25 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life;
he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.
Do you believe this?”” (John 11:25, 26 NASB)
The context of the verses above is the physical death of one of Jesus’ close friends, Lazarus of Bethany. While on Earth, the Lord Jesus maintained close friendships with twelve disciples. Yet, He had other friends including Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary.
In John 11, Jesus had been informed of Lazarus being sick. Instead of traveling immediately several miles to visit His sick friend, Jesus delayed going to see him for two days. When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had died and had been buried. Martha expressed to Jesus that if He had arrived sooner, He could have healed Lazarus. She knew Jesus performed miracles.
Jesus dialogued with Martha about the hope of resurrection. No doubt, even though Martha loved Jesus, she exhibited frustration and disappointment in Jesus’ delay in arriving. He used her pain and grief to teach her some valuable truths about Himself and the afterlife.
Even though Jesus was being direct, some people missed that He is claiming to be God. He declared that He will resurrect those whom have placed their trust in Him as Savior, even if an individual has physically died. It should be noted that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ must occur while one is physically alive.
Resurrection is an event, but it’s also a Person: the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the provider of eternal life and the future resurrection for people who have placed their faith in Him. Later in John 14:6, Jesus reinforces truths previously stated by Him while conversing with Thomas, one of His disciples. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Though offensive to many people then and now, Jesus expressed exclusivity. There are not many ways to God, but only one—through Him.
Following Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead and ascension to heaven, the apostles faithfully declared Him as the only way to God. In Acts 4:12, the apostle Peter while preaching in Jerusalem, proclaimed Jesus’ exclusivity stating: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
If you have believed Jesus is God, and that He was crucified for your sins and rose from the dead on the third day, and appeared to many of His first century followers in a resurrected body, you will one day have an opportunity to not only converse with the Lord Jesus, but with the people you read about in the Bible who believe in the same Christ that you do. In the midst of today’s perilous times, followers of Jesus possess great hope in Him as the resurrection and the life.
Pastor Cecil Price