John (Session 11) Chapter 11

well i want to welcome you to our exploration of the gospel of john and tonight we're scheduled to deal with chapter 11. and that happens to be the way we're closing what we call unit one we're breaking the gospel of john into two halves for course reasons but this completes the what we call unit one because the rest of the gospel deals with his last week the whole rest of the book is last week we saw the final week of his ministry so it's a it's a very natural unit but whenever we enter the word of god we always want to do that with prayer so let's bow our hearts for a word of prayer heavenly father we thank you for the privilege and opportunity that you've extended to us to gather together in the name of our precious lord and father we do pray for the attendance of your holy spirit to open our hearts and lives to your word that we each may grow in grace in the knowledge of our coming king as we commit this hour and ourselves into your hands indeed in the name of yeshua the lord jesus christ our king indeed amen the gospel of john and we are in chapter 11. and just to give you a refresh review of the first the rest of the unit it started of course with the introduction john chapter one which is the introduction to the whole concept of the pre-existent one that god himself our creator entered our creation as a person and to to fulfill a destiny we couldn't for ourselves but then the second one is first the first miracle the wedding at kana and some of those lessons john 3 is the famous uh included the famous visit of nicodemus and gave rise to the most famous verse in the entire bible in terms of as jesus explains to him the need to be born again john 4 was the woman at the well and also the healing of the nobleman's son john 5 was the impotent man at the pool of bethesda the and in john 6 we had the bread of life discourse in uh john 7 the living water discourse and of course a lot of other events occurring in there john is where we had the woman accused in adultery that also led to quite a confrontation about legitimacy between the lord jesus christ and the pharisees what is one of my favorite chapters for that reason john 9 it was the man born blind and that was a full testimony of many things and then we had of course the good shepherd discourse last time and so tonight we have the close of unit one with the raising of lazarus very familiar story to all of us but let's be on our guard when we have a story we know well we run the risk of being it being so familiar we don't really season it with all it has to offer so let's look at it with a with a fresh eye if we can this entire uh uh book is uh built around seven signs seven miracles changing the water in a way into wine in cana healing the official sun in capernaum healing the invalid in the pool of bethesda feeding the 5000 at the the northern shore of the sea of galilee and walking on the water on the sea of galilee healing the blind man in jerusalem and then of course the seventh of the seven signs is the one we're going to explore tonight in chapter 11. the the raising of dead lazarus in bethany and these seven signs but the book the entire gospel of john is also organized around seven miracles seven discourses and seven i am statements and he says i am the bread of life in chapter six i am the light of the world in chapter eight i am the door like the door the the single legal way of entering the tabernacle uh the i am the good shepherd that was last in the last gathering tonight we i am the resurrection and the life i am the way that truth and life will be forthcoming as we enter chapters 13 and 14 the upper upper room discourse and then chapter 7 i am the true vine there are seven i am statements he also by the way lays claims jesus lights claim to each of the elements of the tabernacle it's another way of parsing these and so forth he makes claim to each one of those that's a whole other study but tonight we'll encounter this very famous declaration that we want to take advantage of so concluding unit 1 the raising of lazarus interestingly enough is only recorded in the gospel of john there's another lazarus different guy different situation in luke and we'll look at that just by way of contrast before it's through and uh so so john 11 and 12 is just heading be before the final week uh we have a special witness going on of his glory of course this it's a climactic miracle to have someone who's clearly dead this is not a guy that might have been misunderstood as dying he was for four days buried the raising of lazarus is very unique very distinctive there's much to be gained from all of this we've seen a threefold rejection of jesus they sought to slay him back in chapter five they took up stones in chapter eight and the stones again in chapter ten so there's a threefold rejection highlighted by the expositors there's also a threefold witness the raising of lazarus is one of those and we're going to see the triumphal entry occur in chapter 12 and we'll see the gentiles seeking him also in chapter 12. that's all going to be next time but and as i say the gospel of god is structured by these seven miracles the water and the wine the healing of nobleman's son the restoring the different man multiplying the loaves and fishes at tapka and walking on the sea giving sight to the blind and of course raising the dead what's interesting about these there are expositors that lay against these seven events the history of israel there's a way allegorically that speaks of israel in seven places but it's also these seven signs apply to you and me uh as a natural man we too were dead in trespasses and sins and so there are other cases by the way of jesus raising someone from the dead that aren't mentioned here we have jairus's daughter and the widow of nain's son were other occasions they that was up in in the uh it was not away from jerusalem in both cases they had just died unburied and it all happened to be in galilee this one is distinctive two ways he'd been dead for four days which is relevant to what we're going to talk about and it's also in jerusalem just outside jerusalem jerusalem by the way was a very dangerous place for jesus to go at this point and we saw some of that echoing earlier let's just jump in chapter 11 verse 1. now a certain man was sick named lazarus of bethany the town of mary and her sister martha and so