Lazarus Raised

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Lazarus Raised

John 11:25-27

25 Jesus [Iesous] said [epo] unto her [autos] , I [ego] am [eimi] the resurrection [anastasis] , and [kai] the life [zoe] : he that believeth [pisteuo] in [eis] me [eme] , though [kan] he were dead [apothnesko] , yet shall he live [zao] :
26 And [kai] whosoever [pas] liveth [zao] and [kai] believeth [pisteuo] in [eis] me [eme] shall [apothnesko] never [ou me] [eis] [aion] die [apothnesko] . Believest thou [pisteuo] this [touto] ?
27 She saith [lego] unto him [autos] , Yea [nai] , Lord [kurios] : I [ego] believe [pisteuo] that [hoti] thou [su] art [ei] the Christ [Christos] , the Son [huios] of God [theos] , which [ho] should come [erchomai] into [eis] the world [kosmos] . KJV-Interlinear

25 Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? ' 27 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.' NASB

Here is clear and concise language which simply states that Jesus Christ is the only, 'I am the,' way of salvation. What is salvation? It is deliverance from a certain eternal death and total separation from God for all of eternity.

'I am the.' This means that there is only one means of being saved. He did not say, 'I am 'one of' the ways,' which would open the door for alternative paths to heaven. He said, 'I am 'the' way.' Emphasis on 'I.' And 'the' which refer to Christ alone and to only one means of salvation.

'I (Jesus Christ) am the resurrection (a total overhaul of the physical body into a resurrection body) and the life.' Resurrection will come to all who have died prior to this event, and to all who remain alive when this event (resurrection) occurs.

There will be a generation who will be alive when the Rapture occurs. That is the resurrection of the Church Age. There will not be a generation, which will be the recipients of a living resurrection, when the Old Testament believers are resurrected at the end of the Tribulation. Those who remain alive on earth at that time, will continue living into the Millennium. Then at the end of the Millennium the last of all those who remain alive (which should be almost everyone) will be resurrected into resurrection bodies for entrance into eternity.

This resurrection is distinguished from the resurrection of unbelievers. This is the resurrection 'and the life.' Life belongs to God and all who choose for God through Christ. Those who choose against God and His plan with Jesus Christ as the principle instrument of salvation, will be resurrected unto death. They will be resurrected for the purpose of receiving their wish of total separation from God. Unbelievers reject God, so God will grant them their wish and give them their separation. That will not be what they want or expect, but then they all had their chance to believe God when He tells them that the Lake of Fire is not a good destination for any traveler. But then that is exactly what stubborn attitudes get. They reject the truth, and force something worse onto themselves.

How Does anyone get this resurrection and life? By believing in Christ. Such a simple price. A mere thought. 'Father (God) I believe in Jesus Christ.' Now just how difficult can that thought be. Yet there will be millions who will refuse, all during their life, for years and years, to have that simple thought run through their heads.

This promise is open to everyone. Anyone who has ever lived has an opportunity to believe in the Son of God. The only Son. There is only one Son. There are no other substitutes. No other prophets. No other persons, or things by which we can pray to, or believe in, and receive salvation from God. He set up a very simple plan for the salvation of mankind, and if you look all around us then you'll see millions going through elaborate schemes of alternative methods of attempting to get into heaven. Why would anyone try to redefine such a simple entrance ticket? 'Father, I believe in Christ.'

Martha acknowledges what Jesus says. She is indeed a believer in Christ. She believes that He is the savior, that He is the Son of God, who has come into this world as the unique person of the universe, the God/man, Jesus Christ.

Now that definitely sets Him apart from all other people. Also, since we know that salvation is so simple, we should begin to realize that spiritual growth is equally simple. God rejects all of mans efforts in the spiritual life. The spiritual life is lived from within the fellowship sphere. That is a place where the sin nature does not function. When it does get in the way, we just confess our sins (not too difficult to do) and get back into fellowship. Some people are even stubborn about doing this.

The spiritual life has a foundation of thinking made up of Bible doctrine. The spiritual life functions from the application of the principles taught in Gods Word. Where is mans efforts in all of this? Nowhere.

Now of course we all live in this devils world. We have to go to school, learn to read and write. We have to get a job and earn some income, and so forth, but .... That is our second and temporary job for this world. Our primary obligation is spiritual growth.. We do not have to study 24 hours a day. We don't have to pray 24 hours a day. But we have an obligation to think 24 hours a day, at least when we are awake, and if our thinking comes from inside that fellowship sphere, then we become a 'gold, silver, and precious stone' producing machine. What are those? Symbols of spiritual production of your soul. They are the furnishings which you put into that spiritual house which you construct within your soul by learning Bible doctrine. This is what you take with you into eternity, and this is the return on the investment of the capital assets which God gave us all when we came into this world. Those capital assets? Time, Bible doctrine, and volition.

Just as unbelievers make their fatal mistake and lose everything by rejecting God, and they make their decisions based on false information and beliefs, so too, believers make their fatal decisions in life by not sticking with a daily Bible study plan for their own life. Furthermore, believers who do some study, still have the hurdles of believing what they learn, and still more believers have difficulty in applying what they learn to their lives. This last part seems to be the most difficult step in the spiritual life.

We all have our comfort zones, but they are generally based on a foundation laid out by our sin natures. We have our certain compromises we feel are right for our life. We have our little rebellions against the authority God has established for society (husbands, parents, law and order and so forth). We have our little personal beliefs in life simply because we were raised with them, and it might be difficult to get away from them in order to seize that which the Bible teaches.

But despite all of this, the spiritual life remains very simple, and is elusive only to those who maintain a defiant attitude toward their daily study. The question which Jesus asked applies, ' Do you believe this?'

And our answer to it is 'Yes,' then we ask why do you not get with a solid daily Bible study? And if your answer is 'No,' then we ask, what do you have that is better?