I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)

This statement is the sixth of the seven ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus’. Warren Wiersbe in his book on the seven ‘I am sayings’ says of this one: Jesus ‘moved resurrection out of a statement of faith and into a person, and out of the future into the present.’ He continued: Jesus ‘did not nullify the doctrine of future resurrection, but He did tell [Martha] (and us) that His resurrection power is available to His people today.’ Those statements are a good summary of what Jesus said and did on this occasion.

In the various points that we shall consider we will see the accuracy of the summary. No doubt many points could be thought about, and each thought about in detail, but we will focus on a few. But first we can link this saying to the other six ‘I am’ sayings.

This statement, like the other six, is about Jesus’ self-understanding of his person and his mission. What I think of myself is of little relevance to most people, but who Jesus thinks of himself is relevant to every person. We can run the I AM statements through our minds and remind ourselves that he can be the bread of life to our souls, the door into his kingdom, the shepherd who cares for all his flock, the vine who enables them to bring forth fruit, the way, truth and life at conversion, throughout life and at its end, and to them we can add that he is the possessor and provider of resurrection life. Taken together, those sayings give us marvellous insights into his person and work.

Idea of a resurrection dismissed

We live in a society where most don’t accept the possibility of a resurrection of the body, although they may have some vague notions of another life somewhere above us. There is nothing new about that. The apostle Paul spoke about the resurrection to the philosophers of Athens and many of them laughed at his words. Indeed, some thought he was speaking about a new goddess called resurrection, a novelty, and a pointless one at that. No one thought of asking Paul to prove his claim because in his explanation it was a future event and most of his hearers thought it was nonsense. A few, however, believed his message through the working of the Holy Spirit, and they became Christians. They were now spiritually alive.

It is useful to keep in mind that John did not write his Gospel to Jews who accepted the resurrection, but to Gentiles who did not believe in it. So why did he mention this incident? The answer is because it is true and he knew that the Holy Spirit would bless the truth when people read or heard about it, even as he had done to the few in Athens who accepted the message of Paul. And the same is true today as the Holy Spirit blesses the truth to sinners.

Jesus raised three individuals

As we know, Jesus raised three people from the dead. Two are not mentioned by John. A young man in Nain, the only son of a widowed mother, was about to be buried as Jesus happened to pass by. Humanly speaking, he was a stranger to the bereaved, but in his compassion Jesus raised him from the dead (only Luke records this resurrection). The twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus, a synagogue ruler, was near death and her father rushed to tell Jesus who had just arrived back in Capernaum. Despite some delays in Jesus reaching the house, he still raised her from the dead (Matthew, Mark and Luke record this resurrection).

And then there is the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, which only John records. Four days had passed since Lazarus had died. The family had hope that Jesus would have prevented the death had he come sooner, but he hadn’t, and Lazarus had died. Initially, his weeping at the grave might have suggested an inability to help, but then he gave the instruction and Lazarus came back to life.

Of course, the widow’s son, the daughter of Jairus and Lazarus were only given a temporary resurrection. Was there any difference between the power of Jesus seen in his raising those people from the dead and the power of God given to Elisha to raise a son of the widow who looked after him from the dead? They certainly revealed that Jesus was greater than the Old Testament prophets even with their God-given powers. But there was much more, including the fact that the incident with Lazarus was an opportunity for Jesus to teach about his connection to resurrection in the purposes of God.

A suitable message for a unlearned disciple

It is clear from John’s account that Martha knew some truths about Jesus. She believed, for example, that he had an extraordinary prayer life. Her estimation was of him in this regard is stated in verses 21 and 22: ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’ It looks as if she assumed that Jesus had to be present for him to do something, although she accepts that now that he has come to her home his prayers about the situation would be answered.

She also was aware of important doctrines as when she says in verse 24 regarding her dead brother, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ It is not clear, however, if she at that time connected that future resurrection with Jesus. She was in need of further instruction about Jesus and about other doctrines of the faith, and the Saviour was willing to provide it.

