Restoration – I Am the Resurrection and the Life
Nothing Comparable
When a person sets out to think on life and its seasons, they only fathom what they can see. They have a certain point of reference in which to understand the boundaries and properties of their universe. They’ve developed this point of reference over time as a result of their exposure to the unspoken and manifestly evident rules of their existence. Consider the notion of gravity. Long before we attend a science class, in fact, before we even learn to speak usually, we learn of gravities properties. We can’t explain them, we can’t talk about why gravity works as it does but our point of reference develops. We come to understand that the feeling of falling is usually followed by a painful encounter with the ground. Over time we develop an understanding that the greater the height the more painful the fall. So it is that most people learn to take extra care when moving at heights. Most, not all, people will naturally be careful when walking near a cliff for instance. You don’t need to tell sane sober minded people to watch out for the edge. Their point of reference in understanding gravity is well defined. Additionally, their muscles, their skeletal structure and all of their bodies systems attenuate and strengthen to meet the rigorous demands of gravity. They become used to carrying their weight on their own legs, as result of their natural environment. So it is that astronauts struggle physically to even understand how to function in an environment where gravity isn’t a factor. In fact, much of the training and expense that NASA goes to in preparing astronauts for space involves training them in how to cope and to function in weightlessness.
So too, we have many things in our world as we know them now which are invisibly defined for us. There is a certain order at work and we, over time, have developed an understanding that is built around its properties. The order is vast and including gravity, its rules aren’t easily cheated. We learn of what has been termed: “the circle of life” and with sadness and horror we watch as the lioness tackles the baby wildebeest on the African savanna. We come to learn that if animals don’t die, we don’t eat. We observe over time natures cycles in their unbridled brutality and we come to understand the fabric of our reality. We have points of reference regarding the natural order of things, and we also understand that there are few, if any, exceptions to these rules.
We’re born, we grow up, we age, we slow down and we die. Time pounds out an unchanging rhythm for us. We cheat death time and again, knowingly or unknowingly. Yet it lies in sight. These are the rules of our existence. Because of the nature of these rules as unchanging, we assume them to be so and can’t fathom a different set of parameters. We can’t imagine wolves living with lambs. We can’t imagine a child putting their hand in the den of a venomous snake. We can’t comprehend what sort of created order would not include death or the cycle of life and death. When we attempt to think of it, it is much like trying to describe weightlessness to an African tribesman. He might be able to grasp certain aspects of it. His mind might play with the fun notions of it, but he can’t take it in or think through all of the ramifications of an existence without gravity.
So too, we can’t comprehend what the Bible means when it describes for us the resurrection of the dead. We struggle to get our minds around Jesus words when He says things like: “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.” – John 11:25. And again “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." – John 6:40. We, like our African tribesman toying with the idea of weightlessness, play with the idea of resurrection. But we have no earthly point of reference for what a life without disease or suffering would be like.
Jesus the Healer
I know that when A.B. Simpson spoke of Christ the Healer, what he had in mind was not the resurrection. He was of course speaking of Jesus in terms of His power to heal the physical man in the here and now. Jesus does at times choose to heal and restore on some level our physical condition. There is no disputing this. However, Jesus’ greatest work of healing and restoration lies, for us, up ahead. For those of us who have suffered with disease or watched loved ones suffer and perhaps even die, we often run to Jesus in the hope that He would heal in the here and now. At times He does and we should always run to Him with our desire that He would heal. At times though, He allows us to endure much suffering and much tragedy and often with no apparent resolution in this life. The Bible makes it clear time and time again that our hope is not in the current order, nor in the preserving of our lives in the current order. Our hope lies ahead in the order to come. Let us let Jesus teach us from His word today and let us not super impose our small and finite hopes on top of the wonders that are to be seen in the hope that Jesus has given us in His restoration of the created order and in His resurrection power. For our next two sessions we will be covering Jesus as healer, of all things. This morning, we will see Jesus as He presents Himself as the one who will raise our mortal bodies from the dead, as the conqueror of death. Next week we will see Jesus as restorer of the created order.
Read John 11:1-45
The resurrection of Lazarus
In John 11:1-45 we find Jesus some distance away from the heat of the battle. He’s recently had yet another confrontation with those who would one day see Him nailed to a tree. This time they had picked up stones to stone Him. His ministry is confrontational to the self-righteous order of the Jews and they want Him dead. No longer just a nuisance, He’s now a clear target. End of John 10, He’s across the Jordan and not in Judea. He’s ministering and many are trusting in Him. His disciples are with Him and so we join the story in 11:1.
