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By considering the signs in the Gospel of John, we can realize that the Lord firstly comes to us as life. The first category of hindrances that He met was the Judaistic religion, and the second category was that of the human opinions held by those who loved Him. The hindrance of human opinions is exactly the same today in His church. Countless opinions of those who love the Lord the most hinder the Lord from being resurrection life in the church. Outside the church, it is religion that prevents the Lord from being life. But inside the church, it is the endless opinions that hamper Him from being our life.
These nine cases are very meaningful because they show that the Lord as life starts with regeneration and ends with resurrection. All of these cases are signs signifying that the Lord comes to us as life in several different aspects. The experience of the Lord as our life begins with regeneration and reaches the climax with resurrection.
The Lord Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25). Resurrection is superior to life. By itself, life can only have existence, but resurrection can withstand any kind of attack, even the attack of death. The Lord is not only life, but He is also resurrection. Death cannot hold Him because He can conquer death. Death cannot retain Him, because He is not only life — He is also resurrection. Life is the power to exist, but resurrection is the power to conquer everything that is against life. Therefore, because resurrection can defeat every attack against life, it is superior to life.
According to the Scriptures, death is a great power. When death comes upon a man, he cannot escape it. Not even atomic power can overcome death. Only the Lord Himself as resurrection can defeat death. He can deliver all of the dead persons from death because He is not only life but also resurrection. Since He is the resurrection, He can break the power of death. Even Hades is unable to confine our Lord to the tomb.
We must learn how to apply this resurrection life day by day. We must not only live by the Lord as life, but we must also conquer by the Lord as resurrection. Many times our circumstances affect us like death. But praise the Lord that all matters which contain the touch of death are a test because these matters prove whether or not the Lord is the resurrection. Nothing can confine us, for we have the Lord as our resurrection life. Regardless of the pressure or trouble we are bearing, we can stand it because we have resurrection life. According to 11:25, the Lord did not say that we will not die, but that we will prove to the whole universe that the Lord in whom we believe is the resurrection! Satan will try his best to put us permanently into death. One day, though we all may die, we will all be resurrected. Throughout the whole universe this will be the greatest victory, the victory that will testify that the Lord is the resurrection. However, even in our daily life we may have the foretaste of the ultimate victory of that resurrection. This is why the Apostle Paul said, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Phil. 3:10).
The human opinion is always in the way of experiencing the Lord as the resurrection life in the church. Therefore, human opinion must be given up before it is possible to have the church life. How we need to learn the lesson of being silent in the church instead of voicing our opinion! We must be even more quiet than Mary. We should not say a word. We should simply send a message to the Lord — that is all. Then Lazarus will be saved. Whether the Lord answers or not and whether He comes or not, we are simply quiet. We just leave the matter completely in the hands of the Lord. Then we will never be wrong and He will never be late. When He comes, we must not say a word. We should just let Him speak and give Him the opportunity to do whatever He wants. We should simply be available to cooperate with Him. This is the proper way to have the church life. If we do this, we shall experience Christ as the resurrection life.
This chapter in John is very meaningful when it is related to the church life. The Lord is the One who comes to the church as the resurrection life, but there are two categories of hindrances. One is religion and the other is human opinion. Even Christianity as a religion is absolutely a hindrance to the Lord’s purpose of bringing life. Today, there are many so-called free groups of Christians who have given up Christianity as a religion. They have come out of the denominations and other Christian organizations. Nevertheless, how endless are the human opinions among these free groups! Although there may be nothing like religion among them, yet how much their human opinions stand in the Lord’s way! Therefore, we must learn the lesson of not only giving up the Christian religion but also of forsaking our own opinions. Then we will afford the Lord a free course to be life in our midst. Once the Lord can express Himself, then the Lord will have a living church. Let us remember that religion and opinion are the two main categories of frustration to the flow of the Lord as our life.
Before going further into this last case, we must discover a principle. In chapter two we saw that the first sign was that of changing the water into wine. The second sign, in chapter four, was that of making the dying son of the royal official live. We have mentioned several times that the intention of the Holy Spirit throughout this gospel is simply to make the Lord Jesus to be the life to meet all of our needs. These two signs in chapters two and four reveal the principle of life out of death. In all nine cases there is the principle of life in the realm of resurrection to meet every human need. Now we can understand why the changing of water into wine was the “beginning of signs.” It contains the all-important principle of bringing life out of death. This is the basic principle in all of the nine cases. In every case there is nothing but water, which signifies death. All that we are and all that we have is nothing but the water of death. In other words, we are nothing more than the water of death and we have nothing other than the water of death.
