Here is a teaching on chapter 11 of the book of John. If you want to check out previous Bible studies and chapters going forward, join our group here. Once you get added into that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and you'll see all of the chapters and their study guides as they are being taught.
Before we get into this Bible study I want to say a quick prayer.... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up our eyes to see the truth of your words, you open up our ears, our mind, and our soul to you. I pray for knowledge and understanding to know exactly what it is that we're reading and how to implement in our daily life. I pray that you use us as a vessel for your work and work through us to make an impact in other people's lives. I pray that we take the truth that you've shown us through your words and through this Bible study and that we spread it to other people and let them know about you and how amazing you are. I love you so much Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.
John Chapter 11:
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
4 When he heard this, Jesus said "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
7 Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." 8 "But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. 10 It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light." 11 After he said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I'm going there to wake him up."
12 His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." 16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
So I'm going to stop right there and discuss these verses with you guys here. In verses 1-3 it talks about Lazarus being sick, where he was from, and that he had two sisters, Mary and Martha. We can tell from these verses here that Jesus had a close relationship with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. We actually see in Luke chapter 10 where Jesus and his disciples stayed at Mary and Martha's home. I'm going to put a few verses here:
38 "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" 41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." -Luke 10: 38-42
So that passage above is just showing that Martha opened up her home to Jesus and he stayed with them.
Now based on these verses in chapter 11 of the book of John, Jesus had to have had a close relationship with Martha and Mary. Whenever he said "This sickness will not end in death" in verse 4, Lazarus was already dead at that point, but Jesus knew that the end result would be the glory of God and not death. He already knew his plans of raising Lazarus from the dead and that it would show the glory of God.
Jesus stayed two more days where he was at because he still had work to be done there, but then he was ready to go back to Judea and he told his disciples in verse 8 they were wondering why he was wanting to go back because the Jews tried to stone him. What Jesus says in verses 9-10, what he means is during these hours of day that no harm would come to him. Like we've seen in other Bible studies that they tried to seize him nd he always slipped away or no one was able to touch him because it wasn't his time yet. We also read in the Bible study in chapter 9 where he talks about day and night and the illustration of day and night. So basically what he's telling his disciples here is no harm will come to them, but they have to work before the night of his crucifixion, which they would know about the crucifixion later on.
In verse 11 Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus had fallen asleep because that's how Jesus saw it. He didn't see it as death because he knew that it wouldn't last. In verse 14, this was another chance for his disciples to believe and put their faith in him and that's why he said "and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe." Then in verse 16 Thomas was willing to go with Jesus, even if it meant dying with him. Thomas made this commitment and he didn't really understand the promise of the resurrection, but he was fully committed to the will of Jesus Christ and being a disciple of Jesus Christ so he was going to follow him no matter what.
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who was to come into the world."
28 And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside, "The teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell out his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not died." 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
So in verses 21 through 22 Martha had faith in Jesus and she knew that he would be able to help her brother while he was still alive, but she had given up hope because he had already been dead. Lazarus had already been dead for four days and she didn't think that there was any possibility that Jesus would raise Lazarus up from the dead. But Martha still had faith in him and knew that God the Father would give Jesus anything that he asked. Then in verse 24, she said that she knew her brother would rise again in the resurrection at the last day, but she didn't think there was any hope in Jesus actually raising Lazarus from the dead that day. What Jesus says in verses 25- 26, he's speaking of eternal life and how people that believe in him and ask him to come into their hearts, they have eternal life and whenever they do die and they go away from the earthly world, they will still live forever in heaven. Jesus asked Martha if she believed this and she told him yes and Martha did believe that Jesus was the Christ and the son of God.
