Jesus Raises Lazarus

JESUS RAISES LAZARUS

John 11

I appreciate you being here this morning; it is a special morning because like all other days it is a day which the Lord has made and we should rejoice in it; but Sunday’s are a little more special in that, as John says in Revelation 1:9, “It is the Lord’s day”; the day in which we are reminded each week of His rising from the grave.

I ask you to look at the first verse of the passage that was read; John 11:1. In the last 12 months this same thing that happened to Martha and Mary has happened to many of us; and we can be sure that this same thing will happen in the future.

• Illness has fallen on some of those we love; and death has followed; and like Martha and Mary you have been left to grieve.
• You have been left feel just like Martha and Mary; “Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died.”
• As you read through this chapter you will see that Martha and Mary are in total despair because of the death of their brother; just as some are because of their own loved ones.

So, in the depths of your grief where do you find any comfort, peace, or hope. Well, the same place that Martha and Mary found theirs.

• What I want to do this morning is simply read through what John says in this chapter and I hope you will hear what he says, and more than that I hope you will hear what Jesus is saying; and let these words remind you, reassure you, and comfort you.
• I don’t believe that anything can take away all the hurt and disappointment; but I do believe that what God says here can help.

For others, I hope you will let what John says here convince you to draw even closer to Christ.

• In this gospel John, Jesus performs 6 other miracles; all intended to convince people that Jesus is the Son of God.
• Still, the people refused to believe. So, here in this chapter Jesus, in what seems to be “one last effort” performs this last and most monumental miracle to convince, not only the people at that time, but all people today, that He is Christ.
• So I hope you hear what Jesus has to say today.

11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ³ So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” 

When this takes place Jesus is being rejected by almost everyone! It seems that He was an unwelcome guest in most homes with the exception of this one family who lived about 2 miles from Jerusalem.

• And because of His close friendship with this family, when Lazarus gets sick, Martha and Mary send a message to Jesus saying, “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.”
• We do not know what the “sickness” was, but the sisters evidently recognized the seriousness of it and sent word to Jesus.

⁴ But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” 

Understand, Jesus is not saying that Lazarus was not going to die at all. Lazarus will die; vs. 14; and so will we.

• What Jesus is saying is, “Death will not have the last word.”
• Jesus will raise Lazarus from the dead; and He will do that to give convincing proof that He is the Son of God and that He has the power over death; and some day, because of our faith in Christ, death will not have the last word over us either.

Now, can I share just a few of my personal thoughts with you on what we just read? This is not a commandment; maybe more of just a suggestion; something to think about.

• When I look at the fact that Lazarus was sick; and God and His Son will use it to Their glory, can we, can you and I, should you and I allow Them to do the same with our illnesses and eventual death?
• We can determine for ourselves that if and when we are stricken with some critical illness that we can allow God to use it for His glory; to try one last time to get people to turn to Him.

Did you know that everyone in this auditorium this morning has some health issue they are dealing with?

• That means every one of us can manifest to others that Christ is our Lord and not that illness. Every one of us can use it to God’s glory.
• Even in sickness we can be kind, loving, encouraging, compassionate, forgiving to others, especially to those who take care of us.
• But if we are rude, mean, hateful, sharp?

And the same when it comes to death! Every one of us will die. If we glorify God in life, should we not glorify God death?

• When death comes into a family everything stops. Nothing gets people’s attention like death does.
• And a funeral service gives you and I the opportunity to, one last time, say some things to family and friends that we never had opportunity to say before; it gives us opportunity to glorify God!
• Before it comes give some thought to what you want said; write it down; give some thoughts to the songs you want sung and what their message is; and not only in life, but in death glorify God, so that others may turn to Him too.

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. 

Was Jesus reluctant to return? Did He not care? No, there is no doubt from vs. 35 that Jesus cared.

