Do You Believe?

Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:24-26)

I do not claim to see all there is to see in these words of Jesus. But as I meditate on them and ask for insight from Him I see more and more.

At first these phrases seem to be in contradiction with each other which causes some to catch them up in attempts to justify false notions about death and theories about after-life. Therefore it is important to properly perceive what Jesus wanted to convey here in the context of a correct understanding of the biblical view of life and death and eternity. To wrest these words out of that context is to damage and distort the fundamental principles of the gospel.

When Jesus spoke to His disciples earlier about the death of Lazarus, He used the preferred terminology of heaven in reference to what we call death. He said that Lazarus was sleeping, for the death of our body this side of eternity in heaven's perspective is very much like the unconsciousness that we experience when we sleep at night. As far as heaven is concerned no one has really died (except when shortly after this story Jesus died that kind of death at the cross). But when Jesus arrived at Bethany He chose to use human terminology when discussing this issue with Martha so as not to distress and confuse her even more than she was.

But Jesus wanted to use this opportunity with Martha to reveal some vitally important things about life and death and the centrality of His own role in our lives in relation to eternity. Martha thought, as many of us still think today, that the resurrection was just an event in the future when dead people will come to life again at the end of time as we know it. She did not have the advantage of the fuller revelation of these truths as we now have and was not aware of how all of these things were to transpire. But she did have enough knowledge about this subject to understand that there was coming a day when all who had died would be brought back to life to face the judgment.

I find this quite fascinating given that Martha did not have the New Testament writings that give us far more clarity and insight into this subject. On the other hand, Martha and her siblings did have the unique privilege of having Jesus personally tutor them at various times in their own home in a way that very few others ever experienced. Could it be that in their dialogues with Jesus privately that He had shared something about these things that she had taken to heart? Jesus was always eager to unpack the Old Testament scriptures and bring vital truths into new perspective for anyone willing to learn. So it is possible that she may have been taking hold of things she had learned from Jesus directly as He shared with her insights from the Scriptures that even the most studied religious teachers did not understand.

Now Martha found herself in a time of testing that challenged her to apply in real life the things she had been learning over her lifetime about truth. Coming to know truth intellectually is important but unless it sinks in deeply enough to transform the heart it is nearly useless. Truth in the left brain is helpful as a resource, but it is only reference truth, a resource library for comfort, for hope, a discipline to guide the emotions and life when everything seems to be falling apart and challenging our beliefs.

I have observed that there are cycles of learning in life. One can go for some time learning new things and making sense of how truths fit together properly. But then there comes times of testing when all the theories, no matter how accurately they may have been assembled intellectually, are put under pressure during more intense life experiences. It is then that one suddenly finds out just how seriously they really believe the things they have come to know previously. And it is often a shocking experience when one realizes how shallow their beliefs really are when real life puts them under the microscope.

I am actually experiencing something similar right now. Because I have been praying and learning and seeking to be more real for some time, God has shown me areas of weakness and concepts of truth that need to be reinforced in my own character. But when I suddenly find myself in different circumstances with different surroundings I realize how extremely weak I really am and how vulnerable I am to unexpected temptations. It is a real wake-up alert for me to realize that areas of my life I thought were making good progress are actually still very flimsy and in desperate need of strengthening. I am finding that I am much weaker than I thought I was and am in desperate need of more grace and more total dependence on God every second.

Martha too found herself in such a time of crisis as a number of confusing and very painful things all coalesced to confront her beliefs about life, death and how Jesus fit into all of it. Her frustration that Jesus had not answered her request to heal her brother raised serious questions about the real feelings of His heart toward her. This was reinforced by many around her who wanted her to doubt Jesus and sought to drive a wedge her and Jesus. She was deeply hurting from the loss of her beloved brother and her sister was hurting so deeply that she was nearly delirious with anguish. Others were raising doubts about the integrity of Jesus and the way He had dealt with their problems. What was she to do?

Martha chose to put her trust in Jesus despite all the evidence that seemed to incriminate His integrity and trustworthiness. She chose to go out to meet Jesus herself away from all the distractions of those who sought to discredit Him along with the noise and confusion of all the intense mourning going on in the village. Martha chose the better part this time and went to intentionally place herself in the presence of Jesus to allow Him to share with her whatever He might have to offer in this time of intense grief and questions. She decided to bare her heart to the One who had always proved Himself faithful to her in the past even though this time it seemed He had let her down. Martha indeed made the right choice.

Jesus instantly capitalized on her choice to bring life and hope and encouragement to her to the extent that she was able to grasp. He chose to use her language about death rather than using the word sleep that He had first used with His disciples. This was no time to bring even more confusion to her heart and Jesus wanted to focus her attention on the good news inherent in Himself in this moment of deepest anguish and questioning. Jesus wanted to take her farther than what she already understood about the future life and link in her mind the hope of the resurrection to Himself.

He did not try to alter her belief in the future resurrection for it was already correct. What He did want to do was to take her much farther to allow her to see that He Himself was the essence of all good news, especially about life and death. He wanted to build on the foundation she already had and move her even closer by restoring her trust in Him personally as her only hope in every area of life. After she expressed her confidence that her brother would rise again on the last day (which was true and still is true), Jesus took her belief a step farther to link that hope in the resurrection directly to Himself. I am the resurrection and the life!

It is not just some future event that deserves our trust, it is a Person who's heart is passionately determined to love us and save us that is at the center and is the very cause of that glorious event.

