The Lord raised up the dead only among those who loved Him dearly. This is typical of His church today, for He is the resurrection life only to the group of believers who dearly love Him. However, as the information about His resurrection power is brought to the religious groups, such as Judaism, it will cause a reaction. The religious groups will simply become angry with the Lord and even make the decision to arrest Him and put Him to death. Judaism in chapter eleven implies that even the Christian religion of today is very much against the Lord’s desire to bring resurrection life to others. In many cases, the Christian religion has driven out the Lord as life. In these last days, the Lord is more and more with those groups of persons who love Him dearly. As a result, He will do many things to raise people out of their death. But this information will spread to the religious groups who will be angry and will be against Christ as the resurrection life.
It is remarkable that the time of Lazarus’s resurrection coincided with the time of the Passover. According to the Scriptures, we know that Christ is our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), but those religious folks were going to have another Passover. By keeping their own Passover, the religious people killed the reality of the Passover. In other words, Christ as the real Passover is the reality of the Passover. On one hand, the religious people wanted to keep the Passover; on the other hand, they wanted to eliminate the reality of the Passover. Today this principle is exactly the same in Christianity. Although Christianity has so much to do with Christ, it puts away the reality of Christ. It preaches about Christ on the one hand, but destroys the reality of Christ on the other.
We have seen that the death situation provided by God enabled Christ to manifest His resurrection power and that this resurrection power issues in the raising up of the dead one. But this raising of Lazarus caused some trouble. The news of it spread to the Pharisees, and the Pharisees, after hearing of it, considered the situation as very serious. Thus, they conspired to kill Jesus (11:45-57). As the Pharisees were conspiring against the Lord Jesus, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke prophetically, saying, “You know nothing at all, nor do you account that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not the whole nation perish” (11:49-50). The following verse says, “Now this he did not say from himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation; and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather into one the children of God who have been scattered abroad” (11:51-52). The phrase “gather into one the children of God” mentioned here implies that not only the death but also the resurrection life of the Lord is for the building up of God’s children. What does all this mean? It simply means that the resurrection life will raise up a situation through which God’s scattered people may be gathered together in order to be built up for God’s dwelling on earth. Religion’s conspiracy helps in the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
I say once again that the death of Lazarus was provided by God as an opportunity for resurrection life to be manifested. Resurrection life needs death in order that resurrection life and power might be expressed. This manifestation of resurrection power caused a reaction among the opposers, who then conspired to kill the Lord Jesus. As part of their consideration, a prophecy was uttered. This indicates that the conspiracy among the opposing religion actually serves to fulfill God’s purpose. It helps to gather all the scattered people of God for God’s building. Therefore, never be disappointed by the situation in your local church. If there is a difficult situation in your church, praise God for it. It must be His provision. He will do something and then the opposition of religion will be stirred up. The opposers may even try to kill you. But do not be troubled. That very conspiracy will be used by God to gather His scattered people together for His building.
I want to impress you with the fact that as long as we are in the Lord’s recovery and as long as we have the resurrection of Christ, regardless of the situation among us or the conspiracy in the environment against us, God’s eternal purpose will eventually be fulfilled. There will be a gathering of God’s scattered people for God’s building. All the negative things—the death and the opposition—will be the servants of God’s eternal purpose. They will further the fulfillment, the accomplishment, of God’s purpose. We are on the mountaintop, and the flood waters are under our feet. Do not be troubled. As long as you are in the local church, as long as you have Christ as your resurrection power, and as long as you are in this flow and have this testimony, you may be at peace regardless of the death condition inwardly or the opposition outwardly. The opposition of religion, the conspiracy that plans to kill or terminate you, will carry out God’s eternal purpose.
This is the revelation in this chapter. John 11 is not merely a story of resurrection. It is a complete revelation that discloses that as long as we are with the Lord and with the resurrection life for God’s purpose, everything that transpires is for the fulfillment of His purpose. Thus we may say, “Lord, if You want to give us a death situation, please do it. We are happy with it. Let some Lazarus brothers die. Then Your resurrection power will be manifested. You will do a work in resurrection that will arouse the opposition, and that opposition will gather together the scattered children of God for God’s building.” These things are happening in this country. Praise the Lord! Praise Him for His resurrecting power. Praise the Lord for His sovereign gathering. He is raising the dead and He is gathering His people together for His wonderful building!