This semester in our church's youth group we are going through the I Am statements of Jesus in a seires entitled "Who Is He?". As I sit here I am meditating on John 11 – the passage surrounding Jesus' statement "I Am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25) – in preparation for this week's message.
In this passage, Mary and Martha's brother Lazarus has become ill with some nondescript condition. They send word to Jesus who replies, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (John 11:4, cf. 11:40). So, Lazarus' illness will not lead to his death but rather has fallen ill for the purpose of the glorification of the Son of God. Interesting. Later on Lazarus actually does die and Jesus is the one who first tells us that in the narrative (John 11:11, 11:14). Yet, it is in that juncture that Jesus tells yet another purpose – another "so that" – of Lazarus' situation. He says to his disciples, "for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." (John 11:15). But not only them, also Mary, Martha, and all who witness the coming resurrection that Jesus will perform. Jesus even mentions belief three times in the famous I Am statement addressed to Martha as he says, "“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26). So, Lazarus' situation is for the purpose of the belief on the part of all who will witness the resurrection of Lazarus. Interesting.
Here then we have two purposes to Lazarus' situation – the glory of God and the belief of the witnesses. How do these relate? Let's look at them separately and then see their relationship.
The Glory of God
The glory of God is his weightiness. Bavinck describes God’s glory in subjective and objective senses. Objectively, the glory of God is his splendor and luster in the public arena. Subjectively, it is the recognition that he is entitled to and the fame that he enjoys (RD II.252). John Piper defines the glory of God as “the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections”. This is a fair definition and resembles Bavinck’s own descriptions. It is the inherent worth and splendor of God on display.
Given that the glory of God is the display of his inherent worth and splendor, we must ask “how is God’s inherent worth and splendor displayed in this event so much as to say that Lazarus’ illness and death was for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it?” Perhaps the perfection that is on display is his power and goodness. With respect to his power, this is evident. Jesus has the power over death as the giver of life (John 5:21, cf. Ps 36:9, Acts 2:24, 3:15). With respect to his goodness, this is shown in his grace and mercy toward Lazarus, his sisters, and implicitly all who come to him by faith seeing as how he graciously removes from them the pang of death. He has power over death to the soteriological benefit of those who trust him. Thus, the glory of God and of the Son of God are displayed in that Gods power and goodness are displayed in the raising of Lazarus and in the the trusting heart of Martha who believes that Jesus is indeed powerful and good — willing and able to raise her brother from the dead.
The Belief of the Witnesses
The verb to believe shows up nine times in this narrative. Three times in Jesus’ I Am statement with one of those being a question aimed at Martha. That is, the response of Martha should be belief and so he asks “do you believe this?”. The object of belief is listed as Jesus (John 11:25, 11:26, 11:45, 11:48) the fact that the Father sent Jesus (John 11:42), and the fact that one would see the glory of God (John 11:40). All three of these have directly to do with Jesus, even the third one since it is Jesus who reveals the glory of God (John 1:14). So belief is clearly playing a big role in this whole narrative
It is at this point that we must define our terms when it comes to 'belief'. Belief, in this narrative, cannot be reduced to a mere notitia and assensus (awareness of facts and agreement with facts) but must involve a fiducia (trust). As Carson comments on verses 26-27,
When Jesus asks Martha ‘Do you believe this?', he is not asking if she believes that he is about to raise her brother from the dead, but if her faith can go beyond quiet confidence that her brother will be resurrected at the last day to personal trust (fiducia) in Jesus as the resurrection and the life, the only person who can grant eternal life and promise the transformation of resurrection…. Martha’s ‘Yes, Lord’ in verse 27 introduces more than a confession of the points Jesus has raised, but a personal confidence (fiducia) in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God (cf. 20:30-31). Her confession is neither mere repetition, nor the pious but distracted and meandering response of someone who has not followed the argument. Her reply carries the argument forward, for she holds that the one who is 'the resurrection and the life' must be such by virtue of the fact that he is God's promised Messiah. Her firm I believe reflects the state of her confident trust. Her faith is a rich mixture of personal trust (fiducia) and of confidence that certain things about Jesus are true (assensus), viz. that he is the Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he is the one who was to come into the world.
Thus, belief in John 11 focuses on assensus and fiducia with emphasis on fiducia. It is not simply an agreement with the statement that Jesus is the resurrection and the life but, alongside that, it is a trust in him as the resurrection and the life.
Glorifying Christ by Trusting In Him
This fiducia faith is the piece of the puzzle that shows us how the two purposes (the glory of God and the belief of the witnesses) relate. The relation between the glory of God and fiducia-faith is that trusting in God brings him glory. We certainly can see this in faith as the instrument of justification. When a sinner runs to Jesus Christ for justification, he knows that he can do nothing of himself. He is dead in his sin and merits no blessing or kindness from God. He stood cursed under the wrath of God. Yet Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, became a curse for him by dying on the cross in his place. That sinner can do nothing but hope in Jesus. He can do nothing but cling to him and say “Lord, you are my only hope. Save me!” He magnifies the Lord by hoping in him (see more on this in The Necessity of Justification By Faith).
In this narrative, the witnesses of Lazarus' resurrection glorify God by hoping in Jesus as the one who is the resurrection and the life. That trust is how “the Son of God [is] glorified through” Lazarus’ death. Of course this organically relates to the proper display of his glory in the act of the resurrection. Christ displays the glory of his power and goodness in the resurrection and is glorified in the witnesses' trust in Christ by virtue of his power and goodness.
May this be a lesson to us all that as we trust in Christ more, we magnify him more. He is our resurrection and our life. We glorify him by trusting in him for that fact.
Comments