Feb 7 2014, 08:28 AM
Last case on Gospel of John.
THE NEED OF THE DEAD-LIFE’S RESURRECTING
The case of raising Lazarus from the dead is certainly a wonderful case. Here we see the case of a man who had died, who had been buried for four days, and who had begun to stink. Nevertheless, he was resurrected. Why do the other three Gospels give us no record of this wonderful case? Although this case is marvelous, the other Gospels say nothing about it. This case of resurrection does not fit in with the purposes of the other three Gospels; it only suits the purpose of the Gospel of John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are Gospels with purposes other than life. John is the Gospel on life. Therefore, the Holy Spirit kept this case for John. This proves that the Gospel of John is a book of life.
THE DEAD AND HIS NEED
In 11:1-4 we see the dead and his need. Lazarus was not only sick but also dead (11:14). Thus, he did not need healing but resurrecting. In the Lord’s salvation He does not merely heal the sick; He also gives life to the dead. So He remained two days until the sick one had died (11:6). The Lord does not reform people or regulate them; He regenerates people and raises them out of death. Hence, the first of the nine cases is on regeneration and the last is on resurrection, revealing that all of the different aspects of Christ as life to us, as unveiled in the other seven cases, are in the principle of regeneration and resurrection. This last case is the actual changing of death into life.
Before going into the matter of Christ raising Lazarus from the dead, we must realize that the Gospel of John reveals two things. On the positive side, it reveals that Christ came to be our life. The Son of God is the Word of God, which is the expression of God. As the expression of God, He came in the flesh to be our life. This central thought is found in every chapter throughout the entire Gospel. On the negative side, this book also shows that religion, even the Jewish religion of Judaism, is very much against Christ as life. By reading this book carefully, you will see how even the sound and genuine religion opposes Christ as life. Within the first ten chapters of this Gospel, the only opposition our Lord met came from the Jewish religion. Religion opposed Him, rejected Him, repudiated Him, and persecuted Him. Eventually, at the end of chapter ten, He was forced to desert religion. He forsook the temple, the holy city, and all the good things of the Jewish religion and came to a new standing.
In every chapter from chapter one through chapter ten we can see one point concerning religion versus Christ. In chapter one we see that religion was expecting a great leader to come. Religion looked for the so-called Messiah, Elijah, or the promised prophet. However, Christ did not come as a great leader, but as the little Lamb of God to accomplish redemption and with a little dove to produce the transformed stones for God’s building. Thus, even in the first chapter of this Gospel we find an indication that religion takes the wrong way, a way other than the way of life. There is a great discrepancy between religion and life.
In chapter two we see that religion will try to destroy life, for religion will try to destroy Jesus. But Jesus as the divine life will raise Himself out of that destruction. Life not only can withstand destruction, but can raise Himself up out of the destruction of death.
In chapter three we see that Nicodemus, a high-class man, held a religious concept of the Lord Jesus, addressing Him as rabbi and referring to Him as a teacher sent from God. All such concepts are religious.
In chapter four we see that even a poor, mean, immoral, low-class Samaritan woman held a religious concept. At a certain point in her conversation with the Lord she began to speak about the worship of God. Although the religion among the Samaritans was not orthodox, it was a religion. The Samaritans had a religious tradition and inheritance.
In chapter five we see religion’s opposition to life fully aroused. This was due to the fact that the Lord Jesus enlivened the impotent man on the Sabbath day. To the Jews, it seemed that He broke their regulations about the Sabbath. Consequently, they began to oppose Him. In fact, they began to be very much against the Lord. By this case we can see how the rules and regulations of religion are in opposition to the Lord as life to the needy. The Lord who is our life is one thing, but religion with all of its rules and regulations is another. Christ as life and religion with its regulations can never go together.
We also see something of religion in chapter six. When the people saw that Jesus had fed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes they said, “This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world” (6:14). They were about to force the Lord to be their King (6:15). That was a religious concept. The Lord Jesus withdrew from them, for He wanted to remain as the small bread, good for people’s food.
We see another religious concept in chapter seven. The people at the religious feast were discussing Jesus, but Jesus stood and cried, asking them to turn from their dry religion and come to the source of living water.
We see more of religion in chapter eight. The religious scribes and Pharisees tried to trap the Lord by asking Him, in their religious way, how to deal with an adulterous woman. But the Lord answered in the way of life, exposing their folly in holding on to their religion and silencing them with shame.
The opposition of religion to life is strengthened in chapter nine. In chapter five the Lord enlivened an impotent man on the Sabbath. In chapter nine, He gave sight to a blind man. He purposely did this on the Sabbath day. Why did not the Lord Jesus go to the blind man before or after the Sabbath day? He did it purposely to break the dead rituals of dead religion. That stirred religion’s opposition against life. The Lord purposely broke the Sabbath regulation before the eyes of the religious Jews. The eyes of the blind man received sight, but the eyes of the Pharisees received blindness due to their opposition. The Jews thought that Jesus was very much against their religion because He broke the regulations of their religion. Hence, they became very angry with the Lord and began to oppose Him. They even excommunicated the man who had been healed by the Lord (9:34). When they cast the blind man out of their synagogue, they excommunicated him from their Judaistic religion. Then the Lord took the opportunity to tell them that Judaism was nothing other than a sheepfold which keeps the sheep for awhile. Now that the pasture is ready, the sheep will be released from the fold and brought into the pasture. The Lord Jesus let them know that since they had excommunicated the blind man from their religion, a sheep was released from that fold and brought into Christ as the living pasture. At the end of chapter ten, the Lord walked out of the fold of the Jewish religion.
In the first ten chapters of this Gospel we see the fighting, the struggle, between religion and life. Eventually, the Lord deserted that religion and went outside of it. Where is He now? He is outside of religion. He has nothing to do with it. Now, in His new standing, there is no religious element. All the elements of religion have been excluded.
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LYN Christian Fellowship V6 (Group), God Loves you.
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