02/11/2022 – Gospel of John – Chapter 11 commentary: “Jesus Raises Lazurus from the Dead.”
For the past two years, I use four separate commentaries where I rarely go more than a week or two without touching every single one of them. In this chapter: My first go to is Halley’s Bible Handbook’s summary of the chapter verbatim:
“Probably about a month before his own death. It was his third raising of the dead: Jairus daughter (Mark 5: 21 – 43), the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7: 11-17) and Lazarus, climaxed by His own, nevermore to die. The miracle brought the Sanhedrin to the final decision to kill Jesus (53). Jesus therefor retired to the wilderness of Ephraim, about 12 miles north of Jerusalem, to await, in quiet with the Twelve, the Passover.”
Verses 35 – 36: “Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ Indeed, it is amazing that he wept, knowing that he was going raise Lazurus from the death in the matter of just a few minutes.
Verse 46: The fear of the Lord comes over me with such a grievous sin against the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine witnessing the miracles right in front of you, and then turning right around and reporting this to the Pharisees, no doubt trying to harm if not kill Jesus? But the verse tells us that some, more than one, did just that.
Verses 47 – 53: Matthew Henry notes in his commentary:
“Caiaphas makes a malicious but mystical speech in the council… That some way or other must be found out to put Jesus to death. Caiphas does not say, Let him be silence , but die he must.” The pompous tone in his address is front and center, that all should immediately fall into line with his evil and twisted premise. But in an ironic twist comparing the evil world contrast to the heavenly reality, there was a similar sentiment amongst the Truine God: Father , Son and Holy Spirit, that they would take on the suffering so that death would be conquered for sinners. (“one” to suffer instead of all) Here is John Gill’s commentary on vs. 50:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/john-11-50.html
Soli Deo Gloria indeed!