John 11:25, commentary and pictures

Jesus spoke these words to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus to turn her thoughts from the immediate sorrow to himself and to strengthen her faith for the resurrection of the just at the last day. They carry a double meaning, pointing both to the raising of Lazarus then and there and to the general resurrection of all the righteous, with Lazarus raised as its representation, pledge and crowning evidence. He himself is the resurrection and the life, the source and author of all life and vitality, having life in himself as original, unborrowed, underived and self-existent, with right and power to lay down his life, take it again, and give eternal life to whomever he wills. Whoever believes in him, though dead, shall live, and whoever lives and believes shall never die in the ultimate sense, for because he lives they shall live also, united with him so that his life is in them. This promise will be fulfilled at his second coming at the last day when the last trumpet sounds, when as Lifegiver he will open the prison houses of death, raise the righteous dead incorruptible to glorious immortality, and translate the living righteous without seeing death.

Setting at Lazarus's Tomb

Jesus spoke these words to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus to turn her thoughts away from a distant event to himself and to strengthen her faith in his power. He was pointing her past the immediate raising that stood before her to the resurrection of the just at the last day. In declaring himself the resurrection and the life he declared himself the Author of resurrection with right and power to give eternal life, standing even while soon to die on the cross as conqueror of the grave holding the keys of death. Whoever believes in him, though dead, shall live again.

The words carry a double meaning, referring both to the immediate raising of Lazarus and to the general resurrection of all the righteous. The raising of Lazarus is a representation, pledge and crowning evidence of that final resurrection. His divinity is the believer's assurance of eternal life, for life in him is original, unborrowed and underived. The promise looks forward to the second coming, when the righteous dead will be raised incorruptible and the living righteous will be translated without seeing death. Lazarus believed Jesus to be the Way, the Truth and the Life, and his restoration demonstrated Jesus' power over death and led many to believe.

Jesus deliberately delayed going to Bethany and allowed Lazarus to die and lie four days in the tomb before he called him forth. The delay did not mean he loved the sisters less, but their grief and trial would make their faith shine more powerfully and the greater victory would benefit them, Lazarus, Christ and his disciples. The death was permitted so that the resurrection would give the Jews crowning evidence that Jesus is the Son of God, sent for the salvation of humanity. Those who accepted the evidence believed and glorified God, while those who rejected such decisive proof hardened themselves in unbelief. The rulers who witnessed the miracle afterward feared that Jesus himself would rise from the tomb.

He who could not witness suffering or death without opposing Satan's power knew in raising Lazarus that he would pay the ransom for that life on the cross. Each rescue he wrought pointed to the greater cost he would bear, for he gave himself for all who would return to loyalty to God, though not everyone laid low in death would be saved. At his return his voice will again call the dead in Christ from their tombs to glorious, immortal life to be with the Lord forever. At the grave he exercised the same compassionate power by which he healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, fed the hungry and comforted the sorrowful.

He wept in sympathy for the bereaved, and his tears came not from grief for Lazarus whom he was about to raise but from sorrow over those who would soon plot the death of the one who gives life, and over the wider suffering, sin and death of humanity. His bringing a dead brother from the grave filled the sisters with great joy beyond what they asked or imagined, showing his sympathy remains present. Because he had given life to the dead, his mother later hoped he would work a miracle to save himself from crucifixion, and seeing him nailed to the cross filled her with grief and tested her faith that he was the true Messiah.

Lazarus himself had no experience or story to report from the time he was dead, because the dead know nothing. His testimony began after Christ raised him, that he was made alive again through Christ's work as a witness to divine power and to Christ's identity as the Son of God. His raising, like the raising of the widow of Nain's son and Jairus's daughter during the ministry, left him still subject to death and decay and not clothed with immortality. Unlike them, the faithful saints whose graves were rent at Christ's death and whom he summoned from the grave were redeemed from Satan to die and sorrow no more, raised to everlasting life as firstfruits, trophies and samples of the final resurrection.

Christ Himself Is Life

Jesus himself is the resurrection and the life, the source and author of resurrection, life and all vitality, with right and power to give eternal life. Even while soon to die on the cross he stands as conqueror of the grave holding the keys of death. His resurrection from the tomb proclaims that he is the life of those who faithfully represent him, and salvation is made possible through his death and resurrection.

