Day 20: Jesus Is the Resurrection and the Life

Day 20: I AM the Resurrection and the Life

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, teach us to find our life in Jesus and to live in the hope and certainty of resurrection. Give us faith to believe in the words and works of Jesus. Amen.

Scripture:

John 11:25-26: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

When the messenger from Mary and Martha comes to tell Jesus of Lazarus' illness, the request is urgent: Come quickly. Yet Jesus lingers two more days. Likely, the disciples were relieved that He didn't heed this request; it was too near Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders had made it clear that they want to kill Jesus. The town of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, was only two miles from Jerusalem. Jesus would not be able to hide or escape if He went there.

Jesus' delay wasn't because He was care-less about the situation and their need, for we are specifically told "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus" (John 11:5).  The two sisters knew He loved them, and they knew that His love would trump the danger. In fact, the text seems to indicate it was His love for them that constrained Him to tarry for those two days. He wasn't, as perhaps we would be, too weary of the many demands people placed upon Him (John 10:41), nor too fearful of the possible outcome if He returned to Judea as His disciples were (John 11:8, 16). No, His delay was paving the way for a greater miracle, and it became the final proof of who He really is. This illness, Jesus tells His disciples, was destined to reveal not only the glory of God, but through it the Son of God would also be glorified. Jesus had been trying to prove to the Jewish leaders all along that He is indeed the Son of God.

When Jesus decided two days later to go back to Judea, He was not taking His cues from circumstances. Fear of man, fear of being misunderstood, or fear of what might happen were never Jesus' driving factors. Jesus could have spoken the word and circumnavigated the brewing trouble. He had healed others by just speaking the word from a distance (John 4:46-54). His word had flung the far reaches of the universe, and from His word had sprung all that is. This would not be difficult for Him! But He was "walking in the light," listening to God, His Father. It was time now to go back, even though it would ultimately lead to His death.

According to Jewish customs and beliefs, the soul of a person hovers around the body for three days after death. This is why Jesus waited until the fourth day. There is no question that Lazarus is dead. His spiritual soul, which animates life, has left. All possibility of resus-citation is gone. But to Jesus, raising someone from the dead, no matter how long it had been, was as simple as rousing one from sleep, revealing His effortless power over death.

Jesus arrives on the last day of the most intense period of mourning, while many people are still there to witness what He is about to do. This was not to be done privately or in a corner. To both Mary and Martha, Jesus' delay has led to a hopeless impossibility. Martha clearly felt that Jesus' absence due to His delay was an obvious "no" answer to their request. But really His answer to their urgent plea through the messenger was "I've got a better plan."

As soon as Martha heard Jesus was in the vicinity, she went to meet Him. Without doubt Martha and Mary would have been waiting, waiting, waiting for Him, certain He would surely come, even if just to comfort them. Their friendship was too binding for Him not to come. Martha's first words in seeing Jesus verbalize the honest, instinctive feelings of us all when our prayers seem to echo in a vacant universe unanswered. "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." If. If only. It is the sigh of shattered hopes, of dreams never to be realized, of empty relentless grief and of the earnest need to place blame in the vain hope of wresting from our souls an irreversible, burdensome loss we desperately do not want to carry. Every "if only" is a frantic attempt to find some way out, some relieving salve from the intense pain that has moved in to stay. Martha was not really wanting to blame Jesus; she was simply expressing the cry of deep inner emptiness, the inevitable "if only" of grief. The opportunity had been lost, and she was left with the numbing and unacceptable reality of finality: Death. Her beloved brother was gone.

"But even now," she is quick to reinforce her faith in Him, "I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." She is not claiming our personal power with God through prayer, but acknowledging Jesus' access to the Father. She has witnessed it time and again: whatever He asked of God, God had done it. Even though He had not been there to do what she had hoped He would, Martha is affirming her faith in Him as the Messiah and in His unique relationship with God. It's really an amazing assertion of faith in the face of great disappointment.

Martha is not stating her belief that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead, for her following words indicate that she has lost all hope of having Lazarus back. Resurrection is not even within the realm of possibility in her thinking. For when Jesus clearly states His intention, "Your brother will rise again," Martha interprets this as a word of condolence. "Yes, Lord," she agrees, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Unlike the Sadducees, she has a firm grip on hope and still believes in life after death.

