Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (50 Questions on John 11) Questions 19-21

Friends:

I’m doing a series on John 11 for Mountain Ridge Bible Chapel in New Jersey this August. What a great chapter! These posts will list some of the questions that occur to me in doing this study.

19. Jesus’ response to their fear of being killed by the religious leaders (v. 8)? He points out there are 12 hours of daylight in which to walk without stumbling. Walking at night leads to stumbling because one has no light. What does He mean?
20. Jesus’ euphemistic declaration: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.” (v. 11). Why does He use this euphemism for DEATH?
21. Jesus’ declared purpose: “but I am going there to wake him up” (v. 11). Where else in Scripture is the death of a believer described as “sleep”? (to be continued)

 

Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (50 Questions on John 11) Questions 16-18

Friends:

I’m doing a series on John 11 for Mountain Ridge Bible Chapel in New Jersey this August. What a great chapter! These posts will list some of the questions that occur to me in doing this study.

16. Jesus’ INaction (not going when He was summoned) was not due to a lack of love. John points out Jesus’ love for Martha and Mary and Lazarus before he tells us that Jesus stayed where He was. How dare we doubt God’s love simply because He does not act as we think He should?
17. Why does Jesus not go when He is summoned? The obvious answer is: He had to give Lazarus TIME TO DIE!
18. The disciples’ objection to Jesus going back to Judea? They did not understand Jesus’ TIMETABLE. And doing the Father’s will was worth the risk! (v. 8). (to be continued)

 

Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (50 Questions on John 11) Questions 13-15

Friends:

I’m doing a series on John 11 for Mountain Ridge Bible Chapel in New Jersey this August. What a great chapter! These posts will list some of the questions that occur to me in doing this study.

13. How important is GOD’s GLORY to me? Am I willing to DIE that His glory might be seen?
14. We must pay attention to PREPOSITIONS! Verse 4 says that “God’s Son may be glorified THROUGH it.” We would prefer “apart from it,” “without it”, right?
15. “When he heard . . . he stayed”! (v. 6). God the Son’s INaction was the better choice! Do we assume He doesn’t HEAR because He doesn’t ACT? (to be continued)

 

Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (50 Questions on John 11) Questions 9-12

Friends:

I’m doing a series on John 11 for Mountain Ridge Bible Chapel in New Jersey this August. What a great chapter! These posts will list some of the questions that occur to me in doing this study.

9. Why do we forget that the Bible is not a happy book with kind messages and joyful circumstances? It deals bluntly & realistically with sickness (v. 1) and death (Jn. 11)
10. We must get below the surface of some of Jesus’ statements. “This sickness will not end in death” (v. 4). BUT IT DID! So Jesus means something different with the word “death”!
11. Jesus knows why things happen to us! “it is for God’s glory . . .” (v. 4). But He is under no obligation to tell us! (Job never finds out!).
12. Sometimes God reaffirms His LOVE, especially when the circumstances shout that He doesn’t love us (v. 5) (to be continued)

 

Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (50 Questions on John 11) Questions 4-8

Friends:

I’m doing a series on John 11 for Mountain Ridge Bible Chapel in New Jersey this August. What a great chapter! These posts will list some of the questions that occur to me in doing this study.

4. How dare we define how God’s LOVE ought to behave? Could it be that His LOVE allowed Lazarus to get sick and to remain sick and even to DIE before the Lord would act?
5. The text tells us twice that Jesus loved Lazarus (vv. 3, 5). Questioning His love = claiming to have greater knowledge or wisdom than God!
6. Does any disease “end in death” (v.4) (permanent death) for any believer? No!
7. How can a “sickness” be “for God’s glory” (v. 4)?
8. Why do we try to manage both WHAT God does and WHEN He does it (v. 7)? (to be continued)

 

Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (50 Questions on John 11) Questions 1-3

Friends:

I’m doing a series on John 11 for Mountain Ridge Bible Chapel in New Jersey this August. What a great chapter! These posts will list some of the questions that occur to me in doing this study.

1. Do we thank the Lord for HIs inaction? (v. 6) Jesus’ staying where He was — His Inaction —was for a greater purpose!
2. Do we honor His timetable? Or do we demand what we want WHEN we want it?
3. Sometimes our “formulas” do us in: NEED + HIS POWER = A MIRACLE! (to be continued)

 

