
“The Hearts of the People Must Be Right Before Moving Forward” Joshua 5:1-15

a place for us to share ideas, talk about life, and learn together.
Death Defeated
A Two-Part Easter Sermon Series
Part Two
“Three Witnesses to Death’s Defeat”
Matthew 28:1-20
Introduction
Prayer
The Women (vv. 1-10)
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake[1], for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
(v. 1) “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb” – “the verb means to behold, as a spectacle;[2] They designed also, if it should appear practicable and appropriate, to ‘anoint him’ (Mark 16:1), and brought with them spices (Luke 24:1) which they had provided the evening before, when the Sabbath was past (Mark). As they went (Mark 16:3) they were concerned about the question, “Who will roll the stone away?” for they knew from the internment that “it was exceedingly great.”[3]
Sometime before the women’s arrival an angel “descended from heaven,” rolled the stone away, and was sitting on it when they arrived. Accompanying the angel’s descent was an earthquake. And their appearance “like lightning, and his clothing white as snow” and arrival “earthquake and descending from heaven” caused the Roman soldiers who stood guard to passed out from fear. It says, “the guards trembled” – It has the same Greek root as earthquake. The ground shook, and the soldiers shook.
Cornelius Lapide says, “The earth, which trembled with sorrow at the Death of Christ as it were leaped for joy at His Resurrection.”[4]
5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
(v. 6) “He is not here,” We are not given any details about the resurrection itself, only that by the time the women arrived, Jesus was not there. “The stone was not rolled aside to let Jesus out but to let the women in.”[5] How Jesus escaped we don’t know.
(v. 7) “he is going before you to Galilee” – This does not mean that they will not see him before Galilee, but “that on a certain mountain in Galilee was to be the great meeting, where many disciples should receive the Great Commission,”[6] Even at the tomb, this is not the end of Jesus’ ministry. He is still pointing people toward redemption, salvation, and purpose.
Matthew 26:32 “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”
People respond in different ways to angels and their messages. John the Baptist’s father when approached by an angel doubted, In Luke 1:18-20 “And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” But the women believe what the angel says, because it matches up with what Jesus had already told them, and they depart quickly.
8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
The women departed with their instructions to tell what they had seen and experienced and it was “with fear and great joy.” We will see that when we draw close to things of God, there will be a combination of fear and joy. They had the greatest news that was possible to have. To them “anything seemed possible now.”[7]
It was while they were hurrying to honor the Savior and bring joy to his disciples, that they met Jesus. If we want to have an encounter with Jesus, then we should run to do good to others and bring joy to the body of Christ.
(v. 9) “took hold of his feet and worshiped him” – “held him, literally seized him or grasped, showing great humility and veneration.”[8]
The angel says, “tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead,” but Jesus says, “go and tell my brothers” – this is a distinct difference between mankind and angels. While we were made “a little lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:7),” we are “co-heirs with Christ”, and they are not (Romans 8:17). Jesus calls those who have denied Him, abandoned Him, and forsaken Him for dead, “brothers.” Jesus as the Creator of everything, gives His life for His creation so that we may be together as family.
God described Himself to us as Father, Jesus reveals Himself to us as brother, Paul uses the Greek word for love “Philadelphia” as the love that Christians have for each other (brothers and sisters in Christ). God created the world and established the family, Paul establishes the church family, and at the end of time we will be gathered to heaven and live together in eternity with our heavenly Father as a family.
The angel tells them to go to Galilee, Jesus himself says to go to Galilee – something very important is going to happen at Galilee.
The Guard (vv. 11-15)
11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.[9]’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
The soldiers saw with their own eyes the angel descend and roll away the stone, and even before they collapsed in fear may have even seen the risen Lord. Then they give an accurate account to the chief priests, who seem to believe the account as well. Then they assembled the elders, who believe it as well. It’s important to understand that each of these groups believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead.
But the consequence of this truth was too much to take – so they sought to cover it up.
Earlier in Matthew, Jesus and Pharisees were arguing over following the law regarding the Sabbath. A man had a deformed arm was suffering, so Matthew 12:13 “Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” The Pharisees knew Jesus performed miracles, and now they know He rose from the dead – but what is the consequence to them? What do you do with Jesus?