Then Jesus makes an astounding claim. Resurrection life is not something He gives or will do someday. It is not a religious position or future historical event. It is not something; it is Someone. He is the embodiment of Resurrection Life. He is the great I AM, the Life that is eternally existent, out of whom flows all other life. There is no life apart from Him: "I AM the Resurrection and the Life."

Jesus then explains for us the impact of His I AM claim. Throughout John's Gospel, time and again Jesus is trying to open our eyes to the spiritual realm. He always saw through the shadow of the physical world to the reality of the spiritual world that cast the shadow. His two statements to Martha sound rather contradictory: "He who believes in Me shall live even though he dies" and "He who lives and believes in Me shall never die." Whatever does He mean? Lazarus believed in Him, and he is dead.

Jesus is showing us both the physical reality and the spiritual reality. Those who believe in Jesus may die physically, but spiritually they live on. Physically, their bodies, which have died, shall be resurrected; but spiritually they have never died. They have simply stepped over the threshold to live within that the world where there are no more shadows. Oh, what wonders must their eyes behold if this world is but the seed form of that world?! Jesus always had His eyes set on that world.

Martha was beginning to lay hold of this understanding as she clearly states her belief that He is the Messiah, the Promised One sent from God who would reverse and remove the death-curse of sin. He was God incarnate, Son of the Father: only Jesus can take us beyond the things of this life and open our eyes to the things in the invisible, spiritual realm.

Martha hurried home to get Mary. When Mary saw Jesus, she fell at His feet. Martha used words; Mary used body language. It is clear from her posture who she believes Him to be, even as she expresses her disappointment, verbalizing the exact words Martha had earlier. "If You had been here, my brother would not have died."

Mary is weeping, overflowing with grief. The mourners with her are also weeping. Jesus groaned from deep within Himself. And He weeps. Grief reflects love. Seeing His tears, the people comment, "See how He loved him!" He feels our heartaches and is ever present to us in our grief. Death, with all its certainty and familiarity, is a foreign thing, a revulsion. This is not the way things are supposed to be. For this reason Jesus came: to destroy the power of death (Hebrews 2:14-15) and all the destructive, death-filled works of the devil (I John 3:8). Of all who have ever walked the face of the earth, Jesus, who has just declared Himself to be Life itself, feels the holy hatred for and the intense grief of death. This is not the way His creative power and genius had designed things to be. He is visibly troubled. The burden of death, the long ages of brokenness, the collective sorrows of a world gone wrong weighed heavily upon Him.

Jesus asks where they have buried Lazarus. They reply, "Lord, come and see." Jesus came to a tomb with a large stone sealing in a dead body with its inevitable decay and stench. A few weeks later those same words will be echoed to these women who will come to a tomb with the stone already rolled away to reveal no lifeless body within, only empty grave clothes (Matthew 28:6).

Jesus tells those standing there to take away the stone. What wise strategy to involve others! Now they were no longer bystanders but active participants in the action. Jesus had the uncanny knack of mixing the natural with the supernatural. Surely He could have commanded the stone to move away on its own, but Jesus was never showy, never performing feats of wonder as a magician does to wow the audience. He's not putting on an act; rather, He works with us, allowing us to play a role in the wonders of God's work in the world. Certainly, it is a work only He can do, but He graces us with the privilege of becoming partners with Him.

Martha, ever the pragmatic, hastens to urge Him not to do this. She is quite blind to His intentions. The smell will be unbearable: his body is decaying, and this will only serve to bring the gut-wrenching reality crashing full force upon them. Everything within her recoils: please don't do this. To Martha, and all the others standing by, the stone was a barrier from the corruption of death; to Jesus, the stone was a barrier to the miracle of resurrection life.

Jesus does not rescind His request even in the face of Martha's pleading. Jesus replies with the same words He had told the messenger, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

Some men do His bidding; the stone is rolled back to expose the dark, gaping cavern. The tension in the air is electrifying. Jesus took this occasion to pray aloud. He begins, not with petition, but with thanksgiving. He is confident He has His Father's ear; there is no uncertainty about that: "I know that You always hear Me" (John 11:42).

Jesus went from prayer to a loud shout. How startling! How dramatic! Jesus never went into the cave to mourn and see the dead body of a beloved friend as Martha and the others expected. Instead, Jesus calls Lazarus to come to Him in a commanding voice. You can be sure all were holding their breath, motionless, staring intently at the opening of the cave. Could this Man really do this??—command death to be gone; reach beyond that unknown, fearful abyss, beyond the mysterious veil into the invisible realm and find a detached soul; reverse decaying corruption and clothe it with wholesome life again?

