Yes, The Creator Can Do This

The dead man came out . . . 

 - John 11

This is the moment that carries the entire narrative. What good is Lazarus' sickness and his death; of what value is Christ'a lingering to get there; of them completing a formal funeral for the dead man, and burying him? 

It all hinges on the dead man coming out, under his own power, breathing as he did so. His heart is now beating. He can feel the smooth and sharp rocks under his feet. His thoughts are activated. To him, the four or so days that have passed, since he was last conscious, are but an instant. One moment he's laying in bed, struggling to breathe. The next he's lying on a hard slab, with daylight coming through the entrance to the burial cave.

I read recently, a quote by Mark Twain, stating that the Bible is full of thousands of lies.

Is this one of them?

If there is no resurrection . . . if the Lord of all creation can't even re-activate a dead person, then what good is any of it?

This moment is one of the pinnacles of 66 Bible books. Is there a "Top five" most important and breathtaking scenes in the thousands of years of history contained in Scripture? This is one of them.

If the dead do not rise, then our hope is gone. Jesus proved everything when Lazarus was raised. 

The dramatic moment informs everything we have been pondering during this season of Lent. Sin, death, decay. We are but dust. We're nothing!!!

But because of the Resurrection. Because our Father, who is able to create everything, can (logically) also restore life to anything. Thanks to him, thanks to life after death, we have become everything. And we are . . . we're everything to our Lord, God, and Savior.