Jesus was at Bethabara, about twenty miles from Bethany (John 1:28; 10:40). One day, a messenger arrived with the sad news that our Lord’s dear friend Lazarus was sick.

Jesus enjoyed a special relationship with Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. This family gave him welcome and oasis in a world of conflict and escalating hostility (cf. Luke 10:38–42). Perhaps it was precisely because of Jesus’ great love for this family that he entrusted to them a very difficult story, a hard providence: the sickness and death of Lazarus.

This climactic miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead was Jesus’ public evidence of the truth of His great claim, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Death is the great horror which sin has produced (Rom. 5:12; James 1:15). Physical death is the divine object lesson of what sin does in the spiritual realm. As physical death ends life and separates people, so spiritual death is the separation of people from God and the loss of life which is in God (John 1:4). Jesus has come so that people may live full lives (10:10). Rejecting Jesus means that one will not see life (3:36) and that his final destiny is “the second death,” the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14–15).

The account of the raising of Lazarus is the climactic sign in the Gospel of John. Each of the seven signs illustrates some particular aspect of Jesus’ divine authority, but this one exemplifies his power over the last and most irresistible enemy of humanity—death.

For this reason it is given a prominent place in the Gospel. It is also extremely significant because it precipitated the decision of Jesus’ enemies to do away with him. Furthermore, this episode contains a strong personal command to believe in Jesus in a crisis, when such belief would be most difficult. All that preceded is preparatory; all that follows it is the unfolding of a well-marked plot.

His response, however, was quite different from that in the case of Jairus’s daughter, when he acted promptly (Luke 8:41–42, 49–56), or in the case of the widow of Nain, whose son he raised when he met the funeral procession on the way to the burial ground (Luke 7:11–16).

Visiting and praying for the sick was a pious obligation in Judaism, but Jesus’ reputation as a healer is undoubtedly the main reason for informing him of Lazarus’s sickness. Informing him would serve as a polite request (cf. 2:3).

The Gospel of John records only seven miracles or “signs” from Christ’s ministry. (See chart “Seven Signs in John.”) As signs these miracles serve as symbols of the true significance of Jesus. However, while many marveled at Christ’s supernatural exploits, only true believers saw the spiritual implications of the signs. The signs confronted Jesus’ audience with the necessity of decision. While some rejected the actual meaning of the signs (2:23–25; 4:45), others grew in understanding because of these events (2:11; 11:42).

it was only a day’s journey each way, just over twenty miles. For temporary rebuffs to test faith, cf. 2:4.

11:6 So. Because Jesus loved them (v. 5). Most likely, Jesus is a four-day journey from Bethany (see 10:40; see also note on 1:28) and does not depart until he supernaturally knows that Lazarus has died (see v. 17 and note). Jesus’ two-day delay benefits all concerned: himself (vv. 4, 25), his disciples (v. 15), Jewish onlookers (v. 45), and Lazarus and his family.

He stayed two more days. The decision to delay coming did not bring about Lazarus’ death, since Jesus already supernaturally knew His plight. Most likely by the time the messenger arrived to inform Jesus, Lazarus was already dead. The delay was because He loved the family (v. 5) and that love would be clear as He greatly strengthened their faith by raising Lazarus from the dead. The delay also ensured that Lazarus had been dead long enough that no one could misinterpret the miracle as a fraud or mere resuscitation.

11:25, 26 This is the fifth in a series of 7 great “I AM” statements of Jesus (see 6:35; 8:12; 10:7, 9; 10:11, 14). With this statement, Jesus moved Mary from an abstract belief in the resurrection that will take place “at the last day” (cf. 5:28, 29) to a personalized trust in Him who alone can raise the dead. No resurrection or eternal life exists outside of the Son of God. Time (“at the last day”) is no barrier to the One who has the power of resurrection and life (1:4) for He can give life at any time.