If you consider the condition of the people in each case, you will discover that in every case they had nothing but death. Look at the man named Nicodemus. He had nothing but the water of death. Look at the Samaritan woman. Her thirst meant that she was under the threatening of death. Look at the dying son of the royal official. He was under the cruelty of death. Look at the man who was sick for thirty-eight years. What did he have? Death. Look at the multitude before they were fed by the Lord. They were hungry because they had nothing other than the water of death. Look at the thirsty religionists. The vanity with which their feast ended also spoke of death. Look at the sinful woman who was brought to the Lord by the Pharisees. She also had only the water of death. Spiritually speaking, even the blind man had only death. And Lazarus reeked of death. All the people involved in these nine cases had nothing but the water of death. According to the second chapter, the six waterpots, a type of humanity, were filled to the brim with the water of death. Likewise, every person in every case was filled with death. Death is revealed in every case.
However, the Lord came into these situations of death in order to be life in the principle of resurrection. He turned the death of each situation into life and brought life out of death.
Let us apply this principle of life in resurrection to all of the cases. Firstly, the Lord spoke with Nicodemus about regeneration. Do you know what is the principle of regeneration? Regeneration simply means that the Lord has come to be our life in resurrection. How can the Lord regenerate people or cause them to be born anew? Simply by being their life in the principle of resurrection.
In the case of the Samaritan woman, the Lord spoke with her about the satisfaction of the living water. How can a poor sinner be satisfied with the living water? Only by the principle of life in resurrection. When the Lord comes into us as life in resurrection, we shall then have the living water which satisfies us.
In principle, the healing of the dying son of the royal official also meant that life was imparted to him. For the healing of the death wound there was the need for the imparting of life in resurrection.
What happened to the impotent man who was sick for thirty-eight years? Again the principle is the same, for the Lord came to him as the enlivening life in resurrection. Because the Lord came to be his life in resurrection, the Lord became the enlivening power to make him strong.
In the case of the hungry multitude, the Lord came as their bread of life. If the Lord had not died and been resurrected, He could never be our living bread. Since He has died by being slain on the cross and has been raised in the power of resurrection life, He can feed and satisfy us with the living bread. We can be fed by and with Him. This also is the principle of life in resurrection.
In the case of the thirsty people in chapter seven, the Lord was the living water to quench their thirst. How can the Lord be our living water? John 7 clearly tells us that after the Lord was glorified the life-giving Spirit became the living water. What does it mean for the Lord to be glorified? It simply means that the Lord was to be crucified and resurrected. In His resurrection the Lord has become the living water which quenches our thirst.
In the case of the sinful woman, the Lord set her free from the bondage and slavery of sin. The Lord died to be the living, great I Am to sinners. The Lord strengthens and energizes us with His life in resurrection, which frees us from the bondage of sin. Without His life in resurrection, we could never be freed from the slavery of sin.
The case of the man born blind also reveals the principle of life in resurrection. How was it possible for the Lord to give him sight and the light of life? Chapter ten, which continues the case in chapter nine, says that the Lord, as the good shepherd, had to die in order to give His divine life to His sheep. The Lord had to die and become the resurrection life in the Spirit. Now He comes to us on the basis of life in resurrection.
Of course, it is clearly evident that the last case, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, is based upon Christ as life in the realm of resurrection. The first sign, the second sign, and now the last case reveal the intention and principle of the Gospel of John: that of life through the resurrection of the dead.
Why was it that the Lord waited for two days instead of going immediately upon receiving the news of Lazarus’ sickness? Strictly speaking, the Lord waited for two days because He would not only heal people; rather, He would enliven us. The Lord never heals according to our understanding; He heals by enlivening. Can you find the term “healing” in chapter five about the impotent man who was sick for thirty-eight years? Was that man actually sick in the eyes of the Lord? No, in the eyes of the Lord that man was dead. The Lord did not heal his sickness; He enlivened that dead man. Therefore, the principle of life through resurrection is that the Lord always enlivens the dead.
