He that was dead

Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go." – John 11.43-44

I realise that I have talked a lot about the idea of resurrection and life and things like that. I really don’t think, however, that we can talk about those things too much.

Here is the actual account of Jesus raising His friend Lazarus from the dead. He waited until Lazarus was dead to come in order to show His power over death. He waited four days so that there could be no doubt that Lazarus was really dead. By the time Jesus got there Lazarus was wrapped in burial clothes and placed on the tomb. There was no doubt he was dead. When Jesus asked them to roll away the stone that covered the tomb the people didn’t want to because he had been dead so long that Lazarus body would be stinking by now.

But Jesus told them to roll the stone away. Then He stood at the entrance to the grave and simple said ‘Lazarus come forth!’

Lazarus came out, shuffling forth bound in his grave clothes.

Jesus next words were ‘loose him and let him go' and Lazarus walked free and alive. 

While this amazing miracle stands well on its own, I also think it is a picture of a great spiritual truth.

For the first 18 ½ years of my life I was spiritually a dead man. I was bound with the grave clothes of sin. My life was slowly, but surely rotting away.

But that changed in February 1974. When I put my faith in Christ He said, in essence, ‘Roger come forth.’ From that moment on, I had spiritual life that would last forever. At that moment I was loosed from the grave clothes of sin as sin lost its power over.

Just one small point in closing – having been free from those grave clothes why am I so ready to put them back on?