Seven Miracles - Pt 30

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:43-44 ESV).

We come to a close of the miracles with today’s devotional. I will list five brief applications I see in this last miracle. Each of the others point us to this incredible moment when Jesus simply commands, “Lazarus, come out” (v. 43). And, without any other prompt, he does! 1. First, be strong in the face of hard times and seeming defeat, because God is not simply watching and waiting to turn it all for good. He is in it from the beginning planning it for your good. You will see the outside. It will look hostile and destructive. Inside God is at work for your good. Don’t judge by appearances. Trust the sovereign planning of God for your good. He gets many victories through apparent defeats. 2. Second, in the face of your own ongoing sinfulness, take comfort that the very heart of Christianity is substitution. When Satan and your own conscience condemn you, nothing will have more true power to comfort than this truth: God condemned your sin in his Son (cf. Romans 8:3). 3. Third, the amazing existence of the Jewish people today, and the certainty of their salvation in the future, is a sign in the 21st century that God exists and keeps his covenant. And if he does this with Israel, will he not with you who trust his Son, the Messiah? Don’t take this lightly. There would be no Israel, if there were no God. 4. Fourth, if we love the substitution that saved us, we should love what the substitution bought, a church of global diversity. 5. Fifth, the design of God in the death of Christ to convert and gather his scattered chosen ones should have two great effects on us. It should give us a rock- solid confidence in the invincible success of the cross. And, this design of the death of Jesus should give us an intense and personal sense that we are loved particularly, personally, especially. If you have trusted Christ, he gathered you to himself. He chose you, he bought you in particular. You see, He didn’t just offer us love. He pursued us with love. He conquered us with love. He awakened us with love. He satisfied us with love. And now we live, trembling and joyful, on the love God!