Jesus had received word about the illness of his friend, Lazarus. Upon receiving the news, Jesus tarried two days before journeying to Bethany, Lazarus’ home. Upon arriving there, He was told that Lazarus had died. All of this was in God’s plan, of course, for it was the Father’s will that Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.
What we want to draw our attention to, however, is the conversation Jesus had with Martha, Lazarus’ sister, upon His arrival at Bethany. When Martha spoke to Jesus, she expressed a reproach and a statement of faith. She first, reproached the Lord for not arriving sooner (v. 21). Yet, within the same breath, she makes a statement of faith (v. 22).
Jesus responded to Martha’s faith, as impure as it might have been and reassured her that His purpose would be worked out in this tragedy (v. 23). Martha responded with yet another word of faith and conviction (v. 24), to which Jesus boldly declared that He was the source of resurrection life.
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Jesus said that when one believed in Him, he would receive resurrection life. Let’s notice two things Jesus tells us about this resurrection life one receives through faith in Him.
1. Resurrection life is an ultimate certainty - v. 25
One of the teachings that is peculiar to Christianity is the hope of the resurrection. All other religious thought considers eternity in terms of individuals living as disembodied spirits for eternity. But the Bible insists that those who die having trusted in Jesus will receive resurrection bodies. The Christian looks forward not just to eternity in the presence of God, but to the day of the resurrection.
Why is the promise of the resurrection body so important? It is important because of the kind of savior Jesus is.
“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” - Hebrews 7:25 (NIV)
When God created, as the crown of His earthly kingdom, God made man. The Bible tells us that man was made a triune being (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Genesis 2:7).
Man was made with a body - the source of his world-consciousness; he was made with a soul, comprised of his mind, his will, and his emotions - the source of his self-consciousness; and man was made with a spirit - the source of his God-consciousness.
Man was created spiritually alive - he communed God (Genesis 3:8). Man was influenced by God’s Spirit through His Word and thought, felt, chose, and acted as he should.
Until the day in which man exercised his freedom of choice to decide to reject God’s direction and chose to know for himself what was good and what was evil (Genesis 2:17). In making that choice, man died spiritually, for he no longer communed with God, the source of all life.
No longer could he think, feel, choose or act as he ought. Now, man is influenced by Satan through the world (Ephesians 2:1-2). The consequences were that man was under condemnation of sin and death.
But Jesus came to reverse all that was undone through Adam. He provided for this through His death and resurrection.
When I trust in Him, I am saved immediately in my spirit (Romans 8:16) - I am saved from the penalty of sin (I will not be condemned to spend eternity separated from God) (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I am saved progressively in my soul from the power of sin as I learn to think, feel, and choose as God directs (Romans 12:2; Proverbs 23:7) - God’s instrument in all this is His Word (James 2:21).
I will be saved ultimately in my body on the day of the resurrection - on that day, we will begin the work with our Lord of making all things new, and then there will be a new heaven and a new earth, where I will saved from the very presence of sin (1 Peter 3:13).
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). When a believer dies, his spiritual essence - his spirit, his soul - enter immediately into the presence of our Lord. But the glory of our redemption will not be complete until the day I received my resurrection body when Jesus returns to usher in eternity.
On the day Christ returns, God will raise us up to live forever as resurrected beings in a society of resurrected beings, on a resurrected earth, with our resurrected Lord. And what a life it promises to be! Life will become more rich and fulfilling and UNIMPAIRED in the world to come than its ever been.
“We will not be disembodied spirits in the world to come, but redeemed spirits, in redeemed bodies, in a redeemed universe.” - R. A. Torrey
2. Resurrection life is a present reality - v. 26
While Jesus refers to physical death in verse 25, in verse 26, He refers to spiritual death. “Whoever lives (physically) and believes in me will never die (spiritually).”
“It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.” - John 5:24 (The Message)
The claim that Christ has been raised from the dead is unique to Christianity. It is the heart and soul of our faith. The Christian faith is not founded on a philosophy or teaching, but on historical events and facts that authenticate the claims of Christ.
In his book, “The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask,” Mark Mittleberg identifies three facts that give sufficient evidence to conclude that the resurrection is an actual historical event. He points out that no responsible historian denies that . . .
1. Jesus lived and died on a Roman cross.
2. The tomb was found empty and Jesus’ body was never found.
3. Soon after Jesus’ death, people had experiences that they were convinced were encounters with the risen Christ.
Skeptics try to explain away these historical facts, but they must admit that these three things are facts of history; and it is on the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ that the Christian faith is founded.
You see, if Jesus was, indeed, raised from the dead, then He is, indeed, who He claimed to be; and if He is, indeed, who He claimed to be, then understanding and embracing what He taught is a really big deal.
“That is why I told you that you will die in (under the curse of) your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He [Whom I claim to be - if you do not adhere to, trust in, and rely on Me], you will die in your sins.” - John 8:24 (Amplified)
If you want to be saved from sin’s penalty, sin’s power, and ultimately, sin’s presence, you must realize that acknowledging Jesus’ divine identity is not an academic theological point. It’s the necessary step to receiving and experiencing His salvation.
Conclusion:
The little book, “A Gentleman In Prison” tells the story of the conversion of notorious murderer, Tokichi Ishii. Ishii had an almost unparalleled criminal record. He had murdered men, women and children in the most brutal way. Anyone who stood in his way was pitilessly eliminated.
Now he was in prison awaiting death. While in prison he was visited by two Canadian women who tried to talk to him through the bars, but he only glowered at them like a caged and savage animal. In the end, they abandoned the attempt; but they gave him a Bible, hoping that it might succeed where they had failed. He began to read it, and, having started, could not stop. He read on until he came to the story of the Crucifixion. He came to the words: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and these words broke him. “I stopped,” he said. “I was stabbed to the heart, as if pierced by a five-inch nail. Shall I call it the love of Christ? Shall I call it His compassion? I do not know what to call it. I only know that I believed, and my hardness of heart was changed.” Later, when the condemned man went to the scaffold; he was no longer the hardened, surly brute he once had been, but a smiling radiant man. The murderer had been born again; Christ had brought Tokichi Ishi to life.
Tokichi Ishi was more alive facing death than most men are facing life. Why? He had passed from death to life. Resurrection life had become a present reality and an ultimate certainty.
