John 11:4 Commentary and Bible Study

Christ gives a number of intimations in the chapter that he would heal Lazarus, and here we see the first. ‘When Jesus heard that …’, in other words the messengers are still there. This was not something he said later when the messengers from Mary and Martha had returned to Bethany. So the messengers were told this and no doubt, the disciples heard him say it also. ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.’ Of course he would die eventually, but not yet, the Saviour means. That is to say, he will not yet die; he will be restored, but this is all in order. He has only been taken sick; he has only died, for the time being, in order that the Son of Man might be glorified, and his work and his resurrection known. Now you would think that the disciples who had followed him for so long – this only takes place about two months before Calvary, so Christ has been with the disciples approaching three years. They had seen his miracles. They believe he is the Messiah. You would think they would understand from these words that something wonderful is going to happen, that he is going to raise Lazarus from the dead. It is a very strong intimation. And the messengers would take this home or back to Bethany, to Mary and Martha. ‘This sickness is not unto death.’ But as far as they all knew, Lazarus was still alive at this juncture. ‘This sickness is not unto death.’ He is shortly going to die, those who return home will join the others in mourning him. But this will ring in their ears – ‘This sickness is not unto death.’ Surely the Lord is going to do something.‘But for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.’ He is going to do something. He is surely going to raise him from the dead. This is going to be for the special authentication and glory of the Son of God, of Christ. The words are plain. For believers, they should not be difficult. For the disciples, they should not have been difficult. The intimation should carried tremendous weight. They should have been filled with anticipation and full of excitement about it. He is going to heal him and raise him if he dies.‘For the glory of God.’ For the glory of God. We read about this in verse 40 when, much later on, Jesus says to Martha, ‘Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou should see the glory of God?’ There it is again, the glory of God. That is the message those messengers had taken back to Bethany, and the sisters had received this message.