I Am the Resurrection and the Life / John 11:24-27
If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to John chapter 11. We have been in the Gospel of John for the last couple of weeks, and we will be here for a few more weeks.
For those who may not know me, I am the student ministries director here at the Well. I have been on staff for almost five years now, and I absolutely love working here. One of the reasons I love it so much is that several of our teachers and pastors on staff get the opportunity to teach the whole congregation throughout the summer. It is a lot of fun. Whether on a Wednesday night or a Sunday morning, we just love having the privilege to open God’s Word together.
Throughout the rest of the summer, we are walking through our “I AM” series. In this series, we are exploring the seven famous “I AM” statements Jesus makes in the Gospel of John. In each one of these statements, Jesus claims divinity. He is essentially declaring, “I am God.” And paired with each statement, Jesus performs a miraculous sign that backs up His claim.
In John chapter 11, Jesus makes an astounding claim.
John 11:25-26 (NASB)
Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’
Right after declaring this, Jesus performs one of the greatest miracles recorded in all of Scripture: the raising of His friend Lazarus from the dead.
Childhood Tears and the Reality of Death
Now, as an adult, the concept of resurrection can be hard to wrap our minds around. But as a kid, I thought resurrection was just something that happened all the time. Growing up, I watched enough movies, read enough books, and saw enough television shows to believe that coming back from the dead was fairly routine. If you ever watched Power Rangers—maybe none of you did, but I certainly did—people came back from the dead all the time. If you know the story of Snow White, she comes back to life at the end. (Sorry if I ruined the ending for you!)
In a child’s mind, fantasy and reality easily blur together. I remember the very first time I came face-to-face with death. I have shared before that growing up, I was not allowed to have a dog or a cat. My parents decided the next best pet was a rat. So my brother and I were given two pet rats with very high-class names: Nibbles and Chester. We loved those rats so much. Being young and completely unfamiliar with death, the thought that these rats would one day cease to exist was totally foreign to us.
At that time, I was also very familiar with the fairy tale of Rapunzel. If you have seen the animated movie Tangled, you know the story of the girl with the magical, long hair. But there was a specific detail from the story that always stuck with me as a kid: Rapunzel’s tears. In the classic version, her tears had the power to restore life and heal. When the prince went blind, she wept, her tears touched him, and his sight was restored. In Tangled—spoiler alert—the prince dies, she cries, and her tear brings him back to life. The Power Rangers did the same thing: someone would fall, tears were shed, and life returned.
As a kid, I convinced myself that I had that same power. When my rat Chester died, I was devastated and broke down in tears. As I was crying, the story of Rapunzel popped into my mind. I thought, If her tears can heal a prince, and if tears can save the Power Rangers, why can’t my tears heal my dead rat Chester?
While my parents were gently trying to explain the finality of death to me, I had a secret plan. Unbeknownst to my family, I held Chester in my hands and began wiping my tears all over him. I looked down, expecting him to twitch and come back to life. But nothing happened. I was shocked, so I cried harder—partly out of panic as death became real, and partly to produce more tears. I kept wiping my tears onto Chester, but he stayed dead.
In that moment, the reality of death settled in. I did not have power over life. Rapunzel was not real, and dead things stayed dead.
Years later, after I became a Christian, my perspective shifted entirely. Up until that point, I had never read the story of Jesus and Lazarus in John 11 because I did not believe anyone could actually raise the dead. But when I read this chapter, my eyes were opened to the true power of Jesus.
The Sickness of Lazarus
Let us begin in verse 1.
John 11:1 (NASB)
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
The chapter opens simply: a man named Lazarus is sick. Jesus is with His disciples when He receives word of this illness. Throughout His ministry, Jesus had been taking the disciples on an intensive journey of spiritual development. They had seen blind eyes opened. Just a few weeks earlier in our study, we saw how they watched Jesus feed 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread and two fish.
Yet nothing could have prepared them for what was about to happen. They were about to witness Jesus conquer the grave. This miracle would solidify the faith of His disciples, but it would also publicly provoke the religious leaders. This resurrection was performed openly, causing such a stir in Jerusalem that it essentially started the countdown to Jesus’ crucifixion. What the crowd witnessed was so undeniable that only willful blindness could keep someone from recognizing that Jesus is the Son of God. He is not David Copperfield or David Blaine; He is not performing sleight of hand. He is God in human flesh.
