Joh 11:41 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord does not appear as an unmoved great one with the self-assurance of an almighty at the tomb. When He gets there, He again is deeply moved within. He was that when He saw the effect of death’s power in the sorrow of the sisters and the others ( ). Here He is in the direct presence of death itself. The tomb is in a cave of which the opening is closed with a stone. The Lord commands the stone to be removed. He Himself could have removed the stone or by some wonder cause it to roll away. He does not do that. We always see that He never takes from people what they themselves can do. He always engages people when something has to happen that they can do themselves. He takes care of the impossible, that which people cannot do. Martha thinks she has to remark that removing the stone paves the way for the stench of a decaying body. She thinks that the only consequence of the removing of the stone is that they are all again emphatically confronted with the deceased Lazarus in a very unpleasant way. She soon forgot what He said. The Lord lovingly reminds her of this and encourages her to believe. It is a lesson for us to heed the Word in faith. We will reap the fruit of such faith. That fruit is to see the glory of God. People obey the Lord’s command and remove the stone. Then He first raises His eyes and thanks His Father. He does not immediately call out Lazarus. First He shows His deep dependence on His Father in expressing His thanks to Him that He heard Him even before He called Lazarus to life. The Lord expresses His complete trust in the Father as the One Who always hears Him. He does not do this for Himself, but for the sake of the crowd around Him. His great goal is always to bear witness to the Father Who sent Him and that they will believe in Him. In turn, the Father’s purpose in doing so is to glorify His Son in it. He receives this glorification from the Father because He always does what is pleasing to Him. After He has spoken to the Father in the presence of the crowd, He raises His voice and calls out Lazarus. The Lord Jesus ‘cries out’ several times in this Gospel. The first time it is a crying out to come to Him and believe in Him ( ). That is the call of the gospel. The second time is here, a crying out to the dead. We can link this to the power of the Lord’s voice to bring to life the spiritual dead ( ). The third time is a final crying out to the people to believe in Him ( ). At the cry of command of the Lord, “the man who had died” comes forth. Lazarus is emphatically referred to as “the man who had died” in order to put all the emphasis on making a dead person alive. The dead person comes forth because he heard the voice of the Son of God ( ). There Lazarus comes walking out of the tomb, while the wrapping and sweat cloth are still on him. Everything that reminds us of death is still with him, but he himself is alive. Then the Lord says that Lazarus must be freed from his tomb cloth and sweat cloth. Again we see that He gives an order to others. He not only gives life, but He also gives freedom. From a spiritual point of view this liberation is the teaching from the Word of God that teachers give to the newly converted. In this way a person who has come to repentance learns to give up everything that belongs to his old life, what belongs to death, so that he can go his way in freedom for the Lord.

‏ John 11:41

The Lord Calls Lazarus to Come Forth

The Lord does not appear as an unmoved great one with the self-assurance of an almighty at the tomb. When He gets there, He again is deeply moved within. He was that when He saw the effect of death’s power in the sorrow of the sisters and the others (Jn 11:33). Here He is in the direct presence of death itself.

The tomb is in a cave of which the opening is closed with a stone. The Lord commands the stone to be removed. He Himself could have removed the stone or by some wonder cause it to roll away. He does not do that. We always see that He never takes from people what they themselves can do. He always engages people when something has to happen that they can do themselves. He takes care of the impossible, that which people cannot do.

Martha thinks she has to remark that removing the stone paves the way for the stench of a decaying body. She thinks that the only consequence of the removing of the stone is that they are all again emphatically confronted with the deceased Lazarus in a very unpleasant way. She soon forgot what He said. The Lord lovingly reminds her of this and encourages her to believe. It is a lesson for us to heed the Word in faith. We will reap the fruit of such faith. That fruit is to see the glory of God.

People obey the Lord’s command and remove the stone. Then He first raises His eyes and thanks His Father. He does not immediately call out Lazarus. First He shows His deep dependence on His Father in expressing His thanks to Him that He heard Him even before He called Lazarus to life.

The Lord expresses His complete trust in the Father as the One Who always hears Him. He does not do this for Himself, but for the sake of the crowd around Him. His great goal is always to bear witness to the Father Who sent Him and that they will believe in Him. In turn, the Father’s purpose in doing so is to glorify His Son in it. He receives this glorification from the Father because He always does what is pleasing to Him.

After He has spoken to the Father in the presence of the crowd, He raises His voice and calls out Lazarus. The Lord Jesus ‘cries out’ several times in this Gospel. The first time it is a crying out to come to Him and believe in Him (Jn 7:37). That is the call of the gospel. The second time is here, a crying out to the dead. We can link this to the power of the Lord’s voice to bring to life the spiritual dead (Jn 5:25). The third time is a final crying out to the people to believe in Him (Jn 12:44).

At the cry of command of the Lord, “the man who had died” comes forth. Lazarus is emphatically referred to as “the man who had died” in order to put all the emphasis on making a dead person alive. The dead person comes forth because he heard the voice of the Son of God (Jn 5:25). There Lazarus comes walking out of the tomb, while the wrapping and sweat cloth are still on him. Everything that reminds us of death is still with him, but he himself is alive.

Then the Lord says that Lazarus must be freed from his tomb cloth and sweat cloth. Again we see that He gives an order to others. He not only gives life, but He also gives freedom. From a spiritual point of view this liberation is the teaching from the Word of God that teachers give to the newly converted. In this way a person who has come to repentance learns to give up everything that belongs to his old life, what belongs to death, so that he can go his way in freedom for the Lord.