Heritage Reformed Baptist Mission
John 11:1-16
Perhaps John 11 is one of the more well-known chapters in the Bible. It is a blessedly-clear teaching of the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ over death. It contains one of the most often-quoted verses of Scripture, “Jesus wept,” which may on occasion be more trivialized than deeply understood as a demonstration of His great love and compassion for His own. The resurrection of Lazarus is, of course, the ultimate demonstration of both those attributes and is generally considered the epitome of what is written in the chapter. But I submit to you this morning the high point of John 11 is not the raising of Lazarus, but the purpose for that event, namely, the glory of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The goal of our being is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Scripture gives us at least seven ways by which we can do that. They are: (1) Praise, Psalm 86:12; (2) Like-mindedness, Romans 15:5-6; (3) Purity of body, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20; (4) Suffering as a Christian, 1 Peter 4:16; (5) Doing good works, Matthew 5:16 and 1 Peter 2:12; (6) Eating or drinking or whatever we do, 1 Corinthians 10:31; and, (7) Sickness. Contrary to the erroneous teaching based on the wrong interpretation of Isaiah 53:5, “by His stripes we are healed”, God’s people are not immune to sickness. It is indeed proper to offer thoughtful prayer for those who suffer from illnesses, but those prayers must be offered in the spirit of the Lord’s praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will but Thine be done.”
There are three types of sickness described in Scripture, the first being sickness unto death as in the case of Elisha as described in 2 Kings 13:14 where it is written, “Elisha was fallen sick of the sickness whereof he died.” Secondly, sickness due to personal sin as clearly stated by Jesus in John 5:14 where he warned the man whom He had healed at the pool of Bethesda, “sin no more lest a worse thing come unto you”. Also, 1 Corinthians 11:30 speaks of believers who were weak and sickly, and some had died, because they did not properly observe the Lord’s Supper. Thirdly, there is sickness for the glory of God as written in John 9:3 concerning the man born blind, and even more plainly in our text concerning Lazarus.
John begins by identifying Lazarus as the brother of Mary and Martha and Bethany as being the town where they lived. He especially makes note of Mary’s act of anointing Jesus. Though he doesn’t mention that act until Chapter 12, he is no doubt looking back to what Jesus said when the anointing took place. It is recorded in Matthew 26:13. “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman has done, be told for a memorial of her.” Since Matthew’s Gospel was written and widely disseminated a number of years before John wrote, what Mary had done would be well-known and would serve to absolutely identify who she was. It would also be a fulfillment of what Jesus had said about her.
Though it is not written as such, the message Mary and Martha sent to Jesus on behalf of their sick brother is certainly a prayer. It doubtless implies their desire for Jesus to come and heal Lazarus as they had perhaps seen Him heal so many others. They had entertained Jesus and His disciples on several occasions which indicates they had a very close relationship to Him. So, they probably expected He would come immediately.
We need to take note of a very important thing in their prayer. It was made based on the attributes and merits of the Lord, not on those of their brother. They did not say, “He who loves you.” Rather, they said, “He whom You love.” Our hope in receiving answers to our prayers is solely in the Lord Jesus Christ and His love for us. There are certain conditions we must meet - faith, unselfishness, praying according to the will of God - but those conditions are met as a result of the working of God’s grace through Jesus Christ in our lives.
Let’s examine how both the Lord and His disciples responded to Mary and Martha’s message.
Jesus’ immediate response is to reveal that the purpose for Lazarus’ sickness is to glorify God and Himself. Thus we learn giving glory to God is also giving glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, He responds in a way neither the sisters nor us expected He would. He stays were He is for two more days. I believe we can safely say any pastor who would fail to immediately attend to a call from any of his flock would be derelict in his duty and would likely be rebuked by the church if not removed from being its pastor. But, pastors are not Jesus and do not have immediate knowledge of the purpose of God for a particular person in a particular situation. Therefore, barring providential hindrance, we rightly expect a faithful pastor would not and should not hesitate to respond immediately.
Looking at the fact Jesus did not respond as the sisters and we expected, we discover four important things about prayer. First, prayer is not always answered immediately. Second, prayer is not always answered as it is prayed. Third, God answers prayer according to His sovereign wisdom and purpose. And, fourth, all our praying should desire that which will bring glory to God.
Finally, Jesus’ personal response to the sisters’ message, after the two-day delay, is to go to them. He was not aloof to their request. He never intended not to go. But He would go in His time in order to accomplish His purpose. Just so, the fact God does not immediately respond to our prayers does not mean He doesn’t hear them. In fact, Scripture says He does indeed hear them when we pray according to His will and that, hearing, He grants our petitions (1 John 5:14-15) In Mark 11:24, Jesus told the disciples, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." But neither of those scriptures contain anything about when the prayers will be answered. God will answer them in His time in order to accomplish His purpose.
The disciples’ immediate response to the situation was typically human. It was based on knowledge of what had recently happened, an event John recorded near the end of Chapter 10. They were not willing for Jesus to expose Himself again to the danger of being stoned. But, they had an incomplete and an imperfect knowledge of the Lord’s purpose, both for His entire life and for the current situation concerning Lazarus. Jesus explains both with a parable-like instruction.
