Conquering Death – Pt. 2

Turning back, if you would, to
John chapter 11, John chapter 11, where we resume essentially
where we left off last week as we have begun a consideration
of not just conquering death, as the title puts it, but the
conqueror of death, the Lord Jesus himself. We find ourselves,
as we began last week, in a consideration one of the Lord’s most astounding
miracles, literally raising the dead. Only one of three recorded
incidents of Jesus raising the dead and conquering, really,
mankind’s most feared and even hated enemy, that of death itself. We saw that even from the earliest
years, death was held to be not just a mystery, but something
that was not only hated, but feared, and that is universal
across cultural lines. This adversary that is so formidable,
so cruel, so sudden, so inevitable, so unstoppable, So indiscriminate,
it strikes rich and poor, it strikes young and old. Well,
Jesus Christ has come as the conqueror of death, and we find
that so graphically represented here in John chapter 11. If you
would, we want to take this chapter again in its entirety. Now a
certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary
and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the
Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to him
saying, Lord behold, he whom you love is sick. But when Jesus
heard this, he said, this sickness is not unto death. but for the
glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was
sick, he then stayed two days longer in the place where he
was. Then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to
Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi,
the Jews were just now seeking to stone you. And are you going
there again? Jesus answered, are there not
12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he
does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. But
if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light
is not in him. This he said, and after that
he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so
that I may awaken him out of sleep. The disciples then said
to him, Lord, if he’s fallen asleep, he will recover. Now
Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he was speaking
of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly,
Lazarus is dead. And I’m glad for your sakes that
I was not there. so that you may believe, but
let us go to him. Therefore, Thomas, who is called
Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go so that we may
die with him. So when Jesus came, he found
that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now, Bethany
was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews
had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their
brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming,
went to meet him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said
to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died. Even now I know that whatever
you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your
brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that
he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to
her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who comes to me
will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes
in me will never die. Do you believe this? She said
to him, yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ the son
of God, even he who comes into the world. When she had said
this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, saying secretly,
the teacher is here and is calling for you. And when she heard it,
she got up quickly and was coming to him. Now Jesus had not yet
come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha
met him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house and consoling
her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out,
they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb
to weep there. Therefore, when Mary came where
Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And Jesus
therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also
weeping. He was deeply moved in spirit
and was troubled and said, where have you laid him? They said
to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews were
saying, see how he beloved him. But some of them could not. Some of them said, could not
this man who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this
man also from dying? So Jesus, again being deeply
moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone
was lying against it. Jesus said, remove the stone.
Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, Lord, by this time
there will be a stench for he has been dead for four days.
Jesus said to her, did I not say that if you believe you will
see the glory of God? So they removed the stone. Then
Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you
have heard me. I knew that you always hear me,
but because of the people standing around, I said it so that they
may believe that you sent me. When he had said these things,
he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. The man who had died came forth,
bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around
with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him
and let him go. Therefore, many of the Jews who
came to Mary and saw what he had done believed in him. But
some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which
Jesus had done. Therefore, the chief priests
and the Pharisees convened a council and were saying, what are we
doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let him go
on like this, all men will believe in him. and the Romans will come
and take away both our place and our nation. But one of them,
Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, you
know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is
expedient for you that one man die for the people and that the
whole nation not perish. Now this he did not say on his
own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied
that Jesus was going to die for the nation. And not for the nation
only, but in order that he might also gather into one the children
of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day, they planned
together to kill him. Therefore, Jesus no longer continued
to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the
country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, And
there he stayed with the disciples. We began last week just in a
consideration of this episode of Jesus conquering death, the
conqueror of death. And we see divine assistance
for us, the divine assurance of eternal life. We saw three
phases or episodes last week, there was this response to this
emergency, not only immediately, which was presented in a very
shocking manner to us. Jesus loved Martha and her sister
and Lazarus. So when he heard he was sick,
he stayed two days longer. His immediate response was to
wait. We saw a second phase, if you will, the principle by
which he was acting and conducting himself in ministry that he was
called to walk in the light. He was called to trust the Lord
and to walk in God’s sovereign plan, not fearing the moment
of death because that’s ultimately why he came. He was called to
work as long as there’s light. not only immediately and principally,
but ultimately he purposed to go. We saw that unfold last week
with his intentions before his disciples who were quite bewildered
at his insistence to go. And upon arrival, and probably
it’s only natural and right, that before Jesus bursts into
the house full of guests, that he has opportunity to interact
with his two very dear and beloved friends, Mary and Martha. These were dear friends as we
saw last week. Jesus had been in their home
in times past. He had not only enjoyed their
company, but he had also enjoyed the privilege of correcting Martha. And he enjoyed the privilege
of Mary’s worship. These were dear friends, intimate
friends. And even though we’re introduced
to Lazarus here, this family was a dear family to Christ. I want to look first this morning
just at the likely older sister, Martha, in verses 17 through
27. Jesus will then go on to interact
with Mary. We’ll take that next Lord’s Day,
Lord willing. If you would, go back to verse
17, where we begin to see Jesus’ interaction with the grieving
sister’s first, Martha. Verse 17 says, so when Jesus
came, he found that he, that is Lazarus, had already been
in the tomb four days. In other words, Lazarus had already
died and had been buried, likely buried on the same day. It was
a very clear custom of the Jews, nowhere written in scripture,
mind you, but a very common custom in that day and age to bury on
the same day of death. Ananias and Sapphira, you might
recall in Acts 5, they were struck down for their lies and they
were buried immediately. It wasn’t something that they
typically delayed. And four days means that the
mourning was well underway. The resolution of Lazarus’s death
was beginning to be absorbed and digested by those even of
his closest friends. They were dealing with it, we
might say, in our day and age. Long since had passed the time
of some miraculous recovery, either by Lazarus himself or
some miraculous deed, even by a word from afar of Christ. Four days had passed. Some people
find difficulty locating four days. Let’s do this. Day one, just for our purposes,
let’s call it Monday. On Monday, messengers are sent
to Jesus from Lazarus’ sickbed, and then it’s almost inevitable
that Lazarus dies almost immediately after they leave. Verse three,
if you go back, says, the sisters sent word to him saying, Lord,
behold, he whom you love is sick. What they don’t record is that
Lazarus had to have died shortly after that statement was made,
shortly after the messengers. Jesus receives that word the
same day, Monday. And when Jesus hears of the news
on that same day, Monday, he decides to stay two additional
days, Tuesday and Wednesday. Verse 6, glance down at it if
you would. So when he heard that he was
sick, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Evidently, the very next day,
which would be Thursday, the fourth day, after this, verse
seven says, after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to
Judea again. So this is the fourth day. And
John takes a very particular opportunity here to make note
of the fact that he had been in the tomb four days. And he does that to stress the
significance, the amazing aspect of this miracle. There was this
rabbinical tradition, and this is nowhere written in scripture,
but the Jews had come up with this idea that the soul of a
dead person would hover around or near or perhaps even in the
body for three additional days. And then on the fourth day, the
soul would take its permanent leave of the body. Well, we know
that scripture nowhere teaches that. But in the Jews’ mind,
four days was significant. Four days, it’s over. Four days,
not even a miracle of God can bring an individual back to life,
or can it? Look at verse 18. Now Bethany
