With Dale Ratzlaff
John 11:38-46
So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 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.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
The first verse above could be translated, “Jesus, therefore, again filled with indignation in Himself, came to the tomb” ( R.C.H. Lenski, Commentary on the New Testament, John, p. 811). Why the indignation? We are not told, but one may assume it was His anger toward sin, sickness, and death present in this fallen world. His anger is turned into action. He orders the stone covering the mouth of the cave to be taken away. Martha objects. Lazarus has been dead for four days. No loving sister would want to look at her decaying brother or smell the putrid smell of death. Earlier, when Jesus said,
“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?” (Jn.11:25).
Martha responded,
Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world (Jn. 11:25-27).
Even though Martha confessed Jesus to be the Christ, even the Son of God, she had not realized the power, authority, and privilege that were all wrapped in the divine Son of God. She had not seen a dead person come to life. Her faith was limited to her experience. When we realize the limitations of our own faith, we realize that our faith does not save us. Rather, we are saved by our faith in Christ Jesus. It is the object of our faith that matters.
Jesus reminds Martha,
Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?
Throughout the Gospel of John, there is a continual focus on “believing.” In the incident of the raising of Lazarus, Jesus accepts the imperfect faith of Martha and the others, and by His actions builds their faith to new levels. “If you believe, you will see the Glory of God.”
What is the “glory of God”? Throughout Scripture, “glory” means many things with its focus being on the attributes of God. In John 1:14, John, with divine insight said,
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn. 1:14)
How and when did John and the other disciples see Christ’s glory? He manifested His glory when He made water into wine at Cana. Later in this Gospel, we will see that Christ on the cross, suffering for the guilt and sin of humanity, was His crowning act of glory. Therefore, when Jesus tells Martha that if she believes she will see the glory of God, He is communicating that she will see the saving activity of God.
So they removed the stone.
One can only imagine the scene. The Jews did not embalm as did the Egyptians. They just wrapped strips of cloth with perfume or spices folded in around the dead person. However, after four days the smell of death would have overpowered the spices. What was the purpose of Jesus’ command to remove the stone? Was it to take one last look at His friend Lazarus? When Martha responded to Jesus, “He has been dead four days,” she used the perfect tense, indicating that she believed he was dead for all time. Obviously, she did not want a second look at her decaying brother.
There must have been a moment of quiet wonderment at what would happen when the stone was removed.
Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 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.”
Just what the purpose of this short prayer was leaves some unanswered questions. Was Jesus asking permission of the Father to raise Lazarus? There is nothing in this prayer that would suggest that. Instead, the apparent thought behind the prayer focuses on the joint mission of the Father and the Son—that many would believe. We cannot separate the authority of the Father and the Son. Both are God and can never work at cross purposes. While the immediate context is at the tomb of Lazarus, the underlying and controlling theme is the gospel. There is not the slightest doubt expressed in this prayer. Jesus thanks His Father that He has heard Him and then states emphatically, “You always hear Me.” This is a prayer that reinforced to the listeners that the Son always worked in unity with the Father. Their power was the same power.
When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
John, the writer of this Gospel, does not embellish the event. In just a few descriptive words he has recorded the facts of this, the greatest miracle of Jesus. We can only imagine the excitement of the crowd, the joy of Martha and Mary. We can see the Spirit-guided purpose separating what we would like to know from what is important for us to know. Near the end of this Gospel, John will tell us his overarching purpose:
Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (Jn. 20:30-31).
The reason that Jesus “cried out with a loud voice” was so all those who heard would know that it was at Jesus’ command that Lazarus came forth. The raising of Lazarus seems to be a fulfillment of what Jesus said earlier in this Gospel.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself (Jn. 5:24-26).
We cannot explain the immensity of the truths presented in the above paragraph. However, the raising of Lazarus gives us a foretaste of resurrection. How the dead hear the voice of God, we cannot explain. Doubtless coming to life and hearing are simultaneous events.
As far as we can tell, there was no time lag between Jesus’ command, “Lazarus come forth” and his resurrection. Jesus spoke, and it was so. He came out of the cave on his own power, hampered though he was, with the grave wrappings. Jesus then says,
Unbind him, and let him go.
This event should strengthen our faith. Jesus promised that believers would have eternal life in Him. Here in sacred Scripture, we see that His promise is one that we can take to the tomb!
For John, the important thing is the result of this miracle.
Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
Mary was the one who needed the most comfort. Those who came with her to the tomb saw Lazarus come forth and now they were believers. It is not clear if all of those who witnessed this spectacular event believed. Some of the eyewitnesses went and told the Pharisees, but we do not know their motive. Were they supporting the mission of Christ and thus went to the Pharisees with the details of this attesting miracle so that they would believe? Or, were they unbelievers who were siding with the Jewish leaders? There is nothing in the text that gives us a definite answer.
Application
- Considering the whole record of the sickness, death, and raising of Lazarus and how Jesus responded at each advancing event ought to help us trust God in our circumstances even when we do not know what is going on. He who knows the end from the beginning knows better than we do.
- Sometimes we read the statements of eternal life so often we become callous to the enormity of the promise. It would be well for us to memorize key sections in the Gospel of John such as John 3:16-18; John 5:24-26 and John 11:25-26.
- Prayer is not only communication between us the Father, sometimes prayer is intended partially for those who hear.
- Jesus thanked the Father that He always heard His prayer. We can do the same based upon the promise of Scripture.
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him (1 Jn. 5:14-15).
Prayer
Father, I thank you for the story of Jesus raising His friend Lazarus from the dead. May I trust in your power to raise the dead and give eternal life to me. May I trust your word more fully and share it with others.
In Jesus name.
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