2017.03.26                                       John 11: 1-45

        I am the Resurrection and the Life    part 1

                            Lazarus

Good Morning…. I am glad to be with you this morning… I have Good News for You! His name is Jesus… We are on a great adventure… We are Experiencing the Life and ministry of Jesus… Once again this morning we are studying the Gospel of John… You will remember that as we finished ch10 Last week… The religious leaders tried again to kill Jesus…. They were determined to Shut Him up…. But It was not yet time… And so Jesus walked safely through their midst…  Jesus left Jerusalem and spent time beyond the Jordan ministering to the people in Galilee… Many people believed in Him there… Turn in your Bible to John chapter 11… We are going to witness a powerful miracle…

This is Jesus´ final public miracle… This miracle occurs near the end of Jesus earthly ministry… In a few weeks now… Jesus will go to the cross… He will lay down His life for our sins… He will be killed at Passover…  He will travel to the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus… They live in Bethany…. It is two miles east of Jerusalem on the road to Jericho…  It will be filled with pilgrims heading to the Passover celebrations… The news of the raising of Lazarus from the dead will spread like wildfire through the crowds as they go up to Jerusalem… Everybody will hear what Jesus did… Jesus will raise Lazarus from the dead shortly before He goes to the cross… This raising of Lazarus will have several very important effects… 1 It will strengthen the faith of the disciples…  It was not enough to fill them completely with faith in Lord's resurrection…  But it must have helped them to increase their faith in Jesus…

2 The resurrection of Lazarus was a preview of the resurrection of Christ…

Jesus had told them many times that he would lay down his life and that He would take it up again… John 10:18... Now they had seen His resurrection power in the raising of Lazarus...

3 The resurrection of Lazarus  was powerful widespread evidence of His deity…  The entire city heard of it…

4 The public well known resurrection of Lazarus was the last straw…The resurrection of Lazarus was so important…  And so well-known that it forced the   leaders of Judaism to press the issue of the execution of Jesus… They must shut Jesus up…. No matter what it took…    The whole chapter is about this miracle… The most important theme in the universe is the glory of God… It is the foundation of all of God’s works… Beginning with the creation of the world…  Including the redemption of fallen sinners…  And the judgment of unbelievers… It all results in the manifestation of His greatness… His Glory for all eternity…  

God’s glory is a basic part of who He is…  The Bible refers to Him as the God of glory… Ps. 29:3; Acts 7:2… The Glory of Israel…1 Sam. 15:29…  The King of glory… Ps. 24:7–10…  

God’s glory is uniquely His… and He will not share it with anyone else… Isa. 42:8; 48:11… God the Father is called the Father of glory… Eph. 1:17;   Jesus Christ is called the Lord of glory…1 Cor. 2:8...  The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of glory… 1 Peter 4:14…

God’s glory is also seen in redemption… He Saves us… And we give Him the Glory…

2 Corinthians 4: 4,15        NLT  Neues Leben

Paul called the message of salvation “the gospel of the glory of Christ… Paul also said that   saving “grace which is spreading to more and more people will]cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God… 2 Cor 4:15…

Chapter 11 records the last and most powerful of the seven miraculous signs in the gospel of John (cf. 2:1–11; 4:46–54; 5:1–17; 6:1–14; 6:15–21; 9:1–41), the resurrection of Lazarus four days after he died… The miracle’s primary purpose… Was not to restore him to life…   Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead so that He and the Father would be glorified… The glory of Jesus Christ blazes in this passage against a dark backdrop of rejection and hatred on the part of the Jewish leaders...  

Look with me at ch11… beginning with v1…

John 11: 1,2                        NKJV   slt 2000

1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days 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, lately the Jews sought 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 one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” 16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, 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 away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20 Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But 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 at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” 28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” 32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” 45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.

Scroll down for the first section… v1,2…

This was already a very well-known miracle in the early church…During His earthly ministry…  Jesus had raised others from the dead… But this was a very public miracle… It is connected to the huge crowds that were present when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to be openly proclaimed the Messiah… It occurred just a few days before Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem… Many believed in Him because they witnessed this miracle… The early Christians had heard of this powerful miracle… But… Lazarus is not the main focus of the story... The main point is that Jesus and the Father would be glorified through his resurrection...  

