1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it He said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 After saying these things, He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
As we come to chapters 11 and 12 in John’s Gospel, we move into a new phase in the Biblical narrative. Chapter 10 brings to a close Jesus’ public ministry, as He now moves into seclusion and ministers to His disciples and His close friends as He prepared them for the events about to unfold at Calvary. The cross is only a week or so away, so these two chapters record the transition to chapters 13–21, which centre on the cross.
The highlight of John 11 is of course, the raising of Lazarus, after which his family held a banquet in Jesus’ honour. Lazarus was seated with Jesus, and John tells us that a large crowd came to see them both. This was the seventh sign or miracle in John’s Gospel, and it created huge interest, which was why a large crowd came to see them. The authorities of course, felt threatened by all of this, so their solution was to not only have Jesus executed, but Lazarus as well, as we see in 12:9-11. “When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of Him but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.”
At the beginning of chapter 11 Jesus is still across the Jordan River where He went at the end of chapter 10, and while there, He receives a message from Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha. “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” (John 11:3)
Jesus’ reply in verse 4 gives us an insight into not only the power of God, but also God’s perspective on our trials and suffering, and death in particular. “When Jesus heard it He said, ‘This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’”
Not for the first time, Jesus says something which at first glance, is not easy to make sense of. After all, Lazarus’s illness did lead to death just a couple of days later, so what did He mean by saying that this illness does not lead to death? Part of the answer is that as God, Jesus was in full control of the situation. He knew both His intention to go to Bethany and His ability to raise Lazarus from death, just as He has promised the resurrection of every believer.
The point is that whatever suffering we endure in this life, including physical death, Jesus knows that it doesn’t lead to death but to eternal life for those who believe in Him. There is a resurrection promised to every believer, because we will be raised in glory. What an inscription that would be to put on your tombstone! “This does not lead to death.”
In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul goes into great detail on the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. He writes in verses 42-44, “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
Our great comfort in our struggles in this life, including the reality of physical death, is that the glory of the resurrection awaits those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.
John 11:5-6 says, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.” Here we have a reminder that God works in our lives according to His timetable and His divine purposes. More often than not He doesn’t do what we want Him to do, but what we need Him to do, whether we are aware of it or not.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “God is too good to be unkind, too wise to be mistaken; and when you cannot trace His hand, you can trust His heart.”
This is a truth we see throughout the Bible. Just one example is found in the story of Joseph. He was a victim who suffered terribly because of the hatred of his own brothers, but many years later he was able to look back on what had happened to him and to see it all from God’s perspective. In Genesis 50:20 he said to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Paul writes in Romans 8:28, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
We can only speculate about what was going through Lazarus’ mind and the anguish of his sisters as his death drew ever nearer, while they waited in vain for Jesus to arrive, because at the time they had no idea of God’s greater purposes. Jesus’ intention was for Lazarus to be a witness of His glory, and this required Lazarus to be raised from the dead. As He said in verse 4 of Lazarus’ death, “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Could Jesus have healed Lazarus of his illness and spared his sisters’ grief? Of course, He had healed the sick many times before, but there was a far greater purpose being played out that they just could not see or understand. Others had been healed, and the people didn’t believe, so Jesus did something far greater. He waited for Lazarus to die, and after he had been buried in the tomb, Jesus raised him to life. John tells us the result in verse 45: “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what He did, believed in Him.”
At our Wednesday Bible Study we are about halfway through the book of Job. His struggles are well documented, and we are given an insight into some of God’s purposes in Job’s suffering. We know how it all comes together for Job at the end, but it is still a struggle for us to make sense of why God allowed him to suffer as much as he did.
God’s purposes and His ways really are far beyond our understanding, and it is really hard for us to make sense of life at times. We know the words of James 1:2-4 very well, but the truth is, it is not easy to put them into practice. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Jesus knew the cross was looming, and as He suffered and died for us, He knew there was a greater purpose for His death, so whatever struggles each of us are called to endure, we must remember that Jesus suffered far more than we will ever need to. The greatest suffering for sinners is the eternal torment of God’s wrath at our sin, but because Jesus has borne that for us, we will never have to experience it.
