John 11:25

Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this?

In this lies the full explanation of Jesus' words, "If a man keep my word, he shall never see death" (John 8:51). Such statements of Jesus never were intended to deny the necessity of physical death. This is one of the most beloved passages in all of the sacred Scriptures.

I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE

This is the opening sentence in the litany for the dead in the Book of Common Prayer; and its healing, comforting message has echoed over millions of graves, and as bodies were buried at sea, or wherever the bereaved have turned in sorrow from the unanswering faces of their beloved dead. This statement of Christ is the great inheritance of the human family.

I. Jesus' words here contrast a belief in a doctrine with a belief in himself. Martha found little comfort in the thought of a resurrection at the last day; but Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life." Without disparaging Christian doctrine in any sense, we may say that it is faith in a Person, even in Jesus, that makes all the difference.

II. This means Jesus is God in human form, a truth he promptly proved by raising Lazarus. Jesus had claimed Godhood as Light of the world, the Good Shepherd, the giver of eternal life, the door of the sheep, as existing before Abraham was born, and in numerous other ways. Here he appeared as Resurrection come in the flesh.

III. This means far more than an assertion of Jesus' power to raise Lazarus, extending to all the dead who ever lived (John 5::24-29). The "Come forth," shortly to be sounded over Lazarus' grave, is the same cry that shall awaken all the dead on earth.

IV. In this appears what is meant by "shall not see death." The Lord has not abolished physical death, but its significance, having made it a beginning instead of an end. As Hunter said, "The Christian will of course pay the last debt to nature; but, because of that saving link with Christ, the physical death he must one day experience loses all reality."[13]

Believest thou this ...? Jesus probed Martha's heart to bring out her faith; and her announcement of it was as great as any apostle's.