Lazarus and Christianity Today
John 11:44 reads - He who had been dead came out, wrapped in burial clothes binding his hands and feet, with a cloth over his face. And Yeshua tells them, “Cut him loose, and let him go!” (Tree of Life Bible)
Lazarus had already heard and responded to the command of Jesus to come forth from his tomb just as John had anticipated back in chapter 5 verses28-29. So he came forth alive, but remained bound. What does this speak to us as the church of today?
We also hear the voice of Jesus calling us from our tombs of deadness in our sins and if we are saved, we have responded to that call and so we are alive as was Lazarus But many Christians remain bound by desire for sin, selfishness, ambition, pride, envy, and worldy pleasures. But there is a second call to freedom.
Unfortunately the call to freedom has not been given as prominently nor has it been heard as clearly. Many Christians think they are free because they have been told they will go to heaven when they die, but they remain very much bound by the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Lazarus must be loosed, his grave bindings removed, and his face uncovered. We today also must be loosed. Jesus did not only come to change our eternal destiny but to transform our life experience now (John 8:32).
Why does John specifically mention hands, feet and face? Our hands represent what we do, our feet how we live, and our face being covered prevents us from seeing God face to face. When we remain selfish, me-oriented Christians our work remains bound by our self interest, our living remains defined by our desire for sin, and a veil remains over our eyes and hearts preventing us from seeing God (2 Cor 3:18; 2 John 3:2).
But someone must hear the call to unbind them and set them free. Lazarus was not told to take off his own grave clothes, others were told to unbind him. It is time for the church to embrace the holiness of God and the call of God to freedom. We must lose the talk that has been embraced in the church that defeats us from embracing God’s character and nature and get on with coming to the fulness of the stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).
