The Gospel of JohnI Am The Resurrection

John 11:17 “Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.
30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.
32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?”

1. Upholding All Things
2. The Brightness Of His Glory
3. The Word Of His Power
4. The Express Image
5. By Himself Purged Our Sins
6. Sat Down On High

1. Upholding All Things

Verse twenty-one has this: “Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

Martha again says this in verse thirty-two: “Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

Martha believed that if only Jesus had been there before her brother Lazarus died that He could have prevented his death.

She believed that Jesus had the power to PRESERVE life.

She had seen the miracles of the healing of the sick and believed with all her heart that everything would have worked out just fine if only the LORD had been there. “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

Martha, therefore, believed that Jesus Christ is the ONE who upholds all things.

Martha was convinced that the event of death is the all-important dividing point.

She believed that all the dead would have to wait for a future resurrection in order to come back to life … as foretold in the Bible. In her sorrow, all her hope for seeing Lazarus again, in this life, was shattered … all gone!

Martha’s [and if the truth be known of us all] only hope of ever seeing her loved ones again [Lazarus] was in the upcoming resurrection at the TRANSLATION of the CHURCH, or in the resurrection timed to occur at the end of the seven years of the TRIBULATION [or JACOB'S TRIAL].

There is something else here to consider in this passage, and it is something called: corruption. In verse seventeen, we find out that Lazarus’s body was already in the grave four days.

Now, we all know, or should know, once death occurs to the body [the flesh], it immediately starts to break down.

This is the process called corruption in the BIBLE.

Both DEATH and CORRUPTION began as a process, and were first seen after sin came into this world.

Sin is where the problem began. Everything literally began to go wrong immediately when Adam sinned [SIN]. Sin's entrance into this world brought immediate corruption to what was an ordered and perfect system from its CREATION.

We find this in Genesis 1:31: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”

It is a basic truth that we all are held in the bondage of corruption. It is, as Job said, in Job 17:14. “I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.” [See Romans 8:21, 1 Corinthians 15:42, Acts 13:35-36, Jonah 2:6, Psalm 16:10.]

The ONE who came to this earth with the promise to escape corruption [Acts 2:27 “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."] is the same ONE who is presently preserving life [where there is life] from corruption.

According to Hebrews chapter one, verse three, Jesus Christ upholds all things. Now, what does that mean?

 It means that we would all, immediately [RIGHT NOW], die in the very instant that the SON of GOD ceases from actively “upholding all things.”

Do you have it now? Jesus Christ upholds all things, and that is HOW all things consist.

2. The Brightness Of His Glory

Now, let’s look at verse twenty-two: “But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.”

Here, Martha shines again. She is as dogmatic as one could be, and should be. Amen!

She is totally convinced that HE is the ONE with WHOM we have to do.

Martha is a woman that believes that Jesus Christ fits the bill to a “T” that HE is “the brightness of his glory” because “whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.”

The “whatsoever” includes all that was ever created.

Now, may I remind you of something? Man is a created being. No man has ever asked “whatsoever” of GOD and received it one hundred percent of the time. Only Jesus Christ fits it to a “T”. Jesus Christ “Who being the brightness of his glory” is “upholding all things.”

3. The Word Of His Power

Now, for verses twenty-four through twenty-six: “Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"

When Jesus said to Martha [in verse twenty-four]: “Thy brother shall rise again” … she could BANK on it! It would happen! Amen!

There is no doubt about the thing. The spoken word of the SON of GOD has all the effect as shown in Psalm thirty-three, verse eight and nine.

Are you ready? “Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”

 [Psalm 33:8-9] “Who being the brightness of his glory, … and upholding all things by the word of his power” describes our mighty GOD … Jesus Christ.

4. The Express Image

Verses twenty-seven and twenty-eight: “She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.”

Martha states it as clearly and as forcefully as it can be said. “Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”

In total collusion with what Martha states here, is what the Scripture states in Hebrews chapter one, verse three.

 My friend, the Bible could not be more clear in stating this BASIC TRUTH that Jesus Christ as being the SON of GOD is the very “express image of his person” found in this verse. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power” is Jesus Christ!

5. By Himself Purged Our Sins

Now, we are ready for verses thirty-three through thirty-six. “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!”

The source of all true comfort is from GOD. Do you know that? In fact, the only people in this world that can offer true comfort are the true Christians in this world. You say to me; “that is a rather dogmatic statement.” Well, yes, it is, but I did qualify that statement. I said it is true COMFORT.

Let’s turn to Second Corinthians chapter one, verse three and four, and see the source of true comfort. “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

This comfort and mercies is a very necessary attribute of being a true priest to those who are in trouble.

In our text, the absolutely necessary attribute for being a High Priest to a people who are in trouble … is ONE WHO gives COMFORT.

That is what we are! We are a people in big time trouble … because we are dead in our sins and we are heading to HELL.

Now, what more trouble could we be in? Amen!

Now, notice something here, Jesus Christ, the SON of GOD, “groaned in the spirit, and was troubled” because of the tears of Martha, and of all those Jews who were with her. Jesus [WHO is GOD] took the form of sinful man and had compassion for those whom HE created.

Let me read from Hebrews chapter five, verse two: “Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.”

Now let me read Hebrews chapter four, verse fifteen: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” That is why He “groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.”

Now, let me read our next verse from Hebrews chapter four, and let us see what we need to do. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” [Hebrews 4:16]

That is why we can go to HIM like Martha did.

The LORD knows us … intimately!

[That ought to be comforting.] “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” [Psalms 103:14]

Therefore, Jesus Christ was fully qualified to be both the HIGH PRIEST and the LAMB of GOD at the same time in one offering on Mount Calvary’s CROSS. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins ...”.

6. Sat Down On High

Let us finish here, with verse thirty-seven: “And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?”

Good observation. The very reason Lazarus died here was for this very purpose “but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” [show in verse four of this chapter].

Everything here [concerning Lazarus’ death] was pointing to the then future events of both … HIS own death on the CROSS … and HIS RESURECTION from the GRAVE.

When HE accomplished all this, HE would sit down on HIGH.

Hebrews chapter one, verse three, says it all concisely … this way. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”