Chapter 11

 

            In this passage we have four parts. Verses 1-16, the background for the seventh sign; verses 17-32, two sisters in a crisis; verses 33-46, the seventh sign is performed; verses 47-57, the opposition of religion.

            Verse 1 – a family crisis. The verse begins with the particle de, used in John for a change of circumstances. This is a change in circumstances from what we had in the last chapter. In this change of circumstances Jesus Christ has left the area. He is now in Perea. He left in John 10:40 because they tried to stone Him to death around the temple area. Now the tragic news of the death of Lazarus will bring Him back across the Jordan and into the land once more. “Now a certain” – literally, ‘a person’ – “was sick.” Imperfect active periphrastic from a)sqenew which means the illness is permanent. He “kept on being sick.”

There are basically five types of illness in the scripture: a light illness from which one recovers, a serious illness which forms a part of undeserved suffering and from which one recovers, a serious illness from which one does not recover, an illness designed to alert a person to some difficulty or reality of life, and an illness which is used as punitive measures, as in 1 Corinthians 11.

The illness here is one which is not only going to take the life of one person but will have a very deep effect upon the life of all the people in the entire area. The imperfect periphrastic means that he is not going to get well, and that day by day over a period of time his strength is going to be drained, and that the illness is going to be critical, and that every day those who loved him the most, especially his two sisters, are going to watch him get weaker and weaker. They will do a lot of things. They will pray for him, they will actually send for Jesus Christ, they will call in the doctor, they will do about everything necessary and yet he will go right on getting weaker and weaker. This man was designed for dying, and die will.

It is very interesting that all the way through we always forget about Lazarus. Lazarus means God is my help. Lazarus never complained. So the real hero is the one who isn’t mentioned too much as to how great he really is, but it is Lazarus. He knew he was going to die. He knew how to die – no dramatics, no weeping and wailing. He carried on a routine so that no one else would know.

“of Bethany” – a)po Bhqaniaj. He was born in Bethany and reared there. Bethany is one of the better suburbs of Jerusalem. It is 2 miles east of Jerusalem on the slope of the Mount of Olives.

“the town of Mary and her sister Martha.” Mary is the younger sister of Lazarus and she loves Bible doctrine. She has an older sister, Martha, who is an entirely different person. Cf. Luke 10:38.

 

Luke 10:38 – “And it came to pass, as they went from place to place” – present active infinitive of poreuomai which means to go from one place to another; “he [Jesus] entered a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.” The village is Bethany. The word for receive here is the aorist middle indicative of u(podexomai which means to love in the soul and express it physically. It is usually used of a woman, a woman who loves a man and therefore she receives him. It means like welcoming with open arms. It means to welcome and entertain a guest who carries authority. So Martha, the older sister, did the entertaining.

Luke 10:39 – “And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.” However, she did not sit at His feet. This is an aorist passive participle of parakaqezomai which actually means to sit down beside; it has nothing to do with the feet. So Martha is out in the kitchen preparing something; Mary sits down beside Him and listens to Him teach.

            “and heard” – literally, ‘and kept on listening,’ imperfect active indicative of a)kouw, which in the imperfect tense indicates she accepted His authority and she concentrated on what He said, so much so that she didn’t move. Imperfect linear aktionsart. She didn’t leave.

            Luke 10:40 – “But Martha was cumbered about much serving.” The word “cumbered” is perispaw which actually means to have your face drawn from pressure, to be distracted, to be overburdened, to be weighed down and to show it. In verse 39 we have the imperfect active indicative of a)kouw; Mary kept on hearing doctrine. But in verse 40 we have the imperfect passive indicative. Mary is sitting down concentrating, constantly listening to Jesus teach. That’s active voice: she is doing something. Martha is doing something too, but it is getting her down. She needs help in the kitchen so, passive voice, all of her pressure keeps hitting her: how is she ever going to get everything together for all these people? They are both doing something; one enjoys it. One woman listens to doctrine and she enjoys it. She is doing what she wants to do and she is concentrating. One woman is out hustling in the kitchen and she is doing what she wants to do, and she is upset. And that isn’t all; she wants to stick her nose into her sister’s business. Both do what they want to do. When people are hustlers (in the kitchen) and things are not going the way they want they are inclined to want to censor those who are not doing what they are doing. No live and let live. And who always gets picked at? The one who wants to listen to doctrine – every time. The people who hustle always get burdened down – passive voice – and the people who want to listen to doctrine are inclined to not want to do anything else. So we find both sisters entirely different.

            “and came to him [Jesus]” – this does not mean to come at all, it is e)fisthmi which means to burst on Him. She finally blew up! Notice the tendencies: one is toward legalism, the other toward grace.

            “Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid here therefore that she help me.” The hustlers always want the ones who aren’t doing anything to work, like they are, and they don’t like it if they are not working. They can’t stand it if people aren’t doing what they are doing. Grace people always have an intrusion on their privacy, and the people who are inclined to be hustlers and work, work, work always have an occupational hazard; they are critical of those who are not doing what they are doing. In other words, they feel that what they are doing is so important that everyone else ought to be doing it too.

            We do not have one single line here about what was served but we have a lot of lines about what was taught! And who benefited? Not the one in the kitchen. It takes a lot of maturity to hustle around in the kitchen and not resent others who should be helping. So all those who just want to listen to doctrine need to remember that all of your life someone is going to pick at you. You just have to decide to stay with it and concentrate – imperfect tense of a)kouw.

            “do you not care” – an impersonal word, melei, and it means, “Lord, what about me? Don’t you care that I am not getting any help?”

            “she has left” – imperfect active indicative of kataleipw: ‘she has deserted me’ (just to hear doctrine!). She has gone AWOL, she has forsaken the kitchen!

            “to serve” – diakonew. People who are hard workers always feel alone and inclined to feel a little sorry for themselves when they are getting no help.

            “bid her” – aorist active imperative of legw, ‘tell her.” This is an ingressive aorist, tell her now; “that she [must come in and] help me” – aorist middle subjunctive of sunantilambanw [sun = with; anti = against or instead of; lambanw = to seize] means to take hold of someone and help.

            Verse 41 – “And Jesus had an answer” – aorist active participle of a deponent verb, a)pokrinomai.

            “thou art careful” is not what He said at all. He said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried” – present active indicative of merimnaw which means ‘you are worried.’

            “and troubled” – qorubazomai means to be disturbed because of pressure you have built up in yourself. She did this all herself. Martha is so occupied with the business of being in the kitchen that she has built up something toward someone else who doesn’t have to be in the kitchen. Jesus condemns here for her mental attitude sin.

            Live and let live! Do your own thing as unto the Lord, or do your nothing as unto the Lord. But do it as unto the Lord and don’t worry about anyone else.

            Verse 42 – “But one thing is needful,” i.e. Bible doctrine being taught. Present active indicative of e)imi: one thing keeps on being needful. It always will be; there never will be a time when it won’t be. The word “needful” is xreia which means absolutely necessary.

            “and Mary hath chosen” – aorist middle indicative of e)klegw, selected (has selected the important thing).

            “that good part” – thn a)gaqhn merida means “the best dish.” The best dish is doctrine.

            “which shall not be taken away from her” – taken away is the future passive indicative of a)fairew [a)po = ultimate source; a)irew = to take, to be removed from, cut off]. The grace lady always chooses he best thing. The best dish is that which stays with you permanently. Bible doctrine stays with you permanently. Service is no substitute for knowledge of doctrine.

           

John 11:2, 3  -- the message from the two sisters.

Verse 2 – “(It was Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment …” This Mary is a fantastic woman! She hasn’t done this yet. This is a proleptic incident with a proleptic reference. “It was” is an imperfect active indicative of e)imi to indicate that this will stand historically forever. This is put in by John 40 years after this happened. The incident is described in John 12:1-8; Matthew 26:7; Mark 14:3. While the events of John are chronological he wrote retrospectively many years after this had happened, and he puts in here that it was Mary that anointed the feet of the Lord – one of the greatest applications of doctrine. It was something permanent. She stands forever as one of the greatest of all grace ladies. The reason is because she listened to doctrine constantly, and when she finally did something it was worth all the doing that all the women in the world ever did, and then some. On other words, she was really a great person.

“anointed” – aorist active participle of a)leifw. This was an action about which at the end of the century John could look back on the entire scene, and the participle helps to identify Mary as the youngest sister of Lazarus, plus the fact that she represents the ultimate triumph of Bible doctrine. She anointed the Lord’s feet with a very precious ointment. She spent a large sum of money to do it.

“wipe” – e)kmassw means to wipe dry.

“ whose brother kept on being sick” – imperfect active indicative of a)sqenew. 

Verse 3 – “Lord” is kurioj in the vocative, recognising His deity.

“behold, he whom thou lovest is sick” – the message. The word for love here is filew. Lazarus was also a great man of doctrine with great category #1 love response. This same filew is used for Abraham – James two, friend [filoj] of God. They recognised that Jesus Christ kept on loving Lazarus. This indicates that Lazarus, like his sister Mary, was great in the field of doctrine.

“is sick” – present active indicative of a)sqenew, ‘keeps on being sick.’

Verse 4 – when Jesus heard about this it is almost as if He is being callous. The purpose of the crisis is now made clear.

“Jesus having heard, said” – a)kouw is an aorist active participle followed by the aorist active indicative of legw.

“This sickness” – now we have the noun a)sqeneia which describes the sickness. It is an illness where one gets weaker and weaker and finally die; “is not unto death” – proj plus the accusative, it is not face to face with death. Death is not the final issue of this sickness is what this means. It is a Greek idiom. He will die but it won’t be the final issue. Death is just a temporary part of his feebleness to bring about the seventh sign and to glorify God. So every crisis in life of the believer is designed to glorify God and to focus attention on the grace of God, on the person of God. Jesus Christ will deliver Lazarus from death. But He will deliver Him in such a manner as to present His own credit card. Both of the sisters want death to be avoided; Jesus is going to wait until death is certain and then He will come. This sickness does not have as its final issue death. Why?