Through the resurrection of Lazarus… Jesus and the Father receive glory… The sisters were deeply worried about their brother…   Lazarus was going to die without a miracle…    Since Jesus was across the Jordan in Perea… a messenger from Bethany would have needed at least a day to reach Him...   Lazarus may have even died the very day after the messenger started to go to Jesus… He had already been dead for four days when Jesus arrived in Bethany…

The messenger’s journey to Jesus would have accounted for one day, the Lord then delayed two days (v. 6) before taking one more day to travel to Lazarus’ home. That brings the total number of days to four…  They did not   specifically ask the Lord to do anything…  They realized that it would be extremely dangerous for Him to travel to Jerusalem at this time… scroll down…

v4… This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it… The Lord did not mean that Lazarus was not going to die… but rather that death would not be the ultimate outcome... Like the blind man from ch9…  Lazarus illness and death…   were all for the glory of God…

v5… Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus…  John reminds us that the Lord’s delay did not reflect a lack of love and compassion… The delay made it clear that Lazarus was dead beyond all hope…  The Rabbis  taught that after 4 days the soul departed the body and could never be reunited… It made the miracle even more powerful to them… Look with me at the next section…

John 11:  7-16                  

After the two-day delay was over, Jesus said to the disciples

v7… Let us go to Judea again… Astonished and afraid…  the disciples said…

v8… Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?... Why… You said that Lazarus was not going to die (v. 4)…  And if Jesus did need to heal Lazarus… why not do it from a distance like He had done before… John 4:46–53?

The Lord replied with this proverb… v9,10…  Then He said…  

v11… Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep… Sleep is often used in the Bible as a way to talk about death…   Jesus was saying that He would raise Lazarus from the dead…. But they did not get it…  

Jesus ended their confusion… He said to them plainly…

v14… Lazarus is dead… Here is an unmistakable indication of the Lord’s omniscience… Remember that the messenger had only said that Lazarus was sick… Then we see why…   

v15… I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe…

Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead would do far more to strengthen the disciples’ faith than a healing alone would have done… Jesus’ earthly ministry earth was rapidly nearing its end… In about 2 weeks Jesus will be betrayed and Crucified…  

v16… Let us also go, that we may die with Him… Seeing that Jesus was determined to return to Judea… Thomas…   said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him… This is the same Thomas who  is known as “Doubting Thomas”…  But there is much more to him than that…   His words here reflect love and courage… in spite of his pessimism… He believed he would die if they went to Jerusalem… On the other hand, his love for Jesus was so strong that he was willing to die with Him… Thomas was sincere… Yet at the crucial moment in Gethsemane...  his faith failed and Jesus was left alone…   Matt. 26:56… next section please…

John 11: 17-19                       NKJV  

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 away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

Many of the Jews who had come to Martha and Mary came from Jerusalem… The fact that so many Jews from the capital came to console them…  Shows us that the family was prominent… and probably wealthy… From the human perspective… the many mourners were there to comfort the sisters in their loss…  But God made  certain that there would be many witnesses to Jesus’ stunning miracle… The raising of Lazarus would be done in public before numerous onlookers… Some of whom were even hostile to the Lord… As a result, not even Jesus’ enemies would be able to deny what He had done… John 11:47…

The first seven days of mourning were the most intense… and many of the mourners would remain with the family for that entire week… next section please… John 11: 20-27                                   

v21… Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. …  When Martha saw Him…  the disturbing thought that had filled her sorrow came pouring out… She was  obviously heartbroken… But she was not rebuking the Lord for failing to prevent Lazarus’s death... Humanly speaking … The sisters’ message had arrived too late... Martha’s words were simply an expression of grief mingled with faith...

v22… Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You…   She was  confident in her Savoir even though she did not totally understand what Jesus says next…

v23… Your brother will rise again… Jesus  meant that Lazarus was going to be resurrected immediately… but Martha missed the point… She assumed that Jesus… was comforting her by pointing out that Lazarus would rise again at the end of the age…  Jesus then makes this very important I am Statement… v 25…

v25… I am the resurrection and the life…

Since the fall in the Garden…  Death has ruled over humanity… What Good news… This means that as genuine Believers… We do not need to be afraid of death anymore…This is not the land of the living, but the land of the dying.

v26… whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?

When Jesus said  Martha… “Do you believe this?”

The Lord was calling her to understand the magnitude of His Sovereign power… He wants her to know and believe that He alone was the source of resurrection power and eternal life… Jesus pointed her to the only source of spiritual life and well-being—Himself."

Look with me at Hebrews 2… v.14,15…

Hebrews 2: 14,15               NLT  Neues Leben

14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

14 Da Gottes Kinder Menschen aus Fleisch und Blut sind, wurde auch Jesus als Mensch geboren. Denn nur so konnte er durch seinen Tod die Macht des Teufels brechen, der Macht über den Tod hatte. 15 Nur so konnte er die befreien, die ihr Leben lang Sklaven ihrer Angst vor dem Tod waren.

