AFTER THE SUFFERING: THE MAGNITUDE OF THE MIRACLE
By: Frank Tunstall, D. Min.
Lazarus’ Resurrection
Lazarus, though dead, had been alive in the world of the spirit for four days. Jesus called Lazarus by name and although Lazarus had died physically, he was very much alive in spirit and answered to his name.
Lazarus heard and obeyed the voice of Jesus, his agape friend.
Jesus is your agape friend too, dear reader.
- The magnitude of this miracle, with each of its elements happening simultaneously, defies all rational comprehension, but is very reasonable to the Holy Spirit. At Jesus’ command, Lazarus’ spirit returned to his already decaying body. It is a fact, dear reader, a person cannot be a follower of Jesus who does not believe in miracles.
- Lazarus’ brain, indeed! the whole electrical system of his body had to be miraculously restored in seconds, so that it started sending again all of the proper messages to every part of his body, including full reinstatement of his memory.
- In those same seconds Lazarus’ entire nervous system had to come back to life, every nerve in his body.
- A body has thousands of blood vessels, but in Lazarus’ case for four days they all were full of coagulated blood. In addition, coagulation was already at work in the tens of thousands of cell-thin and blood clogged capillaries, especially in his lungs but also throughout his body. Lazarus’ entire blood system had to be miraculously purified and brought back to life in seconds of time. The process was done to perfection; there was no risk of a single blood clot later.
- Lazarus’ lungs had to be washed clean and oxygen miraculously supplied to his lungs. Normal breathing was not yet possible because his mouth and nose were wrapped in suffocating grave clothes.
- His heart had to be purified and restarted with a perfect electrical rhythm.
- The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia claims there are more than 60,000 miles of veins, arteries, and capillaries in an adult’s body. Lazarus’ restored-to-normal heartbeat began to pump his miraculously cleansed blood through all 60,000 miles. Not even one was missed on the journey to every part of his body, even the microscopic parts.
- The billions and billions of cells in his body, each of them dead, had to each come back to life at the same time and start welcoming again the clean blood stream of oxygen and nutrients flowing from Lazarus’ heart and lungs.
- Lazarus’ eyes had to open and start seeing again, although he was blindfolded by the grave clothes wrapped around his head.
- His kidneys had to receive instantaneous dialysis.
- Lazarus’ stomach and digestive tract had to be cleansed and made operational, without any stomach-ache!
- His liver had to resume normal function.
- So did the other glands, organs and nerves in his body.
- Four days had elapsed since Lazarus’ death. His body was already in decay. His skin, flesh, muscles and bone structure all had to be restored in seconds.
- People who have visited the ancient tomb of Lazarus in Bethany know it is necessary to descend into the actual tomb area by a series of crudely cut stone stairsteps. This also means Lazarus’ bone structure, including his legs, their blood vessels, nerves and muscles had to function properly. This required fully restored balance and strength to walk up those same stone stairs at Jesus’ command, without a support rail. Doing this bound in grave clothes, without an oxygen supply, is a huge miracle all its own. This climb would have surely taken a few minutes. Those moments of waiting by the bystanders must have been some of history’s longest minutes!
- All of this and so much more was restored inside Lazarus’ body in the seconds of Jesus’ command.
Surely some skeptics were in the crowd who were muttering, “I don’t see anything happening!”
Then, did someone shout out: “On my God! Oh my God! I don’t believe what I’m seeing. He’s walking out!” And to think all of this DNA structure had to come alive with four million gene switches turned back on in the blink of an eye. Yes, the countless trillions of cells in Lazarus’ body also obeyed Jesus’ loudly shouted, three-word command, “Lazarus, come out!” (11:43 gw).
The miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, therefore, is a combination of multiple millions of smaller miracles.
We can only wish we had been standing there to see the stunned looks on the faces of the people milling around the tomb when Lazarus walked out, bound in his grave clothes. The wonder of it all would have been evident in their bulging eyes, dropped jaws, stunned faces, and for a few, their fleeing feet!
Would you, dear reader, have gone into shock too? Would you have run from the scene? When you collected your senses enough to begin to absorb what was happening would you have started applauding Lazarus? What about freely worshipping Jesus?
THINK ABOUT IT: All roads lead to God some say. No, Jesus alone is the road!
The final command in the miracle was “take off his grave clothes and let him go.” Jesus was not willing to do for them, what they could do for themselves. They had put the grave clothes on Lazarus’ dead body, and they needed to take them off. It was part of their accepting the magnitude of the miracle.
With only a little imagination we can see Mary’s eyes beginning to brighten as her countenance took on a new look. She had walked with Jesus to the tomb depressed and carrying lots of emotional baggage. How quickly the cold grip of her depression began to loosen as Lazarus obeyed Jesus’ sovereign Word!
Talk about discovering new meaning! Perhaps Martha and Mary ran first to help remove the grave clothes from Lazarus, and then to embrace him. Next, they ran to Jesus and fell at His feet, weeping this time for joy (Psalm 30:11–12).
In those moments Lazarus’ tomb had all the atmosphere of the Most Holy Place in the temple. Jesus remains even today the epitome of the Shekinah, the Presence. He was the essence of the Spirit of God at the tabernacle in the wilderness (Leviticus 9:23–24; Numbers 7:89). This same Spirit moved in at Solomon’s dedication and settled down, claiming the house (1 Kings 8:11; 2 Chronicles 5:14; 7:2).
At Lazarus’ tomb, the Presence was standing among them in flesh and blood. Jesus is the Presence.
The horrendous emotional pain of Lazarus’ death fled from the sisters’ minds as quickly as the realization dawned on them their brother was alive.
What an “after” to suffering! WOW!
