Lazarus

John 11:25-26. “I am the resurrection and the life.”

POST OVERVIEW. An exposition of John 11:24-26 for my upcoming book on “The Resurrection: When the church is glorified.”

The death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus provides the context for this very famous quote from our Lord about His identity and about the resurrection of the saints. Martha has complained to the Lord that, if He had come earlier, Lazarus would not have died. Jesus responded by telling her that her brother would 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?” – John 11:24-26

11:24. Martha states the doctrine of the resurrection; namely, that there will be resurrection of the dead on the last day. But Martha does not connect the resurrection with Jesus or with faith in Jesus. Her understanding of the resurrection is incomplete.

11:25. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus is the central figure in the resurrection on the last day. He is the one who orchestrates the resurrection and who gives eternal life to all who believe in Him.

“He who believes in Me . . .” We pause here to make the critical point that only believers in Jesus will be a part of the resurrection of the righteous. If you believe in Jesus; that is, if you have denied yourself and taken up your cross daily and followed Jesus (Luke 9:23); if you have passed from death to life (John 5:24); if you have been born again (John 3:3, 5); if you have been justified by faith (Rom. 5:1), then Jesus’ words apply to you. If not, then you are heading toward a resurrection of judgment (John 5:29) and a place in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15).

So, Jesus’ words here are good news only for those who believe in Jesus.

Jesus, as the resurrection and the life, says, “He who believes in Me . . . will live . . . even if he dies.” In the Garden, the LORD God had warned Adam about sin: “The day you eat of it, you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Ever since Adam’s first sin, death has reigned over all men because of their sin. “The soul who sins will die” (Ezek. 18:4). My sin guaranteed my death and there was no escape available.

But now Jesus declares, “He who believes in Me will live even if He dies.” To anyone who believes in Him, Jesus makes a promise that renders physical death inconsequential. Our Lord promises that the believer will live. In the garden, God warned Adam that his sin would result in death, but now the Son of God declares that the one who believes in Him will live. Look carefully and you will see that Jesus has taken sin out of the equation. God said that if Adam sinned, he would die, but now Jesus says if the sinner believes, he will live.

Notice that “will live” is in the future tense. When Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life, promises that the believer will live, He is speaking about the believer’s eternal life. We see then that Jesus is saying, “He who believes in Me will live forever in heaven.” And we know that in heaven we will be in our eternal glorified state. In other words, based on Jesus’ promise, it is a settled certainty that he who believes in Jesus will live forever in heaven in glory.

“He who believes in Me will live . . . . even if He dies.” Once you have passed from spiritual death to eternal life (John 5:24) as a result of believing in Jesus, your future glorified life in heaven is guaranteed regardless of whether you are physically alive or dead. In other words, physical death does not affect your spiritual life and cannot rob you of your promised glorified body. Jesus has promised that you will live. Because of this, the believer should no longer fear physical death. Because of my faith in Jesus, my physical death has become a non-event. I am awaiting the resurrection when I will receive my glorified body even if my physical body has died.

But there is another aspect to this short phrase, “even if he dies.” We will receive our glorified body even if we physically die, but there is also the possibility that we will not physically die. In other words, the resurrection may occur while my physical body is yet living. What happens then? Jesus does not explain this possibility in this passage, but Paul has clearly explained this in 1 Thess. 4:15-17 and in 1 Cor. 15:51-52. If the resurrection occurs when the believer is yet living, then he will be quickly changed (1 Cor. 15:52) and will receive his glorified body without having to go through death.

Regardless of your physical circumstances, whether you are asleep or you are alive and remain, you will receive your eternal glorified body in the resurrection.

11:26. “and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” The previous verse talked about the physical aspects of the resurrection, but this verse speaks about the eternal spiritual rewards of believing in Jesus as Lord and God. Jesus declares that everyone who believes in Him will live forever. By his faith in Jesus, the believer has received eternal life and cannot die. Everyone who does not believe in Jesus is dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1), but everyone who believes in Him has forever passed from death to life (John 5:24) and therefore will never die. Eternal life is theirs. Once again, physical death poses no threat to the believer because, whether alive or asleep, he possesses eternal life.

