The One who would die for His people

[Just a reminder that these entries are “fleshed out” from my sermon outline on Monday morning, but are not a direct transcript of the message, which would take a lot more time to prepare. In many cases it will be what I planned to say, or wish I had said, or should have said! , S.N.]

The One who would die for His people John 11:45-57

Introduction: What just happened must have stunned the crowd. Put yourself in their shoes. Mourning at the graveside, seeing Jesus, arriving there late, four days after the burial, then joining in the weeping, empathizing with his grieving friends, missing a beloved brother and friend. And then His strange, shocking, almost offensive request—remove the stone from the grave—an enigmatic prayer, thanking His Father for hearing Him, a confident call, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he did! After four days dead in the tomb, he was alive! Very little detail is given of the reactions of the people. Was there stunned silence? Did they cheer? Did they fall to their knees in worship, awed by this demonstration of power? It states it so simply, “many believed in Him.” This has to mean in this context that they recognized more fully who He was. Perhaps even that they finally realized, “This must be God, only God could do this!” Even so, a part of the story still was a mystery to them. That is, they needed to learn what He came to do.

The Big Idea: God overruled the greatest possible evil, the rejection and murder of his Son, to bring about the greatest imaginable good, the salvation of a people for Himself. We can be assured that He will accomplish His good purpose in the life of everyone who trusts in Him.

The Context: 11:45-47, it’s clear that no matter how convincing the evidence is, many continue to resist the truth. Some of the eyewitneses believe (in fact “many believe in Him). But not all! The contrast is intentional: many believe, but others go and report these things to the Pharisees. A meeting of the Sanhedrin is called to deal with the “Jesus Problem.”

I. First of all we see that there can be Wrong Priorities for Leadership: These leaders were intent on preserving the status quo no matter what the cost. Here they acknowledge the signs and ignore the implications (47-48).

Rather than recognizing Jesus and leading others to Him, they plan to destroy Him. John 11:47 says

“Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ‘What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.’”

The question is reasonable—the signs were there, the blind man who had been healed—they investigated thoroughly and it could not be denied, now this, even more astounding—a dead man raised to life! NB. That they recognize these miracles as “signs.” They ask the right question, “What shall we do?”, but where they go with it makes it clear their hearts were completely closed to the truth. Rather than considering what this evidence means, what it reveals about who Jesus is, they are only concerned with what the fallout might be, what is might cost them: In John 11:48 we read,

48 "If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation."

The people will believe—and we have too much to lose! The pronoun here is emphatic and comes before the nouns: The romans will take away what is OURS, both [our] place and [our] nation… Their motives were so self centered, so focused on preserving their power and influence that they did not recognize their own messiah. Peter would later speak of Jesus saying He was “…a man attested to you by God through miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves also know…” Still, they were focused on preserving the status quo, and decide “better Him than us!” By the way crucifying Jesus didn’t get rid of the problem… his tomb was empty three days later and before long his pesky disciples were praying that He had risen from the dead (see Acts 2,3,4,5 etc.). At least one of them, Gamaliel, offers some good council in Acts 5:35 ff…

Acts 5:35-42 35 And he said to them: "Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. 36 "For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. 37 "After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. 38 "And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; 39 "but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it -- lest you even be found to fight against God." 40 And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Good counsel at that time. But not here, not now. It seems the leaders don’t even consider that they might be fighting against God. Even so, God overruled the greatest possible evil, the rejection and murder of his Son, to bring about the greatest imaginable good, the salvation of a people for Himself. We can be assured that He will accomplish His good purpose in the life of everyone who trusts in Him.

II. The evil intentions of men and God’s overruling grace: Christ would indeed be our substitute (49-53).

Caiaphas, the High Priest, chimed in, making it clear that they should get rid of the Problem: it would be better for this one man to die instead of the whole nation (49-50). Caiaphas was focused on self preservation, and on maintaining his position of power and influence, and at least toleration by the Romans. Rather than allowing this “Jesus problem” to escalate, from his perspective it made sense that He be sacrificed, that He die, instead of the nation enduring the wrath of Rome, or the . A scapegoat. A substitute. We’ve seen several examples in this Gospel where Jesus said something, and the full meaning of what He said was missed by his hearers. “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up… You must be born again… Drink of the water I give and you’ll never thirst… Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will never hunger or thirst… But here Caiaphas speaks, and says more than he himself understood. Caiaphas was closer to truth than he realized. Jesus came to be the scapegoat. He came to be the sacrificial lamb. He came as our substitute. Consider the words of Isaiah written 700 years earlier:

Isaiah 53:3-8 “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken…”

This is a phenomenal illustration of the relationship between human will and divine sovereignty. Caiaphas from his perspective was saying, “Let’s get rid of this guy, better Him than us!” Yet God over-ruled, and his words conveyed a prophetic truth, God’s Son would not be spared, He would be delivered up for the nation, and a remnant from every nation. John fleshes out the fuller implications of the words of Caiaphas: John 11:51-52

“ Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.”

He would die for the benefit of the nation, and as a substitute for a remnant from every nation. The whole world is God’s world, and world evangelization is God’s work. We get much more ethnically diversified here in summer, and that is a good thing-it gives us more of a picture of what Heaven will be like! Jesus would give His life for his sheep, scattered around this planet in every nation, from every race, every people group. But, notice what John says: “…He will gather together in one the children of God…” The church is a unity, one body, one family. There are so many things that we can allow to divide us—because we are still influenced by our fallen nature… but love covers a multitude of sins and love is what sets us apart-we love because he first loved us-by our love for one another men will know that we are His disciples. After all, remember what God did for us. He overruled the greatest possible evil, the rejection and murder of his Son, to bring about the greatest imaginable good, the salvation of a people for Himself. We can be assured that He will accomplish His good purpose in the life of everyone who trusts in Him.

III. God’s plan will be carried out in God’s way at God’s time: The hour approaches for the lifting up of the Son (54-57).

In 11:54 we see that Jesus was cognizant of the evil intentions of the leaders and avoided them for a time. He “…no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.” John repeatedly emphasizes that Jesus knew what was in the heart of men. He certainly knew the plans of the leaders to kill him, but it wasn’t his time. Temporarily He withdrew, staying under their radar, out of their reach, until the time set by the Father. But V.55 reminds us that the time is approaching.

“And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. 56 Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, "What do you think -- that He will not come to the feast?" 57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him."

Passover was one of the pilgrim feast of Israel. It was a time that Jews would be expect to travel to the Holy City if at all possible, to celebrate and remember what God had done in bringing them out of Egyptian bondage. As a part of that feast, a lamb would be slain, a reminder of that first Passover, the blood spilt and put on the door post of every Hebrew home. Now the hour approached when Christ, our Passover, would be sacrificed for us.

What is God saying to me in this passage?

God overruled the greatest possible evil, the rejection and murder of his Son, to bring about the greatest imaginable good, the salvation of a people for Himself. We can be assured that He will accomplish His good purpose in the life of everyone who trusts in Him.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?

As we celebrate the Lord’s Table, we have a God ordained opportunity to deliberately pause and reflect on the Sacrifice of Christ. 2000 years ago Jesus was preparing his disciples for what was about to happen, sharing in a Passover meal, giving them a means of remembering and reflecting on what was about to happen… In the Lord’s table, as we participate in the Bread and the Cup, we look back and remember that God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. That is truly amazing grace! Amen.