lazarus by the way is an abbreviated form of the name of eliezer which in turn is means comforter by the way that's something that surprised me to discover but that apparently is uh uh what it is and uh so bethany is a house of figs or house of affliction it's about two miles east of jerusalem dangerous ground very dangerous ground because we know the tensions have built the the disciples are very apprehensive of jesus going to jerusalem at all and now it's only a one they were at the end of chapter 10 you may not remember they were at bethabara that's on the jordan that's the house of passage that's where joshua originally crossed over and so forth that was the place that john the baptist did his baptizing that's where they were at the end of chapter 10. it's about a full day's journey from the jordan on foot to jerusalem so it's interesting jesus waited two days before coming and john that's going to make a point of this lazarus burial took place on the day of his death obviously the morning period began immediately and lasted for a month in the jewish format the first three days they hire professional mourners it's on the fourth day after the professionals that friends are invited to visit that's the according to rabbi edersheim the classical jewish pattern for us to understand here and it's interesting here it says in verse 2 it was that mary which anointed the lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother lazarus was sick so we pick up that little comment that's probably familiar to most of us in the second verse but there's another clue here that also tells you that john the writer of the gospel took for granted you had read the other gospels yes a little subtlety you missed without thinking about it but he's uh he's he's he's suggested that it's not hard evidence but suggestive evidence that john's gospel was after patmos also that's one of the things that i think fascinates me it gave me whole different perspectives because we all tend to assume that john's gospel was early and revelation is the end of the book so it's later no it's the other way around the patmos experience was probably precedent to him writing his gospel and once you understand that a lot of other things come into clearer focus i think so so uh we know that martha was senior in her house from luke 10 and mary of course memorialized in mark chapter 14. and john is assuming you know that by that insertion you with me just a little perspective that i think is useful and it's interesting that mary in the gospel of john at least is always at the feet of jesus i like that and we're reminded of what paul admonishes timothy first timothy 4 he says don't let anything crowd out worship take heed unto thyself and do thy teaching don't it's interesting how worship is the the contrast between mary and martha is is made in the other gospels martha was very busy busy busy but mary was criticized for sitting at his feet learning and he commended her for that anyway again moving down to verse 3 therefore his sister said unto him that is the sisters of lazarus sent to jesus sent to him saying lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick when jesus heard that he said the sickness is not unto death but for the glory of god that the son of god might be glorified thereby they didn't understand what he's saying as you'll see shortly but that's interesting now the word sick there in the greek is an unusual word it means something much stronger it really means deathly thick and thinking is what the the greek term implies as is used elsewhere in the scripture 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 not unto death in other words this is not a final end is what he's saying but they thought he might be speaking spiritually rather than some other way it's for the glory of god we saw the beginning of miracles in john chapter 2 with the wedding at kana we're going to see a another one here obviously in john chapter 11 and we're also going to see in john 14 whatsoever ye shall ask there's a threefold allusion here to the glory of god now jesus loved martha and her sister and lazarus in other words there's a special intimacy among that family when he had heard therefore that he was sick he had bowed two days still in the same place where he was he with bethabara didn't come right away he waited two days okay and uh he abode two days still in the same place where he went and so jesus is apparently deliberately dallying isn't he is it and i think that's not incidental see man's extremity is god's opportunity we need to remember that the dealings of the father's hand must always be looked at in the light of the father's heart and by the way in that observation is a clue that i want to share with you whenever you're reading the gospels or anywhere whenever you see an episode or an incident the first thing you want to really draw from that is what is that teaching you about the father's heart you know we have those 10 talents where the one guy had one talent the other had five the other had 10 and so forth and the guy that had won really gets criticized if you will because he had only one talent no is because of his view of god that's that he presumed and you missed that unless you're watching for it now the the real clue i think to really extract the meaning of events and conditions and even the parables what have you is what is it teaching you about the the heart of the father and uh so i just throw that out then after he saith that after that say if he to his disciples let us go into judea again his disciples saying master the jews of light sought to stone thee and goest thou thither again see they're over by the jordan that's quite a ways from jerusalem okay and so ghost thou thither again what the greek weed structures here says the jews just now sought to stone me and you're going to go you're going to just you know what you're asking for trouble is the idea here jesus answered i love this are there not 12 hours in the day if any man walk in the day he stumbles 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 and of course he's not talking about daylight or night light here he's talking about this he's using it metaphorically obviously and so are there not 12 hours that's not the day definitely a lot of times really what he's saying here and uh so he that walked the night stumbleth and of course we have interesting allusions