Jesus’ resurrection power resides in His empty tomb! Do you believe that? Consider three points made in John 11.
DEATH DISCOMFORTS DEITY – 11:1-10
Observe how many references there are to the emotions of Jesus: verses 3, 5, 34, 35, 36, 38. Write in your margin Psalm 56:8. God keeps our tears in a bottle. He knows and He cares.
DEATH IS ONLY TEMPORARY – 11:11-16
In verse 11, Jesus comments that Lazarus has “fallen asleep.” That is how the Bible often portrays death – it is a sleep. And He tells His disciples that He is going to “awaken him out of sleep.” In verse 13, John tells us that Jesus was speaking of Lazarus’s death but the apostles thought Jesus was speaking only of “literal sleep.” So, in verse 14, Jesus tells them plainly – “Lazarus is dead.”
But for what purpose? Why did Jesus allow Lazarus to die? Why did Jesus allow Martha and Mary – whom He clearly loved – experience the trauma of the death of their loved one?
But, you see, life is not all about our happiness. It is not all about peace and calm and everything going right and the world revolving around us. Our lives are about God. Our lives are to be centered in God – in life and at death…
THE RESURRECTION GLORIFIES JESUS – 11:17-45
First of all, let’s observe what Jesus initially told His disciples about Lazarus’s sickness in verse 4: “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.”
Jesus wanted to use the death of Lazarus to make a profound – life impacting, future altering statement. He is the Son of God. He has the power of life and death in His hands. If He can raise dead Lazarus, He can raise all the dead. He is the One who gives Life.
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Look at what Jesus says after He tells His disciples that Lazarus is dead, verse 15: “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe; but let us go to him.”
Jesus came to the tomb and told the crowd to remove the stone. Jesus gives, it seems, a mild rebuke to Martha in verse 40: “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” The word “glory” carries the idea of riches, importance, honor. If you give a lot of weight to what someone says – you honor him or her. When Jesus displayed His glory, He showed the wealth of His riches, His importance, the reason He should be honored.
The resurrection of Lazarus was to prove two things: 1.) that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God; 2.) that Jesus was, in fact, the resurrection and the life (vss 25-26).
Verse 45 – “Therefore” – this is what the whole event was all about. From verse 1 to verse 44 was leading up to this point right here. “Therefore, many of the Jews believed in Him.” That was the whole point.
“Believe and see His glory.” What are we going to do if we believe? We’re going to obey. If I say that there is a tornado coming and you believe me, you will do what I say – “Get to the basement!” If you don’t believe, you won’t listen. And it could cost you your health and/or life.
Do you believe Jesus? If you do, you’ll obey Him. If you do that, you’ll see His glory.
–Paul Holland
