A Present Future Hope - John 11:17-27

This morning we encountered the fifth “I AM” statement of Jesus Christ. By way of reminder, there are seven “I AM” statements and each one reveals some aspect of his character. We see him a little more clearly through each statement.

If you remember from last week, we’re told two apparently contradictory statements. First, we’re told that Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus. And John also tells us that while Lazarus was sick and dying, Jesus waited an additional two days before heading to Judea. And of course, we know why. He wanted to wait for Lazarus to pass away, so that he could raise him from the dead, and demonstrate his power and authority over sin, death, and the grave.

Obviously, everything that happens here is a great foreshadowing of what is to come. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, not only points us to his glorious resurrection, but also that every Christian can and should look forward to the day when he or she will be raised from the dead as well.

But the promise of a glorious future that includes heaven and being raised from the dead, does not stand isolation. They’re not untethered theological realities. The doctrines and realities are deeply interwoven and connected to one another like a beautiful tapestry.

Perhaps you’ve heard someone say that past behavior is the greatest predictor of future behavior. It makes sense that a person’s previous actions are great indicators of what he or she may do in the future.

What we see in these verses is something similar, but with a slight twist: It’s not the past that predicts the Christian’s eternal future, it’s the present. It’s the here and now. Because your eternal future is secured by a present faith in Christ.

We see this in two ways this morning: first, we see that a general belief in the afterlife is insufficient, and second, we see that you cannot divorce the future from the present.

A General Belief in the Afterlife is Insufficient (vv. 17-24)

We learn in verse 17 that Jesus finally arrived in Judea after Lazarus had been dead for four days. The reason John tells that Lazarus has been dead for four days is in order to emphasize the fact that he was completely dead. The reality of his death had begun to set in during that first week.

Jesus is going to Judea to be with a grief stricken family.

And as I’m sure everyone here has experienced at some point or another, the challenge consoling a grieving person. It’s challenging because there’s nothing you can do or say to change the situation. Every form of comfort simply falls short. There are no words of wisdom or secret casseroles that can ease someone’s grief and pain. Death is the most difficult reality of life that we must all face. Really, the only appropriate response is to grieve with them. That’s all you can do.

Pastorally speaking, walking into a room of grieving people is always hard, because pastors are always supposed to have something pithy to say. They are tough situations, but what Jesus walked into is significantly more difficult, and we learn why in 19: “and many of the Jews had come [to console Mary and Martha].” If you remember from last week, Jesus’ disciples were concerned about going to Judea because the Jews there had just tried to stone him!

Funerals have an uncanny ability to bring an odd assortment of people together, don’t they? The same is true for weddings. So there’s a combination of grieving people and people that hate Jesus.

But nevertheless, Jesus knows what he’s doing and walks right into the belly of the beast. And as we all know, everyone grieves differently. Verse 20, highlights the personality differences between Martha and Mary. Martha, being the overactive person that she is, goes out to visit Jesus, while Mary, the more contemplative one stays inside.

Verses 21-24 are sort of clouded in ambiguity, in part because both Jesus and Martha are speaking euphemistically.

When Martha meets Jesus she tells him in verses 21-22: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

Isn’t that relatively ambiguous? Especially verse 22. I don’t think Martha is reprimanding Jesus as much as she’s proclaiming her confidence that if Jesus had been in Judea sooner, he would have healed Lazarus, because he had an intimate connection with God. She knows that his connection with God is so close, that whatever he asks in prayer he will receive.

As one commentator put it, “Even though Lazarus died, [her] confidence in Jesus remains because he is in such harmony with God that [Lazarus’ death] has to be of God.”

She seems to be expressing confidence in Jesus in verse 21, but it’s much more difficult to know what Martha meant in verse 22. Is she stating a theological fact, or is she subtly suggesting that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead?

It’s not entirely clear, but do I think that she was making a subtle suggestion, because what does Jesus bring up in his response? The resurrection. He said, in verse 23, “Your brother will rise again.”

Now we obviously know what Jesus meant by that statement. He is referring to physically raising Lazarus from the dead soon. We know what he means, but in context here again, it’s rather ambiguous, isn’t it?

Is Jesus referring to the general resurrection of the dead or that he will literally raise Lazarus from the dead right now? Put yourself in Martha’s shoes. It’s not as clear is it?