“for the glory of God” – u(per, ‘on behalf of the glory of God.’ Lazarus was doing something that very few people would be able to do. Obviously Lazarus was selected because he was the man with the doctrine. He is the one who has so much doctrine that he can get weaker and weaker and sicker and sicker and at the same time remain relaxed, enjoying dying grace, depart from this life, and in doing so will have many friends who will come from all over Jerusalem and the area, many of whom are going to be saved because of his resuscitation. It will glorify God in several ways.

“that” introduces a purpose clause, i(na plus the subjunctive; “the Son of God might be glorified” – aorist passive subjunctive of docazw. The culminative aorist tense means at the point of resuscitation. The passive voice means that Jesus Christ, the person of the God-Man, the Messiah, will receive the glory. The subjunctive mood goes with the purpose clause, it is not a potential subjunctive.

“might be glorified thereby” – dia plus the genitive, “through it [the death of Lazarus].”

Verses 5 & 6, the perfect timing of the Son of God.

            Verse 5 – “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” This verse expresses the perfect love of Jesus Christ for this family. You would assume that this crisis would cause Jesus Christ to leave immediately from Perea. He delays. Remember this principle: Any delay in the plan of God advances the glory of God. Delay does not hinder the plan of God, it advances the plan of God. God’s delays are advances.

“Now” is the particle de, it changes the circumstances again. It indicates that Jesus wanted to depart immediately but He refrained from doing so. Notice that four people are involved in this verse. Three are named specifically, one is not. Jesus is doing the loving here, and this is His humanity.

“loved” is the imperfect active indicative of a)gapaw. We have already seen that Jesus loves Lazarus – filew. But a)gapaw is only a restricted love, a mental attitude love. The point is that Jesus did not delay His departure because of vindictiveness or implacability, or any mental attitude sin. This word is to make sure it is understood that the motivation of Jesus Christ was not to cause anyone to suffer. His delay was going to cause both girls to suffer, but that is not His purpose. There is no mental attitude sin involved.

            Notice whom he loved: “Martha” – He had a relaxed mental attitude toward her. It also mentions Lazarus who is dead, He had a relaxed mental attitude toward him. But the interesting thing here is “her sister.” Mary is not mentioned by name. Why? We know who it is because the passage makes it very clear. Because the one who is not named is the most important one. One of them died a great death because of doctrine. One of them still isn’t straightened out, she is still hustling in the kitchen. One is not mentioned by name and only the rest of this passage will give an explanation. But to anticipate, did you ever have someone who really cared for you who didn’t remember your name on purpose? This would explain what is happening here. The very absence of Mary’s name is of the greatest significance because right now Mary with all of her doctrine is having mental attitude sins toward Jesus Christ! She has a hang-up. She sent the message in time so that the Lord could be there. Lazarus is dead, Martha is hustling around, but who has nothing to do and is out of fellowship and is in the greatest danger of all? The greatest women in the world are those whose life is doctrine, and that is all they want to do. But they have an occupational hazard too. In crisis, they have been taking in doctrine and doing nothing but they immediately revert to mental attitude sins. So who is up in her room, torn to pieces and mad at Jesus? Mary!

Each is great in their own way and each has an area of strength, but each area requires Bible doctrine. Every person who has a natural strength, a natural inclination, also has an occupational hazard. Now we meet Mary, the one who loves Bible doctrine and is so strong for doctrine, the one who, as it were, sits at the feet of Jesus while her sister hustles around the house. She has a problem too. When a crisis occurs and everything doesn’t fall in place as she expects it to her mental attitude sins come into her grief.

            Verse 6 – “When he had heard,” aorist active indicative of a)kouw, “that he kept on being sick, he abode,” menw, aorist (constative) active indicative, which means to wait, abide, stay. He kept staying – two days. He didn’t move from Perea for two days. This allows time for death and burial, makes the situation totally hopeless, and brings to light the principle that there is no such thing as a hopeless situation for a child of God. It is a matter of whose timing is important. Mary has a lot of doctrine but timing is her problem. The Lord’s timing is perfect; our timing is not.

“where he was” is ‘where he kept on being.’

            Verse 7 – “Then after that.” After two days of waiting for Lazarus to die. Jesus actually stalled across the Jordan until Lazarus died; “saith he” – present active indicative of legw means conversation here.

            “Let us go” – present active subjunction of a)gw. The present tense is dramatic, it is time to go, he is dead. Active voice: we are going; subjunctive mood: arriving is potential; “to Judea again” – remember that the disciples like it on the other side of the Jordan. They have just escaped the wrath of religion in Jerusalem (10:39, 40). Jesus is actually testing His disciples when He says, “Let us go,” just the way He did in the storm. In the boat in the storm – Matthew 8:23-27 – the disciples learned something about the Lord which was impossible to learn any other way. The storm at sea illustrates the pressures, the sufferings and the disasters in life. In the boat the waves were high, the disciples were absolutely helpless. The humanity of Christ was sleeping during this terrible storm. However, the disciples learned that the deity of Christ never sleeps and that they were safe in the boat in the storm. Now the question arises: Did the disciples learn anything from that storm? The storm is passed, they are safe on dry land, they have gone through other things since, so what did they learn from that experience? Will the disciples panic at the thought of returning to danger, or will they relax under the concept of the wall of fire around them? Any time that a person goes into a danger, a problem, and he knows it is a danger; this is a great test of the faith-rest technique, a test of the reality of Bible doctrine in life. Can you go into a danger, a pressure, an adversity day in and day out and never and never shirk? Bible doctrine is designed to take the pressure as you take everything else. In other words, to stride through life; to give you that peace, that blessing in the midst of pressures as well as in the midst of prosperity. The disciples had passed the test in the boat; now, would they pass the test of ‘over the river’? They have a river to cross and this is their problem. They flunked the test!

            Verse 8 – “His disciples say unto him, Master.” They always say Master when they didn’t like it. When they liked it, it was Lord; when they didn’t like it, it was Master [Rabbi], which means Doctor, Professor, or Teacher.

            “the Jews of late” – the word late is an adverb, nun, and it means “now”; “keep seeking” – imperfect active indicative of zetew, and the imperfect tense means they keep on looking for them, they keep on seeking to kill them; “to stone thee” – aorist active infinitive of liqazw. The aorist tense indicates that any time they see them they are ready to kill them. This is their attitude. In other words, what bothers the disciples is that there are many Jews in Jerusalem that carry stones in their pockets.

            “and thou goest hither again?” –  keep moving in their direction. This is making them nervous because they are under fire too. While Jesus is the main target the disciples are also included. Jesus is leading them right back – a)gw means to lead. He is going ahead of them with a perfect mental attitude but the disciples are reluctant. Their mental attitude is different and they are looking for some kind of an ‘out.’

            Principle: You never solve the pressures of your life as long as you are looking for an ‘out.’ Meeting the pressures of your life as a believer depend upon the utilisation of Bible doctrine. The very ‘out’ that you take it simply pressure added to pressure. No one can go on his own as a believer and ever get out of the pressure. Every time you look for an out you are going on your own. You are not designed as a believer to go on your own; you are a believer priest and are designed to follow your high priest – Jesus Christ. That means you go through the battle, not run away from it.

            They strike up a conversation for one reason. They want a dialogue; they want to discuss this matter: ‘Lord. Let’s talk this over.’ Notice: Who is the leader? Jesus Christ. Who has the authority? Jesus, and He says, We are going. That’s it!

            John 9:4 – “I must work the works of him that sent me.” “Must” is a present active indicative of dew. It expresses obligation, necessity; “work” is a present active infinitive of e)rgazomai and means to produce and perform. He is saying in effect, ‘It is absolutely necessary for me to accomplish the work of him [God the Father] that sent me’ – aorist active participle; pempw is the verb. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. Jesus Christ was sent before He was obligated to work or to execute the work of the decrees before Him. In other words, pempw comes first in the action. Jesus Christ was actually sent to this world with a mission. Therefore is life has meaning and purpose and definition. He is a man with a mission. He is the God-Man with an obligation. This all came from the divine decrees. Jesus Christ recognises this and therefore His mission calls for Him to cross the Jordan river, to go back into the land, to go to Bethany and there to resuscitate Lazarus—regardless of the danger. Jesus Christ is concentrating on His mission; His disciples are concentrating on the danger. No one ever succeeds in life when they concentrate on the danger, they must concentrate on the mission.

            Every believer has, since the day they believed in Jesus Christ, a mission in life. Doctrine causes the believer to concentrate on the mission, whatever it is. We are all in full time Christian service though it doesn’t mean we all do the same thing. It means that our life now has a purpose. It doesn’t matter where we go or what we do, our life has a purpose. Our job is to concentrate on the purpose. How do you do it? Bible doctrine every day! Consistent intake of Bible doctrine develops a concentration on the mission. Once you concentrate on your mission in life then you do not concentrate on your pressures. Concentration on the pressure, the danger, is failure to utilise doctrine, failure to GAP it. No believer has security apart from Jesus Christ.

            How do you concentrate on doctrine? Well, first you have to learn it. You can’t concentrate on what you don’t know – that’s flying blind! Which way you concentrate determines how much you get out of phase two.

            “while it is day” – one day actually, any day. Also the day refers to His incarnation; “the night cometh when no man can work” – the night is His physical death when it is all over. He can’t work after that. The day here, then, refers to the believer’s whole phase two. The only chance you have to concentrate on doctrine as over against the danger is now. You won’t have this chance in eternity because there will be no problems in eternity.