was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, Many of the Jews had
come to Mary and Martha to console them concerning their brother. John takes a special opportunity
here to point out the nearness of Bethany. It was a village
off of Jerusalem, a small community that was nearby, near enough
that the word would easily spread to Jerusalem and It would be
inexcusable for those who were friends of this family to not
come and to console them. So Jesus arrives and there are
many mourners. We don’t know how many. We know
that this was somewhat obligatory, not just for family friends,
certainly for family, but even those who were upstanding in
the community, in the religious community, would have felt morally
obligated to go and to mourn. And they would do whatever they
could to bring comfort to these ladies. One of the great historians,
Edersheim, looks back on this and he paints a picture of what
Jewish mourning was like. He speaks of a threefold division
of time of mourning. Here’s how he describes it. The
first three days were days of weeping. And certainly anybody
who’s ever been part of that scene. It is just natural. It is the response of a broken
heart. The first three days were days
of weeping. Then, deep mourning lasted for
the rest of the week. Now mind you, this isn’t just
by the family, but this is by those who are coming to comfort
the family. There is a week-long period of
mourning. Weeping, and then deep mourning. where conversation was limited,
reverence for the one who had respect and reverence for him
who had passed, and then for the remainder of
30 days, another 20 days of light mourning. Sadness, grieving,
not unlike what we go through, storytelling, reminiscing, He
goes on and says, given in the Talmud, this is the Jewish interpretation
of the law, three days for weeping, seven for lamenting, 30 to refrain
from cutting the hair and donning pressed clothes. You are to look
the part of a mourner. The family was largely left to
themselves for those first 72 hours, their friends wouldn’t
even interact with them, wouldn’t speak to them necessarily, but
they were there to console. And it was almost a moral obligation.
It was a good thing. Ecclesiastes 7.2 says, it is
better to go into the house of mourning than into the house
of feasting because that, mourning, death, mortality, That is the
end of every man and the living takes it to heart. That’s why
the Jews were so fastidious about the, it’s not just that they
enjoyed this, they took this as a necessary part of life.
We need for our own sake to go and to be part of this morning.
It served as a good reminder of one’s own mortality It was
not unlike the Puritan practice of building the church graveyard
right next to the church, so that every time the saints went
to church, they had to pass by the graveyard and reconcile their
own mortality. The astounding thing is, even
though the Jews were there essentially to go through the motions at
least of mourning, if not some legitimate concern and sadness
over the passing of Lazarus, the reconciliation in their own
hearts of their own mortality, even in the face of this, they’re
still hostile to Christ. As one described it, the empty
chaff of conventional consolation, So moved the spirit of Jesus.
Jesus sees all these mourners really just going through the
motion, ultimately for their own purpose. Meanwhile, his dear friend lies
dead in a tomb. Martha comes to him. And this
scene is so poignant. It’s been four days since the
messenger was sent. And we would likely, it’s not
wrong for us to assume that Martha might be hurt or irritated, bothered
by the fact that it had taken so long for Jesus to get there. And so the tension has built,
hasn’t it? We find this meeting in verse
20. Martha therefore, when she heard
that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary stayed in
the house. A lot of different commentators
have read into this whole scene that boy, Martha was gonna take
the bull by the horns and go confront Jesus while Mary was
gonna sit at home and pout. I don’t see any of that necessarily. It’s certainly a possibility.
Scripture doesn’t tell us one way or the other. But it is a
consistent picture of what we see in Martha and Mary. Martha’s
always busy, active, Mary tends to be the quieter one. We see the same personalities
in this episode that we see in the episode recorded in Luke’s
gospel, the one that we considered last week. Martha busy in the
kitchen, Mary quietly worshiping at Jesus’ feet. I love the way
one commentator filled out this picture of this contrast. Martha,
active, stirring, busy, demonstrative, cannot wait, but runs impulsively
to meet Jesus. Mary, quiet, gentle, pensive,
meditative, contemplative, meek, sits passively at home. The bottom line though here,
we’re simply not given many details. It just says that Martha did
come and Mary did not. Martha may well have been delegated
as the greeter. Mary may not have even known
about Jesus’ arrival. We’re simply not given enough
details to make a hard and fast assessment of the motives of
these women. We do have their words. Look
at verse 21. Martha then said to Jesus, Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died. If you look down at verse 32
and just glance there a second, Mary says exactly the same thing. This is probably a dialogue,
a conversation, a statement that had been made several times in
the course of the four days. Ever since Lazarus died, they
probably repeated this thought if only Jesus had been here.