God’s love for His own is not a pampering love; it is a perfecting love. The fact that He loves us, and we love Him is no guarantee that we will be sheltered from the problems and pains of life. After all, the Father loves His Son: and yet the Father permitted His beloved Son to drink the cup of sorrow and experience the shame and pain of the Cross. We must never think that love and suffering are incompatible. Certainly they unite in Jesus Christ.

When the messenger arrived back home, he would find Lazarus already dead. What would his message convey to the grieving sisters now that their brother was already dead and buried? Jesus was urging them to believe His word no matter how discouraging the circumstances might appear.

No doubt the disciples were perplexed about several matters. First of all, if Jesus loved Lazarus so much, why did He permit him to get sick? Even more, why did He delay to go to the sisters? For that matter, could He not have healed Lazarus at a distance, as He did the nobleman’s son? (John 4:43–54) The record makes it clear that there was a strong love relationship between Jesus and this family (John 11:3, 5, 36); yet our Lord’s behavior seems to contradict this love.

The schedule of events would look something like this, allowing one day for travel:

Day 1— The messenger comes to Jesus (Lazarus dies).

Day 2— The messenger returns to Bethany.

Day 3— Jesus waits another day, then departs.

Day 4— Jesus arrives in Bethany.

Martha’s greeting is a confession of faith. She really believed that Jesus could have healed her brother if He had been there.

I am the Resurrection and the Life. This is the fifth of Jesus’ great “I am” revelations. The Resurrection and the Life of the new Age is present right now because Jesus is the Lord of life (1:4). Jesus’ words about life and death are seemingly paradoxical. A believer’s death issues in new life. In fact, the life of a believer is of such a quality that he will never die spiritually. He has eternal life (3:16; 5:24; 10:28), and the end of physical life is only a sleep for his body until the resurrection unto life. At death the spiritual part of a believer, his soul, goes to be with the Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 5:6, 8; Phil. 1:23).

But perhaps the greatest transformation Jesus performed was to move the doctrine of the resurrection out of the future and into the present. Martha was looking to the future, knowing that Lazarus would rise again and she would see him. Her friends were looking to the past and saying, “He could have prevented Lazarus from dying!” (John 11:37) But Jesus tried to center their attention on the present: wherever He is, God’s resurrection power is available now (Rom. 6:4; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:10).

Mary is found three times in the Gospel record, and each time she is at the feet of Jesus (Luke 10:39; John 11:32; 12:3).

Thomas, often known as the doubter, here revealed the depth of his personal commitment to Jesus when he said to his fellow disciples: “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (11:16).

One of the most moving scenes in the life of Jesus is the death of Lazarus. Here we see not only the power of Jesus to raise the dead, but the emotions of Jesus moved by the grief of those around Him.

The more deeply we know and walk with Jesus, the more readily we accept God’s glory as our greatest good, even when it feels like such a momentary bad. As “the resurrection and the life,” Jesus is always writing better stories than we could ever pen. Martha and Mary would soon find this to be true.

This is Jesus feeling the weight of the fall—the violation and disintegration of the way things were meant to be. His holy tears are those of the Creator grieving over the forfeiture of beauty through the intrusion of sin and death. Once again, in the incarnate Lord, we see the heart of the Lamb who would offer his life to overcome our sin and death.

The death and resurrection of Lazarus were a precursor of Jesus’ impending death and resurrection. Jesus had already spoken of the day when “all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out” (5:28–29). Here we are given a “preview of coming attractions.” The apostle Paul spells out the vital connection between Jesus’ bodily resurrection and ours (1 Cor. 15:12–23). If the dead are not raised, Jesus wasn’t raised, but if Jesus was raised, we too shall be raised. The real loser in view is death itself, and more expressly Satan, who holds the power of death (Heb. 2:14). The resurrection we presently enjoy through our union with Christ (Eph. 2:4–7; Col. 3:1) will one day segue into the resurrection of our bodies.