Did the first wafting scent of decay flow forth as the stone was rolled back? Was it dispelled on the winds of Life? Not only was death gone, but also illness; Lazarus didn't return to life still battling disease. How was he able to come forth as he fought the confines of tightly wrapped cloth that bound arms and legs, restricting his ability to move and even to see? The mourners ears must have caught the sound of life coming from the dark stillness within the cave before their eyes beheld a man very much alive struggling to grope his way into the light of day. Yet no one, in their shock and fear, dared to venture into the mouth of that black cave to lend a hand. The natural and the supernatural merge as Jesus engages those standing agape. Did it take them a few moments to recover, to overcome both fear and incredulity? But Jesus stands back and involves the people once again, telling them to help Lazarus out of those grave clothes. The practicality of freeing Lazarus gave them hands-on interaction with the miracle of resurrection. They saw; they touched. There could be no doubt or denial. Death had been swallowed up by life. The Resurrection and The Life had triumphed.

He who claimed to be the Light of the World had called forth Resurrection Life. With that loud shout, Lazarus had shuffled forth out of the darkness of the grave into the marvelous light of day. There is an intimate relationship between light and life. Light reaches deep below the surface to activate life out of the dark stillness of earth's death. A seed, that can only remain brown and lifeless as it is, is planted beneath the black dirt. The light of the sun warms the soil and calls to the hidden life within the seed, bringing life out of death, pushing back the shroud of earth to emerge into that light and grow into the glorious image God created it to be. Light enables life. Light promotes life.

In His prayer prior to calling Lazarus to come forth, Jesus states the purpose for the miracle: that those standing around may believe that God the Father sent Him (John 11:42). Believe . . . believe . . . believe. The theme is riddled throughout the retelling of this event (John 11:15, 25, 26, 40, 42, 45, 48). It is the constant theme of John's Gospel. It is belief in Jesus, the Light of the World, that activates life within us that leads to abundant, unending life. But in spite of all the evidence, some still refused to believe what the facts pointed to.

We can see from this event that faith is not an irrational leap apart from any evidence or in the face of contrary evidence. There's no place in biblical faith for the notion of "don't confuse me with the facts; my mind is already made up." That kind of thinking belongs to those who are trying to rationalize their non-faith stance. On the other hand, belief or faith is also not simply the acknowledgement of and assent to facts. Belief in Christ is something far deeper than that. Facts or evidence give us a firm foundation for faith. They point us in the right direction and hold out for us the offer of faith. Facts present us with a choice. Yet how much of our Gospel presentations are an attempt to get people to assent to facts? This is not believing in Jesus. Jesus is not calling us to believe in the miracles; He's calling us to believe in Him. Gospel belief is coming to the awareness that Jesus truly is who He says He is. And that changes everything. This faith is transformative and life altering.

Even in the face of this miracle, the religious leaders still refused to believe; they chose unbelief. They wanted to kill not only Jesus, but also Lazarus, in a vain attempt to erase this miracle. They still thought death to be more powerful and final than Life. They were mistaken. Life—the great I AM—will have the final word. They failed to see the contradiction and even the absurdity of trying to kill someone who had power over death. How can One who claims to be the Resurrection and the Life be put to death? Yet He did succumb to death. This miracle became the catalyst that led to Jesus' death and set the stage for His final week. Such a storyline! Who'd have guessed this twist of plot? How was it even possible? It was simply unthinkable.

The will of the people collide with the firm intentions of their leaders in a cataclysmic swirl of headlong, rushing events. When Jesus again shows Himself and turns up at Mary, Martha, and Lazarus' house for dinner, the word runs like wildfire: Jesus is here! People came from miles around—not just to see Jesus, but also to see Lazarus. They weren't satisfied with hearsay; they wanted to see with their own eyes. Who wouldn't?! Thousands were in the area from all the surrounding regions, having made the trek to Jerusalem for the annual Passover.

The people are wild over Jesus. Unrestrained, they hail His as their Messiah and King. But the triumphant sweep into Jerusalem was not the people's instigation. It was orchestrated by Jesus. He had instructed His disciples to go get the donkey for Him to ride into the capital city with this obvious kingly presentation of peace. The exuberant crowd just joined in, making the confrontation with the leaders all the more clashing; the people recognized the clear meaning of Jesus' mission as the plodding donkey ascended into Jerusalem.

