue as they were from the beginning." But really, God has His plan and He will bring it to completion; but rather it is a demonstration of mercy and grace that He doesn't destroy the world yet. It's out of a concern that men and women would come to repentance, come to change their minds about sin and about His Son and believe in Him.

So on this occasion, couldn't He have done something if He had chosen? But they recognize His sorrow as an identification with them. This idea is picked up in the Book of Hebrews. Turn over there quickly—Hebrews 2. These passages go beyond what we have in John chapter 11, but would include it as well. That the experiences of Christ during His earthly ministry enable Him to identify with us even today. It's so easy for us to forget and say 'Oh, He doesn't know really what I'm going through." But He has entered into the experiences that we experience. Never entered into sin, but He entered into the suffering and sorrow as a result of the presence of sin. Vs. 17 and 18 of Hebrews 2, "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” Look over in chapter 4, v. 15. "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." He knows what it is to suffer. He knows what it is to go through sorrow, so that He might identify with us in our suffering and in our sorrow. Back to chapter 11 of John.

With this question they arrive at the tomb. And verse 38 stresses again, "Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within..." that deep stirring within that occurs. I take it, it involves an involvement with what has transpired here. And now the victory that is to be brought about. "Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it." So you have some picture of the setting, that at the side of this hill there was a cave, and then they cut a groove in front of the opening or entrance of that cave so they could roll a large rounded stone in front of it. And that would be the security of the tomb. "Jesus said, 'Remove the stone.'" Now if you try to picture something of the setting here. There is a man who has been in that tomb four days. Now this crowd comes and they think we're going to the tomb because Jesus loved him so much and now He wants to pay His last respects. Similarly if you had had someone you were close to and had been unable to arrive in time for the funeral and it would have been more of a situation in biblical times when people were buried so immediately, but you come later for one reason or another and they want to take you out to the grave to show you where this loved one is buried. So people don't assume there is any more to it than this, and now Jesus stands there and you have Martha and Mary and this crowd of Jews around. And Jesus has been able to do, they assume, no more than they are to join together with Mary and Martha in weeping in sadness over the situation. And then "Remove the stone." Martha is petrified. You get the idea she's the active one. She’s the one who seems to take the initiative in many of these cases. "Lord, by this time there will be a stench." And there is an abruptness at the end. "He (and you note you have in italics 'has been dead')." Literally, "He, four days." Lord, it's been four days! You know it's amazing! We go through a couple of stages, depending on the situation. When Martha first confronted Jesus in verse 21, what did she say? "Lord, if you had been here you would have been able to make a difference. You could have made a change." And we go through that. Oh, if the Lord had only done this. Oh, if three weeks ago He had only intervened in this situation, it would have made all the difference in the world. But she's forgotten. He is here now! He wasn't here then, but He is here now! And now He proceeds to act and she acts as though, Lord, you don't realize! Now Jesus is a grown man. He had lived in Palestine long enough to know in that climate without any embalming, etc. that after four days bodily decay would have begun. It would have been unpleasant to open the tomb. He is aware of that. It's always amazing how often we feel we have to fill the Lord in on the details. You read in the Old Testament about some occasions like Moses when God was ready to send him to the Promised Land, he thought he had to explain to God about his speech difficulties. Now 40 years earlier, Moses was ready to take the bull by the horns and deliver Israel. God sends him to the back side of the desert for 40 years and says 'Now, Moses, go back.' And what does Moses say? 'Lord, I'm not eloquent enough; I can't do it. You don't have a good enough grasp on the situation. You know I can't speak very well. Public speaking is not my gift.' I was ready Jeremiah chapter 1. God says to Jeremiah, 'Jeremiah before you were born I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations. Now is the time. Get going!' You know what Jeremiah says? 'Lord, I'm just a kid.' 'I can't do it. I'm just a kid.' Now do you think, really, when you stop and think about it, that the eternal God who says, 'I made this plan before you were born' needed to be reminded how old Jeremiah was? That he had had a lapse of memory? 'Oh, yes, I wanted to do this when you were fifty! Thank you, Jeremiah, I'll come back when you're older.' We forget. We remind the Lord of the difficulty of the circumstances. "It would have been great, Lord, if you had it then. But Lord, do you realize?" It's a good time for me to be studying this, thinking about our building and the finances. Talking about the financial needs and I think, Lord, how are we going to pay for the rest of the building? The first $600,000 was good and that was the easy part. What about the last $600,000? How are we going to raise this, Lord, and what about if we have to borrow it? And then I watch the news, and the prime went up today a percent. I say, Lord, if we have to borrow the money, don't you think it would be better if the prime went down instead of up! Now, as if the Lord really needed me to give Him a finance lesson! As if anybody needed a preacher to give them a finance lesson! He's well aware of the circumstances. Lord, too bad you didn't have somebody give us the money back when money wasn't so expensive. It would have worked out better. But He's the same God now as He was two years ago. I need to remind myself of my doctrinal convictions. Martha had acknowledged in verse 27 a great doctrinal conviction—that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the One who had been sent from God. You know the problem? Putting that doctrinal conviction into practice. I am convinced of the sovereignty of God. I believe He is the sovereign God who has all the details of my life in every area under control. The problem is not with my doctrinal statement. My problem is the implementing of that in my life. If I go to bed at night tossing and turning, worrying about what is going to happen. Why do I spend time fretting over this circumstance or this situation? My doctrinal statement is clear. He is sovereign; He is in control. All I've got to do is submit to Him. But I forget the pressure here. I have a God who is all-powerful. Then why do I spend so much time concerned over a situation that I've already acknowledged is not insurmountable for an all-powerful God? "But Lord, it’s been four days." I like the King James—he stinketh. By this time, the decay process has set in. There’s something blunt about that.

