In this section Jesus' friend Lazarus is sick and He is asked to come and heal Lazarus, but Jesus delays leaving and Lazarus dies. Jesus goes to the tomb where Lazarus has been for four days. Dr. Sproul discusses Jesus' delay and the ensuing conversation Jesus has with Martha concerning the resurrection. Dr. Sproul explains the meaning behind Jesus' statement about believing in Him, dying, yet living, believing in Him and never dying. The section concludes with Martha's confession of faith.

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days 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, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”

Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, 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 away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But 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 at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

He who has ears to hear the Word of God, let him hear it.

Father, as we give our attention now to this dramatic moment in the life of Jesus, I pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to accompany this Word that we may not be unmoved by it, but that Your Spirit would penetrate between bone and marrow, so that the truth of this testimony may come to life in us. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Glory of the Son

Chapter 10 of John’s gospel ended with these words in verse 40: “And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.” This is the only hint we get as to where Jesus went after He departed from Jerusalem in the midst of hostility and threats, as the authorities were planning to have Him stoned to death as a blasphemer.

There is a question in biblical scholarship as to exactly where Jesus retreated. Some think that He went a day’s journey across the Jordan. Others believe that He went farther north, about 150 kilometers north of Jerusalem. It would take a minimum of two days to make the trip because a normal day’s journey was about fifty kilometers. At a normal pace, it would take three days.

In any case, the location of Jesus is significant to understand the dynamics of what is going on in this crisis. In Jesus’ absence, His close friend, Lazarus, suddenly became dreadfully ill. Jesus’ friends, the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, dispatched a messenger to pursue Jesus and communicate to Him the severity of their brother’s illness. They said to Him, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

When Jesus received that message, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Jesus is saying here that the purpose of the illness that has befallen Lazarus is not to terminate his life in this world. Rather, he has been visited with this affliction for the glory of God, so that the glory of the Son of God may be made manifest through it.

It is important for us to understand Jesus’ words in this text, because in the early days of the Christian church, debate raged over the deity of Christ. Those who resisted the concept of the deity of Christ insisted that to glorify Jesus would be to detract from the glory of God the Father. But the point of the New Testament, here and in the Epistles, is that the Father is glorified through the glory of His Son.

There are two ways in which we talk about the glory of God. We glorify God by praising Him and honoring Him, but that is not what John is talking about here. He is talking about the revelation of the majesty of God the Father. The weightiness of His glory is made manifest to the world when the world sees the glory of His Son. In the glorification of Christ comes the glorification of the Father. So, Jesus explains to His disciples, in essence: “Let’s not be worried about this. Lazarus is not sick unto death, but this is for My glory and for the glory of God.”

Certain Resurrection

Then we read these words: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He immediately departed for Jerusalem”—no, that is not what it says. It says, “So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.” We have to ask, Why does He do this? We can figure it out as we continue.

After two days, Jesus said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” Again, the first question is, Why did Jesus not go immediately? As soon as He heard that Lazarus was sick, He waited two more days before He went.

When Jesus arrives, we find out Lazarus had died, and he had been dead for four days. That is significant to this story because of all the miracles of Jesus in the New Testament—though it is difficult to assign a level of drama to the miracles of Christ because they are all dramatic—this one surely has to rate as one of the most dramatic miracles ever performed by Jesus during His earthly ministry. Jesus knows very well before He goes that He is going to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Remember, when Mary and Martha sent the messenger, Lazarus was still alive. Jesus stays two days. If Lazarus dies immediately, it is going to take two more days for Jesus to make the trip back to Jerusalem to account for the four-day interval between the time of Lazarus’ death and the time of his resurrection.

The significance of this interval is rooted in a belief that was common among rabbis in antiquity. Among the rabbinic teachings was the idea that when a person died, the person’s spirit hovered over the body for three days. It was possible at any time during that three-day period that the body could somehow be resuscitated if the spirit returned to it. But according to the rabbinic tradition, four days made it certain that the person had moved beyond all hope of resuscitation.

Jesus is aware that His enemies will do anything to negate the impact of the testimony of His miracles. So, He does not rush down to Bethany and raise Lazarus shortly after he expires so that people could say, “All Jesus did was resuscitate him.” Jesus lets enough time pass to make it absolutely certain that what He is about to do is completely contra naturam, completely against nature, by raising him from the dead.

The Day Is Not Done

After Jesus had remained two days, He said to His disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” There is irony here. The reason Jesus is coming back to the vicinity of Jerusalem is to raise His friend from the dead. But to do that, Jesus has to put His life on the line. He has to come back from this strategic retreat. He had departed from Jerusalem, from the clear and present danger of being executed. Now, risking His execution, He comes back to this area to rouse His friend from the dead.

His disciples pick up on this right away. They say, in essence: “What are You going to do? We’re going to get killed there.” Thomas, the doubter, is the one who says: “Let’s go. We’re ready to die with You.”