None of us welcomes suffering, pain and heartache, but the great comfort we have is that as hard as those times are, we know that these things will pass. Don’t ever forget the wonderful promise we have in Revelation 21:4. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Jesus was falsely accused, unjustly convicted, and cruelly put to death. Where was the Father in all this? Why did God allow His own Son to go through such torment? Or to put it into words we so often hear and say ourselves, “Why does God allow so much pain and suffering? Why doesn’t He do something about all this evil?”
The simple answer is, He has. God had a completely different view of the death of Jesus. This was all part of His glorious plan of salvation for sinners like us. His purpose was that God would be glorified in the suffering of Christ, crucified as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. The timing of Lazarus’ death and resurrection was no coincidence. In this particular sign we are given the tiniest snapshot of what was to come at Calvary just days later.
The theme of John 11 is death, yet at the same time we see the wonderful hope we have in death, as later on Jesus makes the fifth of His great I AM statements in John’s Gospel. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25) We will look at this in more detail next week.
For now, Jesus is still on His way to Bethany, where He says to His disciples in verse 11, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” This is one of many places where the Bible describes death for believers as sleep. The Old Testament often speaks of “going to rest with your fathers.” When Stephen was stoned to death in Acts 7, Luke wrote that he “fell asleep.” In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul describes Christians who have died as those “who have fallen asleep in Christ.” In Matthew 9, just before raising the ruler’s daughter back to life, Jesus said, “The girl is not dead but sleeping.”
What does all this mean? Why is death so often referred to as sleep in the Bible? Well firstly, sleep does us no harm. In fact, sleep is good for you, and the same could be said about death in Christ. Although death is our great enemy, and dying is a tremendous heartache for friends and family, the Bible’s message is clear: No harm comes to the Christian in death. In Psalm 23 David speaks about the valley of the shadow of death.
Matthew Henry writes, “There is no substantial evil in it; the shadow of a serpent will not sting nor the shadow of a sword kill.” And Leon Morris in his commentary wrote, “Jesus underwent the full horror that is death and in doing so transformed death, so that for His followers it is no more than sleep.”
Paul closes 1 Corinthians 15, that great chapter on the resurrection of the body by saying, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)
We’re told in John 11:12 that when Jesus said Lazarus was sleeping, they were thinking about natural sleep. Sleep is beneficial, and it is often a wonderful natural remedy when you’re not feeling well. Sleep restores the body, but the sleep of death does even more, as it transforms us into glory.
The 17th century theologian John Owen wrote, “When, at death, the soul departs from the body, it is immediately freed from all weakness, disability, darkness, doubts and fears. The image of the first Adam will then be abolished. All physical weaknesses and infirmities will have gone for ever. It is by virtue of the death of Christ alone that the souls of believers are freed by death from the presence of sin and all the effects that sin had wrought on their bodies, and being freed their souls flourish and expand to their fullest extent.”
Like sleep, the death of a Christian is also temporary, which is why we need not fear death. Now of course, we’re not denying that for many, death is a painful experience, both for the person dying and their loved ones. We must remember that we live in a broken world, in which pain and suffering are a reality because of the curse of sin. However, we are always reminded at the funeral of a believer of the joy we have in our sadness.
Even Jesus did that. Look at His words in verses 14 and 15. “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.”
He could say this because He had a clear understanding of the resurrection, and also because He knew that raising Lazarus from death would bring glory to Himself, as we’re told in verse 45.
Instead of going to Bethany as soon as He heard the news that Lazarus was ill, Jesus waited for two days. His disciples said in verse 8, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” They still didn’t quite get it, and had yet to fully understand just who Jesus was. They were naturally fearful not only for Jesus’ safety, but theirs too.
In case you haven’t noticed, the persecution of the Church and the hatred of Jesus Christ is gaining momentum in our day, and there will be times when we will be called to take a stand for the Gospel, but when we understand who it is who calls us to follow Him, we can do so without fear.
Fear is one of the rawest of human emotions. It can consume us if we’re not careful, but when called to stand up for the cause of Christ, we would do well to remember His words in Matthew 10. “Have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:26-28)
Jesus replied to His disciples by saying, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” (John 11:9-10)
He began with a rhetorical question. When Jesus asked if there were not twelve hours in the day, He was speaking about daylight hours, the hours allocated for work.