Now the four days here may have an added purpose here, and it does—it clarifies that this isn’t just an accident. I was reading one commentator that I will elude to later, and he says you can explain the other resurrections Christ brought about as people just lapsing into a coma and then coming back out of it because it was just in the same day. And people can go through experiences where it just seemed that they died but then they can come back. But he says you can’t do that with someone who has been in the tomb for four days. Also, there were some Jews—and we don’t know how prevalent this was—who believed and it's not biblical but some Jews held to this that the spirit of a person hung around the body for four days. But by four days the decay process had set in and so the body began to become unrecognizable and so the spirit left. Now whether there are Jews on this occasion that hold to that, we don't know. But for all concerned, it is clear that this man is dead.

Note what Jesus says in verse 40. "Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"’ Now, we don't know exactly when He said this to her. It could have been the message sent back in verse 4 with the messengers who had come and said Lazarus is sick. That message could have been sent back when Jesus said the sickness was not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified by it. It may have to do with His statement in verses 25 and 26—"I am the resurrection and the life. If you believe in Me, your son die." It may have been something He said to her in private that is not recorded. But at any rate, she had been assured, trust Me and you will see the glory of God. And you note what Jesus has done here. He has taken her attention off of the tomb, off the circumstances— dead four days—and moved them to Himself. Get your attention off the circumstances, Martha. Off the fact he’s in the tomb, off the fact he’s been there four days, off the fact that decay will have set in and fix your attention on Me. I am the Omnipotent, all powerful Son of God. By your own statement in verse 27. So needful for us to do. I get so absorbed in the details of the problems, and the more I do that, the Larger the problem gets. But I have to back up. Do I have a God who is limited? Can He not do all things? Then why do I spend so much of my time measuring how big my problem is? Or how overwhelming it seems when I have already acknowledged that I have a God who is all-powerful? Now Martha has already ascended to the fact that He is the resurrection and the life. Then what's the problem with Him wanting to open the tomb? No problem at all.
Verse 41. "And so they removed the stone." You ought to appreciate the greatness of the faith. We emphasize sometimes the lack of faith here. We ought to see the greatness of the faith. All Jesus reminds her of is, Remember what I told you—if you will believe, you will see the glory of God. That is good enough. That's a tremendous act of faith. You ought to realize that there is no argument recorded here. "But, Lord, I appreciate the greatness of your faith. I appreciate that you're the Son of God, but you understand this is my brother and he's been in the grave for four days!" But there's no argument. I am willing to trust you. "Roll the stone back." Can you imagine what everybody standing here is thinking? What's going through this crowd? "And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, 'Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me.'" Or, I thank you that you heard me. "And I knew that You heard Me always, but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that You did send Me." In other words, Jesus responds to the Father and says to the Father, "Thank you for hearing Me." What a reminder. This wasn't done to reinforce His confidence, His courage. It was done for the benefit of the people around so that they would be reminded of the inseparable link between the work of the Father and the work of the Son. Here is a demonstration of the Father at work in the Son. "And that they might believe" at the end of verse 42. You see the whole purpose of this miracle. You ought to mark that. This is the purpose of this miracle. Not to bring Lazarus back to life because Lazarus is just going to have to die again at a future date. Not only to alleviate the sorrow of Martha and Mary, they will have to experience it again. But primarily that people might be caused to believe that Christ came from God the Father.

