John 11 Background Information with Maps and Images (Picture Study Bible - John) Free Bible Online

John 11

1 - Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.

2 - It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.

3 - The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, "Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick."

4 - But when Jesus heard it, he said,"This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God's Son may be glorified by it."

5 - Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

6 - When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.

7 - Then after this he said to the disciples,"Let's go into Judea again."

8 - The disciples told him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"

9 - Jesus answered,"Aren't there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn't stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

10 - But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn't in him."

11 - He said these things, and after that, he said to them,"Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep."

12 - The disciples therefore said, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."

13 - Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.

14 - So Jesus said to them plainly then,"Lazarus is dead.

15 - I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let's go to him."

16 - Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go also, that we may die with him."

17 - So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.

18 - Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.

19 - Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.

20 - Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.

21 - Therefore Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died.

22 - Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you."

23 - Jesus said to her,"Your brother will rise again."

24 - Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

25 - Jesus said to her,"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.

26 - Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27 - She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God's Son, he who comes into the world."

28 - When she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, "The Teacher is here, and is calling you."

29 - When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him.

30 - Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.

31 - Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."

32 - Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died."

33 - When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

34 - and said,"Where have you laid him?"They told him, "Lord, come and see."

35 - Jesus wept.

36 - The Jews therefore said, "See how much affection he had for him!"

37 - Some of them said, "Couldn't this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?"

38 - Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39 - Jesus said,"Take away the stone."Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."

40 - Jesus said to her,"Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see God's glory?"

41 - So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said,"Father, I thank you that you listened to me.

42 - I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me."

43 - When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice,"Lazarus, come out!"

44 - He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.Jesus said to them,"Free him, and let him go."

45 - Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.

46 - But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.

47 - The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, "What are we doing? For this man does many signs.

48 - If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

49 - But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,

But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,

---

50 - nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish."

51 - Now he didn't say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

52 - and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

53 - So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death.

54 - Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.

55 - Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.

56 - Then they sought for Jesus and spoke one with another, as they stood in the temple, "What do you think-that he isn't coming to the feast at all?"

57 - Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.

The Book of John

John 1:14 - And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 20:31 - But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

John in The New Testament - A Brief Overview

Painting of St. John the Evangelist by Reni - 1620

Introduction to The Gospel of John

The Word Gospel. The fourth book of the New Testament is the Gospel of John. John is the fourth of the four gospel writings, yet there is only one gospel about Jesus Christ and there are four different writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The word "Gospel" means "good news", and the good news is about Jesus Christ dying on the cross and then 3 days later conquering death and rising from the dead, offering salvation to all mankind, this is the Gospel.

Summary of The Book of John

Brief Summary. Jesus was Jehovah God, the eternal Word made flesh. He came to His home, Israel, and He was rejected. He came to this world, and the world rejected Him, but anyone who  would believe and receive Him would have life through His name, and be given authority to call themselves a "son of god."

Purpose. John makes one thing clear in John 20:30, 31 - "these ( things) are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ; and that believing ye may have life in his name." John sought to lead men to eternal life by first convincing them of His deity, the miracles were actually recorded as "signs" to confirm His deity, that He was Jehovah God, the incarnate Word made flesh. John called Jesus the bread of life, the light of the world, the good shepherd, the way the truth and the life, the true vine, all clearly pointing to the deity of Jesus. In fact John points to everything in His life and teachings as a sign that Jesus of Nazareth was truly the Eternal Word of God who "became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth" (John 1: 14).

John Compared to the Other Gospel Accounts. The "Synoptic Gospels" - Matthew, Mark and Luke all have their unique perspective of the life of Jesus Christ, as well as John's approach. John is always emphasizing the deity of Jesus as well as His divine miracles. John also gives us a bit more information about Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem, where Matthew, Mark and Luke focus more on His Galilean ministry. There is also a difference regarding the chronology of the last week (Passion Week) of Christ's life. It is important to note that the Gospel accounts do not necessarily place their focus on chronology and orderly biography of the ministry of Jesus with names, places, and dates, but rather a full perspective of their unique portrayal of Jesus Christ.

Authorship. The author of the Gospel of John is identified in John 21:20 as "The disciple whom Jesus loved" who leaned on Jesus' breast. It is clear that John was that disciple and he did not wish to use his own name directly as the author, possibly for reasons of humility. Early church historical writings from early second century AD recognize the Gospel of John as a sacred book. Theophilus of Antioch (170 AD) was the first to write the name John as the author. Shortly after this Irenaeus identified John as the disciple who had leaned on Jesus' breast. This is especially important because Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, who had known the man John personally. Clement of Alexandria mentions John as having composed a "spiritual gospel."

Critics of John as the Author. There is a statement that was made by Papias that there were actually two men named John in Ephesus at the same time, and John the Apostle was referred to as "John the Elder". Many opponents of the apostle John's authorship give credit to the other John as the writer of the fourth Gospel. Although the answer cannot be positively determined by history, tradition and internal evidence definitely point to John the apostle as the author.

Date. It is worthy to consider the words of the most famous archaeologist of all time that according to archaeological evidence there is "no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after about A.D. 80." Most scholars conclude that the book of John was written around 85 or 90 AD probably before the exile to Patmos. It is also important to consider John 5:2 when it mentions "Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep [market] a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches." This verse would indicate that this existed at the current time that the Gospel of John was written. This would place the written work before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. There is also no evidence as to whether John wrote the Gospel before or after his return to Ephesus from the Island of Patmos.

The Man John. John's book attributes the work to "the disciple whom Jesus loved." This say a lot about the man John, and the fact that Jesus left his mother Mary in John's care, having spoken the words from the cross, is very significant. Another indicator of John's character is found in the book of 1 John, he continually talks about love, loving one another, and that God is love, etc. It is also safe to say that John was a Jew, this can be clearly seen by his accuracy about Jewish customs, Jewish way of thinking, and by his quotations from the Hebrew Old Testament. He knew the topography of the land of Israel from a Jewish perspective quite well. It is easy to see in his writings that he was a close disciple of Jesus, an eyewitness of the events surrounding Jesus' ministry. One can determine by process of elimination, that the author is not just any John but John the apostle, the son of Zebedee, who is prominently mentioned in the Gospel accounts.

John and Church History.  Church tradition records that John came to Ephesus after Paul's work was finished there. Later, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, he was banished to the Island of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation. Shortly thereafter he was released and returned to the city of Ephesus.

Archaeology. The Rylands Papyrus Fragment was discovered in 1920 in Egypt containing a few verses from John 18 dating back to about 120-135 AD.

Outline of the Book of John

The Word of God - Chapter 1:1-51
His Public Ministry - Chapters 2:1-12:50
His Private Ministry - Chapters 13:1-17:26
His Death and Resurrection - Chapters 18:1-20:31
John's Conclusion - Chapter 21:1-25

The Name Jesus In Ancient Hebrew Text
"Yeshua" in First Century Hebrew Text. This is how the name "Jesus" would have been written in ancient Hebrew documents. The four letters or consonants from right to left are Yod, Shin, Vav, Ayin (Y, SH, OO, A). Jesus is the Greek name for the Hebrew name Joshua or Y'shua which means "The LORD or Yahweh is Salvation".

John Resources

Outline of the Life of Jesus in Harmony
Simple Map of First Century Israel
Topographical Map of First Century Israel
Map of the Ministry of Jesus
Map of the Roads in Ancient Israel
Map of the Roman Empire