SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/31/2016 9:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Power
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 11:43-44
Message of the verses: “43 When He had said these things, He cried
out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 44 The man who had died
came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around
with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go.’”
Well we
have been looking at John chapter eleven since the 15th or this
month, knowing all along that Jesus was going to raise Lazarus from the dead,
and we finally get to the place where He will do that this morning, and what we
want to do is to look at the power that Jesus had in order to raise a man from
the dead who had been dead for four days.
When one goes to a funeral the person in charge of doing the speaking at
the funeral may say something like the body was formed out of the earth
speaking of Adam being formed out of the earth and to the earth it will go back
speaking of the decomposition of the body.
Lazarus’ body was well on that way and there is a process for that to
happen especially when there was no method of preserving the body that the Jews
used, so in essence Jesus had to make a new body for Lazarus.
We first
want to look at the loudness of Jesus’ voice as the text says that He cried out
with a very loud voice. However we do
not know why it is that He cried out with a loud voice, but He did. MacArthur writes “It may have symbolized the
power it took to raise the dead. Or He
may have done it to distance Himself from the whispered mutterings of the
sorcerers and magicians (cf. Isa. 8:19).
In any case, His voice immediately captured the complete attention of
everyone present.” It is interesting to
me that the word “loud” means great when I look it up in my Greek/English
dictionary.
I have
heard before on different occasions that the power of the Lord is so great that
if He had not called Lazarus by name that all of the graves would have
emptied. When we look at what will
happen in the future that is precisely what will happen. Let us look back at John 5:28-29 “28 "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is
coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good
deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a
resurrection of judgment.” I want to
also look at several verses in 1 Thessalonians chapter four “13 But we do not
want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you
will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have
fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that
we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede
those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will
rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall
always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.” MacArthur adds “Jesus’ raising of Lazarus was
a preview of the divine power He will display when He raises all of the dead on
the last day.” We have to understand
that there is an order of how all of this is going to happen. First was the resurrection of Jesus from the
dead as the first fruits, then comes the Rapture of the church when all
born-again members of the church will be raised from the dead and go to be with
the Lord. Next I believe that those who
died in the tribulation along with those Old Testament saints will be raised
from the dead at the end of the tribulation period. Finally the unbelievers will be raised from
the dead to receive their new bodies in the last judgment, the Great White
Throne Judgment.
The command
that Jesus gave was short and to the point it was almost abrupt in its
simplicity. MacArthur adds “The Greek
text literally reads, ‘Lazarus! Here! Outside!’
Stumbling blindly toward the familiar, beloved voice that called him, ‘the
man who had died came forth.’” There was
no showmanship like is seen from these so called modern faith healers that one
may see on TV, as Jesus just raised Lazarus from the dead and then told those
who were around him to take off his grace clothes, something we will speak of
latter. Let us look at 1 Corinthians
15:55 “"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR
STING?"” Next Revelation 1:18 “and
the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have
the keys of death and of Hades.” This
speaks of Jesus, of course.
Now can you
imagine what the onlookers were thinking when Lazarus came forth out of the
grave? They see this mummy like person
that use to be a corpse come walking out of his tomb wearing his grave clothes. “and the face-cloth which had been on His head,
not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself (John
20:7), as this speaks of what was found in the place where Jesus’ body was
laying, but He was not there for He had risen from the dead.
Now when
Jesus tells them to unbind Lazarus I have often thought that this pictures a
person who has just received Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, for we read
that when that happens that all things are new, “2Co 5:17 Therefore if anyone
is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new
things have come.” Let us now look at
Ephesians 2:1-10 which furthers shows us what happens to a sinner when he
trusts the Savior: “1 And you were dead in your trespasses
and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is
now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived
in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with
which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by
grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might
show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of
works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would
walk in them.” Now we will look at
Colossians 3:1-7 1 Therefore if
you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things
above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life
is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then
you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to
idolatry. 6 For it is because of these
things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you
were living in them.”
MacArthur
writes “There is significance in Jesus’ involving the bystanders in touching
and unwrapping Lazarus ‘The very mourners who doubted [Jesus] were agents in
the completion of the miracle. In their
participation the mourners in fact became part of the sign and therefore were
undeniable witnesses of the power of Jesus’ (Gerald L. Borchert, John 1-11).”
MacArthur
add “Although it was the climatic miraculous sign of Jesus’ earthly ministry,
the raising of Lazarus ‘could be only a pale anticipation of what was yet to
come’ (D. A. Carson, The Gospel according
to John).’” We will begin to look at
how this unfolds in our next SD as we consider the reactions to the
resurrection of Lazarus which include the remaining verses in this chapter (vv.
45-57).
Spiritual meaning for my life today: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep
seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life
is hidden with Christ in God.”
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Remember to follow what I
have quoted from Colossians 3:1-3.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:8-9) “8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the
dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over Him.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “His burial with the rich.”
Today’s Bible question:
“Who said, ‘My Father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise
you with scorpions’?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/31/2016 11:28 AM
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