As we read this account, John wants us to understand that the story is not ultimately about Lazarus. In verse 1, John simply introduces him as “a certain man.” The main character is Jesus, and the primary theme is belief. Over the first ten chapters of John, belief has been the central heartbeat of the Gospel. In chapter 11 alone, the words believe or belief appear eight different times.
Jesus knew His earthly ministry was nearing its finish line. He wanted His disciples to witness one final, undeniable sign before His own arrest and crucifixion, so that when all hope seemed lost on Friday, their faith would endure.
In verse 3, Mary and Martha send word to Jesus saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” Lazarus was not a stranger to Jesus; they were close friends. Lazarus had welcomed Jesus into his home, Martha had served Him meals, and Mary had sat at His feet listening to His teaching.
Because of escalating hostility from religious leaders in Judea, Jesus had recently withdrawn to another region for safety. When Lazarus fell sick, Mary and Martha sent for Jesus, expecting Him to rush to their aid immediately. They knew He had the power to heal the sick, and they assumed He would come and heal His friend.
God’s Timing and Greater Glory
Notice how Jesus responds in verse 4.
John 11:4 (NASB)
But when Jesus heard [this], He said, ‘This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.’
Jesus makes it clear from the beginning: this sickness will not end in permanent death, but in the glory of God. Everything in this story—and ultimately Jesus’ own journey to the cross—is orchestrated for the glory of God.
Then we read verses 5 and 6.
John 11:5-6 (NASB)
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days [longer] in the place where He was.
At first glance, this feels contradictory. Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, yet when He heard Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two more days. Why would love cause Him to delay?
Jesus waited because He was going to let Lazarus die—and not just die, but remain dead for four days. According to ancient rabbinic tradition, it was commonly believed that a person’s spirit hovered over the body for three days after death, hoping to re-enter. By the fourth day, as decomposition set in, the spirit was believed to depart completely, making death final and irreversible. Jesus waited so that, even by the strictest cultural standards, there would be zero doubt that Lazarus was truly dead.
This is a profound picture of God’s perfect timing. God does not operate on our schedule. How often do we try to put God in a box? We tell Him how He should act, when He should intervene, and what the solution ought to look like: God, fix my finances right now. God, heal this illness today. God, repair my marriage immediately. Yet God remains sovereign. His timing is never late, and His purposes far exceed our limited understanding.
After two days, Jesus tells the disciples it is time to return to Judea. The disciples are alarmed because the religious leaders there had recently tried to stone Him. But Jesus reassures them.
John 11:9-10 (NASB)
Jesus answered, ’Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ‘But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.’
Jesus is reminding them that no earthly opposition can cut short the work God has ordained. He is walking in the daylight of the Father’s will, completely secure until His hour comes.
Jesus then speaks to them about Lazarus.
John 11:11-12 (NASB)
This He said, and after that He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.’ The disciples then said to Him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.’
The disciples take Him literally: Lord, if he is just sleeping, he will get better on his own. Why risk going back to Judea just to wake him up?
Jesus clarifies in verses 14 and 15: “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.”
That sounds startling. How could Jesus be glad He was not there when His friend died? Because He was preparing a greater revelation of His identity. The disciples had seen sick people healed, but they needed to see that Jesus holds absolute authority over the grave.
Thomas responds in verse 16 with his characteristic pessimism: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Thomas does not yet understand, but Jesus does not pause to explain the whole plot. He simply leads them toward Bethany.
The Encounter with Martha
When Jesus arrives, Lazarus has already been in the tomb for four days. In Jewish culture, mourning rituals were intense. Family, neighbors, and friends would gather in the home for an entire week of communal weeping and grief. The atmosphere Jesus walked into was heavy with sorrow. Anyone who has lost a loved one knows that suffocating weight in the room when grief takes over.
When Martha hears that Jesus is approaching, she rushes out to meet Him.
