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PARABLES OF THE BIBLE : Lazarus, come forth! When God wrote the Bible He
wrote to us from His point of view. However, when we read things, we have a
tendency to look at what we read through rose colored glasses. If we take off
those glasses and look at things through God's eyes instead, we may see things
we really don't like about ourselves. We are corpses, that's what God Himself
call us in Eph 2:5, 5:14, and Col 2:13. These are some of the many verses that
address our spiritual estate before salvation. God demands we look at the whole
Bible in this light and when we do, He then shows us more. Lazarus in Jn 11:1-44
is God's spiritual explanation, a parable, of you and me before salvation and
then God's salvation comes.
He was dead, he stunk, how much more descriptive does God have to make it, he
was a rotting corpse! He could not see, he could not hear, he could not walk,
nor think nor speak, nor move on his own, yet Jesus calls him by name and he
simply comes forth as he was commanded to do. God then describes a little bit
more about Lazarus' death. He was bound with grave clothes. In the literal
account of the raising of Lazarus, this is what he was buried in. But it's the
spiritual account that teaches us what God sees. Take off those rose colored
glasses and look at the account as God wants us to see it, not as we prefer,
seeing only a physical miracle performed by God and not looking at the miracle
of salvation that this parable teaches us. He didn't have on Christ's robe of
righteousness, he wore his own sinful estate (Zec 3:3-5). Once we are saved, God
gives us a change of clothes/heart (Eze 36:26) and we now wear Christ's robe of
righteousness (Isa 61:10) not our old filthy clothes/sins (Zec 3:4). Loose him.
Same word loose used in Mt 16:19; 18:18.
He was now freed from the bondage of Satan Lu 13:16. The people were more
concerned about his physical death, Jesus spoke about his spiritual death and
rebirth in this chapter. He literally raised the dead but it pointed to the
spiritual. Not to be funny but Jesus didn't say, Lazarus, open one eye and
listen to what I'm offering you. The parable here is one of complete death, no
life within at all. Therefore no response. The wicked cannot change on their own
Jer 13:23. God choose Lazarus' physical death to show us what He sees inside us
when He looks. The point is very straightforward, complete death, no life at
all. If you are unsaved, God is telling you that there is nothing you can do on
your own to save yourself nor help with your salvation, while unsaved, you don't
even know you are as a dead man. God must do everything, including choosing you
for salvation. The Gospel call goes out to all mankind, repent. Yet God knows
full well that no one will, therefore He did all the work involved with our
salvation.
This is very fair, no one will be able to say, you never called me to
repentance, He did but they would not repent. Ps 19:1-3 all mankind knows, Rom
2:14, 15 all of us know, it is written in our hearts, but our hearts are now
wicked, Jer 17:9. No one will have an excuse on Judgment Day. God calls us to
Himself. He has already determined who is saved and only those are made alive,
they get called and like Lazarus cannot resist, we have no say in our salvation.
Looking again at Lazarus, we should now see ourself in his place, we too are
dead. What can you do to respond to God when He calls? Nothing.
If, as God tells us in Rom 3:11, no one seeks God, we certainly cannot come
to Him to start with. (The use of the number 4 in the Lazarus parable; 4 days;
points to the universality of the situation, north, east, south, west. Rev 5:9,
kindred, tongue, people, nation. Psalm 107:2, God calls His redeemed from all
lands, vs 3, from the east and the west, from the north and the south. Lazarus
is a picture of all mankind, they all get the Gospel message but only God's
elect will hear the rest stay in the tomb.) If He calls to all of us and we are
dead, we cannot respond to Him either. That's why we're told in Jn 6:44 that God
draws us. If we're dead how do we say yes or no? We do as we are commanded, like
Lazarus. This is why He used Lazarus as our example.
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