Do you think that the Lord wants to heal you? The Lord wants to enliven you. According to the old concept, healing means to reform or to improve you. But the Lord never comes to improve you or to regulate your behavior. He always comes to enliven you. The Lord’s only intention is to impart Himself to you as the enlivening life.
For this reason the Lord refused to go to Lazarus immediately to heal him of his sickness. He waited until Lazarus was thoroughly dead and buried. He waited until Lazarus’ human life had come to an absolute end. Lazarus was so completely dead that he was stinking in the tomb. It was at this time that the Lord came. He did not come before this time because He refused to come on the principle of healing. He came only on the principle of life in resurrection.
Consider the example of a religious brother who discovers that he has a bad temper. We may say that he is sick with a bad temper. Consider also the case of a little boy who, after he is saved, discovers that he is quite naughty. He also is a sick person; he is sick with his mischievous behavior. Another believer may discover that he jokes too much and that he is sick with his joking. All of these sick people, after discovering their sickness, send the information about their sickness to the Lord. Just like Martha who said that Lazarus was sick, they also say that they are sick of a bad temper, of bad behavior, or of joking. They want the Lord to heal them by improving their temper so that it will be a good temper, by reforming their bad behavior so that it will be a good behavior, and by adjusting their joking. The brother who wants his joking adjusted prays, “O Lord, keep my mouth!” In other words, these people are sick and are asking the Lord to heal them. But the Lord will never come to heal you. The more you pray for the healing of your temper, the worse your temper will be. The Lord will never come to heal, but He waits...waits...waits...until you are dead. He will not answer your prayer for healing, but He will wait until your sickness turns into death. He will wait until you realize that you are not only sick but that you are also dead. The Lord will wait until you tell Him that you are a hopeless case, until you give up all hope for yourself.
Do you still hope for some improvement? Are you really disappointed with yourself? I am afraid that each of you still possesses some hope for yourself. Many times you are like both Martha and Lazarus. On one hand, you are the sick Lazarus; on the other hand, you are the Martha informing the Lord. You inform the Lord about your sickness with the hope that He will come to improve your condition. But we all can testify that the Lord will never come to answer this kind of prayer. The more you seek for improvement, the more He stays away.
One day you will finally realize that you are an absolutely hopeless case. You will discover that you are a vessel containing nothing but the water of death. Everything is full of death; nothing is living. You are just one of those six waterpots full of death water. When you realize that you are absolutely in death, having nothing except the water of death within you, then the Lord will come to enliven you. When you awake to the fact that you are dead, buried, and even stinking with bad odors, the Lord will then come to enliven you. How often we try to be better and to improve ourselves! But the Lord will just wait until you stink and even spread the bad odors to others. The Lord will wait until others smell your stinking odors. Then He will come to you in the principle of life in resurrection to enliven you.
Christianity acts contrary to this principle, for it is a religion that tries to improve people, reform them, and regulate their behavior. But Christ is life and He comes to enliven people with that life. He comes to regenerate and resurrect them with Himself as life. What does it mean to improve, reform, or to regulate one’s behavior? It simply means to make the original man better by the means of the original self. But Christ comes to regenerate and remake us with Himself. The Lord would not heal the original man; He waits until the original man is dead. Therefore, when you are so full of the water of death that you stink with the odor of death, then the Lord will come to re-create you and resurrect you out of that death into Himself as life in resurrection.
The principle of the Gospel of John is Christ as life in resurrection. The intention of this gospel is not to improve or reform us by regulating our behavior. The Lord’s only intention is to bring life into us. This life will enliven, regenerate, resurrect, and recreate us. If we can apprehend the principle of this gospel, our thirst will be quenched, our hunger satisfied, our darkness enlightened, our bondage in sin broken, and our death swallowed up by resurrection — all by experiencing Christ as our resurrection life in the Spirit and through the Word. We can never experience the living Christ by anything of ourselves or by any of our doings. The living Christ is only experienced in the Spirit and through the Word. The Spirit and the Word will bring us into the principle of life in resurrection. If we take Him in the Spirit and through the Word, we shall then be satisfied, enlightened, freed, and resurrected. When we are resurrected from the dead, we are delivered from all aspects of death. Nothing can suppress us, nothing can restrict us, and nothing can imprison us because we are living in resurrection.