And it’s not clear either if Martha doesn’t understand or if she simply doesn’t want to get her hopes up about Lazarus, so she makes a general theological statement in verse 24. “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

But I don’t want us to get too bogged down in the details of verses 21-23 because, to put it simply, the result of their conversation is Martha’s belief in the afterlife in verse 24. That’s what I think is important for us to notice. She affirms her belief in the resurrection. She affirms her belief that there is life after death.

It’s really interesting because despite our culture’s rejection of Christianity, despite our country’s overall moral decay, a lot of people still believe that there is life after death. Pew Research did a poll in 2021 and found out that nearly 75% of American adults believe in heaven. Of course, they didn’t define it, but nonetheless, an overwhelming majority of Americans believe in heaven.

And let’s be honest, it’s easy to believe in heaven, isn’t it? Who doesn’t want to believe in heaven? What’s better than lazily napping on a cloud while strumming a harp? At least, that’s the caricature isn’t it? But in all seriousness, I think the general concept of heaven as a place where you go after death and bad is nonexistent and everything is good.

And to be fair, the Scriptures do describe heaven in this sort of way. Revelation 21 tells us that God, “...will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Who doesn’t like the sound of that? No mourning? No pain? Sign me up, right!?

Not surprisingly, many people believed in heaven, while fewer people believed in hell. Hell has the opposite problem: it sounds terrible. Nobody wants to go there.

But here’s the million dollar question: is a general belief in the afterlife all that’s required to attain it? In other words, is the only requirement to go to heaven the belief that heaven exists?

Do people go to hell simply because they didn’t believe in heaven?

There’s something notable missing: That is, how does one get to heaven?

Isn’t this the problem with Martha’s statement in verse 24? What she professed is true, there will be a resurrection, there will be an afterlife, just like the people who affirm the existence of heaven are right! They are correct, heaven is for real, but like Martha we often fail to mention how we get there.

Just like so many people today, Martha’s belief in the afterlife failed to include Jesus Christ. Isn’t he painfully absent from what she says in verse 24? She’s so close, isn't she? And yet, so far away.

And yet at the same time we must be careful that we don’t reduce Jesus to nothing more than a shibboleth or a code word. Because it’s not like ‘Jesus’ is the super secret password that gets you into heaven. It’s not like the pearly gates are a speakeasy, where St. Peter stands behind an iron door and opens a little slit in the door where you can only see his eyes and asks, “what’s the password?” And you say, “Jesus,” and once you say that, he swings open the door and says, “come on in! We’ve been waiting for you to get here!”

The hope of the resurrection is grounded in a persistent, dependent, living and active faith in Jesus Christ. This is in part why Jesus says what he says in verse 25.

You Cannot Divorce the Future from the Present (vv. 25-27)

But before we jump too far ahead let’s look at our second point this morning: you cannot divorce the future from the present.

As I said, earlier, what Martha says in verse 24 is a theologically true statement. There will be a general resurrection of the dead on the last day. Lazarus has risen from the grave once and will again one day at the general resurrection of the dead.

The resurrection was a source of debate among the Jewish religious elites. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead while the Sadducees did not.

But it’s quite clear that Scripture teaches a general resurrection of the dead. Paul says in Acts 24: “there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.” Even ancient creeds of the church, both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds affirm, “the resurrection of the body.”

So again, what Martha says about a future resurrection is true, but her statement reveals something else about her belief in the resurrection, that is, her belief in the resurrection was divorced from her present life. There was no connection in her mind between day-to-day life she lived and her belief in the resurrection.

Look again at verse 24: not only does she leave Jesus out of the equation, her belief in the resurrection is exclusively cast into the distant future. “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

She doesn’t think that the present has any bearing on the future. This exact same fundamental belief is rampant among evangelical Christians. So many have separated what they claim to believe from their day to day life.

Isn’t that precisely why people sometimes refer to the Christianity as fire insurance? Christianity is nothing more than something that will protect them in the future. But in terms of their day-to-day life, it has no relevance. They’re Christian in name only.

They’re missing the most important ingredient. They’re missing a present, living and active faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your hope in a glorious eternal future is dependent upon a present, living, and active faith in Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus isn’t a code word or shibboleth.

The hope of the resurrection is based upon a persistent living and active faith in Jesus Christ.

It’s why I oppose revivalistic measures that are often still practiced in many churches like walking the aisle, or saying the sinner’s prayer, or emphasizing some sort of personal experience. Because it implies that if you check one of these boxes then you’re going to heaven. All of those practices minimize and downplay the necessity for living and active faith in Jesus Christ. The Christian’s faith is an ongoing, persistent, present, active, dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s a persistent trust in the Lord Jesus’ atoning work on the cross that washes our sin away and makes us righteous in the sight of God, and ultimately gives us hope of a glorious heavenly future.

