Lessons from John 11: Part Two

When Jesus finally arrived at the home of Lazarus after delaying His coming, the following dialogue took place between Martha and Jesus,

"Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give You. Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again'. 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 shall never die. Do you believe this?' She said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God...'" (John 11:21-27)

Here is Martha believing that Christ could heal her brother of a terminal disease. She believes that her brother would be supernaturally resurrected sometime in the future, and she believes that Jesus is "...the Christ, the Son of God..." And yet, she doesn't completely comprehend who she is talking to. Everything she believes is true, but she doesn't fully understand all that Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of God" means. She "believes", but her belief is incomplete. Even after Christ tells her that "I am the resurrection and the life" (that just blows me away every time I read it!), she still doesn't get it! (see verse 39). Jesus is not just "the Teacher" (v. 28), not just a person who can "ask of God", He is God! He can do anything, at any time, because He is God in the flesh!

Now I am not just picking on Martha. There are a lot of people even today who say, "I believe in Jesus!" People that even say "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." But what do they mean by that? They do "believe". I am not denying that they "believe". The question is what is the the context of that belief and is it sufficient to save? (See my post on Luke 8 for more on this subject).

The point is that Jesus delayed his coming so that Lazarus would die (Jesus did not cause him to die, by the way), and He could raise Lazarus from the dead and give Martha and others an opportunity to fully understand and believe who He is. As a result "many...believed in Him" (v. 45). But "some of them", in spite of what they saw did not believe (v. 46). Instead, they went to the religious leaders who heard from eyewitnesses what Jesus had done, and "they planned together to kill Him" (v. 53).

This is one more interesting truth from this passage. People could accept that Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, and yet not believe that He is "the Christ, the Son of God".

The bottom-line is that people can "believe" a lot of things about Jesus, but still fall short of complete belief. Complete belief involves trusting in Christ as the God/Man who died in our place for our sins and rose from the dead (see I Corinthians 15:3-4). Anything less may be belief, but not saving faith.