I know that he would have saved Lazarus. I know that he would
have done something. I know that he would have cured
his illness. And so I don’t see it as an indictment
of Jesus. The fact that you dragged your
feet and come here four days later. My brother is dead. I don’t see it that way at all.
I don’t see it as a indictment of Christ or reproach or resentment
on Martha’s part. It’s not even disappointment
with him. It’s a statement of fact. If Jesus had been here,
no doubt he would have stepped in and done something. But if you look at the timetable,
as we just did, it would have been physically impossible for
Jesus to come and to be there bedside with Lazarus, because
by the time they even sent the messengers, Lazarus was literally
dying and within hours likely was dead. He couldn’t have been
there on time. This is the expression of great
regret, and we have this all the time, right, in life? We
call them the coulda, woulda, shouldas. After someone dies,
after something, then we think of what we could have done and
we might have done and we really ought to have done and didn’t. J.C. Ryle said of that tendency,
we are apt to add to our trouble by fancying what might have been. As if grief isn’t enough, now
we’re gonna heap onto ourself guilt as well for the things
that we did not do. If such a method had been taken,
such a physician had been employed, if only. That’s how we tend to
operate, isn’t it? And that’s how Martha’s operating.
That’s how Mary will operate. If only, if only Jesus had been
there. And he goes on to say, and what
good does it do? When God’s will is done, our
business is to submit. It’s to recognize that God in
his sovereignty has taken their brother. And so this statement
that Martha makes is a statement of faith, really. It’s a statement
of confidence in who Christ was. That if Jesus Christ had been
present, if Jesus Christ had come to Lazarus’ bedside, she’s
absolutely confident that he would have saved him. It was a strong expression of
faith. It was an affirmation of Jesus’ ability to heal the
sick. She wasn’t blaming Jesus for
anything, certainly not for coming four days later. One pastor said it this way,
here is passion, not unmixed with a touch of reproach, but
here is love, confidence, devotion, here is faith. Nevertheless,
there is something of unbelief at the bottom. Martha forgets
that the bodily presence of Jesus was not necessary in order to
cure her brother. What they could have done is
ask for a healing from afar, many had. But in God’s providence, that
wasn’t even necessary. God had this orchestrated right
down to the finest detail. And so Martha, bewildered Martha,
maybe even hurt Martha, faithful Martha, welling up with confidence Martha
says this in verse 22, even now, four days, after my brother has died, even
now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
That’s a remarkable statement. And there were those who said
that Martha could not possibly have been asking for a miracle
here. Four days, Martha seems to express
her trust, her faith, and even though she will go on to doubt,
even though she will even express in this particular context, how
on earth are you going to raise my brother who’s been dead for
four days? If you look at it, the words
can mean only one thing. She’s asking Jesus to intervene
in the great enemy of death and overcome it, conquer it, and
raise her brother from the dead even these four days. It was
a stupendous request. It was even to a degree, to our
ears, outlandish. How can you ask Jesus? How can
you put him on the spot to do this? Well, Mary would have been
very aware of Jesus’ capabilities, not only to heal the sick, but
Martha here would have been very aware that Jesus had already
raised the dead, if he would, I want to take you back to two
such occasions. The first one is in Luke chapter
7. Martha would have known this story. She would have heard the
miracles that Jesus performed. These would have gone, the raising
of the dead, the news of that would have spread throughout
all the land. It is almost impossible to conceive
that Martha, a close friend of Jesus, hadn’t heard this account. Look at verse 11 of chapter 7.
Soon afterwards, he went into a city called Nain, and his disciples
were going along with him, accompanied by a large crowd. Now as he approached
the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the
only son of his mother. And she was a widow, and a sizable
crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he
felt compassion for her and said to her, do not weep. Now this
was either cruelty on Christ’s part, don’t weep for your dead
son, or Jesus has a plan. And Jesus has compassion on this
woman who is dealing with the great enemy, death. We’re not
given any more detail. We don’t know if it was a lengthy
illness. We don’t know if it was an accident that it happened.
