John chapter 11 is given over to the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It’s a rich and glorious sign and wonder. In the first half of the chapter (verses 1-17), among Jesus’ words are three truths that provide some foundational guidance to every Christian.
FOR THE GLORY OF GOD
Upon hearing of Lazarus’ illness Jesus declares that ultimately, “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified” (v.4) Most illnesses end in death. This one however won’t — even though the person will, in fact, die. Why? The glory of God.
The glory of God is a magnificent obsession — God so brilliant, precious, pure that in every situation the best possible outcome is that his goodness, greatness, and grace are seen. That might seem easy to say when you know this particular ending. It’s much harder when it doesn’t end that way and in most cases it probably won’t.
Yet there are three ways we can glorify God in situations that don’t resolve like Lazarus’:
- Trust God’s character when he doesn’t act as hoped. Job: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.”
Or think of Daniel’s friends (Daniel 3) who won’t give God’s glory to another, even when facing death. They say whether or not God acts as I hope, I won’t share his glory with anything else. - Christ’s power can still be displayed through unhealed weakness. Paul’s thorn (2 Cor 12:7–10) — three requests, three refusals. “My power is made perfect in weakness.” God gets the glory through the thorn staying, not by its removal.
- Suffering that equips comfort for others. 2 Cor 1:3–7 — we’re comforted in affliction so we can comfort others in theirs. Glory isn’t in resolution but in what suffering does within us. How it changes us and refines us like gold in the furnace.
These three things tell us how to hold suffering rightly. The next principle tells us what to do with the days we’re given — because Lazarus’s illness itself is proof none of us know how many we have.
WALK IN THE LIGHT
Jesus says, “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”
His point echoes the famous idea of Ecclesiastes, there’s a time for everything. For Jesus when we’re alive it is time to serve God. There’s work to do. The light is with us and in us; he’s called us to work alongside him for his glory — why we move countries to plant churches, talk to others about Jesus, give for missions and the church. God has called us to partner with him for his glory. Embrace the calling.
Our days are numbered — his were too. No one knows how many God has given. Even a long life is “like grass.”
Thomas realizes this could be frightening. Jesus and the disciples had just escaped arrest in Jerusalem so it was definitely safer for them to stay put. But because Jesus says let’s go back to Judea, Thomas and the other disciples are now faced with a dilemma. Stay or go? Thomas doesn’t deny the risk, “we might die” but he says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Face the cost but follow Jesus anyway.
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and you will not stumble because He is the light.
THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
By the time Martha meets Jesus her brother is dead. But her words don’t contain accusation, but show her faith. her mindset is ‘I still believe.’ What will we say to Jesus when we’re disappointed by the outcome? Will we say, ‘I know you could still have done it. I still believe’.
Martha’s hope though is that one day everything will be right. Jesus gently shows her that this hope is only really works because of him: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”
What Jesus ends up doing for Lazarus isn’t the point in itself — it’s a sign, showing them ahead of time that when Jesus himself dies, they won’t need to think that’s the end. Lazarus’s tomb becomes a preview so that Jesus’s own tomb won’t be a shock.
Doors are frightening when you don’t know what’s waiting on the other side. Nothing, terror, darkness, an enemy? For the Christian, death has lost its terror, not because it isn’t real, but because we know who’s standing there on the other side of the door called death: Jesus — the one who himself went through the door of death — will be the one waiting for us on the other side of it.
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