C. S. Lewis once said, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”[10]
The soldiers were given an assignment to guard the tomb. “According to Roman discipline, they were liable to very severe punishment for losing what they guarded.” (v. 14) “And if this comes to the governor’s ears” – So they say, “spread this false rumor, take this money, and we will make sure that no harm comes to you.”
The soldier’s account fails on two points, 1) if they were asleep, how do they know it was the disciples that stole the body? Sleeping people don’t make very good eyewitnesses. Also, if one of them awoke, why was not an alarm sounded and the disciples arrested?[11] 2) Why would a Roman soldier go around admitting to doing a bad job?
The soldiers were persuaded to spread a lie they knew not to be true, and to pretend that Jesus did not rise from the dead for money. Money kept them from repenting and giving their lives to what they knew to be true.
How much evidence is enough? If your heart is set against the things of God, and the Holy Spirit is not drawing a person, there is no amount of evidence that will change a person’s heart. They will even believe a lie that is harder to believe than the truth itself.
The Disciples (vv. 16-20)
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(v. 16) “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee” – Why were there only 11? Judas had betrayed Jesus and had hung himself. The disciples had time to replace him with another to complete the 12 – why had they not replaced Judas? Because there was no point, the Jesus movement was dead.
The church father Jerome said, “Their doubting increases our faith.” Some found it hard to believe that the person a far off (it was in a group of 500) before them was the resurrected Christ. “And Jesus came (near) . . .” When Jesus is close we begin to understand the power and truth of the resurrection. When you draw near to Jesus, He will make things clear. He has no desire to be the far-off God, he wants to be the close-up God of your life. In the Garden of Eden in Genesis God would come close to Adam and Eve, “in the cool of the day,” but sin caused that relationship between mankind and God to be distanced. Christ’s death and resurrection brings us back close to God.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” – Satan and all his dominion poured out all the hate, the vile, and blasphemy he could aim at Jesus the Son. Then all of the Father’s wrath was poured upon Jesus on the Roman cross for the salvation of the world. He was scourged and beaten beyond recognition. He was raised on the cross, pierced for our iniquities.
He was laid in the tomb, dead – and now upon the resurrection, the crown of thorns is removed, the rod used to beat him and then placed in his hand as a scepter is gone, and the mocking robe laid over him by the Roman soldiers is removed – Jesus the Son, now sits victorious at the right hand of the Father, having “All authority” – there is nothing that exists that is not under his reign.
Jesus then gives the disciples what is known as the Great Commission. (v. 19) “Go therefore” – Don’t miss the therefore; We are to make disciples of this resurrected Jesus. We who are Jesus’ disciples know that our Jesus sits with authority over all of creation as King, Supreme Ruler, all bow before Him. There is no one who will not have to give an account to Him.
We go under His authority, to speak and act as His representatives, his ambassadors, his children – but He is the resurrected Lord, therefore, He alone is worthy to be praised, worshipped, honored. Therefore, we tell the world about Him. Therefore, we share His gospel.
This is “the most sublime enterprise that ever human beings have been called upon to accomplish.”[12] Every nation should be discipled to be under His lordship, to keep His commandments.
“baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” – baptism, as a disciple, follows one’s salvation because it “symbolizes burial and resurrection, the actual burial and resurrection of Christ, and the spiritual death and resurrection of the believer in union with Christ (Rom. 6:3).”[13]
“teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” – While baptism is an act of obedience, done one time – observing Christ’s commands is an ongoing act, that we seek to follow Christ’s teachings every day. As a disciple maker learning Christ’s commands is not enough – a disciple maker must teach the disciple how to follow that teachings as a well. “to observe all . . .” There are no sections of Jesus’ teachings that have become antiquated, irrelevant, or untrue.
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” – The word “behold” is used in many places throughout the Bible to signal to the reader something spectacular. Jesus promises to be with us, always. How spectacular is that – this resurrected God, who died for the sins of the world, who has ultimate authority or all of space and time is with us – enabling us to carry out this “Great Commission.”
____________________
[1] Seismo egeneto megas, Robertson, 240.
[2] Matthew 27:55-56 “There were also many women there [at Jesus’ death on the cross], looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.”
[3] John A Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Judson Press, 1950) 584.
[4] Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press, 1930) 242.
[5] Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Matthew All Authority in Heaven and on Earth (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publsihing, 2013) 901.
