Originally posted 4/8/25
The fifth “I AM” statement comes from John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,”
We will understand the statement if we look at what happened just before this verse.
Lazarus was ill. His sisters, Mary and Martha sent a request for Jesus to come. Martha believed that Jesus could do something about it. Jesus did not leave immediately. When our friends ask for our help, most of us will try to do it immediately; yet we see that Jesus lingered. We know that Jesus is sovereign over all. He knew that he could raise Lazarus after he died. God’s plan could have been better carried out if Jesus had waited and then raised him from the dead. John 11:14-15 tells us, “Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” He already knew that Lazarus had died. Some scholars believe that he was already dead when the message was sent to Jesus. It seems so foreign to us that Jesus waited, but we are not God.
When Jesus got close to Bethany, Martha met him and questioned Jesus. She was concerned that he had not come sooner. She believed that Jesus could have healed him before Lazarus died. Martha felt like the opportunity for Lazarus had passed. He had been dead for four days. She seemed unsure of the full extent of Jesus’s power.
Www.gotquestions.org says it better than I could, “When Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” He was claiming to be the source of both. There is no resurrection apart from Christ, and there is no eternal life apart from Christ. Beyond that, Jesus was also making a statement concerning His divine nature. He does more than give life; He is life, and therefore death has no ultimate power over Him. Jesus confers this spiritual life on those who believe in Him, so that they share His triumph over death (1 John 5:11-12). Believers in Jesus Christ will experience resurrection because, having the life Jesus gives, it is impossible for death to defeat them (1 Corinthians 15:53-57).”
Macarthur’s Study BIble states this about the phrase “the Son of God may be glorified”, “This phrase reveals the real purpose behind Lazarus’s sickness, i.e., not death, but that the Son of God might be glorified through his resurrection.”
Jesus is showing that he is not bound by time or death. Raising Lazarus from the dead beings more glory to the work of Christ. All of our hope lies in the power of Jesus and the cross. The resurrection is a person in addition to being an event.
Www.bibleref.com explains it in the following way: “This particular “I Am” statement puts a personal emphasis on human salvation. Unique among other claims about eternity, the gospel explains that the ultimate fulfillment of human desire is a person. It’s not knowledge, or accomplishment, or some state of being. It’s the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Jesus does not merely claim to speak about “the life,” He identifies as “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Just as drowning people want a rescuer, not advice on swimming, condemned sinners need a Savior, not spiritual self-help.” add link to article https://www.bibleref.com/John/11/John-11-25.html
Jesus asks Martha a question in John 11:26-27, “and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Her response comes in John 11:27, “She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” Do you believe it?
Other I Am Statements:
I Am the way, the Truth, and the Life
I Am the way, the Truth, and the Life
Image taken from https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/vb-easter/.
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If you haven’t read the first article in this series, click here. The second article is here. The third article is here. You can read the fourth article here.