Jesus is able to reveal great truths

There is a great difference between reason and revelation. People of any intellectual level can work out from looking at the universe that there is a powerful creator who produced it. But he remains a hidden maker of all things. That grasp of a divine being is different from the revelation of the Creator through his creation that the psalmist celebrates in Psalm 19. Instead, the opinion is a human-derived one.

It was possible for onlookers to do something similar with Jesus. They heard his words and wondered if he was a prophet; they saw his actions and wondered if he was a divinely-provided political deliverer. Even in this chapter, we see something of this attitude in verse 37: ‘But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”’ They were only guessing when they made that assessment. More information was necessary, and only Jesus could provide it for his disciples. And he did so here when he described himself as the resurrection and the life. What did he mean when he said those words?

An astonishing claim to ultimate victory

The most powerful enemy that we face is not the country with the most nuclear weapons. That powerful enemy would defeat us even if nuclear weapons never existed. This is an enemy that defeats everyone eventually because we will all die eventually. Jimmy Carter once ran the most powerful country in the modern world and lived the longest of any American president. Yet he could not live forever. He and no one else on earth today has the power to defeat death. If someone were to stand up and say that he had defeated it, we would ask him to visit the nearest funeral home. But Jesus in the presence of death affirms that he will defeat death by his resurrection power and presence.

His words are also a comforting promise

Lazarus, as with all who have died, was beyond the help of earthly aide. Martha reminded Jesus that by now the decaying process had started. Unlike the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow, Lazarus’ body was disintegrating. Who could intervene in such a case? Of course, the vast majority of the dead are long past that stage. Who can do anything for them? Who is able to do anything with the remains of Adam, of Noah, of Abraham, of Joshua? What about the millions of believers who have died believing in Jesus? Jesus here tells Martha and us that their resurrection is under his control and his control alone. What an astonishing claim made by the one who is also the eternal God! He speaks with authority and with certainty.

A truth for the present, not just the future

Martha does not seem to have made much use of her knowledge of doctrine. The resurrection was a faraway event for her. Her preference was that her brother would still be alive, which is an outlook we can understand. Yet we can suggest that if she had realised more about Jesus she would have seen that the future belonged to him, not only the next few decades, but the eternal future stretching into the endless distance when life would be triumphant over death and the grave. But Jesus knew that she needed to have that knowledge in her heart at the moment. And so do all God’s people.

All types of resurrection belong to him

People debate the meaning of Jesus’ words in verses 25-26: ‘Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.’ You can read suggestions as to their meaning in different commentaries. I suspect that his words mean that he is the one who brings about resurrection experiences in his followers.

A Christian has two resurrections. The first happens at conversion when he is brought from spiritual death to life. Paul uses this idea when he reminds the Ephesians that ‘God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ’ (Eph. 2:4-5). This is a reminder of the awful state an unconverted sinner is in, without the new life that becomes his at his new birth. At the same time, it is a reminder of the wonderful transformation that the new believer has undergone. He is now alive in a spiritual sense.

The second occurs when Jesus returns. It is described in the well-known verses in 1 Thessalonians 4 and the details reveal that it will be an astonishing experience. When he comes, all dead believers will be resurrected and then they and all believers living at that time will be changed or glorified. From then on they will all be with the Lord and from elsewhere in the Bible we know that they will be like him.

One important deduction from the words of Jesus is that if we experience the first we will also experience the second. Both resurrections that Jesus mentions result in permanent life being given. If we have the life given at conversion we will also have the life that will be given at the resurrection.

Recorded not just for Martha, but for us

Happy Martha, who spoke to Jesus in her ignorance, and yet was a means of bringing to the church of Jesus a great blessing. It is not only about the resurrection of Lazarus here, although it was a great miracle. Yet it was not as great in consequence as the other two resurrections that are his – his conversion (the beginning of eternal life) and his future resurrection (the full enjoyment of eternal life). When Lazarus’ life ended at his future death, he still had the other two resurrections. And if we are Christians we have them as well.

Yet there is a word of warning here because on another occasion when Jesus said that he would bring about a resurrection to life he also said that there would be a different resurrection for others, which he called a resurrection to judgement which will result in eternal condemnation. Which future resurrection will we have on the great day when Jesus returns?