"The Raising of Lazarus" by Kathryn Kuhlman Gospel of John Chapter 11

Have you ever wondered why Jesus referred to death as sleep? But just a very few minutes in our heart -to -heart talk, we're going to take the very words of Jesus. Everything that I say today will be backed up. with his word the highest authority in heaven and earth i am going to read to you from the eleventh chapter of john and immediately you will recognize that portion of the word of god that tells about the raising of lazarus now a certain man was sick named lazarus Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. And it was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And when Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of god that the son of god might be glorified thereby now jesus loved martha and her sister and lazarus and when he heard therefore that he was sick he abode two days ill in the same place where he was Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again. And his disciples saith unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, He stumbleth, because there is no light in him. These things said he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. But I go, that I may awake him out of his sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death. death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them, Lazarus is dead. I am glad for your sakes that I am not there, to the infant ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto him. Then said Thomas. unto his fellow disciples let us go also that we may die with him then when jesus came he found that he had lain in the grave four days already now bethany was nigh unto jerusalem about fifteen furlongs off and many of the jews came to martha and mary to comfort them concerning their brother then martha As soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha to Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, but I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it to thee. And Jesus said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. And Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. I know all about that. But Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth, believeth. in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She said unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which shall come into the world. And when she had so said, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, The Master is come, and he calleth for thee. And as soon as she heard of that, she arose quickly and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. And the Jews then, which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? And they said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him. And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, which caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again, groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. And Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. And Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinkest, for he hath been dead for days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God? And then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I... thank thee that thou hast heard me and i knew that thou hearest me always but because a people would stand by i said it that they may believe that thou hast sent me and when he thus had spoken he cried with a loud voice lazarus come forth and he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Why did Jesus here speak of death as sleep? Twice before in the record of our Lord's ministry, we see him standing in the presence of death. Once it was a child, the child of Jairus. And then again, there was a time when it was the son of the widow. Here death is seen in the case of the brother of Martha Mary. And on that physical level, this incident is superlative. In the first case, the child was dead in the house. and not many hours had passed. In the second case, the boy was on his way from the city to a burial and not yet buried. But here we have the presence of death of a man who had been dead for four days, buried, and yet Jesus spoke of death as a sleep. Let's consider this. To me, this is very thrilling. First of all, we see that Jesus had a clear view of the fact of death. He knew the fact of death as they saw it, but he also knew it in a way that they did not see it. When the disciples misunderstood him and thought he was really referring to natural sleep, then John says he said plainly. Now mark that word. He said distinctly, positively. He is not taking a rest. He is dead. He has died. his shared experience is covered by the word that men had constantly used he is dead he is numbered among those who are dead he saw death as they saw it and consequently when they did not understand him he said the plain thing he is dead emphasizing it in the word that he used completely dead actually dead the body has been put in the sepulcher It's lifeless. He's dead. See something. What is sleep? When we go to sleep, it does not mean our being has ceased in sleep. What is it? unconsciousness of all things around. Now, I'm dealing with normal and proper sleep. We're unconscious of everything. We say sometimes that someone's sleeping like a baby. There is, therefore, completely unconsciousness of surrounding things. And that's the figure that our Lord used. And therefore, we've come rightly and very beautifully. to associate the idea of sleep with repose. That's what those men with Jesus thought that he was referring to. If Lazarus was asleep, he would recover. If a man has been ill, has really gone to sleep, he will recover. He'll be saved. And literally, that is what they thought. The danger is past, for he is sleeping. but jesus was seeing more than they did mary and martha saw a lifeless corpse and martha all bless her was so blunt in her description of the condition of that corpse as she expected that it was by this time and those disciples would travel along with jesus as peter said let us also go that we may die with him If they had been able to look into the tomb when the stone was rolled away, they would have seen wrapped in grave clothes the body of that one who was dead. That's what they saw. And that's all they saw. But Jesus said, that is not all. As a matter of fact, it is not the supreme fact. He's dead. He's lost the consciousness of all the things that are around him, his sisters, his friends, and everything else. He's dead. But he is not dead in the full and deep sense of the word. Death as we know it. He saw the dead body, but he saw the man. The man was not in the sepulcher as he saw him. So that he said, so far as this side is concerned, so far as you are concerned, as far as the loved ones are concerned, he is dead. But so far as he is concerned and the things of this side, he's unconscious. He knows nothing about them. But that's not the end. That is not the end. What then is the teaching which we have here? First, the clear evidence that Christ's outlook on personality was that of his continuation beyond death. When a man's heart ceases to beat, that is not the end of that man. Even when, as to this world, they are asleep, unconscious, and we cannot communicate with them in any way, they were not actually dead. They had not ceased to be. Notice his sympathy. When presently he told them to roll away the stone, and they had done it, what did he do? He spoke to the man. He spoke to him by the name they had known him. Lazarus. Come forth. He spoke to the same man, the same personality. That man could not have heard Martha if she had said, Lazarus, come forth. Oh, no. He would not have heard Martha. That man could not have heard Peter or John standing there if they had called into the void after him. But he heard Jesus, and Jesus addressed him by name. he did the same with the little girl he laid his hand on her and said little lamb arise he spoke to one who could hear him not the father and mother they could not reach her she was asleep so far as they were concerned she was not asleep so far as jesus was concerned And when he approached that one who was dead and said, young man, arise, as to one who could hear the son of the living God, the one who did hear him, the one who is resurrection -like, that one came forth. They all heard him. He brought them back. from the sleep that was the unconsciousness of the things here and now and brought them into consciousness of them and into the position in which they became conscious of them and he called it sleep but watch lazarus but only one could bring him forth, the Son of God. Lazarus heard, struggling to an upright position in his gray clothes. Loose him, Jesus said, and let him go. The little girl, not yet wrapped in her gray clothes, but lying there, she heard his voice, the divine voice, and she sat up and opened her eyes. The young man was able to struggle up. possibly sitting upright. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. So that if we speak of death as sleep, we must recognize that the only one, get this now, the only one who can wake out of sleep is our Lord himself. The one who can bring back into consciousness those fallen. on sleep no one else can remember that forever and ever and ever oh beloved only one can say arise I say unto you, the hour cometh now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. All that are in the tomb shall hear his voice, and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment. When he spoke to Martha, he said, I am the resurrection of life. He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he fail. Only one voice. can give life. His voice.