July 18, 2023
Dead Rising From The Grave
“When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ 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.’” John 11:43-44 (NASB)
When I was young I saw the movie Night of the Living Dead in a drive-in movie with my parents. It wasn’t the movie they thought it was, but dad said we already paid. So my sister and I spent a lot of time looking through our fingers which covered our eyes. The movie was about the dead rising from the grave. The dead chased people, trying to grab and eat them. When I saw the hands coming out of the soil of the grave in one part, I hid on the floor. Afterward, it left me for weeks watching anything that might try to “get me.” Now, the movie is a little cheesy, but it scared me as a child. This story is not about fearing the dead. It is the story of victory over death.
“When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice,” That voice; the voice of God commanding action. It is likened to the battlefield commander giving orders to His troops at the top of his voice. This wasn’t the first time Jesus would cry out. “On one other occasion only did He this—on the cross. His last utterance was a “loud cry” (Mt 27:50) …. It is second only to the grandeur of that voice which shall raise all the dead (John 5:28, 29; 1 Th 4:16).”[1] Then Jesus commanded, “Lazarus, come forth.” This loud voice was not for the benefit of Lazarus, but for the people, so they would experience a tangible miracle of God. This voice was also familiar to all Creation. It was the voice that spoke all we know into existence. All it took was the voice of God. Borchert says, “When the prayer ended, Jesus yelled for the dead man to come from the tomb. This second command of Jesus, “Lazarus, come out!” (11:43), is indicative of his supreme power over death. Imagine the reaction of those people as the body all wrapped in burial clothes stirred, rose out of the vault, and shuffled toward the mourners. I suspect some of them departed rather hurriedly…” He continues, “The Jewish practice of wrapping the body was not like the Egyptian practice of wrapping a mummy, but it was equally effective. A long, narrow sheet was folded in half, and the body was inserted between the folded halves. Then the wrap was bound together, and the body was thus secured. The head was wrapped separately, which explains the note both in the Lazarus situation (11:44) and the separate head wrapping in the case of Jesus’ grave clothes (20:6). When Lazarus came struggling forth, he was bound in the grave wrappings.”[2] Jesus then employed those standing by to unwrap the bindings of Lazarus. But it symbolized the previous bindings of unbelief in the Messiah. They saw a dead man alive.
“Lazarus, come forth.” Years ago I heard a sermon about this miracle. The pastor said there was something special about the miracle. What was more specific was Jesus calling Lazarus by his name. He said if Jesus didn’t use Lazarus name, all the dead would have risen from their graves that day. Can you imagine the scene if that occurred? I think I might have run away too. But it showed the Omnipotence (All Powerfulness) of God. He is the Creator of life. He began it. He can raise it from death. Each of us who know Christ do not have to fear death. Jesus made that way seamless, into life eternal.
[1] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 150). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2] Borchert, G. L. (1996). John 1–11 (Vol. 25A, p. 362). Broadman & Holman Publishers.