John 11:44, commentary and pictures

After four days dead and decaying in the tomb, Lazarus at Jesus' loud command to the grave came back to life and walked out still bound hand and foot with burial wrappings and his face covered. The deed was His crowning miracle by His own divine word, giving decisive public proof that He has power and authority over death and the grave as the Son of God sent for salvation. Having given life, He then assigned those nearby to unwrap and release the living man, showing that Christ alone imparts life while people must do the practical work He gives them to do. Many witnesses believed and glorified God, while others steeled themselves in prejudice and unbelief, and the priests and rulers sealed their resolve to put Jesus and Lazarus to death. Lazarus came back to mortal life still subject to death, not to immortality, pointing to the future coming when Christ will call His own from their tombs to glorious immortal life forever.

Setting and Details

The scene belongs to the raising of Lazarus of Bethany, at whose home Jesus often found rest, welcome, and holy friendship. Having no home of His own and depending on the hospitality of friends and disciples, when weary and thirsting for human fellowship He gladly escaped to that peaceful household away from the suspicion and jealousy of the angry Pharisees and the weary conflict of public life. There He found sincere welcome and pure, holy friendship and interested listeners who understood and treasured His words, and He appreciated the quiet home and longed for human tenderness, courtesy, and affection. There He could speak with simplicity and perfect freedom without parables and open the volume of Providence, unfolding in private interviews what He did not attempt to tell the mixed multitude, and those who received the heavenly instruction He was always ready to impart were greatly blessed, in contrast to the multitudes following Him through the open fields who were slow of hearing even when He unfolded the beauties of the natural world to open their understanding to how the hand of God upholds the world and to call out appreciation of God's goodness and benevolence in dew and rain and sunshine given alike to good and evil.

The raising occurred after Lazarus had been dead four days and laid in the tomb, when his body had begun to decay and change so that friends shrank from it. The graveclothes themselves bore evidence that corruption had begun. Jesus first prayed aloud to the Father so bystanders would believe the Father sent Him, then commanded the grave with a loud voice, and life at once filled the body. The grave heard His voice and the dead man obeyed His command and came forth.

The dead man came forth alive but still bound hand and foot with graveclothes and his face covered with a napkin, so that he tried to walk but was held back and impeded by the wrappings. He came out of the tomb alive, still wrapped in his graveclothes, when Jesus called him. The miracle was done in full daylight before a crowd of witnesses, widely seen, known, and reported, so no artifice could explain it away, though enemies tried to distort the facts. Its fame spread widely and drew people to Bethany to see Lazarus and hear Jesus. In narrative order the account of Lazarus's resurrection stands just before Jesus's retreat to Ephraim.

Proof of Divine Power

The coming forth bound in graveclothes belongs to the raising of Lazarus as Christ's crowning miracle and God's crowning manifestation to men, wrought by His own divine power and word. By that word He called corruption back to life and health, restoring after four days in the tomb one whose body had begun to decay, as a testimony to His divinity. The work was done in the full light of day before a crowd of witnesses, openly seen and known, so no artifice could explain the evidence away. It stands as unquestionable, decisive, public proof that Jesus has power and authority over death and the grave. That proof is sufficient to convince any mind under the control of reason and enlightened conscience.

The miracle gives proof that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah, that God sent Him into the world for the salvation of the human race. In it He revealed the Father through His works and revealed His own divinity, majesty, truth, and character as Saviour and Lifegiver. The dead man obeyed His voice and came out alive, made public evidence of Christ's power by a word that restored life and health. The command that brought a four-days-dead body to life overturned the Sadducees' claim that resurrection is impossible and exposed their ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God. By that divine power in raising the dead He broke Satan's hold and delivered from his power, and the mighty work led beholders and those restored to glorify God.

Human Part Commissioned

After giving life, Jesus directed those nearby to loose the graveclothes and let him go, calling for human hands to do what they could by unwrapping and releasing him. He had first prayed aloud to the Father so bystanders would believe the Father sent Him, then called with a loud voice, and life at once filled the body that decay had so changed that friends shrank from it. The dead man rose in obedience to Christ and came forth alive but still bound hand and foot with graveclothes impeding his movements and his face covered with a napkin, so that he tried to walk but was held back and hindered by the wrappings. The graveclothes themselves bore evidence that corruption had begun, making his return a clear display of Jesus' power over death, while removing them was work human hands could do in cooperation with God.

Freed from the burial clothes, Lazarus stood restored in the vigor and strength of a man in his prime. He bowed at Jesus' feet in love and adoration and glorified Him. His sisters and friends received him back as God's gift with joyful thanksgiving and reunion, while Jesus quietly withdrew from the scene.

The scene teaches cooperation with God: Christ alone performs the life-giving work by His word and power, while people must exercise faith and do the practical work He assigns before and after He acts. As the people had to move the stone before the miracle, so afterward they had to unwrap Lazarus and let him go, illustrating the faith and practical work people must offer to prepare for and assist Christ's work. Christ does not compel people to cooperate, and unbelief, doubt, and human resistance can hinder the work He is ready to do, so the stone of unbelief must be removed so Christ can do His work.

Spiritually, Lazarus's return shows Christ's power to make the spiritually dead alive. The unbinding illustrates that human faith, effort, and labor cooperate with Christ's power to help reach people held in deathlike sleep, carnal security, and spiritual death. By that helping work they are enabled to hear the Son of God's life-giving call.

