Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Eleven

                                                                                                                                              Verses 11-16

Jesus told His disciples that He would return to Bethany to wake Lazarus from his sleep. In the New Testament, God often referred to His dead saints as being asleep. God had Matthew write that all of the Old Testament saints that He raised from the dead after Jesus' resurrection were actually asleep. Matthew 27:52-53. This fact can only mean that the little girl that Jesus raised from the dead whom Jesus judged to be merely asleep had to have been saved by grace. Matthew 9:24. God also had the Apostle Paul to judge saints who were dead to be asleep. I Thessalonians 4:14-15. But when Jesus raised the widow's son back to life, He did not say that he was asleep. God had Luke to write that Jesus raised him from the dead. Luke 7:11-15. These facts can only mean that if God never considers His saints to be dead, and if Jesus could raise unbelievers from the dead, then physical death cannot be a punishment for sins. God judges His saints to be asleep because they go straight to Heaven when they die, and the only punishment God has for unbelievers must be that He has to consign their dead and living natures to the regions of death when they die. Luke 16:19-23. In God's judgment, physical death merely happens to be a transition from the physical realm to the spiritual realm.

Jesus' disciples misunderstood Him. They told Jesus that if Lazarus was asleep while sick, then maybe Jesus should leave him alone and let him sleep. They had forgotten that Jesus had said that the little girl was asleep whom He raised from the dead. Matthew 9:24.

Jesus deferred to their misunderstanding, and He told them plainly that Lazarus was physically dead. Jesus then informed His disciples that He was actually glad that He was not there when Lazarus was sick so that He could heal him. Jesus disciples already knew that Jesus could heal the sick, but they had evidently forgotten that He could also raise the dead back to life. Jesus told His disciples that He had waited until Lazarus died so that He could raise their faith to a higher level. Jesus desired to give them a deeper faith.

Thomas then displayed his overconfident, manly courage when he boasted that they should all go and die with Jesus. Thomas also demonstrated the very lack of faith that Jesus desired to teach them to overcome by giving them a new kind of faith. Jesus desired to teach them that He had all power over all physical and spiritual death, Revelation 1:17-18; II Timothy 1:10; I Timothy 6:13. All of their manly courage failed when they fled when Jesus was arrested except for Peter who at least followed Jesus to His trial but then denied that he knew Him. Manly courage can fail, but faith in God never fails. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14.