Life in him is original, unborrowed, underived and self-existent. In his divinity he has life in himself, with power to lay down his life and take it again and power to give life to whomever he wills, which no mere creature could claim. Through him the way of repentance and faith is made plain, and the one who believes on him shall live though dead. His resurrection as firstfruits is the pledge that the righteous dead will also be raised. In him the life lost through sin is restored, for he took up again the life he laid down and gives abundant and everlasting life.

Such words can be spoken only by God, who alone has immortality and dwells in light and life. All created beings, however able, talented and capable, live only as dependent recipients replenished from the Son as spring and fountain from whom every human being takes life. Life and knowledge of immortality are not inherited but are received through Christ, who alone has immortality. His words illuminate the present life of pilgrims and strangers with hope and reveal God's goodness, mercy, grace, and the principles and purposes of divine service. Because he has power when the last trump sounds to raise his saints, clothe them with immortality and give everlasting victory over death and the grave, he is able now to keep committed souls and deliver present perplexities, reading the heart, receiving and forgiving everyone who comes, promising help, peace and rest to all who take his yoke and learn meekness and lowliness from him.

In proclaiming this he spoke as one with God, possessing divine and human natures blended, with a human body and divine body. Humanity died but deity did not die, and in his divinity he possessed power to break the bonds of death. Everyone who loses life here will rise again and see the King in his beauty. The marks of crucifixion will remain visible in his hands as bright beams when he reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Proclaimed Over Empty Tomb

The words were proclaimed in triumph over Joseph's rent, opened tomb when Jesus burst the fetters of the tomb and rose. Having lain three days and remained the allotted time, He came forth in fulfillment of His promise to raise the temple of His body, proving death could not hold Him. His coming forth showed His triumph over death and fulfilled the declaration that He Himself brings resurrection and life. All power in heaven and in earth is vested in Him, and by that power the righteous will also come forth from the tomb free in Jesus, accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, when they shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. By passing through death He consecrated the grave so His presence makes the grave holy, and as the Way, the Truth, and the Life the footsteps of His cross-bearing life testify to His character.

At His rising in supreme dignity the words were distinctly heard by the Roman guard and the whole host of Satan, and are understood by those who hear in faith. The angel rolled away the stone and the heavenly host waited to welcome the Prince of life, while the Roman guards witnessed the event but could not prevent it. His resurrection is evidence for all who are willing to believe, and His power gives believers strength to resist temptation while the devil remains in the world. The disciples afterward bore witness to these words in Jerusalem, testifying that Jesus had risen and that they had seen Him after His resurrection and ascension. Their testimony answered false reports that sought to deny that His resurrection had occurred, and was carried by visitors from many nations to their homes.

His rising vindicated His claim to be the only begotten of the Father after men in unbelief and prejudice denied Him, charged Him with blasphemy, and condemned Him to a cruel death. His resurrection substantiates His claim to be the Redeemer, with power to give life beyond death. It fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies of His death and rising, proving that God's word is immutable. After remaining in the grave the allotted period and then taking up His life again, He proved He did not go to heaven directly at His death. The declaration remains in force because He now stands in the heavenly courts as High Priest and Advocate, and by faith His mediation secures all things, for God's giving of Jesus gave all heaven and secured adoption into God's family, and every promise is Yes and Amen in Christ, never falsified and never altered.

His resurrection also proved His character was wholly sinless, for had even one sin tainted Him He would not have risen and the guilty world would have perished under its guilt. If one single sin had tainted Him the stone would never have moved, but though the serpent bruised His heel death could not hold Him. His coming forth as triumphant, majestic conqueror walking out of Joseph's rocky tomb after the stone was rolled away fulfilled the penalty of the law through obedience unto death. That victory makes eternal life possible for every sinner through repentance and faith in Him as Redeemer, giving every believer lively hope and cause to rejoice.