[6] Broadus, 586.
[7] Robertson, 242.
[8] Broadus, 586.
[9] “The absurd and blasphemous medieval Jewish legend called “Toldoth Jeshu” expands this allegation.” Broadus, 588.
[10] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
[11] Frank E. Gabaelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8 (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 1984) 591.
[12] Broadus, 592.
[13] Broadus, 596.
Death Defeated
A Two-Part Easter Sermon Series
“Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life”
John 11:1-45
Introduction
“John 11 begins the last section of John’s Gospel before Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem. It was an interlude from his public affairs and form his increasing conflict with the religious leaders. It was also a time of ministry to those closest to him, as Jesus sought to strengthen the faith of his friends and disciples before taking up the cross.”[1]
Prayer
Jesus Delays (vv. 1-16)
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 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.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 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. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
In the opening verses of chapter 11 John is letting us know who exactly he is describing. He looking back over all the years of Jesus’ ministry and John’s experience and it was the same Mary who later in the timeline will wipe Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair.
(v. 4) tells us why this account has been placed in the gospel, “so that the Son of God may be glorified through it,” – How is Jesus going to be glorified through what has happened to Lazarus and his illness?
Jesus is two miles away, less than a thirty-minute walk – why did it take him four days to get there? “So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” The sisters Mary and Martha expected Jesus to come right away – but he intentionally delayed. The text doesn’t even say he was doing anything that would have caused a delay (like Matt. 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; and Luke 8:43-48).
But so that we would know that he wasn’t being callous toward their request, we are told, that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus knew that Jesus loved them because they said, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” And John again tells us, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,” – He loved them, and yet He clearly had, multiple times, shown he could heal Lazarus (even from a distance, and not even be present). Why is Lazarus dead? Why would Jesus let someone he loved die?
Was it because He was afraid? Just a few days before John 10:30-31 tells us that because of Jesus’ claim of divinity the Jewish people wanted to stone him, “I and the Father are one.” 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.” They managed to escape, and now He says, “Let us go to Judea again.” So, he does not seem to be fearful. He talks about going during the daytime, he does not arrive at dark. Jesus has easily escaped as people wanted to stone him, throw him off a cliff, and try to trap him in arguments.
So, he did not delay because He was unable to heal Lazarus. He did not delay because he was scared of being stoned. And He did not delay because he was uncaring or callous toward this family. Jesus delayed because he loved Lazarus.
Genuine love is doing what is best for the other person.
But how is delaying and allowing Lazarus to die, what is best?
There are clues that Jesus gives to the disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,” – death, in the OT and the NT is referred to as sleep.[2] Sleep does not harm us. It is similar to Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,” When you see the shadow of something, you may fear what casts the shadow – but the shadow of something can’t hurt you. For those who place their faith in Jesus, death can only touch you as sleep or shadow. Paul later asks, “death where is your sting?” The sting of death has been removed by what Jesus is about to do.
Martha’s Response to Jesus’ Delay (vv. 17-27)
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Martha went to meet Jesus, the delay had lasted four days and she wanted to know, “why have you waited so long?” But there is still something she needs to know about Jesus. She says, “whatever you ask from God, God will give you,” Jesus is God – He is the author of creation, All life comes from Him, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
He creates it, gives it, sustains it, and at death will resurrect it. Jesus has complete control of life. The beginning of the gospel of John 1:1-4 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Death is the result of the fall of mankind, and our sin, “the penalty of sin is death.” The only way to be free from death is to be brought back to life. We are “dead in our trespasses and sin (Eph. 2:1).” Jesus is explaining to Martha, that He is the way to be brought back to life again.
Not at some future last day – but now. Death can move from being our greatest enemy to being a shadow or sleep unable to harm us. So Jesus says, “I am the resurrection.” But how does Jesus, being the resurrection, bring us back to life? Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,”
The reason God gave us this account is so that we may know and believe in Jesus. John 20:31 “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Apart from Jesus there is no life, only death. Martha says, “Yes, Lord; I believe . . .”
Mary’s Response to Jesus’ Delay (vv. 28-37)
28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 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. 32 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.” 33 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. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
If Martha is the thinker and doer (Luke 10:38-42), then Mary is the emotion and the heart. Both sisters say the exact same thing, but Jesus responds to them differently. One needed to know and understand. The other needed for Jesus to weep with her – to feel this moment with her.
