“HE RAISED LAZARUS”

John 11

Imagine yourself seated in the narrow streets of first-century Jerusalem, the air thick with dust, debate, and expectation. The rumors swirl like desert wind—This Galilean rabbi claims to forgive sins. Some shake their heads, some lean forward with a cautious hope, and others mutter that only God can speak such words. You can hear the whispers through the crowd: “Who does He think He is?” And before the question even settles into the minds of those who ask it, a breathless messenger presses through the throng with news that shames every doubt and silences every scoffer: “He raised Lazarus from the dead.”

Can you imagine the shock? The very One who says your sins can be forgiven has just called a man out of his tomb. The One who speaks of life everlasting has just proved His authority over death itself. The same voice that declared, “Your sins are forgiven,” now echoes through Judea with a testimony no argument can erase: He raised Lazarus.

In that moment, every whispered suspicion about Him collapses beneath the weight of glory. If He can summon life from the grave, then surely He can speak pardon to the guilty. If He can command death to release its prisoner, then surely He holds the keys to every chain that binds the human heart. The miracle outside Bethany becomes the sermon none can refute—His words are not blasphemy, but divine mercy breaking into time.

And so the question that once stirred the crowds now falls with quiet conviction upon every soul: If Jesus can call a dead man out of the tomb by name, what can He not do for you? What sin can He not forgive? What darkness can He not scatter? What grave of fear, guilt, or despair can He not command to open?

He has proven Himself—not only a teacher, not only a prophet, but the Resurrection and the Life. The news that echoed through Jerusalem still rings through the centuries: He raised Lazarus from the dead. And if that is true—and it is—then every promise He gives you rests upon unshakable ground.

BDD