He is therefore not dead in Joseph's tomb but a living Savior, and He loves humanity with infinite love. He was not left in Joseph's new tomb but came forth by life from heaven and proclaimed His victory over death. After dying on the cross He was raised from the dead and proclaimed this over the opened tomb, establishing Him as the living Saviour. Though the world would not receive Him but rejected and crucified Him, He as Life and Light of the world is known by believers as precious Saviour who declared Himself to be the resurrection and the life over Joseph's rent tomb. His life is a quickening power in the lives of those who appropriate Him to themselves, and believers are to manifest to the world that they know they have this risen Lord, trusting Him by living faith rather than acting as though He were dead. He is a living, risen Saviour and Intercessor, not a dead memory to be sought by visiting earthly Jerusalem, which is defiled and under a curse; His footprints are better traced in prophecy and His presence found by the Holy Spirit, with hope fixed on the cleansed New Jerusalem.

Promise to Who Believes

Whoever believes in him will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in him will never die in the ultimate sense, never become extinct. Death does not end their life or hope, for because he lives they shall live also. He is the source of resurrection and life, and his own resurrection makes the assurance certain, while his living agency sustains believers with the promise of life and immortality, even being the spiritual life of the faithful husband taken in death. The promise is joined to everlasting life and to the raising of believers at the last day, and it comforts through the hope of resurrection. Life is imparted through his righteousness, in contrast to the death pronounced because of Adam's sin.

Believers are united with him so that his life is in them, for he became one in flesh with humanity that humanity might become one in spirit and life with him. All who are one with him through faith by the agency of his Holy Spirit are carried through the experience that is life unto eternal life, and by virtue of this union in obedience to his word, his life in raising the dead becomes their life. This union is pictured as eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, which is his life, and as sharing his divine nature, and it makes it impossible for those who believe to die eternally. A believer may die as he died, but the Saviour's life is in him and his life is hid with God, and he has pledged to raise them at the last day as a part of himself. By obedience and doing the living principles of the law believers are made partakers of the divine nature and one with him in this present life and in life eternal.

To the penitent he is both resurrection and life, while to the impenitent he is resurrection only. The resurrection and life that he is stands free for people to take, but it is not received by those who continue to transgress. It is received during this probation, given to see who will obey his commandments, by those who return to loyalty through the way his death made, that they may have right to the tree of life and enter through the gates into the city. He paid the penalty for sin and became the debtor's surety, so through his merits people may be accepted by God without the law being changed. Acceptance through him involves accepting the obligation to obey the law and being renewed in mind.

He was as much the Saviour of Abraham and the patriarchs and prophets as of believers now, and there was and is no hope for anyone except by believing in him, so he is their joy and hope. By breaking the fetters of the tomb he paved the way for everyone who believes to do the same and come up in the morning of the resurrection. He is the Life Giver and the resurrection of both soul and body, giving hope at the edge of the grave that those who sleep in Jesus will be brought from their graves, with his light reaching beyond death, an assurance that comforts and leaves the dying unafraid. The thief on the cross will enter paradise when he arises from the dead with other believers. His death did not weaken his power to forgive or save, but his death itself held life-giving power for those who believe in him.

His proclamation answers whether the dead can live again, for by breaking the power of the tomb and rising from the dead he gives eternal life to those who believe. He has power to break Satan's hold and make the dead live again and release them from Satan's hold. By raising Moses he testified that he is the resurrection and the life and can ransom those held by Satan. Moses, though subject to death and meriting death because of his sin, was raised and entered heaven holding his title to life in the name of Jesus his Head.

Hope of Final Resurrection

The promise will be fulfilled at the second coming, at the last day when the last trumpet sounds. As Lifegiver he will then open the prison houses of death and break the fetters of the tomb, and those who have fallen asleep in him will come forth to glorious immortality. The righteous dead will be raised incorruptible, and the living righteous will be taken to heaven without seeing death. Whoever believes in him will live even after death, and whoever lives and believes in him will never die in the ultimate sense, because he himself is the source of resurrection and life. Though buried, he rose on the third day and declared his victory over the grave, having entered the tomb so that man can pass through the tomb and rise with resurrection life. Those who die in Christ after living in obedience to his commandments and honoring their Creator will be raised to immortality when he comes to call his people to himself. They will awake with the pangs of death gone, stand as a risen host, receive the finishing touch of immortality, go up to meet their Lord in the air, and enter through the gates of the City as the nations that have kept the truth, welcomed by Christ with his benediction. The One who will do this can also preserve those committed to him and deliver them in their present troubles. Lazarus's raising foreshadowed this resurrection of all the righteous dead, and though soon to die on the cross Christ had authority over death and the grave and power to give eternal life, possessing life in himself, original, unborrowed and underived.

