All Hail King Jesus Series

John 12: 9 – 19

All Hail King Jesus

9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. 12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ 14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.” 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. 17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”

The raising of Lazarus is a familiar story but many have never paid much attention to the “plot to kill Lazarus” that is described in chapter 12.

9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

It is almost unreal to think about people who plot to kill a guy just after he was brought back from the dead! What was the reason that they wanted to kill Lazarus? Was it because they had something against Lazarus personally? No. People wanted to kill Lazarus because his physical resurrection was undeniable evidence that our Holy Lord Jesus Was Who He claimed to be. That miracle was very public and obvious. Many people knew Lazarus had been dead. Now they could see he was alive. People were coming to faith in Jesus because they saw the signs of life in Lazarus. The enemies of the light wanted to put an end to that.

If that is the case with Lazarus, what should we expect?

There is such as things as physical resurrection, but there is also spiritual resurrection. Without our knowing we are born dead spiritually. Spiritual resurrection is when someone is spiritually dead and is brought back to life spiritually. This happens at the moment of salvation. We learn from the book of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 says that we “were dead in the trespasses and sins” in which we once walked. Ever since Adam's rebellion, each of us come into this world spiritually dead—separated from the life of God because of sin. Even Christians were “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” as Ephesians verse 3 explains. Thankfully, God did something about this. The next verse says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” This is spiritual resurrection. Salvation is being made alive again.

When God raised Lazarus there were obvious signs of life. He wasn't just lying there anymore. People could tell that he was no longer dead. In the same way, people should also be able to see signs of life when someone receives spiritual resurrection. It doesn’t outwardly look the same for everyone, but at salvation God starts the process of changing us from the inside out. We receive a new heart. New affections start growing—new loves. Sins we used to love become distasteful to us. The things of God that we used to find dull turn from black and white to color. Some people are able to say goodbye to deep sinful habits. Others start to struggle against them—when there wasn’t even a struggle before. People find themselves wanting to read God’s Word, go to church, and pray and worship…not because they have to, but now because they want to. These changes are noticeable.

Our lives should be a testimony to what God has done. It takes a miracle to physically raise someone from the dead and it also takes a straight-out miracle to raise someone to life spiritually. Whether the changes seem big or small, fast or gradual, people see them. Some people will be happy with what they see. Others won’t.