Perhaps the most remarkable of all the miracles that Jesus performed during his earthly ministry was the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
- John says, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So [therefore] when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was” (John 11:5-6). That is the very opposite of what we would expect. We think that love should have driven him to go as quickly as possible. But “this sickness was for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (v. 4), and, as He said to His disciples, “I am glad for your sake that I was not there, that you may believe” (v. 15).
- Jesus’ words to Martha were very bold. In the face of death He said, “I am the resurrection and the life… Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (v. 25-26).
- Jesus showed his afflicted humanity and high priestly compassion for the living when He wept at Lazarus’ grave (v. 35, cf. Heb. 4:14-16)).
- Jesus prayed aloud to His Father before He raised Lazarus, so that the people would hear “and believe that You sent Me” (v. 42).
- Jesus called the four days dead Lazarus as if he could hear, and Lazarus came out of the grave still wearing his grave clothes (v. 43-44). This is the most astonishing act of all that Jesus did in those four or five days.
The last point is the focus of interest for this article.
The Scriptures use both resurrection and new birth (regeneration) to describe the same act of God. God “has begotten again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3). “Begotten again” is birth language. “Living” falls into the other category. “God … has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You” (Acts 13:33).
The new birth or regeneration is that mighty act of God by which He raises our souls from death in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3) and makes us new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17, Gal 6:15), having a new life and being fit to live in the new creation which our Lord will perfect when He returns. We are the “firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18). “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19).
Therefore, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead He was making a picture of the spiritual resurrection of our souls and of the new birth.
As Lazarus was dead and unable to hear the voice of Jesus, so we are dead in our sins and unable to hear the Word of God which calls us to life.
As Lazarus, being dead, was unable to do anything to help himself escape from death, so we, being dead are unable to believe or do anything to help ourselves escape from spiritual death.
As the power of Jesus’ voice, apart from any act of Lazarus, called the dead to life, so the power of God’s word, apart from any act that we may do, wakes us, raises us from the dead, gives us new life, causes us to be born again. New birth precedes faith. Faith is a result of new birth, not vice versa. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). He cannot even see, much less enter or believe.
As Lazarus’ obedience to the command of Jesus to “come forth” followed his resurrection from the dead, so our faith follows the quickening power of the gospel. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
When the gospel says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31), we cannot believe unless the Spirit of God uses that Word to give us new life. That is why Paul says that the message of the cross is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18).
Just as the voice of Christ will raise our bodies in the last day (John 5:25), so also the voice of Christ alone raises our souls from death and gives us life through the new birth. We are His not by our choice, but by the voice of Him to whom the Father has given us (John 17:8).
If you throw a life preserver to a drowning man, he may be able to grab hold and hang on long enough to be drawn to safety. If you throw a life preserver to a drowned man, he will not respond well, no matter how cogently or urgently you entreat him to take hold. When the life preserver of the gospel comes within our reach, our dead ears cannot hear, our dead hands cannot grasp, our dead wills cannot choose. We are dead, and dead means dead. But, if the gospel has power to raise the dead, then there is hope for the dead, for the voice of Jesus is able to open his ears, quicken his hands, and enable his will to seize hold of Him and not let go. Faith also is the gift of God (Eph. 1:19) to those unable and unwilling to believe.
“The voice of the LORD is powerful… The LORD will give strength to His people” (Psalm. 29:4, 11). We are “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:13).