All miracles are not created equal, John, 11:1-6
John 11:1-6 · Vern Peterman · Mar 20, 2005
Holidays
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262322583495

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

considered Palm Sunday or the day of the triumphal entry. We've looked at that in some prior years and noted that the triumphal entry characterization is probably a mischaracterization. But nonetheless, it's a time to take a look at some key events in the last week or so of the Lord's life. And this passage is one of those. It does happen to be also this is the first day of spring. So welcome to spring. No, not that one. Okay.

So anyway, we're glad you're here and able to join us for that. You'll notice if you're joining us here this morning that there are handouts that come with your bulletin, and that's the page number on your handout. If there is no page number, it's probably not in your handout. So just keep track of that, and that way you can stay with us here. All right.

Now, we're going to take a look here at Differences of Resurrections. What the Helmet read for us was an introduction to this passage here. We're actually going to be taking a look at a longer segment of it. This is the very beginning portion. Now, there are different resurrections in the New Testament bringing individuals back into this life. Jesus raised Jairus' daughter, who was a 12-year-old, and it's recorded in Mark chapter 5. Jesus raised the son of the widow from name. We don't know any names besides name. Isn't that interesting?

But Jesus raised here, as we'll be seeing in this account here this morning, Lazarus. And then we also have, following the ascension of our Lord, Peter raised Tabitha, and Paul raised Eutychus. So we see the apostles kind of continuing this on in their apostolic capacity. And specifically, of course, we'll be looking at this one here having to do with Lazarus' resurrection.

Now, one of the reasons why people were raised, it wasn't just a, hey, this would be a nice thing to do, or let's just do this because everybody sure liked that. It was a validation. It was a way of saying, this is indeed a valid messenger. This is the person that they claim to be. Matthew 11, 2 through 5 is one we have highlighted there, and I'll put it up on the screen.

Here's John the Baptist. He's in jail. He appears to be speaking from a moment of doubt and, of course, being stuck in jail after having the liberty to speak what he had said before. He was having some difficulties, so he's actually asking Christ something that it seemed he had declared clearly before.

So at this moment of doubt, in some ways it may even be helpful for us to realize that a man so powerful as he in his speech about the Lord It says, you know, behold, this is the Lamb of God. Would some would come back and send a messenger and say from prison, are you the one? Are you really him? So Jesus says, send a message back to John and tell him among other things that the dead are raised up.

And that's one of the things that we see here. It is a clear indication. It's a way of telling John, yes, most certainly this is the Messiah, the expected one. It was also one of the signs and wonders that accompanied the apostles. And we see multiple references to that. We see from the end of Mark, twice in Paul's letters at a minimum, and then in Hebrews. So we see repeated reference to the apostles carrying out signs and wonders.

And these were some of those that were carried out. Here's Peter, who on the very day of Pentecost, presenting the gospel there to the Jews that were gathered there at that time. He could appeal to them. And notice, here were apostles who had seen the risen Lord. And notice how he puts it. He says, men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst. You know it.

He could appeal to the fact that they knew it, not just, hey, you've heard about it. says right here, some of you have seen this, just as you yourselves know. The signs and wonders were exhibited through the Apostles, and those of us going through the Acts elective have been seeing some of that, and we'll yet see some more. So both Christ as the Messiah and the Apostles as special messengers used signs, including resurrection, as validation of the position that they'd been given. Here we see John 11, one through six. This is the introduction to the resurrection of Lazarus.

And I won't read through it because Helmut's done that for us, but I want us to kind of get oriented graphically here. Okay. So I want us to kind of get a bird's eye view of things. So we're going to get an aerial view. So I want you to pretend that you're a bird here. That's not right. Not that one. That's no good. Not that one either. That's not good.

Oh, by the way, I need to make a point here. If you ever see any moose pretending to be a bird, hey, you watch out. That's just nothing but trouble. Nothing, but anybody who's ever seen that happen, it's just nothing but problems. Let me show you. Here's a good example. Okay. Just ever see any moose flying or trying to fly? Get out of the way. Okay. Now let's really pretend you're a bird.

We're going to look eastward over Jerusalem and then off towards the east. So now we see in the foreground there, Jerusalem. and even the Dead Sea off in the distance there. Dead Sea kind of being a very low area, but still visible. The Temple Mount, which now includes the Dome of the Rock. That's the kind of golden dome that you see there, often on the east side of Jerusalem. And just to the south of that, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and now an Islamic holy site for no good reason.

