The Death of Lazarus (John 11:1–27) — A Sermon by R.C. Sproul

John sets Lazarus’s illness in the shadow of Jesus’ retreat beyond the Jordan, where hostility in Jerusalem has already made His return dangerous. Mary and Martha send word with a simple appeal: “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” Jesus answers that the sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. The glory of the Son does not compete with the glory of the Father. The Father’s majesty is made manifest when the world sees the glory of His Son.

Jesus’ love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus makes His delay all the more striking. Jesus stays two more days, not because He is indifferent, but because He intends to make the reality of the miracle undeniable. Lazarus has been in the grave four days, beyond every conceivable hope of resuscitation according to the assumptions of the day. Christ does not merely restore a man who has fainted or lingered near death. Christ raises a man who is unmistakably dead, in an act that is completely contra naturerum.

Jesus returns to Judea knowing that Lazarus’s rescue brings Him nearer to His own death. The disciples see the danger, and Thomas voices the grim courage of going with Christ even if it means dying with Him. Jesus answers with the image of daylight: His hour has not yet come, and the work appointed by the Father is not finished. Lazarus sleeps, Jesus says, because death itself is not final before the One who has power to wake the dead.

Martha meets Christ with grief mixed with faith: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Her confidence reaches beyond the loss, yet her hope remains fixed on the general resurrection at the last day. Jesus brings that distant hope into the immediate presence of His own person: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Resurrection is not merely an event Christ predicts. Resurrection is power that belongs to Christ Himself.

Christ distinguishes biological death from the destruction of personal life. Those who believe in Him may pass through thanatos, but they do not lose the eternal life already poured into the soul. Martha’s confession therefore becomes one of Scripture’s greatest: Christ is the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world, and in Himself possesses life and resurrection.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Christ’s delay is never indifference Jesus loves Lazarus and his sisters, yet He waits. Christ’s timing can feel bewildering precisely because love does not always take the route that human urgency demands. The delay serves a glory deeper than immediate relief, revealing a Savior whose purposes reach beyond the crisis in front of Him. [08:52]
• 2. The Father is glorified in the Son The glory of Christ does not diminish the glory of God the Father. The Father’s majesty becomes visible in the revelation of the Son’s divine power and person. Faith must therefore refuse every attempt to honor God by reducing Christ. [07:12]
• 3. Christ enters danger to save friends Jesus returns toward Jerusalem, where His enemies are waiting, in order to bring life to Lazarus. His journey toward Bethany points forward to the greater rescue accomplished through His own death. The love of Christ is not sentimental affection; it moves deliberately into the place of danger for those He loves. [12:55]
• 4. Eternal life begins before physical death Christ does not merely promise life after the grave. Christ gives eternal life now, so that biological death cannot sever the believer from living fellowship with God. Thanatos remains a transition, but it cannot destroy the life Christ has placed in His people. [22:57]
• 5. Jesus is resurrection and life Martha expects a future resurrection, but Christ stands before her as the very source of that resurrection. Hope is not finally anchored in an abstract doctrine or a distant calendar date. Hope rests in the living Christ, who holds the keys of life and death in Himself.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [04:27] - Jesus Retreats Beyond the Jordan
• [06:14] - Lazarus’s Sickness and God’s Glory
• [08:02] - The Father Glorified Through the Son
• [08:52] - Why Jesus Delayed
• [10:33] - Four Days in the Tomb
• [12:55] - Returning to Judea at Great Risk
• [13:40] - Walking in the Light
• [15:08] - Lazarus Is Dead That They May Believe
• [16:41] - Martha Meets Jesus
• [18:05] - Martha’s Hope in the Resurrection
• [19:03] - I Am the Resurrection and the Life
• [21:01] - Believers Never Truly Die
• [23:56] - Martha’s Great Confession

Bible Reading

John 11:1-44
“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “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. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” [00:00]

Observation questions

1. What details in John 11 show both Jesus’ love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus and His decision to delay going to them? [09:00]
2. How do the disciples respond when Jesus proposes returning to Judea, and what does Thomas’s response reveal about the danger they expect? [12:55]
3. What is the difference between what Jesus means by Lazarus “sleeping” and what the disciples assume He means? [14:38]
4. What does Martha say she believes about Lazarus’s future, and how does her confession of Jesus develop by the end of the conversation? [18:37]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does John place Jesus’ delay immediately after emphasizing His love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus? What does this show about the difference between Christ’s love and the relief people may expect on their preferred timetable? [09:16]
2. Jesus says that Lazarus’s illness will display the glory of God and the glory of the Son. How does the Son’s glory reveal, rather than compete with, the Father’s glory? [08:02]
3. Why is Lazarus’s four days in the tomb important to the meaning of the miracle? How does it make clear that Jesus is doing more than helping someone recover from a severe illness? [11:08]
4. Martha believes in a resurrection on the last day, but Jesus directs her attention to Himself. What changes when hope is grounded not only in a future event but in the person of Christ? [19:25]

Application questions

1. When has God’s timing felt delayed in a painful or urgent situation? How might the truth that Christ’s delay is not indifference reshape the way that situation is brought to Him in prayer? [09:43]
2. Mary and Martha bring Jesus a simple and honest message about the one He loves who is sick. What burdens, fears, or needs are hardest to place before Christ honestly right now?
3. Jesus deliberately returns to a place of danger in order to bring help to His friend. How does His willingness to move toward danger for those He loves strengthen trust in Him when following Him seems costly? [12:55]
4. Martha comes to Jesus with grief, unanswered questions, and real faith mixed together. Where might someone in the group need freedom to speak to Christ with that same kind of honest, imperfect faith? [18:05]
5. Jesus is not merely the One who promises resurrection; He is the resurrection and the life. In what ways can daily hope become focused more on circumstances improving than on Christ Himself? [20:08]
6. Believers may experience physical death, but Christ’s gift of eternal life cannot be destroyed by death. How can this promise shape the way a Christian comforts someone facing death, mourning a loss, or fearing the future? [22:44]