Caiaphas, the high priest, unwittingly prophesied that Jesus’ death would be a vicarious, substitutionary atonement. The God of all grace is sovereignly at work, at all times and in all places. He sits in heaven and laughs derisively at those who plot and scheme against his saving purposes in his Son (Ps. 2:2–4).

11:23 Your brother will rise again. A masterpiece of planned ambiguity: Martha thinks that Jesus is referring to the resurrection at the last day (v. 24; see “Death and Resurrection,” p. 2670), but Jesus is also promising a more immediate resurrection for Lazarus.

11:16. Didymus means “twin.” Thomas is often called “doubting Thomas” because of the incident recorded in 20:24–25. But here he took the leadership and showed his commitment to Christ, even to death. That we may die with Him is ironic. On one level it reveals Thomas’ ignorance of the uniqueness of Christ’s atoning death. On another level it is prophetic of many disciples’ destinies (12:25).

“Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Jesus’ words seem strange. Why should he be glad that he was not present to save Lazarus from death, or to comfort the sisters, and why should Lazarus’s death bring any benefit to the disciples? Jesus considered this an opportunity for a supreme demonstration of power that would certify the Father’s accreditation of him as the Son and confirm the faith of the sisters and the disciples. He was certain of the outcome. He knew that positive belief and joy would be the result.

He actually was used by God as a prophet because he was the High-Priest and originally the High-Priest was the means of God’s will being revealed (2 Sam. 15:27).

11:17. Apparently Lazarus had died soon after the messengers left. Jesus was then a day’s journey away. Since Palestine is warm and decomposition sets in quickly, a person was usually buried the same day he died (cf. v. 39).

Martha’s greeting is a confession of faith. She really believed that Jesus could have healed her brother if He had been there.

After His brief prayer He called (ekraugasen, lit., “shouted loudly”) in a loud voice. This verb is used only nine times in the New Testament, eight of them in the Gospels (Matt. 12:19; Luke 4:41; John 11:43; 12:13; 18:40; 19:6, 12, 15; Acts 22:23).

Jesus shouted only three words: Lazarus come out! Augustine once remarked that if Jesus had not said Lazarus’ name all would have come out from the graves. Immediately, the dead man came out. Since he was wrapped in strips of linen, a special work of God’s power must have brought him out. Jesus’ directive to the people, Take off the grave clothes, enabled Lazarus to move on his own and at the same time gave evidence that he was alive and not a ghost.

Caiaphas meant Jesus had to be killed, but God intended the priest’s words as a reference to His substitutionary atonement. Jesus’ death would abolish the old system in God’s eyes by fulfilling all its types and shadows. His death was not only for Jews but also for the world, thus making a new body from both (cf. Eph. 2:14–18; 3:6). The Sanhedrin then decided to kill Jesus.

THE LAST MIRACLE—THE LAST ENEMY

John 11

If Jesus Christ can do nothing about death, then whatever else He can do amounts to nothing. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable’ (1 Cor. 15:19). Death is man’s last enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), but Jesus Christ has defeated this horrible enemy totally and permanently.

The emphasis in John 11 is on faith; you find some form of the word believe at least eight times in this account. Another theme is “the glory of God” (John 11:4, 40). In what Jesus said and did, He sought to strengthen the faith of three groups of people.

Jesus wept” is the shortest and yet the deepest verse in Scripture. His was a silent weeping (the Greek word is used nowhere else in the New Testament) and not the loud lamentation of the mourners.

We see in His tears the tragedy of sin but also the glory of heaven. Perhaps Jesus was weeping for Lazarus, as well as with the sisters, because He knew He was calling His friend from heaven and back into a wicked world where he would one day have to die again. Jesus had come down from heaven; He knew what Lazarus was leaving behind.

“If Jesus loved Lazarus so much, why did He not prevent his death?” Perhaps they were thinking, “Jesus is weeping because He was unable to do anything. They are tears of deep regret.” In other words, nobody present really expected a miracle!