So, with that statement and that reminder, verse 43. "When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth.'" Now can you imagine if you were standing there. Just think for a minute. Put yourself in that crowd and here you are standing around in front of a tomb. They've just been rolling the stone back and I imagine many of these people got out a handkerchief or something to cover their nose because they would have expected the decay process to be underway. Now the stone rolled away, Jesus just doesn't try to go in and take one last look at this loved friend. Rather, He stands there and cries out with a loud voice. An emphasis here on the 'loud voice'—crying out with a loud voice. "Lazarus, come forth." And I take it it's as much for the crowd's benefit as for Lazarus'. Jesus could have called him forth without uttering a verbal word. But something of the impact would have been lost on the multitude. This cry that all the multitude can hear is a reminder that He Himself, personally, is the one who is calling Lazarus forth. There's an abruptness here. "Lazarus, here, outside!" Like, "Make your appearance now!" And the amazing thing is verse 44. "He 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.'" Now I don't, I'm not surprised that people read this and can't believe it. Because you try to picture it in your mind and it's a mind boggling scene. Can you imagine being there with this multitude of people? And now Jesus says, "Lazarus, come forth!" And all of a sudden here comes Lazarus all wrapped up. I don't know how he walks but I see mummies on television. And his face is covered even with the napkin, and here he stands at the entrance of the tomb. Now, that's beautiful! It's no wonder at the end of verse 44 you have two sharp commands given. "Unbind him, and let him go." I don't imagine anybody moved a muscle. I imagine they were standing here—Lazarus would still be standing in the doorway of the tomb, but Jesus takes control of it. "Unbind him, and let him go." Awesome! Amazing! Unbelievable! He's here, still all wrapped up. What are you going to find when you unwrap him? You know, we don't go into all the details. No discourse recorded here or anywhere else about what Lazarus did for all that time. He's just here, called back to life.

Note what Jesus has done. In verse 25 He claimed to be the resurrection and the life. He now demonstrates that to be so. How do I know that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? That this claim has validity? He has just raised one from the dead, one of whom you would have expected the process of decay to have already set in. It would irreversible to bring a decaying corpse back to life. Amazing. Fantastic! Almost unbelievable! Now for those who were there, it's not unbelievable because they observe it.

Verses 45 and 46. "Many therefore of the Jews, who had come to Mary and beheld what He had done, believed in Him." Now you would expect that everyone would believe in Him because there's no question about the validity of the miracle. It doesn't amaze me that on this occasion some believe in Him. I would expect that everyone would believe after this miracle, wouldn't you? The amazing thing is verse 46. "But some..." Mark that or circle that, whatever you do. Amazing! The greatest miracle that there is until Christ's own resurrection, and yet "But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things that Jesus had done." They were unmoved. Rather, all they will do is go and talk to the religious leaders. You know what He did? Now this is really a problem. We'll talk about the response and the discussion that goes on in the Sanhedrin in our next study. But they are not caused to believe because one is raised from the dead. You remember what Jesus said in Luke chapter 16 verse 31?
"If they do not believe Moses and the prophets, what is written in the Old Testament Scriptures, they will not believe even if one is raised from the dead." Here is an evidence of that. Lazarus in their very presence is raised from the dead. What explanation could there be except that this is the all-powerful Son of God, the man He claimed to be? Yet some of them are not moved to faith at all. Rather, it further solidifies their rebellion against Him and it will result in a determination to have Him executed.

Verses 45 and 46 draw attention again to the division that occurs. Any time Jesus teaches something, any time Jesus does a miracle, you know what happens? The group is divided between those who believe and those who do not believe.
Here you see, the multitude around the tomb, observing the greatest miracle that could have occurred and the multitude is divided. Some believe, many believe, but some did not. The kind of division that always occurs. This miracle has caused great problems. I mentioned a commentator earlier, and he is an interesting man. In his commentary he comments on John chapter 11, and he first has a section where he deals with the passage literally. Similar to the way we have just moved through it and what happens? He follows that by a chapter that begins by saying something to the effect, ’Now we just have considered this event as it has been recorded literally.' But he goes on to question what might really have happened, because it is awesome to consider that this was a man in the tomb for four days. Now that’s when he says, 'the other resurrections Christ did we could explain by the person simply being in a coma, ‘but that cannot be the explanation here with a man in the tomb for four days. That is not a possibility. So you know what his explanation is? Someone probably made up this story and it was included here. Now there is no evidence, nothing to support that except that he cannot come to believe that Jesus Christ could have done such a miracle. Let me read you a quote from William Barclay who is the commentator. It does not really matter whether or not Jesus literally raised a corpse to life in AD 30. But it matters intensely that Jesus is the resurrection and the life for every man who is dead in sin and dead to God today." Now he says, ’I cannot bring myself to accept that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead but it really doesn't matter. All that matters is that He is the resurrection and the life for those who have spiritual problems.' Now my question is, Why is it easier to believe that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life for those who are spiritually dead than it is to believe that He is also the resurrection and the life for those who are physically dead? In fact, if this account concerning Lazarus did not happen as recorded, how do I know for sure that the whole statement about Christ's resurrection and life is not itself a myth? That somebody made up a story so people would believe things about Jesus Christ that they made up. If it's impossible to believe that He would have such power that He could call one back to life who was physically dead, why do you believe He could call one back to life who is spiritually dead? There is no sense. It misses the point of the passage completely. What Jesus Christ is demonstrating in the resurrection of Lazarus is, what He said is true. "I am the resurrection and the life, and the proof of it is here. I have resurrected and given life to one who was dead." Now behind all this is the proof that is being offered, that one who could give life to a physically dead person is one who could give life to a spiritually dead person.

