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I Am the Resurrection and the Life

I Am the Resurrection and the Life
April 1, 2018

Scripture: John 11:17-27

I. Jesus gives you hope because He is the resurrection.

A. In John 11 Jesus comes to the home of his friend Lazarus in response to a request from Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha. But John 11:17 says that by the time Jesus had reached the home Lazarus had already been dead for four days. We can hear Martha’s grief in vs. 21: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She had seen Jesus heal so many people. So, she speaks from her heart. “If only Jesus had been here when Lazarus got sick, then my brother would still be alive and I would not be feeling this crushing grief,” Martha is saying.

B. How does Jesus respond to Martha’s grief? He comforts her by saying in vs. 23, “Your brother will rise again.” Orthodox Jews believed that there would be a resurrection of all people at the end of time who would then stand before God the judge. Martha says to Jesus in vs. 24, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” You can almost hear Martha saying in a weary voice, “I know the truth. I know what the Bible teaches. But that doesn’t bring me much comfort right now. The end of time is a long way away. I miss my brother right now.”

C. Jesus told Martha something astonishing in vs. 25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” What is Jesus doing here? He is directing Martha’s attention here away from the teaching she had learned. The teaching she had learned about the resurrection was true. But Jesus is saying to Martha, “Don’t look at the teaching right now. Look at me. Put your eyes on me. Have faith in me.”

II. Jesus gives you hope because He is the life.

A. What does Jesus mean when He says in vs. 25 I am the life? There is a verse earlier in John’s Gospel that helps us understand Jesus’ meaning. Jesus says in John 5:25: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” The life then that Jesus has the authority and the power to give is eternal life. It is life with God. It is eternal life that raises the dead. It starts on this earth as soon as you hear the voice of Jesus and put your faith in Him.

B. In the story of Jesus and Lazarus you can see the attitude of Jesus toward death. “When Jesus saw (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” In most cases the word that is translated deeply moved actually means outraged. Jesus was outraged by death. The tears then that Jesus shed at Lazarus’ tomb were the tears of an angry, outraged man. You might ask, “Why would Jesus be outraged by death?” Death is such an ugly enemy. It is a relentless enemy that haunts us in this world. And Jesus hates death and wants to defeat this seemingly undefeatable enemy. The good news in the story of Lazarus and Jesus and the good news of Easter is that death does not have the last word. Jesus has defeated death. He is the resurrection and the life. So Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And Jesus Himself was raised from the dead on Easter. Death could not hold Jesus down. He has forever defeated death for those who have faith in Him.

Application:
Do you believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Then receive Him into your life.

Sources:
The Gospel of John
Commentaries on John by D.A. Carson and Richard Phillips
“Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus” by D.A. Carson