Our study will be of the eleventh Chapter of The Gospel according to John. What was the purpose of the "death" of Lazarus? Why did Jesus really weep? These questions and more will be answered in this study of The "death" of Lazarus.

Turn to John 11:1. V. 1-3: The First three verses of this chapter, set the scene. Lazarus of Bethany is sick, this Lazarus is the brother of Martha and Mary(the same who sat at the feet of Jesus ,in the house of the Pharisee).(Luke 7:36-50). We learn that he must have known Lazarus well because they say, "...he whom thou lovest..." V. 4: When Jesus hears of his sickness, he tells them, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

" This is the first hint that Jesus was about to do something magnificent, but even up until he actually performs that miracle, none of them realize what he is trying to teach. V. 5-6: So Jesus stays put for two more days, he does not go with them to Lazarus even though he loved them very much. As he had said, all that would happen would be for the glory of God.

It was not time to heal Lazarus, YET! V.7-10: Jesus instead after two days said, "Let us go into Judaea again." The disciples were wary of this and replied, "Master, the JEWS have sought to stone thee and goest thou thither again?". They were saying, "Lord they want to kill you and you want to go there again?". Now the word JEWS as used here is the Greek 2453-Ioudaios,Ioudaios,ee-oo-dah’-yas, which means Judean.

it's a word used when speaking of anyone inhabiting that region, that’s why our brothers of Israel have had to take the heat from the turmoil caused by "those who say they are Jews and are not.."(REV. 2:9) The disciples were actually saying, "Master, those in Judea have sought to stone thee..." Now Jesus replied to this question in v.9, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? if any man walk in the light, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

" Notice the number 12 here, in biblical mathematics the number twelve represents the Twelve tribes of Israel. Our Father has given us so many ways to learn the deeper truths of his word. On the deeper level our Lord is speaking about the twelve tribes, how he is the light that shines to them for salvation. On a more general level, he speaks of all those who come to him and accept him as Savior. Now in verse 10, he continues, "....but if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

" If any accept Christ, they walk in the light, and therefore has seen it, because Jesus is Light. However, if they refuse Yeshua(Jesus), there is no light in them. Let's go on....Verse 11-13 11: 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.

" Jesus was using the term we use now for those who have given up the spirit and are in Christ Jesus, Ol' Lazarus just looked as if he was "sleeping" 12: Then said his disciples, "Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

13: Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

The disciples take this the wrong way as it is written in V.13 so Jesus must make himself clearer......Next verse.

14:" Then said Jesus unto them plainly, "Lazarus is dead."

15:"And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

" As mentioned earlier in verse 11, Jesus told them that he is going to awake him, of course since we are talking about 'death', he is actually going to resurrect him. Here in V.15, he is glad that he has remained with them through this, so that they know what he is about to do is not a trick. He wants them to know that he is the real McCoy, This resurrection is much more important than some realize, it would be a very interesting situation.

16: Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples," Let us also go, that we may die with him.".

In this verse, notice that Thomas speaks, this is that same Thomas known for his doubting, he reveals that characteristic in what he says here. "Let's go with him so that we can grieve too." They could not yet realize what Jesus was saying to them. Of course, 'ol Thomas, the doubter that he is, had no clue of what was about to happen.

Does that remind you of many people today? Now to verse seventeen..... 17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

Jesus arrives on the scene four days after Lazarus dies...Lazarus would have been well into the putrefication processes of the human body upon death, (i.e. the decaying of the body causing the odor common with death).

18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:

A furlong is equal to 1/8 mile, so Bethany was almost two miles from Jerusalem.

19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

Once again here is the word IOUDAIOS, were all those who came to mourn with them, from the actual Adamic(Adam and Eve) bloodline? We'll find out! Now we go to verse 20...... 20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.

21 Then said Martha unto Jesus," Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."

22 "But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee."

Martha goes out to meet Jesus, when she reaches him she says, "Lord if you would have been here, Lazarus wouldn't have died.". Like the disciples, she could not see the Lord's intent.