Increased knowledge is always built on what is already known. So, Jesus lays the foundation for the explanation with something the disciples know and fully understand. The Jews divided the time between sunrise and sunset into twelve equal parts. Using that, Jesus describes the very obvious and commonly understood fact that, if one walks about in the daytime illumined by the sun, whether in a clear or cloudy sky, he is able to see where he is going and to avoid obstacles in his way. On the other hand, one who walks in the nighttime has no light to shine on his path and so cannot see the obstacles which are in his way and will stumble over them. This has an important spiritual application.
Jesus lived continuously in the will and purpose of God, which is represented by the daytime. Though there would come a time when God’s will and purpose would include the death of His Son, that time would not come just because the Jews wanted to destroy Him. Even if the Lord exposed Himself to His enemies, they could not lay a hand on Him until the time God had foreordained. Therefore, He would continue His earthly labors until the time came to die.
As it was with Jesus, so it is with His people. So long as God has a purpose for us on earth, just so long will we remain here to do it; and just so long should we be actively engaged in it.
Nighttime represents living out of the will and purpose of God. Proverbs 27:8, where it is written, “As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place,” is an apt description of being out of the will and purpose of God. Further light is shed on this in Deuteronomy 22:6-7 where it is written, “If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.” A bird’s nest was her home, a place of safety. To leave there was to expose herself to danger. So it is with the child of God who is out of God’s will. But Jesus was never out of God’s will. He could go back to Judea in complete safety to His person. He would do so in order to answer the request of Mary and Martha. Most importantly, He would go in order for God and Himself to be glorified.
A person walking in the night darkness has no ability within himself to light the path he is walking. Spiritually, one who has not faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has no ability within himself to gain the knowledge of Christ which will keep him from stumbling and falling into Hell, the ultimate stumbling injury.
In the course of His explanation, Jesus gives the divine, the Scriptural definition of the physical death of believers - sleep. Not soul sleep, for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Rather, sleep in the sense of being at rest from the labors of this world. The disciples did not understand this. If Lazarus was sleeping he would recover and that would be a good reason for not returning to Judea and exposing the Lord and themselves to the possibility of being stoned. Again, Jesus increases their knowledge by plainly telling them, “Lazarus is dead.”
Finally, Jesus reveals a secondary purpose for going to Bethany. In doing so, He makes a statement which, at first glance, might tend to offend our human sensitivities. After telling the disciples, “Lazarus is dead,” He says, “I am glad for your sakes”, i.e., the benefit of His disciples. But our offense can be quickly dispelled by realizing the disciples, like ourselves, needed to have their faith strengthened. That would not have occurred if Jesus had only healed Lazarus. They had witnessed innumerable healings of every description. They had even seen two persons raised from death. But those resurrections took place on the same day as death. Lazarus will have been dead four days and bodily decay will have set in. Besides, the Jews held a tradition which believed the soul of the dead stayed near the grave for three days and then fled when the body began to decay. Whether the disciples held this tradition can only be supposed. Nevertheless, the raising of Lazarus would in some way strengthen their faith in the Lord as well as bring glory to God and to the Lord Himself. We may learn from this as well as from Jesus’ turning the water into wine in John 2 that when God is glorified He works it for the good of His own. In the case of Jesus’ disciples, both the water into wine and the raising of Lazarus caused them first to believe on Him and then to have an even stronger belief.
Upon seeing Jesus is determined to go to Bethany, Thomas, the twin, makes a bold assertion. “Let us also go that we may die with Him.” With whom? Lazarus? No! With Jesus! Even after Jesus’ explanation, Thomas, and probably the others, still believed returning to Judea would result in Jesus being stoned to death by the Jews. But Thomas at least boldly asserts he is willing to die with Jesus. Doubtless, he was sincere in his assertion in which there is an expression of his love for the Lord. Obviously, what he and the others feared never took place. But when Thomas, and the others, actually came face-to-face with death in the Garden of Gethsemane, they forsook Jesus and fled for their lives. Later, Thomas expressed doubt that Jesus was raised from death. But, weak and cowardly as his faith was, it was true faith. It caused him to declare, “My Lord and my God,” when he came face-to-face with the resurrected Lord. Later, it led him to ultimately give his life in the Lord’s service, to the glory of God.
For God to get the glory in and from our lives requires us to have faith which is constantly strengthened by the Lord Himself. He orders circumstances in our lives daily, circumstances which are designed as faith strengtheners. It is up to us to recognize that. If we do recognize God's purpose in a particular circumstance and our faith is strengthened, the circumstance will either go away or we will bear it with patience and longsuffering. However, too often we allow circumstances to discourage us and our faith is not strengthened. But, God will not be thwarted in His purpose for us. So, the circumstances either: (1) remain and become more intense; or, (2) if they go away, it is only a matter of time until they reappear in a more intense way, and that cycle will continue until we recognize it is God working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) His good pleasure is to work all things together for the good of those who love Him and to conform them to the image of His dear Son. (Romans 8:28-29) These things will continue to take place in our lives until we are perfected in Christ and taken out of this world to be with Him. Then and there, we will be ultimately “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:6)
If you have a hard time recognizing God at work in and for you through circumstances, if you are easily discouraged by things that happen which you consider to be ‘bad’, I strongly recommend that you begin each day with a request to God to remind you throughout the day that whatever takes place in your life that day is from Him for His glory and your good. If you fail, be quick to recognize your failure and confess it to God, as well as to anyone else who may be affected, and don't let any failure keep you from continuing to strive toward completely resting in God and in His purpose for your life.
On the surface, the contents of this message apply to those who are believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. But underneath the surface, there is a word to those who have not come to faith in the Lord. That word is,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, will be saved.”