The Defining Resurrection and Life
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” -John 11:40
Traditional site of Lazarus’ tomb. Photo Credit, Kathleen Blake.
“The glory of God is the revelation of His invisible perfections. It was the glory of God which Christ came here to make manifest, for He is the outshining of God’s glory. But the one special point to which our Lord here referred was His own glory as the Bringer of life out of death… To remove the wages of death to undo the work which sin had wrought, to conquer him that had the power of death, to swallow up death in victory this was indeed a special manifestation of glory.” -A.W. Pink
John’s Gospel is such a careful work of literary art. I am not saying that to take away from its veracity, it is the inspired, inerrant, Word of God. Rather, I am asking you to notice with me the beauty and depth of this Gospel. In John 9, the born-blind man sees both physically and spiritually. This becomes a working parable for Jesus’ definition of Himself as “the Light of the world.” John 11 gives us something similar, a dead Lazarus walks out of the tomb as an illustration of Jesus’ definition of Himself as ‘the Resurrection and the Life.” And it is that but, it is also something more. It is the final “sign” that John gives us the only other recorded miracle in the Gospel of John being Jesus’ resurrection. And it is last because, chronologically it is the ‘sign’ closest to Jesus’ arrest, death and resurrection but, it is more than that as well. This is both a prototype and an antitype.
Lazarus is the first follower of Jesus to be ‘called out of the grave.’ This is something that will happen to all human beings (see John 5:28-30). But, for the follower of Jesus, it happens twice once as a coming to life spiritually and once at the end of all things. Jesus said as much in John 5:25, “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” So, Lazarus is proof-of-concept, if you will. He is dead. He hears Jesus’ voice. He lives. This prototype is what we experience in very real and practical ways as we come to have life in Jesus and as we live in Jesus. He keeps calling us. We keep coming alive. In this way, Lazarus and the born-blind man are examples of what Jesus wants to do in the life of everyone. What is necessary is belief in Him and surrender to Him. Then, the blind will see and the dead will have life.
The more part is the antitype. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life meaning, His bringing Lazarus life and resurrection is a foreshadowing. Lazarus is a dead man walking but he will die again. Jesus is a dead man walking but His death will lead to a resurrection-life that death cannot overcome. It is on this that our faith rests: Jesus is Resurrection. Jesus is Life. And, because Jesus is, He can and does offer Resurrection and Life to all who believe in Him. There is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved because no one else has overcome the grave and death. If you see the dead Man walking, you are left with only two choices: to see the glory of God and surrender to Jesus; or to see the glory of God and reject Jesus. What a marvel that Jesus is still rolling stones!
“The children of God are the children of the resurrection. Where Christ is made the life of the soul, there is the certainty of a resurrection to life eternal in Christ’s life: when His life is communicated to us, we have that within us over which the power of Satan is unable to prevail.” -A.W. Pink