To rightly understand the concept of life in
these verses, we must first understand what is meant by death. Man
is a tripartite being for the Bible speaks of “your whole spirit,
and soul and body” (1 Thess. 5:23). Death is the separation of the
spirit and soul from the body and so we read “For as the body
without a spirit is dead” (James 2: 26) and “her soul was
departing—for she died” (Gen. 35: 18). This state of separation from
the body is described by Paul as “unclothed” (2 Cor. 5: 4), using
the figure of a garment for the body. The state of death is
described in the OT as Sheol and in the NT as Hades. When death is
spoken of in the Bible it is always in relation to a person or that
person’s body. Thus, we read of a “dead person” (Lev. 19: 28; 21: 1
etc.) or the person’s name (see Jud. 8: 33; 9: 55 etc.) or a “dead
body” (Num. 6: 6; 9: 6 etc.). The Bible speaks of dead bodies, but
you
never read of dead
souls or dead spirits in Scripture. Accordingly, resurrection is
always identified with the body (see Matt. 27: 52; 1 Cor. 15: 35,
44) or the person (see John 12: 1, 9). Correspondingly, resurrection
is never spoken of in relation to spirits or souls.
In John 11 the Lord declared that “Lazarus, our
friend, has fallen asleep, but I go that I may awaked him out of
sleep” (v11, my
emphasis) but He “spoke “of his death” (v13). This is the sort of
terminology used to describe death in both the OT and the NT (see
Deut. 31: 16; 2 Sam. 7: 12; 1 Kings 1: 21; Acts 7: 60; 13: 36;
etc.). In the NT believers are spoken of as “asleep
in Christ” or “fallen
asleep through Jesus”
(1 Cor. 15: 18, 1 Thess. 4: 14; my emphasis). The language is
figurative but figures in Scripture are both precise and accurate.
The only way that a person exits natural sleep is by being woken or
waking up. It is the same with the sleep of death. The only way in
which a person exits death is by resurrection. The psalmist could
say “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be
satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness” (Ps. 17: 15; see 1 John
3: 2). This resurrection from the grave is true for believer and
unbeliever alike, for as the Lord Himself said, “an hour is coming
in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall go
forth; those that have practised good, to resurrection of life, and
those that have done evil, to resurrection of judgment” (John 5: 28,
29).
Now in speaking to Martha about her dead
brother, the Lord said. “Thy brother shall rise again” (John 11:
23), causing Martha to respond with “I know that he will rise again
in the resurrection in the last day” (v24). What is the last day? It
is not the “day of eternity” (2 Pet. 3: 18). Scripture speaks of
just two ages. The first age is called “this age” (Matt. 12: 32; 1
Cor. 2: 8; Eph. 1: 21; see also Luke 20: 34; 1 Cor. 2: 6; where the
word world should be
age) or “the present age”
(1 Tim. 6: 17; 2 Tim. 4: 10). The second age is called “the coming
[one]” (Matt. 12: 32), “the coming age” (Mark 10: 30) and the age
“to come” (Eph. 1: 21). The age to come is called in John’s Gospel
“the last day” (John 6: 39, 40, 44, 54;11: 24; 12: 48).
This is the day Martha spoke of. She
rightly associated the resurrection of Lazarus as a believer with
the last day.
Let us now look at the verses in question. The
Lord said to Martha “I am the resurrection and the life: he that
believes on me though he have died, shall live, and every one who
lives and believes on me shall never die” (John 11: 25, 26). The
words resurrection and
life are both equally
identified with the Lord. Resurrection is thus the gateway to life
for all believers. Though he may “have died”, he is assured that he
“shall live” (v25). But where and when? In the unclothed state
before resurrection? No, for “shall live” is in the future tense. In
any case, how can life be identified with death? Death and life are
two opposite concepts. When then, will the dead believer live? He
will live when he has been raised by the Lord, for the Lord is “the
resurrection and the life”. Life here thus refers to a future life
in the age to come—the last day. But then, what about the other
statement on life: “every one who lives and believes on me shall
never die” (v26)? Were the verbs
lives and
believes in this
statement transposed, the term
lives might then be taken
to refer to spiritual life through believing on the Lord. However,
that is not so. Thus “shall never die” cannot refer to the “present
age” (1 Tim. 6: 17; 2 Tim. 4: 10) for unless the Lord returns, every
one of us will die, just as multitudes have done previously! Nor can
it refer to the unclothed state, for that is the state of death. It
can only refer to the age to come when believers raised by the Lord
will live,
never to die again.
In a word, they will have
eternal life.
