Unwrap
Him
And
Let
Him Go!
Scripture
John
11
22 But
even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
25 Jesus
told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone
who believes in me will live, even after dying.
27 “Yes,
Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”
39 “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus
told them.
But
Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead
for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
41 So
they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and
said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.
42 You
always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these
people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.”
44 And the
dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face
wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let
him go!”
Observation
And
the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his
face wrapped in a headcloth, Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let
him go!”
Close
your eyes and visualize the scene. Can you see Lazarus, hopping out
of that tomb, still wrapped up in graveclothes and standing before
Jesus!
So
you might wonder why this story is one of my all-time favorite Bible
stories … and why I share it at just about every funeral service I
have the opportunity to officiate. Well, this miracle, I believe is
recorded in the Bible so that we can be totally confident that Jesus
Christ has power over death.
Lazarus
had been dead 4 days. His body was decomposing. His sister Martha
didn't want to roll the stone away from the tomb because she knew
that her brother's body would be badly decomposed and the smell would
be terrible. Yes, Jesus had waited until Lazarus was good and dead
before He came to raise him back to life!
One
day I am going to die and so are you! The moment that I breathe my
last breath here on earth, I know with complete confidence, is the
very moment that I will begin living forever in Heaven with Jesus
Christ.
How
about you? Do you know where you will spend eternity when you die?
Application
I
know for certain that Jesus has victory over death!
How
about you?
Romans
8:10-11
10 And
Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of
sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with
God.
11 The
Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just
as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your
mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Prayer
“No,
despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through
Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever
separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels
nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about
tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s
love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed,
nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the
love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“For our dying
bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our
mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when
our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never
die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death,
where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that
results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He
gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Daily
Bible Reading: Jeremiah 3,4; John 11
No comments:
Post a Comment