to stumbling in the in the uh in the uh epistle of jude um though there are many lessons there but we'll move on here it's interesting though jesus death could not take place but for the time appointed by the father so he's actually secure that of course the disciples don't have that perception yet not yet at least 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 sleep then said his disciples lord if you sleep he shall do well in other words if you're sick you're sleeping that must be good for them see they don't get the fact that he's using that metaphorically and the word sleep here this word is used for death several times in the old testament but in the new testament it is used only for believers only for believers there's a very deliberate editing going on here by the host why does the holy spirit use the word sleep this is there's a list of reasons sleep first of all it's harmless so is the death to the believer sleep comes as a welcome relief we lie down to rise again see it's a very very interesting metaphor the holy spirit's used here and it's a time of rest indeed and it shuts out the sorrows of life it speaks of the ease with which the lord will awaken us he just speaks our name isn't that that's cool i like that and uh it's a time when the body is fitted for the duties of the moral you and i are not over when we die we'll just be getting our assignments for the next uh cycle there's another death that's worse and they're two days two diseases hiv positive and sin positive they're both terminal and they both have a blood cure but we'll move on here alienated from the life of god is what you're really worried about so jesus says i may awake him in other words there's no way that lazarus is self-sufficient totally dependent lazarus could not raise himself we need to realize that that's going to be emphasized as we go here now the obviously the disciples think he's talking about sleep as we think of sleep so it says here how jesus spake of his death but they thought that he had spoken of taking a rest in sleep so then said jesus unto them plainly lazarus is dead it always interests me that the word of god is pure it clarifies it doesn't pre-barricade he's using a metaphor they're misunderstanding it he corrects it and uh fair enough and that lazarus is dead now it's interesting jesus knew he died there was no second message the message you got is that he was ill two days had gone by but jesus knew he died so there this actually is a sense of omniscience going on here verse 15 and i am glad for your sakes that i was not there to the intent ye may believe nevertheless let us go on to him so he began to realize what the undercurrent here that i think is pretty clear in the text is jesus is deliberately dallying he's not trying to rush there to catch him before it gets worse he's he's setting the stage here for a demonstration of the glory of god that she may believe is the objective he's going to seeking a higher manifestation of god's glory and so the mightiest display of christ's power prior to his own death is going to occur here in this chapter and that's a that's a phenomenal thing as you think about it lazarus is clearly dead it's acknowledging the community he got professional mourners there's no ambiguity about his condition and he is going to come back to life it's interesting to observe there's no record of anyone dying in the presence of our lord even the two thieves on the cross die after he does nowhere in the scripture can you find a case where someone dies in the presence of of jesus i think that's that's interesting and yeah i'm always i'm always fascinated by those editorial subtleties there may have been someone died in this pro presence but it's not recorded it's not there it's not visible there are seven women that are gentile brides of various people throughout the bible there's seven of them in no case is their death recorded i didn't say they don't die but editorially they don't die i think i i don't think that's accidental i think there's a message there and uh faith lessons are of course developed gradually in steps and scripture tells us that and our prayer should be that these lessons not be wasted on any of us the disciples martha mary all learning in steps and so do you and me then said thomas which is called didymus unto his fellow disciples let us also go that we may die with them you know you get the you get the uh clear impression that he was kind of a pessimist here but clearly the disciples were uh apprehensive about jesus going to jerusalem because he they knew the tensions and they were out to kill him they weren't out to confront him anymore there's a that's what's coming so thomas really just probably is articulating the mood of the group yeah let us also go that we may die with him reminds me what dr teller told me uh we were at lund at dinner once and he said i asked a certain kind of question he says chuck you have to understand what a pessimist is what an optimist is and we all listen can you do something that's coming because the pessimist is the one with more information we have sort of winced he says an optimist is one who thinks the future is uncertain we all winced with that one and then he looked me right in the eyes it's our duty to be an optimist because then we at least try so it was that was his perception of of life in general secularly thomas called didymus uh in aramaic dynamics is the same word in the greek it means a twin if you will then when jesus came he found that he had lain in the grave four days already now bethany was nigh unto jerusalem about 15 furlongs off that's a a threat assessment there if you will bethany is on dangerous ground we infer that jesus came to bethany but on the other hand there's another perspective here one day's a thousand years is now four thousand years since adam so that's another interesting aspect because this is the last step adam one of the titles of christ is he's the last adam and that becomes very clear in revelation 5. you really won't understand the fifth chapter of revelation unless you really understand uh that aspect of it but in any case they're in bethany it's it's it's it's enemy turf if you will and uh lazarus has been dead for four days now it's uh uh that means about 15 furlongs off that's about two miles for those of you who don't play horses um jesus came to bethany and jesus had laid in