Two of His disciples, Mary and Martha have journeyed from Bethany in Judea to His location. They have journeyed a long way because they are gravely concerned for their brother, Lazarus. He is very ill. They obviously have a good reason to believe that he will probably die. Mary and Martha believe that if Jesus doesn’t come and do something, Lazarus will indeed die. Jesus does the unthinkable for them and stays on where He is at for two days more. But before He does this, Jesus does something really significant to the story. He gives them the first part of the reason that He is about to raise Lazarus from the dead: “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (4) Following this, Jesus frightens His disciples by telling them that they are headed back to Judea, back into the hands of the Jews trying to kill Him. Jesus tells them plainly that Lazarus has died. Again Jesus says something very significant. He gives them the second part of the reason why He is about to raise Lazarus from the dead: “So that you might believe”. The disciples are in no way happy that they are to return to the heat of the battle. Thomas says: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” He is referring here to the persecution which seems to be waiting for them in Judea.
Martha runs to meet Jesus as soon as she hears that He is coming, and is upset with Him. Mary stays behind, despondent and grief stricken.
Why resurrect Lazarus?
It’s as if three cars are about to collide. Jesus’ disciples are following obediently but with serious and real apprehensions and fears. “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” (8) Initially, when Jesus delayed two days, they thought that Jesus was being smart and not going to tend to Lazarus and they were relieved that they weren’t going to head back towards Jerusalem. Now they’re headed straight for trouble. Then there is Martha, her beloved brother, another disciple Lazarus has died and has been buried. She’s coming and hoping that Jesus will work a miracle in the here and now, knowing that Jesus has the power to move in the midst of such a dire and impossible situation. She’s profoundly disappointed and is struggling to see why Jesus, who loved Lazarus (5) would’ve not come right away to heal him. And all the while Jesus, the Son of God is about to demonstrate to the Jews, to His believers and to us something critical for our faith until His return in glory. He’s moving with purpose towards the stench filled tomb of Lazarus with serious and profound intent. He’s taking a serious risk as He returns to the vicinity of those who are seeking to kill him.
Martha bears the angst, disappointment and deepest desire of her heart to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” (22) Jesus answer to her points her in precisely the right direction: “Your brother will rise again.” She gets what He means. We often think, when we read this story, that simply because Jesus then resurrects Lazarus, He is indicating to her that He’s not concerned here with final resurrection, but concerned with the resurrection at hand, the resurrection of Lazarus. From the context this can’t be true. Let’s look (23): Jesus says: “Your brother will rise again”. But don’t stop here, her reply is correct: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” (24) Can you hear the “but” coming though? It’s as if she wants to say: “I know he will rise again… BUT Jesus, what about now, will you do a miracle and raise my brother?” Jesus doesn’t address what she wants, but completes her first thought when she said: “I know that he will rise again on the last day.” (24) Jesus says: “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.” (25) It’s obvious that Lazarus dies, some years later. So the center of the story of the resurrection of Lazarus is not for us to see that Jesus is capable of resurrecting the dead in the here and now. It’s true He is. It is so that we see that Jesus Himself is the resurrection for all those who believe to everlasting life. That’s what we says: “though, he die, yet shall he live,” It’s as though He is saying: “Martha, I’m going to raise Lazarus from the dead, not so that you have your brother back, but so that you see that I will raise the dead on the last day. So that you see that life everlasting is mine to give, in power! That resurrected life, not this life of suffering and agony and death, but resurrected life is Mine to give.”
Martha understands Him. She says, when asked if she believes (26,27): “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” But remember, when she uses these titles, Lord and Christ, she’s thinking something far bigger than what we think when we hear them. “I know that you are the Christ; the Messiah, the reigning King on the throne of David, the promised redeemer of Israel who will put all nations under His feet (Psalms 2), He who will judge the living and the dead.” “You are the Son of God, who is coming into this world.” You are the great mighty king promised for thousands of years, indeed the one promised in the garden: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” – Genesis 3. You are the one promised in the great covenant with Abraham: “And in your seed, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” – Genesis 22:18. You are the sent one from the Father! You are THE one time anointed one, not lifted up from among men, but sent from God. You are the Son of God. She acknowledges His deity. She understands what He is saying: “And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. DO you believe this?” She says yes!
Martha, maybe in frustration, goes to get Mary. She calls Him “teacher” isn’t that interesting. She calls Him Lord (27) then calls Him rabbi (28). I think that she’s profoundly frustrated. She’s despondent, “Why weren’t you here? Why won’t you do anything?” When Mary gets there, she asks the same thing! "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (32) She falls at His feet. Her heart has been broken by the death of her brother; by the expectation that Jesus would do something in the here and now and He keeps pushing them back to who He is as the bringer of genuine and final resurrection.