• Jesus delays because He wants everyone to understand that Lazarus had not just swooned away; that Lazarus was simply in a coma; He wants everyone to understand that Lazarus was dead; and beyond the help of any human effort.

⁷ Then after this He *said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples *said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking 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 anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 

I have read several commentaries this week and none of them agree or seem to understand exactly what Jesus is saying.

• In the context of what is happening, the best explanation seems to be that Jesus is basically saying, “The threats of men will not stop Me from doing what My Father has sent me to do.”
• And that is something we need to remember: Jesus is not controlled by men. Threaten as they may, they have absolutely no control over our Lord. He does not answer to them.

¹¹ This He said, and after that He *said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.” ¹² The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will ^[a]recover.” ¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of ^[b]literal sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.”

Scripture indicates that “those who have died, all who are in the tombs, will on the last day, when the trumpet sounds, when the Lord returns, be raised, “those who did good deeds to a resurrection of life; and those who committed evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

• And in vs. 24 Mary understood that.
• But until that “last day” those who are in the tombs are “asleep”; no awareness of time; no knowledge of life; they are “asleep”; waiting for Jesus to “awaken them.”

And notice vs. 15 again. Jesus says, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.”

• It seems that Jesus had the same problem then as He has today: His disciples had faith; but their faith was not what it should be; they needed to grow in faith; especially when they, like us endure the troubles of this world.

And, look at vs. 16: Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

• It is hard to know how Thomas said this. Thomas was a bit of a pessimist and He may have looked at going to Bethany as a suicide mission.
• We don’t know exactly how Thomas said this but here is what I believe. I believe that Thomas is saying, “I don’t know how this is going to work out, but if that is where Jesus is going, that is where I want to be.”

Every one of us, every day, walk into “uncertainty”; we don’t even know what the next hour holds; perhaps illness and death.

• But the best thing to do, is to walk into that uncertainty with Jesus by your side.

 ¹⁷ So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about ^[d]two miles off; ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 

• All of this takes place a few days before the Passover Feast; Jews from all regions are on their way to Jerusalem; what Jesus does here will be witnessed by multitudes of people; and the fascinating thing is, no one ever came back and denied what He did.
• They may not have liked it; but no one denied it; in fact, because this actually happened is one of the reasons why the Jewish leaders increased their efforts to kill him.

 ²⁰ Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary ^[e]stayed at the house. ²¹ Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” 

• Martha didn’t believe that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead. She knew He could heal the sick; she had seen that; but now it was too late.

³ Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will 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?”

Jesus does not mean that “everyone who lives and believes in Him will never die (physically).” Lazarus at the time was dead.

• What Jesus is saying is, “everyone who lives and believes in Him will be raised to never die again.

 ²⁷ She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are ^[f]the Christ, the Son of God, even ^[g]He who comes into the world.”

²⁸ When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him.

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. ³¹ Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 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.” ³³ When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and ^[h]was troubled, ³⁴ and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. 

³⁶ So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, ^[i]have kept this man also from dying?”

³⁸ So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time ^[j]there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus *said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the ^[k]people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” ⁴³ When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” ⁴⁴ The man 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.”

In the last year illness and death have frequently come to our doors; the grief still lingers and will do so for some time; comfort in this life is hard to find.

• But what this miracle does is it gives us clear, undisputable, undeniable proof that Jesus is who He claims to be; that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and if our loved ones have fallen asleep in Him, a day will come when He will speak to them; and they will hear His voice; and they, like Lazarus will come forth; and they will be with Him forever.
• And we, in our human weakness, may fail to recognize how much you hurt; and we may fail to sympathize; and we may fail to encourage you like we should; but Jesus never will; keep your focus on Him.

And for everyone: This miracle is recorded here in a “one, final, climactic, undeniable, incomparable, indisputable effort to get you and I to put our faith in, and obediently follow Christ.

And remember this: if Jesus can raise Lazarus from the dead; I know that He can do the same for each one of us some day.