JOHN

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John Chapter 11

• John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 
• 2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 
• 3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 
• 4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 

Perhaps the Lord is reminding us that some sicknesses are unto death or our time to leave this life to enter our final home. The sickness of Lazarus was not meant to be his time to die but that God would show His power and testify that Jesus was the one that Moses wrote about. 

This powerful event was to reveal Jesus as the resurrection and the life. To prove He was the Messiah, the savior and the one with the power to raise us from the dead. This miracle was greater than the raising of the widow's son who had just died. In this case Lazarus had been dead for four days.

Yet, sadly even this miracle just stirred those that were against Jesus to even more envy and hate. 

• John 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 
• 6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. 
• 7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again. 
• 8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? 

He was going to show them one last miracle so that unbelief now would not be justified. Their rejection of Him as Messiah could not be justified. This was showing that Jesus did all He could do to reveal who He was and that He had to power to grant salvation and eternal life as well as the healing of physical bodies.

• John 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 
• 10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. 

Jesus was answering their question about the danger of going back to into the area where the evil men wanted to stone Him to death. He knew that they would not be able to kill Him until it was time and His work was finished. Darkness would not come until then. He was the light of the world and it was still day. His crucifixion would bring the darkness. For now He still had to show those present that He was the resurrection and the life. Another type of darkness are those that have not come to the light of the gospel. They walk in darkness.

• John 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 
• 12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 
• 13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 
• 14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 
• 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. 

It may seem strange that some would question God and try to reason with Him. He wanted to go and the disciples sought to hinder Him out of fear that the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus. Notice also that death to a believer is considered as being just sleeping because the soul and spirit of man does not die.

• John 11:16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. 
• 17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. 
• 18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: 
• 19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 
• 20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. 
• 21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 

She seems to blame Jesus for not getting there in time. She knew He could heal but the thought of resurrection was not on her mind. I wonder if Mary either was so grieved she didn't hear that Jesus had come or else she was upset that He didn't get there in time and heal Lazarus so she stayed in the house instead of going out to greet Him.

• John 11:22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. 

It seems like Martha still had a shred of faith that somehow Jesus could make it right.

• John 11:23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 
• 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 

The Jewish people did know that there would be a resurrection of the dead from Old Testament scriptures. 

• John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 

Here was the resurrection and the life standing before them. Wow. He had the power to bring forth one that had been dead four days. When He returns the 2nd time there will be a powerful resurrection of those whose bodies had been dead for over 2000 years. Awesome to think about.

• John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? 

Here is the whole gospel. Whoever believes in Him. To believe means to abide in, keep His word and follow Him not just believe He once existed as a person. 

To believe in Jesus means to turn from the sin He saves us from and start trusting in Him for all things. We leave our old life and become a new creature in Jesus. We will never die spiritually and in a sense, we never die physically because the minute our soul leaves our body we are in the presence of the Lord. The soul and spirit do not sleep. The resurrection is for the physical body only. There is no soul sleep taught in scripture.

• John 11:27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. 
• 28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. 
• 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. 
• 30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. 
• 31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. 
• 32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 

I don't think she really blamed Him but she knew that He could have prevented it but something must have hindered Him from getting there in time. 

• John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. 
• 34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
• 35 Jesus wept. 
• 36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! 

Jesus did not weep because Lazarus was dead because He knew where the dead go and that the death of the righteous is not permanent. Jesus wept because of the unbelief surrounding Him. Unbelief grieves the heart of God.

Imagine if we had scientific knowledge that a storm was coming and the dam that was holding back a great body of water had been weakened and was going to burst. Then we went to warn those in town to leave their homes and escape as quickly as possible but we were mocked, and ridiculed. "That dam has been there for years and built to last. We've been through storms before." We too would be grieved that no one believed our warning.

It was similar to the rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders of that day. They were under the law given to Moses. It had been in place for years, set in stone. They must have thought it was good enough, why did they need a savior from sin and a new way of salvation. The law was like the man made dam. It was good for a while to keep the town safe but it could not last forever. The law exposed sin but could not deliver us from sin. That took the power of the Holy Spirit to come within each individual who would believe in Jesus, the one God sent to save us from sin and grant us life eternal. The old way had to be replaced by the new everlasting one. 

• John 11:37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? 

Here we see criticism and doubt that Jesus was who He said He was. They had to see signs and wonders to believe. True faith though is believing even when we do not see anything visibly.  Notice that these observers were ready to pounce with criticism at the first mistake or error Jesus made. Of course we know He made no mistakes but they thought He erred in not getting there in time.  

• John 11:38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 
• 39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. 
• 40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 

Notice the importance of faith. "If you believe, you will see the glory of God." Many things do not happen because we simply do not believe they will happen. If we go to church expecting to be bored, we will be bored. If we go expecting to receive something from the word of God, we will. 

• John 11:41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 
• 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 
• 43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 

When Jesus returns He will not only say come forth to Lazarus but He will say come forth to all who have died in the Lord. 

• John 11:44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. 
• 45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. 
• 46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. 
• 47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. 
• 48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. 

Notice the seed that falls on different soil. Some believed when they saw this miracle. Others couldn't wait to go and tattle to the Pharisees to stir them up against Jesus. The Pharisees cared more about their standing with the Roman government than one sent from God who could raise the dead.

The governments of this world will pass away and be no more. Where is the Roman Empire now? To neglect our salvation just to please the world around us is the biggest mistake we could possibly make. 

• John 11:49 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, 
• 50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 
• 51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 
• 52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. 
• 53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. 
• 54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples. 
• 55 And the Jews' passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves. 
• 56 Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? 
• 57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should show it, that they might take him. 

They feared losing their place and losing their status among the people and the government. They cared more for this world than for their eternal souls.

We can't please men and please God at the same time. We have to choose one above another. The world system as we know it now will never be a friend to those that live godly in Jesus Christ. The closer to God we live the less the world around us will accept us.

We have to choose one or another. We sometimes look at numbers and assume the majority are in the right but that is not so. Jesus said straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. Do we want to be popular or do we want to serve God no matter what? What does it profit if we gain the whole material world and lose our souls for eternity? DC