Death

Sunday, March 17, 2013 | Fifth Sunday of Lent

Ezekiel 37:12-14 | Psalm 130 | Romans 8:8-11 | John 11:1-45

DEATH TO DEATH

“O My people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them” - Ezekiel 37:12

Jesus raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:35) and the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:15). However, these resurrections did not free the human race from death. They were not the death of death but only a temporary reprieve. Even the two people who were raised only lived a few more years, just to die once again.

However, when Jesus raised Lazarus, it foreshadowed His total victory over death and the resurrection of all who believe in Him. Before Jesus raised Lazarus, He said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life: whoever believes in Me, though he should die, he will come to life, and whoever is alive and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25-26). The culmination of the rising of Lazarus is not his coming out from the grave but his being untied and freed (John 11:44). Through the fear of death, Satan tries to enslave us (Hebrews 2:15). When Jesus raised Lazarus, He showed how He would break death’s tyranny over us (see I Corinthians 15:54-55), untie us from death’s chains, and let us go free. Jesus holds “the keys of death and the nether world” (Revelation 1:18). He not only raises the dead but also frees from death all those who believe in Him. Jesus does not just raise the dead, He is “the Resurrection and the Life.”

Prayer: Father, may we, and all those who believe, be raised to life eternal.