At his own resurrection he led forth a multitude of captives from their graves and made manifest to unfallen worlds that he had passed through the last act of suffering in the controversy with satanic agencies. His coming forth from Joseph's sepulchre and his proclamation over its rent, opened tomb resounded as a death knell through Satan's regions, announcing victory over the prince of this world and the powers of hell. By that proclamation he summoned the faithful saints whose graves were rent at his death, who at cost of their lives had borne unflinching testimony for truth. He redeemed them from Satan so they are no longer his captives, quickened them as trophies of his victory over death and the grave, and brought them as firstfruits of his power to be with him where he is, never more to see death or experience sorrow. Unlike the son of the widow of Nain and Jairus's daughter and Lazarus, whom he raised during his ministry but who were not clothed with immortality and remained subject to death and decay, those raised at his resurrection were raised to everlasting life to die and sorrow no more. They went into the city and appeared to many declaring that Christ has risen and we are risen with him, giving undeniable evidence of his resurrection and contradicting the claim that his body had been stolen. They were presented as trophies to the heavenly universe, as samples and a symbol of the final resurrection of all who receive and believe in him as personal Saviour. With hands outstretched in blessing he ascended with great honor to his appointed place, received by rejoicing cherubim and seraphim and escorted by the chariots of God, twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, to his home and dominion, leading the multitude of raised captives to join the armies of heaven, where before the heavenly universe he was enthroned as gracious High Priest and mighty Redeemer. He thus brought life and immortality to light and made a bright clear pathway from earth to heaven that those who receive him should follow where he leads the way.

All who are in their graves will hear his voice and come forth, the righteous who did good in the first resurrection and the wicked who did evil in the second resurrection after the thousand years are finished. Those whose life is hid with Christ in God and who strive to enter the strait gate will have part in the first resurrection, appear with Christ in glory when he appears, and the second death will have no power over them. His coming forth proves his wholly sinless character, for if one single sin had tainted him the stone would never have moved and the guilty world would have perished, but though the serpent bruised his heel death could not hold him. His victory fulfilled the penalty of the law through obedience unto death and makes eternal life possible for every sinner through repentance and faith in him as Redeemer, giving every believer lively hope and cause to rejoice.

By passing through death he consecrated the grave so his presence makes it holy and sacred, brightening the tomb for those who die in faith. He is resurrection and life itself, the source of all vitality and the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the footsteps of his cross-bearing life testify to his character. Because he bore sin's penalty, broke the power of the tomb, conquered death and rose, death does not end the hope of life but he has secured eternal life for everyone who believes in him. At the last great day, at his call with the sound of the trumpet and the voice of God, even the persecuted Waldenses who were cast from the precipice or buried in caverns, dungeons and wells will come forth.

His resurrection as firstfruits is the pledge that the righteous dead will also be raised. Such a claim could be made only by one who is divine and one with God, for all created beings depend on God for life, but Christ in his divinity has power to lay down his life and take it again and to break the bonds of death. That same power that raised Christ will raise his church and glorify it with Christ as his bride above all principalities, above all powers, above every name that is named, not only in this world but in the heavenly courts above.

Redemption Through Death Conquered

He bore the penalty of sin as substitute and surety, giving his life a ransom for many as the Good Shepherd laying down his life for the sheep. He suffered death, the punishment due to transgressors of the law, to maintain the righteousness of God and to uphold his law as holy and just and good. By bearing the guilt of the sins of the world he made sin appear exceeding sinful and maintained the honor and majesty of divine authority, magnifying the law of God's government by the death of God's only begotten Son. This sufficiency is found in his incarnation and death alone, in which he voluntarily divested his glory to assume suffering human nature, beheld by the whole heavenly universe, sustained by divinity and without one taint of disloyalty or sin, triumphing in man's behalf under just punishment to secure eternal life while exalting the law and making it honorable. Those who believe in him and do works of righteousness receive through him justification, sanctification, and eternal life, accepted by God without the law being changed, under obligation to obey and be renewed in mind.