So then she went to her sister Mary and told her that the teacher was there and that he was asking for her, so Mary got up quickly and went to go see Jesus. In verse 33 where Jesus saw Mary weeping and the Jews that had come along with her also weeping and he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled: this just goes to show that Jesus cares for us, he is touched by our emotions, and whenever we are mourning, and whenever we are having a hard time, he wants to comfort us, he loves and cares for us so deeply, and it hurts him to see us hurting. Then in verse 35 where it says that Jesus wept, he was fully man and fully God. He was not ashamed to show that he was human. Just like we see at the beginning of this chapter, it says that Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Whenever Jesus saw Lazarus at the tomb and whenever Mary and the others wept, it made him weep also because he was mourning with them. He was fully man. So the Jews saw how he loved Lazarus, but some of them said that if he could open up the eyes of the blind, (just like we saw in chapter 9 and we've seen another chapters where he opened up the eyes of the blind) then could he have not kept Lazarus from dying? So these Jews didn't understand how he could love Lazarus so much, but wait four days to come and not help or heal him whenever he was sick.
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." 40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." 43 When he had said this, Jesus called out loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
So I'm going to stop right there and discuss these verses with you guys here. So in verses 39-40, Jesus said to take away the stone and Martha said that there was a bad odor because he had been there four days. But then in verse 40 he said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" Jesus had just asked her if she believed in the prior verses and she said "yes," and so he was going to show her the glory of God. So they took the stone away and then Jesus looked up and talked to his Father, and he did this because he wanted the people that were standing there to believe. He knew that God was always right there listening to him, that he always heard his requests, and he was fully submitted to the will of God the Father. In verse 43 Jesus told Lazarus to come out and in verse 44 Lazarus came out with his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. So Lazarus came out with his graves clothes and Jesus told them to take off the grave clothes and let him go.
This was a miraculous sign of Jesus raising someone from the dead after four days of him being in the tomb and no one thinking that there was ever any possibility of Jesus being able to resurrect him. Martha knew that at the last day her brother would be resurrected, but she didn't think that there was any possibility that that day Jesus would bring him back to life. But that's the power Jesus Christ. In our times of mourning, in our times of tough times that we feel like we're not gonna ever be able to get over, or there's no hope for us, there's no hope for our situation, there's no hope for our family members, or whatever the case may be, during those times we have to just remember and put our faith in Jesus and know that he is powerful, merciful, loving, and gracious and he will help us in our tough times. Jesus performs miraculous signs and we just have to trust in him wholeheartedly.
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting at the Sanhedrin. "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than the whole nation perish." 51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. 55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the feast at all?" 57 But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.
So after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead many of the Jews that had come to visit Mary put their trust in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and they told them what Jesus had done, because they still had hate in their heart and they didn't fully believe in Jesus Christ. It also could have been in fear of the Pharisees and the chief priests that they went and told them what Jesus had done. So then the chief priests and the Pharisees had a meeting and they were talking about Jesus and they said that if they let him keep going on like this, then everyone's going to believe in him and then the Romans are going to take away their temple and their nation. So these chief priests and Pharisees were afraid that if people kept putting their faith in Jesus and he had more followers, then the Romans would see that as a threat. They wanted to keep that power and their nation so they were trying to figure out how to deal with the problem of Jesus so they could keep that power and all of that and not have any problems with the Romans. So then in verses 49-53 where Caiaphas said that they "don't realize it's better for one man to die for the people than the whole nation to perish," he didn't know this, but he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation. So the chief priests and Pharisees plotted to take his life from that day on.
Then Jesus went to a village called Ephraim and stayed with his disciples because he couldn't move around publicly. It still wasn't his time yet for his crucifixion, he still had more work to do. So Jesus went secretly with his disciples to finish out his work instead of being around publicly for them to kill him, because it wasn't his time yet. So then in verses 55-57 many of the Jews kept looking for Jesus in Jerusalem when it was almost time for the Passover but the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where he was to report it so they may arrest him.
John Ch 11 Study Guide
How did Jesus know Mary and Martha?
Why did Jesus say what he said in verse 4 when Lazarus was already dead at the time?
What was Jesus talking about in verses 9-10?
In verse 35, why did Jesus weep?
What miraculous sign did Jesus perform in this chapter?
Why did the chief priests and Pharisees think that the Romans would take away their temple and nation?
Who prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation?
What is your biggest takeaway from this Bible Study?
So that concludes chapter 11 Bible study. Next week we're going to go over part 1 of chapter 12 so stay tuned for that.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
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