The Resurrection of Lazarus

The greatest mystery of the life of Jesus is his resurrection from the dead. It’s the moment that changed everything. It’s the moment that meant Jesus was more than just a heroic figure who died tragically. It meant that he was more than just a great teacher or philosopher who was misunderstood and castigated. It meant something unthinkable and unimaginable had taken place. It is the key truth of the life of Jesus. Yet it is also the moment that many find the hardest to believe. So we are going to go on a journey, as we approach Resurrection Sunday, looking at the moments leading up to and the moments directly after this key moment that changed history forever.

What is resurrection? What does it mean? Did it really happen? What is the historical evidence? What did it mean theologically? What does it mean for us today? We are going to explore these questions and more, as we study the resurrection.

For our first message in this series, we come to a moment near the end of Jesus’ three year ministry, just before Jesus enters the capital city of Israel. Jesus is with his disciples and he receives a message from the town of Bethany, that a close friend of his in sick. This is the brother of Martha and Mary, Lazarus.

He tells his disciples that there is a purpose behind what is about to happen next. Jesus in fact told his disciples, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

So there is a purpose at work in everything that is happening. But what happens next is, Jesus stays where he is two more days. After those two days passed, Jesus told his disciples, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

So Jesus actually waits until Lazarus has died, and then tells his disciples, the purpose here is simple: It’s so that you will believe. Really believe. And that belief will then change their lives.

Sometimes when something bad happens to us, it’s just because bad things happen in a fallen world. But, sometimes, something bad happens to us, because it’s going to show God’s glory through how we respond to it. And that is a beautiful and faithful offering before God.

Jesus and the disciples arrive, and they find that Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. Martha and Mary greet Jesus, and they are both deeply grieved by the loss of their brother. Martha greets Jesus first, then Mary comes to him, they are both regretting the fact that Jesus arrived too late to save Lazarus, but Jesus assures them, Lazarus will rise again.

Yet it also famously said, "Jesus wept." He was deeply moved, grieved by this death. The two women then took Jesus and the disciples to the tomb.

And so we come to our scripture for today.

As we study these passages, I want you to see yourself, and our world in these events. Because I think we will see, these events are a picture for us today of how Jesus will deal with the problem of death in our lives.

In John 11:38 it says, “Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.”

Jesus is deeply moved. What causes you to feel deeply moved in life? We were talking about this in young adults group the other night. What moves us is what we’re passionate about. And that passion builds as we grow in it, and we develop something called momentum in that direction, and pretty soon, we are on fire. 

What created momentum in Jesus was his connection with His Father, and the situation that he saw.

It’s the same with us, we are moved by our connection with God, and moved also by the plight of suffering humanity around us, to take action, and similarly Jesus takes action.

The problem is simple in this scenario: Physical death. The tomb is the problem.

And we all face a similar problem. What do we do about physical death? It will come for all of us. For those of us here today, we’ve come to a simple conclusion: Jesus is the answer to the problem of physical death.

Is that the key truth in your life? Jesus Christ? Are you on fire? Has the momentum of your walk with God, built and built, into a raging fire of excitement in your soul? Or have you grown a bit lukewarm? My prayer is that this series will help rekindle the fire in your soul, for the mission of Jesus Christ.

Next, verse 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.

The first thing Jesus does is take away the barrier. That is essentially what Jesus whole life did, it took away the barrier that blocked us from God. When Jesus was crucified, the curtain in the temple was torn in half, opening the way to God for us.

What is the barrier in your life? What keeps you away from a whole-hearted devotion to Jesus? I think I know the culprit in my life. The smart phone, and all the fun things on it. Could it be your TV? Distractions, distractions, distractions. Clear away the barrier.

Our world is like a dark valley, and in that valley are people wandering around, completely blind, there are hundreds of them, thousands, wandering in that dark valley.

And you walk into that valley, with a light glowing in your heart. Because you’ve been raised from the dead. But they haven’t.

Some when they see your light, are drawn to it.

Others flee away from it, they love the darkness.

Still others are afraid of it, because they’ve been hurt.

Others become angry, because they’ve been deceived.

Yet if you speak with wisdom, you can bring them closer to the light, even help them to gain the light within them.

Let me ask you a simple question: What is the barrier in your life, that stops you from going to them? Because if we aren’t going to them, in some form, we are also deceived, we’re missing true reality, and there is a stone that must be rolled away, to clear the way for Jesus to open our eyes, to those lost in the valley of darkness.

Second portion of verse 39: “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

There was a bad smell that would come from the tomb. It reminds me of the stain of sin in our lives. The stain of death, from the fall, that we all carry. It’s the reason for the separation between man and God in the world, sin. The choices we made, the choices our ancestors made, that kept us far from God.

Thankfully, the smell of sin that covered me and you, didn’t stop Jesus from cleansing us, and washing us, and raising us up, to make us clean. All we had to do was come to Him willingly.

In verse 40, Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

Earlier in the chapter, when Jesus was speaking to Martha, he had told her that Lazarus would rise again. She figured he meant on the last day he would rise, but Jesus meant today!

Then Jesus said to her in verses 25-27 “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Jesus is reminding her, you believe in me, keep believing in me. It’s a good reminder for us today.

We’ve all made professions of faith, when I baptized several people here at this church, they confessed they believed in Jesus, but, the challenge is always, what about tomorrow? Will I continue to believe? That is my goal, I hope you make it yours as well.