By his death and rising he broke the power of death, overcame death, and destroyed him who had the power of death. He bruised the serpent's head and deprived him of all power ever to sting men again. His rising and coming forth from the tomb was a death knell resounding through the regions of Satan, announcing victory over the prince of this world and the powers of hell and making manifest to unfallen worlds that he had passed through the last act of suffering in the controversy with satanic agencies. That triumph showed Satan's power would end and secured the final death of sin's originator, for he passed through agonizing death to defeat death, gave his life that people might have life, and rose proclaiming victory.

His death is where type met antitype in the death of God's Son, and his rising proves his power to give resurrection and life. It fulfilled God's plan announced after the Fall to give the Son as ransom for the fallen world, the great center of attention through all ages and the fulfillment of God's plan of redemption begun after the fall. The glory of the prophecies spoken by patriarchs and prophets shines on that pathway, and those on whom the accumulated light of centuries is shining are to bear still more signal witness to the power of truth. With his sending of his Spirit to bring all things to remembrance and his miraculous preservation of his written Word through the ages, there is reason to make that Word constant study to learn God's purpose.

Through Adam's transgression humanity lost life and immortality and opened the floodgates of woe, but in him the life lost through sin is restored. He has life in himself with right to give immortality, took up again the life he laid down after laying it down, broke the tomb's power, and brought life and immortality to light. He made a bright clear pathway from earth to heaven and opened the gates of the tomb and the gates of eternal life to all who receive him as personal Saviour, Redeemer and Sin-bearer, giving abundant life and everlasting life with mercy and pardon. He paid the price for every person and is able to save all who accept him, defeating Satan's purpose to exterminate the race God created and giving power to become partakers of the divine nature.

He died the death of every man, not because he was compelled but by his own will suffering the death penalty, clothed divinity with humanity and suffering in man's stead. He was buried in Joseph's tomb, rose, and ascended escorted by angels to the city of God to take his place as Advocate in the heavenly courts to give all who believe entrance there. His death itself holds life-giving power for those who believe, and did not weaken his power to forgive or save.

Present Newness and Healing

The declaration that Christ is the resurrection and the life grounds the hope that one who dies to the world can rise to new life in Him. In baptism the forgiven sinner professes to be dead to the world and is buried in the watery grave in likeness of His death. Raised from the water in likeness of His resurrection, the believer rises as a new creature with life hidden with Christ in God. As He rose from the grave never to lie there again, so those raised with Him are to live a new life until finally welcomed into God's city, pledging before Father, Son and Holy Spirit to do His will.

He will raise the dead from their graves, and He now restores those spiritually dead in sin. His power transforms and renews human minds, bringing sinners to hear His voice and come forth from sin to forgiveness and new life. By faith in Him a person changes from guilt and disobedience, which lead to death, to obedience and loyalty, serving God rather than self, for the life received through His victory belongs to Him. Those who entrust themselves to Him receive rest and peace amid suffering and relief from mental anguish, for He came not only to raise the dead but to heal the sick and take away sin.

He is the Restorer, opposite Satan the destroyer, and His work of healing every kind of disease is without equal. Relief from suffering and death is found by coming in faith to Him as the divine Healer rather than looking to every other source, and those who believe receive restoration to health and see the salvation of God. Believing on Him as the risen Saviour brings reviving, life-giving spiritual energy flowing in full rich streams to the people through workers linked to God in divine connection. Unbelief is the barrier that stops this deep moving of the Spirit and manifestation of power in healing the sick.

