This lesson looks at certain cases of individuals who were resurrected prior to the crucifixion of Christ, namely:
Moses (Matt. 17:3, Luke 9:30, and Jude 9)
The son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:21–23) and the Shunammite’s son (2 Kings 4:32–37)
3. The son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:14, 15)
Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:40–42)
Lazarus (John 11:41–45)
Of all these individuals who died, only Moses went straight to heaven. All the rest were brought back to life here on earth. Each account demonstrates even further that there is no life (“soul”) or existence after death. Interestingly, none of the resurrected people mentioned an afterlife experience. Wouldn’t such an experience be memorable enough to document or at least mention? Each of the children should have said, “Wow, Mom, you won’t believe what I saw!” and the news of their experience in heaven would have spread far and wide on earth. Moreover, as some have questioned, why would anyone want to come back to the earth after having been in heaven already?
Moses, who was taken to heaven, was not a “spirit” or a disembodied “soul” because he was resurrected in the body, as signified by the nature of the dispute between Christ and Satan, which was “about the body of Moses” (Jude 9). No living soul is ever mentioned by Satan or Jesus in the dispute. Why would a body be needed if a soul existed? The body wasn’t needed in order to house a soul because the body was Moses. Later on, Moses appears to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, along with Elijah (Luke 9), who was taken to heaven and never died. These accounts once again demonstrate that the best explanation for death is sleep and not a bodiless existence.
Part II: Commentary
We will look at the story of Lazarus together and discuss his resurrection in more detail.
Before Jesus and His disciples go to Bethany, Jesus describes to them death as sleep (John 11:11). The disciples question why they are going to Judaea because the Jews there attempted to stone Jesus. Jesus replies that they need to go because Lazarus “ ‘has fallen asleep’ ” (John 11:11, NIV). When the disciples fail to apprehend the meaning of Jesus’ words, Jesus states plainly, “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14).
Death is called sleep in both the Old and New Testaments (Dan. 12:2; Acts 7:60; 1 Thess. 4:13, 14). Daniel 12:2 states: “ ‘Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt’ ” (NIV).
This verse speaks about the two resurrections: the first one before the millennium, when all those who have given their lives to Jesus will be resurrected and taken to heaven; and the second one, after the millennium, of those who rejected Jesus as their Savior (Rev. 20:4–6). (Seventh-day Adventists see a special resurrection here: “A special resurrection precedes Christ’s second advent. ‘All who have died in the faith of the third angel’s message’ will arise at that time. In addition, those who beheld with mockery Christ’s crucifixion, and those who have most violently opposed the people of God, will be brought forth from their graves to see the fulfillment of the divine promise and the triumph of truth [see GC 637; Rev. 1:7].”—The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 878.) Moreover, Stephen, who is stoned in the book of Acts, is described as falling asleep (Acts 7:60). It is great comfort to know that when we die, it’s as if we are sleeping because there will be an awakening.
Jesus tells His disciples concerning their journey to see Lazarus, “ ‘but I go that I may wake him up’ ” (John 11:11, NKJV). Because Jesus explains that by “sleep” He means “death,” He is clearly speaking about a resurrection. And yet, it doesn’t seem that anyone really takes Jesus’ meaning seriously until the miracle happens. In fact, Thomas is worried about the fact that they will all be killed if they go, not about the miracle that Jesus just proclaimed He will do. The word for “wake him up” is exupnizo and occurs in this one place only in all of the New Testament. It literally means “out of sleep.” Once again, the connection between sleep and death is visible. Jesus is referring to resurrecting Lazarus as the act of bringing him back out of sleep.
Interestingly, when Jesus arrives, both sisters say the same thing in different situations: “ ‘If You had been here, my brother would not have died’ ” (John 11:21, 32, NKJV). In Christ’s presence there is no room for death because He is the Source of life. Martha and Mary had seen Jesus heal the sick. They knew that He brought life. In other passages, we are told that it is “God who gives life to all things” (1 Tim. 6:13, NKJV; see also John 1:3, 4; Deut. 32:39; Neh. 9:6).
