John 11:23 “Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? 27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”
The phrase, “he that believeth in me”, refers to those who have God-given “faith” (Hebrews 11:1; 12:2) whereby we worshipfully believe in Christ Jesus our Lord. These believers are simply in the state of belief, not by their will or choice, but by an act of God through the Holy Spirit. The message to us is that, even believers die; but, “though he were dead, yet shall he live”. Furthermore, “whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die”; that is, the body dies, but the spirit/soul of God’s believers “shall never die”. The spirit/soul is the essence of life, it is who we are. The body is simply where we live while we are here on earth; “For we know that if our earthly house [our natural bodies] of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (II Corinthians 5:1). Then the Lord asked “Martha”, “Believest thou this?”; for, when we lose a loved one, our only real comfort is in believing “this”. She answered Him, “Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world”. That is, “Martha” did indeed believe that “though he were dead, yet shall he live”; that is, his “dead” body shall be raised to life again on the last day of this world. But as far as his spirit/soul, he “shall never die”. She explains that the basis for this belief is that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world”; that is, “the Christ, the Son of God” has infinite power, to even raise the dead to life again. Therein rests our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13), whereby we are comforted, in even the darkest hours of our life!