And then the Mount of Olives, which is the place where just very shortly after this event that we see here is to take place. It is the place that the Lord would crest as he comes in on his triumphal entry. And the reason we show this is right above that in the picture, just a little bit farther away, is Bethany on the backside of the Mount of Olives. Bethany means the house of figs. So here's Bethany. It's a short distance away. You can see in the picture Bethany is a walk away, and that's all it is, a walk away from the temple site. Jesus would spend not only this night, but the next three nights after that in Bethany. It is a time in days preparing for his crucifixion. where he would spend evening after evening there at the end of the day.

Now, one of the things that's interesting as we look at this passage, look at verse 4. Jesus heard this first news, he says, Behold, whom you love is sick, And Jesus comes on, and it is real interesting, because one of the things I want you to take note of, the disciples don't get it. This is not new, but they don't get it. The sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now, get this. Look at verses 5 and 6. It's phenomenal. As Helmut read it, maybe it hit you, Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister, that is Mary, and Lazarus. So what did He do? He ran to Bethany, right? No. So when He heard that He was sick, He stayed two days longer in the place that He was. This sounds like almost a Bible joke. You ever hear those Bible jokes? Bible jokes like, "...and the disciples were all in one accord." Or, "...Joseph served in Pharaoh's court." Or maybe Gideon's triumph was heard throughout the land. Okay? You know, that kind of joke. Here's Jesus. He says, oh, he loved them. He heard the news. He says, good, I'm staying here two more days. Oh boy. Okay. Let's find out what's going on here. One of the things as human beings, we may be prone.

It's our way our feelings run easily. God should make things come out nice. That would, we have a hopeful outcome. Human beings refer to that desired outcome as hope. I hope this happens. If the desired outcome does not come about, that's disappointment. That's the way we speak as human beings. We have a hope that's a desired outcome. If that doesn't happen, we're disappointed. That's kind of the way people typically think. And as Christians, it's easy to kind of flow into that pattern. Jesus is not operating in that mode at all.

We can be, you know, hoping, gee, I'd be nice if I'm hoping to get my hands on a wad of cash, or I'm hoping to make a really good catch, or maybe all the young couples here at Holly Hills are hoping for triplets, you know. Whatever the hope is, but there's a hoped-for outcome, okay? Anything less is some kind of a disappointment. All right. Maybe Vern that's hoping they all have triplets, but anyway.

Contrary to everyone's hope and expectations, what does Jesus do? He deliberately stays even longer. Have you ever been through that in your life? Lord, it would sure be great if this happens. And lo and behold, you find out that's not what's happening. You say, Lord! Lord, it's supposed to go this way! You know? This is supposed to happen. Here we see the Lord deliberately knowing full well what's about to take place, says, oh, I love these people dearly. I know what's going to happen.

I'll stay two days longer. God often has other reasons and purposes than just making things nice, doesn't he? Here in John 11, and I've skipped a few verses for the sake of proceeding along our path here, he says, then he said, and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so that I may awaken him out of his sleep." Now he tells him, and I'm going to jump ahead here to verse 15, after he tells him, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe. Let us go to him. Isn't that wild? Wait, wait, that's not the desired outcome. That's not what my hope is. Lord, you're going to make me disappointed. That isn't what I had planned. Isn't this amazing?

Notice the response when we get into this 17 through 23 passage. We find in verse 17, he'd already been dead four days. The encounter with Martha begins. She says in verse 21, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now, let's give her some credit. She does say in verse 22, some evidence, in some indication that Lord, yeah, you can still do something. Not real specific, but we also see in verse 21, the first statement, and it won't be the last.

If you'd been here, you could have kept this from happening. You see, we want the bad thing to get prevented. That's God's job, right? People thought that God's role and purpose in our lives was to prevent bad things from happening. And of course, Jesus here, he's here, so that's his job. Keep bad stuff from happening. When things work out nicely, we call those blessings. And we wish upon people, God bless you. May everything work out nice. People thought, and will continue to see this, that God's power is limited to keeping Lazarus from dying, to preventing the bad thing from happening.

Oh, if you had only been here, you could have done something, but now it's too late. You're incapable of doing anything now. Your timing was not right, even though he purposely stayed two days later. To prevent death, yes, you can do that. Reversing it, nah, we don't hold that out. Think about in our own instance, we had 9-11 years back. Here's this ghastly catastrophe we watched in horror as repeatedly the scene you see in front of you took place.

