Lazarus' Silence After Resurrection

Lazarus, John, chapter 11. You know the story. 1 of the dear friends of Jesus, name is Lazarus, He’s sick. And the disciples say, we’ve got a message, Jesus.

They’re up in Galilee. They’re up north many miles. And they said, your dear friend Lazarus, Jesus used to stay in the house of Martha and Lazarus, brother and sister, younger sister named Mary in Bethany. And they said, you should go visit him, and Jesus delays.

Several days later, they say, are we not going? I mean, Jesus, you healed everybody, what about Lazarus? And Jesus said, Lazarus is sleeping. And they said, oh, well, that’s good that he’s sleeping.

Maybe he’ll get better. And Jesus said, no, no, Lazarus is dead. He called it a death. He said, our friend Lazarus sleeps.

And then he said, Lazarus is what? Dead. But Jesus had something special planned for Lazarus.

He then went from Galilee down to Bethany. Lazarus at this point had been buried and dead for 4 days and decomposition had already set in. Death is not pretty. The Bible says ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

And so Jesus goes, he says, let me go to the tomb. And Jesus tells Martha, he says, your brother will live again. You know what Martha says? She says, Lord, I know he will live again in the resurrection in the last day.

Jesus said, no, I got something special planned for your brother. Let me go to the tomb. And everybody comes. They say, oh, Jesus has gone to cry at Lazarus’ tomb.

And he’s in a cave, something like the tomb Jesus is later buried in. There’s a stone covering the mouth of this cave. And Jesus is there and a number of the Jews and the family have gathered and Jesus said, roll away the stone. And Martha goes, oh Lord, that’s not a good idea.

He’s been dead 4 days and it’s going to smell really bad. He said, didn’t I tell you if you would trust me? She says, do what he says. So some strong men got some levers there and they rolled away this massive stone and they could probably have the vapors come out and salt their senses.

And then Jesus prayed a simple prayer, and He said, Lazarus, come forth. And everybody held their breath, and all of a sudden, there was a stirring sound that came from within that tomb, and this individual came hobbling out because he still bound up something like a mummy and Jesus said, loose him, let him go, unwrap him. Now the last thing Lazarus knew, he had a terrible fever and he went unconscious and he wakes up and all of a sudden he’s all wrapped up like the mummy and he’s stumbling out into the light squinting and they unwrapped him and he’s alive.

Now think about this friends there are about a dozen resurrections in the Bible you’ve got the daughter of Jairus you’ve got where Paul resurrects Eutychus, Peter resurrects Dorcas, Jesus resurrects the little girl Tapitha, Elijah resurrects a boy, Elisha resurrects the Shunammites son, you add them up there’s about a dozen resurrections in the Bible. If there was someone dead for 4 days today, they’re dead, they’re buried, we know they’re dead, they’re clinically pronounced dead, they’re decomposing, and then all of a sudden with witnesses watching they are resurrected every news agency in the country would send their reporters and they would shove their microphone in the face and the first question they’d ask is, what did you see?what was it like?

Where did you go? What did Lazarus say? Nothing. Why?

Because Solomon said, the living know they’ll die, but the dead know nothing. Not 1 person who’s resurrected in the Bible ever makes a single comment on what they experienced in death. Because death is the absence of all life. They’re dead until the resurrection when Jesus comes.

They’re sleeping, and that ought to give you peace because let’s face it, some of us know some people that died and we’re not so sure they’re going to make it. I find comfort in knowing that right now they’re sleeping, they’re not feeling any pain, they’re not being judged, there’s a great judgment day coming, we’re talking about that tomorrow, and you don’t want to miss that, but they’re sleeping.