His Ambassador Blog

Last week we studied Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The One who knows and cares for us, and who protects and provides for us. But most importantly, He died in our place, that we might have life more abundantly. This week we are going to study Jesus as the Resurrection and the life.

Within the time period of Jesus making this ‘I AM’ statement He performs one of His most incredible miracles, second only to His death and resurrection. To understand Jesus’ statement here, we need to know the context of what is going on in the background. 

Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, some of Jesus’ good friends, live in Bethany which isn’t too far from the Holy City, Jerusalem. Jesus has been facing some serious heat/debate with the religious leaders of His day. They seek to kill Jesus because they believe His message is blasphemous. So, for a while Jesus has been avoiding the Jerusalem where many of the Jews live because His time for the cross has not yet come. But His friend Lazarus has become extremely sick. Jesus decides that He will visit Him, but the disciples try to warn Him against it, considering how close Bethany is to Jerusalem.

Before Jesus and the disciples end up making it to Bethany, Martha runs quickly out to meet Jesus. Jesus already knows that Lazarus has sadly passed away, yet Martha exclaims to Jesus that if He had made it to Bethany just a little bit earlier, He could have healed Lazarus from his sickness, and he would not be dead. She recognizes the power that Jesus has yet does not hold the faith to believe what He could do. Jesus has a very compassionate and reassuring response saying, “Your brother shall rise again.” Martha responds quickly, remembering that at the last day everyone will rise again. Instead of directly responding to Martha’s statement, Jesus then makes His 6^th ‘I AM’ claim. 

Jesus then meets Mary who comes running to Him, falls at His feet and makes the same statement as Martha. At this, Jesus begins to weep. Verse 33 of chapter 11 says that he groaned in the spirit and was also troubled. While there is so much we can learn from this alone, we are not focused on that today. Mary and Martha take Jesus to the tomb where Lazarus has been buried. I’d like to remind you that at this point, Lazarus has been dead for 4 days now. Everyone knew that at that point he was truly dead, as in, there is no way he is just sleeping. Yet Jesus goes to the tomb, asks them to move the stone and he begins to pray. Jesus then calls Lazarus out of the tomb, and you would not believe who begins to walk towards Him. Lazarus is covered in his grave clothes from head to toe. Jesus says in verse 44, “Loose him, and let him go.”

We know that without Jesus we are dead and bound. Spiritually, we are like Lazarus, there is not life in us, we stink from the stench of sin because we’ve been sitting in it, and we are shackled and enslaved to sin and death. But then Jesus steps in. There was no way Lazarus was going to come back to life. Everyone understood and accepted that he was long dead. But Jesus could bring Him back to life, and that He did. 

See we can become bound by the many things of this world. God works in such mysterious and glorious ways because I had the opportunity to plan a revival for the youth in my community and on the second night the pastor spoke about this exact verse, John 11:44, and it just so happened that this post was planned for the week after. It’s amazing how God can show up in more ways than we even realize. 

But that pastor showed a demonstration, he invited different youth from the crowd to sit on the altar and he zip tied their hands together. They were chained up. Shackled. Enslaved. Whatever word you want to use, they were stuck. He also had everyone in the sanctuary write on a notecard something that they felt bound to, whether it was a sin they committed or a sin committed to them, something they were struggling with. Hearing some of the things written on those cards was heartbreaking. But it goes to show us that so many things in this world can hold us captive. Yet Jesus is saying right here in these verses that He can bring resurrection and even life to those who and dead and bound by sin. 

When I had to write down what I felt was holding me back or making me feel enslaved, I didn’t want to. I thought that it might feel more real if I admitted to what I was struggling with out loud. But it’s so critical for us to realize that once Jesus holds us and He is our Lord and Savior, absolutely nothing has the power to hold us back. Romans 8:37 says, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” No matter what you may be facing, Jesus has brought you to life, and not one problem, not one valley or mountain, not one temptation can knock you down when you trust in Him!

I also want to take note that Jesus says that those who live and believe in Him shall never die. We may face a physical death here on earth, but the very next breath we take will be with Jesus. We are then able to live for eternity with Him. Paul says that to live is Christ and to die is gain. It’s not often that people say, ‘I can’t wait to die.’ Typically people try to prolong their death. But for the believer we can be sure that it is the only death we can face. I want to ask you, do you know that if you died right this minute that your next breath would be with Jesus? Have you surrendered your heart to Him and confessed Him as your Lord and Savior? I can testify that Jesus truly does bring life and it is the only true life you will ever find.