SUMMARY

Mary and Martha were saddened because their brother, Lazarus, was dead, and they were confused because Jesus had not prevented their brother’s death. But Jesus’ message to them is one of immense encouragement: “For everyone who believes in Me, physical death is of no consequence. Believe in Me and you will rise in glory in the resurrection and spend eternity in heaven with Me. I am the resurrection and I am the One who gives eternal life.”

Do you believe this?

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 2/26/2024                   #696

Purpose flows from Identity for the disciple of Jesus

POST OVERVIEW. Developing the idea that Purpose is downstream from Identity. That is, Identity is primary and Purpose is derived from a clear Identity. These concepts of Identity and Purpose and how they operate in discipleship are topics in my upcoming book on the subject of discipleship and of discipling others.

Because man is made in the image of God, he has an inherent need for both Identity and Purpose. These ideas have been the subjects of many works of philosophy and psychology as people have tried to unlock the key to a life of meaning, because without a clear Identity and an invigorating Purpose, we seem to be adrift without a rudder. Also, as followers of Jesus we want to know how these ideas work in the life of a believer.

First, we need to understand that Identity must precede Purpose. This is true, by the way, for all people, not just for the disciple of the Lord Jesus. A clear personal Identity is necessary for anyone to have a compelling Purpose, and since very few people have such an Identity, the vast majority of people in the world have no compelling Purpose for their existence.

In stark contrast to the world, when a person initially trusts in Christ for salvation, he immediately obtains the Identity of “Disciple of the Lord Jesus.” And from this spectacular Identity flows an entire life of Purpose. The primary Purpose of the “Disciple of the Lord Jesus” is to conform their life to the description of a disciple given in the pages of Scripture. In other words, the disciple is to grow and to change so that their inward and outward selves are in accord with the characteristics of the disciple of Jesus given in the Bible. Having been made righteous in God’s sight by his faith in Jesus, the disciple of the Lord Jesus is to grow in sanctification so that his practical righteousness is progressively conformed to his positional righteousness. The disciple of Jesus has been wrapped in a robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10), and now his Purpose is to conform what is wrapped with the robe of the wrapping.

The raising of Lazarus in John 11 pictures this for us. Jesus’ friend had been dead four days, so he was extremely dead. But when Jesus called Lazarus by name, “the man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings” (John 11:44). After Jesus called him, Lazarus was as alive as he would ever be, but he was also bound with the grave wrappings and had his face wrapped with a cloth. He was alive, but he was also encumbered with wrappings and was effectively blind. So Jesus commanded the people, “Unbind him, and let him go” (11:44). Lazarus was fully alive, but for him to function as a living person, he needed someone to remove the wrappings so he could walk and see.

In a similar way, we were “dead in transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-3). But when the Holy Spirit called us through the gospel and we responded with repentance and faith, at that moment we were both as justified as we would ever be and as unholy as we would ever be. We were wrapped in God’s robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10) and, at the same time, wrapped in all the grave clothes of our former life of sin, righteous by position but unrighteous by practice. In this state, our Purpose becomes apparent. We are to make every effort to remove the “grave clothes” of our former life and put on every one of the “clothes” of the disciple of Jesus that we see modeled or commanded in the Scriptures (Ephesians 4:22-24).

We see another example of this in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. The risen Lord Jesus Christ gives His church her mission for the remainder of this age when He says, “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (and) teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, (even) to the end of the age.” Although this passage has immense importance for the mission of the church, we also see here a clear prescription for how the disciple grows. “Go, make disciples,” in this context means, “Preach the gospel and gather those who believe in Jesus.” Now, those who profess faith in Jesus are to be identified as disciples by being baptized as a public profession of their faith. Therefore, water baptism gives the disciple his Identity as a disciple of the Lord Jesus. What flows from this Identity? Those who have identified as disciples of the Lord Jesus have the Purpose of observing (i.e., doing) all that Jesus commanded His disciples to do, and the church has the mission of teaching these disciples to obey. Once again, we see that Identity as a disciple of Jesus leads to the Purpose of growing in obedience and holiness.

SUMMARY. What we are saying is that, once a person has committed to the Identity of “a disciple of the Lord Jesus,” the discovery of Purpose is not complicated. In fact, the disciple of Jesus can immediately embark into their Purpose of becoming who they already are. The disciple’s Purpose does not need to be invented or created, but rather is discovered discipline by discipline and repentance by repentance as he becomes more conformed to the biblical description of a disciple of Jesus.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 8/7/2023                     #666