All we know is that death had struck and grief was real. Look at verse 14. And he came
up and he touched the coffin and the bearers came to a halt
and he said, young man, I say to you, arise. The dead man sat
up, began to speak and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
fear gripped them all and they began glorifying God. A great
prophet has arisen among us. God has visited his people.”
Well, those are the very words that Martha will express in very
short order. God has visited his people. God
has sent the Messiah into the world. Martha knew this story. It’s almost inconceivable that
Martha didn’t know this account with all the disciples, with
all the crowd of onlookers witnessing this astounding miracle. Turn over one chapter, if you
would, to Luke chapter eight. Luke chapter eight, as we said,
There were probably many, many other such resurrections from
the dead. John says it’s impossible that
all the miracles would have been recorded. All the books in the
world wouldn’t contain them. Are we to really think that there
were really only three resurrections from the dead? Well, here’s the
third, Jairus’ daughter. Look at verse 41, there came
a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue,
and he fell at Jesus’ feet and began to implore him to come
to his house. Now here’s this man, a synagogue
official, and one that most people would say would be at odds with
Christ, but he knows of Christ, knows enough of him, unlike the
widow of Nain, to go to Christ and to seek his assistance. The
widow, she didn’t even ask, she didn’t ask anything of Christ.
Christ came to her. But he comes and he falls at
Jesus’ feet and he’s pleading with him for help. Look at verse
42. For he only had one daughter, about 12 years old, and she was
dying. But as he went, the crowds were
pressing him. Jump down if you will, there’s
another account embedded in this account. Skip down, if you would,
to verse 49. While he was still speaking,
someone came from the house of the synagogue official, Jairus,
saying, your daughter has died. Do not trouble the teacher anymore. It’s over. And that’s the way
we think. That’s the way they thought.
But when Jesus heard this, he answered him, do not be afraid
any longer. Only believe, and she will be made well. Well,
that is one of the most remarkable calls to faith that Jesus ever
issues. Only believe and she will be
made well. Jesus, she’s dead. Perhaps Jairus
hadn’t heard of the previous healing, but Martha no doubt
knows of this one as well. Look at verse 51. When he came
into the house, he did not allow anyone to enter with him except
Peter and John and James and the girl’s father and mother.
Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her, but he said,
stop weeping. For she has not died, but is
asleep. And they began laughing at him, knowing that she had
died. He, however, took the child by the hand and called, saying,
Child, arise. And her spirit returned, and
she got up immediately. And he gave her orders for something
to be given her to eat. Her parents were amazed, but
he instructed them to tell no one what happened. No doubt the
disciples knew no doubt news of this spread as it often did. And so when Martha says even
now back if you would to John 11 even now verse 22 I know that
whatever you ask of God God will give you she knew that it was
possible. He had raised a man being carried
to the grave. He had raised a girl that had
just died. Jesus was perfectly capable of
doing this miracle if he so chose. But this was the most remarkable
case of all. After all, Lazarus had been dead
and buried for four days. Even in the Jewish mind, the
soul was long gone from the body. One pastor painted the scene
so exquisitely with his words when he said, in the heart of
Martha, the darkness of grief and the light of hope were engaged
in deadly combat. Sometimes her lips gave expression
to her near despair, then again to optimism. These words, half
revealed and half concealed hope, Here is a woman deeply emotional,
her soul overcome by grief over the death of her brother whom
she loved dearly, but here is also a disciple of Jesus, her
soul filled with reverence for her Lord. Here is consequently
a heart stirred to its very depths and swaying between grief and
hope. What a beautiful picture that
paints. She wants to believe, she wants to believe that Jesus
is perfectly capable of anything, even raising the dead from four
days, but she almost dare not ask for this miracle, lest Jesus refuse it. Jesus affirms
her, look at verse 23, your brother will rise again. And those words
could have been taken, you know, generally, the resurrection of
all people at the end of the age, And that’s exactly how Martha
seems to take it. Look at verse 24. Martha said,
I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last
day. Martha, it’s almost like she
doesn’t want to believe. in the possibility of an immediate
resurrection. She’s already transitioned, right?
