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CHAPTER
11
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
THE
RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
“I
am the resurrection and the life.”
Oh!
Did ever a man speak such words? Only a madman or a
criminal could ever say such a thing OR a Man for whom
these words are true. The strange thing is that no-one
of sound mind ever thinks of Jesus as a madman or a
criminal. Everyone knows He lived a perfect life; everyone
knows He was goodness and mercy personified. Yet, all
the ideas of Him being good and kind fly right out of
the window if the claims He made for Himself were not
true. History would have to regard Him as a crank and
a liar, a great deceiver with megalomaniac delusions.
The fact is, as most would agree, Jesus was no crank;
He was no liar. He lived out, in full view of many,
all He claimed for Himself. He lived a perfect, sinless
life. He even challenged His enemies to try and convict
Him of sin---and they could not. But, He would have
been the greatest sinner ever if the names and claims
He made His own were not true. Even if He had never
said any such thing about Himself, yet allowed others
to do so without correcting them He would still have
been a deceiver. And, He did correct His disciples,
and others, constantly when they made wrong assumptions.
We
have already seen Him described as the Life, meaning
the spiritual, eternal life, which He is and which He
gives to those who trust in Him. But, we see here His
claim to be ‘the resurrection’. He claims to be One
who can raise the very dead; and by calling Himself
THE resurrection He shows that He is not just one of
several which might raise the dead. Instead, He is claiming
that He and He alone can raise the dead. He is not a
resurrector, He is THE RESURRECTION---there can be no
resurrection outside of Christ! Someone might say, ‘but
His disciples raised the dead’. Very true, but they
only did it ‘in Christ’, in His power and in His name.
It was not of themselves, and could never be. Even then,
those who were raised would die again. Jesus raises
to everlasting life those who believe in Him.
‘But
what about modern medical techniques; doctors bring
people back from death regularly, don’t they? And, not
many of them would claim to be ‘in Christ’.’ Doctors,
and others, may re-start a heart that has stopped for
a short while, or even longer in certain freezing conditions,
and restore that person to good health; but a body from
which the spirit has long since departed has never been
brought back to life, and never will be, except through
Christ.
In
chapter 6 of the Gospel according to John we have already
noticed how Jesus described Himself as ‘the bread of
life’. In this same chapter, in verses 39, 40, 44 and
54 Jesus repeats four times that, concerning every believer,
‘I will raise him up at the last day’. And can we trust
that He will? And can we trust that He is able? Very
much so.
Here
is the promise:
“Lord,”
Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother
would not have
died”------------Jesus
said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha
answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection
at the last day.”
Jesus
said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He
who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do
you believe this?”
(John
chapter 11, verses 21, 23-26).
And
here is a glimpse of the reality:
Jesus,
once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave
with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the
stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister
of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odour,
for he has been there four days.”
---------Jesus
called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The
dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips
of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus
said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him
go.”
(John
chapter 11, verses38-39, 43-44).
Lazarus
had not merely been unconscious, or in a coma, and then
been resuscitated--- after four days his spirit had
left him and he had begun to rot; but ‘Jesus called
out in a loud voice’, and Lazarus came out with the
grave cloth still around his face; he came walking out,
unable to see where he was going, yet completely powerless
to resist the command from the Lord of life.
There
is a truly fantastic day coming---coming soon, when
all believers will hear that same loud voice:
For
the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a
loud command---and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will
be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord
for ever.
(1
Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 16-17).
And,
come that day, whether we are still on earth or not,
we, like our brother Lazarus, will be totally unable
to resist the command of He who is the Resurrection
and the Life.
The
Resurrection Day draws near,
The
King of saints shall soon appear,
And
high His royal standard rear:
Saints
arise! Saints arise!
(William
Hunter)
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