Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. (18) Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off. (19) And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. (20) Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. (21) Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. (22) But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. (23) Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. (24) Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. (25) Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (26) And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (27) She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
As Bethany was somewhat less than two miles from Jerusalem, it is somewhat wonderful that no tidings had reached the city of the death of Lazarus. But we see how this was overruled for the greater display of the foreknowledge of Jesus, and for the greater manifestation of his power in the miracle which afterwards followed, in Christ's raising him from the dead.
I pass by very many incidents which the Evangelist hath related, all of which are full of sweet instruction, but cannot be brought for remarks upon within the compass of a Poor Man's Commentary, in order to attend to such as are more immediately demanding our regard. But the conversation the Lord held with Martha is too big with importance to be hastily passed over, and I beg the Reader's indulgence in attending to a short view of it.
The faith which this woman had in Christ, seems to have been a general belief only that Jesus was the Messiah; and therefore from the miracle he had wrought, she had no question but that he could have prevented the death of her brother. But, in relation to any other views, in which Christ would manifest that character, Martha at this time had but little consciousness. However, it is our mercy, that her dullness gave occasion to the Lord to deliver himself in the manner he did, on the great subject of the resurrection; that, by putting it on its own proper basis, the Church, under the Holy Ghost's teaching, might have blessed scriptural proofs of the same. And by the miracle which followed Christ's discourse with Martha, in the Lord's giving such a palpable demonstration of its reality in the resurrection of Lazarus, there might be a foundation for faith to rest upon in the cordial belief of it.
And now let the Reader attend to the sublime words of the Lord Jesus Christ, which, as Christ, he uttered. And may God the Holy Ghost, the Glorifier of Jesus, give them a deep impression, both upon the Reader's heart and mine. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. What words are these? What a palpable proof they carry with them of the Almightiness of the Speaker? Who, but the living and true God in Christ, could ever use such language? Who but He, who is one with the Father over all God, blessed forever, could prove the truth of it?
And what I beg the Reader more especially also to mark with me, in those unequalled words of Christ, is, that Jesus spake them in his glorious character of Mediator. Not as God only, for in that case, though it would be without doubt no less than the sovereign act of Him that alone can give life, to re-animate, by renewing life, yet Jesus, though raising the dead, could not in this case be said to be himself the Resurrection. Neither as man only, would the act, which is truly divine, have been possible. But, in the union of both, as God-Man-Mediator, Jesus himself, personally, and peculiarly, becomes the resurrection and the life, for it could belong to no other. Hence the Lord Jesus had before said to the Jews, Destroy this temple, (meaning his body), and I (meaning his divine nature), will raise it up. John 2:19. See the Commentary on that passage, from John 2:18-22. And thus Christ becomes the Resurrection and the Life to his redeemed, both in the spiritual resurrection of grace, from the death of the soul by sin, in the Adam-nature of a fallen state, and at the last day, from the natural resurrection of the body, become dead through sin, and sleeping in Jesus unto the consummation of all things. In both, Christ is the resurrection and the life, being the life-giving source in himself to all his members both in body and soul, communicating life, both spiritual and eternal, from Himself to them, for grace here, and glory hereafter.
As this view of the subject is on every account very highly interesting, I would request the Reader's attention to it yet somewhat more particularly.
That Christ is the Resurrection and the Life, spiritually considered, in relation to the first awakening from the death of sin to a life of righteousness, I can hardly suppose the Reader to be altogether unconscious. everyone that reads his Bible, must have been led to see, that in the Adam-nature in which the Church, as well as all the world is born, all are, in consequence, dead in trespasses and sins. And hence the word of God, when speaking of the Church's recovery from this spiritual death, speaks of it as a resurrection from the death of sin to a life of righteousness. And you (saith the Apostle), hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature children of wrath, even as others. Ephesians 2:2-3. But that this spiritual life imparted to the Church, is the result of a grace-union with Christ, by virtue of a being in him, and with him, before all worlds; this is not so generally considered. And very certain it is, that Martha, the sister of Lazarus, with whom Christ was then conversing, had not at that time the smallest apprehension of it. But it is a great point for the Church of God to regard. For it is in consequence of this oneness between Christ and his people, before all worlds, that this recovery from the Adam fall is accomplished in all his members. Jesus is to them, spiritually considered, this resurrection and the life. He is their head, and they are his body. Hence, he himself is the life-giving source of their renewed life in him, and from him, by which they are united to himself, and because he lives, they live also. It is by virtue of this membership in Christ that they are awakened, regenerated, born again, arise from the death of sin to a life of righteousness, and are translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Of such the Lord Jesus saith, with peculiar emphasis of expression, I am the resurrection and the life.
But we must not stop here. Jesus adds, He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. Redeemed souls in Christ are subject to temporal death, as well as the graceless. They are appointed to taste the fruit of Adam's sin, though, from their union with Christ, they are delivered from the curse of it. And, in respect to those that live and believe in Christ, they who are so found when Christ shall come the second time, without sin unto salvation, Hebrews 9:28 shall not die even in body, but be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:17. And those who die in body before, die only in body. Their spirits live with Christ to the great day. Luke 23:43; Hebrews 12:23
But, added to all these considerations, we must consider, according to scripture authority, the Lord Jesus as the resurrection and the life, to all the members of his mystical body, in a different point of view from that of the ungodly world, in the manner in which the bodies of his saints, which sleep in Jesus, will arise at the last day, from this communicating principle, as their resurrection and life. I beg the Reader for a few moments attention also under, this particular.
It is a solemn scripture, but most sure and certain. The hour is coming, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection, of damnation. John 5:28-29. But here lies the essential difference in these characters. As the object and end for which they arise is totally different, so also will be the means and course of their resurrection. The sovereign voice of Almighty Jesus will rouse up dead sinners to the sentence of eternal judgment. At his command both earth and the sea shall give up their dead. But not so the dead in Christ will arise. They died in Jesus when they died. They were united to the Lord in death. And so shall they be in their resurrection. For so saith the scripture. If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit which dwelleth in you. Romans 8:11. By virtue of their union with Him they arise. And hence, in this instance, as in the former, Christ is to them the Resurrection and the Life. I hope the Reader will at least enter into an apprehension of this subject; and if so, and the Lord be his teacher, he will have to enjoy numberless very sweet views of the Lord Jesus in this most blessed character, as he stands related to his people, the Resurrection and the Life.