She’s already moved on and expecting to one day see Lazarus in heaven,
one day greet him with all of those resurrected saints. Mary
knew her Bible. Martha rather knew her Bible.
She knew the testimony. She testifies to it right here.
She believes in a resurrection. Psalm 16, Psalm 73, with your
counsel you will guide me and afterward receive me to glory. That’s the psalmist testifying
of the resurrection. Martha believed in it. Most Jews
did. The Sadducees alone, you know,
refused this kind of afterlife idea. Isaiah 26, your dead will
live, their corpses will rise, you who lie in the dust awake
and shout for joy. They believed in a resurrection. Jesus corrects her. She believes
in this general resurrection. She’s already moved on, already
embraced, dealt with, beginning the lengthy and difficult period
of processing the death of a loved one. And she’s already embraced
the idea that she’ll see him again in the resurrection. And
Jesus says, stop. I am the resurrection and the
life. He who believes in me will live
even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes
in me will never die. It’s one of the most astounding
statements in all of scripture. It turns death on its head. It completely obliterates the
whole concept of death from a physical human perspective. This is one of the seven great
I am statements in John’s gospel. We’ve seen several of them already.
John 6.35, I am the bread of life. John 8.12, I am the light
of the world. John 10.9, I am the door. John
10.11, I am the good shepherd. Jesus will utter two additional
in the chapters to come. But when Jesus says, I am, he’s
not only bringing forward, as we’ve seen in times past, the
whole concept of deity. This is how God introduced himself
to Moses, remember? But he’s also identifying one
of the core elements of his nature. I am the resurrection. I am the
very bread that you need to exist. I am the light, the very light
that you need to be able to move. I am the door. I am the access
to heaven. I am the shepherd, the good shepherd.
And here he says, I am the resurrection. I am life itself. I am the giver
of life. I am the sovereign over life
and death. I am not just the one that presents
to you the concept of the resurrection and the opportunity and the access
to resurrection. I am the resurrection itself. And so he corrects Martha. So he says to Martha, it’s not
just this idea of a general resurrection. He’s not saying that that’s not
true. That is true, that all will be
raised on the last day. All will be raised. But he points to himself
as the great giver of life, eternal life. And he basically tells
her that he’s not just a teacher, not just one sent to impart information
about the resurrection, but he is the divine author of life
itself, eternal life. As one said, he shows her that
he needed none to help him. He tells her that he is not merely
a human teacher, but the author of all resurrection,
spiritual or physical, and the root and fountain of all life,
and that all that are raised from the grave will be raised
by him.” This is a truth that Jesus has
already proclaimed. In John chapter 6, he said, I
myself will raise him on the last day. That much is true. But essentially, what Jesus is
saying here is that as the resurrection, as the fact that he is life itself,
his resurrection from the dead, his ability to give life is life
for us. Paul says the same exact thing. In Romans chapter 6, Paul says,
therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into
death, immersion into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might
walk in newness of life. He rounds out that statement
in verse 8 of chapter 6 when he says, if we have died with
Christ, we believe that we will also live with Christ. Romans 8 says the same thing.
