Greetings members and friends and welcome to another commentary and preview to this Sunday’s study of the Word. This Sunday’s study text is entitled “The Word Resurrects The Dead” and it is based on John 11:17-27, 38-44.
A major aspect of what gives legitimacy to Jesus’s profession of who He is and what His mission and purpose was is all the works He is reported to have performed that were extraordinary. At the top of that list of extraordinary events was the raising or calling Lazarus from death.
Lazarus and his sisters were no strangers to Jesus. In fact, they could be described as disciples and friends. Jesus received word from Lazarus’s sisters that he was very sick and they wanted Him to come and heal him like He had done for so many others.
But Jesus did not immediately leave upon receiving word of Lazarus’s condition, but is recorded as saying that his sickness wasn’t unto death. Jesus knew He would use this occasion to further demonstrate the authenticity of His claim and mission.
After several days, Jesus returned to Bethany to find that Lazarus was dead and buried. When He was greeted by Lazarus’s sister, she believed that there was still something Jesus could do, but raising Lazarus from the dead may not have been one of them.
Instead, Jesus used this occasion to inform the world that He is the Resurrection and the Life and that all who believe in Him shall never die. Apparently what Jesus meant was final and permanent death. For everyone dies, but Christians believe that death doesn’t have to be final.
In any case, Jesus when out to the tomb where Lazarus was buried and instructed the people who accompanied Him to remove the stone sealing the entrance. They protested saying that his body was stinking. This meant to them that by now there was no way for the body and soul to be reunited.
At Jesus insistence, they removed the stone and Jesus called for Lazarus to come forth. Lazarus came out of the tomb in the grave clothes in which he was buried in alive and well. This is one of at least three times it is recorded in the gospel that Jesus raised someone who was dead. But this event is the most significant because of how many people witnessed it and how long the person was who raised had been dead.
If Jesus said and did what John reports He did in this text, then it goes a long way in establishing who Jesus was and is. Because we were not there, we only have the word and testimony of those who said they witnessed these things. This is true of all the things reported in the Gospels and the Bible.
The Bible is a book of faith. It reports of some events and things that defy the laws of our understanding of nature. And because we can’t understand how some things can be done, doesn’t mean they can’t be done or were not done.
The willingness to accept the possibility of things we can’t explain or have an answer for is a major and required step to believing in and having faith in God. For if we believe that the universe is the work of this same God whom Jesus was here to make known to us, then all the works He is said to do were and are simple in comparison to that.
Well, be sure to look over the study again and come prepared to offer your comments, questions and perspective on the meaning of the study. If you can’t attend your own Sunday School class this Sunday, you can join us live and online at 9:00 am at www.fbmbc.org and clicking the online services link.
You can also join us live by dialing 508 924-2890. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section or you can share them on Sunday. So, let’s all have a great lesson and discussion this Sunday and remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
