Jesus Versus the Ultimate Predator

 

John 11: "Jesus versus the Ultimate Predator"

adapted from a sermon by Todd Wagner

John 11 is where Jesus comes up against this ferocious monster called Death. Is there anything scarier than death? I mean, really. Some of you guys go, "Well, not for me. I'm a follower of Jesus, so death is..." Great. You've already heard the message. You've read it. I'm glad you're thrilled, but let's just be honest for a second. Death is terrifying. Death is the enemy. It's not supposed to be here. God didn't want it. He warned us how to avoid it, but it is now here. It is unknowable. It is unavoidable. It is inevitable. It is heartbreaking. It is scary.

Just to let you know, they estimate that as of today, 108 billion people have lived and died or are alive. There are about 8 billion alive today, so roughly 100 billion people before us. At the time of Christ it's estimated—even with what I would call a young earth view, if you start with roughly two people about 4,000 to 6,000 years before Christ—there were 47 billion people that had come and gone by the time Christ showed up.

Would you have guessed that many had already lived? I'd have missed it by 40 billion, at least. I would have missed it by probably 46 billion. Probably 46.5 billion. I just had no idea. But how about this? Can you imagine the main event? Here is Jesus, this johnny-come-lately, this little guy from a much-maligned, backwater fishing village up north, who walks up against the undisputed, undefeated heavyweight champion of the world, 47,000,000,000 and 0—DEATH.

This isn't Rocky Marciano. This is 47,000,000,000 and 0. Melchizedek, we don't really know. Enoch, the Lord took him. Elijah, caught up in a whirlwind. So 47,000,000,000 and 0 and 3... maybe. We're not sure. But here's what I want to tell you: Death is an impressive champion. Death reigned supreme for generation after generation. Death struck terror in the hearts of history's greatest warriors.

Then into the ring comes Jesus, and he says, "Let's go."

My favorite passage in the Scripture is Revelation 19. I love gentle Jesus, meek and mild. I do. I like the fact that he's tender towards sinners. I need that Jesus. But do you know what I really like? I like it when he reveals himself in Revelation 19, and he's coming on a white horse to war. That is arrogant. You go to war on a dark horse. You whup your enemy in the dead of night and go riding back home with your plunder; you only ride the white horse in the celebratory procession; but Jesus GOES TO WAR on a white horse. Read your book of Revelation.

He has a big ol' thigh... think steroid-injected, 70s Arnold Schwarzenegger thigh thrown over that steed—a steed that makes Bucephalus look like My Little Pony—and there is a tattoo on it: KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS. You watch the NBA Eastern Conference finals, and you'll see guys tatted up with all kinds of tattoos. You will not see anybody with "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" on their thigh. THAT is a tattoo. I love that about my Jesus.

John 11 is one of those passages. They wanted to kill Jesus. They ran him out of town. He's east of the Jordan. A certain man was sick. His name was Lazarus. He was from Bethany. He was a buddy of Jesus. Martha and Mary were his sisters. They love him. He dies. The reigning heavyweight champion, the ultimate predator, wins another one.

This is David and Goliath; and David says, "Who are you, you uncircumcised Philistine? I'm going to chop your head off, and I'm going to take the entire army of the Philistines. We're going to feed them to the birds. We're going to feed them to the animals, that the world might know that there is a God in Israel." Do you get that? This is little David. And they say to him, "Oh, Jesus. He's dead. He stinks. There's nothing you can do." That's what they say. "It's been four days." Looking past their faithlessness, he says, "Roll away the stone. You're going to see who I am." So he says this: "Lazarus! Heel, boy." It's a good thing he said "Lazarus," or everybody would've been clawing on the stone at every grave and tomb around, because this is God. When he says, "You're no longer dead." Come on, let's go... the fight is over before it began.

Let me just tell you this. Here's my big crescendo, my big point. Are you ready? Aside from those that are alive and remain at the trumpet blast, you are all going to die just like Lazarus. Everybody. It will be terrible. Death is terrible. God hates death. It's been his enemy from the beginning. God says, "Don't leave me. I am life. If you leave me, you're going to die. Spiritually your marriage is going to be a wreck. Your kids are going to hate you. You're going to put ladders against the wrong walls. Physically, you're going to die. It's going to lead to something so awful and so opposite of Eden that you can't even imagine it forever. It's going to be a physical reality that's going to be almost timed by grace so you can see how awful this physical death is, so when I come with a great rescue plan, you might trust in me, and you might come back to me believing only I can give life. Therefore, you're reconciled to me, and I've made provision for you. You have nothing to fear."

A little bit later, Jesus faces down death directly, personally. He takes our sin to the cross that he might set us free. Do you get this text? I'm telling you, this is it. So you go to war while you're here. You live nobly for him. You're going to die just like Lazarus, and it will be terrible. Can I tell you something else? You are going to be resurrected. Just like Lazarus. Every one of you who believes.

Whether or not death is terrible for you, or whether its reality is the beginning of incredible clarity about the wonder of God, pivots on the question that Jesus asked Martha when she walked through this very moment in history: "I am the resurrection and the life," Jesus said. "Do you believe this? Martha, look at me. It's me. The Christ. There is no hope in anything else. Believe me. Trust in me, the Son of God who came to the earth to save sinful men. The Christ."

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