Jesus Raises Lazarus

The family (11:1-3). Lazarus lived in Bethany with his sisters Mary and Martha. Their message did not ask for anything. It simply said, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” Not unto death (11:4). “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Lazarus did die, so Jesus meant that death would not be the end of the story. The glory of the Father and the glory of the Son go together. Love that waits (11:5-6). “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days.” Jesus loved them, so He waited. A slow answer from God is never a sign that He has stopped caring. His timing serves His love. Twelve hours (11:7-10). When the disciples warned Him that “the Jews sought to stone You,” Jesus answered, “If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.” Jesus was walking in the daylight of His Father's will, so danger could not turn Him aside. Sleep (11:11-14). “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” The disciples took it as ordinary rest, so Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” Jesus called Lazarus our friend, and He spoke of raising him as simply as waking a sleeper. For your sakes (11:15). “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.” The disciples already believed in Him, yet faith can grow. Jesus was about to show them something they would never forget. Thomas (11:16). Thomas, “who is called the Twin,” said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” He expected danger, and he went anyway. That is loyal love. Application. Being sick does not mean God is angry with you. When an answer to prayer is slow, keep walking with Jesus, the way Thomas did, and trust that His timing comes from His love.

Four days (11:17-19). Jesus arrived to find that Lazarus “had already been in the tomb four days.” Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem, and many had come “to comfort them concerning their brother.” Honest faith (11:20-22). Martha went to meet Jesus and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Her grief and her faith came out together. Then she added, “But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus did not correct her sorrow. He answered it. The last day (11:23-24). “Your brother will rise again.” Martha agreed: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” She held a true hope that God had given His people long before. Anastasis (11:25). The Greek word for resurrection is anastasis (say: ah-NAH-stah-sis), a standing up again. “I am the resurrection and the life.” Martha thought of the resurrection as an event on a future day. Jesus said it is a Person, and that Person was standing in front of her. Two promises (11:25-26). “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” That is the promise for believers whose bodies die: they will rise. “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” That is the promise of a life that death cannot end. Both promises rest on believing in Him. The question (11:26). “Do you believe this?” Jesus asked it of a grieving woman near her brother's tomb. Faith is more than knowing true things about the future. It is trusting Jesus Himself. The confession (11:27). “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” Christ means the Anointed One, the King God promised. The Son of God names who He is. The One who is to come is the One God's people had waited for. Application. Answer Jesus' question for yourself. Trust Him when your heart hurts, and tell Him honestly what you feel.

Called (11:28-31). Martha told Mary secretly, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” Mary rose quickly, and the mourners followed, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” The same words (11:32). Mary fell at His feet and said what Martha had said: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Both sisters brought Jesus the same honest grief. Groaned (11:33). “He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.” The Greek word is embrimaomai (say: em-brih-MAH-oh-my), a strong word for being deeply stirred, even with a kind of anger. Many Christians see in it Jesus' anger at death itself. Jesus did not treat death and grief as nothing. Wept (11:35). “Jesus wept.” The Greek word here is dakryo (say: dah-KROO-oh), to shed tears. Jesus knew He would soon raise Lazarus, and He still shed tears with the people He loved. Love seen (11:36-37). Some said, “See how He loved him!” Others asked, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” They were thinking of John 9. Jesus did not answer them with words. He answered at the tomb. Fully God, fully man. The same Jesus who wept would call a dead man out of the grave. He wept as a true man, and He raised Lazarus as the Son of God. Both are good news for you. Application. Grief is not a lack of faith. If someone you love has died, Jesus knows that pain from the inside. Bring your tears to Him, and stay close to people who are grieving, the way Jesus did.

The tomb (11:38). Jesus, “again groaning in Himself,” came to the tomb. “It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.” Four days (11:39). “Take away the stone.” Martha objected: “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” No one at Bethany doubted that Lazarus was dead. The glory of God (11:40). “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” This is verse 4 coming true: the sickness was “for the glory of God.” The Son's prayer (11:41-42). Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me.” He thanked the Father before Lazarus moved. He prayed aloud “that they may believe that You sent Me.” The miracle was meant to point people to Him. Come forth (11:43). Jesus “cried with a loud voice,” “Lazarus, come forth!” He spoke to a man four days dead as if He were waking a friend, and the man came out. Bound (11:44). “And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.” Then Jesus said, “Loose him, and let him go.” Jesus gave the life; the people helped with the graveclothes. A sign. Lazarus was raised to this life. This sign pointed ahead to the greater promise of verse 25: every believer will rise to a life that never ends. Application. Jesus does not raise every loved one right away, and He does not promise that. He does promise that His people will rise. Like the people at the tomb, you can help others out of what binds them by bringing them to Jesus.