The Lord raised up the dead only among those who loved Him dearly. This is typical of His church today, for He is the resurrection life only to the group of believers who dearly love Him. However, as the information about His resurrection power is brought to the religious groups, such as Judaism, it will cause a reaction. The religious groups will simply become angry with the Lord and even make the decision to arrest Him and put Him to death. Judaism in chapter eleven implies that even the Christian religion of today is very much against the Lord’s desire to bring resurrection life to others. In many cases, the Christian religion has driven out the Lord as life. In these last days, the Lord is more and more with those groups of persons who love Him dearly. As a result, He will do many things to raise people out of their death. But this information will spread to the religious groups who will be angry and will be against Christ as the resurrection life.
It is remarkable that the time of Lazarus’s resurrection coincided with the time of the Passover. According to the Scriptures, we know that Christ is our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), but those religious folks were going to have another Passover. By keeping their own Passover, the religious people killed the reality of the Passover. In other words, Christ as the real Passover is the reality of the Passover. On one hand, the religious people wanted to keep the Passover; on the other hand, they wanted to eliminate the reality of the Passover. Today this principle is exactly the same in Christianity. Although Christianity has so much to do with Christ, it puts away the reality of Christ. It preaches about Christ on the one hand, but destroys the reality of Christ on the other.
We have seen that the death situation provided by God enabled Christ to manifest His resurrection power and that this resurrection power issues in the raising up of the dead one. But this raising of Lazarus caused some trouble. The news of it spread to the Pharisees, and the Pharisees, after hearing of it, considered the situation as very serious. Thus, they conspired to kill Jesus (11:45-57). As the Pharisees were conspiring against the Lord Jesus, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke prophetically, saying, “You know nothing at all, nor do you account that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not the whole nation perish” (11:49-50). The following verse says, “Now this he did not say from himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation; and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather into one the children of God who have been scattered abroad” (11:51-52). The phrase “gather into one the children of God” mentioned here implies that not only the death but also the resurrection life of the Lord is for the building up of God’s children. What does all this mean? It simply means that the resurrection life will raise up a situation through which God’s scattered people may be gathered together in order to be built up for God’s dwelling on earth. Religion’s conspiracy helps in the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
I say once again that the death of Lazarus was provided by God as an opportunity for resurrection life to be manifested. Resurrection life needs death in order that resurrection life and power might be expressed. This manifestation of resurrection power caused a reaction among the opposers, who then conspired to kill the Lord Jesus. As part of their consideration, a prophecy was uttered. This indicates that the conspiracy among the opposing religion actually serves to fulfill God’s purpose. It helps to gather all the scattered people of God for God’s building. Therefore, never be disappointed by the situation in your local church. If there is a difficult situation in your church, praise God for it. It must be His provision. He will do something and then the opposition of religion will be stirred up. The opposers may even try to kill you. But do not be troubled. That very conspiracy will be used by God to gather His scattered people together for His building.
I want to impress you with the fact that as long as we are in the Lord’s recovery and as long as we have the resurrection of Christ, regardless of the situation among us or the conspiracy in the environment against us, God’s eternal purpose will eventually be fulfilled. There will be a gathering of God’s scattered people for God’s building. All the negative things — the death and the opposition — will be the servants of God’s eternal purpose. They will further the fulfillment, the accomplishment, of God’s purpose. We are on the mountaintop, and the flood waters are under our feet. Do not be troubled. As long as you are in the local church, as long as you have Christ as your resurrection power, and as long as you are in this flow and have this testimony, you may be at peace regardless of the death condition inwardly or the opposition outwardly. The opposition of religion, the conspiracy that plans to kill or terminate you, will carry out God’s eternal purpose.
This is the revelation in this chapter. John 11 is not merely a story of resurrection. It is a complete revelation that discloses that as long as we are with the Lord and with the resurrection life for God’s purpose, everything that transpires is for the fulfillment of His purpose. Thus we may say, “Lord, if You want to give us a death situation, please do it. We are happy with it. Let some Lazarus brothers die. Then Your resurrection power will be manifested. You will do a work in resurrection that will arouse the opposition, and that opposition will gather together the scattered children of God for God’s building.” These things are happening in this country. Praise the Lord! Praise Him for His resurrecting power. Praise the Lord for His sovereign gathering. He is raising the dead and He is gathering His people together for His wonderful building!