The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

The idea is that there are twelve hours in the day, twelve hours in which your tasks can be accomplished before sunset comes and makes it difficult, in the agrarian culture of that day, to work. Jesus is saying, in effect: “The night of My soul has not yet come. I still have work to do. The day is not finished. My ministry to Lazarus is part of that work, and Lazarus is now asleep.” This is unusual because this euphemism for death is almost never found in biblical language, and yet Jesus says, “Lazarus is sleeping,” meaning, “He has died.” But the disciples do not understand. They say: “Oh, that’s good. He is sleeping? That means he’s resting well. He’s convalescing. He’s on the way to recovery.”

When Jesus sees that they do not understand what He is saying, He speaks plainly. He says, essentially, “No, our friend Lazarus is dead, and I’m glad.” What? That is not a normal response to the announcement of the passing of a close friend. Lazarus is dead, and Jesus says, “I’m glad,” but He qualifies it: “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” So, they came and found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

Jesus Is the Resurrection

The text tells us Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. It is about 1.76 miles away, to be exact. The road from Bethany, down the Mount of Olives and over to the old city of Jerusalem, is an extremely circuitous path. But as the crow flies, it seems like it is about seventy-five yards. It seems that far. The city of Jerusalem is manifest right in front of you when you stand on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, which is just by Bethany. They are that close to the holy city.

We read that many of the Jews had joined the women around Mary and Martha, coming there to mourn the loss of their brother. Then John continues: “Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’”

How do we interpret this? Is Martha complaining? Is she rebuking Him? Or is it a confession of faith? This is one of those times when we do not have the tone and inflection of their voices. It may have been a triumphant statement of confidence in Christ: “Lord, we know that had You been here, this wouldn’t have happened.” Or it could have been an accusation: “Some friend You are! Why do You think we sent a message to You? I know that if You had been here, this wouldn’t have happened.”

I hope Martha had a greater confidence in Jesus and in the sovereignty of God than to say, “If this wouldn’t have happened, then this wouldn’t have happened.” We could do that with every event that transpires in our lives. I like to think that she is making a statement of faith: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, He will do it. Even though Lazarus died, Jesus, my confidence in You remains, and I know that You’re in such harmony with God that this has to be of God.”

Jesus says, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha does not get it. She responds, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Remember that the Pharisees believed in resurrection at the end of history, though the Sadducees did not. That internal debate raged among the people of that day. Martha was persuaded of the future resurrection of the people of God. When Jesus says, “Your brother will rise,” she takes comfort in that. She says, essentially, “Yes, I know that my brother will rise again at the last day.” But that was not what Jesus was speaking about.

Jesus says to her: “I am the resurrection and the life.” In effect, He is saying: “In Me is power over death. I hold the keys of life and of death. I am the foundation, the power of life itself, and I have the power to raise dead people from the grave. I am the resurrection. I don’t just teach the resurrection. I don’t just speculate about life after death. I am it. I am the very power of it. So, if the One who is the resurrection and the life shows up at a funeral, no one has to wait for the last day, because the One who is resurrection and life has arrived.”

Believers Shall Not Die

Then, Jesus says things that are somewhat curious. First, He says, “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” That is the first thing. If A, then B: “If you believe in Me and you die, you will live again.” But then He says something even stronger. He says: “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Let me interrupt this discussion between Jesus and Martha and ask you the same question. Do you believe this?

I thought it was strange yesterday when, as I was watching television, the announcement came of the destruction of the space shuttle. For hours, on the TV station I was watching, there was ongoing commentary, but the same picture kept being shown over and over. It was the image of the spacecraft disintegrating and leaving a trail of smoke in the air. The commentators were talking about how fast the spaceship was moving when it entered the atmosphere at two hundred and some thousand feet, sixteen minutes short of touchdown here in Central Florida. I thought: “What a catastrophe this is for the families of the people who were just instantly killed. But if there were believers on that ship, as quickly as they died, they were in heaven that fast, because if they were believers, they can’t die. They can die biologically, but the biological death doesn’t disturb in the slightest the continuity of living, personal existence.”

This is what Jesus is saying. If anything, for His glorification and for the Father’s glorification, Jesus has to disturb the felicity that Lazarus was enjoying from the moment of his death. He has to bring him back to this vale of tears. Once a person believes in Christ, as He has been saying all throughout this gospel, the life of Christ is poured into the soul of that person—zōē life, far beyond biological life. That life is eternal. Everyone who is in Christ has already begun eternal life. We are never going to die. We may go through the transition of thanatos, but not the death that can destroy the life Christ has given to us.

Martha said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” There is no greater confession of faith found anywhere in Scripture than this confession Martha makes: “Lord, I believe what You just said because I believe You are the Christ. I believe You’re the Son of God, and that You have life and resurrection in Yourself.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.