Physicians can try to prolong life, but Christ is the one who gives life and accomplishes what they can only attempt. He passed through agonizing death to destroy the power of death, gave His life that people might have life, then rose from the tomb proclaiming His victory, making life possible for humanity. He is truth and life itself, the source of all vitality, the One who gives physicians their reason and intelligence, who applies the Balm of Gilead as great Restorer and Giver of life and eternal life, God over all. He is the Mighty Healer and Physician-in-chief, and all physicians are under one Master, to work under His authority for body and soul, copying His example and recognizing His claim as the world's Redeemer, watching for souls while with professional skill healing the bodies of the suffering sick.

Risen, He burst the fetters of the tomb after lying three days and in triumph proclaimed this truth over the rent sepulcher, proving in His own resurrection that He Himself is resurrection and life. He died to prove His love, rose again and ascended on high, and now stands before the Father as Advocate pleading the believer's case for pardon. He ever lives to make intercession as High Priest entered within the veil and Advocate in heaven, so that death does not end the life of those who believe in Him. His living secures their living, fitting His disciples for every work and trial, giving a firm anchor amid clouds and storms, with faith piercing Satan's dark shadow to see the distant land and find peace, hope and courage in what God has revealed about heavenly attractions and the reward. He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men, claiming pardon by His atonement for backsliders, the rebellious and sinners who come by faith, presenting His own blood and merits before the mercy seat.

The same Christ who was crucified came forth from the grave as the resurrection and the life, and His resurrection is the foundation of the Christian church, while His life verifies the written Word. Through the merits of the crucified and risen Christ believers may receive His righteousness and power to keep God's law. The risen Saviour's merits and power to save make a way for people to be sanctified to God, with salvation joined to keeping God's commandments and living. His resurrection proves the fullness of His power to save souls from sin, to make man one with God, and to encircle the world with grace through His church, drawing men, women and children to the cross.

Comfort for Daily Living

The promise is spoken at a believer's grave as comfort in the face of death, for Jesus is the source of resurrection and life and those who believe in him will live even after death. In the solemn moment of death he himself draws near, unseen by mortal vision, when sin strives for mastery, guilt burdens the conscience, unbelief clouds the soul, and eye grows dim, pulse feeble, heart failing and life forces weaken in converse with eternal realities. Then as Angel of peace he speaks promise and hope and courage and peace, assuring the soul that he is the resurrection and the life, the precious Saviour who is all and in all, its life and consolation and only hope against discouragement, disappointment and death. He sends ministering angels with the water of life, and those who fall asleep with hope in him will awake with the pangs of death gone, stand as a risen host, receive the finishing touch of immortality, go up to meet the Lord in the air, and enter through the gates of the City as the nations that have kept the truth, welcomed by his benediction. He is the Lifegiver who will soon break the fetters of the tomb and bring forth the captives, the Life Giver and resurrection of both soul and body whose light reaches beyond death, so that those who sleep in Jesus will be brought from their graves.

Because he did not remain in Joseph's tomb but rose and lives forevermore, sorrowing and burdened people are to bring troubles, sorrows, difficulties and helpless souls directly to him rather than to human beings. His loving compassion and all-sufficient power receive, strengthen, comfort and heal every malady and do far beyond asking or thinking for those who turn to him with their sorrows. His own resurrection and life guarantee life to believers, for his living secures their living, and though death claims them they will live through him by a living Savior who forgives those who come confessing sins and calls them to leave sin and live in peace. Faith is therefore to pierce through Satan's dark shadow and center on Jesus as High Priest entered within the veil, a firm anchor amid clouds and storms with assurance of victory, letting the eye of faith see the distant land and find peace, hope and courage in what God has revealed about heavenly attractions and the reward. Connection with him is shown by living and working as fruitful branches of the living vine, with praise rather than complaining, for he remains with his followers and helps them at every step.

His victory gives believers hope and strength to remain faithful despite Satan's efforts to darken their path, and encourages confidence in him amid darkness and unbelief. Faith in him is living faith in the living Savior rather than emotion, grounded in God's living Word, leading believers to receive and practice his words and to take in and live out his principles. Those who so receive and practice have eternal life in him, and the claim proclaimed at Joseph's opened tomb calls doubters to trust him and come out of unbelief.