23: Jesus saith unto her, "Thy brother shall rise again." 24: Martha saith unto him,"I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

" Here we see that Martha had faith in the fact that her brother would rise again, but she didn't realize that Jesus was speaking of his raising him from the dead in a moment.

25 Jesus said unto her,"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:"

I want to stop here and explain this verse, Jesus is speaking spiritually here. If we believe in him, we become alive spiritually after being spiritually dead. We are resurrected by his Love, into life eternal.

26 "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"

Do you believe this? I hope you do. If you believe, you become truly alive and those who are spiritually alive, never die. This 'ol flesh body will fade away but the spirit is what matters. Death of the flesh body is trivial, but death of the soul is true death, the second death.(Revelation 20:14) Praise God, we have Jesus the Christ, through which we have eternal life, true life.

These two verses(V.25-26) are probably my favorite verses, because it tells us that in Christ there is no death, to those who love and trust in him there is no fear in the death of the flesh, that's why he said in Matthew 10:28: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear him(God) who can destroy both body and soul in Hell." The word "Hell" here in the Greek manuscripts is GEHENNA, the lake of Fire and Brimstone. another subject for another time.

By this Scripture we see that those who pass on do not lay in the ground waiting for the Lord to return, on the contrary, they are already there. Documentation for this is Ecclesiastes12:7 and also II Corinthians 5:1-10. 27: She saith unto him, "Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world."

Now when Martha heard Jesus words in verse 25 and 26, she didn’t quite grasp what he was saying. 28: And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee."

Notice that Mary secretly tells Mary that Jesus is here, she didn’t tell everyone. Why? Probably because they wanted to see him alone first. Could there have been some there that she did not want to inform about Jesus’ arrival? We will find out a little alter on.

29: As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. Mary rushes out to meet Yeshua.

30: Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.

31: The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying," She goeth unto the grave to weep there."

32: Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."

Jesus had not yet came into the town, he waited just outside. So Mary got up to go see him there. When the JEWS saw her they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep for Lazarus, so they followed her. When she came to where Jesus was she fell at his feet and cried, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!" Boy were they about to get a big surprise!

33: When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

34: And said, "Where have ye laid him?" They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

35: Jesus wept.

36: Then said the Jews, "Behold how he loved him!"

37: And 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?"

So as the Savior looked around and saw all of them crying, it is written that he, "..groaned". This word as used here, is the Greek word-(G1690 in a Strong’s Concordance) embrimaomai-embrimaomai, em-brim-ah’-om-ahee: from 1722(en-en) and brimaomai-brimoamai, brim-ah’-om-ahee(to snort with anger); to have indignation(righteous anger) on, i.e. (transitive)to blame, (intransitive)to sigh with chagrin(defined: disappointment or embarrassment) The word TROUBLE here is G5015-tarassv-tarasso, tar-as’-so; to stir or agitate(roil water).

This "roiling of water" is indeed what happened, for Christ is the Living water. After all that he had told them, they still did not understand that Lazarus was not dead. So he became upset a their ignorance with indignation toward them. So he says, "Where have you laid him?". They take him to the tomb. In verse 35, Jesus weeps. This is not because Lazarus was dead, though he was sad. He wept because their eyes could not be opened to what he was trying to teach them.

So the Jews standing by, being ignorant of what he was teaching, says what most people say today about this verse. "behold how he loved him!" Oh Jesus loved Lazarus very much, but he wasn’t weeping because of that. In verse 37 some of them say, "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have cause that even this man should not have died?" As they walked to the tomb, this went on. THEIR blind eyes were about to be opened all right!

38: Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39: Jesus said, "Take ye away the stone."Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, "Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days."

40: Jesus saith unto her, "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"

So Jesus once again snorts with indignation because of their blindness. He arrives at the tomb, which we learn is a cave and tells them to take away the stone. They thought he only wanted to see the body so that he could grieve over it. So Martha says, "Lord by now he stinks, because he has been there four days." This ‘ol boy was getting pretty ripe by now. They still could not understand but their eyes were about to be opened wide.

41: Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me." 42: And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me."

Notice what Jesus prays here, he thanks him for listening. He is saying, I know you hear me at all times, but I wanted to speak out loud so that the people standing by could hear me and understand that you have sent me. This also indicates that Father hears all things whatsoever we think, as it is written, all things will be revealed that are hidden.

