Faith for Resurrection

March 17, 1991

Jesus said, I AM the resurrection and the life! - John 11:25

Revelation 20:4-6

". . . And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years was completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

11-15 " And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

INTRODUCTION

Come Easter, we celebrate the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death and the grave, and particularly, His resurrection in power and glory. The theme of life and death is central to our understanding of salvation. For some light on "resurrection" I have turned to this seemingly esoteric passage in Revelation 20.

I. A DIFFICULT PASSAGE, REVELATION 20

  1. The entire prophetic statement of the Book of Revelation is difficult to understand, and this passage is no exception. You can be sure that there are plenty of willing interpreters around, but the only problem is that very few of them agree with each other. The only thing of which we may be certain is that there is genuine mystery involved here.
  2. MYSTERY

    Whenever we have the meeting of a holy, infinite God with the history of sinful and finite mortal men and women, we have more than we can fully comprehend or understand. It is foolish to outline and predict the exact order of events of end times. The element of "prediction" is not necessary to salvation, and should never become a major concern when reading the scripture.

    But just because there is a strong component of mystery here does not mean that we cannot say that God does not speak through such passages. By the Holy Spirit we may receive and understand a clear, factual message.

  3. FACT

    In this sobering passage that one day we shall all understand much more clearly, first-hand, there are some lessons that are not up for interpretation, at least not to my understanding.

    1. There is the fact of human accountability before God. John said, "I saw (all) the dead, the great along with the small, standing before God. And the books were opened, and another book which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged every one of them according to their deeds."
    2. This makes it plain that death as we know it is NOT the end of human existence. There is something for every man, woman, boy and girl that lies beyond the grave.
    3. But another fact this passage from Revelation tells us is that immortality is not the same as eternal life. Just being raised from the dead to judgment is not the same as being free from what the scriptures term "the second death."

[TRANSITION TO II. - This raises two pointed questions:

  1. What IS eternal life?
  2. How may I be sure to take part in the resurrection of the holy?

    For answers we leave the Book of the Revelation and turn to the One Who came to interpret God to us, to the Living Word Himself. (In the 11th Chapter of the Gospel of John:)]

II. A COMPANION PASSAGE, JOHN 11: THE SIGN OF LAZARUS

In the Gospel of John (11: 1 - 44 ) is the CLIMACTIC MIRACLE of the Gospels, the account of the raising from the dead of one of Jesus' friends, Lazarus.

  1. The simple story is one we all know, or certainly ought to know: Jesus loved (agapeo) Martha, Mary and Lazarus. They had made their home His home. He and they were friends. They cared for each other.
  2. Then while Jesus was away across the Jordan Lazarus took sick. Evidently right from the start the sisters knew it was a serious illness. They sent word to their great Friend. Jesus got the message. And as far as they were concerned He did nothing about it until it was too late.
  3. But then what took place became a galvanizing DEMONSTRATION OF THE MASTERY OF JESUS OVER DEATH. It was not something Jesus merely did to "play games" with his friends' lives. No one simply "uses" Jesus, and I believe that we can trust Him not to simply use our friendship callously. This is a complicated story. John doesn't try to hide it. Jesus wept. He cared. He sorrowed. He shared in suffering. He wasn't a showman, playing games with people's life-drama; using Lazarus like some laboratory experiment.
  4. But what did transpire there has served across the centuries as a witness of Christ's mastery over life and death. He stepped to the tomb, and with a loud voice called Lazarus back from the realm of the dead into the land of the living.
  5. This miracle of miracles in John's gospel, the resurrection of Lazarus, crystallized the opposition that had been growing against the person and the mission of Jesus. Lazarus became a celebrity (John 12:9) as multitudes came to see this man who had been dead four days and then brought back to life. The Pharisees were disheartened; "the world is gone after Him!" was their complaint (John 12:19.)
  6. You might think they would have admitted their error and worshiped Jesus, too. But they decided to make on last-ditch effort against Him. The human machinery for the crucifixion was set in motion.

[BUT HOW DOES THIS 'SHED LIGHT' ON THE PASSAGE? Coming back to the questions "What is LIFE?" and "How can I take part in the resurrection of the holy?"]

III. OUR WORD FOR TODAY - OUR ASSURANCE IN LIFE AND DEATH

  1. The key of this story, and the place where the two passages connect, are the words of Jesus just before He speaks the words of power that brought the dead back to life. JESUS SAID, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE!"
    1. These words were spoken as He responded to practical Martha. Later when Mary says the same words, Jesus doesn't repeat Himself, He weeps! Martha said: "Lord, if You had been here You could have DONE SOMETHING!"
    2. Jesus said, in effect, "There is something more than being able to DO something! You haven't yet realized who I AM! I AM SOMETHING!" "I AM LIFE!" "I AM RESURRECTION!"
  2. Inset:
    1. What IS life? Being able to relate, to correspond to the environment. Physical life is being able to breathe air, to eat food, to smell odors, to hear sounds, to reach out and touch and feel.
    2. But what, then, is ETERNAL LIFE? Eternal LIFE is being able to relate, to correspond with God Himself! Being able to relate, to correspond with the Source of Life! Jesus is the touch-stone, the connection, the eternal Word, the Expression of God.
    3. Physical life is "threshold life" where, if we stand on tiptoe, we can look into eternity. Physical life is discovering that we are made in God's image and yet that the image is broken and empty and needs the touch of the Creator God to make it whole again. Physical life as we know it now is Paradise Lost, it is God- hunger. St. Augustine said it perhaps more beautifully than any other: "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless 'til they find their rest in Thee."
  3. Jesus, Himself, IS ETERNAL LIFE! When we know Jesus and are IN HIM we begin to share His LIFE, and we are even now alive unto God. Eternal life is not just something which will happen in the future after this "real world" ends; eternal life is the real world dawning into our consciousness even now.

    So this is what we understand that Jesus meant when He said: He that is now alive, and believes in Me, shall never die! If we know Jesus, and are alive IN HIM, we will have no need to fear in the unfolding of the apocalyptic mystery.

CONCLUSION

  1. THE PROMISE OF BLESSING
    1. The beatitude "Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection." Of whom is John speaking?
    2. How may I be sure that John is including ME in this beatitude?
    3. To answer that satisfactorily we need to answer the question Jesus asked at the grave of Lazarus: Do YOU believe that I AM the resurrection and the Life?
  2. THE ASSURANCE WE MAY RECEIVE:
    1. The assurance is divinely revealed. It is dangerous to "assume" or "presume" or to be humanly "persuaded."
    2. But you can be sure! Jesus responds to the whosoever! (John 3:16) But you MUST respond!
    3. Our response is simply "Living FOR Jesus!"

[Do I have to live at a certain intensity? How about the strong feelings I felt last week during revival? I called Stephen Manley, and he spoke to us all— including me! I know that I do not have the same intensity in my approach to living. Can I be a true believer and still be "me?" The all-important thing, as Dr. Manley said again and again, is WHO is at the center!]

#335 Living for Jesus