            John 11:9 – “Jesus had an answer,” aorist passive indicative of a)pokrinomai. He had a doctrinal answer. In other words, when Jesus answers it is doctrine, and doctrine is what they need to concentrate on. He picks up the thread of John 9:4. He starts out by stating something that is literal and simple.

            “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” – simply daylight time when people work. The average working day in the ancient world was 12 hours. They worked during daylight. When a person is suffering from pressure or concentrating on their pressures to snap them back you have to start with something simple. This is what Jesus does: “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” This is both humorous and very lightly sarcastic. Jesus is relaxed because He is concentrating on doctrine; they are concentrating on danger. (Psychology trains a person to concentrate on his problem, to seek human answers to his problems.)

            “if any man walk in the day” – tij, ‘anyone,’ male or female; “walk” is the present active subjunctive of peripatew, doing whatever you do in twelve hours. It is what you do on your mission in life. The present tense means as long as you are alive God has a purpose for you. Active voice: God has a purpose for you. The subjunctive mood: you may or may not fulfil that purpose, depending upon the intake of doctrine; “in the day” – phase two.

            “he stumbleth not” – the day here is phase two; the walking is striding one step and then another. The step/stride is GAP. GAP causes a new concentration in life. Walking has progress – forward, you are going in a direction. Day is phase two. Progress [constant GAP] means no more concentration on the problems, so “he stumbleth not.” Stumbling is think about, concentrating on the problems, getting upset, falling apart. So you walk, walk, walk, and then stumble. That means you change your concentration; you went back to concentrating on your problems. If you concentrate on doctrine “you stumble not” – present active indicative of proskoptw [proj = face to face with; koptw = cut]. In other words, you are concentrating on doctrine and you turn right around and concentrate on your problems and your “walk” is cut. You feel sorry for yourself, you get upset, you say it is hopeless, you’ve had it.

            “because he seeth the light of the world” – present active indicative of blepw which means not the panoramic view but to see right now, at this point, and this point. As soon as you stumble you need to get right back on doctrine. The light of the world is Jesus Christ, and how do you see the light of the world? You see the light of this world through Bible doctrine. We know nothing about Jesus Christ apart from the Word of God. Seeing the light of the world is occupation with the person of Jesus Christ.

            Verse 10 – “But if a man walk in the night” – ‘if’ is a 3rd class condition; tij is ‘anyone’; ‘walk’ is peripatew; ‘in the night’ means concentration on the problem. If you walk around in the night it means you are concentrating on your problem, there is no light. All you can do is to stumble. He stumbles because there is no light in him, no doctrine in him.

            If you concentrate on your problems it is inevitable that you will stumble. It is present linear aktionsart, you keep on stumbling. But if you concentrate on doctrine you are going to walk, you are going to have a wonderful life.

            Verse 11— “These things said he,” the aorist active indicative of legw, “and after that he saith unto them” – after He had made His discourse of verses 9 & 10. What Jesus now announces was accomplished not while Jesus was in Judea but while He is still in Perea, across the Jordan. No one communicated to Jesus in Perea the death of Lazarus. The last message He heard was, ‘Lazarus is sick; come quickly.’ No one came and brought another message that said Lazarus is dead, but Lazarus is dead. How did Jesus know that Lazarus in a suburb of Jerusalem was dead? He is God, that’s why! The humanity of Christ would have no way of knowing but the deity of Christ knew it. When He says that Lazarus is dead He is talking from His deity, not His humanity.

            “he saith unto them” – present active indicative of legw. The present tense means that He had to keep saying it; they didn’t understand. 

“Our friend Lazarus sleepeth” – the omniscience of His deity knew the moment that Lazarus died. They didn’t doubt Him, they recognised that Jesus was God. They have seen six signs to prove that He is God. Here is the point: What Jesus says is what Jesus thinks. At that time not one jot or tittle of the New Testament had been written and the New Testament was what Jesus said! Remember that the Bible is the mind, the thinking of Jesus Christ, and what Jesus said to the disciples is like reading a Bible. You have to come to the place where you say what Jesus said is more real than anything in the world. You read what Jesus says in every line of the Bible!

“Our friend” – filoj, the strongest word for love. It is rapport love. We understand by this that one of the closest friends that Jesus had during His earthly ministry was Lazarus. What a compliment to Lazarus! Jesus enjoyed him. Question: Would Jesus have enjoyed you?

“sleepeth” – perfect passive indicative of koimaw, a verb which is used not for sleeping but for death. It describes death under two conditions. Koimaw refers to the body. The body sleeps; the soul never sleeps. (Soul sleep is a heresy) The reason the verb koimaw is used for death is because of two things: a) This body will be resuscitated; b) every body is going to be in a resurrection body. So physical death for the believer only is described by koimaw, never the unbeliever. It means the body sleeps, not the soul; and in resuscitation (Lazarus) the soul comes back into the old body and he lives again on the earth in his body of corruption. In the resurrection the soul goes back into a new body which will live forever and last forever. The body sleeps in anticipation of resurrection. Acts 7:60; 13:36; Matthew 27:52; 1 Corinthians 7:39; 11:30; 15:51; 2 Peter 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:10.

“I go” – present active indicative of poreuomai. It means to go from one place to another. In this case it means to cross the border and go back to where the dead body is located.

“that I may awaken him” – aorist active subjunctive of e)cupnizw. The subjunctive shows that this is a purpose clause, that’s all. There is no potential here, it is going to happen. Jesus has a purpose in crossing the border; He is going to wake up Lazarus. This verb does not refer to resurrection, it refers to resuscitation. Bringing back Lazarus from the dead will be the seventh sign of Messiahship. The aorist tense is an ingressive aorist; he will begin to live again. The active voice: Jesus will wake him up.

            Verse 12 – “Then said his disciples, Lord,” kurioj means deity. One thing they do not question is the fact that He is God.

            “if he sleep” – ‘if’ is a 1st class condition; they accept it as true. Jesus said it; they accept it. 1st class condition: the reality of the words of Christ. 1st class condition to us: the reality of doctrine. Doctrine is more real than anything else; “he sleep” – perfect passive indicative of koimaw again. The perfect tense means he is dead now with the result that he keeps on being dead and they are going to put him in a tomb. Passive voice: he received death. He didn’t ask for it, he received it. The indicative mood is the reality if his death.

            “he shall do well” – future passive indicative of swzw means he shall be delivered from his ailment. ‘He’s sleeping, we don’t have to go back Lord.’ Swzw means to be saved; it also means to be delivered. It should be translated: ‘Lord, if he has received sleep now he shall be delivered.’ The disciples misunderstood the words of Jesus. They assume that Lazarus sleeping was the beginning of his recovery from illness but Jesus is referring to his death. Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20, 21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; 5:10.

            Verse 13 – an explanation from John many years after these events. “Howbeit Jesus spake of his death.” The word of is peri which is the preposition concerning.

            “but they thought” – dokew means they assumed. They weren’t really thinking, they assumed. If you are thinking and using your mind, that is noew; if you are thinking without using your mind, that is dokew. It is possible to conclude things without thinking.

            “that he was speaking concerning the taking of rest of sleep” – sleep in the literal sense. Jesus was talking about sleep in the figurative sense of resuscitation.

            Verse 14 – “Then said Jesus unto them plainly” – plainly is parrhsia, and adverb of perspicacity; “Lazarus is dead” – a)poqnhskw, the strongest statement for death, aorist active indicative. There is no second messenger to say this. Jesus is telling them. Now that Lazarus is dead the situation is hopeless for Martha and Mary, and they assume that the presence of Jesus could accomplish nothing.

            Verse 15 – “glad” is the present active indicative of xairw, which means, “I keep on having inner happiness.’ It is usually translated rejoice but the translator wouldn’t do it in the KJV. ‘Lazarus is dead and I am happy for him.’ Why? Because death for the believer is absent from the body and face to face with the Lord.

            “for your sakes” – dia plus the accusative means ‘because of you all.’

 

            The motive in delaying

1.       Jesus deliberately procrastinated and delayed His departure to go to Lazarus.

2.       If Jesus had departed when he received the message He would have been at the bedside of Lazarus and very easily performed a miracle that would have healed a sick man. But which is more impressive, healing a sick man or bringing a dead man back to life? Obviously, bringing a dead man back to life is the final credit card for Messiahship.

3.       The absence of Jesus until the death and burial of Lazarus sets the scene, then, for the seventh sign—the resuscitation of Lazarus. Lazarus had to die; Jesus had to delay. There are thousands of people in Jerusalem who are positive but who have not responded to the gospel. Hundreds of those people will be there when Jesus gets there and they will see Lazarus brought back from the dead and, as a result, they believe.

4.       The seventh sign is the greatest of all.

5.       Lazarus brought back from the dead will not only be the seventh credit card but it will also prepare the disciples for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

”that I was not there” – imperfect middle indicative of e)imi, “I kept on not being there.” Middle voice: they were benefited by Jesus not being there to heal

him.

            Principle: The power of God is not strained by the most hopeless and difficult situations in life.

  You have to have doctrine to let the Lord handle your life.

            “to the intent” – i(na introduces a purpose clause, “that.” There are a lot of people that are going to be saved by believing but “ye may believe”—faith-rest. The aorist tense of pisteuw is the verb. The aorist tense is the operation of doctrine in the life at the point it becomes necessary, the crisis. Active voice: doctrine on the launching pad. Doctrine on the launching pad is the way you relax. Subjunctive mood: faith-rest is always potential.

            “let us go unto him” – proj plus the accusative, “face to face with him.” Face to face means that Jesus who is alive is going to bring the dead to Him and make him alive. But Thomas took the opposite tack.

