Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26).

The family trio who were part of Jesus’ intimate circle—Mary, Martha and Lazarus, who had just died—discovered this truth about Jesus. Jesus was and is the resurrection! In other places He uses concrete objects (e.g. door, shepherd, bread) to describe Himself, but here He uses an event. In what sense is He an event?

Lazarus’ death was confirmed by his being entombed for four days already (John 11:39). Jesus had purposely delayed showing up at the scene, but once there, He did not waste any time raising the brother back to life—but not without teaching a lesson related to what He was about to do. Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection,” and He explained what He meant by it, relating it to life. Whoever believes in Him will live, even though he will physically die. To prove that He had the authority to say this—that is, to validate the truth of the statement—Jesus did something remarkable by anyone’s standards: He raised Lazarus back to life from the dead. He performed a resurrection.

This action begs the conclusion: If Jesus has the authority and ability to raise a dead person back to life, then He has the authority and ability to raise anyone back to life. He has complete mastery over death, not just preventing it but reversing its effects. Clearly, the latter is more impressive than the former. Every day doctors prevent people from dying, firemen rescue people from burning buildings and good Samaritans rescue people from all kinds of terminal situations. But resurrection involves bringing people back from the dead! Jesus can do this.

Therefore, when He says people who believe in Him will never die, He means death will not have the permanent final say. The world may say death and taxes are permanent and unchanging. But because Jesus said, “I am the resurrection,” death is reversible for those who believe (plus there is nothing in Scripture about taxation in heaven!). The best non-believers can do is to garner a hope that is baseless, or at best fixed on shaky ground. But for believers in Jesus Christ, we have a sure foundation, a promise, the truth of resurrection, because we have trusted in the very One who, by definition, is the resurrection. He proved the truth of this further and ultimately by His own resurrection from the dead. “Death is swallowed up in victory… thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:54, 57).

Lord, I believe for sure that You are my resurrection; I have no fear of death.