Notice Jesus says, whoever believes in me will live, but, whoever lives by believing in me will never die.

Believing something, and living daily by that belief are two different things.

If you believe, you will see the glory of God. It’s true for them, it’s true for us today.

Verse 41: “So they took away the stone.”

Can you imagine the smell that rolled through the area at that moment? There were many people there, you’ll see that noted earlier in the chapter, because Bethany is only two miles from Jerusalem. The power of our senses is intense, when they smelled the dead body, can you imagine what they must’ve thought? How could this be possible? At the same time many had seen Jesus’ miracles, they knew he had power from heaven, so I'm sure many believed, anything is possible with Jesus!

Do you believe today?

What stone needs to be rolled away in your life?

Sometimes we need to roll the stone away. That’s our part. Then, let Jesus do the miracle in our lives.

What stone is blocking you from going deeper with God?

Are you just maintaining in your walk with God? For a few years I was there, just kind of mildly reading the Bible and praying a little.

But at some point, we want to go from maintaining to actively growing, and I’ll tell you what, that’s a lot more exciting too.

Here’s the difference. Are you spectating? Or are you serving?

A spectating Christian is someone who prays, reads their bible, and goes to church sometimes, but that’s about it. This person is not building on the foundation of Christ, they are not truly active in their faith walk. They go through the motions, but their heart isn't really in it. There may be knowledge being accumulated, but there is no action accompanying it. 

Then there is the serving Christian, they pray, read their bible, and go to church, but, they’re also serving, they are out there witnessing to friends and neighbors about Jesus, they are helping people out around them, meeting needs, volunteering, doing ministry, and it’s beautiful to behold. Their heart belongs to Jesus, and they are excited to serve Him. 

The spectator is always learning, but never applying. They take in all this knowledge, but it never makes it into their actual daily lives.

But a servant, is always learning and also applying. They take the knowledge and translate it into their actual daily practices.

Which sounds more like you? If necessary, you can always make a change and go from spectator, to servant. And I don’t care if you’re 90 years old, you can still serve, we have a woman at our church who is 89 years old, and she comes and cleans the bathrooms every Tuesday!

Next, verses 41b-42: Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

The whole purpose here is that all the people there would believe. And it’s written in the Bible for the purpose that we would believe too. Studying these passages produces an effect similar to the effect of those who saw it happen. Sure, it takes greater faith for us, we weren’t actually there, but we’re gentiles, that’s what we do. We dare to believe.

When we choose to believe, or we see it in some new way, it energizes us, it inspires us, it spurs us forward.

At the same time, we all know doubt it real. Doubt is a real challenge we face. Particularly when we’ve faced disappointments in life. But, faith is also real. Dare to believe today. To really trust God and His word.

So we come to the big moment. Jesus prays first, then, he looks directly at the problem of sin and death and issues a command.

Verse 43 says: When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

The Son of God had the authority to issue this command by the power of the God who created the universe from nothing. And nothing is too hard for God. How could a dead man be raised to life? By the command of a supernatural God. Was it magic? No. It was by the power and authority of the Creator.

This is the truth for us as well. We believe that after we die, and we will all one day die, that Jesus will raise us from the dead.

We will rise.

Let’s see what happened next, verse 44: “The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.”

The command of Jesus was given, and Lazarus’ body was restored, and he got up, and walked out of the tomb, alive. A dead man, alive again. And so Jesus does the same for us. He does the impossible. And it isn’t even hard for him.

There are four ways Jesus raises us from the dead. The first is spiritual death, he awakens us, and gives us a new spiritual nature.

Second, he restores us when we’re broken, he heals us.

Third, when we are caught in sin, he delivers us. And sets us free.

Fourthly, he raises us from the dead literally, from physical death. 

So is his promise to us. And I believe Jesus. I take him at his word.

Lastly, verse 44b Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Ultimately, Jesus will not only raise our old bodies, though that is what happened for Lazarus. But, when we are raised after death, into the new world Jesus is creating for us, we will receive new bodies, new bodies that do not age.

Jesus told the sisters to remove the grave clothes from Lazarus. Similarly, Jesus will remove the old sin nature from us, and give us a new nature in heaven. Glorification we call it.

I love that last line, let him go! Set him free. Ultimately, Jesus sets us free, delivers us from sin, gives us a new life when he died for us on the cross. But even more so, the ultimate end goal, is eternal life…

A new body.

A redeemed nature.

A new heavens

A new Earth.

Eternal life, in a paradise with God, and all redeemed humanity. All those who accepted Jesus, and let Jesus cleanse them.

Let’s go back to the beginning, the big question is, do you believe? Do you really believe Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead two thousand years ago? And do you really believe Jesus will raise you from the dead?

If you struggle with doubt, pray, and ask for God’s help. If struggle with distractions, again, ask for God’s help, he will deliver you. Remember the goal through this series will be to help rekindle a fire within each of us, around faith in the resurrection, that will spur us toward the lost in this city. Let us pray, and ask God now to build in us, a fresh fire in our souls.

Prayer: Lord, we come before you today in need. We need you Lord, to revive us again, stir up the fire in our souls, pour out fresh fire upon us, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask you Lord, to do a mighty work in us, and get us ready to go to the lost, and share your light with them, in Jesus name, amen.