Both sisters would have waited at the window look into the horizon, “when is He coming?” Why isn’t he here by now? Every time we see Mary, she is close to Jesus. When Martha complained about Mary not helping her because of guests in their house[3], Mary is at Jesus’ feet – listening to His teaching. When Jesus calls for her (here), she immediately and quickly went to him, and when she arrives, “she fell at his feet”
All those times of sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening and learning led her to understand something none of the other disciples understood. John mentions (v. 2) “It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair,” In John 12 at a dinner party Mary breaks an expensive glass vile of perfume and pours it on Jesus’ feet and wipes it with her hair. She anoints his body for death 12:7 “Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.” She will be the only one to understand that Jesus must die for the sin of the world. So, she gave her all because he would give His all.
But at her brother’s grave, she does not want to have a discussion about end times, or theology – her heart is broken. So together for a moment they weep together.
When Jesus arrives and begins to see how death has affected this family, “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 . . . Jesus wept. Jesus is God, who took on human flesh, and he became so human and our sorrows and anguish became His sorrow and anguish. The one true God loves and care for His people.
The word used for Jesus’ weeping here is more in line with sternness and even anger. “It is not just that Jesus was troubled but that he was indignant. Jesus was not merely saddened but outraged at the scene before him”[4] Jesus is with us in our weeping, and he weeps with us – but He stands up to do something about it.
Filled will grief, having the tears still on his face, Jesus asks, “Where have you laid him?” Jesus does not just join the family in mourning – As the author of all creation, as God who has taken on human flesh, He is going to do something about the death that has wrecked this family. He is going to war against death. Death becomes the object of His wrath. What is about to happen is a foretaste of what the deliverance from death that he will give all who believe in Him. He will defeat death.
The Son of Man is Glorified (vv. 38-45)
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 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.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 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.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 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.”
The disciples thought he could heal the sick, stops storms on the ocean, and cast out demons. When they faced the dangerous situation of going back to place of being threatened, (by stoning) they feared for their lives, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
The sisters thought he was able to heal the living – but once a person was dead four days, it was over. What is best for Mary, Martha, Lazarus, the disciples, and everyone that has ever placed their faith in Jesus is that we need to know that He is the resurrection and the life.
So He delays, converses with Martha, weeps with Mary, and yells out Lazarus’ name “come out.” Jesus loves us, so he waited. We had to learn that Jesus is the resurrection. He is more powerful than life itself. God loves us enough to not do what we want him to do, but He does what we need Him to do.
But ultimately all of this is not for Mary, Martha, Lazarus, or the disciples (“so that you may believe.”) It benefited them, but it was not for them. John tells us in the beginning why this took place – “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” “It is the chief end of man to glorify God.”[5] This is the highest and best thing. The best thing is for God to receive glory. V. 45 says, “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,”
Our ultimate purpose is to bring glory to God.
God used Lazarus’ death to bring others to have faith in Jesus. Are you willing for God to use your life for his glory and the salvation of others? Jesus after enduring the humiliation of Roman garrison, and the incredible pain of the scourging, and the weight of the sin of the world as he hung on the cross, cried out “why have you forsaken me?” But He endured the cross knowing that His death and suffering would lead to the salvation of many. Jesus prayed, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46).
As you sit at your window and wonder, “when is the Lord coming?” Why has he not answered my prayer – know that He loves you, He understands your suffering, and He has a plan to bring God glory through your pain and suffering. “Learn to interpret circumstances by the love of Christ and not Christ’s love by circumstances.”[6]
It is Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life that begins a chain of events that leads to the cross. Next week we will see “that even at the cross, Jesus was not finished (defeating death). For three days after he died, he did something greater than raising Lazarus from the grave. Jesus himself rose from the dead, our sin having been conquered by his blood and death now conquered by the resurrection life he gives to us.”
_______________________
[1] Richard D. Phillips, Reformed Expository Commentary, John Volume 2 (Phillipsburg, New Jersey; P&R Publishing, 2014) 6.
[2] Duet. 31:6; Acts 7:60; 1 Cor. 15:18; Matt. 9:24.
[3] Luke 10:38-42
[4] Phillips, 45.
[5] Phillips, 12.
[6] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John, Volume 3 (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Books, 2001) 828.