John MacArthur explains these verses in his commentary by saying, “During the light of the sun, most people did their work safely. When darkness came, they stopped. The proverbial saying, however, had a deeper meaning. As long as the Son performed His Father’s will (during the daylight period of His ministry when He is able to work), He was safe. The time would soon come when, by God’s design, His earthly work would end and He would ‘stumble’ in death. Jesus was stressing that as long as He was on earth doing God’s will, even at this late time in His ministry, He would safely complete God’s purposes.”
Again, as Christians we have nothing to fear because we live in the light of His presence when we faithfully follow Jesus. In those days people did not go out at night because there were no streetlights to guide them, so walking at night carried the risk of stumbling or falling. And the same principle applies to us today. When we try to do things our own way, we often stumble and fall.
In the pages of Scripture, God has revealed His Word and His will to us, but if we make up our own rules, it is like walking blindly in the night. We will be singing the words of Psalm 119:105 in a moment: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Do we have reasons to fear in this life? Of course we do, just as the disciples were afraid to return to Judea. They understood the real threat to Jesus and themselves, and we would be foolish to ignore the real threats we face each day, but the answer to our fears is to walk in faith with Jesus Christ.
What does tomorrow hold? What about next week or next year? No-one apart from God knows what challenges lie ahead for us. But one thing we do know, is that at the end of it all we are promised glorification in eternity with God. I’m not saying our present struggles don’t matter, because they do, but we’ve read the last page. We know how it will be for those who trust in Christ.
As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:13-18, “We speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Jesus knew that when He arrived in Bethany, Lazarus would be dead. But He planned to raise Lazarus as a display of His saving power. He also knew what would happen as a result of this miracle. While many would believe and be saved, His enemies would be even more determined to have Him put to death.
The next stop was Jerusalem and the cross. Jesus was moving toward His death, a death of unimaginable suffering and torment, caused not only by the physical torture, but of infinitely greater significance would be the spiritual suffering as He took on Himself the righteous wrath of God for the sins of His people. But He would do it with joy for our sakes, as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. Through the cross, Jesus knew He would receive the crown of eternal glory and a kingdom that would never end.
For now, the disciples didn’t fully understand. But at least one of them, Thomas, knew enough to say that even if it meant death, he wanted to be with Jesus. Thomas is most famous for doubting the resurrection at first, which is a pity, because he makes a remarkable statement of faithfulness and obedience to Jesus in verse 16. “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
Of course, Thomas could not have known at the time that he could never have shared in the suffering and death of Jesus at Calvary. Only Jesus Himself could bear the burden of our sin, but in his declaration in verse 16 we see that Thomas was a true disciple, who was prepared to share in Jesus’ suffering, as well as receiving His blessings. Thomas was also not to know that eventually he would get his wish when he was speared to death for faithfully preaching the Gospel in India some 40 years later.
With the exception of John who died of old age, all of the apostles were executed for their faith. Again, we don’t know what the immediate future holds for us, but as Christians there are many things we are called to die to in our daily lives. We must die to self-righteousness and our love of sin. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1-3, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Jesus now has His sights set firmly on the cross, knowing that in the light of eternity, this does not lead to death but to life for those who believe in Him.
“This does not lead to death.” However, that promise applies only to believers in Jesus Christ. For those who die apart from Christ, still in their sins, none of this is true. There is no joy, peace or hope in death for those who reject Jesus. He said in John 8:24, “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” And 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
In the words of 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Homegroup Study Notes
I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.” Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
Read John 11:1-16
Discuss Jesus’ statement in verse 4.
What did He mean by saying Lazarus’ illness would not lead to death, knowing full well that Lazarus would be dead within a couple of days?
Why did He not go immediately to Bethany to cure Lazarus of his illness?
The disciples were naturally reluctant to return to Judea so soon (see verse 8) as they feared for Jesus’ safety and their own.
How have you been challenged to share the truth of Christ in situations where you know your message will not be well received?
Discuss Jesus’ cryptic reply to His disciples in verses 9 and 10.
The Bible often uses the word “sleep” to describe the death of believers. What does this teach us about physical death?
It is no coincidence that Lazarus’ death and resurrection happened only days before Jesus went to the cross.
What is the significance of the timing of the events in John 11?