"TAKE OFF THE GRAVE CLOTHES AND LET HIM GO"

John 11 is one of my favorite reads in Scripture.  I love every miracle that JESUS performed because I love to see the defeat of the hold of the evil one on everyone of us.  I am also reminded that every circumstance is under HIS control, HE is greater than the circumstance, and there is purpose in allowing the circumstance.  Too often, I get caught up in the circumstance and how it is affecting me and mine.  The LORD'S very words, "for GOD'S glory so that GOD'S SON may be glorified through it" is the explanation of the purpose.

The BEST of the narrative is again, JESUS' words, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."  I wonder about the grave clothes.  They were only on Lazarus four days, but surely they emitted the stench of deadness?  Someone was instructed to remove them from Lazarus because they were wound around his body and prohibited him from movement.  I doubt that he ran out of the tomb when JESUS "called out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." He probably hobbled out of the tomb.

I quickly think of me.  When I experienced JESUS as my SAVIOR  and LORD, I too, had  odorous grave clothes/my sins and their habits that needed removal.  ONLY JESUS could remove those grave clothes from me, and HIS sacrifice on Calvary and the fact that I died there with HIM, has loosed the grave clothes from me.  Those grave clothes/my sins and their habits in me were loosed from me.  Romans 6:11..."dead to sin but alive to GOD in CHRIST JESUS." For my sake and the sake of the Truth of Calvary, why would I choose to be bound again in smelly grave clothes?  It is imperative that as soon as I sniff the odor of sin and its stench in me, I MUST move to 1 John 1:9, "IF we confess our sin, HE is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteous."  In this life, I realize, I will sin, but I can resolve not to allow the sin to become binding on and in my life and set up residence/stronghold.   I MUST be alert to HIS presence and HIS convicting love to finger my sin.  YES!  Whom the SPIRIT has set free is free indeed!


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THOSE SEEING CAN BECOME BLIND

Image
John 9 is the story of the healing of the blind beggar.  Not only is it a marvelous story of the miraculous healing of the man as he is given his sight, but a sad story of the religious of whom Jesus said, "For judgment, I have come into this world, so that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind ." The religious have seen the miracle, even though it has taken place on a Sabbath, and they interview the man and his parents for their stories and understanding. I find it so thrilling that the healed man speaks so articulately and logically with the religious in their "interview" with him.  His statement, " Now that is remarkable!  You don't know where HE comes from, yet HE opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners.  He listens to the godly man who does His will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." What truth he has spoken to the religious wh...
Read more

REHEARSALS

Image
  I wonder how much time do I give to rehearsing God's goodness and how He has intervened in my life to "save" me from myself?  How alike the Israelites I can be, complaining about what goes wrong, how it affects me, and what I lack.  As a Christ follower, I have the Indwelling Holy Spirit to give me remembrance NOT of my complaining and grumbling, but of a recall of God's faithfulness to me.  It is recorded in Psalms 78 and 106 that " They forgot what He had done, the wonder He had shown them", "They did not remember His power--the day He redeemed them from the oppressor...", "They did not remember Your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.", "But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His counsel.", and "They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt...". Contrast with me, God's remembrance: Ps. 106:44-46, "But He took note of their distress...
Read more

A DONKEY SPEAKS!

Image
    Numbers has been full of repetitive accounts of the Israelites and their disobedience.  They have now made several laps around Mt. Sinai, many of the original people have died off, or been killed for their arrogant and presumptuous actions against the LORD, Moses, and Aaron. The overriding truth of the accounts is the merciful grace of the LORD! Moses is in his last days of leadership.  The forty years are coming to an end and they are moving toward a second attempt to enter the Promise Land.  They have been victorious in taking land, and they are moving further into the interior of the land of Moab.  The king and the residents of Moab are "filled with dread because of the Israelites.  The king of Moab, Balak, sends messages to Balaam, who is a sorcerer and is able to to place curses or blessings on others.  King Balak wants to know how to defeat "this horde" that is licking up everything around them.  Of course, he is desirous th...
Read more