The living belief in the resurrection (John 11:17-57)

[Stephan Choe]

2022-07-22 Joh 11,17ff The living belief in resurruction.doc

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August 9, 2022

Key Verses 25-26:      “Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even if he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you think the?"

Humanity has always had a great respect for death because it is an insurmountable force for man. Regardless of how many years medical advances add to man's lifespan, death still claims the ultimate victory. Because of this power of death, people are helpless.

But Jesus has conquered the power of death and gives us eternal life.

Today we want to get to know the living belief in the resurrection based on the awakening of Lazarus and live victoriously with this belief.

1. Wailing People (17-24)

When Jesus heard from the messenger about the illness of Lazarus in Bethany, he was in the Jordan region, about a day's journey from Bethany.

Lazarus died the same day the messenger left. But the messenger does not know about his death because he left shortly before his death.

The Jews anoint the corpse with oil and bury it on the same day of death. This is understandable, because the weather in Israel is warm, so the corpse will quickly rot. Even today, many Jews bury the dead on the day of death.

When the messenger told Jesus about Lazarus' illness, Jesus said:

“This sickness is not unto death, but to the glory of God, that the Son may be glorified” (4).

And he doesn't leave for Bethany immediately, but stays there for two days more.

When Jesus reaches Bethany after his two-day delay, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days and his body has begun to rot. Bethany is a suburb of Jerusalem about 3 km away. Because of this, many Jews have come to Bethany from Jerusalem to comfort Mary and Martha.

When Martha meets Jesus in front of the entrance, she says to him:

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you” (21-22).

Martha believes that Jesus can heal sick people, but unfortunately not the dead.

We tend to listen to Satan's doubting voice. When something goes wrong, we immediately have doubts about God's love and help. But God's goodness and omnipotence are proved by the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead.

God does everything out of love for us. Nothing is impossible with him.

When we believe in His omnipotence and His love and live to His glory, God works everything for us. This is the wonderful will of God (Jeremiah 29:11).

Despite the apparent power of death, we are to believe in Jesus' power to resurrect. Living to the glory of God from resurrection faith - that's really good for us.

May God help us to live by resurrection faith to the glory of God, so that we may far overcome the power of death and be ever happy.

2. The present resurrection power of Jesus (23-44)

Jesus now says to Martha: “Your brother will rise from the dead” (23).

Martha answers him: "I know that he will be raised at the resurrection on the last day" (24).

Here Martha is expressing her belief in the future resurrection. She means that Jesus' answer means the resurrection in the distant future, when all the righteous will rise from the dead. She believes that her brother will rise again in the resurrection of all who have fallen asleep on the last day. Despite her belief in the resurrection in the distant future, she cannot overcome her grief at the death of her brother.

Jesus wants to help Martha have a present resurrection belief.

So he says to her:

"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even if he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?” (25-26).

The resurrection and life belong to Jesus. Jesus is the Creator of all things (John 1:3), and everything in this world and above is in him and through him (Col. 1:7).

He becomes the firstborn from the dead through his own resurrection (Col. 1:18).

But before that he demonstrates his resurrection power by raising the dead Lazarus.

Death is conquered for the believer. Whoever believes in Jesus already has the resurrection and eternal life. All believers live forever in Christ. By faith, we already have the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus encourages Martha and us to believe in the present resurrection power of Jesus. Faith in Jesus should work in our lives in such a way that we already believe in Jesus' resurrection power and live from this faith.

Some may already be physically dead. But because of faith in Jesus, they live forever, as in Rom. 8:10 says,

"If Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness."

In Jesus there is no death, although someday we will die physically.

So now we have eternal life unto eternity. Amen!

Martha responds to Jesus' words: "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world" (27).

Martha professes her faith in Jesus as Christ.

She then goes to Mary and says: "The master is there and is calling you!"

And Mary meets Jesus. When she sees Jesus, she falls at his feet and says,

"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

Mary believes in the power of Jesus' salvation for the sick. Because of this, she finds it a great pity that Jesus was not here when her brother was alive. She is very sad and crying bitterly.

And the Jews who are there are crying too.

Jesus has compassion for Mary and Martha and all weeping people. But he is angry about the power of death, which plunges people into grief and helplessness.

Jesus has compassion on us when we are saddened by the power of death or by troubles. He suffers with us.

But he is also the almighty God. He is angry with the power of death and Satan and wants to free us from that power.

We are to understand this two-sided character of Jesus. On the one hand, we should understand and feel sorry for people's sadness because of the power of death or other problems.