In the presence of God there is no death. Death didn’t come from God. It came on the scene with sin and evil when Satan decided to rebel against the loving and beautiful government of God, and unfortunately humans followed suit. Sin destroys and brings death. “Just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12, NKJV).
Jesus has a conversation with Martha first after He arrives in Bethany. When He tells her, “ ‘Your brother will rise again’ ” (John 11:23, NKJV), she responds with “ ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day’ ” (John 11:24, NKJV). She had an understanding of life after death, but her statement also makes it clear that she knew that Lazarus would not rise until “the last day.”
Martha would have heard about the resurrections of the widow’s son as well as Jairus’s daughter, but perhaps didn’t think that this miracle would ever be something Jesus could or would do for her. We can all sometimes get skeptical about the possibilities of God’s miracles happening in our own lives and think that miracles are only for others.
But Jesus had a plan to demonstrate to all that life comes through Him because He is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Jesus adds, “ ‘Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die’ ” (John 11:26, ESV). He emphasizes that ultimately, those who believe in Him will not experience the second death. Jesus can resurrect those whom He chooses now, and again in the future, “at the last day.”
When Jesus sees Mary and the Jews weeping, “he [is] deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33, NIV). The word for deeply moved is embrimaomai in Greek. Besides being deeply moved, it also means “to warn” or “to rebuke” and is used five times in the New Testament (Matt. 9:30; Mark 1:43; Mark 14:5; John 11:33, 38). The three times it appears before John 11, it is translated as “to scold or rebuke” or as a strict warning coming from Jesus. Thus, when Jesus reacts with embrimaomai (deep feeling) here, it is possible that this reaction also involves anger and displeasure because of sin and its results. Jesus would have been keenly aware of the fact that the suffering and death this world experiences are the result of sin. Christ’s knowledge and experience with evil and loss would have produced a mix of emotions that would be difficult to explain or even grasp. Besides being sad for His close friends who had just experienced a loss, Jesus was sad for all of humanity because of what sin does to us and how it affects our world.
When Jesus calls Lazarus to come forth, Lazarus walks out of the grave. Amazingly, all Jesus has to do is speak. Once again, just as in the Creation story, Jesus simply speaks, and life results. Just as Jesus created the sun and the moon, animals and humans, so here Jesus creates life again. Jesus resurrects and, therefore, re-creates. Sin and evil, in contrast, destroy—the opposite of creation. They destroy the beautiful and the good of God’s creation.
Yet, the gospel is the great news that Jesus died for us on the cross so that we may have eternal life. He was “raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20, NIV). It is because of His resurrection that all the rest—the resurrection of the righteous to eternal life—is possible.
When told that Lazarus was sick, Jesus told the disciples, “ ‘This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it’ ” (John 11:4, ESV). Although Lazarus did die, it was a temporary death (at least at that moment). Jesus was glorified through Lazarus’s death because everyone witnessed the power of Jesus to give life. Jesus defeated death on the cross. Consequently, He could resurrect others, even before His own sacrifice, because of the Cross. The Bible applies the sacrifice of the “Lamb” to the very beginning of life, as it proclaims the Lamb “slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). The blood of the Lamb made the resurrections possible.
Part III: Life Application
How much have you learned so far about the state of the dead? Write it out. Choose someone from your family or a friend to whom you can explain all that you have learned so far.
Why is it important to know the truth about death as sleep? If someone finds it difficult to imagine that their dead relative is not in heaven right now, how could you comfort them by letting them know that the dead rest, knowing nothing at all?
God is in the business of re-creating. Resurrection is a re-creating act of God. Although sin de-creates us, Jesus has a plan to re-create us through the resurrection. A few others were resurrected prior to His own resurrection because His death on the cross was applied prospectively. What does the fact that God re-creates mean to you?
Adjust My Preferences
Welcome! Please set your reading preferences below.