            Verse 16 – “Then” is therefore, o)un; “Thomas” is the Aramaic word for twin – “Didymus” is the Greek word for twin.

            “unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go” – present active subjunctive of a)gw. Jesus says, ‘Let us go face to face with him’; Thomas says, ‘Let us go and die’! – a)poqnhskw. So Thomas paraphrases the last statement of our Lord by changing it up a little bit. Eventually doctrine will overcome the scepticism of Thomas.  

            Verses 17-32, the sisters in the crisis.

Verse 17 – the status of Lazarus. “Then when Jesus came” – the aorist active participle of e)rxomai, ‘having come,’ means that Jesus had to wait two days after the death of Lazarus so that He would be there four days after his death. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb follows: “found” – aorist active indicative of e(uriskw.

“Four days” leaves no question about the fact of the physical death of Lazarus. He has been in the tomb for four days and this verifies the fact that he is dead.

Verses 18, 19, the mourners are brought into focus.

Verse 18 – “Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia which is approximately 2 miles.

Verse 19 – “Many of the Jews came,” pluperfect active indicative of e)rxomai. The pluperfect is a past perfect tense and it indicates that they had come with the result that they had come again with the result that they are hanging around for about four days now. This means that for four days everything had stopped for these people. They had come and had kept with Martha and Mary during this time.

“to Martha and Mary” is the preposition proj plus the accusative, ‘face to face with.’ In other words, they have come from Jerusalem since the time of the death of Lazarus and have remained these four days. There is an accumulation of the crowd of mourners because this family was well known in Jerusalem and very popular. So “many of the Jews” indicates that Mary and Martha are receiving a great deal of company.

“to comfort” – i(na plus paramuqeomai, aorist middle subjunctive [para == preposition of immediate source; muqeomai = to speak] which means to speak from the immediate source of one’s own soul, and it eventually came to mean console by words, to comfort by what you say. I(na plus the subjunctive indicates the purpose clause here. Their purpose was to comfort by words. The aorist tense is a constative aorist. For four days they had been carrying on speeches of comfort.

The only words of comfort for the death of a loved one are actually those words which form the doctrines of death and dying grace as found in the scripture. These people would be unfamiliar with the true impact of doctrine since the natural [yuxikoj] man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are discerned by the Spirit. Here we have a case of many unbelievers trying to provide comfort. The Jews, as was their custom, had a series of epigrams which were to be uttered in a time of disaster. These were humanistic ways of expressing their comfort – lit. “that they might comfort them concerning [peri] their brother.” The great tragedy is not the death of Lazarus, it is unbelievers sincerely trying to help believers to be comforted when the believers should have been comforting and blessing the unbelievers with the gospel.

 But these Jews were positive at the point of God-consciousness and therefore they desire truth. They have not really been sucked in by the full religious system of the Jews. Legalism is really not their ‘cup of tea.’ Therefore they have displayed their gallantry. They have come up that hill to spend four days in Bethany; they will see the seventh sign, and they will respond to the message and then go back down into Jerusalem born again. And all of those gallant unbelievers who came to comfort went away with eternal life.

Verse 20 – “Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming …” The large number of mourners means an unusual crowd around the house. Martha is busy working and, as you would expect, Mary is busy doing nothing, so both are them are busy seeking in their own way some measure of comfort.

            “as she heard” is ‘having heard,’ aorist active indicative of a)kouw; “that Jesus was coming,” present middle indicative. The word went is not found in the original.

“met him” – aorist active indicative of u(pantaw which means to go to meet. She went out to meet Him. But notice: “but Mary kept on sitting in the house,” imperfect middle indicative of kaqizomai – “she kept on sitting by herself,” middle voice. So one had been working and stops to meet Jesus; the other was sitting in a room, probably in a state of over-think as would be the nature in the situation.

Verse 21 – “Then said Martha unto Jesus” – face to face with Jesus. She finally meets Him – proj plus the accusative again. Literally, “Then said Martha face to face with Jesus.” Here she calls Him kurioj, a correct title for a believer. She recognises Jesus as Lord, but she is stupid about doctrine. She calls Him Lord and she is not advanced in her life as a believer at all. Later on she will call Him Master—didaskoloj, which means teacher. She finally stops long enough to learn something. Here she calls Him Lord, but when He straightens her out she is going to call Him teacher of doctrine—which indicates she has been too busy to listen up until now. Some people will never listen to doctrine until they are in disaster.

“if” is a 2nd class condition and is meant to be a rebuke. This is a rebuke to God! She calls Him kurioj and that means deity. She recognises Him as God and yet when she says “God” she is rebuking Him because He wasn’t there. But if He is God He had to be there! Notice: All you have to do to be stupid and inconsistent is simply to refuse to take in doctrine. What Martha is saying in effect is that it is all the Lord’s fault for not getting here!

“if thou hadst been” – imperfect active indicative of e)imi. It indicates “You should have kept on being [or staying] here.” Martha has had enough exposure to Jesus to know that He really doesn’t have to be on the scene if healing is in order. Jesus healed the nobleman’s son without being there. Since she has recognised Him as God, and since she has already recognised Him as the God-Man, she ought to know that the death of Lazarus has nothing to do with whether Jesus is there or not. He could have healed Lazarus from the other side of the border. Obviously there is an innuendo here that is not good for Martha. She implies that Lazarus died because Jesus was not there to help.

Often in time of tragedy it is amazing how nice people cause you to slip into human viewpoint unless you are garrisoned by those principles of doctrine that keep you out of that trap. Martha is not garrisoned with this kind of doctrinal information in her soul. Therefore she has no inner resources. In a sense Martha represents a program believer instead of a doctrine believer. Principle: If you are minus doctrine it is too easy to be impressed with the wrong things. Martha had no doctrine to apply, she is bogged down with the details of life.

“my brother had not died” – aorist active indicative of a)poqnhskw plus the negative. She could have used other words but she uses a word which indicates her bitterness about the death of Lazarus. The safety valve for bitterness is someone to blame. Instead of seeing her own lack of doctrine for the crisis she blames Jesus for the death. This indicates mental attitude sins – bitterness. So the great tragedy is the disorientation to grace and the substitution of human good.

Verse 22 – “But I know.” Twice Martha is going to say “I know.” She says it again in verse 24. Of course, this always impresses people – that she knows something. The people who know the least are always the ones who tell you what they know. It is easy to remember because there is so little of it!

“that even now, whatsoever you will ask God” – she has already called Him God [kurioj = deity] – “God will give it to you.” She turns from the innuendos of blasphemy to bullying. First she insults Him, then she turns around and tries to bully Him. “I know” is o)ida, which means this one thing she knows well! This is confidence here --the perfect used as a present tense for great confidence. This confidence is based upon her self-righteousness rather than grace orientation and doctrine. Human good believers must beware of self-righteous confidence.

            Martha wants Jesus to pray for Lazarus: “whatsoever thou wilt ask” – aorist middle subjunctive of a)itew means to ask in prayer. It also means to demand.

            “of God” – she uses ton qeon in the accusative, “the God.” ‘Demand from the God.’

            “and the God [o( qeoj] will give” – future active indicative of didomi. In other words, she wants to use prayer in a place where prayer is not designed for use. Prayer is for the living, not for the dead. God the Father in eternity past provided everything man would need in eternity and it is not subject to prayer in any way. There is no reason to be praying for anyone who has passed out of this life.

            Verse 23 – “Jesus said unto her.” He knows that she is driving at two things. She wants Lazarus back and that seems to be out of the question. Now she wants Lazarus to be resurrected. She wants Jesus to pray that Lazarus will be resurrected. So Jesus is going to have to tell her something – a point of doctrine she did not know before.

            “They brother shall rise again” – future middle indicative of a)nisthmi. The future indicates that in the future Lazarus will have a resurrection body, the future here being the Second Advent. Lazarus is an Old Testament saint. Middle voice: Lazarus will be benefited for all eternity by having a resurrection body. The indicative mood is the reality of the future resurrection of Lazarus – apart from prayer. She thinks that Lazarus can come back in a resurrection body. No one can have a resurrection body until Jesus has one – “Christ the firstfruits.” Furthermore, Lazarus is a long way off because he won’t receive a resurrection body until the Second Advent.

            Verse 24 – “I know.” She uses o)ida again. I know that! She had forgotten it. She wanted prayer for him. Under pressure she could not apply the principle that she had heard before. Jesus had to apply it for her and as soon as He did: ‘I know that.’

            “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” – a)nisthmi, which means a resurrection body. She uses the very word that Jesus used. But she adds something, “the resurrection at the last day” – a)nastasij is now used. This word never refers to resuscitation, it refers only to resurrection. The last day refers to the Second Advent when Old Testament saints are going to get a resurrection body. She knows that at that time Lazarus will receive a resurrection body.

Verse 25 – “I am,” present active indicative of e(imi, absolute status quo: ‘I am and keep on being forever.’

“the resurrection” – a)nastasij. She failed to relate a)nastasij to Jesus Christ. She brought up the word; He now relates it to Himself. Jesus used the word a)nisthmi; she used a)nastasij, and Jesus shows her the true meaning of it. “I keep on being the a)nastasij and the life, it is related to me.”

            “and the life” – eternal life here.

            “he that believeth” – present active participle of pisteuw. Here is an exhale of doctrine and this is where she has failed. This is the exhale of salvation faith. It is in the present tense because it is in one of the most dramatic moments of all time. Pisteuw is an exhale. It is the gospel that goes in; the Holy Spirit makes it real.

            “if” – 3rd class condition – “he were to die [maybe he will and maybe he won’t. The 3rd class condition recognises that there are some who will be alive at the Rapture and there are many who won’t There are some who are going to receive a resurrection body but not through physical death], and he has – aorist active subjunctive of a)poqhnhskw, “if he die.” This is a culminative aorist which brings to the point of actual physical death and beyond it.