43: And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" 44: And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, "Loose him, and let him go."

Jesus here does not whisper, he shouts it with authority. Immediately, Lazarus(he who WAS dead) came out of the tomb, no binding could keep him from obeying the Master’s voice! Realize that Lazarus was totally bound, unable to walk or speak. Many are taught that he came out on his tip-toes, but we have to take into account the Greek words here. The first use of BOUND in this 44th verse is G1210-dew, deo, deh’-o; it’s a primary root word that means to bind. His hands and feet were tied so that he could not walk.

The second occurrence of BOUND is G4019-perido, perido,per-ee-deh’-oh; to bind around one, i.e. enwrap. His face was totally covered by a NAPKIN, G4676-soudarion, soudarion, soo-dar’-ee-on; a sudarium(sweatcloth) by example, a towel used to bind the face of a corpse. Therefore; he could not see how to walk, and since Christ commanded him to COME FORTH, he did indeed by the power of God come forth. You can guess how, perhaps by levitating.

45: Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. 46: But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.

So after Jesus had raised Lazarus, many who were there believed in him, that he was truly the Son of God. But, as we learn, there were some who went and told the Pharisees what he had done. Were these "traitors" real Jews of the blood line of Adam? I think not, because as Jesus had stated earlier in the 10th verse, "they that walk in the night, stumbleth because the Light is not in them."

47: Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, "What do we? for this man doeth many miracles." 48: "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."

The "heads" of the religious community call a meeting of their little group, to see what they can do to stop this one called Jesus. As stated, if he continued to do these miracles, the people would begin following him and not listening to the words of their teachings, they would lose their high places of authority among the people and their place of power out of the Roman government. They wanted more to be accepted of man than of God. Probably worried about the money they would lose, no doubt!

49: And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, "Ye know nothing at all," 50: "Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not."

51: And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52: And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Notice in verse 51 that the chief priest did not speak this by his own knowledge, but the Holy Spirit caused him to prophesy concerning the blood that Jesus would shed, not only for that nation, but also for those "…children of God who were scattered abroad." The Father’s word is so amazing! These children of God are those tribes of the Jacob, who went North after the captivity in Babylon, over the Caucasus Mountains, and latter became know as Caucasians.

53: Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. 54: Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.

Now from that moment, the Kenites(sons of Cain, not Jews), came together to try to put Jesus to death and so Jesus did not walk openly among any longer because the time was not yet that he should be delivered up as the sacrificial Lamb of God. Instead, he went into Ephraim and stayed with the disciples.

Let me point out that Ephraim in the Hebrew language is H669-Ephrayim, ef-ra’-yim; double fruit, this is a dual of the masculine form of H672-Ephrath(ef-rawth’) or Ephrathah( ef-raw’-thaw), fruitfulness; Ephrath is another name for Bethlehem(House of bread). On the deeper level, Christ would go unto the whole of the world. He would go to Bethlehem, the house of Bread. As Christ is the Bread of Life, he is that bread in the House of God.

55: And the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. 56: Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?

57: Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.

The Passover(Pesach) was near and the Pharisees looked for Jesus so that they might take him, as recorded in verse 56, they stayed in the temple asking themselves, "Do you think he will come to the feast?" They didn’t know how right they were. Finally, in verse 57, we learn that the Pharisees had put a price, in a sense, on the head of Jesus so that if any knew where he was that they should report it.

So what was this all about? Jesus had done what he said he would do. He resurrected Lazarus in the witness of several people so that his true nature could be seen. It was really his most "outspoken" miracle, because he wanted all to hear of it. In turn this would cause the Pharisees and chief priests to seek him out more diligently, to fulfill the Master’s plan.

As we learn in John Chapter 12, he rode into town on a donkey(v.14), all the time people praising him and calling him King. Why were these people so enthusiastic about meeting him? The people that witnessed the resurrection went and told them what he had done and they came out to meet their King(v. 17-18). This would set the stage for the wonderful price he would pay on the cross at Golgotha for all mankind, his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven. Amen