Get These Grave Clothes Off Of Me

Get These Grave Clothes Off Of Me

Dead Man Walks Out of Tomb After Being Dead 4 Days

The Location of Lazarus’ Tomb Still Visited Today

The sickness and death of Lazarus of Bethany found in John 11:1-44 sets the stage for the extraordinary miracle of Lazarus’s resurrection from the tomb after being dead four days. This epic event is not a fable but a factual miracle that astounded the world and could not be refuted.

When Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus he called out, “Lazarus come out!”

The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11:44)

As you might imagine, the crowd of witnesses to Lazarus’s miraculous resurrection spread the word like a viral tweet. Shortly thereafter, on Palm Sunday, large crowds lined the roadway as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey the Sunday before His crucifixion. The community was so elated they begin to praise God and Jesus as the Messiah. “The Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” (Luke 19:39). But Jesus said in the next verse, “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” The apostle John tells us:

Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” (John 12:17-19)

Just prior to bringing Lazarus back to life Jesus said to Lazarus’s sister Martha:

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:23-26)

There are several takeaways here that are fitting to mention:

1. Jesus declares, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He is the source and creator of life. Scripture teaches that all life was created through Christ (John 1:1-3). We exist because God created us in His own image and likeness (Gen. 1:27). Jesus is called Emanuel, meaning, God is with us (Matt. 1:23 KJV). He is the Father’s one and only son and the only mediator between the Father and mankind (1 Tim. 2:5).
   1. Neither creation nor humans came into existence by chance or some unknown evolutionary process. We were created by God’s intelligent design. The Creator (Emmanuel) visited earth in the form of a man and proved that He possessed the power of everlasting life and proved to the world that He had power and authority to raise the dead. He promised, “whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
2. Christians shall “never die.” Natural death and its effects are powerless against a born-again believer and must yield to supernatural life. Jesus demonstrated that He could call the dead back to life and promised eternal or everlasting life to all who believe in Him.
   1. Whoever believes in Christ “will live even though they die.” Our fleshly body is only a temporary state of existence while on earth. When our fleshly body ceases to function we will transition into the spiritual realm and we will continue on as eternal beings with Christ.
   2. Supernatural eternal life after death is promised to every born-again believer in Christ (John 3:16). We will not perish but live forever with our Creator.
   3. The Scriptures record 8 other instances of people returning to earthly human life after dying: 1 Kings 17:17-24, 2 Kings 4:18-37, 2 Kings 13:20–21, Luke 7:11–17, Luke 8:49–56, Matthew 27:50-54, Acts 9:36-42, Acts 20:7–12.
   4. Jesus’ bodily resurrection was not to a human state but a supernatural body and is a type of resurrection that all believers will experience in the near future. It was unlike the human earthly resurrections mentioned above. Our resurrected bodies will be eternal bodies. Death and sickness will no longer exist. We will no longer be subject to a limited earthly body (1 Thes 4:3-18, 1 Cor. 15:50-58).
3. Lazarus’s resurrection transcended all natural and scientific laws then and now. People do not die and four days later walk out of the grave—but it happened. Man cannot begin to fathom God’s supernatural laws. God simply speaks things into creation.
   1. At His Command, God spoke all things into existence including all life. “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” (Gen. 1:3) All that exists were created by God through Christ.
      
   2. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Heb. 11:3)
      

Jesus declared to us that He is the giver of life and life everlasting. He demonstrated His power over death by raising the dead and coming back to life after His crucifixion. It is not a fable or myth. Jesus is the only Savior of the world and He possesses all power and authority over death, hell, and the grave.

As one who was dead and buried in a dark tomb of sin, Jesus called me to a new life in Him. I was made spiritually alive in Christ. I was able to walk out of the darkness of sin into the light of Christ. Isn’t it time you receive eternal life in Christ. Perhaps at this very moment, you can hear Jesus calling you by name to come out from that dead and empty life an receive new life in Christ?

Read:   Are You Really Born Again?