By the way, do you see how much love He has for her and Martha and indeed for you and me? He sees the suffering that the curse has rightly brought and He grieves and is moved. This is so hopeful for you and me. So often Jesus sees us through the fire, not so that we receive the temporal desire of our hearts, but so that we’ll see the deeper and eternal hope that He proclaims in such events as these. Just as Mary and Martha are looking for a temporal solution to their problems, Jesus is directing us not to temporary solutions, but to the greatest solution of all. He directs us to His final defeat of death altogether. Yet in the midst of it all He is moved by the consequence of human sin and He weeps. What sort of mercy is it that the consequence for sin, the punishment that He Himself placed on Adam’s children would then weep at its devastating affect? He’s not weeping regret. He’s not weeping because He made a mistake, He’s weeping because He sees how deeply the race of man cries out for resurrection.
Jesus has already told us why He is about to resurrect Lazarus. Remember in verse 11, He told the disciples that He was going to “awaken him”. Then remember, verse 4, “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Then verse 25: “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!” As Mary and Martha grieve and try to pressure Jesus to do something about Lazarus, He is pointing them to the glorious “THEN”. And those hard hearted people who are mourning with them. They express the same angst too. “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Jesus, you opened the eyes of the blind, surely you could have saved him! The scene is heart wrenching, it is raw, hearts are exposed flesh and Jesus is deeply moved. What a merciful Jesus we have!
Jesus does move in power the here and now. He doesn’t proclaim Himself to be resurrection power and then walk away. But for the benefit of those present and for us, that we might know who He is and the power and authority that He has been given, He orders the stone be rolled away. It can’t be overstated what this miracle proclaims to us: I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE! We must see that all who look, by faith to the Son of God, will taste, one day of His resurrection power. That He will one day raise us up, to die no more, to suffer no more.
Death Swallowed Up!
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" – 1 Corinthians 15:52
You don’t need life transformation in the small sense. You don’t need to be changed into a better person, you need to be resurrected. You don’t need your infirmities healed in the here and now, you need all infirmities taken away in the beloved. Lazarus is for us, the promise of the grace that awaits us. Get a view to this promise. Get a view to this beloved Savior who will one day raise you up, just as He was raised up out of the tomb. Find a way where ever you may be, to gaze at this mysterious and wonderful inheritance. That we would get a glimpse of this promise for one second in our hearts. That one day, a sweet trumpet will blow the sweet melody of our God and King Jesus Christ and in as long as it takes for light to reflect off your eye in the sun, all will be changed. All suffering will cease and death, that last enemy will be swallowed up. The picture here is that of an opposing army swallowing up, enveloping and utterly destroying death. Again, like the tsunami that struck the Indian ocean and the horrific pictures of the waves rolling on to the shore. So too, will Jesus’ victory be. The energy and the force of His victory having started on Calvary’s cross, having traversed all nations, having propelled the church in this age to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth in power, will overtake death like a man standing on the beach watching the tsunami roll in. Can you hear the trumpet?
The Last Day
Mary and Martha, can’t you see that Lazarus needs what you need? That is He who will in power give you everlasting life. Jesus says 3 times in chapter 6 of John’s Gospel of believers: “I will raise Him up on the last day”. “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I WILL raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40. Verse 44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I WILL raise him up on the last day.” Verse 54: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I WILL raise him up on the last day.” Jesus says to Martha: “I AM the resurrection and the life. Do you believe?” Is this true of you? Are you like Martha, like me? Have the sufferings and the battles of this life got you so wrapped around the wheels, that you can’t see the forest for the trees? That you would take comfort in these words: “I AM the resurrection and the life!” and that you find them true. So that we would push on to the hope and the destination and the outcome of our walk with Christ: EVERLASTING LIFE.
So we have a Martha faith! A faith that sees the trees and struggles to find a point of reference for the resurrection that Jesus is most certainly bringing. We are upbsurd African tribesman, having weightlessness described for us. We go about our lives toying with the smallest of notions of resurrection incapable apart from the work and grace of the Holy Spirit to even speak the word. We are so dry and unsatisfied, because our pleasures and our dreams and desires and their outcomes, are so much like Martha’s, so temporal and fleeting. May we catch a glimpse larger day by day of our glorious Christ and the power of His resurrection. May God work in us a hope that surpasses all suffering and all doubt and all of our foolish and tiny desires.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. – 1 Peter 1:3
So, let us allow the Spirit of Christ to turn our hearts from the here and now, if only briefly, onto the inheritance that lies ahead for all of us who believe in Jesus. Get a picture for His wonderful work of resurrection.
