Jesus Christ: The Resurrection And The Life

The ultimate state of helplessness is death. Once it overpowers you, regardless of age, status, education, health, or situation, you are in no state either to conquer its grip upon you, nor do you have any control over anything that you had considered valuable or precious, for none of it cannot go with you to the cemetery nor your cremation urn. This fearful specter, the fruit of our rebellion towards God thousands of years ago, patiently waits for everyone. The question is whether you are ready for its inevitable knock at the door and the eternal destination that awaits you (Luke 12:13-21, 16:19-31; John 5:28-29; Hebrews 9:27). The Scriptures make it clear that you will not be the main ingredient for future crops of daisies nor a feast for worms, becoming a forgotten mass of bone, flesh, and corruption. We are the products of God's creative love and have a purpose for being in this world, and He did not form us within our mother's womb just to end up as a conglomeration of randomness and a roll of some cosmic pair of dice (Psalm 139:14-16). The Lord Jesus did not declare before Martha and Mary that He was the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25-26) in order to give them a sense of false comfort and hope. What He will show in John 11 is that the last enemy of humanity, death itself, has nothing over the Sovereignty and power of Almighty God, who gives life, breath, and meaning to every person who walks the earth.

John 11 presents not only the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, but it also is a living proof text to the claims that Jesus has made throughout the Gospels, telling His listeners that He has the power of life and is the conqueror of death. He began HIs ministry by driving out the money changers in the Temple. The religious officials demanded to know why He had done so. He then gave to them the illustration of tearing down the Temple that was His body and raising it up again (Mark 14:58; John 2:19-22). He also declared His authority in that He would raise everyone from the dead at the appointed time (John 6:10). He had shown this power when He raised both the daughter of Jairus (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56) and the son of the widow of Nain from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). There are always skeptics, however, who will read these passages of Scripture and dismiss them as nothing more than a case of resuscitation or merely part of the continuation of the Jesus "myth" that the authors of the Gospels added to give credence to their teachings that Jesus was God Incarnate. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4). Let us examine the situation that Jesus faced that day when He stood before the grave of His friend.

First, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. The disciples of Jesus were all there to verify it along with the other events in Jesus' ministry. The authors of Scripture, inspired by the Spirit of God, were bound by the truth of what they all knew, saw, and confirmed (Acts 17:11; Galatians 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:19-21). The Law of Moses, which had been taught to them as children and what was read each Sabbath in the synagogues, stated that no one could be convicted of a crime without the testimony of two or more witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6). Jesus taught that two or more witnesses were to go to erring brethren within the church for correction (Matthew 18:15). Jesus' own resurrection was verified by a number of witnesses, up to five hundred brethren at one time, and the apostle Paul encouraged the members of the church at Corinth to go talk to the ones who were still alive for confirmation (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). Luke opens his Gospel by telling Theophilus of the many witnesses he encountered and interviewed in order to have an accurate account (Luke 1:1-4). Peter, in his final days, wrote that he and the other disciples were eyewitnesses of Jesus' majesty (2 Peter 1:16). What has been written in John is a true and verifiable account.

Second, they also knew when someone was dead and the procedures to take according to the Law (Leviticus 10:6, 21:1, 11, 22:4; Numbers 5:2, 6:6, 9:6, 19:11; Deuteronomy 21:23). While embalming of bodies had been a part of other cultures such as Egypt (Genesis 50:2, 26), the Jews tended to prepare the body for burial that same day and place it in the respective tomb or cave where the other family members had been laid to rest (Matthew 26:12, 27:59; John 11:44; Acts 9:37). They added a series of spices within the wrappings to keep the body intact and to lessen the stench of decay that would occur quickly in the heat of Judea. By the time the body was wrapped and placed in the tomb and then sealed, the idea of resuscitation or premature burial was settled. This person was dead, period. Forensic science has shown that after three hours, a corpse enters the state of rigor mortis, where it will stiffen and be inflexible for a time. After a period of 24-72 hours, the inner organs will begin to decompose rapidly, giving off a putrid odor (John 11:39). After a period of three days, this inner organ decay will intensify, and the flesh will have turned a shade of green with decay, and body fluids will seep out. By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, Lazarus' body was in the stages of literally rotting away.