the ground four days fair enough okay and many of the jews came to martha and mary to comfort them concerning their brother i think that's interesting many of the jews came see this is building an audience that the pharisees will not be able to deny when this all happens there's plenty of witnesses there's no way to sweep this under the carpet many of the jews came to mary and martha 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 and uh so the uh see that with the jews coming that made it impossible for the sanhedrin to discredit the last great sign of the messiah but that's getting ahead of us here then said martha to jesus lord if thou hate been here my brother had not died but i know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of god god will give it thee now she is partially correct and partially incorrect here okay and what you'll ask the word ask by the way is a very special word which is to to ask beg call crave desire require it's the word used when men are praying to god it's the right word she chose what she's ignoring is that she's talking to god you see because jesus was god was standing in front of her but that's an insight that comes later i think jesus saith under her thy brother shall rise again martha said unto him i know that he shall rise again on the resurrection at the last day so she's assuming he's just using a cliche here if you will that's my way of categorizing it you know there are two resurrections revelation 20 makes the second reservation occurs second resurrection occurs in several stages and so uh these are categories not serial events so that's a whole study uh we won't try to get into here the beauty for ashes and oil for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness isaiah 61 he 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 and believeth in me shall never die believeth thou this this is a very very fundamental declaration it may be so familiar to our ears we don't really appropriate the depth of it jesus said i am the resurrection and the life that's quite a claim he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die do you really believe that that's what he's asking believe us thou this easily it's easy to nod in a in a group like this where we're all in agreement but that's a heavy thing to really appropriate that to really understand this is for real and uh the word the dead is a very is past tense the greek there really says was dead yet shall he live that's a present participle continue to live even in the grammar there there's an emphasis that we miss in the english translation and of course the ultimate death is what revelation 20 deals with there the second death and the real question that we all need to take and i suggest this is the question that we should take home with us tonight is have you really laid hold of this does does death should have no threat to us it's it's it's a releasing as long as there's life there's hope no knows the other one as long as there's hope there's life okay believe in me those that believe in me shall live jesus said notice the order of that you see doctrinally dispensationally and prophetically the belief comes first and the life comes derives from that that's doctrinal of course it's also dispensational and it's also prophetic and you can jot those verses down at john 5 and acts 2 and john 20 and first thessalonians 4 to chase that down yourself but so they have they have um all three of those aspects she said in him yeah lord i believe that thou art the christ the son of god which should come into the world and when she had so said she went her way and called mary her sister secretly saying the masters come and called for thee and as soon as she heard that she rose quickly and came to him so the previous dialogue was with martha mary now finds out she's now at his feet now jesus was not yet come into the town but was in that place where martha met him the jews then which were with her in the house and comfort her when they saw mary that she rose up hastily and went out followed her saying she goes under the grave to weep there and then when mary was come where jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying unto him lord if thou had been here my brother had not died she's always at his feet by the way i think if you instead it's interesting she's always sitting so she was weeping because she hadn't read romans 8 28 all things work together for good to them who are to love god and then we're called according to his purpose but i'm being a little facetious with that of course jesus permitted it so he it must be for the best is another way to look at that and uh and at his feet he's always at his feet i think that's interesting in his role as prophet in luke 10 she's at his feet in his role as priest in john 11 he's at his feet and we'll see in matthew 26 as king that she will be at his feet so 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 you laid him they said in them lord come and see and then we have the shortest verse in the bible in the english translation at least that's jesus wept there actually is a verse that's shorter but in the greek but that's neither here to there jesus wept that's interesting he knew lazarus lazarus he knew he was going to be raised but he weeps i think that's interesting in fact he actually groaned deep feeling distressed to extreme degree the greek word is ended sotto which means to snort with anger like a horse a strange word but that the greek is a septuagint it's violent displeasure uh troubled groaning is perhaps an easy way to say it if you look at mark 8 12 and matthew 8 17 we get we draw the inference that the miracles cost him something they weren't just pushing a button it cost him something scripture records jesus weeping three times he's weeping here of course he's weeps over jerusalem at the triumphal entry will encounter that in chapter 12 very briefly but in luke 19 is the full development of that and at gethsemane he weeps fact he weeps drops of blood and so those three occasions that he's weeping isaiah described him as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief then said the jews behold how he loved him some of them said could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have 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 interesting there's no mention of the other raisings jairus's daughter and the widow