John Chapter Eleven: LAZARUS
By: Deji Yesufu
In a recent article, I wrote a phrase out that I probably never thought deeply on until it came out of my thoughts. I stated that “…Jesus Christ will no longer take up flesh…” In other words, whatever God will do in our day today he would not be using angels or any divine being; he would be using you and I to accomplish his will. It also means that man is a very unique creature of God: man has ability to do what God did many years ago when he took up flesh in his Son Jesus. It also means that what Christ accomplished on earth in three and half years, it has taken another two thousand years for men to approximate to it. To be sure we will never be able to accomplish what Christ did when he was on earth, but we can at best be his vessels for good works. Finally, this phrase means that the wonderful privilege we have to share the same earthly tent that God used when he visited earth will not last forever. One day we will put off the tent and we will report back to our maker. That day has been intentionally destined to be a dreadful day. The dread is infinitely minimized when a man is in Christ because we understand that our sins have been forgiven. Yet, the thoughts that even God’s people will account for how they used their time on this earth is incredibly humbling. In John chapter eleven, one of Jesus’ friends put off his tent. In quite a twist of fate, Christ returned the young man back from the dead. This essay will attempt to glean lessons from what happened that day.
When I taught this chapter in church, I made it clear that there is such a thing as a doctrine of sickness. The reason is simple: we are all human beings, and we all have the propensity to fall ill and die. When we are sick, besides visiting the doctor, what is the mindset we ought to have? I think the first thing we want to glean from the first few verses of John eleven is to recognize that phrase “Lord, the one whom you love is sick.” That phrase settles forever the false doctrine of the Word of Faith adherents who teach that sickness is evil, and God’s people can possess certain knowledge and principles that can make them have divine health, or some special keys to getting healed. If the one Jesus loved was ill, we can rest assured that when we are sick, we are not alone. God’s people from time have always fallen ill, and rather than resorting to same “healing principles”, they have simply turned to Christ and pleaded their case: Lord, the one you love is sick. And Jesus response here is a response we can trust even today: even sickness in the life of the saint is not unto death – but rather a means to glorify God. All things work together for good for God’s people – even sickness.
When Jesus arrives Bethany, Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him: Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. Jesus replied: Your brother will live again. Martha, quite accurate in her eschatology, agreed that her brother will rise again at the last day. Jesus immediately corrected the notion: I am not talking of last day; I am talking of now. “I am the resurrection and the life… do you believe this?” Martha nodded in affirmation. Everything our Lord did in his earthly ministry was pedagogical: it was meant to teach a doctrine. Indeed, if Christ had been around, he would have healed Lazarus of the sickness. But that was the reason he stayed away. So that the situation could worsen and then God’s power will be manifested and the Son of God could be glorified. There is purpose in all things that happens in the life of the saints! Therefore, we must not despair. Rather than complain of the events of the now, we should plead with God to give us eyes to see what he is doing. If we know we have the resurrection and the life on our side, what is death that we must fear? Nothing!
Finally, Jesus reaches the tomb of the dead man and then begins to cry. He was obviously moved by the tears of all those who were around him. And being human, although still fully God, he could not resist the emotions. Our Lord began to cry. It remains a mystery why Jesus would cry at this occasion. He knew very well what was going to happen; he knew Lazarus would be brought back to life – yet he broke down weeping. Why? The Bible does not tell us but we can conjecture somethings. Death is the supreme enemy and it is also an enemy of God’s creation. When God made the heavens and the earth, there was no death. Death came about because of the sin that Adam committed, and death has spread its tentacles to all men who have ever lived. Death is a reminder of the cessation of God’s good purpose for mankind. The same way death grieves those of us living, is the way it grieves God who took on flesh. It is the reason why Christ coming to earth to die for our sins, and take away the penalty our sins from sinful humanity is the biggest accomplishment by any being on this earth. The good news is not that Christians have fine cars, are healthy, have good and stable families, live in wealthy countries; no. The good news is that our sins have been forgiven. Our sins have been taken away. God’s people will no longer die – we have the resurrection and the life. At worst, God’s people would only sleep – the same way Christ described Lazarus’ death in the opening verses of this chapter.
Then Jesus commanded that the stone to the tomb be removed. Martha objected to this: “…by this time he stinks…” Jesus reminds her to trust him. I called this “believing atheism”. In earlier verses, Jesus had pointed out to Martha that he was the resurrection and the life; he had asked her specifically: do you believe this. She claimed she believed, yet here she was questioning whether or not the dead will stink. Martha is behaving just like all of us. We have certain confessions we profess but we sincerely do not believe what we claim. We may believe these things, but too many times crisis test the content of our beliefs and reveal how weak they really are. Our prayer should always be: Lord help my unbelief. Eventually Jesus calls to the dead man, and Lazarus comes back to life. Then the drama begins.
The raising of Lazarus from dead was the seventh recorded miracle of Jesus in the book of John. It was meant to be a crowning effort of some sort, at reaching the Jews and showing them that Jesus is both the Christ and the Son of God. This miracle, however, shows to us that miracles would not always convince everybody. In this case, it produced two results: it led to some of the Jews believing in him; and it led to others increasing in their doubt of him. So much that they headed to the chief priests to report the matter, and those men concluded that killing Jesus was the only way to stop his ministry going forward. This is also proof that the content of men’s hearts is what matter in religion; not so much what they see or observe. Our earnest prayer, as we seek to make disciples of the nations, is that the Spirit will open the hearts of men to believe. In John 1, Jesus encounters Nathaniel and tell him “… you are a man without deceit at heart…”. Nathaniel responded: You are the Son of God; the King of Israel! Jesus was a bit surprised that Nathaniel would believe merely because he said just one thing to him. In John 9, Jesus opened the eyes of a blind man. The man confessed that Jesus was a prophet, and went on to worship him. Yet, here are the Jews witnessing Jesus raising a man from the dead, and they are still unable to believe. Again, our duty, as ministers of God is not so much how well we preach, or how sound our doctrine is – although those are important. What is most important is what the Spirit is doing with the preached word in the hearts of our listeners. Where there is genuine conversion, we have every reason to rejoice. Where there is continued unbelief, we must persevere in prayers.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY.
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