John 11:44
Have you ever considered that Jesus could have brought Lazarus from the grace without the grave clothes? When Jesus came out of the grave on Resurrection Morning, His clothes were folded neatly in the Garden Tomb. Lazarus had no need of the grave clothes any longer, for he was no longer dead, so what is the significance of bringing him from the grave as if he is ready for the grave?
Jesus told those present to “Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:44), which gives a mandate to the church for all time. For every new convert that comes out of the grave of sin and death, we have a responsibility to pull the grave clothes off of them a little bit at a time. They are covered over in a lifetime of works and self-righteousness, in which they have constantly tried to justify themselves and their actions. Having accepted Christ as their Savior, they have been miraculously transferred from the depths of the grave of sin to the top step of salvation, and they are now ready to begin their “walk” with the Lord.
With their spiritual bodies wrapped in grave clothes, their walk is going to resemble more of a waddle than anything else. All of our righteousness’ are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), so the habit of working for their blessings and earning their grace must come to an end. The church holds that blessed responsibility of reinforcing covenant and washing off the new convert on a daily basis. When we remind them that they are the righteousness of God in Christ and that they have been perfected forever because He has sanctified them (Hebrews 10:14), we are pulling one more layer of the grave clothes off of them. This covenant reinforcement helps them to see Jesus clearly and allow His righteousness to live through them.
The first command of Jesus at Lazarus’ tomb was for the stone to be rolled away from the door. It was necessary to roll the stone away for Lazarus was going to come out in a fleshly body, not a glorified one, thus he needs the obstacle removed. The stone represents the Law, which must be removed as an obstacle if one is going to walk forward in Christ. At the cross, Jesus took the Law that was contrary to us and against us and He nailed it to His cross, moving it out of our way (Colossians 2:14).
It is important to note that the stone was not removed until Lazarus was alive. Jesus prays aloud “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me” (John 11:41). Notice that He says, “has heard” meaning that He has already petitioned the Father to raise Lazarus and it is a done deal. Calling Him forth in verse 43 is merely a formality, for he is already alive. We must not remove the Law from the grave of the dead man because they simply stink. However, the moment that life enters into them upon confession of faith, the stone must be rolled away!
Earlier in this book, Jesus watched as men dropped their rocks one at a time in response to His statement, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). Only if you hold the Law in perfection do you have the right to throw its condemnation at another person. Since none of us have ever lived the Law in its fullness then we must drop our rocks of condemnation as well. You must decide what type of person that you will be today, a stone thrower or a stone roller. Get busy saint, there isn’t much time.
Have you ever considered that Jesus could have brought Lazarus from the grace without the grave clothes? When Jesus came out of the grave on Resurrection Morning, His clothes were folded neatly in the Garden Tomb. Lazarus had no need of the grave clothes any longer, for he was no longer dead, so what is the significance of bringing him from the grave as if he is ready for the grave?
Jesus told those present to “Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:44), which gives a mandate to the church for all time. For every new convert that comes out of the grave of sin and death, we have a responsibility to pull the grave clothes off of them a little bit at a time. They are covered over in a lifetime of works and self-righteousness, in which they have constantly tried to justify themselves and their actions. Having accepted Christ as their Savior, they have been miraculously transferred from the depths of the grave of sin to the top step of salvation, and they are now ready to begin their “walk” with the Lord.
With their spiritual bodies wrapped in grave clothes, their walk is going to resemble more of a waddle than anything else. All of our righteousness’ are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), so the habit of working for their blessings and earning their grace must come to an end. The church holds that blessed responsibility of reinforcing covenant and washing off the new convert on a daily basis. When we remind them that they are the righteousness of God in Christ and that they have been perfected forever because He has sanctified them (Hebrews 10:14), we are pulling one more layer of the grave clothes off of them. This covenant reinforcement helps them to see Jesus clearly and allow His righteousness to live through them.
The first command of Jesus at Lazarus’ tomb was for the stone to be rolled away from the door. It was necessary to roll the stone away for Lazarus was going to come out in a fleshly body, not a glorified one, thus he needs the obstacle removed. The stone represents the Law, which must be removed as an obstacle if one is going to walk forward in Christ. At the cross, Jesus took the Law that was contrary to us and against us and He nailed it to His cross, moving it out of our way (Colossians 2:14).
It is important to note that the stone was not removed until Lazarus was alive. Jesus prays aloud “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me” (John 11:41). Notice that He says, “has heard” meaning that He has already petitioned the Father to raise Lazarus and it is a done deal. Calling Him forth in verse 43 is merely a formality, for he is already alive. We must not remove the Law from the grave of the dead man because they simply stink. However, the moment that life enters into them upon confession of faith, the stone must be rolled away!
Earlier in this book, Jesus watched as men dropped their rocks one at a time in response to His statement, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). Only if you hold the Law in perfection do you have the right to throw its condemnation at another person. Since none of us have ever lived the Law in its fullness then we must drop our rocks of condemnation as well. You must decide what type of person that you will be today, a stone thrower or a stone roller. Get busy saint, there isn’t much time.
