Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
– John 11:25–26
Do you believe this? Oh, what an awesome couple of verses in John 11 as Lazarus has died and Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die. He will live.”
John 11:25–26 Confirms Death is not The End for Us
For all those who trust in Jesus, death will not be the end of the story. Life, resurrection will be the end of the story forever and ever. This is a basic truth of the gospel. What John 3:16, maybe the most famous verse in the Bible says, that whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life and all who believe the gospel know this.
At the same time, I just want to encourage you in a fresh way today and challenge you. One, to encourage you when you think about people who have died in Christ. Just be freshly encouraged today that they live. I remember my dad who it’s hard to believe for me and my family almost 20 years ago, unexpectedly died of a heart attack and I still miss my dad so much. When I read John 11:25–26 today and I just smiled because I know he lives. I know he was in Christ. He is in Christ. He will always be in Christ.
I think about Heather’s mom in a similar way who died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm. And I just want to encourage you to think about people you know who died in Christ and smile today because you know they live. Maybe that’s even fresh in your heart. Maybe you’ve lost someone you love recently who died in Christ.
John 11:25–26 Confirms that In Christ We Are to Live Forever
I just want to encourage you today, they are alive today, more alive than really in one sense, ever before. And one day we who are in Christ will be resurrected with them to enjoy life with them forever. Be encouraged and be challenged. Let’s live today to help other people live. We’re surrounded today by people who, when they die, will experience everlasting judgment and wrath through sin if nothing changes. And we have the good news of the resurrection and the life. So God, help us to compassionately share the gospel with somebody today.
I think about the woman I met yesterday who was Buddhist a week ago and is now a believer in Jesus, a follower of Jesus. We praise you for the power of the gospel to say, we pray that you would bring people to salvation. And God, we pray that you would use us to point them today to you, Lord Jesus, as the resurrection and the life even as we praise you for the reality. The people who have died in Christ are at this moment alive with you and one day we will be fully resurrected with them.
Jesus, we praise you as the resurrection and the life. We praise you that when we believe in you, we will not perish but have everlasting life. And we know, John 3:16 makes clear. You love the whole world like this. You want the world to know your resurrection life.
Praying for the Baha’i People
So God, we pray, make it known among the Baha’i people of Nepal, a small people group who are following a false religion, who view Jesus as just one of many divine messengers. God, we pray you would open their eyes to Jesus as the resurrection and the life, as the only name under heaven whereby we can be saved from our sins and have eternal life with you. God, we pray you’d send laborers to the Baha’i people of Nepal and you would cause disciples to be made and churches to be planted among them all in light of your promise in John 11:25–26. We pray in Jesus name, in the name of the resurrection and the life. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
