Jesus is the Glory of God | John 11:25-57 (07.19.2026)

John 11 brings Lazarus’ sickness, Martha and Mary’s grief, and Jesus’ delay into one clear purpose: the glory of God. Jesus loves Martha and Mary and Lazarus, so he stays where he is. That delay feels strange until John 11:4 gives the reason: “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.” God gives the greatest gift by giving a glimpse of himself, because God himself is the greatest reality in the universe.

John’s Gospel gives signs that point beyond themselves to Jesus. The signs manifest his glory so that people may believe and have life in his name. Glory means weight, the deepest reality of who God is. Exodus 34 names that glory as compassion, grace, patience, steadfast love, faithfulness, forgiveness, and justice. Jesus is that glory in flesh, full of grace and truth.

The compassion of Christ comes to the two sisters in different ways. Jesus gives Martha truth. He does not correct false theology, because Martha already believes in the resurrection on the last day. He moves her from paper theology to personal theology: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus gives Mary tears. The same words come from her mouth, “Lord, if you had been here,” but Jesus answers with weeping. His tears say that the brokenness of this world breaks his heart more than it breaks any human heart.

The anger of Christ also reveals the glory of God. Jesus is deeply moved, outraged in spirit, standing before the tomb of his friend. The author of life stares down death with tears and anger. Death is not normal. Death is not natural. Death is an enemy. Jesus hates death because he came that his people may have life and have it abundantly.

The faithfulness of Christ appears when Jesus does exactly what he said he would do. Lazarus is really dead, four days gone, already decaying, beyond human power. Yet Jesus says, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” The God who gave life to dead wombs will give life to dead tombs.

The substitutionary death of Christ becomes visible through Caiaphas’ prophecy. Caiaphas means evil, but God means good. One man will die for the people. At the cross, mercy and justice meet. God forgives sinners and does not clear the guilty because Christ bears the guilt. For those in Christ, forgiveness is not only mercy. It is justice, because the debt has been paid in full.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Truth can be deep compassion Jesus gives Martha truth because her grief needs more than comfort that floats above reality. Her theology is right, but Jesus presses it into the wound until the resurrection is no longer only a future doctrine, but a present person. Faith matures when God moves truth from paper to personal trust. [13:37]
• 2. Jesus weeps before raising Lazarus Jesus knows Lazarus will rise, and still Jesus weeps. His tears show that divine sovereignty does not make him cold toward sorrow. The grief of his people is not small to him, even when the end is already secure in his hands. [18:06]
• 3. Holy anger reveals holy love Jesus’ anger at the tomb is not a loss of control, but the love of the author of life confronting the enemy called death. Anger reveals what is loved, and Christ’s anger reveals his hatred of everything that steals, kills, and destroys. God’s people learn to test anger by asking what love is underneath it. [20:12]
• 4. God’s faithfulness outlives the tomb Lazarus is not mostly dead, symbolically dead, or spiritually interesting. Lazarus is four days dead, and Jesus still calls him out because his word does not collapse before decay. The faithfulness of God makes the resurrection sure, not because death is weak, but because Christ is faithful. [27:12]
• 5. Justice demands pardon in Christ The cross is where God forgives iniquity and still does not clear the guilty. Christ takes the debt fully, so pardon for those in him is not God ignoring justice, but God honoring it. Forgiveness rests on a finished payment, not on vague mercy.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:34] - Scripture Reading from John 11
• [05:20] - 9/11, Grief, and God’s Glory
• [06:24] - Jesus Loved Them, So He Stayed
• [08:04] - John’s Signs Manifest Christ’s Glory
• [09:31] - Glory as Weight and Reality
• [10:33] - Exodus 34 and Grace and Truth
• [12:28] - Christ’s Compassion for Martha and Mary
• [14:13] - The Compassion of Truth
• [17:21] - The Compassion of Tears
• [19:16] - The Anger of Christ at Death
• [25:12] - The Faithfulness of Christ
• [30:28] - Caiaphas and Substitutionary Death
• [33:47] - Mercy and Justice Meet at the Cross
• [35:14] - Keep Seeing the Glory of God

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.” [01:34]

Exodus 34:6-7
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” [10:33]

John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [34:15]

Observation questions

1. In John 11, what details show that Jesus truly loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and what details show that he still delayed going to them? [06:24]
2. Martha and Mary both say, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” How does Jesus respond differently to each sister? [12:28]
3. What words and actions in John 11 show both the grief of Jesus and the intensity of his response at the tomb? [19:16]
4. What details in the passage make it unmistakably clear that Lazarus was really dead and beyond human help? [27:12]

Interpretation questions

1. John 11 says Jesus loved this family, and therefore he stayed two days longer. How does that change the way suffering and delay might be understood when God does not act as quickly as people hope? [07:13]
2. Jesus tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life,” not simply, “There will be a resurrection.” What is the difference between believing in a doctrine on paper and trusting a living Savior in the middle of grief? [15:37]
3. Jesus knows he is about to raise Lazarus, and yet he still weeps. What do his tears reveal about the heart of God toward human sorrow? [18:06]
4. Exodus 34 says God forgives sin and also will by no means clear the guilty. How does the death of Christ hold mercy and justice together? [33:47]

Application questions

1. When have you struggled most with God’s timing? In that situation, what would it look like to believe that delay is not the same thing as neglect? [07:25]
2. Is there an area where your faith has become mostly “paper theology”—something you know is true, but have not really leaned on personally? What truth about Christ needs to move from your head into your grief, fear, or daily life? [15:42]
3. In seasons of pain, do you tend to need truth, tears, or both? How have you seen Christ meet people differently, and what kind of care do you think you need right now? [19:00]
4. Jesus weeps and Jesus is angry at death. How might that shape the way you talk to someone who is grieving, especially if they have been told that death is just natural or normal? [21:22]
5. Anger reveals love. What tends to make you angry most quickly, and what might that reveal about what you treasure most? [24:17]
6. Where in life does something feel “too late,” “too far gone,” or beyond repair? What would it look like to hear again, “Did I not tell you…?” and trust the faithfulness of Christ there? [27:44]
7. If forgiveness in Christ rests on a finished payment, not vague mercy, how could that change the way you confess sin, fight shame, or draw near to God this week? [34:15]