I wonder how Mary and Martha and Lazarus felt as that terrifying and shocking week unfolded. Their sorrowful longing for the reversal of Lazarus' illness brought about Jesus' demise. They hadn't anticipated that and perhaps would never have asked Him to come had they known. It was most unexpected, even though He'd warned them repeatedly. But perhaps Mary had a clue as she anointed Jesus' feet with her lavish perfume.

The religious leaders appeared to have their way—but only because He willingly laid down His life. As He had proclaimed, "No one takes My life from Me; I lay it down of My own accord, and I have the power to take it up again" (John 10:18). The rulers’ evil intent served only to fulfill the very thing that God had foreordained, manifesting the loving purposes of God and opening the way to eternal life for all who would believe.

Jesus' resurrection proves that death had no power over Him. He has wrested that power from our archenemy, the devil, and now has the authority to release all of us who all our lives have been in bondage to the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15). Death has been stripped of its fear and its power. It can no longer hold those who have faith in Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life.

This final miracle revealed the full extent of Jesus' power: His jurisdiction and ascendancy over all things, visible and invisible, and even death itself. The resurrection of Lazarus appears to be the dress rehearsal of Jesus' own resurrection when He will prove to the world that He is indeed the Resurrection and the Life. Death has no claim on Him and cannot hold Him. But no external voice shouting for Him to come forth was needed. He laid down His own life of His own volition and He had the power to take it up again!

The resurrection of Lazarus and even more so, His own resurrection, prove that Jesus has the power and the authority to fulfill His promise to give us resurrection life. "I AM the Resurrection and the Life." Life and the power over death resides within Him. As He asked Martha, so He asks us, "Do you believe this?" Our hope is found in a Person.  He offers to us Abundant Life, free for the taking: overflowing, never-ending, continually replenishing, death-defying LIFE.

Family Worship:

Do you have relatives and friends who believed in Jesus and have died? Or have you been to a funeral recently? Talk about the person who died. Think about the sorrow you felt and how Jesus enters into our sorrow; He grieves with us. Talk about the two kinds of death: physical and spiritual. Discuss John 11:25, 26; explain that verse 25 is talking about physical death and resurrection, while verse 26 is talking about spiritual life. Try to imagine the person who died stepping through the door of heaven and the invisible spiritual realm where God is.

Read the words of this song:

Finally Home When engulfed by the terror of the tempestuous sea, Unknown waves before you roll; At the end of doubt and peril is eternity, Though fear and conflict seize your soul. But just think of stepping on shore—And finding it Heaven! Of touching a hand—And finding it God's! Of breathing new air—And finding it celestial! Of waking up in glory—And finding it home! When surrounded by the blackness of the darkest night, O how lonely death can be; At the end of this long tunnel is a shining light, For death is swallowed up in victory! But just think of stepping on shore—And finding it Heaven! Of touching a hand—And finding it God's! Of breathing new air—And finding it celestial! Of waking up in glory—And finding it home!  

Also discuss briefly the comparison of death to sleep. Is sleep frightening or scary? Are we afraid when we wake up?

Conclude your family time with prayer. Thank God for the victory Jesus has won over death. Thank God for the resurrection, and the sure proof of His promise to also raise us. Thank God that Jesus has taken the fear out of death. Thank Him for loved ones who have already crossed over into the fullness of life. Then have each person choose one other person who doesn’t yet know Jesus and pray for that person to come to believe in Jesus and receive His   offer of Life.

Jesus Christ: The Resurrection and the Life, the One who holds the keys to Hades and Death (Revelation 1:18).

Additional Scriptures:

Job 19:25-27: For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Psalm 23:4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

John 3:14-17: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 3:36: He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

John 4:14: But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 5:24-30: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

John 6:27: Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.

John 6:40: And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:47: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

John 6:50-51: This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.

John 6:53-54: Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. . . This is the bread which came down from heaven — not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."

John 6:68: But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

John 10:10: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life; and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:27-30: My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one.

John 20:30-31: Truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 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.

Romans 6:4: Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

I Corinthians 15:20-26: But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

I Corinthians 15:51-55: Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

Ephesians 2:1-7: And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

I Thessalonians 4:13-18: But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Revelation 1:18: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”

Revelation 21:3-6: And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men; and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes: there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.