Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                                 Chapter Eleven

                                                                                                                                              Verses 17-27 continued

Jesus assured Martha that He would raise Lazarus from the dead, but He also assured any believer who reads the KJB that He will raise to life all who will believe in Him after their physical deaths. Christ is life itself, and He can never lose to death any of the living humans that He ever creates. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Genesis 3:20-21; Luke 20:38; I Corinthians 15:22; John 5:28-29; I Timothy 6:13; II Timothy 4:1. The Old Testament prophesied that God will cause all humans confined to the regions of death to believe and be raised from the dead. Isaiah 45:20-25; Isaiah 66:22-24; Psalm 36:6; Psalm 107:9-21. God will fulfill His prophecies when Jesus appears to all living humans confined to the regions of death, and in a great worship service, He will cause them all to believe in Him as the Lamb of God so that He can raise them all from the dead to new, recreated lives on His new earth. Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12; John 5:28-29.

In His second statement to Martha, Jesus assured her that whoever believes in Him while still alive in the flesh "shall never die." That was another way of saying that Lazarus was asleep. Just as Jesus had said that Lazarus was asleep, He ignored his physical death and assured Martha that Lazarus was actually still alive in his spiritual nature. But for those who read the KJB, Jesus assures them that He can give eternal life to those who believe in Him while still alive in the flesh, and He can also raise to life anyone who believes in Him after their physical deaths. Jesus then asked Martha if she believed that He had power over death, and she replied that she believed that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah, and by implication, that He had power over all forms of death. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5.

In Jesus' second statement to Martha, He assured her that "whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." But in Jesus' first statement to Martha he said "he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live." Jesus could not have contradicted Himself in these two statements. In His second statement, Jesus meant that those who believe in Him will never die because their live souls and spirits go straight to Heaven after their physical deaths. Since Jesus ignores the physical deaths of His believers saved by grace, then He could not have meant by His first statement that believers saved by grace ever die. He had to have meant by His first statement that those who suffer spiritual death; that is, those He must consign to the regions of death after their physical deaths because of their sins and evil, He will eventually cause them all to repent and believe in Him, and He will raise their living souls and spirits, that He has created and can never lose, to a new, recreated life with new bodies to live forever on His recreated earth. Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29.

Lazarus' body was dead, but he was still alive in spirit and soul because he was a believer saved by grace. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He proved that He will raise all believers saved by grace with recreated bodies in the Rapture of the Church, but He also proved that He will raise to life all living humans confined to the regions of death because He will cause them all to repent and believe in His absolute power over physical and spiritual death. II Corinthians 5:1-5; Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 1:17-18; John 5:28-29; Revelation 21:1-5; II Timothy 1:10; I Corinthians 15:22.