Wait a minute, why didn't God stop that? Isn't that his job? How about more recently? tsunami disaster less than three months ago. Greater catastrophe, and people didn't initiate it, unlike the one in the Twin Towers in New York. Orders of magnitude worse, and yet what happens? It's God's primary role and purpose in our lives to prevent bad things from happening. That's why I'm a believer. I'm a believer because then I can pray and then stop bad stuff from happening.

Isn't that the story? It's not what we see in this passage, is it? Let's take a further look. Here's Jesus talking here, and as the conversation goes on, she's discussing, Mary discussing with Christ, and Jesus tells her, your brother will rise again. And she's saying, well, of course. There'll be a resurrection down the line. Something a little more near term is about to happen here. One of the things that would happen in those days is there would be burial the same day.

The climate was often warm, especially during the months that you see approaching here. Climate's really warm. There was no way to keep bodies. They didn't have any morgue with refrigerators or anything of that sort. So the bottom line is you bury a body within the same day. You hurry up.

And you notice in Deuteronomy 21, 22, and 23, if a person was hanged, it was required that that be done. And so the Jewish people thought, well, then let's carry that to other areas. And just the practical fact was you needed to do something. Burial materials and places to be buried were kept in preparation because you couldn't respond with some sort of after the fact reaction. You had to keep things ready. And that's exactly what they did. They kept things ready. Constantly and you could easily grab hold of these things.

We happen to be a little short You might get some from a friend or from the marketplace But always people kept these accessible because you couldn't say hey, you know, I'm going to give this a few days No, no way couldn't happen We see that in the very example in which Christ was crucified now as it goes on here Jesus begins Communicating a message beyond just Pam gonna raise Lazarus.

He says there I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Notice what's the point. It isn't just I've told you. Do you believe it? Do you believe it? That's the question.

So now conversation continues on. Jesus had not yet come to the village, because this conversation had kind of gone out ahead of the village. Still a place on the road where Martha had met him. So now, the scene comes to this. Verse 32, Therefore when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw him, and fell at his feet, saying to him, Oh, what are we hearing? Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. You could have prevented this. Now it's too late. Lord, it wasn't according to my plan!

See? God's role and purpose is assumed to be to prevent bad things from happening, and that's as much as He can do, and hopefully He can do that. Notice as they begin approaching there, Jesus is deeply troubled. But look at verse 37. Here's some Jews, and what do they say? Same message. Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind have kept this man from dying?

Oh, repeatedly, stop the bad stuff from happening. Once it's happened, too late to do anything here. Assumed God's role and purpose is to make things nice. To make the bad thing not come about. We also see this picture here. Notice that the Lord, when He comes upon the circumstance close at hand now, He knows what's about to take place, and yet He's greatly troubled. Why? Something that all the rest of them don't seem to be focused on. Folks, you've got to remember something. There is sin in the picture.

The world in which we now live is not God's best shot. The fact that there was a massive tsunami cause incredible destruction is not because God really wishes it hadn't happened, but just couldn't do anything about it. God's power is not an issue. Just like we see in here, people often say, well, why didn't God prevent that from happening? How come he didn't stop it?

Now, it comes closer to this time and the point that Jesus makes in verse 40. If you believe, you will see the glory of God. Believing is continually the issue, isn't it? About 50 times in the Gospel of John, belief keeps coming up. Do you believe? Do you believe? Do you believe? And you know, John does not make it complicated. Very simple. John writes with very simple words, not complex. Do you believe in Jesus?

That's the question he keeps laying out in front of them. Verse 42, I knew that you always hear me, but because of the people standing around, I said it so that they may believe that you sent me. He didn't have to pray out loud, but he wanted them to hear. I'm talking to the Father here. He could have said on his own power, authority, but he wanted them to know, I am independent relationship with the Father here.

Now, when he said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And when you got stones in front of it and they're down in a cave, I suppose it takes something, especially with all those wrappings around your head, right? Now, there's something else to take note of here. He had to specifically call out Lazarus, because if he says, hey, you guys get out of there, the whole place would empty, right? So specifically Lazarus, just that one.

You don't want a whole bunch of guys stumbling out, just him. And he says, unbind him and let him go. This is traditionally, let's put it this way, the evidence does not point conclusively that this is the one. Nonetheless, there is also not evidence contrary to it. So it may well be. The town is now called El Azariah, which is in the local language named after Lazarus.

So this is inside the tomb. This is looking up at kind of the first floor and you'll notice here, here's some stairs going up to the outside and here are different kind of crypt places along the side. I'd like to try and experiment here. So I hope you don't mind being experimented upon. Okay. This is inside the tomb.