After rising from the dead he proclaimed his victory over the sepulcher, and the risen Christ becomes the believer's life; when he becomes the life of the soul a real change takes place that words cannot describe. He must be the soul's very life, as blood is the body's life, for knowledge, influence and power are worthless without his character. He rose from the tomb and is a living Savior, a personal Savior whose power to save and help is ground for trust and rejoicing, whose life is a quickening power in the lives of those who appropriate him to themselves. Believers are therefore to manifest to the world that they know they have this risen Lord, speaking of him with hope and thanksgiving and encouraging others to trust in him and pointing them to him.

Over Joseph's empty tomb his victory over death declares that the Christian's life is bound up with his life; the person who gives himself to Christ belongs to him and is to use every power, possession and part of life in his service, revealing his character. The life received through his victory belongs to him, so by faith a person follows God's will and changes from guilt and disobedience, which lead to death, to obedience and loyalty, serving God rather than self. Those who believe in him and do works of righteousness receive justification, sanctification and eternal life after he bore the death penalty for human sin as substitute and surety and rose from the dead. His love for fallen humanity revealed through his death and rising grounds the disciples' understanding of God's love and teaches believers how to love one another in practice with self-giving love. That resurrection life is free to take but is not received by those who continue to transgress; it is received during this probation, given to see who will obey his commandments, by those who return to loyalty through the way his death made, that they may have right to the tree of life and enter through the gates into the city, including keeping the Ten Commandments he declared and showing commitment by lives and work done in his name.

His words illuminate the present life of pilgrims and strangers with hope and reveal God's goodness, mercy, grace and the principles and purposes of divine service, for life and knowledge of immortality are not inherited but received through Christ, who alone has immortality. Faith in behalf of the sick and afflicted should rest on him received as personal Savior, whose gift of himself as God's only begotten Son makes it possible for fallen humanity to be recovered and restored to standing with God, with grace and power revealed in caring for the sick, including through an institution using simple remedies and teaching health-preserving practices. He has power to lay down his life and take it again, and through him the way of repentance and faith is now made plain so that the one who believes shall live though dead; this truth must be preached clearly and simply, over and over, line upon line and precept upon precept, making everything connected with salvation plain and easy to understand, so suffering people who do not know what they must do to be saved may understand and Satan cannot cast his shadow between sinner and God by representing God as a stern, unforgiving judge. His abundant resources are assurance of God's power to restore health and sustain those doing his work, giving reason for faith and courage. Those bound up with his life in living experience here are complete in him, will never be forgotten but will be quickened by him, and as homeward-bound pilgrims almost home must look not on temporal things seen but on eternal things unseen, fixing eyes upward on their Savior.

Because he died and lives again, breaking open Joseph's tomb and proclaiming himself resurrection and life over its rent sepulcher, sinners have life in him and joy in him, with sins taken away and his righteousness imputed in their place. He is not a dead Savior still lying in Joseph's new tomb to be wept and mourned over, but a risen and exalted Savior, and his resurrection is life for every person who believes in him as risen Savior, to be taken hold of. Therefore no soul has excuse to continue in sin and disobedience, but all are to be thankful and praise God every moment, lay hold on the merits of the blood of the crucified and risen Savior, and rejoice in trials in the one who wrought the victory, so temptations and deceptive wiles of the evil one never gain victory over them. His resurrection and proclamation revealed his love for fallen humanity, which the disciples did not fully realize until they saw it expressed through his death and resurrection.

The one who will raise his saints from the grave at the last trumpet and give them immortality and victory over death can also preserve those committed to him and deliver them in present troubles and perplexities. After breaking the tomb's fetters he was exalted by God and given power over all flesh to give eternal life to those who receive him and believe on his name, able to rescue people from death and the power of their foe. His rising confirms the assurance that those who believe will live even after death, fulfilling in reality what was foreshadowed in Jewish symbols. He is the living Savior who conquered death and proclaimed triumph over Joseph's rent sepulcher by his own resurrection, meaning God lives and reigns and truth will triumph, bringing the word of life and light to people walking in darkness without light. After dying to provide a way for humanity to be saved he rose and proclaimed victory over death, reading hearts and receiving all who come and promising rest to the yoked, so none is to interpose to condemn fellow workers but leave them to Christ.