We know nothing about Lazarus except he was brother to Mary and Martha, and lived outside Jerusalem in a little place called Bethany. What makes him a significant character is that Jesus loved him (this is ‘phileo’; not ‘agape’ – same as John the apostle – John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7,10), and this was the basis of the sister’s appeal for His help when Lazarus got deathly ill (John 11:3).
When Jesus said, This sickness is not unto death (John 11:4), did He tell a lie, for Lazarus did, in fact, die (cf. John 11:11-14)? It is obvious that Jesus knew that Lazarus would die before he reached him, therefore He had something in mind by the statement. He made sure His disciples understood His meaning (John 11:14). He had in mind the fact that the death would not be permanent, but rather a means to glorify God and Christ. Jesus also wanted to let them know that in Him things CHANGE! – things are DIFFERENT!
This is not to say that God brought the sickness upon Lazarus, but rather it shows that God had the power to use the man’s sickness to a good end. God can take the worst that Satan can do and use it for good. Satan can kill Jesus Christ and by it God can save a world.
John 11:6 says Jesus waited for 2 days. Is God indifferent? Certainly it can SEEM that way (cf. v.15 –I am glad), but God’s methods and timing have a purpose. Did Mary and Martha understand? Did Lazarus understand? Did the travelling companions of Jesus understand? I believe we can safely say that none of them did. Yet, amongst those who were frustrated and perplexed by what Jesus was doing, who was ultimately disappointed? Not a one. Can I trust Him when I don’t know what He’s up to? All we have to know is that he loves us and has a plan for our eternal welfare. (Phil. 1:16 – I am set for the defence of the gospel – it was not what I thought “set” meant: rather Paul was put in prison for a purpose. The word, keimai, means to be appointed or destined. cf. Phil.4:22 would seem to indicate Paul’s time in prison was not wasted but brought about the conversion of some of Caesar’s household!)
In v.11 Jesus says, Our friend Lazarus sleeps. Not “my” or “your” but “our”. If you’re a friend of Jesus and I am a friend of Jesus then we are friends. And when He used the term “sleeps”, it changes our concept of death, and that’s exactly what Jesus wants us to understand. Sleep is good, death in bad in our parlance. Sleep implies an awakening, while death implies permanence and corruption. Death is so final in our thinking. Jesus made sure he didn’t mislead them by stating that Lazarus really was dead, but He wanted them to know that there was no domain beyond His power – that death has about as much power over a man as sleep does – that death is a part of living even as sleep is. Death for a friend of Jesus amounts to no more than a sleep for they are all alive in Him (Mark 12:27 God is the God of the living).
In verses 21 and 32 Mary and Martha both believed that Lazarus would not have died if Jesus had been there earlier (others were of the same persuasion v.37). Apparently they considered Jesus’ power limited to like that of a doctor (we all know that the day comes when the doctor will have to give up on us).: able to heal from sickness but unable to reach beyond the boundary of death (cf. Mark 8:27-29) – inadequate views). They didn’t understand Jesus had a purpose in staying away and letting Lazarus die. If He had hurried, the urgency would have betrayed the inadequacy, but if He had hurried and arrived before Lazarus’ death and healed his sickness there would have been great relief and joy, but He would not have lifted up their understanding and extended the boundaries of their faith. If He had come and done nothing but let him die without healing, imagine the grief He would have caused, and the uncaring impression he would have left. That is why, I believe, Jesus stayed away. I think He also “stays away” from us at times for the same reason: He leaves us “stewing in our own juices” for a time for our growth (1 Pet. 1:6,7). When a plane is designed it is put through its paces by a test pilot. It is pushed to its limits so they know what it can do. God tests us so that we can know just what He can do (2 Cor. 1:8-10).
Jesus had greater purposes in mind than the raising of Lazarus: He set out to glorify God, glorify the Son of God, and confirm He was the Son of God to the apostles. Martha expressed her faith in the resurrection at the last day in vs. 21-27. Jesus said He was the resurrection. What did He mean? It’s difficult when inanimate objects are personified and personal objects are inanimated. (eg. 1 Cor. 15:1-4 – the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and yet we are to obey it! How do you obey an historical circumstance? There are comprehension issues with this is my body; this is my blood: I am the way the truth and the life etc.) Perhaps he was turning Martha’s mind away from a belief in a doctrine to trust in a Person. We may entertain beliefs about doctrines and statements about a person but it is another dimension to trust in the person (like the man who walked across a tightrope over Niagara falls wheeling a person in a wheelbarrow – many said they believed he could do it but only one woman was prepared to hop in the barrow). But we cannot trust in a person without believing His statements. Many are pinning their hopes in medical science, but to no avail. It is the resurrection of Christ that gives light in the gloom of death (Acts 26:23). His resurrection gives substance to the doctrine of the resurrection.
Christ was turning her mind away from future anticipations to present realities. Many have a desire to go to Heaven but want nothing to do with God or Christ right now. If we do not want fellowship with Christ and His brethren now, then God would not be so cruel as to force us to spend an eternity doing it later. Martha already believed there was life beyond the grave, but Jesus said I am the life to get her to see that life is in Christ and can be had now.
Christ not only had the power to raise the dead but He also had, and has, power to turn death into victory instead of defeat. In Christ there is power to make death a doorway – an entrance into richer life, not merely an exit from life. Jesus was saying more than the fact there is existence beyond the grave – Martha already believed that. When He says, I am the resurrection and the life, He wants us to understand that in Him life is not a matter of mere duration; it is a matter of quality (eternal life and eternal punishment both imply duration). He emphasised that when he continued, he that believes on me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
One who lives in Christ, although he will die from a human standpoint, will have a quality of life that will exist forever. One now living in Christ and trusting in Him has a quality of life that will go on forever. Jesus plainly recognized that it is man’s lot to die, as Lazarus and He Himself did. Though the soul leaves the body in death, if the soul is in union with Christ then it doesn’t matter whether the soul is in the body or separated from it (2 Cor. 5:9).
If abiding in Christ is the means to eternal life, how is this accomplished? Paul speaks of death and resurrection to life in union with Christ in Rom. 6:3-6. Baptism is a grave in which we bury the old man. Coming up out of the water is a resurrection to a new life. 2 Cor. 5:17- it is a life that begins with the new birth and goes on forever – 1 John 5:13.