Swindoll Study Bible - Book of John - Flipbook - Page 36
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you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice;
I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch
them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them
to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.* No
one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. 30 The
Father and I are one.”
31 Once again the people picked up stones to kill
him. 32 Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have
done many good works. For which one are you going
to stone me?”
33 They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any
good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man,
claim to be God.”
34 Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures* that God said to certain leaders of the people,
‘I say, you are gods!’* 35 And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ 36why do you
call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’?
After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into
the world. 37 Don’t believe me unless I carry out my
Father’s work. 38 But if I do his work, believe in the
evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if
you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”
39 Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got
away and left them. 40 He went beyond the Jordan
River near the place where John was first baptizing
and stayed there awhile. 41 And many followed him.
“John didn’t perform miraculous signs,” they remarked to one another, “but everything he said about
this man has come true.” 42 And many who were there
believed in Jesus.
The Raising of Lazarus
11
A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in
Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha.
2 This is the Mary who later poured the expensive
perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her
hair.* Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So the two
J ohn 1 1 : 2 5
sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your
dear friend is very sick.”
4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s
sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the
glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory
from this.” 5 So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and
Lazar us, 6 he stayed where he was for the next two days.
7 Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said,
“only a few days ago the people* in Judea were trying
to stone you. Are you going there again?”
9 Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight
every day. During the day people can walk safely. They
can see because they have the light of this world. 10But
at night there is danger of stumbling because they
have no light.” 11 Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus
has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”
12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will
soon get better!” 13 They thought Jesus meant Laza
rus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus
had died.
14 So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And
for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will
really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”
16 Thomas, nicknamed the Twin,* said to his fellow
disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”
17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that
Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days.
18 Bethany was only a few miles* down the road from
Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to
console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet
him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to
Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother
would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God
will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone
else rises, at the last day.”
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the
life.* Anyone who believes in me will live, even after
10:29 Other manuscripts read for what my Father has given me is more powerful than anything; still others read for regarding that which my Father has given me, he is
greater than all. 10:34a Greek your own law. 10:34b Ps 82:6. 11:2 This incident is recorded in chapter 12. 11:8 Greek Jewish people; also in 11:19, 31, 33, 36, 45, 54.
11:16 Greek Thomas, who was called Didymus. 11:18 Greek was about 15 stadia [about 2.8 kilometers]. 11:25 Some manuscripts do not include and the life.
with the Father. He is the Lord of eternity. He is the Lord
of the vanishing point of the past. He is the Lord of divine
decrees. He is the Deity who has become humanity. The
little lips that Mary kissed in the manger at Bethlehem
were the very lips that once formed the words of Creation.
The precious life that she held in her hands as she looked
into those eyes was a life that bore the nature of eternity
past. It was God Himself in infant form.
REFLECTIVE THOMAS John 11:16 Perhaps you have
heard the phrase “doubting Thomas.” Aren’t you glad you
don’t have that adjective attached to your name?
I think it would be better to call him “reflective Thomas.”
He was a disciple who didn’t stop thinking. He was a
disciple who had the guts to question, to raise his hand
and say to the Teacher, “Wait. I don’t quite understand. That
doesn’t make sense to me.” It was Thomas who understood
what going to Bethany, so near Jerusalem, might mean for
them all. But he knew they had to go just the same.
I call Thomas’s kind of honesty not only candid and
adventurous but also courageous. I would love to see
the ranks of Christianity filled with more courageous
believers—gutsy enough to admit their struggles, to weep
when sorrowful, to confess times of doubt in the valley,
and to declare when confronted with truth, “I can’t see it
quite that clearly, but this doesn’t destroy my faith.”
LIVING INSIGHTS
ONE WITH THE FATHER John 10:30 Jesus is one
