The story of Lazarus in the bible contains such a beautiful allegory (a story with a hidden meaning) for us. Lazarus is raised by Jesus from death to life, just as we all need to be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, and Jesus is the only One who can do this for us.
In summary, Lazarus, who is the brother of Mary and Martha is very sick and dies. He is dead for four days before Jesus goes to raise him from the dead. Mary and Martha tell Jesus that they believe that if He was there, their brother would not have died, however they believe that he would one day be resurrected. When Jesus sees Mary and Martha crying, He groans in the spirit and is troubled. Jesus then calls Lazarus to rise from the dead and Lazarus is obedient. Jesus commands them to loose him and let him go free. You can read the full account of this in John chapter 11.
Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead (Lazarus), said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
John 11:38-44 NKJV
There are a few things I would like to highlight about this allegory, as I hope it will help us gain a greater understanding of a few spiritual truths.
- Lazarus is sick and dies. We know about physical sickness and disease, however there is a hidden spiritual meaning for us to understand here. Sin is spiritual sickness. When we repent of our sins, God heals us from spiritual sickness. I’d like to offer an example of this message from Scripture, so that we can see the connection.
Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:31-32 NKJV
ii. Lazarus was dead, but Jesus brought Him back to life. The hidden meaning behind this is that we were all spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins before Jesus raised us up from spiritual death to spiritual life. Once we have repented of our sins, we then need to get baptized to Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus was buried after He was crucified, and rose again, we too get buried with Christ in baptism and God then raises our spirit to life. The body of sin and death is buried with Christ, so that we can walk in newness of life.
Buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.
Colossians 2:12-13 NKJV
iii. When Jesus told them to take away the stone, the hidden meaning behind this is that Jesus can only raise us up from spiritual death, once a heart of stone has been removed in true repentance with godly sorrow. Scripture tells us that we all had a heart of stone before we repented of our sins. A heart of stone is a hard heart that cannot be cut (feel true sorrow over sin) in order to produce the fruits of repentance. God’s word also cannot penetrate a hard heart. However, when we repent God gives us a heart of flesh which can feel godly sorrow which leads to true repentance (turning away from sin). God’s word can also penetrate a soft heart, so that we can understand His word and respond to God with godly fear.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 NKJV
iv. Jesus calls Lazarus. God could have done a number of different things to bring Lazarus back from the dead, but He chose to call him. I believe that there is a point in each one of our lives where God calls us by name, to Himself. But sin has to be taken out of the way because sin will always bring separation between us and God, because He is holy (set apart from all sin). I believe that God will call each one of us from spiritual death to life, but it is up to us to respond to His call. We respond to God by repenting of our sins and submitting to God in obedience to His word. His Word tells us that we must repent of our sins, be baptized in water and in His Holy Spirit, so that we can live a changed life.
I came to this point in my life a few years ago (I was not yet born again at this time) where I really wanted to please God, and as such I started turning away from sinful things in my life. I thought I was doing it on my own, but now that I have come to know God, I can see that it was actually Him calling me unto repentance. I believe that this was the starting point for me on my journey with God, where He gave me a good understanding of the gospel and repentance, so that I could get baptized in water, receive His Holy Spirit and live a life which is pleasing to Him.
v. After Lazarus rose from the dead, Scripture tells us that he came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes. Jesus then commanded the people to “loose him, and let him go.” I believe that being bound hand and foot is confirmation that we were all slaves to sin and in spiritual bondage before we were born again. But praise be to God, when we are raised to life during baptism, the power of sin loses its hold on us and we are set free from spiritual bondage and demonic oppression.
This understanding has become is so real for us as we have seen this first hand when helping people get baptized. We have seen how people were set free from demonic oppression when changing out of their baptism clothes or ‘graveclothes’. This is where you see the power of God setting His people free from the power of sin and spiritual bondage. Thank You Jesus for Your goodness!
There is a wonderful testimony of this, should you wish to watch the video below:
May I kindly encourage you to seek the Lord in prayer to ask Him if you still need to be born again. God will help you, and He will show you the truth. I thought I had been baptized and received the Holy Spirit, but I was too young to understand the gospel and repentance. The result was that my life hadn’t change. Only after seeking the Lord diligently in prayer did He reveal to me that I still needed to be baptized in water and receive the Holy Spirit. He took me on a journey where I learned about why we need to be baptized in water and receive His Holy Spirit after true repentance.
This is the first of many blogs I will be sending out about understanding the gospel, what Jesus did for us on the cross and baptism. I pray they will bless you on your journey with God in Jesus name.