We must reject the lie that if you simply say the right things, act a certain way, have the right fire insurance policies in place, you’re going to heaven and now you get to live however you want. You checked the Christian box and now it’s time to live for you. Ladies and gentlemen, that's not Christianity.

That is a belief system where Christ and the gospel are absent. Gratifying your flesh rather than following Jesus is not Christianity.

And this is precisely the mistake that Martha makes in verse 24. She has divorced her belief about the resurrection from a living and active faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this is what makes Jesus’ words in verse 25 so beautiful.

“I am the resurrection and the life…”

This is the fifth of Jesus’ “I AM” statements. It’s the two little greek words, “ego eimi” which should point us to the burning bush where the Lord revealed his covenant name to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” or commonly transliterated as “Yahweh.”

The point is, Jesus is referring to himself using God’s covenant name. So, it’s a divine claim, but it also reveals to us something about himself. And here, what Jesus is telling Martha, and all of us that our resurrection hope, our heavenly future must be rooted and grounded in our present faith in him.

Think about what Jesus is doing here: Martha’s theology is totally focused on the future, but Jesus wants her to focus on him in the present.

She’s basically saying my hope lies somewhere in the distant future and Jesus is saying, “no it’s not, in the distant future, it’s right here. You’re looking at it.” “I am the resurrection and the life.”

The Christian’s glorious future is tied to their current, present, faith.

You know, we all have stories don’t we? We have all taken long and winding roads that have led us to these wonderful brown chairs in the illustrious ballroom of the American Legion. It might feel random how we got here, but the Lord knew what He was doing. Because many of you have experienced very difficult things. I know many of you have suffered and experienced tremendous pain and suffering. The loss of a loved one. A failed marriage. You’ve wrestled with your identity, or what you're supposed to do in life.

On one hand it’s relevant because it helps people better understand the man or woman you are today. But on the other hand, it doesn’t matter at all. Your past is totally irrelevant. It doesn’t matter what’s in your past.

Because what really matters is the here and now! All of us need to drop the spiritual act for a moment, forget the Sunday School answers, where do you stand right now with the Lord, right now? Are you trusting in Christ this very second?

What’s so powerful about this passage is how Jesus redirects Martha’s longing for the future to him in the present.

Notice, “I am the resurrection and the life…” present tense.

And so the rest of the passage really makes sense in light of that, doesn’t it? Verse 25b, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

You will die physically, your body will die biologically, but if you’re united to Christ by faith, death is simply the gate you pass through from this life to the next. Obviously, Christians have believed this for thousands of years, but we don’t believe for no apparent reason. We believe this glorious truth, because Jesus promises it to each of us.

The glorious promises, the promises of Revelation 21 that I read earlier, all of it is for those of you whose present faith is grounded in Christ.

You cannot divorce the glorious resurrection hope that Christians have from a rooted and present faith in Jesus Christ! Amen? They are inextricably tied together. They are bound to one another. Our hope for what lies ahead is embedded in our present living and active faith in Christ.

Which is why his question to Martha in verse 26 is so powerful. “Do you believe this?”

Again, just to reiterate my point, Jesus doesn’t ask Martha, “will you eventually believe this?” “And he doesn’t ask her, " Have you ever believed this?” Jesus' question to Martha is grounded in the present. “Do you believe this?” “Martha, right now, do you believe this?”

And she gives a beautiful confession, doesn’t she? “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

If Jesus was waiting for you in the lobby to ask you, “do you believe this?” What would you say? Well Jesus, I used to go to church and my mom would blah, blah blah - that’s not going to cut it. In a similar way, putting it into the future won’t cut it either. “Jesus, once I have a wife and family, then I’ll start taking religion seriously…” that’s not going to cut it either.

There’s only one appropriate response: “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God…” It must be a present, active, ongoing, continuous, love, trust, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see all the glorious promises of the Christian life are only attained through a living and active faith in Jesus Christ.

A correct theological understanding of what happens after you die isn’t sufficient to save you. It doesn’t matter if you believe in heaven, because if an active faith in Jesus Christ is missing from what you believe, then what difference does it make? Isn’t that essentially what Jesus is reminding us when he said, “I am the resurrection and the life?” He was saying in order to have life given to you, in order to have life restored to you, you must believe in him.

May each of us confess this day with Martha, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God…”. Amen. Let’s pray.