John 11:21 (NASB)
Martha then said to Jesus, ’Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
Martha’s words carry both genuine faith and deep heartache. She truly believed that if Jesus had been present, her brother would not have died. But you can also hear the unspoken frustration: Where were You, Jesus? Why did You wait? We thought You loved us.
Have you ever felt that way toward God? God, where were You when my life fell apart? If You are all-powerful, why didn’t You stop this?
Jesus looks at Martha and says, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha replies, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” She possesses sound end-times theology; she knows there will be a general resurrection at the end of the age. But she does not realize that the Author of life is standing right in front of her.
Jesus gently corrects her perspective.
Jesus is declaring that resurrection is not merely a future event on a theological calendar; Resurrection is a Person. He holds authority over physical life, spiritual life, and eternal life. Apart from Him, there is no life.
No human tears can raise the dead. No magic, no willpower, and no human effort can conquer the grave. Only Jesus possesses that authority. When He says, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,” He is speaking of spiritual and eternal life that physical death cannot touch.
Then Jesus asks Martha the piercing question that cuts straight to her heart:
“Do you believe this?”
He redirects her focus away from her painful circumstances and places it firmly upon Himself.
Martha responds with a magnificent confession of faith.
John 11:27 (NASB)
She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, [even] He who comes into the world.’
She does not understand how everything will unfold, but she anchors her soul to who Jesus is: the Christ, the Son of God.
The God Who Weeps and Restores
Martha then returns to get her sister Mary. When Mary comes to Jesus, she falls at His feet, weeping and repeating the same agonizing words: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Instead of offering a theological explanation, Jesus meets Mary in her sorrow. He looks at her weeping and the mourners grieving around her, and He is deeply moved in His spirit.
John 11:35 (NASB)
Jesus wept.
This shortest verse in the Bible reveals the heart of our Savior. God is not distant, cold, or indifferent to our pain. He enters into our brokenness, grieves alongside us, and shares in our human sorrow.
Some in the crowd whispered, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” How quickly we judge God when He does not act on our terms. When tragedy strikes, our fallen instinct is to question His goodness or His power. But God’s ways are higher than ours, and His delays are not denials of His love.
Jesus approaches the tomb, a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. He commands, “Take away the stone.”
Martha immediately objects: “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
Jesus gently reminds her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
They roll the stone away. Jesus lifts His eyes toward heaven and prays aloud, thanking the Father for hearing Him, for the benefit of the crowd standing by—so that they might believe. Then, with absolute divine authority, Jesus calls into the dark tomb:
“Lazarus, come out!”
John 11:43-44 (NASB)
When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’
The man who had been dead for four days walks out of the tomb, his hands and feet wrapped in linen cloths and his face covered with a cloth. Jesus says, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
This was not a magic trick. This was the voice of the Creator God, who spoke the universe into existence, speaking life back into a dead man.
Do You Believe This?
As we read this account, the critical question for each of us is: How will we respond to Jesus?
There are two primary responses seen in this chapter. One response is faith, surrender, and worship—trusting Jesus as the Lord of life even when we do not understand His timing. The other response is skepticism, resistance, and trying to keep God trapped inside a box of our own expectations.
When God does not operate the way we want, do we become bitter? Do we treat God like a transaction? We think, God, I go to church, I tithe, I try to live a moral life, so You owe me a trouble-free life. Church attendance is not “hell insurance.” Religion is not a contract where we manipulate God into doing what we want.
Jesus is calling us into a living relationship rooted in genuine faith.
Do you believe that Jesus has the power to bring life to what is dead? Do you believe He can bring healing to broken marriages, restore fractured families, mend severed friendships, and breathe spiritual life into hardened hearts?
If you have never placed your personal trust in Jesus Christ, I invite you to take that step of faith today. Jesus is not merely talking about a distant resurrection in the future; He offers new life right now. Your old life can be washed away, and new life can begin in Him today.
As our worship team comes back up, I want to leave you with the very question Jesus asked Martha in the midst of her deepest grief:
“Do you believe this?”
Do you truly believe, in the depths of your heart, that Jesus is who He says He is—the Resurrection and the Life? Let us respond to Him together in worship.