“I Am The Resurrection And The Life”

“I Am The Resurrection And The Life”
“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
Our hearts were broken and our spirits were heavy. The doctor had explained that our youngest daughter, Akaisha (fourteen months old), had a very large mass inside of her and needed to be taken to a larger hospital. Although it seemed like the longest trip of our lives, within a few hours we arrived at Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem, North Carolina, where the surgeon confirmed what we had already heard.
No surgery would be performed until her temperature was lowered. While we waited, my wife and I could hardly eat or sleep. I know I’m not Mary or Martha and I wasn’t in Bethany, but in the night the phrase, “I am the resurrection and the life,” became a word from God to me. The surgery was successful, and to make a long story short, Akaisha (our little Lazarus), is now fifteen years old and doing fine.
The declaration, “I am the resurrection, and the life,” is the fifth of the “I Am” statements of Jesus in this fourth Gospel. Originally spoken to Martha in the hour of her sorrow over her brother’s death, the sufficiency of Jesus is wonderfully set forth. Perhaps the Holy Spirit will make this word a word of hope for some heart that is heavy over the death of a loved one or the death of something special in his or her life.
This title teaches that the Lord Jesus is the Person of life! The strange name, “I Am,” finds its roots in an Old Testament revelation of God. Indicating that He always had been, was, and would always be sufficient, the Lord said to Moses from the burning bush, “I AM THAT I AM.” In our New Testament text, Jesus revealed that He is the great “I Am,” the Person of life, the Sufficient One in every situation.
This title teaches that the Lord Jesus is the power of life! Not only did Jesus say, “I Am,” but He said, “I am the resurrection.” Martha believed that there would be a resurrection “at the last day” and that Lazarus would “rise again” (11:24), but Jesus revealed Himself to her as the “resurrection” in her dark day. He alone has the power to bring life out of death, hope out of despair, a future out of an unpromising situation.
This title teaches that the Lord Jesus is the principle of life! Jesus didn’t just profess to be the “resurrection.” He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” As the “resurrection,” He raised Lazarus from the dead, or got him up. As the “life,” He sustained him with life, or kept him up. The “Christ, Who is our life” (Col. 3:4), wants to live His life through us. May our lives be channels that reveal His life!

Brother in Christ.

'May our lives be channels that reveal His life!'

May they indeed be that, for God glory alone.

God bless.

“I Am The Door”
“I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find
pasture” (John 10:9).
Years ago, while preaching in Kansas, I visited a small tourist attraction in Lucas, Kansas,
called “The Garden of Eden.” In 1905, Samuel P. Dinsmoor, a Civil War veteran, decided to
construct his house and everything on his property of concrete. The giant gate, made of trees of
concrete 40 feet tall, bears the title, “The Garden of Eden,” and features his version of Adam and
Eve, along with many other bizarre images.
The house in which Dinsmoor and his family lived, a so-called log cabin, is also made of
sculpted concrete logs, some up to 21 feet long. Each door in the house is uniquely different in its
appearance and in its size. Yes, for those who are interested, Dinsmoor was even mummified and
buried in a large concrete mausoleum in the yard, and may be viewed through his glass-topped
concrete coffin.
In John Chapter 10, the Lord Jesus likened Himself to the door of a sheepfold. In fact, two
times Jesus made this third “I Am” statement in John’s record: “I am the door” (10:7, 9). Jesus
made it clear that there are not ten different doors, all different in appearance and size, in the
kingdom of God. Jesus is the one and only Door given to men. With that in the forefront of our
thinking, let’s examine this special revelation.
Jesus is the one and only Door of salvation! Earlier in this Gospel, the Lord Jesus said, “For
God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might
be saved” (3:17). Now He boldly asserts, “By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” Not only
is the Door wide enough for “any man” to “enter in,” but also (and there’s no doubt about it!),
every one who truly enters in “shall” be saved.
Jesus is the one and only Door of service! The words “in and out” in the phrase, “shall go in
and out,” are terms of representative service. The priests, for instance, in representing the people
before the Lord, went in and out of the holy place. As Saul’s representative, David “went out and
came in before the people” (1 Sam. 18:13). To know and experience Jesus affords us more
opportunities to represent Him than we can accomplish in a lifetime.
Jesus is the one and only Door of satisfaction! Jesus promised that those who enter in to
spiritual realities through Him will “find pasture.” That is, they will be satisfied; they will be
fulfilled. While the unbelievers of this world seek for fulfillment in everything but Jesus, the
believers in this world find fulfillment in nothing but Jesus! The majority of Noah’s generation
refused to enter the one door of the ark. Dear friend, make sure you get in the Door!