of maine's son that was in the galilee this is in jerusalem and the scripture says he giveth not on account of any of his matters so anyway move on jesus said take ye away the stone martha the sister of him that was dead said unto him lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days you know you can't really improve on the king james you know some people like modern translations somehow the majesty on the one hand and the candor on the other of the king james i find very very attractive lord by this time you sneaketh for he's been dead these four days the senator said i not unto thee that if thou which believe thou should see the glory of god i have to presume that despite the dialogue here they had no grasp of what was about to happen i think this is the the it was quite an event take away the stone you know it's interesting god does not do for us what we can do for ourselves see we still have to brush our teeth in the morning right and it's interesting to notice how often he works through the disciples now d.l moody says take away the stone of unbelief prejudice and secularism sectarianism and i think that taking away the stone is emblematic here then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid you know this must have been starting to create some real apprehension this is an unpleasant expo you know they're opening a tomb that's going to be very fragrant and jesus lifted up his eyes and said father i thank thee that thou hast heard me and i know that thou hearst me always but because the people would stand by i said it that they may believe that thou hast sent me so jesus is speaking audibly for our benefit so to speak father i thank you that points to john 11 14 and that's bethebara same thing they've been believe then see there's that order again believe in seeing it's not seeing as believing believing is seeing why doesn't he hear our prayers she might ask huh well psalm 66 18 says if i regard iniquity in my heart the lord will not hear me the lord isn't hearing us it may be sin in our lives or john 1 first john 3 verse 22 whatsoever he asked you receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in the sight see the coin has two sides we need to be pleasing to him not in rebellion jesus himself ever lives to make intercession for us and very much of the flavor of elijah carmel and he's still at it now hebrews 7 25 he ever liveth to make intercession that's his full-time job right now did you realize that after the apostle there's a lot of things that happened but until then what is he doing between here and there his full-time job is to pray for you and me it's glibly said but it's awesome if you realize what that means the word of christ gave life and this is his last great public witness because it's going to get different here as we move into the subsequent chapters and it's not to be confused with the resurrection that'll be treated in the next session in unit 2 of course and when he had thus 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 do you say that him loose him and let him go and uh you know it's interesting in john 5 we've ever said marvel novice the hour is coming into which they that are in the grave shall hear his voice and it's been suggested why did he say lazarus come forth to keep the rest of them not coming in other words he's calling one if he hadn't said lazarus the inference by some scholars is that they all would have come forth and the day will come when that will happen i have this well let me back up for a minute the voice that's speaking here is the same voice that called the universe into existence the voice that's speaking here is the voice that john heard at patmos in chapter four verse one come up heavier which i believe uh is the harpazzo model there if you will it's my suspicion that at the harpazzo the shout of that will that will come will be our voice i believe we'll be called by name we'll each hear our own name called that's i suspect that's going to be true okay so lazarus come forth a voice so loud it would wake up the dead like that and uh same lips called the universe into existence by the mere declaration of his mouth he that was dead came forth jesus himself held the keys to of death and hades this demonstrates a victory over satan right there right there how can any sheep of his hand ever perish when he held such a hand we covered that in chapter 10 but i think it echoes right here to realize how powerful that is and this illustrates his conquest over satan now i want to talk about these grave clothes um red path makes quite a thing of that i think he's right on it's interesting that jesus always works through his disciples take off his grave he tells him to get rid of the grave clothes remember water and wine he had the disciples deal with that feeding the multitudes the loaves of fishes the disciple he uses the disciple he always works to rolling the stone away the disciples now freeing the glaive the grave clothes freeing the lazarus from the bondage of corruption and uh now lazarus was in four conditions first of all he was dead so are you and me before we encounter christ before we have that benefit we are dead dead to sin and a destiny accordingly the next step lazarus became was called to life but he was still if he was tied by his grave clothes can you visualize them coming out of the the cave he's freed he's alive wow but he's trembled he's wrapped he's lose him is what he jesus tells his disciples he's trembled with grace so are we that's the lesson here i think and most of us are alive but hindered by our own grave clothes hindered by false ambitions hindered by unnecessary appetites hindered you can make your own list every one of us i think it's in the humble i think the homolytics here are in the grape clothes now once they release him they go and they un take off the grave clothes he becomes dangerous he's now able to go around and witness show himself so they had to kill him in chapter 12 and verse 10 we're going to discover the pharisees couldn't handle it they had to get him killed he couldn't have this guy walking around having been raised from the dead now understand we're on the threshold of the holidays passover there's crowds of strangers coming from all over the world to celebrate the holidays and this guy's walking around that's been raised from the dead that word would travel so he was dead then he