Let him Go

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LET HIM GO

John 11:38-47

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." 40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"  41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."  43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"  44 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."  45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

NIV

Well here it is, the time when Jesus calls Lazarus from the grave. Several incredible truths are held within these words which record this event. The first truth lies within what Jesus said to Mary, “If you believe, you would see the glory of God”. Of course he formed it as a question, but the fact remains that in order for any of us to see the glory of God we must believe. The question which begs to be asked is if we have not seen the glory of God, do we actually believe? Then of course we also must ask what would we define as the glory of God? In this account it is raising Lazarus from the dead, so we must come to the conclusion the glory of God is demonstrated in some sort of supernatural miraculous way. Yes we define faith as being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This was recorded for us see how important faith is for us especially in our struggle again sin and the hardships of life. But here in this account of raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus thanks the Father openly so that the people, as well as us, may know that Jesus was sent from God, and they were going to believe because of the showing of the glory of God. I for one believed directly because of God showing me his glory in an overwhelming miracle which defied the science of photography. Then again and again he demonstrated his glory throughout my life, year after year in ways I could never have accomplished on my own. We all have experiences we can account of the glory of God in our lives; the greatest one is our hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit calling us to God. The second great truth in this account is when Jesus called Lazarus from the grave. Yes this is an actual account of a real event, but it also is a picture of what is to come in each of our lives. In this real event it is interesting that there is no record of what Lazarus said after he came out of the tomb. But as for the picture of what is to come in our lives, some day we will be laid to rest in a grave, and when that day comes, Jesus will stand before our tomb, deeply moved, and call out our name, “Richard, come out!” “Patricia, come out!” “Faith, come out!” “Cheri, come out!” Sarah, come out!” “Anne, come out!” and on and on all those who believe in Jesus, who have accepted him as Lord and Savior and put their faith in him, he will call by name each one,  to come out and take those grave clothes off for he has a white robe to give each of us along with a new name. So we have these two great truths which encourage us, if we believe we will see the glory of God, truly that day we are called from the grave we will see all the glory of God, but also each day we live, we are able to see the glory of God at work in our lives, and we too shall be called out by name from the grave by none other than Jesus himself and he will command us to be let go.