Look to John chapter 5 quickly. John chapter 5, verse 25. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is..." Now is, this is not referring to future resurrections but to present resurrection, spiritual resurrection. "...when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live." Jesus said, "That's going on right now. Some of the dead are hearing my voice and living." What kind of dead? Well, on this setting, those people who were presently hearing were the spiritually dead. Those that Ephesians chapter 2 talks about who are dead in trespasses and sins, who have no relationship with God because of their sin. They are spiritually dead. But they come to recognize and believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died to pay the penalty for their sins. He was raised because that penalty had been paid. They come to rely upon Him as their Savior, and they are given spiritual resurrection and spiritual life. How do I know? Because He gave physical life and physical resurrection as demonstration, as proof, that He was the resurrection and the life. And the two go together. John 5 develops it that way. It's involved in John chapter 11, verses 25 and 26. That giving physical life and spiritual life are inseparable. Spiritual resurrection and physical resurrection go together. And if you reject the literal, physical resurrection you throw out any validity to the spiritual resurrection. That’s what Paul develops in I Corinthians 15 regarding the resurrection of Christ. If Christ did not undergo a physical resurrection Himself, then there is no resurrection. Not only no physical resurrection, there is no spiritual resurrection or life because we are still dead in our sins, condemned to eternity in hell.

The exciting message of the resurrection of Lazarus is, here is displayed, here is the proof given that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. You think about that, the most important significant, overwhelming fact that there is! That Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. Resurrection and life are found and focused in Him. First, spiritual resurrection and life—you are dead in trespasses and sin. You are separated from God because you are a sinner, and the penalty for sin is death. And it’s only by coming to believe that He, the Son of God, died for you that you can be given life, forgiveness of sins, and be brought into a personal relationship with a personal God. And He is the resurrection and life. He is the one that will ultimately glorify these physical bodies and prepare them for eternity in God's presence. We talked a little bit about this earlier in our study of John chapter 11. Now that message is proclaimed today as it was 2,000 years ago, and the impact is exactly the same. Just as there were in John chapter 11 those who were confronted with the reality of that demonstration of the power of Christ, some believed some did not. So today that message is proclaimed. Jesus Christ has demonstrated and proved Himself to be what He claimed to be—The Son of God, the Savior of the world. And a group like this, there would be a twofold response. The group will be divided, not equally, but the division will occur. Because there will be those who believe it and place their faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Savior of the world. There will be those who will go away unmoved in spite of the evidence, in spite of the facts, because they have already settled in their heart that they will not have Him to be their Savior no matter what He does, no matter what He has done, they will not place their faith in Him. They are set in their opposition and rebellion. For the Jews in Jesus' day the only way to deal with Him is to have Him executed because if He goes on doing these miracles more and more people will believe. But there are some who are so set in their rebellion against Him that nothing can move them.

Where are you with your response to Jesus Christ? Have you come to believe in Him as the Savior of the world? If you have, are you living in light of who He really is. Are you sometimes overwhelmed by the circumstances?
Overwhelmed by the problems? Overwhelmed by the situation? We need to back up and remind ourselves, we have an all-powerful God who is never overwhelmed, and I have the victory in Him. Let’s pray together.

Father, we praise you for the greatness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Even, Father, for the display of His glory we have in this occasion, the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. Lord, impress upon us the significance of this tremendous miracle, that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. He is the one who is the Savior of the world.

Father, I pray for those who are here who have not yet believed in Him, that even the recording of this miracle and our consideration of it might have its intended impact upon their lives through the ministry of the Spirit that they might come to believe that Jesus was sent from You to be the Savior of the world.

Father, that we who have come to believe might live in light of these facts, that we serve a God who is all-powerful and all-sovereign. Lord, we have the joy of always being the victors because of what Jesus Christ has done and is doing in and through us, for we pray in His name