It has similar views. Here's the stairs going out and these little crypts here. And what we can do with this that's kind of handy is look around the room. There are other little crypts along the side. And turn around here. This is kind of the back side as you go down the stairs. Other little crypts again on the side. And this is coming back again. Here's the stairs. That's not all. Point this down. This goes down into another stairway.

So it's quite a labyrinth down there. The scripture actually says it was a cave. So what they did is they had a cave that they kind of modified and added some things to. So this may well have been the case. You can imagine, here's Lazarus. He's been in there for four days. Imagine coming to, and this is a place where they put all kinds of dead people, you know. Whoo! Boy, it's dark in here, and boy, is this stuffy, you know. And he hears this Lazarus come forth, and he comes forth as best he can, because one of the things they do is they bind him, you know, so he's kind of hopping, you know.

And then he had to roll this stone away. It's called a golal in Hebrew. They roll the stone away, and it usually took several men to move the stone. It wasn't to, you know, get somebody behind it and shove it. It takes several men to roll this gullal out of the way. And so they roll it out of the way.

And here's Lazarus, and he's all bound up. And of course, the immediate thing is the Lord says, unbind him, you know, because there's a lot to get unbound from. And I'm sure, you know, once you come alive and you're in this stuffy, stinky place, that getting, you know, unbound is probably top priority. All right. So let's get back to our scene here. All right. So here's Lazarus coming out of this. Now, in verse 44, it says, the man who died, and hint, hint, this is Lazarus. It may kind of hit you funny. Why do you say the man who died? They just said Lazarus. It's making the point. Jesus had used words like, you know, he's sleeping. Words that Paul often used as figure of speech. This is his way of just making the point as John's writing.

This is the guy that died came forth. Hey, folks, you get it. This is phenomenal stuff. Jesus had indeed performed a genuine miracle. This fellow was indeed dead. According to the Jewish tradition, you must be dead for at least three days to be really dead. And four days. Yeah, that qualifies.

As we look at these resurrections here, and of course Lazarus is the one that we're focusing on, we've got to say, what's the difference here? These resurrections fulfilled a purpose, bringing someone back to this life, to validate that Jesus was the Messiah, that yes, these are the apostles. They really were. Lazarus' resurrection also served a purpose as glorifying Christ as the Son of God.

Without the resurrection of Christ, though, these wouldn't have meant much. How about that? They wouldn't have meant much. Why? Let's take a look at that. Let's ask some questions. What's the difference between the resurrection of Lazarus, of Tabitha, of all the ones that we see where people are resurrected back to this life, and Christ? And it comes down to five questions, I think. Who died? They were raised to what life? What was said before this resurrection took place? How does it relate to belief? And what was accomplished?

Let's look at those. The who died question. We've got several examples of people that died. And while it looks like that, you know, they were some people who loved the Lord, likely some cases very clear that they did. This is different here in that Christ is the son of God. That's a different resurrection, a different death because of the answer to the question, who died? Not just a good person, but the very perfect son of God. Raised to which life? The second question, what life are you being raised to?

All of the resurrections that we saw, including Lazarus, including Tabitha and Eutychus, those were a resurrection back to this life in the old creation. Those people who were raised in those instances were going to die again. Can you imagine being Lazarus? Oh no, I'm dying again! It must have been rough, but each one of them went through this same process. They were raised here to give a little more time in this old creation, soon to die physically all over again. Lazarus is having a real deja vu experience the second time around.

Christ, however, raised as the firstborn from the dead into the new creation. Ah, this is different. This is different. By the way, those notes in green are not on your handout, so if you care to take note of that, that's fine. The other resurrections were resurrections from only for people to experience the same death. This would not be so with Christ. Those who believe, who have believed God, are from the old creation, taken to populate the new creation. All of these are saints. Then the next question, what was said before?

Nothing was said in advance about Jairus' 12-year-old daughter. It was certainly a phenomenal event. Nothing was said in advance about the widow of Nain, at least not specifically, nor was anything said about Lazarus other than just that chapter. We don't hear about this resurrection of Lazarus until this very chapter we look at here this morning. Nothing was said about Tabitha or Eutychus specifically, but there was a great deal said about Christ throughout the entire Old Testament, long in advance of his coming to earth. We won't go through it now, we don't have time, but there are multiple references to Christ's first and second coming in the Old Testament. It is a great clue, and that's an understatement, it is a great clue about the significance of Christ's resurrection. No other resurrection matters so much. No other resurrection has that big a significance.

