Jesus, your friend, will not leave you in the grave.

The Death and Resurrection of a Man – Five Sermons

Part 1: “The death of a friend and the glory of God”

(John 11:1-16, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, June 21, 2009)

Q: What reason did Jesus give for visiting His friend who had died?

A: He said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” (John 11:11)

The news of a friend’s illness (1-4)

Since the opening chapters of John’s gospel, we have been told of certain signs that Jesus performed. John writes of seven of these signs in His gospel, with the final one being the resurrection appearances of Jesus Himself from the dead. The signs tell us something about Jesus, and something about the kingdom that He is building. They seem to grow in their greatness as we move toward the cross. This eleventh chapter contains the last sign prior to Jesus’ own resurrection, so it is fitting that the sign would be an amazing one. This chapter tells us about the death and resurrection of a man, Lazarus, a friend of Jesus. In these five messages we will carefully examine this important account of a miracle that demands our most serious attention.

What is any one life about? What is the life of Lazarus of Bethany about? Here is a man who is Jesus’ friend, and we don’t even have one of his words recorded for posterity. His sisters say some interesting things. We’ll look at them in the weeks ahead. But Lazarus says nothing of which we have any continuing record. What about his achievements or his personality? We have no knowledge of them either. We don’t even know anything about his illness, except that it took his life. The first word we hear about him is this: “He whom you love is ill.”

These words were part of a message sent to Jesus by the sisters of the sick man. “He whom you love…” Do you think that people in heaven are talking to Jesus about you that way now? “Lord, you know that man, that woman, that boy, that girl that you love.” He says, “I know just who you are talking about.” Then they tell him something He already knows. “He’s in trouble with money.” “Her husband’s leaving her right now.” “He can’t find a job.” “She was really sick last night. They are saying that she is going to die.” “You know… that one you love… He needs you now. She needs you now.” Do you think that Jesus knows you in heaven? Do you think that He loves you? Would He call you His friend? You know He knows you, don’t you? You know that He loves you.

àDoes this seem extreme to you? Consider Luke 15:10, Hebrews 12:1, and Acts 8:56.

When Jesus heard about His friend Lazarus, that he was very sick, He did not need to be reminded about who he was. He remembered, and He did not need to be told the details of his troubles. He knew that too, and He knew what this was all about. Lazarus was going to die. We normally think about death as the end of the story for a person, but that is very inaccurate. That’s a very earthly-minded way of looking at things, as if people just have these mortal bodies, and when those bodies fail, poor powerless God can’t take that person and give him life outside of that one sick body. That is simply not the case. If it were the case, then Moses and Elijah would not have been able to appear with Jesus at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3). Those men are still alive. Even though Lazarus would die, Jesus says, “This illness does not lead to death.” He does die, but this illness has something more to it, something beyond death. He says, “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

A strange delay (5-6)

What follows next in verses 5 and 6 is hard, at first, to understand. Jesus hears that Lazarus is very ill, but He stays two days more in the place where He is. This is not because Jesus changes his mind about Lazarus. We are told again the Jesus loves Lazarus. We are also told that Jesus loves the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. Jesus is not mistaken about the seriousness of the illness that Lazarus has. We know from the verses that follow that Jesus is very aware of what is going on with Lazarus. Jesus is not unable to heal Lazarus, even at a distance. We hear of Jesus informing messengers about a healing in other instances, and they return home and the sick person is now well. What these verses tell us is that the Jesus who knows the truth about the desperate condition of Lazarus, who loves Lazarus, who loves his sisters, who knows how heartbroken they will be about their brother’s death, who could have come back right away, or could have simply healed him immediately at any distance, this Jesus, the Son of God, seems to stay two days longer where He is, as if He purposely extends his time there based on these two facts; His love for this family, and His knowledge of the seriousness of the illness.

This does not seem to immediately follow. We might have expected something like this: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He quickly returned to Bethany.” Or maybe something like this: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He immediately sent the messengers home with a word of assurance, and when they returned they found Lazarus alive and rejoicing. When they asked about the timing of his recovery, they learned that it took place at the very hour when Jesus sent them back home to Bethany.” Instead of this we have a strange and apparently deliberate delay. “He stayed two days longer in the place where He was,” and we wonder why. If we listen to what He said, we can conclude that something better is happening here, something better than an immediate word of healing, something more glorifying to God, something through which the Son of God will be glorified.