was defeated but then when he's freed he's dangerous are we dangerous we've been made alive by jesus christ are we still trampled with our grave clothes if we shed those we become dangerous praise god for that dangerous and constructive sense stay dangerous on behalf of the the kingdom of our lord and of course the fourth day is when he dines with jesus in chapter 12 and for chapter 14 we'll discover that lazarus is sitting there with dinner so that's the the four d's he was dead then defeated but then dangerous then he dies and i'm going to suggest that those four d's can be applied to our personal lives i'm going to suggest that we in a prayerful devotional time i reflect on that in terms of are we each of us hindered by our grave clothes now we can't talk about lazarus and john without realizing there's another lazarus that the bible talks about a different guy different circumstance but useful to compare here and this is the lazarus and luke okay luke 16. most of what we think we know about the life after death we'd learn from a careful study of luke 16. surprisingly enough it's a very interesting it's not a parable by the way it's an actual description so let's just skim through it by way of review i think we can slip it in the study just by way of review jesus tells us in luke 16 there was a certain rich man see there was a certain rich man this is not a hypothetical guy which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day and there was a certain beggar named lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores now notice the guy has a name this is a real thing this is not a parable it's not just a story to teach something no it's an actual incident these are historical characters with real names he was laid he's apparently a he had to be laid at his gate he didn't get there lie down he was laid at his gate full of sores okay and it's interesting the same form is eliezer is so okay and uh the two reasons i believe that the scripture emphasizes name to demonstrate that it really happened it wasn't just a rhetorical device the second thing is that the rich man likely didn't know his name but jesus did jesus knew his name i think that's relevant to the story here and designed to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table and moreover the dogs came and licked his sores and it came to pass that when the dead the beggar died and was carried by the angels into abraham's bosom the rich man also died and was buried now death is not the end the beginning of a whole new existence in another world that's what's ex that's what jesus is communicating to us here lazarus by the way was righteous not because he was poor but because he depended on god the rich man was not condemned because he was rich but because he didn't use his resources properly abraham was among the wealthiest in the world and yet yet uh yet he was not in torment in hades he's this is he's becomes an idiom for the good part of hades i'll come back to that and in hell in haiti i should say he lifts up his eyes being in torments that's the rich man and seeth abraham afar off and lazarus in his bosom now the word uh hell in your english is actually a translation of the greek word hades and i'll come back to that abraham's bosom is an idiom if you will for the good side of hades the paradise side of hades in the old testament times of death and we'll talk more about that here in a minute and for the christian death means to be present with the lord for the unbeliever death means to be separated from god's presence which results in a tormented state and now the word hell is derived from the saxon halan which means to cover hence the covered or invisible place is what it means in scripture there are four words that are actually translating to the english hell one is show unless the hebrew word from the old testament hades is the greek term from the new testament gehenna is another thing i'll come back to it's quite a different thing and then tartarus is yet another thing though these are four words that you need to be sensitized to if you're going to get into this area and sheol of course is hebrew it occurs in the old testament 65 times it's derived from a root word meaning to ask or demand hence it's insatiable it's insatiable in this is what it means it's never full in other words it's rendered grave 31 times that's actually a mistranslation and i'll explain why in a minute here and it's rendered hell 31 times in the authorized version in place of it's the place of the disembodied spirits is the concept that's trying to communicate here this is not to be confused with the grave the grave and shoal are very different a grave is physical it receives bodies you can have graves in the plural you can own a grave sheol is singular never used uh excuse me it is never used in the plural it's a specific place that no one owns it's not that kind of a thing and so the hades is the greek equivalent of the hebrew show it's a word that which that which is out of sight denotes the place of the dead it's translated hell 11 times the new testament the septuagint uses hades to translate the hebrew word show on 61 occasions so for our purposes hades and show are equivalent really and it it is viewed in the greek mind it has two subterranean divisions elysium and tartarus elysium is the paradise tartarus is the the dark bad side of it it shows up in homer's iliad and other places and uh so some view the blessed dead as part of hades called paradise and it the idiom used here is abraham's bosom and the rich man lifted up his eyes the bosom abraham was far off he knew it was there he could communicate with it but he couldn't get at it it's a strange separation here abraham's bosom is in heaven we know from matthew 8 and elsewhere okay now gehenna is a different term as a term comes from the valley of the sons of hinnom which was a deep narrow ravine to the south of jerusalem separating mount zion from the so-called hill of evil council i'm always amused by the hill of evil council because that's where the united nations has set up their headquarters i don't think they understood the name of that hill when they did that but anyway we'll go on here here the idolatrous jews offered their uh children in the sacrifice to molech they hid it they heated this bronze arms and put their infants in there and burned them and there was there was actually