Lazarus Raised

Lazarus Raised
John 11:47-50

47 Then [oun] gathered [sunago] the chief priests [archiereus] and [kai] the Pharisees [Pharisaios] a council [sunedrion] , and [kai] said [lego] , What [tis] do we [poieo] ? for [hoti] this [houtos] man [anthropos] doeth [poieo] many [polus] miracles [semeion] .
48 If [ean] we let [aphiemi] him [autos] thus [houto] alone [aphiemi] , all [pas] men will believe [pisteuo] on [eis] him [autos] : and [kai] the Romans [Rhomaios] shall come [erchomai] and [kai] take away [airo] both [kai] our [hemon] place [topos] and [kai] nation [ethnos] .
49 And [de] one [heis] [tis] of [ek] them [autos] , named Caiaphas [Kaiaphas] , being [on] the high priest [archiereus] that same [ekeinos] year [eniautos] , said [epo] unto them [autos] , Ye [humeis] know [eido] nothing at all [ou] [oudeis] ,
50 Nor [oude] consider [dialogizomai] that [hoti] it is expedient [sumphero] for us [hemin] , that [hina] one [heis] man [anthropos] should die [apothnesko] for [huper] the people [laos] , and [kai] that the whole [holos] nation [ethnos] perish [apollumi] not [me] . KJV-Interlinear

47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, 'What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. 48 'If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.' 49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, 'You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish. ' NASB

Psa. 2:2-5, foretells of the council which will be held against the Lord, but it also foretells of the Lords attitude toward them and the actions that God will take against His enemies.

Psa. 2:2 The kings of the earth take their stand, And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed: 3 'Let us tear their fetters apart, And cast away their cords from us!' 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury: NASB

Likewise out of the mouths of evil God can also do His own will, Isa 10:7, 'Yet it does not so intend
Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy, And to cut off many nations. NASB

Though their (the evil ones) intent is to accomplish the mischief of their own agenda, God knowing all that is going to be thought and done throughout history, often uses evil sources to accomplish the needs of good.

There is a panic. An emergency meeting is called. The news of the latest miracle has just come to them, and it happened right outside their door, so to speak. This is more than the usual miracles that have been occurring for the last couple of years now. Jesus has been making the blind see, the lame to walk, and the story has been so common for months now, that those against Him have become dulled by the commonness of it.

But now there is a noticeable change in their attitude, 'What are we doing?' Or we could expand that, 'What is happening here? We can't sit idly by and let this Man keep on doing what He is doing!'

We can just see the heated discussion. 'If He keeps raising the dead now, then everyone will believe in Him (as their new leader)! Where does that place us? People will follow Him. Rome will be upset and come and take all that we have away from us.'

Ah! Now we are getting to the bottom of their resentment. Their way of life is in jeopardy. And this Jesus, who is helping all who come to Him, is the one, the single person who will either make them lose all they have, or ..... If they get rid of Him, then nothing need change. All will be as it was.

Rome will get upset of course, but not for 40 years, and they will not be upset by the Christians, but by the many fragmented groups who will become rebellious against Rome.

Caiaphas summarizes all of history, though he hasn't a clue that this is the purpose of his words. But just as Balaam and Laban both had ill intentions against Israel and Jacob respectfully and were prevented from accomplishing their intended evil, so now Caiaphas and his little band of conspirators are about to hatch a plan to kill Jesus, and in so doing they expect that their way of life will be made secure.

However, it is not their plans which will be put into place, but through the deeds of Judas, which God also provides in this historical setting. They can't even make the proper plans on their own which will accomplish the arrest and execution of Jesus. God controls history.

As we will see in the next few verses, the Pharisees et al will order the arrest of Jesus when He is sighted. This doesn't even work out for them, and Jesus will, on the next Passover, come right into the Temple. In fact there will be a tremendous fanfare upon His arrival.

Caiaphas says, 'It is expedient that one man should die that the nation should not suffer.' His intentions are that Jesus die so that their (the Pharisees, and Sadducees, etc.) way of life will not be interrupted. They care nothing for the nation, but only for their own way of life, their own positions, their own glory, and Jesus is in their way.

Of course Jesus is here to save all of humanity, even those who would destroy Him, and through their own evil (all things will work together for good), Jesus will accomplish His task on the cross, and these religious leaders, will lose everything they have, including their eternal life.

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