You can access this panel later by clicking the
preference icon
in the top right of the page.
Key Text: John 11:11
Part I: Overview
This lesson looks at certain cases of individuals who were resurrected prior to the crucifixion of Christ, namely:
Moses (Matt. 17:3, Luke 9:30, and Jude 9)
The son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:21–23) and the Shunammite’s son (2 Kings 4:32–37)
3. The son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:14, 15)
Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:40–42)
Lazarus (John 11:41–45)
Of all these individuals who died, only Moses went straight to heaven. All the rest were brought back to life here on earth. Each account demonstrates even further that there is no life (“soul”) or existence after death. Interestingly, none of the resurrected people mentioned an afterlife experience. Wouldn’t such an experience be memorable enough to document or at least mention? Each of the children should have said, “Wow, Mom, you won’t believe what I saw!” and the news of their experience in heaven would have spread far and wide on earth. Moreover, as some have questioned, why would anyone want to come back to the earth after having been in heaven already?
Moses, who was taken to heaven, was not a “spirit” or a disembodied “soul” because he was resurrected in the body, as signified by the nature of the dispute between Christ and Satan, which was “about the body of Moses” (Jude 9). No living soul is ever mentioned by Satan or Jesus in the dispute. Why would a body be needed if a soul existed? The body wasn’t needed in order to house a soul because the body was Moses. Later on, Moses appears to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, along with Elijah (Luke 9), who was taken to heaven and never died. These accounts once again demonstrate that the best explanation for death is sleep and not a bodiless existence.
Part II: Commentary
We will look at the story of Lazarus together and discuss his resurrection in more detail.
Before Jesus and His disciples go to Bethany, Jesus describes to them death as sleep (John 11:11). The disciples question why they are going to Judaea because the Jews there attempted to stone Jesus. Jesus replies that they need to go because Lazarus “ ‘has fallen asleep’ ” (John 11:11, NIV). When the disciples fail to apprehend the meaning of Jesus’ words, Jesus states plainly, “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14).
Death is called sleep in both the Old and New Testaments (Dan. 12:2; Acts 7:60; 1 Thess. 4:13, 14). Daniel 12:2 states: “ ‘Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt’ ” (NIV).
This verse speaks about the two resurrections: the first one before the millennium, when all those who have given their lives to Jesus will be resurrected and taken to heaven; and the second one, after the millennium, of those who rejected Jesus as their Savior (Rev. 20:4–6). (Seventh-day Adventists see a special resurrection here: “A special resurrection precedes Christ’s second advent. ‘All who have died in the faith of the third angel’s message’ will arise at that time. In addition, those who beheld with mockery Christ’s crucifixion, and those who have most violently opposed the people of God, will be brought forth from their graves to see the fulfillment of the divine promise and the triumph of truth [see GC 637; Rev. 1:7].”—The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 878.) Moreover, Stephen, who is stoned in the book of Acts, is described as falling asleep (Acts 7:60). It is great comfort to know that when we die, it’s as if we are sleeping because there will be an awakening.
Jesus tells His disciples concerning their journey to see Lazarus, “ ‘but I go that I may wake him up’ ” (John 11:11, NKJV). Because Jesus explains that by “sleep” He means “death,” He is clearly speaking about a resurrection. And yet, it doesn’t seem that anyone really takes Jesus’ meaning seriously until the miracle happens. In fact, Thomas is worried about the fact that they will all be killed if they go, not about the miracle that Jesus just proclaimed He will do. The word for “wake him up” is exupnizo and occurs in this one place only in all of the New Testament. It literally means “out of sleep.” Once again, the connection between sleep and death is visible. Jesus is referring to resurrecting Lazarus as the act of bringing him back out of sleep.
Interestingly, when Jesus arrives, both sisters say the same thing in different situations: “ ‘If You had been here, my brother would not have died’ ” (John 11:21, 32, NKJV). In Christ’s presence there is no room for death because He is the Source of life. Martha and Mary had seen Jesus heal the sick. They knew that He brought life. In other passages, we are told that it is “God who gives life to all things” (1 Tim. 6:13, NKJV; see also John 1:3, 4; Deut. 32:39; Neh. 9:6).
