John 11:44
“The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound
with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and
let him go.”
Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days, and his sister
Martha told Jesus his body would have an odor if we move the stone that is
covering the grave. And no one who has
heard the story or was there will ever forget those three words that Jesus
spoke; “Lazarus come out.” It matters not if you were an
eyewitness or have been told the story, we now have evidence that Jesus has
authority over death. No other man has
been given that authority, in no other religion has anyone claimed to raise the
dead, and surely not someone who had been buried for four days.
Yet for some Christians who have not followed the
instruction book and it’s requirements to, “Be diligent to present yourself
approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately
handling the word of truth.” (2
Timothy 2:15 NASB) And for any that fall
into that group, one of the last words from our Lord after His resurrection and
before returning to the right hand of the Father, was the word to the eleven
disciples; “All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me.” So if we
understand that the Scriptures state in John’s gospel chapter 1, and verse 2-3,
“He was in the
beginning with God. All things were made
through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” The apostle Paul said this of
Jesus, “He is
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and
for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians
1:15-17) ESV)
But is that the message
that Jesus has authority over all things and that includes death, or is there
more to the message? If we return to
Matthew 27:19 and 20, all of us who are in Christ are given authority to go out
into the world and allow the Holy Spirit speak life into dead people, do you
believe this? Is that not what was
taking place as Lazarus came forth bound in dead man’s clothing? Jesus said to them, and then to us, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Those words bring back a story
that Mitch Kersh shared with a few men at a Tuesday Bible study in Corpus
Christ back in the 1970’s. Now Mitch was
a new creation in Christ, he had been a long hair, dope smoking hippie before
Jesus invaded his life, and Mitch told everyone he came into contact with about
how Jesus could give life to a dead man.
Many of his family members saw what God had done, and they also believed
and put their trust in Christ. One of
those was Mitch’s brother-in-law, and yet even after asking Christ into his
life he continued to drink too much and smoke a joint every once in a
while. This is Mitch’s story, I wanted
to give up on him, and one night while holding my baby, God asked me a
question; “Mitch, do you get mad at your baby when it spits up on you or
dirties it’s diaper?” Mitch said that
his reply was, “no Lord, it’s just a little baby, doing what babies do, and the
Lord said, “and so is your brother-in-law.”
You and I have been given the authority and the command from our Lord
to, “Unbind him, and let him go.” The grave cloths are much like the flesh
patterns we bring into our new life in Christ, often God gives us the grace and
love to unbind a new Christian from the fleshly patterns of sucking their needs
out of others, or of habits that are destructive to themselves or family
members.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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