infant sacrifices in the days of their uh paganism and so the ghana then becomes after it becomes a city dump it's always burning and so it becomes an idiom to speak of a place of everlasting fire and burning that's where the word comes from gehenna comes from the valley of hinnom as the idiom and it's used by the lord 11 times in that way as an idiom for the lake that burns with fire and brimstone and uh the lake that burns right that's hades is temporary it's at the end after the millennium that that uh hades is thrown into kahana gahema is a final permanent thing that's the concept you want to understand hades is temporary it'll ultimately cast into gehenna in revelation 20. and uh is outside time we have no grasp of what that means it really is forever hades is in the earth apparently it sounds like at least idiomatically it's geocentric and it's interesting that gehenna is in the outer darkness although that phrase is misunderstood i won't get into that here there's a wide misunderstanding of that phrase it's used in a different way in the in matthew but most many people would link it up and now the hades is associated with the bottomless pit at the abyss and i'll get to that here in a minute so tartarus is another term it only appears once in the new testament and it's the deepest abyss of hades apparently in homer's iliad it's described as far below hades as the earth is below heaven think about that it is far below hades as the earth is below heaven so i don't know where it is but i don't want to go there okay it's a very specific place of incarceration of the angels that sinned and from genesis 6. that's confirmed both by jude in second peter chapter two so that's these are all very real issues that we need to understand if you're serious about your bible and uh the abuso is another term is related to this it's translated the bottomless pit or the abyss the greek it's the abusos that's where the beast of revelation comes out of that's where he comes from strangely enough people miss that and where satan will be bound for a thousand years not annihilated yet his par two partners are but he isn't for a thousand years he's incarcerated then he's released for a short while and then finally put down for good it's also the place from which the demon locusts emerge in revelation chapter nine and uh so now so the underworld the model here is that hades consists of two things a place of torment and a abraham's bosom and there is an impassable gulf between those two that's the greek conception but that's the conception that's reinforced by luke 16 if you will and there's also this bottomless pit which may or may not be a part of the impassable gulf there's no reason that they might need to be the same or they might be that's that's either here or there and so the antarteris is probably associated with that also and so some insights here the man in hades in luke 16 is fully conscious that's an interesting thing to understand he has memory he's speaking he endures pain he has desires his eternal destiny was irrevocably fixed never changed not changeable that's that's the reality has no hope we can't imagine being without hope he knew that what he was experiencing was fair and just as he carries on the dialogue there he he understands it's just inappropriate that's amazing to realize he's not making he's not complaining about that he also knew exactly what his brothers needed to do to avoid his own fame that's to repent it's an amazing amount of information we glean from this description of our lord in luke 16. he was not yet in hell that in the sense of gehenna only hades is a temporary holy place but it's not pleasant so anyway the rich man said he cried loud and said father abraham have mercy on me and send lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for i am tormented in this flame wow okay there's no soul sleep here he's conscious and aware the punishment of lost sinners is not remedial it does not improve them hades and genera are not hospitals for the sick they are prisons for the condemned we need to understand that but abram said son remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things and likewise lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented and beside all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from vents so that's the predicament here and there's again we get in the vocabulary but basically some conjectured that busso is involved with a geocentric topology the only place topologically that one can have a bottomless pit would be at the center of the earth and so that may be just idiomatically consistency or there may be something even more fundamental to it so if we take this bottle after the cross jesus came and took those in abraham's bosom with him and so that's and that's what we infer from first peter 3 19 and some other passages and so uh ephesians 14 that bosom was evacuated after the cross and the resurrection of christ christ was the first fruits of them that slept that was the feast of first fruits being fulfilled and first corinthians 15 and we get in the whole study on that and so then said he i pray thee that the rich man says pray thee therefore father that thou would ascend him to my father's house for i have five brethren that he may testify unto them lest they also come into this place of torment interesting the rich man understood what had to happen that's what he's pleading for he has a concern for the lost but can't do anything about it there was one that did come back from the dead and that's course lazarus and it's interesting as a maybe the holy spirit has a smile on his face there's a pun involved because there's two different people the response of the chief priests of course was to to kill him that's the lazarus that we speak of in john 11. see faith that is based solely on miracles is not a saving faith that may be a shock that may be a shock faith that is based solely on miracles is not a saving face okay jesus spoke more of hell than of heaven they both are real this should preempt all of our other priorities everything else in our lives when we get up in the morning every day this fact should preempt all of our other agendas all our other priorities heaven is real hell is also the safest road to hell is the gradual one the gentle slope soft underfoot without sudden turnings without milestones without signposts that's the most dangerous