An evident danger (7-10)

There is one other fact that we have not yet considered. The place where Lazarus lives is in a region that has become very dangerous for Jesus and His disciples. More than likely this is how these men understand the inaction of Jesus in response to the urgent message He receives about Lazarus’ illness. They probably think they He is not going down toward Jerusalem because He cannot go, because it is just too dangerous, since there are people there who want to kill Him. And if Jesus knows that Lazarus is not going to die, and they have to assume that from His words, “This illness does not lead to death,” then it is not worth the risk of travelling in Judea. That would be unnecessarily dangerous.

This was not the reason for His delay, and we soon find that He is telling His disciples that it is His settled intention for all of them to go to Judea again. When they question Him on this, He uses the illustration of travelling in the daylight to make a point. When I was in high school we lived away from the city during the summers. I used to walk home at night after spending time with friends. There were no street lights in the place where we were, and the roads had many potholes. If it was a clear night, and the moon was out, it was not that hard to find your way, but if it was cloudy and there was no light, it was very, very dark. Jesus says, “If anyone walks in the night, he stumbles.” The point that He is making has to do with spiritual light; an awareness of our spiritual road, and the dangers that can be faced. There is danger in Judea, but Jesus has light in Himself, and He is able to walk perfectly in that divine light. He is saying to His disciples, “I know what I am doing. My delay is for a purpose, and My determination to travel there now is for the same purpose. I am about to let the light that is in Me shine in front of everyone.”

Lazarus has fallen sleep, Lazarus has died (11-16)

It is time for Jesus to say what is on His mind, and to tell His disciples what He knows, but they are very slow to understand what He is saying. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” They think that this sleep must be a good sign. “If he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” He speaks more plainly. “Lazarus is dead.” There are many places in the Bible where mortal death is referred to as sleep, and this is because death is not the end of our existence. God has created us to rise up from the sleep of death.

Jesus is going to see Lazarus in order to awaken his body from the sleep of death. This will be a great sign to them of who He is and of the life of the resurrection kingdom He is bringing. So He says, “For your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.” They are going to him now, but they still do not understand what is going to happen when they get there. They are thinking about the danger, and Thomas, one of the twelve says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” They are not able to sing, “Jesus lives, and so shall I.” Their song is more like this, “Jesus is about to die, we will also go die with Him.” When the time comes for Jesus to die on the cross, they will run away, in fulfillment of the Scriptures, and they will not expect Jesus to rise from the dead, even though He said that He would. When Jesus says about Lazarus, “I go to awaken him,” we hear how He treats His friends. àIs this just about Lazarus? Consider the role of this miracle in John’s seven signs. Jesus will not leave His friends in the grave.

Application: Live with an ever-increasing awareness of life beyond the grave.

For those who believe in Jesus, who have confessed Him as your Savior, I want to call you this morning to an ever-increasing awareness of life beyond the grave. Jesus died. Jesus rose again. He is in heaven now, and even though we believe in Him, we are too slow to believe what He says about life in heaven. He is there now with many angels and many people. He knows you. He knows your troubles. He loves you. You may sleep one day. He will wake you up. There is a place of eternal life. Jesus knows that place well, and you can trust every Word He says about it.

For those who are considering faith in Christ, think for a moment of the power, light, and love of the One who created our world with such beauty and order. It is also a world with much misery and death. People like Lazarus get sick and die. Could that possibly be the end of the story? Is that kind of meaningless end worthy enough for the Creator of this world? There must be something more than this world of death. Jesus has lots of light on this. There is a world of God’s perfect glory, a world of life. Jesus is calling you into that world through faith in Him. Believe in Him. Believe that He died to defeat the death that had such a hold on this world. Believe that He has the power to raise the dead, and that He Himself rose from the dead. Believe that He is your Friend, and follow Him.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What was the relationship between Jesus and the family of Lazarus?

2. What makes the Lord’s delay in returning to Judea seem strange?

3. What is the significance of Jesus’ stated reason for finally returning?

4. Why would the Lord use the words “fallen asleep” to refer to death?