One of the main themes of John’s gospel is Christ as Life. For John, Jesus is the God of life who has come to turn a death-infested world upside down.

You can see this throughout Jesus’ entire ministry. Wherever He went, He destroyed death in all of its forms.

The rulers of this world know death to be their greatest instrument. This is why they plotted to kill both Jesus and Lazarus (a living witness to Jesus’ miraculous power). Thus the reign of God is about the Author of life breaking into and overcoming this death-filled world.

In Lazarus’ resurrection, Jesus demonstrated that death no longer has the last word. Resurrection brings the gospel to its highest pitch. The beauty of the Christian message is that we have been given the risen life of Jesus to live by here and now.

Like Lazarus, the human race is sick and dying. On its own, it is helpless and hopeless. It’s lying inside a tomb, lifeless and decaying.

But God desires to raise humanity from the iron grip of death, raising it from the tomb to new life and new creation. His will is to bring us out of the condemnation of death into resurrection peace and the power of an endless life.

This is what the gospel affords all who believe.

Jesus’ words to Martha in this story are loaded. He was essentially saying, “Hope is nearer than you think. The last day has already arrived. I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

That is the glorious edge of the gospel. In Jesus Christ, the life of tomorrow is available today.

And the challenge of Jesus to Martha is what He says to all of us today: “Do you believe this?”