            “yet he shall live” – zaw, eternal life in resurrection body. Future tense anticipates the resurrection body and living in it forever.

            Verse 26 – “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me.” This is Martha right now. She is alive and she believes in Him. And this is to remind her of a principle.

            “shall never die” – shall never die in eternity is what this means: o)u mh a)poqanh e)ij ton a)iwna, which means with reference to eternity shall never die. The double negative in the Greek is a stronger negative – o)u mh, “shall not never die with reference to eternity.”

            “Believest thou this?” He is taking this back to the simplest principle. If Martha had understood this thing before she would never have never have made the request in verse 22.

Verse 27 – “Yes, Lord: I believe.” This is something in the past, the perfect active indicative of pisteuw: I have believed in the past with the result that I keep on being saved. So she does make a clear statement.

“that you keep on being the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” And yet, while she has believed this thing she has failed to apply any of it up to this moment.

            Verses 28-32, we now see Jesus Christ with Mary.

            Verse 28 – “And when she had so said” is literally, And when she had said this. The word so is touto – “this.’ Reference to learning and applying doctrine to the situation through the faith-rest technique; “she went” – aorist active indicative of a)perxomai, which means she departed. Culminative aorist. Martha now remembers that Mary is in her room.

            “and called” – aorist active indicative of fonew; “secretly” – because of the antagonism toward Jesus on the part of the unbelieving Jews who are present. So this was accomplished in privacy. And now Martha says something she has never said before, she says, o( didaskoloj has come – “the teacher of doctrine.” Martha has just learned some Bible doctrine.

            “is come” is a bad translation – it is pareimi, which means “is present.”

            “and calls for you” – this moves her into action. Up until this time Mary has been sitting in her room. Martha always worked in the kitchen, so when Lazarus died she kept right on working in the kitchen. There are hundreds of people to feed who have come to mourn. In a sense Martha did what she always did, she went and cooked bigger and better meals. But what does Mary do? Mary listens to doctrine, but when Lazarus dies she doesn’t listen to doctrine. She sits alone in her room.

            When a person who customarily listens to doctrine—and who is positive—hits some kind of a disaster and in that disaster cannot cope, that person sits alone and the function is called ‘operation over-think.’ We have already seen that Mary has chosen the better part, but there are occupational hazards for those who are positive toward doctrine and one of them is operation over-think. She has been sitting alone. She has not been out; she is in her room alone in operation over-think. How do we know?

            Verse 29 – “As soon as she heard,” aorist active indicative of a)kouw; “she arose” – aorist passive indicative of e)geirw. Mary loved her brother Lazarus dearly. There is only one person she loved more than her brother Lazarus and that is Jesus Christ. The passive voice here does not mean to get up, the active voice does. The passive voice means to be aroused. It also means to be awakened. It means to be excited. A person who loves doctrine the way that Mary loves doctrine is inclined under great pressure to get alone. Often in this case instead of using doctrine such a person goes into operation over-think. As a result they become bitter and resentful, and sometimes into self-pity; but always an infiltration of mental attitude sins which always accompany operation over-think.

            As soon as she heard that Jesus Christ was present she was aroused. She loved Jesus Christ. Once she was aroused she came – “and came unto him.” The word came is the imperfect middle indicative of e)rxomai – imperfect tense, linear aktionsart, past time. She kept on coming. For the first time since the death of Lazarus she moved out of that room; for the first time operation over-think was broken. For the first time she goes toward someone she loves because someone she loves is present. Proj plus the accusative, she kept on coming until she was ‘face to face’ with Him.

            Verse 30 – “Now Jesus was not yet come into the town [Bethany] – e)rxomai in the pluperfect, Jesus had definitely not yet come. Jesus did not go to Bethany and the house of Lazarus because Lazarus was not there. When Jesus said in verse 15, ‘Let us go to him,’ He had no intention of going to the house in Bethany; He intended to go to the tomb outside of Bethany. Jesus is going to the cemetery to resuscitate Lazarus and to present the seventh sign.

            “but was” – imperfect active indicative of e)imi – “in that place where Martha had gone to meet him” – aorist active indicative of u(pantaw, she had gone there to meet Him, and Jesus was still there. Why is He still at the place where Martha left Him? Because Jesus had known from eternity past that after Martha came out and chewed Him out she would run back and tell Mary. He has to stay in the same spot until Mary comes face to face with Him. He was waiting for her. He has already taught Martha something; He also has to teach Mary something.

            Verse 31 – when Mary ran out of the house there were many Jews who saw her go. “The Jews then which were [kept on being: present active participle of e)imi] with her in the house.” Notice that they did not leave the house when Martha left, they only left the house when Mary left. It was Mary they came to comfort; it was Mary who would not leave her room. It was Martha who fed them. Some of them had been there for four days and still hadn’t seen Mary.

            “and comforted her” – present active participle of paramuqeomai which means to comfort with words. They kept on staying there for one purpose: they all wanted to make their little ‘comforting’ speech. All of them were unbelievers. Unbelievers attempt sincerely to say something that will give comfort. Here is the fallacy of this principle: No one can stand up and look someone in the eye who has been bereaved and give them comfort. It can’t be done. If the mourner is a believer, like Mary, she must draw upon her own resources of doctrine.  The only one who can bring words of comfort is someone like Jesus Christ. When Mary ran out of the house all of these people followed here because they hadn’t made their speech yet and they are not going to leave until they do. For four days Mary wouldn’t talk to anyone and when she runs out of the house they all follow her when the only one who is going to comfort her is Jesus. Words can only comfort those who have equivalent words in their own souls.

            Jesus talked to Martha; it didn’t turn out too well. Jesus talks to Mary. Martha is minus doctrine; Mary is plus doctrine. Neither one of them at this point has really shown much. Mary does have doctrine in her soul, she does have inner resources, and when she hits Jesus with that same phraseology – “If you had been here my brother would not have died” – Jesus can paramuqeomai because He has words in His soul and she has the same words in her soul. The words of Jesus will strike a cord because out of her frame of reference doctrine will come out into the launching pad where for four days there has been no doctrine ready on the launching pad because of operation over-think. There has been a short-circuit in Mary’s soul. Paramuqeomai comes from the fact that there is already doctrine in the soul of those who hear.

            Verse 32 – “Then when Mary was come,” aorist active indicative of e)rxomai. The aorist indicates she has arrived at her destination; “where Jesus was” – imperfect active indicative of e)imi, ‘kept on being.’ He stayed there.

            “and saw him” – aorist active participle of o(raw, ‘having seen Him.’ O(raw means she had a panoramic view, it wasn’t a glance. Then, “she fell down” – piptw, aorist indicative; “at his feet.” Three times in the scripture Mary is at the feet of Jesus; each time a lesson is taught. Luke 10:39, she learns doctrine at His feet. John 11:32, she comes as a failure at His feet. She is in operation over-think and full of mental attitude sins; no doctrine on the launching pad. John 12:3, Mary succeeds at His feet, she applies doctrine.

            “[kept] saying” – present active participle of legw; “Lord, Lord, Lord” – kurie, kuie, kurei. She didn’t say it once, she kept saying it.

            “if” is a 2nd class condition, ‘if but you were not.’

“thou hadst been here [but you were not]” – bitterness as a result of just four days of operation over-think. Mary has not lost her ECS, it doesn’t disintegrate in four days. What has happened is that operation over-think has short-circuited the function of her right lobe. While here edification complex is there, and while doctrine is in her frame of reference, it is not being used. Operation over-think always substitutes mental attitude sins for the reality of the situation.

            “my brother would not have died” – a)poqnhskw, the strongest word for death, expressing great bitterness.

 

            Summary A

1.       This is precisely the same remark made by Martha in verse 21.

2.       However, there is a difference. Martha said it in ignorance of doctrine; Mary says it in cognisance of doctrine.

3.       When Martha made this remark Jesus taught her doctrine – this was her need.

4.       When Mary made this remark Jesus is silent because Mary knows the doctrine. She is not applying what she knows.

5.       The mourners did not follow Martha out of the house but they did follow Mary.

6.       This suggests the impact of doctrine in the life of Mary in the past.

 

Summary B

1.       Three times in this context human viewpoint is expressed: by Martha in verse 21 – a believer ignorant of doctrine; by Mary in verse 32 – a believer who fails to apply doctrine; by the crowd in verse 37 – unbelievers with human viewpoint. These are helpless people in their souls.

2.       Principle: Jesus who delivers from death can also deliver through death.

3.       All three groups express human viewpoint because to them death makes the situation hopeless.

4.       The crowd can be excused on the basis of unbelief – 1 Corinthians 2:14.

5.       The sisters were believers, therefore Jesus will demonstrate that what man cannot do God can do.

6.       Therefore a principle will come out of this: Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity – Luke 1:37. There is no problem too difficult for God.

7.       Any man can show Jesus where the tomb is but only Jesus Christ can bring the dead man back. But even greater than what we see in this passage is what God can do for us.

 

Verse 33 begins the seventh sign. “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping.” This time Jesus does the o(raw – aorist active indicative; “weeping” – present

active participle of klaiw which means to weep and sob without restraint. It is continuous; it is the weeping of grief and hopelessness; she is completely and totally overcome by grief; she has been weakened by four days of operation over-think, and no one can survive over-think and come out on top.

Jesus gave Martha Bible doctrine but He is not going to give Bible doctrine to Mary who already knows doctrine. He is going to do something else.

