Page 105 - Advanced Life of Christ - Student Textbook

The entire episode of Lazarus’ sickness, death, and resurrection worked toward giving glory to God and
increasing the faith of Jesus’ followers, just as Jesus had said when He heard of Lazarus’ illness. Just
before He raised Lazarus, Jesus prayed, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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” (John 11:41–42). Jesus’ prayer was answered: Lazarus came back to life, and “many of the Jews
who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him” (John 11:45).

Upon arrival, Jesus came to the tomb which was a cave with a large stone covering the opening. This is
strikingly similar to the burial tomb of Jesus. The raising of Lazarus was almost like a dress rehearsal for
the resurrection of our Lord in the very near future.

Jesus ordered the stone to be rolled away. In the Jewish culture, contact with a dead body, especially
after the body had decayed, was defiling and required the purification process in order to be cleansed.
Besides that, it would be disgusting for those who removed the stone or were in the vicinity of the area
because of the great stench of decaying flesh that would emanate from the tomb. Martha objected to
removing of the stone for those very reasons. It would also reopen the painful wound of her brother’s
death and burial.

Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven and prayed to His heavenly Father and this public prayer is recorded in
the Gospels. Jesus is demonstrating to all that the miraculous raising of Lazarus was the work of His
Father as He does the works of God. God demonstrates His power and glory through His Son. Having
prayed, Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” It’s a good thing he used his name, because
if He had not, every dead body in the region have walked out of the grave!

When Jesus called to Lazarus, Lazarus emerged from the tomb—not a zombie or half-dead or undead,
but fully alive and well. Such is the power of Christ. Scripture never records what Lazarus experienced
during his four days in the tomb. We assume that his soul/spirit was in paradise, where the other
Lazarus was.

After Lazarus was raised from the dead, the chief priests and Pharisees plotted to kill him, because so
many witnesses to the miracle believed in Jesus (John 12:9–11). The enemies of Christ couldn’t deny the
miracle; the next best thing, in their view, was to destroy the evidence—in this case, the evidence was a
living, breathing person. But they couldn’t stop the truth from spreading
(https://www.gotquestions.org/Lazarus-in-the-Bible.html).

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