In the presence of God there is no death. Death didn’t come from God. It came on the scene with sin and evil when Satan decided to rebel against the loving and beautiful government of God, and unfortunately humans followed suit. Sin destroys and brings death. “Just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12, NKJV).
Jesus has a conversation with Martha first after He arrives in Bethany. When He tells her, “ ‘Your brother will rise again’ ” (John 11:23, NKJV), she responds with “ ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day’ ” (John 11:24, NKJV). She had an understanding of life after death, but her statement also makes it clear that she knew that Lazarus would not rise until “the last day.”
Martha would have heard about the resurrections of the widow’s son as well as Jairus’s daughter, but perhaps didn’t think that this miracle would ever be something Jesus could or would do for her. We can all sometimes get skeptical about the possibilities of God’s miracles happening in our own lives and think that miracles are only for others.
But Jesus had a plan to demonstrate to all that life comes through Him because He is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Jesus adds, “ ‘Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die’ ” (John 11:26, ESV). He emphasizes that ultimately, those who believe in Him will not experience the second death. Jesus can resurrect those whom He chooses now, and again in the future, “at the last day.”
When Jesus sees Mary and the Jews weeping, “he [is] deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33, NIV). The word for deeply moved is embrimaomai in Greek. Besides being deeply moved, it also means “to warn” or “to rebuke” and is used five times in the New Testament (Matt. 9:30; Mark 1:43; Mark 14:5; John 11:33, 38). The three times it appears before John 11, it is translated as “to scold or rebuke” or as a strict warning coming from Jesus. Thus, when Jesus reacts with embrimaomai (deep feeling) here, it is possible that this reaction also involves anger and displeasure because of sin and its results. Jesus would have been keenly aware of the fact that the suffering and death this world experiences are the result of sin. Christ’s knowledge and experience with evil and loss would have produced a mix of emotions that would be difficult to explain or even grasp. Besides being sad for His close friends who had just experienced a loss, Jesus was sad for all of humanity because of what sin does to us and how it affects our world.
When Jesus calls Lazarus to come forth, Lazarus walks out of the grave. Amazingly, all Jesus has to do is speak. Once again, just as in the Creation story, Jesus simply speaks, and life results. Just as Jesus created the sun and the moon, animals and humans, so here Jesus creates life again. Jesus resurrects and, therefore, re-creates. Sin and evil, in contrast, destroy—the opposite of creation. They destroy the beautiful and the good of God’s creation.
Yet, the gospel is the great news that Jesus died for us on the cross so that we may have eternal life. He was “raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20, NIV). It is because of His resurrection that all the rest—the resurrection of the righteous to eternal life—is possible.
When told that Lazarus was sick, Jesus told the disciples, “ ‘This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it’ ” (John 11:4, ESV). Although Lazarus did die, it was a temporary death (at least at that moment). Jesus was glorified through Lazarus’s death because everyone witnessed the power of Jesus to give life. Jesus defeated death on the cross. Consequently, He could resurrect others, even before His own sacrifice, because of the Cross. The Bible applies the sacrifice of the “Lamb” to the very beginning of life, as it proclaims the Lamb “slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). The blood of the Lamb made the resurrections possible.
Part III: Life Application
How much have you learned so far about the state of the dead? Write it out. Choose someone from your family or a friend to whom you can explain all that you have learned so far.
Why is it important to know the truth about death as sleep? If someone finds it difficult to imagine that their dead relative is not in heaven right now, how could you comfort them by letting them know that the dead rest, knowing nothing at all?
God is in the business of re-creating. Resurrection is a re-creating act of God. Although sin de-creates us, Jesus has a plan to re-create us through the resurrection. A few others were resurrected prior to His own resurrection because His death on the cross was applied prospectively. What does the fact that God re-creates mean to you?