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Do You Believe
This?
Robert B. Strimple, Ph.D.
A devotion message delivered at WSCJust how good is the good news of the gospel which you believe?
Is it so good that, frankly, it seems at times almost too good
to believe? I would invite you to read again the account of the
raising of Jesus' friend Lazarus in John 11:17-45. As he himself tells us, John has not recorded all the signs
which Jesus performed in the presence of his disciples; but
those which he has recorded, he has written in order that we
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God – that by
believing we may have life in his name (John 20:31). That is
very clearly the purpose of this marvelous eleventh chapter, and
the reading of this account will not have achieved its proper
purpose unless it has produced in us a fresh response of faith,
of whole-souled commitment to him who declares himself to be the
Resurrection and the Life. The question which our Lord
addressed to Martha, he addresses now to us by the Spirit: “Do
you believe this?” John 11:26) May the Spirit enable each of us to answer as Martha did: “Yes,
Lord, I believe” – the Greek text tells us that she placed a
certain emphasis upon the personal pronoun – “I believe that you
are the Christ, the Son of God, the One Coming into the world”
(v. 27). How discerning Martha's reply is! Jesus has made that
unthinkable assertion - unthinkable on the lips of anyone but God
himself – “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” He then asks
her: “Do you believe this?” And Martha answers: “Yes, Lord; I
believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the Coming
One.” Martha had correctly viewed the Resurrection as the great
eschatological act of God. She knew that the resurrection would
take place “at the last day” (v. 24). But now the further truth
dawns upon her that here before her stands the great
eschatological act of God himself. Here is the Lord’s Christ,
who is himself Christ the Lord – the One promised to come into
the world and usher in a new world, a new age. Resurrection, the
gift of life – this is the Messiah's work. “Yes, Lord, I believe
that that life is available now, in you, for you are the Christ,
the Son of God, the One promised to come into the world.” But we have not only Jesus' authoritative testimony concerning
his life-giving power. We have as well the authoritative sign
that he worked. “Lazarus, come out!” And “he who had died came
out” (v. 44). You see, it is not simply, as certain contemporary theologians (Wolfhart
Pannenberg, for example) would have it, that what the disciples
experienced in fellowship with Jesus was so wonderful that they
could express it in no other way than in the language of their
Jewish eschatological expectation, as though they seized on
Resurrection From the Dead as a metaphor for an especially
meaningful emotional or spiritual experience. No! The plain
literal fact is that Jesus exercised resurrection power! And
thus he manifested himself in deed as well as in word as the
eschatological Redeemer. Now, it is true that “we do not yet see all things subjected to
him” (Hebrews 2:8). The last enemy has not yet been abolished (I
Corinthians 15:26). You and I live in that “not yet” in which we
must weep, even as our Lord himself wept in the face of death
and bereavement. Why do so many evangelical commentators seem so anxious to
explain away the Savior's tears? In our society a strong man is
not supposed to cry. Any sign of tears is, for example,
political suicide, as certain United States presidential
hopefuls, both male and female, have discovered in recent years.
But our being raised with Christ, and knowing all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly places in Christ, is not to breed a cold,
heartless triumphalism that is insensitive to earthly pain and
loss. Rudolf Bultmann makes the comment on this passage that physical
death becomes “unreal” for the believer. But it is not so. And
Jesus’ tears eloquently testify that it is not so. And as you
and I present the good news of Christ to sinful, suffering men
and women it must be with sensitivity and with genuine tears.
But never forget that by his atoning death on our behalf, and by
his triumphant Resurrection, our Lord has broken the power of
Satan and delivered us from fear. In the elective course, The Christian Confronts Modern
Atheism, is the reading and discussing of Albert Camus's
long philosophical essay, The Rebel. In his call for men
and women to rebel against the sufferings which this world
inflicts upon our fellowmen and to dedicate our lives to the
alleviation of those sufferings, Camus's philosophy is really very attractive. Especially when we think
of such a horror as the Nazi Holocaust, or of such a current
tragedy as the suffering and death right now in Third World
countries, Camus shaking his fist in the face of such evil and
saying “No!” is quite moving. And yet ultimately how pale, how
insipid, is Camus's “gospel” of what he calls “realistic
optimism.” Camus insists that over all the tragedies of human
history there stands “the invincible Mediterranean Sun,” symbol
of the constant human values of life and beauty and love and
justice and happiness. But if the Mediterranean Sun lights up the hopes and joys of
every generation, so too it reveals the death that brings every
generation to an end and snuffs out the hopes of every
individual. Camus calls his optimism “realistic” because it does
not extend beyond the grave. And thus his is a philosophy of
amelioration, not of salvation. As Camus has the hero in his
novel, The Plague, say at one point: “Salvation's much
too big a word for me. I don't aim so high.” But it is not too high or too wonderful for Jesus! The good news
of eternal resurrection life in Jesus is not too good to be
true. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself says: “I am the Resurrection
and the Life. He who believes in me will live, even though he
dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. DO
YOU BELIEVE THIS?”
Ó2006
Westminster Seminary California All rights reserved
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