There's a three-page listing in the cabinet to the right as you exit, if you'd like to have that, not exhaustive but a great number of Old Testament prophecies about Christ in his first and second comings and you're welcome to take those who run out we'll get some more out there for you Christ himself spoke of his own resurrection and referred to it notice here's John 2 early in his ministry Jesus answered them destroy this temple and I will raise it three days I'll raise it back up so the Jews saying what They're thinking of the physical temple that they're standing in.

Verse 21 makes it clear. He's speaking of the temple that is his own body. The next question is, how does it relate to belief? And this is critical. We've already seen that John keeps focusing, zeroing in on belief. Belief is pivotal. It's not optional. It's not incidental.

Each of the resurrections to this life, like the one with Lazarus, was a validation. There were reasons to believe that the one who performed that miracle was who they said they were. The message there is believe the messenger. Believe the messenger as validated by the resurrection. That's the message in those resurrections.

The difference in Christ's resurrection is this. It's not just a reason to believe, certainly it's that, but it's also central. Instead of just believe the messenger, it's believe the message. See the difference? Believe the content of the message. Don't just believe the messenger, but listen to what they're saying. That's the point of this resurrection of Christ. Believe the message.

It is that message of His death and resurrection. that is critical for you to believe and understand. In 1 Corinthians 15, the first several verses there, Paul makes reference to the gospel and salvation and belief. In verses 3 and 4 he puts it this way, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Do you believe that?

Then you're saved. Simple as that. Remember that. Somebody comes up to you and they say, how do I become a Christian? That's the question I ask my parents at age four and a half. Tell me, how do I become a Christian? You've heard the story before if you've been here before, but I'll tell it. They said, wait. I woke my mom up that night and I said, I waited long enough. Okay. That message is that simple. If they can understand that and believe it, that's exactly what they need to follow through on. There isn't any decision more critical.

Peter, as he is introducing the gospel to the Gentiles for the very first time in Acts 10, what does he mention? Pivotal and central to what he communicates to the Gentiles. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he become visible, not only to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God. That is, to aid and drank with him after he rose from the dead. Potent and open testimony. with appeal to many witnesses as a key part of the gospel. Finally, we see in verse 43, what's the appeal? Everyone who believes. Believe, believe, believe. Basic, simple message. The resurrection is pivotal and central to that message. What was accomplished? God not only raised him up, but us up.

1 Corinthians 6.14, 2 Corinthians 4.14. Christ's bodily resurrection is the template, if you will, for the bodily resurrection of all who believe. In the book of Romans, in that key passage from Romans 6, 1 through 11, as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

That word newness there, at the end, of verse 4, is a new kind of life. It's not just, hey, I got another one of the same kind. It's a new kind of life. Walk in a new kind of life. What we're seeing of the the truths that we've been presenting over the months, we've been identified with Christ in his crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. The focus here, of course, this morning is on the the middle one there, being raised with Him.

That's what we've just seen there in Romans 6. What was accomplished? Paul prayed as he wrote to the church at Ephesus. In verse 19, he wants them to know what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.

That is the standard, the measure the point of consistency with the power in your life. Ever feel underpowered? This word translated toward isn't some sort of God sort of throws a bunch of rocks in your direction and some of them hit. It's not a sort of a scattered, you know, I'll throw some in your direction and some of it will stick. It's into. power into you.

What is the measure of the power in your life as a believer? What standard? What is the thing with which it is consistent? It is the resurrection of Christ. That kind of power. Unparalleled, unequaled power. The world has known nothing else like it. That's the power into us who believe. What do you have to do for that power to be there? It's that simple.

What an incredible thing the Lord accomplished. What happened here just about a week before our Lord was crucified is a tremendous witness in the life of Lazarus having been resurrected from the dead. But it is testimony of not only the validity of what Jesus had to say, but the very message that Jesus and the apostles communicated. Jesus says, believe in me.

He called across the courtyard of the temple. Anyone who's thirsty, come to me. He wasn't kidding. It wasn't just a theatrical trick. He meant it. Let's pray. Lord, as we look here this morning, your word is powerful because it shows repeatedly demonstrations of your power in lives. Here as we walk planet Earth, you have called us to walk with you. You have called us, Lord, to walk moment by moment, step by step, with your power in us. Your power into us who believe. We thank you for that. What a marvelous thing you've done. In Jesus' name, amen.