Thirty-Eight Observations on John 11

1. My sickness can be for God’s glory (v. 4).
2. A delayed or denied healing does not mean God loves us less (v. 6).
3. There is something far more important than preventing one of Jesus’ followers from dying (v. 6).
4. Jesus allows the dying process to reach its conclusion, knowing it was a temporary condition (v. 6).
5. Jesus has the power to wake up the dead! (v. 11).
6. Metaphors can sometimes muddle the message (v. 12).
7. Jesus was glad that He was not there to prevent His friend Lazarus’ death (v. 15). “Boy, I’m glad I wasn’t there to keep my friend from stepping in front of a bus!”
8. Lazarus’ death provides strong evidence that ought to lead to belief in Jesus (v. 15).
9. Going “with” Jesus might entail dying with Him (v. 16).
10. What’s the Jewish significance of being in the grave four days? (v. 17)
11. Jesus’ delay was not due to geography (Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem) (v. 18).
11. The different actions of Martha & Mary here (Martha going out to meet Jesus; Mary staying at home) remind us of Lk. 10:41 (v. 20).
12. Martha’s despairing declaration (v. 21). Great faith in Jesus!
13. Martha’s hopeful expression (v. 22).
14. Jesus’ transition from an event (the resurrection) to a Person (Himself: “I am the resurrection and the life”) (vv. 24-26).
15. There is more than one meaning to the term “die” (v. 25).
Living by believing in Jesus = never dying! (v. 26).
16. Martha’s declaration of faith (v. 27).
17. We should assume that Martha isn’t lying when she says that Jesus is asking for Mary. She is doing what He requested (v. 28).
18. Why has Jesus not yet entered the village? His purpose — or He didn’t have the chance to? (v. 30)
19. Mary’s declaration (“Lord, if you had been here . . .”) is almost identical to Martha’s (v. 32). The only difference is in word order and the tense of the verb ἀποθνῄσκω. Mary uses the 2nd Aorist. Some Greek versions have ἐτεθνήκει; others have απεθανεν for Martha’s statement? This verb ἐτεθνήκει is a pluperfect!!!
20. Jesus sees our tears — and weeps with us! (vv. 33-35).
21. Our weeping shows our love (v. 36).
22. There is always room for the doubters of our love and our actions (v. 37).
23. Real love, they thought, would have keep Lazarus from dying! (v. 37).
24. Jesus is “once more deeply moved” (v. 38). The 1st time was with their weeping. This time by the tragedy of death?
25. The refreshing candor of the Bible: “Lord, by this time he stinketh!” (v. 39).
26. We believe what Jesus says even when life STINKS! (v. 40). 27. And believing Him in those circumstances will allow us to see THE GLORY OF GOD! (v. 40).
28. Jesus had an active prayer life with the Father, showing His genuine humanity (v. 41).
29. The Father had already answered His prayer (v. 41)?
30. All of this — Lazarus dying, Jesus delaying coming, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead — was for the purpose of people believing that the Father sent the Son (v. 42).
31. Jesus calls Lazarus out by name! Some suggest that if He hadn’t, all the dead would have come forth (v. 43)!
32. Can’t you see Lazarus hopping out of the tomb? (v. 44)
33. Imagine being one of those whose job it was to unwrap Lazarus! (v. 44)
34. This miracle directly led to many of the Jews believing in Jesus (v. 45).
35 But the opposition to Jesus grows among the leaders (vv. 46-48).
36 Caiaphas, the high priest, prophesies that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and “for the scattered children of God” (vv. 49-52). Here is a use of “children of God” that is not a reference to salvation.
37. Jesus has to take steps to withdraw for His own safety (vv. 53-54).
38. The plot to execute Jesus grows (vv. 55-57).

 

My Notes on John 11 . . .

 

Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (A Study of John 11) Part 25

As we look at this last section of John 11, we see that His intention in allowing His friend Lazarus to die (and then be gloriously raised to life by Jesus) resulted in two reactions: (1) belief on the part of some; (2) a prophesied plot to take Jesus’ life. Let’s read our section one last time …..

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

⁴⁹ Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

⁵¹ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, ⁵² and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. ⁵³ So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

⁵⁴ Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

⁵⁵ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. ⁵⁶ They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” ⁵⁷ But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

Caiaphas was God’s messenger (without Caiaphas’ awareness or permission) in predicting the death of the Lord Jesus. Jesus has to withdraw from the public, spending time with His disciples.

Many tried to see whether Jesus would attend the Passover. But Jesus was a wanted man. The chief priests and the Pharisees wanted Jesus’ presence reported so He could be arrested.

And so ends John 11. We read in the next chapter of John: “9Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.”  Jesus’ plan worked to perfection! Many were believing in Him. Not all. But many. At the cost of Lazarus’ earthly life and at the cost of Jesus’ sacrificial death, belief in the Lord was the result. For some.

The religious leaders’ hatred of Jesus was so strong that now they wanted to kill Lazarus as well. Presumably, this man did die a second time, either at their hands or through “natural” death.  But it was well worth it.

 

 

Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (A Study of John 11) Part 24

In our previous post, we used our “sanctified imagination” to speculate about the Father and Lazarus having a conversation in heaven.  Let’s return to our text and notice the last section of this amazing story …..

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

⁴⁹ Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

⁵¹ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, ⁵² and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. ⁵³ So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

⁵⁴ Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

⁵⁵ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. ⁵⁶ They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” ⁵⁷ But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

There was a clear reaction to Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead. Some “believed in him” (v. 45). Others reported Jesus’ action to the religious leaders who then called a special meeting of the Sanhedrin (vv. 46-47).

We get to listen in on their deliberations. They acknowledge Jesus’ “many signs” and fear the Romans will step in and limit the freedoms they enjoyed from their occupiers.

Caiaphas, that year’s high priest, makes an incredible statement: “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (v. 50).

God’s Spirit has power even over those who would seek to destroy the Lord! This miracle of raising Lazarus seems to be the work of Jesus which seals His fate. (to be continued)