“Jesus said unto her: I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. 26. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die, do you believe this?”
Jesus said this to Martha just before He raised her brother Lazarus from the dead. Mary and Martha were both seemingly upset with Jesus because He took four days to get to them after they had informed Him of Lazarus’ sickness and possible death. In that intervening time, Lazarus died. Both of the sisters said to Jesus: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus said: “Your brother will rise again. ”Martha thought He meant that Lazarus would rise again at “the resurrection of the last day.” What Jesus meant was that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus did this to show that He is, indeed, “the resurrection and the life.” He proceeded to raise Lazarus from the dead. This is written as an illustration to us of who and what Jesus is, and that He is the “resurrection and the life.” Jesus would ask us the same question that He asked Martha: “Do you believe this?” It is a personal question: “Do you believe this?” Well, do you really believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Your soul’s salvation depends on whether you believe that or not. If you do not accept that Jesus is the Lord of life and the master of death, then you do not believe in the Jesus of the Bible. There are a lot of people today who believe that Jesus was a good man or that the New Testament is just a fairy tale and Jesus is not real. There are also those who believe that Jesus was only a man, but that He did not really rise from the dead, that He is not “the resurrection and the life.” If you don’t believe that, you do not believe in Jesus. This is a question that you have to answer in your own heart. When it comes down to the moment of truth that you will die, do you really believe that Jesus will receive you unto Himself? He promised that He would in John 14:3: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also.” It is a personal question that demands a positive answer. It is a pointed question: “Do you believe this?" In John 3:16, Jesus said: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life." In neither case, John 14:3 or John 3:16 does “believe” mean to just believe about Jesus. What it means is that we trust everything that we have and everything that we are that this is true, and that our eternity depends on that belief. It is surrender to Him as Savior, Lord and Master of life. In John 6:28, some people asked Jesus: “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God.” Jesus' answer in verse 29 was this: “This is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent.” It was then as it is now, there is no religious work that we can do to “work the works of God,” or to be saved. What we must do is what Jesus told the people in John 6 and intimated to Martha – we must believe in Him. We must believe not about Him, but in Him and give our lives to Him. It is a precise question: “Do you believe this”? As written above, Jesus did not say that we should adopt His religion; rather, He said that we should believe in Him. In John 14:6, Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to Father but by me.” This is still the biblical truth, and it will not change. It is Jesus who is the resurrection and the life and no other. So the question is do you believe in Jesus? All of your life and all of eternity rests on your answer to that question. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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