“the Jews also weeping”[1] – present active participle of klaiw. They wept for a variety of reasons. The Jews were unbelievers. Some had a genuine sorrow,

some had pity for the sisters, some because it was the thing to do, some because they were frustrated and could not give their speech!

            “he groaned” –aorist middle indicative of e)mbriaomai  [e)m = in; briaomai = to snort with anger]. So He didn’t groan, He was full of inner indignation. This is a bona fide indignation: How dare she come here and fall at my feet and sob in this way with no doctrine on the launching pad? It is not wrong for her to cry; that is not the point. It is wrong for her to be doing the same kind of weeping that the unbelievers are doing. The unbelievers have an excuse – ignorance; she has no excuse because she has doctrine.

            “in the spirit” – why doesn’t it say the soul? Because to snort with indignation in the soul might indicate anger. To snort with indignation in the Spirit [The Holy Spirit, not the human spirit] means that there was no sin here, it was a bona fide indignation, righteous indignation. The word e)mbriaomai also means to censor, to express strong displeasure, but He keeps His strong displeasure on the inside.

            “and was troubled” – aorist active indicative tarassw which means He was really stirred up. But not out of fellowship. We have terassw plus the accusative of the reflexive pronoun e(autoj, and this means He was agitated within Himself. He shares the sorrows of the sisters. He took upon Himself their sorrows and their griefs – Isaiah 53:4. This phrase actually expresses a deep compassion and at the same time indignation. Jesus can understand their frailties and be compassionate but He is indignant that of all people Mary should be crying like a person with no doctrine when she is loaded with it. He problem is four days of operation over-think.

            Verse 34 – He doesn’t say a word about doctrine or comfort. “And he said, Where have you laid him?” He interrupts all of the weeping and wailing. There are many Jews here and Mary is leading the pack with her weeping and wailing at His feet. All these people are standing around weeping and wailing and He is indignant. His question shuts it all down for a minute. “Where have you laid” is a perfect active indicative of tiqhmi which means to place or appoint. Jesus is asking a question, not for information but He is diverting their attention from all of the weeping. He has to shut them up.

            “They said unto him, Lord, come and see” – keep coming really, present active imperative of e)rxomai: keep coming and when you get there you will see it.

            Verse 35 –  “Jesus wept,” o( I)hsouj dakruw. He didn’t kleiw; He is indignant with kleiw. This is an ingressive aorist and it should be translated, “Jesus began to weep.” But dakruw is in contrast to kleiw. Kleiw means to screech and weep and wail. Dakruw is soft, quiet weeping where every tear is rooted in the soul. It is the weeping of a bona fide capacity for love.

Verse 36 –  “Then the Jews said [kept on saying]” – imperfect active indicative of legw; “Behold how he loved him” – imperfect active indicative of filew. This is the first time unbelieving Jews had been impressed with a genuine soul capacity.

            Verse 37 – “Some of them” are undoubtedly some of the unbelievers who remained that way, people who were negative at the point of God-consciousness.

            “said” – aorist active indicative of legw. In  other words, the tears of our Lord had both response and reaction. Legw here in the aorist indicates the reaction. There has been response—“See how He loved him”—and now there is reaction which elicits criticism and suspicion from antagonistic mourners.

            Could not” is the imperfect middle indicative of dunamai, which comes from the inherent strength noun and should be translated, “Does he keep on not being able?” The imperfect tense is linear aktionsart in past time. The middle voice is reflexive. The indicative mood is reality. “Does He not keep on being able. No matter what you do there are always some who are antagonistic and critical of your actions. Mental attitude sins always express themselves in criticism, maligning and judging. Their criticism is basically this: If Jesus really loved Lazarus why didn’t He come and heal him while he was still alive?

            “which opened the eyes of the blind” – a reference to the well-known miracle. The words “this man” is toutoj, this one. They are using it as an expression of derision; “opened” – aorist active participle of a)noigw is having opened. They recognise the reality of the fact that a person who had congenital blindness was able to see.

            “have caused” is an aorist active infinitive of poiew which means to do, rather than to cause; “that even this man should not have died? – aorist active subjunctive of a)poqnhskw. The criticism makes something of it that isn’t true. He didn’t die violently or horribly [a)poqnhskw], he died in bed [qnhskw].

            These are religious people who are criticising. Religious people will use any excuse to discredit Jesus Christ. Religion is the greatest enemy of Christianity which is not a religion. Religion despises grace.

            Verse 38 – as a result of all of this complaining we have a response on the part of Jesus. “Jesus therefore again groaning” – present middle participle from e)mbriazomai. The word means inner indignation, strong inner displeasure. Jesus is not groaning, this is inner anger, bona fide anger. This occasion of this indignation is the criticism of the religious Jews in the previous verse. It is because of the total injustice and the folly of such criticism. The failure to orient to the plan of God causes Jesus’ inner indignation. He doesn’t groan, He simply expresses inner indignation. This is righteous indignation, not anger in the sense of the sin.

            “cometh to the grave” –present active indicative of e)rxomai, a dramatic present. 

            “It was a cave” – this was a tomb carved out of the side of the Mount of Olives where many caves were located, and it was sealed up with a great stone. Literally, “a stone lay against it, upon it,” imperfect middle indicative of e)pikeimai. We have a prepositional phrase, then e)pi a)utw.

            Verses 39 to the first part of verse 41 we have what man can do.

            “Jesus said, Take ye away the stone” – He gave an order, aorist active imperative of a)irw, which means lift it up and roll it away. The principle is that man can roll away the stone. Jesus never does what man can do; Jesus does what man cannot do. In other words, Jesus solves the problem. In this case He resuscitates the dead. He wants everyone to see and smell Lazarus and there will be no question about the validity of the seventh sign.

            “Martha, the sister of him that was dead” – perfect active participle of telautaw which means to complete something and therefore to die. The perfect tense means to have completed one’s life and to be dead. 

            “he stinketh” – present active indicative of o)zw, he keeps on stinking, he has an offensive odour. Martha assumes that Jesus simply wants to open the tomb so that He could look at the body of Lazarus. That is a typical human viewpoint. It never occurred to Martha that Jesus was going to do something. That is why He gave the order! It is too late is what she is trying to say, his body is beyond viewing. Martha’s human viewpoint and ignorance of the divine plan, however, will not hinder the resuscitation.

            “for he has been [dead is not found] four days” – present active indicative of e)imi, “he is four days [in the grave].” Human viewpoint can only come up with the facts that are obvious.

            Verse 40 – “Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that if [3rd class condition] thou wouldst believe” – aorist active subjunctive of pisteuw, a non-meritorious system of thinking. Faith is actual thinking, human thinking. The subject produces the action and the subject always has the merit. Jesus is talking about applying known doctrine to experience. Martha’s problem is that no doctrine taken into the human spirit is still no doctrine, and what is put on the launching pad is no doctrine!

            “thou shouldst see” – future middle indicative of o(raw, “the glory of God.” O(raw means the panoramic view. All Martha is going to get is blepw, a glance at the glory of God because she doesn’t have enough doctrine in her right lobe to do anything more. The more doctrine you have the more you see the glory of God in certain events in history. O(raw, the panoramic view, is what she should have seen but her appreciation is limited by lack of Bible doctrine in her soul. In other words, Martha spent too much time in the kitchen and not enough time GAPing it.

            Verse 41 – they obeyed Jesus Christ. “Then they took away the stone” – they lifted up and hauled it away, a)irw again. The words, from the place where the dead was laid is not, found in the original.

            Now we see what the Lord can do, verses 41-44.

            “And Jesus lifted up his eyes” – aorist active indicative of a)irw. They lifted up the stone and hauled it off, that takes muscle. But Jesus lifted up His eyes – same aorist active indicative. They used their muscles; Jesus used spiritual power.

            “and said” – aorist active indicative of legw. Jesus Christ has the words of Bible doctrine, the words of divine viewpoint in His human soul.

            “Father,” the correct address is prayer, and Jesus is speaking from His humanity; “I thank thee” – present active indicative of e)uxaristew [e)u = well; xarij = grace] which means good grace. “Father you have graced me, I thankyou.” Basic thanksgiving, the recognition of grace.

            “that thou hast heard” – aorist active indicative of a)kouw. This is basic confidence based on doctrine. In eternity past God the Father knew what Jesus would say in His humanity, and the humanity of Jesus is now saying it. Recognition of the doctrine of divine decrees.

            Verse 42 – “And I knew that you hear me always.” This brings in GAPing it. This is the past perfect of o)ida. O)ida is a perfect form used as a present tense, but the pluperfect of o)ida is used as a perfect. “I have known” – Jesus Christ has maximum doctrine, He has an ECS. Notice what is important in the crisis: not the muscles rolling away the stone but the knowledge of Bible doctrine going into action – “that you keep on hearing me always.”

 

            Summary

1.       Jesus Christ as the high priest had a perfect prayer life.

2.       Under the doctrine of impeccability related to the hypostatic union Jesus could not sin, He was always in fellowship.

3.       Knowledge of doctrine provided confidence in prayer.

4.       Therefore the humanity of Christ was the most effective prayer warrior of all time.

5.       Here is another world record for Jesus Christ.

 

“but because of the people” – dia plus the accusative of o)xloj, a large crowd; “which has been standing by” – perfect active participle of peristhmi [peri

= around; isthmi = stand]. They are standing around and this indicates helplessness. The helpless crowd can do nothing for Lazarus. Man cannot solve man’s problems at any time in history. Only God can solve man’s problems and He has put into effect laws to do so – establishment, nature, grace in His plan.

“that” – purpose clause – “they may believe.” This is i(na plus the subjunctive, and this will be fulfilled in verse 45. Aorist active subjunctive of pisteuw, the

aorist is ingressive – “that they might begin to believe [at the point of their salvation].” Active voice: each person must believe for himself. The principle behind this: Privacy is the basis for freedom. Freedom includes privacy so that the individual can decide for himself. The issue here is John 3:36.

