Gospels (41) - John 11:1-44

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Gospels

Rusty's Notes

• Jesus was doing public miracles… water to wine… healing people, etc
• Matthew 8, Mark 1 & Luke 5 – Jesus heals a Jewish leper – Messianic Miracle #1
• Jesus continues to heal publicly… lame man in John 5, man with withered hand in Matthew 12 and many by the Sea of Galilee in the same chapter, etc.
• Same chapter, a deaf mute who is demon possessed is brought to Jesus and He heals the man. – Messianic Miracle #2
• The Jewish Nation as a whole condemns Jesus and accuses Jesus of healing under the power of the devil.
• They just blasphemed the Spirit of God to His face.
• At this point, they became cursed as to never see/hear the Gospel and it would lead to a generational death in 70 AD.
• They asked to see more miracles.
• Jesus said you will see one more miracle… the miracle of Jonah… resurrection.

 
John 11
LAZARUS DIES AT BETHANY
1 Now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany (not the same Lazarus in Luke 16), the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

• Bethany is 2 miles east of Jerusalem
• Bethany is under the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin

2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. 7 Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”

•  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.[1]

8 “Rabbi,” the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?”

• The disciples were reminding Jesus that the Sanhedrin had jurisdiction of Bethany and they wanted Him dead.

9 “Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”
11 He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on my way to wake him up.”
12 Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”
13 Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. 14 So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15 I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (called “Twin”) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.”
 
THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away). 19 Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house.
21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.
 - Martha believed Jesus had the authority to prevent death.
 - Martha didn’t know that Jesus had authority over death.
22 Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

• Old Testament saints died and went to Abraham’s Bosom/Paradise. (Before Pentecost)
• New Testament saints died and the Spirit/Soul is absent from the body and present with the Lord (After Pentecost).
• Jesus is the only man with a resurrected body at this point.
• New Testament saints get our resurrected bodies at the “Rapture”
• Old Testament saints get their resurrected bodies at the end of the tribulation.
• 1 Corinthians 15:20-26 - 20 But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
• But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be abolished is death.[2]

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”
 
JESUS SHARES THE SORROW OF DEATH
28 Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29 As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there.
32 As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”
33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked.
“Lord,” they told him, “come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.

• Why did Jesus weep?
• He knew Lazarus was going to be resurrected.
• What if He wept because He is able to sympathize with Mary and Martha? He came in human flesh and is able to experience thoughts (both good and bad) and emotions just as we experience them every day.
• We have a Messiah/Savior that can sympathize with us.
• What if He was weeping because He knew that He was about to perform one more public miracle and His people (the Jews) would still not believe that He is the Messiah?
• After all… this was the purpose of this miracle.

36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?”

• They mention one of the Messianic Miracles yet they still don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah.
• Only 7 signs (miracles) recorded in Gospel of John
• 1) Changing water into wine at the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-11);
• 2) Healing the royal official’s son (Jn 4:46-54);
• 3) Healing the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem (Jn 5:1-15);
• 4) Feeding the 5,000 (Jn 6:5-14);
• 5) Walking on water (Jn 6:16-21);
• 6) Healing the man born blind (Jn 9:1-7); and
• 7) Raising Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11:1-45).

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved (angered) again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 “Remove the stone,” Jesus said.
Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”

• The Jews believed the Spirit hovered 3 days and then went to Sheol/Hades on the 4th day.
• Probably why Jesus waited for the 4th day.
• A true resurrection.

40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.”
 - The first public miracle since Jesus was blasphemed by the Jews.
43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 334). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (1 Co 15:20–26). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.