If Christ is in you, The body is dead because of sin, yet the
spirit is alive because of righteousness. He who raised Christ from the
dead will give life to your mortal bodies. He says the same thing
in 1 Corinthians 15, the same thing in 2 Corinthians 4, knowing
that he who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus. I am the resurrection and the
life, Jesus says, The resurrection of believers is just as certain,
just as absolutely valid and expected to be expected
as the resurrection of Jesus Christ himself. It is because of the union that
we have in Christ. His resurrection is our resurrection. Thomas Watson, the great Puritan,
said this, Christ risen. Christ is risen, therefore the
bodies of saints must rise. Christ’s rising is a pledge of
our resurrection. As the first fruits are of sure
evidence that the harvest is coming, so the resurrection of
Christ is sure evidence of the rising of our bodies from the
grave. What Jesus was doing for Martha there, before he has even
performed this miracle, was not just correcting her theology
in this general revelation, but he’s bringing it down to the
most personal level of all. He’s reminding Martha, informing
Martha, teaching Martha, that even there where she stood, if
her faith was truly in Christ, She could very really and actually
be already experiencing eternal life. We don’t think that way,
do we? You know what, neither did Martha.
Look back at verse 25. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in me will live
even if he dies. Even if he dies physically in
some way, shape or form, he still lives. Speaking of spiritual
life, eternal life. And he who believes in me will
live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes
in me will never die. In a very real way, physical
death is irrelevant. And Jesus rounds it out by saying
this, do you believe this? Martha, do you believe this? Do you believe that even right
now at this moment, you are already enjoying eternal life? If you
have placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you too, are already enjoying
eternal life. Well, note Martha’s incredible
response. She said to him, yes, Lord, I
have believed. And we could so easily overlook
this or downplay this, this testimony of faith. It’s not a belief. in a creed. It’s not a belief in reading
a page of doctrine and saying, yeah, that sounds pretty good
to me. This is the anchor of her soul
having lodged and fixed itself in none other than Christ himself.
It’s absolutely set and set for eternity. When she says, yes,
Lord, I have believed. It took place in the past and
it is now fixed and firm forever. I have believed. in three particular
aspects. I have believed that you are
the Christ, the son of God, even he who comes into the world. Commentators have often overlooked
the significance of these incredible words. This is one of the greatest
testimonies of faith in all of scripture, certainly equal to
Peter’s himself. Martha so often is characterized
by this, you know, grumblesome, frustrated lady in the kitchen,
right? But here, I mean, it’s just absolutely
clear. She’s a woman of faith. This
is a significant, profound testimony of faith. When she says that
I have believed, it indicates, as I said, it indicates that
that anchor has set a fixed point, and it’s not coming loose, because
Christ is at the other end of it. I’ve anchored my faith, she
says, once and for all, permanently, immovably, in you, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then she says that she believes
that. In other words, her faith has
particulars. She knows exactly what she believes. She knows exactly the nature
of Christ. She knows who He is, that her
faith is not some formless, vague, wispy thing. It’s particular. She believes
that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. She believes that Jesus is the
Christ, the anointed one, the one God sent for this very purpose,
for the salvation of souls, to introduce them into eternity
of fellowship with God. Not only that Jesus is the Messiah,
He’s the Son of God, He is in the closest possible relation
to the Heavenly Father, and that He has come into the world, He
is the one that God sent He is the deliverer. This is no passing testimony. This is one of the greatest testimonies
in all of Scripture, and that by a woman held in that culture
to be second class, not to Christ. Not to Christ. It was important
for Christ to bring her right up to this point. Do you believe
Do you believe this? Do you believe that you are already
experiencing eternity? That’s God’s question for us. We can talk about doctrine that
we believe all day long, but is your only hope, is the settled
confidence in your soul in Christ and in Him alone? He is the only hope. is the only
hope for sinners. Let’s humble ourselves before
Him. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves before You as You so graciously dealt with this sister,
this sister in Christ, but a grieving sister and a bewildered sister,
a sister tossed by her own emotions and yet ultimately and finally
a sister who clearly proclaims and declares her enduring faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, you would have that same
testimony from each one of us. You would desire each one of
us have an unequivocal, fixed, anchored faith in you. Not looking about to other helps,
other isms, other religions, other features, but in Christ
and in Him alone. Lord, we thank you for this simple
testimony, but a profound one by which we
can examine our own. Work in our hearts, we pray.
Almighty God, We pray these things in Jesus’ name, amen.