that's the safest one that's also the most dangerous one because it's so innocuous many as how can a loving god even permit such a place as hell to exist let alone send people there see in asking that very question they reveal they do not understand two things they do not understand the love of god and they do not understand the wickedness of sin you've got to put those into the equation to really understand that and i don't want to make this whole study this but i just seen an appropriate time to review this from luke 16. god's love is a holy love not a shallow sentiment sin is a rebellion against a holy and loving god those two realities we need to confront there's no way around it those are two realities you can't escape god's mercy is unobligated and sovereign because he's god well let's talk about the other lazarus contrast luke 16 is the one with the beggar here versus the man of means in john 11. the one in the leg 16 was un was uncared for dogs like this thing so forth the the lazarus in john 11 had loving sisters luke 16 had crumbs from another's table john 11 he was at the table with jesus luke 16 the beggar remained in the grave versus the one here brought back from the dead and of course the one there will also be resurrected but the old testament saints are resurrected at the second coming not at the harpazzo that's the technicality that many many people miss then many of the jews which came to mary and had seen the things which jesus did believed on him no kidding i can't imagine someone being present that wouldn't be shook whatever presuppositions he shows up with i think would be cast aside pretty quickly they believed many believed on him but some of them went their ways to the pharisees and told them what things jesus had done i'll bet you that was a popular message now they came to mary mary must have been somebody very special they came to mary i think in itself interesting well then gathered the chief priests and pharisees a council and said what do we for this man do with many miracles interesting they don't deny the miracles they can't they're scared they're there if we let him thus alone all men will believe on him and the romans shall come and take away both our place and nation boy g free sadducees pharisees there they are this man does miracles they own the genuineness of they acknowledge the genuineness of the miracles they were determined not to believe and that's usually the case in disbelief it's determined it's a it's a commitment then the threat was to take away the temple which is a fear they had of course 40 years later that's exactly what does happen the roman army did come they destroyed jerusalem and burned the temple and carried the entire nation into captivity anyway and one of them named caiaphas being the high priest that year now you understand anis was the one that should have been but calves was the roman appointee so the two of them are both in power for different reasons both corrupt one of the named catholics be the high priest that same year he said unto them ye know nothing at all nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people if the whole nation perish not that's a prophecy by him similar to the one in luke 20. it's very interesting here he inadvertently is prophesying it's expedient for us that one man should die for the people he did he did he did and uh died for the people in the word in the greek is hooper instead of the people just like balaam who also prophesied against his will that's another comparison but let's keep moving here and this he spake not of himself but being high priest that year he prophesied that jesus should die for the nation that nation and not for that nation only but that also he should gather together in one the children of god that were scattered abroad indeed indeed that's that's the agenda by the way that he he will quote as he enters jerusalem or to jerusalem jerusalem i would have gathered thee like it can catch chicks and so forth the greatest crime done in the world brings the greatest blessing ever given to the world anyway from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him that's jesus to death jesus therefore walked no more openly among the jews but went thence into a country near to the wilderness into a city called ephraim and there continued with his disciples and for whom did christ die and you've got seven passages you can chase down that'll be in your notes uh for whom did christ die for them indeed indeed indeed um see he walked no more opening all the jews jesus knew of the decision that they had met he knew they had a price on his head so to speak and ephraim is about 20 miles north of jerusalem about five miles east of bethel and the jews passover was nigh at hand and many went out of the country up to jerusalem before the passover to purify themselves then sought they for jesus and spake among themselves as they stood in the temple what think he that he will not come to the feast now both the chief priests and pharisees had given a commandment that if any man knew where he were he should show it that they might take him so this ends unit 1 that's the end of the chapter and what you might want to do in your notes is to contrast this mood with the very first chapter of the unit which introduces the pre-existent one introduces us to the whole concept of light in contrast to darkness and so forth but for your next session you're going to prepare for our reading john chapter 12. and those of you that may have some background in the deutero isaiah theory are in for a surprise i don't know about your personal experience with biblical studies but when i was an early teenager and encountered this idea that the the the intellectuals say that really there were two isaiahs isaiah 1 and isaiah 2 and there's a reason they talked about that that really set me back and i didn't really buy it but it certainly put a cloud on my on chasing scholarship and i've i'm just so indebted to indebted or there's one verse in chapter 12 that's become one of my most precious possessions and i'll explain that to you when we're going through that chapter next time but this uh this chapter 12 begins unit two and the final week of jesus ministry on the planet earth and uh so that's uh with that let's uh bow our hearts in a word of prayer

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Published: Thu Oct 15 2020