The confusing part that I struggle to unpack is the following phrases that almost seem to contradict each other at first.

He who believes in me will live even if he dies.

Everyone who believes in Me and lives will never die.

O.K. There are two things the same and two things that seem to be the opposite here.

Both phrases talk about those who believe in Jesus, that makes sense. But then the other two things seem to suddenly be reversed. The first time He speaks of those who die and the second time He says they will never die. What is the real meaning here?

Part of the confusion I believe can be cleared up in the context of this passage. Jesus had just dealt with this issue in His discussion about death with His disciples earlier. Clearly I see there are two different events that take place in our lives that we call death. Yet Jesus prefers to use different names for them which can certainly help to make more sense out of all of this. But in His words to Martha He did not use different words because she had not been present when He had talked about this with His disciples and He did not want to confuse her under the present circumstances.

But we can view this from a better vantage point and take into accoung more context to make sense of it. We even have the insights of the book of Revelation where Jesus relays to us the reality of what is called the second death (Revelation 20:6, 14). This is the death that heaven warns against most strenuously and wants to save humanity from ever experiencing. And I believe this is the death that Jesus refers to in the second phrase of His words to Martha.

In contrast, the first phrase spoken to Martha is referring to the first death which is what Jesus prefers to call sleep. Jesus wants people to understand that even though we all may have to experience the terrifying experience we call death (that He calls sleep) that it is not so devastating from heaven's view of things. Whether we experience the first death, or sleep as heaven prefers to call it, is not nearly so important as whether we truly believe in Jesus. The thing that is most important from heaven's perspective is what we chose to believe about God as revealed in the heart and life of Jesus. Being properly positioned in our attitude and relationship to Jesus is the most vital thing in all eternity. The first death is almost incidental in contrast to the importance of what we believe about Him.

In no way is Jesus suggesting anything about some sort of conscious period of soul-life between the first death and the resurrection. This idea is a distraction and a diversion to draw people away from the beautiful truth about Jesus and the way He deals with death. The Bible teaches that when one dies the first death they go into what heaven calls a sleep in which there is no consciousness, no awareness of time or emotion or anything whatsoever. Their body and spirit are separated; they are disassembled in the reverse of how Adam was put together. When these two essential parts are separated there is no longer any ability to think or be aware of anything until the two are put back together. This is what Martha already understood and what Jesus assumed in His discussion with her.

What Jesus did want to stress in His brief words with Martha was the vital importance of clinging to her trust in His heart no matter what her emotions or surrounding circumstances or others might suggest about Him. She had made the choice to come to Him in trust that He cared about her pain and He reaffirmed and strengthened that choice. But His plans were for her to experience even more joy than she might dare to even hope for. In delaying His return to heal her brother Jesus had actually set the stage to give her something far better than what she had asked for and something that would also bring greater honor to Himself as God's representative to the world. In placing her trust in Him even in her pain and confusion, Martha was cooperating in paving the way for Jesus to bring to her something far better than anything she dared to ask or imagine.

The essence of the end-time resurrection was standing in front of Martha. In resurrecting Lazarus who was beyond hope of restoration according to all human calculations, Jesus was about to prove that He had the power and authority to raise to life anyone who had ever 'died' throughout history. This impending miracle was to be irrefutable proof of the divinity of Jesus that could not be ignored or discounted by the religious leaders of the Jews and they all knew it very well. This miracle was also a partial demonstration of these words of Jesus to Martha.

Lazarus had believed in Jesus and had already placed his trust in the heart of Jesus toward him before he had died. Jesus was now assuring Martha that He was fully capable of giving life to her brother whether it was another lease on temporal life or was a permanent resurrection that would occur on the 'last day'. In bringing a dead, rotting corpse back to life in the case of Lazarus, Jesus demonstrated to all that He had the full authority of the Almighty to give life to anyone, and especially those who were willing to place their implicit trust in believing that God truly cared for them and would save them.

Jesus did indeed raise Lazarus back to life. But it was not the eternal kind of life that Lazarus was raised to but was only an extension of the mortal life he already knew. Lazarus would later die again just as all of us do. But in demonstrating His power in the case of Lazarus Jesus wanted Martha and everyone else to know that He was powerful enough to fulfill the second part of His promise to her as well. All who put their complete trust in the life and death of Jesus and believe Him by giving over their life to Him totally will be brought up to eternal life in the end, the kind of life that has no end in a new body that has the attributes of immortality. That is the life where the spirit and the glorified body are recombined and our thoughts and emotions and awareness are implanted to take up where they left off when the old body died the first time. That is the destiny of all who choose to put their confidence in God and in His Son who was sent to offer us this redemption through His blood.

Then the most important question is posed, not only to Martha but to everyone confronted with this reality. Do you believe this? What we choose to do with this truth will make all the difference, not only in this world but for all eternity to come.

Do I really believe what God is showing me in these stories about Himself and His heart?

Am I willing to put all my trust in Him, so much so that I am willing to act and think in harmony with that profession of faith in Him? James says that faith without works is dead. If I claim to believe in Jesus it has to involve more than just a mental consent that what He says is true. I must have a level of belief that compels me to live my life in harmony with what I claim to believe about Him. I must experience a belief that comes from deeper levels of my heart, not just my left brain. To believe according to the Scriptural view of the word is a comprehensive, all-encompassing kind of belief that permeates all of the life both inside and outside.

Jesus, I believe. Please heal me from all my lingering unbelief!