Resurrection – Well, at least Resuscitation


John 11:38-44
38Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

In most dramatic fashion, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. After four days in the tomb, we can be certain he was most decidedly dead. There are other people Jesus raises from death during His ministry, but this story is by far the most spectacular and the only one that happens publicly. Jesus again states why this all took place. It was for the glory of God and bringing people to faith in the One True God. And I believe there was yet another reason. Jesus raised Lazarus from death because He loved Mary and Martha. He had it within His power to relieve their pain and so He showed His great compassion and gave their brother back to them.

What we do not have is a Savior who is unfamiliar with tragedy or suffering. Can we think for even one moment that the Father did not find the torture and death of His Son a tragedy? Can we believe that caused Him no pain? Of course not. Yes, both Jesus and the Father knew the outcome would be victory in the end. But did that help with the pain while they were in the midst of the struggle?

I think it did. And it can be so for us as well. In the midst of the tragedy, we simply must hold on to our trust in the God of the Universe to make all things right, for He promises that He will. If you are not the one who is suffering right now, perhaps it is your job to reassure the one who is that they can still trust in God – every time.

“Unbind him, and let him go.” The work of Jesus actually unbinds us all. We are all caught up in our slavery to sin. Jesus comes and breaks our bondage to sin and death. He is Lord and Master over our final great enemy – eternal death. It must have been quite a scene. The townspeople/mourners go with Mary and Martha to show Jesus the grave, so the number of witnesses to this miracle is large. Then Jesus says “Lazarus, come out!”, and in my imagination, he has to hop out because he had been wrapped in grave cloths. There can be no doubt about the Lord Jesus now. He is Master over all. Not only did Jesus bring Lazarus back for more life on earth, He brings us out of the darkness of sin so that our time left here on earth can be unfettered by bondage to sin. We can live as He calls rather than as sin demands. Our freedom has been won so we can either live wrapped in grave cloths, or we can “come out” of the grave and walk in that amazing freedom. Granted, we probably do a little bit of both (see Romans 7) but praise be to God that our final disposition is that of a person free from sin and bound instead to an eternity spent in heaven with our Lord.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more