Lazarus, Come Out!

John 11:25,33-44

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

John 11:25 (Holman)  Jesus said to her (Martha), "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live."

 

As His friend, Lazarus, lay a corpse in a nearby tomb, Jesus made one of His boldest claims ever. It is significant that He mentioned resurrection before life.

 

We humans are by nature spiritually dead. None of us can have God-life unless we are first raised from death. Jesus claimed He is the One who resurrects life out of death. He also claimed He is the life; He sustains life once it is given.

 

We are physical, as well as spiritual, beings. God provided for both. Our bodies will die due to sin, but shall live again through resurrection. Physical death is not the end. After it happens, life goes on. All who do not believe in Jesus shall be forever separated from Him. All who believe in Him will forever live with Him.

 

Here in verse 25, we heard the claim Jesus made. To see evidence that validated and proved His claim, we turn our attention to verse 33.

 

John 11:33-37 When Jesus saw her (Mary) crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was angry in His spirit and deeply moved. "Where have you put him?" He asked. "Lord," they told Him, "come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how He loved him!" But some of them said, "Couldn't He who opened the blind man's eyes also have kept this man from dying?"

 

This scene vividly brought home to Jesus the iron grip we humans are held in by death. In His friends, Jesus saw in microcosm the pain death causes for all people. It is the ultimate divider.

 

Jesus, broken over Mary and Martha's grieving, was not only sad at the devastating pain He was seeing. He was also inwardly angry at its cause, indignant that His adversary, the Devil, had brought sin and death into the world.

 

A storm of aggravation and sorrow was brewing within Him. Finally, a lightning bolt of anger was followed by a rain of sadness.

The onlookers were touched by Jesus' outpouring of emotion, but misinterpreted His tears. They thought He was sad at His own personal failure to help Lazarus. The crowd felt Jesus' tears showed much love, but a love powerless to help. Unknown to them was the fact Jesus was not coming to the grave as a spectator. He was a wrestler preparing for battle against a tyrannical foe who had to be defeated.

 

John 11:38-39 Then Jesus, angry in Himself again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. "Remove the stone," Jesus said. Martha, the dead man's sister, told Him, "Lord, he already stinks. It's been four days."

 

Martha was horrified at the thought of anyone seeing the repulsive sight of her brother's putrefying corpse. Family tenderness naturally shrank from disclosing the ravages of death on her beloved. Exposing the remains would show disrespect for Lazarus.

 

John 11:40-42 Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You heard Me. I know that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so they may believe You sent Me."

 

Jesus, wanting to make sure His Father would receive praise and honor, thanked God before the miracle occurred. He knew that after Lazarus was raised from the dead, pandemonium would make it difficult to give His Father appropriate honor.

 

John 11:43-44 After He said this, He shouted with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him and let him go."

 

Without our Master, this grave and all others have to be named Hopeless Despair. Every example of human power stands helpless here. Musicians, try your songs. Educators, teach. Preachers, preach. Physicians, bring your strongest medicine. Generals, rally the troops. Kings, issue edicts.

 

All of these were useless at Lazarus' tomb. They were all useless here. Death sat smugly on a corpse, laughing at them all. But somewhere in Jesus' stroll to the grave, death's grim grin became a frightened frown. Arrogance panicked.

 

Jesus had arrived at the tomb and was commanding the stone be removed. Satan knew the power of this foe. Jesus had already cheated death twice by retrieving at Nain a widow's only son (Luke 7:15), and later the daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue (Luke 8:55).

 

While Jesus thanked the Father, death clutched its prey and screamed to demons of Hell to help keep Lazarus' spirit from re-entering his body. This corpse had to be kept in the realm of death. But it was all in vain.

 

The Champion had arrived. This was open warfare. As Jesus assaulted death, He yelled like a soldier launching an attack.

This is the only place where Jesus is said to have shouted. The volume in His voice bespoke urgency and kingly authority.

 

The shout contained three words, translated here as "Lazarus, come out!" The two words of command are adverbs of place used here as imperatives. Jesus did not offer a request. He issued an order that could be rendered "Here! Outside!"

 

The result was a fourfold miracle. One, Lazarus' spirit was retrieved from another world. Lazarus was already far away from this rock cave, but even Heaven itself was subject to Jesus' command. Jesus' voice penetrated the unseen world and reached Lazarus from a long distance.

 

Even in Heaven, Lazarus realized his name was being called. He heard, recognized, and obeyed the voice. When Jesus cried "Here!" Lazarus came.

 

A relationship unbreakable even by death and distance existed between Lazarus and Jesus. The same is true for all believers. Not even the grave can sever the bond between Jesus and us. We will be forever His; He will be forever ours.

 

Two, life was restored to the decomposing body. Satan had clutched the lifeless corpse in his fangs and had surrounded it with his accomplices. But when Jesus spoke, the devil had to retreat. He was forced to drop his prey, and slither away in disgrace.

 

Three, corruption was reversed. Natural laws of decomposition were overturned. Raising Lazarus publically after four days of decay displayed Jesus' power over every aspect of death.

 

No one ever died in the presence of the Prince of Life. No dead body stayed dead when He approached it. Death and Jesus cannot be in the same room long.

 

Four, the body was lifted outside the tomb. "Outside!" He commanded, and outside Lazarus came. The law of gravity bowed to Jesus' will. "Bound hand and foot" meant the grave clothes were preventing all natural motion. The command "Loose him, and let him go" implied Lazarus could not free himself or walk away on his own.

 

The voice heard at Lazarus' tomb will be even louder on the last day. His call will be heard in every tomb on this planet. Until then His voice is heard in softer tones in our hearts through the wooing of the Holy Spirit.

 

This physical miracle demonstrated what Jesus wants to do for us spiritually. He wants to resurrect us, to give us the life of Heaven.