“that thou hast sent me” – aorist active indicative of a)postellw which means to be sent into action to command. Jesus Christ was sent into action to

command. That is the incarnation.

            Verse 43 – “When he had thus spoken” is literally, “When he had spoken this” – aorist active participle of legw; “he cried” – he didn’t cry. Kraugazw means to give an order with a loud voice. There were three words shouted. The first is a vocative so that everyone didn’t come forth – “Lazarus.” The second word is really a particle, sometimes used as an adverb, deuro, which means “here.” Then the second adverb, e)cw, which means “outside.” So literally He said, “Lazarus, here outside.”

            Verse 44 – “And he that was dead came forth.” The critical Jews called it a)poqnhskw but we now have what it really was, the perfect active participle of qnhskw. Lazarus died in bed!

            “came forth” – aorist active indicative of e)cerxomai, he came outside. Notice the perfect passive participle of dew which means to be tied up or bound. He had been wrapped up as a corpse.

            “with graveclothes” – keiria; “bound about” is a pluperfect passive indicative of peridew, “having been completely bound up.”

            “napkin” – soudarion, which is a sweat cloth used for wiping perspiration from the face. The only thing that was not wrapped with bandages was the facial area which had a face towel across it.

            “Loose him” – aorist active imperative: luw means unwind him; “and let him” – aorist active imperative of a)fihmi which means ‘permit him to go [and have his own private life].’ The problem here is that here is a person brought back to life and he is going to be bugged to death! So permit him to depart in privacy – u(pagw.

            Lazarus is an illustration of salvation with emphasis on positional truth. We share the life of Christ, eternal life. Lazarus was bound and when he was loosed this depicts the principle of maturity through Bible doctrine – GAPing it and being released through the privacy of living one’s life as unto the Lord. This is the concept of Galatians 5:1. Later on in 12:1,2 we see Lazarus feasting, a picture of the believer benefiting from doctrine after he reaches the ECS stage. In 12:9, 11 we see Lazarus witnessing, a picture of the believer producing on the basis of Bible doctrine.

            Verses 45 and 46, we have the crowd again: response and reaction.

            Verse 45 – the response. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary” – they came to comfort Mary, not Martha. Proj plus the accusative, they came face to face with Mary. It was the life of Mary which drew the crowd, not the life of Martha. Martha was great in the kitchen but Mary was a grace lady. The dynamics of the grace lady are fantastic. Martha was too busy to learn doctrine and it was the grace lady who drew the crowd of mourners to the place of the seventh sign.

            “and had seen” – aorist middle participle of qeaomai. These are unbelievers so far so they can’t o(raw, and they can’t even blepw. All they can do is qeomai which means to get the point. It means perception, to discern with the eyes, to relate what is observed to something in the soul. So we translate this, “having themselves perceived.”

            “what things Jesus did” – aorist active indicative of poiew; “believed” – aorist active indicative of pisteuw. Faith is the absence of human merit – Acts 18:27.

            Verse 46 – “But some of them.” The word of is e)k, out from among them. This is the reaction crowd, negative at the point of God-consciousness; they will be negative at the point of the seventh sign. Even a miracle does not change negative into positive volition.

            “departed” – aorist active indicative from a)perxomai, they “went from that place.”

            “their ways” is not found in the original, it says, “they departed to the Pharisees” – proj plus the accusative, they had been face to face with the greatest of all miracles, now they are face to face with something that is more important to them – the Pharisees. They are deluded by religion.

            “and related to them what Jesus had accomplished” – poiew – without ever relating it to themselves or to salvation in any possible way.

            Verse 47 – the Pharisees are now facing a dilemma. “Then” should be “Therefore.” The word “then” notices a sequence of events but o)un means as a result of the seventh great sign of Messiahship, the resuscitation of Lazarus. Really, it was as a result of that report. “Therefore they gathered” – aorist active indicative of sunagw. This is where we get the word synagogue. The word here simply means a convocation. They convened as an official ruling body of the land. The convening includes the chief priests and the Pharisees. The distinction is very important. The chief priests were all Sadducees. They were rationalists; they were politicians; they were not interested in doctrine of any kind, they were interested in power. The Pharisees were religionists, legalists, theologians, and full of false doctrine. The Pharisees were the scribes or theologians. These two groups together formed a ruling body called the Sanhedrin. Both groups for different reasons are in opposition to Jesus Christ. The Sadducees as politicians see the danger of having Christ as a potential ruler to overthrow them. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were zealous for self-righteousness and religion, and therefore they were antagonistic toward Jesus Christ who is the epitome of all that is grace. Since religion is the devil’s ace trump, and since both groups were satanic in much of their viewpoint, they are both in opposition to Jesus Christ. This is really an emergency meeting, and emergency session of the Sanhedrin, in order to deal with the new crisis, the seventh miracle, the resuscitation of Lazarus from the dead.

            “a council” – that is the word Sanhedrin, sunedrion [sun = together; edra = sitting] which means a sitting together. Transliterated, this word is Sanhedrin.

            “and said” – imperfect active indicative of legw, they kept on discussing it. The imperfect tense is linear aktionsart, past time. There was a great deal of discussion.

            “What do we?” – present active indicative of poiew. A better translation is “What are we doing?” The concept is: Jesus Christ is active; we are idle! What are we going to do to stop His influence? The Sanhedrin was not impressed with the miracles of Christ but disturbed by their influence on the people, and they recognised this as a challenge to their rulership. This is going to be a maximum expression of their own negative volition. Instead of receiving Christ as their saviour and Messiah they seek to destroy Him.

            “this man” – a)nqrwpoj, which at this point becomes an insult. They do not call Him a)nhr, noble man, they simply say “this man.” This is a rejection both of the deity of Christ as well as the well-established fact that He is the heir to the throne of Judah.

            “doeth” – keeps on doing – “many miracles.” Present active indicative of poiew. What are we doing? He is doing miracles. These miracles refer specifically in John to the seven miracles which are the credit cards of Messiahship. They demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the son of David.

            Verse 48 – another phase of their deliberations. Their dilemma is introduced by the word “If,” a 3rd class condition. “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him.” The point is: ‘We have to do something. If we don’t He is going to convert everyone.’ Of course, they are excluded. They are non-convertible—negative volition.

            The aorist active subjunctive of a)fihmi really means to abandon Him, to give Him perfect freedom, abandon Him to His own function, let Him alone completely. The word connotes live and let live. What is wrong with everyone being converted? That means they are through! Finished! The aorist tense is ingressive and indicates, “If we begin such a policy.” Up to now they haven’t done such a thing but this is a possibility. Really this is translated, ‘If we begin to let Him alone.’ Apparently some in the Sanhedrin thought it was time to live and let live. The active voice: they themselves have considered the possibility. The subjunctive mood simply goes with the 3rd class condition.

            Notice the implication of what they say. They realise why the seven miracles. What was the purpose of seven credit cards? That they might believe in Him! The Sanhedrin understood the issue even though fundamentalists in our day do not. (No walking aisles, raising hands, being baptised, etc.) When the Sanhedrin says “believe” they have rejected e)pignwsij gospel themselves. They themselves understand the issue clearly and they have obviously rejected it. So if we let Him alone and continue His function all will believe.

            “all will believe” is a future active indicative of pisteuw. Not only did the Sanhedrin understand the issue of salvation but it also assumes that a few more miracles like the last one and everyone will be believing. They themselves are impervious to miracles because they have already rejected e)pignwsij gospel and scar tissue of unbelievers cannot be impressed with miracles. (A believer with scar tissue is impressed with miracles) An unbeliever with scar tissue can only be impressed with himself. These are unbelievers; they have rejected Jesus Christ. No matter what He does they will never, never be impressed.

            What they assume is not true, as illustrated by their own negative volition expressed in unbelief. The real problem here is not “all will believe.” If all believe they have everything to lose as far as they are concerned – their own power. They realise that if Jesus Christ performs another miracle they are going to lose their power. They have power lust, and like all people with power lust they are very jealous of anyone who gains the attention of the people. The Sanhedrin is in danger of losing control of the people at this point and part of their dilemma is the fact that Jesus Christ has challenged their power to the extent that they are afraid they are about to lose it. The other part of the dilemma has to do with the Romans.

            “and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.” At this time the Jews were enjoying a certain measure of autonomy under Roman protection. Northern Palestine at this time was under the rule of Herod the tetrarch; southern Palestine was under the control of the Sanhedrin. As far as they are concerned if the people flock to Jesus Christ and believe in Him then the Romans may decide that the Sanhedrin cannot handle the situation and will personally come in and take a greater part, and remove the autonomy of the Sanhedrin. The Romans were already there but “the Romans shall come” means to come and take over.

            “take away” – future active indicative of a)irw, which means to lift up and throw away ‘our power.’ Topoj means more than place, it means status quo here.

            “and nation” – the Jews will no longer enjoy any autonomy. They will become in effect a Roman-governed province. They were not at this moment, but it came later on because they rejected Christ. The word for nation here is e)qnoj. It is used in two ways: a) for gentiles in contrast to Jews; b) a nation in contrast to total disorganisation.

            Verse 49 – someone is eventually going to prevail, and the person who is going to prevail here is Caiaphas, a member of the Sanhedrin. He is the high priest of the Jews during the reign of Tiberias. He held the office during the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate. So he is a VIP and he is going to give some advice. Why and under what circumstances did John know about Caiaphas and what he said? John was an aristocrat in the southern kingdom. He was on friendly terms and relationship with these people. He knew Caiaphas personally. John travelled in high-class circles.

            “that same year” – 29 or 30 AD.