 Death is dead… The great Puritan theologian John Owen wrote a book in 1647… It has an awesome  title… The Death of Death in the Death of Christ… It is free online… This is very practical theology for Angst Hase…

We have nothing to fear because Jesus is the Resurrection and we will never die… Next section please… John 11: 28-36                                

Having affirmed her faith in Jesus, Martha went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you…

When Mary heard that Jesus was coming… she got up quickly and went out to meet Jesus…

v31… She is going to the tomb to weep…

Assuming she was going to weep at the tomb… They felt it was their duty as her comforters to go with her… Once again… God sovereignly orchestrated the circumstances to fit His purposes… He made sure that Jesus’ miracle would be witnessed by the whole group…

When she came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet. She said to Him what they had surely discussed, since Martha had said it earlier:

v32… Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died…   Mary was not scolding Jesus… She was just expressing her sorrow and grief…  This was a time of intense sorrow and pain… next section please…v33-36…

v33… He groaned in the spirit and was troubled… This is a powerful verb embrimaomai… deeply upset and moved to almost an angry frustration…

 v34… Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, Lord, come and see…

v35… Jesus wept…

Jesus wept… But not like the others,... Here the Greek verb is not “klaio” which translates as loud wailing… 33… but “dakruo”… a rare word used only here in the New Testament… The verb dakruo has the idea of bursting into tears…   This verse  is full of with meaning… It emphasizes Jesus’ humanity… He was a “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3)… He is truly our compassionate Savior… He knows what you are going through today… And Jesus shares our sorrows too…

v36… See how He loved him!...

The Jews were correct in seeing Jesus sorrow as evidence that He loved Lazarus…    The stage was now set for the Lord to demonstrate The Great Truth…  that He is the Resurrection and the Life… In the next section He will demonstrate His total power over death by restoring Lazarus to life… v37-45…

John 11:37–45                           NKJV   

37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” 38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” 45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.

v45… Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.

Dead 4 days… Laid in his grave…. Jesus raises Him from the dead…. Impossible… Yet there is the living proof… of course many believed… During His earthly ministry… the Lord Jesus Christ made many astonishing claims about Himself…

He gave powerful and convincing evidence… through the miraculous signs He performed…

When His enemies demanded to know whether or not He was the Messiah… Jesus pointed to those very signs as proof of His authority…  Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would do specific miracles as proof that he was the Messiah… Isaiah 35… Isaiah 61… The suffering and resurrection of Jesus for our Salvation is clearly portrayed in Isaiah 52,53… These were miraculous signs… Messianic Miracles… Jesus did every one of them and many many more… So many That John said in John 20: 30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

The reason for John´s Gospel is that we would believe the signs and be converted… Jesus Himself… Not Lazarus…  Jesus is the primary focus of this passage… Raising Lazarus from the dead puts an exclamation point on Jesus´ I am statements… In Every one of them Jesus was saying… I am God come in the flesh… Immanuel… I am the resurrection and the life… Lazarus come forth…  And as we see in verse 45….. Many Believed…. The healing of the man born blind in Jerusalem just a few months before was powerful…. No one had ever heard of the healing of a man born blind…. He is the messiah…. And with this miracle the stage is set for Jesus triumphal entry in just a few days…. He will at long last allow Himself to be proclaimed the King Messiah… We are going to take communion together this morning…. But to finish the sermon… I want to read a few verses from Paul… He connects this great promise of our resurrection from the dead with the Good news and the Glory of God… This whole chapter is dynamite… but for sake of time.. 2 Cor 4… v14-17

2 Corinthians 4: 14-17        NLT  Neues Leben

14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. 16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

14 Wir wissen, dass derselbe Gott, der Jesus, unseren Herrn, auferweckt hat, auch uns mit Jesus auferwecken wird und uns zusammen mit euch vor sich hintreten lassen wird. 15 Das alles ist zu eurem Besten. Und wenn Gottes Gnade immer mehr Menschen zu Christus führt, wird auch der Chor derer, die ihm danken, immer lauter, und Gott wird immer mehr Ehre erwiesen. 16 Deshalb geben wir nie auf. Unser Körper mag sterben, doch unser Geist wird jeden Tag erneuert. 17 Denn unsere jetzigen Sorgen und Schwierigkeiten sind nur gering und von kurzer Dauer, doch sie bewirken in uns eine unermesslich große Herrlichkeit, die ewig andauern wird!

Everyone in the crowd would see the miracle that day…  but only genuine believers would perceive its real significance…  

The promise of the Resurrection

1 It is the death of death

2 It is for our benefit

3 It produces  thanksgiving

4 it is why we never give up

5 It is for the Glory  of God

We see the Glory of God perfectly in the face of Jesus Christ… Do you see Him Today? You need to see Him with your ears…  let´s pray…