One of the greatest miracles that Christ performed on this earth was the resurrection of Lazarus from the grave, depicted in the gospel of John Chapter 11. By doing so, many of the people’s eyes were opened and they believed that Christ was in fact God. So who was this Lazarus?

1. Miracle in the Spotlight
Lazarus & the Resurrection BY: ELISABETH C. TUNSTALL

2. INTRODUCTION
❖ One of the greatest miracles that
Christ performed on this earth
was the resurrection of Lazarus
from the grave, depicted in the
gospel of John Chapter 11. By
doing so, many of the people’s
eyes were opened and they
believed that Christ was in fact
God. So who was this Lazarus?
He was the brother of Martha and
Mary and resided in the town of
Bethany. The bible spoke of how
Christ loved them greatly.

3. LAZARUS DIES
❖ When Lazarus fell ill, word was
given to Christ. Yet, He did not
immediately come to his aide nor
did He travel to Judea until two
days later. When Jesus decided
to leave, He explained to the
disciples that Lazarus was asleep
and that He would wake him
upon their arrival. The apostles
did not initially understand what
Christ meant, taking His words
literally until He stated plainly
that Lazarus was dead.

4. CHRIST & MARTHA
❖ As they were drawing close to
the town of Bethany, Martha got
word that Jesus was coming so
she met Him. She said, “Lord, if
thou hadst been here, my brother
had not died. But I know, that even
now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of
God, God will give it thee,” (St.
John 11: 21-22). You see Martha
had great faith in God but she
did not know what He was
going to do for her brother and
for her family.

5. CHRIST THE RESURRECTION & LIFE
❖ Now what Christ says next is so
important and embodies our hope for
those saints living and deceased. “Jesus
saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise
again. Martha saith unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection
at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am
the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live: And whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. Believest
thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord:
I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son
of God, which should come into the
world,” (St. John 11: 23-27).

6. CHRIST & MARY
❖ Martha returned to Bethany and
told her sister, Mary, in secret,
that Christ called for her. Mary
rose up quickly and many of the
Jews that were at their house
followed after her. When Mary
saw Jesus she fell down at His
knees and cried, saying, “Lord if
thou hadst been here, my brother
had not died.” Not only Mary
cried but the Jews that followed
her. This troubled Christ greatly.

7. JESUS WEPT
❖ The scriptures state that He
groaned in His spirit and wept.
Yes, Christ cried as well. He was
in the flesh and experienced
emotions just as we do but He did
not sin. You see, we are created in
God’s image and therefore our
ability to have emotions comes
from Him. The people were
amazed when they saw Christ
weeping. But they were going to
be even more amazed at what He
was going to do next.

8. LAZARUS’ RESURRECTION
❖ Christ went to the grave of
Lazarus, which was in a cave
with a stone covering it. He then
asked Martha to take away the
stone. Martha explained to
Christ that her brother had been
dead for 4 days. By this time, his
body had already started to
decompose and smelled of
rotting flesh. But Christ said this,
“Said I not unto thee, that, if thou
wouldest believe, thou shouldest see
the glory of God,” (St. John 11: 40)?

9. LAZARUS’ RESURRECTION
❖ So they took away the stone and
Christ spoke aloud to God the Father
above and said, “Father, I thank thee
that thou hast heard me. And I knew that
thou hearest me always: but because of the
people which stand by I said it, that they
may believe that thou hast sent me. And
when he thus had spoken, he cried with a
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth,” (St.
John 11: 41-43). Lazarus indeed came
out of the grave with graves clothes
on and a napkin on his face. Christ
commanded the people to release
Lazarus that he might freely move
about.

10. LAZARUS’ RESURRECTION
❖ Now there were others that
Christ had brought back to life
but not quite in the way that
Lazarus was. Many of the
Jews that witness Lazarus’
resurrection believed in Jesus
and that He was indeed the
Son of God.

11. FEAR & ENVY OF THE PHARISEES
❖ However, there were some
Jews who went to the Pharisees
to report what was done. The
Pharisees feared greatly that
many people would leave the
church and follow after Christ.
So they plotted and conspired
not only to put Christ to death
but Lazarus as well.

12. RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS
❖ Why did Christ raise Lazarus
from the dead? Everything that
God does is with purpose and
intent. It is never random or by
coincidence. God’s children
serve as signs and often a
testament of His work and power
as well as what is to come. When
Christ was on the earth it was a
time of signs and miracles. Many
people needed a sign, something
they could see with their own
eyes, in order to believe the truth.

13. RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS
❖ When Christ brought Lazarus
back to life He showed: 1) That
God the Father heard Him because
He was His only begotten Son sent
to the earth ( St. John 11: 40-41); 2)
That He was the God of life with
all power, even the ability to raise
the dead; 3) That Lazarus’
resurrection was a sign of His own
impending resurrection that
would occur after His death and 4)
Lazarus was also a sign of the
resurrection of all of God’s saints.

14. CHRIST CRUCIFIED
❖ Shortly after the death and
resurrection of Lazarus, Christ was
crucified on the cross. When Christ
gave up the ghost, the breath of life
was removed from Him. His body
was wrapped in linen with a
mixture of aloe and myth as was
custom for the Jews prior to a
burial. Christ was then buried in
the ground and remained in the
grave for 3 days and 3 nights, after
which He resurrected, becoming
our Passover by gaining victory
over sin and death.

15. CHRIST’s DEATH & RESURRECTION
❖ His death and resurrection is a focal
point of Passover and serves as a
refrain for us today and in the future.
Why? Christ is our sacrificial lamb. It
is His blood that seals us and serves
as a sign that we are His children and
will pass over from death to life
during the last days. Today, we
receive His blood through His holy
word, which is found in the bible, this
in turn makes us holy and prepares us
to pass over to eternal life. Christ’s
death and resurrection also ensured
that all people that are deceased will
be resurrected.

16. THE AFTERLIFE?
❖ Now when one dies, that is what
we refer to as the common death.
A very popular and pervasive
myth preached throughout most
religions is that there is an
afterlife when you die.
Particularly, in Pseudo Christian
churches, they preach that when
you die you go to heaven. There
is no where in the scriptures that
supports this belief. Lets dig a
little deeper and learn the truth.

17. IN THE BEGINNING…
❖ When God created humankind He created us to
be composed of the outer person and the inner
person. Paul so eloquently stated, “though our
outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day,” II Corinthians 4:16. He
then breathed within man the breath of life
making him a living soul. “And the LORD God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living soul,” (Genesis 2: 7). The
soul is our living self and it performs acts of
righteousness or wickedness. Because of the sin
in the garden, our flesh was corrupted with sin
and death. In Romans 5: 12, “Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned:”

18. OUR CURRENT FLESH
❖ As a result, once an individual
reaches adulthood, the body ages,
losing function and vitality
gradually and ultimately dying.
When your die the breath of life is
removed from you. Your flesh,
which is visible to the human eye,
begins to decompose, becoming
one with the dust of the earth, “for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return,” (Genesis 3:19)
However, the inner person, visible
only to the eyes of God, falls asleep
awaiting the resurrection.

19. THE RESURRECTION
❖ During the last days, the trump shall
sound and the dead shall be risen.
But it will not be done all at once
because there are two resurrections.
There is the first resurrection for the
saints and the second resurrection
for the wicked. In St. John 5: 28-29,
“Marvel not at this: for the hour is
coming, in the which all that are in the
graves shall hear his voice, And shall
come forth; they that have done good,
unto the resurrection of life; and they
that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation.”

20. THE RESURRECTION
❖ Paul also speaks about the first resurrection in
more detail in I Corinthians 15: 51-52, “Behold, I
shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed.” Note that he stated we shall
not all sleep but we shall all be changed. There
will be saints alive during the last days who will
ultimately change from mortal flesh to immortal,
never tasting of death. And for those saints that
have died the common death or have been
asleep they will be resurrected from their graves
unto immortality. This is also what Christ was
speaking of when he stated, “I am the
resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live: And
whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

21. CHRIST IS OUR EXAMPLE
❖ It is important to know that we
follow the example of Christ who
set the pattern for us in Heaven
and on this earth. It is evident in
the scriptures that when He died,
He In fact remained in the
ground for 3 days and 3 nights.
In Matthew 12: 40, “For as Jonas
was three days and three nights in
the whale's belly; so shall the Son of
man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth.” He did
not immediately go to heaven.

22. CHRIST IS OUR EXAMPLE
❖ The Father called Him out of
the ground and He resurrected
unto eternal life with the
breath of life returning unto his
body, (Romans 6: 4). This is a
testament and an example of
what happens to the people of
God. In Romans 6: 5, “For if we
have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we shall be
also in the likeness of his
resurrection:”

23. IN CONCLUSION
❖ Should we die on this earth, there is no
bright light calling us up to heaven. We
are like our Father. We remain in the
ground in a deep sleep only to be awaken
during the resurrection when Christ
sounds the trumpet. The people of this
world don’t speak much of the
resurrection but this is a part of our hope
for ourselves and for our loved ones who
are now deceased. We do not aspire for
an afterlife. We aspire for eternal life and
to be united with all the Saints and to be
united with God in heaven. “And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again,
and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also,” (St. John 14: 3).