Signs in the Gospel of John Part 5
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
Signs of Authority Part 5
The record of the raising of Lazarus shows Jesus’s authority over death, but it also shows his authority over life.
The Raising of Lazarus
John 11:1–2 APNT:
1 Now there was a certain [man] who was sick, Lazarus from the town [of] Bethany, the brother of Mary and Martha.
2 And it was this Mary who anointed the feet of Jesus with perfume and wiped [them] with her hair. Lazarus who was sick was the brother of this [one].
Verse 2 is actually a parenthesis. The record of the perfume occurs later (John 12:5; Mark 14:5), saying that the perfume could have been sold for 300 denarii, which would have been about $30,000 in today’s money.
John 11:3–10 APNT:
3 And his two sisters sent to Jesus and said, “Our Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.”
4 Now Jesus said, “This sickness is not to death, but rather for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified because of him.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus.
6 And when he heard that he was sick, he remained in the place that he was [for] two days.
7 And afterwards he said to his disciples, “Come, let us go again to Judea.”
8 His disciples said to him, “Our Master, the Judeans now are seeking to stone you and you are going there again?”
9 Jesus said to them, “Are [there] not twelve hours in a day? And if a man walks in the day he will not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if a man should walk in the night, he will stumble, because he has no illumination.”
Jesus is showing that he is walking by the Spirit, doing only what God would have him to do. We must walk by the Spirit rather than by how things look. If we don’t walk by the Spirit, if we walk in darkness, we will stumble.
John 11:11 APNT:
These [things] Jesus said and afterward he said to them, “Lazarus, our friend, sleeps, but I am going to wake him.”
Jesus already knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.
John 11:12–15 APNT:
12 His disciples said to him, “Our Lord, if he sleeps, he will be healed.”
13 But Jesus spoke about his death, yet they thought that he spoke about sleeping on a bed.
14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus has died.
15 And I rejoice that I was not there for your sakes, so that you may believe. But let us walk there.”
This sign was so that the disciples and many others would believe.
The disciples still don’t understand that Jesus will need to die. This incident will help to prepare them for their understanding of the resurrection.
John 11:16 APNT:
[Then] Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go [and] die with him.”
The last time they had been in Judea was during the Feast of Dedication in the winter, and the people wanted to stone Jesus! So Thomas is sure that this particular trip will end in death, possibly for them as well. So, Thomas’s statement is not necessarily said in a sarcastic way. Up until the time of his arrest, the disciples had been willing to die with Jesus.
John 11:17 APNT:
And Jesus came to Bethany and found him to have been in the tomb for four days.
By Jewish reckoning, once a person had been in the grave for three days, then they were “officially” dead. Jesus had previously raised two people (the widow’s son and Jairus’s daughter) from the dead, but they had been dead for less than 24 hours.
John 11:18–24 APNT:
18 Now Bethany was near to Jerusalem, being about fifteen furlongs away from it.
19 And many of the Judeans were coming to Martha and Mary to comfort their heart[s] because of their brother.
20 And Martha, when she had heard that Jesus had come, went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house.
21 And Martha said to Jesus, “My Lord, if only you would have been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give to you.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise up.”
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise up in the resurrection in the last day.”
Martha is showing what she really believes: if Jesus had been there, he could have healed Lazarus, and he wouldn’t have died. But now that he’s dead, the last recourse is the resurrection at the end. What comes next is so powerful.
John 11:25–27 APNT:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, even if he should die, will live.
26 And everyone who is alive and believes in me will not ever die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, my Lord. I am a believer that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come into the world.”
That reminds me of Romans.
Romans 4:25 APNT:
who [Jesus] was delivered up for our sins and rose in order to justify us.
John 11:28–33 APNT:
28 And when she had said these [things], she went [and] called Mary her sister secretly and said to her, “Our Master has come and calls for you.”
29 And Mary, when she heard [it], rose up quickly and came to him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in that place that he met Martha.
31 And those Judeans also who were with her in the house, who were comforting her, when they saw Mary, that she quickly rose [and] went out, followed her. For they thought that she was going to the grave to weep.
32 But Mary, when she came [to] where Jesus was and saw him, fell down at his feet and said to him, “If only you had been here, my Lord, my brother would not have died.”
33 And when Jesus saw her weeping and those Judeans who had come with her who were weeping, he groaned in his spirit and was moved [in] his soul.
“Groaned in the spirit” and “was troubled” are two powerful words in Aramaic. It’s a deep moving in your heart where the only thing that comes out is a groaning. It’s used later in Chapter 13, referring to the betrayal by Judas. We get the noun “earthquake” from this verb.
John 11:34– APNT:
34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” And they said to him, “Our Lord, come [and] see.”
35 And the tears of Jesus came.
36 And the Judeans were saying, “See how much he loved him.”
37 Now some of them said, “Was not this [one] able, who opened the eyes of that blind man, to do [something], so that this [man] would not have died also?”
38 And Jesus, groaning in himself, came to the tomb. And that tomb was a cave and a stone was placed on its entrance.
39 And Jesus said, “Take away this stone.” Martha, the sister of that dead man, said to him, “My Lord, he already stinks, for it is the fourth day.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?”
41 And they took away that stone and Jesus raised up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 And I know that you always hear me, but because of this crowd that stands [here] I have said these [things], so that they will believe that you have sent me.”
43 And when he had said these [things], he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come outside.”
44 And that dead man came out, his hands and feet being bound in swathing and his face bound in burial cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and allow [him] to go.”
45 And many of the Judeans who had come with Mary, when they saw what Jesus had done, believed in him.
46 And some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 And the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together and were saying, “What will we do? For this man does many signs,
48 and if we allow him [to continue] like this, all men will believe in him and the Romans will come [and] take away our land and our nation.”
There are always three types of reactions:
- Some will believe
- Some will mock
- Some will say, I’ll hear you again about this.
After the prophecy by Caiaphas, we read:
John 11:53 APNT:
And from that day, they decided to kill him.
This was the miracle that cemented the decision of the Pharisees to kill Jesus. This is the last great miracle before Jesus’s death. It does show his authority over death, but it also shows that because he is the resurrection, the resurrection is what is going to bring life, and the last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
Jeremy Camp: Keep Me in the Moment
1 Corinthians 15:51–55 APNT
51 Behold, I am telling you a mystery. Not all of us will sleep, but all of us will be changed,
52 suddenly, as the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet sounding, and the dead will rise without corruption and wewill be changed.
53 For this [one] that was going to be corrupted will put on incorruption. And this [one] that [was going to] die will put on immortality.
54 Now when this [one] that is corrupted puts on incorruption, and this [one] that dies, immortality, then the saying will happen that is written: Death is swallowed in victory.
Hosea 13:14a KJV:
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.
See Barney Barnhart’s teaching, Prisoner of Hope on the Acts Now Fellowship website.
1 Corinthians 15:55–58 APNT
55 Where is your sting, death? Or where is your victory, grave?
56 Now the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.
57 But blessed [be] God who gives us the victory by way of our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my brothers and my beloved [ones], be steadfast and do not be moved, but excel always in the work of the lord, knowing that your labor is not fruitless in the lord.
See Also
Download a PDF chart of the Eight Signs of Authority in John
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