The Upper Room Diaries

One of my favourite pages in the Book of John has got to be the 11th chapter where Jesus say that he is the Resurrection and the Life. Powerful, powerful statement! It seems like Jesus knew that a high-profile death was going to happen, and waited to use this moment as a “structured experience” for this truth to be taught; so that the witnesses would remember it forever. So the question for us when reading this passage should be “what exactly did the witnesses understood?”

It is almost impossible to extract the full meaning of Jesus’ words and actions without note that Mary, Martha and Lazarus were part of the Pharisaic movement. These people believe the Resurrection to be an event in the last days; and even if they were to stretch the idea of resurrection to that which the Sadducees believe, they would only believe that a person can only be resurrected within 3 days of death; after that it would be too late. So here we see Jesus deliberately waited until it was the 4th day before attending to Lazarus and his family. That is why Mary came to Jesus crying like there is already no hope. If only Jesus came earlier… Jesus waited until the right moment, until it seemed totally impossible, then proceeded to use the situation as an object lesson “so that they might believe.”

Here Jesus made a clear statement about his divinity and told everyone that Resurrection is not an event but rather, it is a person. “I AM the resurrection and the life…,” and there is no one like him. Then Jesus goes on to show them personally that Resurrection is really possible and only possible through Jesus himself. I just want you to know that this realization absolutely blew their minds away!

This is the seventh and greatest sign that Jesus did to show that he is indeed the promised Messiah. It means for those who believes in Jesus, that Resurrection has already occurred. No wonder the Apostle Paul said in Eph 2:5 that we were all once dead in our sins and wrote in 2 Cor 5:17 that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! This clear miracle caused a great number of people to believe that Jesus is the promised one sent from God.

The saddest fact is that it was precisely this miracle that fuelled the determination of Jesus’ adversaries to kill him. This is because the religious leaders (both Pharisees and Sadducees) feared that if everyone would come to believe in Jesus, they would lose their followers and hence, their leadership position. The religious leaders were more concerned about their social position than about the person of Jesus.

Later in the 12th chapter, we read that the chief priests planned to put Lazarus also to death as it was because of his resurrection that many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. They thought that the best and only way to silence an irrefutable truth is to put Lazarus back into the tomb.

A study of this passage speaks so much to me, here is a summary of the (leadership) applications:

1) God’s Invisible Hand. Sometimes God withholds His action until it seems impossible to be done. God does this so we could come to a new acknowledgement of His power. God often prefers to bring us from desperation to revelation. When you find yourself in a desperate situation, be ready! God is just around the corner and He is coming to rock your world!

2) Unreasonable Critics. There would always be people wanting to tear down the good work we have been trying to build up. Whenever there is a clear irrefutable move of the Spirit, there would at the same time be critics trying to “put Lazarus back into the tomb.” Learn to ignore them.

I really like what Perry Noble wrote: “When you cast a compelling vision it will fire some people up and piss some people off; and the ones that are pissed are usually the most vocal. AND… you’ve got to understand that there are people who do believe in the vision God has placed in you!”

3) Leadership Security. Suppose I have a talent, and people are attracted to me because of it. Would I honestly allow someone under my leadership to become better than me? Would I be thinking “but.. people would listen to him rather than to me!”… How secure are we about our leadership? Is our security anchored in God alone? The whole New Testament shouts out to us not to be like the religious leaders who were so blinded by their insecurities that they plotted to kill the Messiah everyone is waiting for. God has prepared you for this task; He has put you up there and will keep you there until He deems that your work for Him is done. There is no reason to feel insecure when your focus is on magnifying God alone.

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Despite all these adversaries against Jesus and his work, Jesus tells his disciples “but take heart! I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33) This means there is nothing ever that the Devil can do to thwart the will of God which btw is for the Christian work to flourish and multiply. What a faithful and mighty God we serve! This is even more true in our times of desperation where we feel that we need God the most. Amen!

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. In him, we have the freedom to have life and life to the full.

Go back into your tomb Satan, you belong there!