However, we are to believe in the resurrection power of Jesus and encourage other people to believe in Jesus' power so that they can overcome their sadness and have the confidence of victory.

The neighbors of the two sisters consider Jesus' crying to be an expression‎ of his sadness at the death of Lazarus and at the situation of the two sisters. They believe that Jesus would have healed the sick, if he had come earlier. They are now hopeless in the face of his death, seeing death as the final end.

Even today, almost all people become hopeless and sad in the face of death.

When Esther, my wife, fell asleep peacefully in the Knappschaft-hospital in Bochum-Langendreer because of her cancer after a great pain to Heavenly Father, a nice doctor from the hospital and then a counselor told me to comfort me that I should forget everything.

Forgetting is probably the best advice for those who don't believe in the resurrection.

But a Catholic female counselor who believed in the resurrection came. And she and I talked about the resurrection. That gave me a lot of joy.

Jesus is angry at the power of death and their unbelief. He comes to the tomb of Lazarus. The entrance to the tomb is blocked by a large stone.

Jesus says to the people: "Take away the stone!"

Then Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, it stinks; for he has been lying for four days.”

The weather in Israel is much warmer than Germany. No wonder the body of Lazarus was already beginning to rot.

Jesus says to Martha: "Didn't I tell you, 'If you believe, you will see the glory of God?'" (40).

That's correct. When we firmly believe in Jesus, we can see the glory of God.

After the people remove the stone from the tomb, Jesus begins to pray aloud to God:

"Father, thank you for hearing me. I know you always hear me; but for the sake of the people standing around, I say it, that they may believe that you sent me” (41-42).

Jesus is convinced that God has already answered his prayer. However, he prays aloud so that the people will hear and recognize that Jesus is really the Son of God and that the Father willingly listens to the Son.

He wants to glorify God by raising Lazarus from the dead and strengthen people's faith in Jesus Christ as God's Son.

After this prayer he says aloud: "Lazarus, come out!"

And the deceased comes out bound with shrouds hand and foot, and his face is covered with a shroud. Jesus says to the people: "Unbind him and let him go!" (43-44).

By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus clearly shows his resurrection power.

Lazarus was not in a state of unconsciousness. He was really dead, and his body started to rot.

But Jesus raised him from the dead.

Verse 45 tells us that many of the Jews who were there believed in Jesus. Not only can Jesus Christ bring the dead back to life, but He can give us eternal life so that we can live to eternity.

The raising of Lazarus is a vivid demonstration of this resurrection power.

Esther, joyful witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Photos from left: Joy of Rebirth, Wedding, Mid 1990s, Bald Head with Headscarf, Birthday Cake

Midnight from Monday to Tuesday (December 9th – 10th) midnight Esther won her battle of faith. First she asked God in great pain: "Why should I suffer?"

Then she called out to God: "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"

By "daddy" she meant God, because from earlier she addressed God as "dad".

After her call "Dad" she said several times: "Forgive my sin!" Those words were her last words that I could hear. After that words, she immediately fell asleep peacefully and slept until her passing on December 13, 2019, at 4:00 p.m.

During her illness, Esther had confessed her faith with humor to many and encouraged them to believe in Jesus Christ. For example, for many years she had prayed for Mrs. Marian K. on the 2nd floor of our apartment and often shared the gospel with her.

But she couldn't believe in Jesus because of her reason. But she came into the sick room 4 hours before Esther's departure and confessed that she now believes in Jesus and in the resurrection of the dead, and that her faith came from above.

After Esther went to Heavenly Father, I feel that Esther is alive and is always with me. And missionary Bekkie Lee said at our birthday party in July this year that she saw Esther and me in a dream, and Esther looked very young and beautiful. When I showed Bekkie the most beautiful picture of young Esther, she said that Esther in her dream is much more beautiful than the photo.

Because of the resurrection belief, I composed a song:

I love you hot and forever!

Thank you, God! Thank you, Esther!

Thank you, Esther, you're here!

You are always with me and accompany me!

Oh how beautiful!

Thank you for your love!

Thank you for your presence.

Thank you for your fellowship.

Your presence and love is my joy and strength.

I love you hot and forever!

Jesus tells us:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even if he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you think the?" (John 11:25-26).

We are to believe in the resurrection because of the word of Jesus and presently live happily and victoriously out of that faith.

We are to have faith in both God's love and the practical resurrection.

If we believe in the love of God and have a practical belief in the resurrection, we can be confident of God's love and victory in any situation and enjoy paradise right now.

We can then praise God and testify of God to other people.

May God grant us all such living resurrection faith!