            “You know nothing at all” – u(meij o)uk o)idate o)uden is an insult. U(meij – You and only you (the Sanhedrin); o)uk – not; o)idate – know; o)uden – nothing. “You do not know nothing” is the literal translation. This is an idiom for “How stupid can you get?” They are missing the point as far as Caiaphas is concerned.

            Verse 50 – “consider” is logizomai which means to think logically. Present active imperative: “Keep thinking logically.”

            “it is expedient” – sumferw, present active indicative: ‘it is for our benefit, it is advantageous for us [the Sanhedrin].’

            “that someone should die for the people” – a)poqnhskw is the verb he used. It means to die violently, to die in a spectacular manner so that everyone knows about it and they talk about it for a long time.

            The true issue is that Jesus must be eliminated. Either Jesus must be eliminated or the Romans will eliminate the Sanhedrin and therefore possibly the national autonomy. Caiaphas is not prophesying but he is appealing to their logic.

            “for the people” – u(per, not in the sense that Paul uses the word in an efficacious substitutionary atonement for salvation but as an innuendo and also as sarcasm, i.e. If you want to keep ruling the people then He has to die for the people. This is actually what is known as a rulership gimmick: using the good of the people to stay in power.

            Psalm 76:10 states a principle: “God uses the wrath of man to praise Him.” While Caiaphas is only interested in keeping Caiaphas in power, Caiaphas inadvertently is referring to the cross without one clue as to its implication.

            “that the nation perish not” – someone has to die for the people so that the nation doesn’t perish! ‘This man who has been presenting Himself as the Messiah to the people must die for the people.’ In this we have great sarcasm. We also know that Caiaphas himself as a chief priest is aware of what the scriptures teach about the Messiah, and he is aware that when Messiah comes Messiah is going to die for the people because of Isaiah 53. Caiaphas knew all about these things and as an unbeliever he is being sarcastic. Example: Well, He claims He is Messiah, He has been proving it all this time. Now if He is Messiah then let Him die for the people, because if He dies for the people He is going to preserve the nation. Which translated means, We are going to stay in power.

            It is necessary to understand Caiaphas from the standpoint of Caiaphas. He is a man who enjoys his life. He has power, authority, prestige, everything he wants. If he has everything he wants the only problem he has is to maintain all of the things that he has and not lose. Jesus is a challenge to losing these things. Caiaphas runs the Sanhedrin; the Sanhedrin run the people. Caiaphas is the power and he wants to keep it that way. How is he going to do it? Eliminate this one who calls Himself the Messiah, let Him die for the people. And by that Caiaphas indicates that while he understands the truth he has rejected it. He has rejected Jesus Christ.

            “that the whole nation perish not” – aorist active subjunctive of a)pollumi, 5th cycle of discipline, total destruction. He knows that if the Romans ever start interfering it is just a matter of time.

            The historical situation will be far different than what Caiaphas estimated. The cross will eventuate in the 4th and 5th cycles of discipline to Israel. God will use Rome as the whip. So Caiaphas is trying to eliminate Jesus not realising the repercussions.

            Verse 51 – at this point John himself, under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, makes an observation. So in verses 51 and 52 we have the parenthetical observation of John. This is to show that he knew Caiaphas and what Caiaphas was really saying.

            “And this spake he not of [for or from] himself” – this means that Caiaphas did not entirely understand the implications of his remarks. John in retrospection sees a prophetic significance of the remarks of Caiaphas which were not intended to be prophetic. While Caiaphas was motivated by political expediency his comment went deeper than he realised. From the human viewpoint the policy of Caiaphas is brutal murder but from the divine viewpoint the death of Christ is going to be efficacious sacrifice. Caiaphas himself actually predicted a policy that was going to be beneficial beyond anything he could dream, but he wasn’t thinking of that.

            “but being high priest that year he prophesied [predicted]” – aorist active indicative of profhteuw. This word can be used for the gift or the office of a prophet but it can also be used for someone who predicts something without being aware of its full implications. So we translate this, ‘he predicted.’ He predicted something about being aware of it being a prophesy.

            “he predicted that Jesus should die for the nation” – the words ‘that Jesus should’ is imperfect active indicative of mellw which means to be about to be: “that Jesus was about to die,” present active infinitive of a)poqnhskw. This is retrospection on the part of John but it is to show that John realises who and what Caiaphas was and what he meant. But the implication and the way he said it turned out to be a prophecy and a very accurate one because the very words that he used – a)poqnhskw and u(per – are the very words which indicate the true death of Christ for the people. As an unbeliever Caiaphas didn’t have a clue as to what was implied, he merely wants to get rid of Christ.

            Verse 52 records John’s comments, the truth of the matter. “Not for that nation only” – a reference to the doctrine of unlimited atonement. This is the comment of John as a true prophet, not of Caiaphas as a predictor.

            “that he should gather together in one” – aorist active subjunctive for a purpose clause of sunagw. The true sunagw is the one that Christ will gather. Aorist tense is constative. Active voice: Christ will do it. The subjunctive mood: this is a purpose clause. This is the purpose of the death of Christ – to “sunagw in one.” That is what the cross will do in 30 AD.

            Notice how John describes the recipients of sunagw – “the children of God.” Believers, Church Age believers.

            “that were scattered abroad” – perfect passive participle of diaskorpiazw which refers to the Gentiles scattered over the entire earth, lost and without hope. Ephesians 2:11-17.

Verse 53 – the decision of the Sanhedrin. The Caiaphas policy becomes their policy: eliminate Him.

“Then from” – a)po, the preposition of ultimate source. It is used to indicate that at this time, after the speech of Caiaphas, that became the policy of the Sanhedrin.

“they took counsel” – aorist middle indicative of bouleuw, ‘they purposed [or, determined].’

“for” – literally, “that he must be put to death.” This is i(na plus the subjunctive and should be translated that, not for. Then follows the aorist active subjunctive of a)pokteinw which means to destroy, to annihilate, to eliminate totally, to erase—not only to kill the person but to erase anything connected with him. This is the firm policy of the Sanhedrin. The mechanics will depend upon opportunity, which is why there is a purpose clause.

“From that day they determined that he must be eliminated.”

            Verse 54 – “Jesus therefore walked no more openly,” imperfect active indicative of peripatew, plus an adverb, o)uketi, plus parrhsia. These three words are important. Peripatew is His modus operandi, His function, His life, His activity. O)uketi means “no longer.”  Parrhsia means “with freedom.” So the policy of Jesus Christ is to stay alive until the right moment. He must die on the Passover, that is the Father’s schedule.

            “but went [departed, a)perxomai] unto a desert place … into a city called Ephraim” – this is a city north and west of Jerusalem.

            “there he continued with his disciples” – menw means to abide or to remain; “disciples” – maqhthj means those who are learning doctrine under strict authority.

            Verse 55 – the Passover at Jerusalem.

            “the Passover was” – imperfect active indicative of e)imi. This is a conative imperfect and it doesn’t mean linear aktionsart, it simply means it was approaching.

            “And as the Passover approaches many went up to Jerusalem from the regions round about.” The word xwra doesn’t mean countries, it means regions. They went up early for a special purpose—in order to get purified. The aorist active subjunctive here means “that they might be purified.” Even a month before the Passover the place was full of pilgrims trying to get purified. The word ag)nizw here means to go through ceremonies which might purify them.

            Verse 56 – “Then sought they for Jesus.” The conative imperfect zetew is an imperfect active indicative—they began to look for Him; “and spake”— they began to speak. They began to search and to talk among themselves. The resuscitation of Lazarus spread all over the area.

            “as they stood in the temple” – perfect active participle of i(sthmai, they had to stand with the result that they kept on standing. They are going through all the purification ceremonies. As they dabble in shadows and as they have no doctrine with which to match what is going on they have time for conversation. They begin to speculate.

            “What think ye” – present active indicative of dokew. This means that whatever they think it is subjective. They go back and forth on this thing since everyone knows the Caiaphas policy.

            “that he will not come” – aorist active indicative of e)rxomai plus the negative mh. They assume that Jesus will not come. They are in the temple. All of these sacrifices speak of Christ but that doesn’t mean anything top them. All of the purification rights involve sacrifices and hundreds of animals are being sacrificed daily, day in and day out, and they are all speaking of Jesus Christ. And these people are standing around in the ceremonial thing and they have no doctrine on the inside, they are all speculating about Jesus. They are interested in whether Jesus will come to Jerusalem or not and they are missing the whole point. Their eternal salvation is at stake. The word mh assumes a negative answer; they assume Jesus will not come. They assume that Jesus is afraid to come and the attribute to Jesus their own attitude—they would be afraid to come. It never occurs to religious types that Jesus is far above them and infinitely superior.

            Verse 57 – back to the Sanhedrin.

            “had given a commandment” – pluperfect of didomi, the verb for giving. The pluperfect is the past perfect and it means to set up a law. They are using legislation. They legislated His death. This is not only firm policy, it is law!

            Legislation was designed under the laws of establishment for one thing only—to protect the freedom, the rights, the property and the living of law-abiding people. It was never designed to correct evils.

            Plus the noun in the accusative plural, e)ntolh, to indicate they had to pass a series of laws.  One law wasn’t enough. They had to pass another law, e.g. Anyone who harbours this person will be considered as a traitor. Then, If anyone knows where He is they must come and tell us, that is the law!

            “if anyone knew” – aorist active subjunctive of ginwskw which means to know by observation; “where he is,” not where he were. This is the present tense of e)imi.

            “that” – purpose clause; “he would shew it” – mhnuw means to disclose a secret. How do tyrants stay in power? By getting people to disclose a secret.

            “that they might take him” – piazw means to seize violently.

 


[1] See doctrine of weeping.