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Procyon
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Lazarus and His Grave Clothes
2 stars|2 comments|January 03, 2008|445 reads
 

11:44 He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.


This is a message that I gave in church some weeks ago. John 11.44: ‘He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ was different. Read John 20.6,7. ‘Simon Peter therefore also came, following him [John],and entered the tomb; and he beheld the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth, which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.’

The grave clothes were completely removed in our Lord’s case; whereas in the case of Lazarus, we find that he came forth, bound hand, foot and head with the grave clothes or ‘wrappings’.

I believe that many of us who are born again need to have our ‘grave clothes’ removed. We are still bound by the vain customs and traditions of this perishing world. We have not experienced full redemption. Redemption is a big word; we have to be redeemed not only from sin, Satan and death, but from the flesh, the self,  the world, the law [legalism] and from fear itself. ‘I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.’ Psalm 34.4

We do not enjoy full liberty. We still hold on to the things of the flesh. We boast about our community, our caste, our denomination, our background, our qualifications, our position in society. We continue to seek name and fame, and are pleased to have ‘fans’ and ‘followers’ [those who praise us and seek to walk in our footsteps]. We continue to observe so-called Christian festivals, which have no sanction in the Bible. We continue to worship household gods, such as the TV or the music-deck. We are proud of our riches and material possessions.

We need to be completely freed from the things of the world and the flesh. That is why the Lord said, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’ Sometimes the unbinding can be very painful. It is not simply a matter of cutting through the bandages; there are times when the plaster has to be ripped off! The cross has to cut very deeply into our hearts. We have to realize the depth of sin and sinful attitudes within us. We have to let the Holy Spirit work deeply in us through the power of the Blood and the Cross.

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Gene Boecker
 Gene Boecker
January 04, 2008
Great perception, Procyon.  Although we are made new the old habits and old man continues to try to make a way into the newness and spoil it.  Imagine what it would have been like if the burial clothes had not been loosed from Lazarus.  Although the body was made new, there would likely still be the smell of death in them.  There are some Christians who continue to live new lives with the smell of death.  We need to be rid of those things.

Thanks for the great blog!
Jess Stuart
 Jess Stuart
January 04, 2008

Thanks Procyon,

I agree that we need more than salvation to live for Christ.  We need sanctification, too.

Here's a couple of other observations:
*  Jesus told the people around Lazarus to remove the grave clothes.  We need other people involved in our sanctification (James 5:16).
*  This doesn't just involve "vain customs and traditions", but sinful habits and attitudes.

All believers are in bondage to something (or addicted to something, it means the same thing).  One big thing we can be in bondage too is self sufficiency - the idea we can manage without God.  I don't know of anyone who doesn't deal with that.  I think sanctification involves daily taking our bondage to Christ and other believers we trust.  God has lead me into Christ centered 12 step to do this.  I never knew I could experience so much inner peace and healing!

I think the Bible makes it clear Christ is the one who heals us, and the healing process is supposed to involve other people.