Belief and Rejection

The raising of Lazarus as the crowning sign led many who stood about the grave to believe in Jesus and to glorify God. That response strengthened the people's reception of His ministry and drew a large, enthusiastic crowd to see Him. The miracle was planned to take place after Lazarus had died and been laid in the tomb, and it became the crowning manifestation proving God sent His Son for the salvation of the race.

Others who heard and saw the work with their own eyes and ears were not converted but steeled their hearts against the evidence. They remained hardened in unbelief after repeatedly rejecting light, hardened in prejudice, hatred, and darkness, and came under Satan's power so that even this mighty work could not make them believe. The raising took place in the full light of day before a crowd of witnesses, giving unquestionable proof sufficient to convince any mind under reason and enlightened conscience, so no artifice could explain the evidence away. The Pharisees had rejected all lesser evidence and were only enraged by this new miracle, and their hatred and jealousy against Jesus grew deadlier because of it.

Rejection of this greatest and crowning evidence of Christ's divinity, majesty, power, and truth fixes men in unbelief that no power in heaven nor upon earth can break. The Jewish rulers had before been convinced of the Saviour's divinity, and Lazarus coming forth from the tomb after four days dead gave them what they could not possibly refute, wonderful enough to banish all prejudice even in the most unbelieving, yet instead of yielding and humbly confessing error their hearts were filled with bitterest opposition, stubbornness, self-exaltation, proud boasting, and madness. Resistance proceeds step by step, the first step leading to the second and the second to the third, until no light however strong and no evidence however plain has any effect, for glory that softens the humble, teachable, contrite heart only hardens the heart that will not yield, and truth shining upon a heart determined to resist only leads to further resistance. This vindicated the saying that if men hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead, for the law and the prophets are God's appointed agencies for salvation, and piling evidence upon evidence will not convince or lead to repentance those who refuse God's voice in His Word, but those who reject that light so harden their hearts that they will reject all light, even the testimony of a witness raised from the dead.

The crowning miracle sealed the priests' determination to rid the world of Jesus and His works, because His miracles were rapidly weakening their influence and undermining their hold over the people. Lazarus lived on as testimony that did not persuade the hardened Jews, and because his survival witnessed to divine power restoring life and health from the grave, the chief priests plotted to take his life as a living witness. The miracle made Jesus' fame spread and stirred excitement among the people, who wondered whether Lazarus would go with Him to Jerusalem, while the priests and rulers grew more hostile and malicious because the miracle was drawing the people to Him.

Priests and rulers who witnessed Lazarus come out of the tomb still wrapped in burial cloths knew the dead had come forth alive at His command, and this evident sign of divine power over death terrified them. They feared another public display of that power would ruin their plans, defeat their purposes, and perhaps cost them their lives. That fear made them dread His power to lay down His life and take it up again, made them fear He Himself would rise from the dead and appear again to judge them, and made Pilate pause and demand the charges be proved.

Teaching on Death

Lazarus came back from the grave with no story of death to tell, for the dead know nothing. His silence after four days in the tomb shows that death is unconsciousness, not a conscious experience to be recounted.

His coming forth was a return to mortal life, not a clothing with immortality. Like the son of the widow of Nain and the daughter of Jairus, whom Jesus also raised during His ministry, he remained subject to death and decay after he was called out. This stands in contrast to those who came forth from the grave at Christ's own resurrection, who were raised to everlasting life never more to see death or sorrow.

That calling of one four days dead out of the tomb by Christ's word points forward to His second coming. Then He will call the dead in Christ from their tombs to glorious, immortal life, to be with the Lord forever.

The command that brought the dead man to life shows the power of Christ's life-giving word. That word which summoned the dead is the word of God spoken through all the Old Testament, and the whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ. His word is with power, and it is the only source of spiritual life and power, the bread of life that sustains spiritual life as food sustains physical life. It must be studied and received by every soul for himself and assimilated into every action and attribute of character, giving immortal vigor to the soul, perfecting the experience, bringing joys that abide forever, keeping from sin, and thoroughly furnishing for all good works.

Comfort and Witness

In raising Lazarus and giving him back to Mary and Martha, Jesus showed His sympathy for those grieving a loved one, bringing joy and reunion to the sisters. That same compassion remains toward bereaved mothers who trust Him and toward women in their sorrow, and toward all who trust Him in loss. He delayed going to Lazarus even though He could not witness suffering without bringing relief, permitting the death so that this final and crowning sign could be given as evidence that He is the Son of God. In raising him He knew He would pay the ransom for that life on the cross, for every rescue brought Him nearer His own humiliation and death. His tears at the grave reflected sorrow that He could not save all whom Satan's power had brought into death, though He gave Himself as a ransom for all who would return to loyalty to God.

Lazarus came forth a real man restored to life and health after four days in the grave when his body had begun to decay, enjoying the strength of a healthy man. His return made him a living witness and living testimony to Christ's divine power and love, testifying that Jesus is the Son of God. His resurrection was an astonishing public testimony whose fame spread widely and drew people to Bethany to see him and hear Jesus. He sat at the table beside Jesus at Bethany with Simon six days before the Passover on the way from Jericho to Jerusalem, and later appeared among the crowd welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem, guiding the animal He rode, as a visible trophy prompting praise. His continued existence gave the nation a final test, threatened the rulers who opposed Jesus, and urged the people to consider what they would gain by putting Him to death.

The raising gave Nicodemus undeniable evidence of Jesus' Messiahship that could not be disputed in his learned mind. He had watched the life-work of Jesus with intense interest and pondered and weighed His teachings carefully without publicly acknowledging Him. Mary's gratitude for her brother's return led her to express deep love toward Jesus by anointing Him with costly ointment. Her memory of the now-vacant tomb where Lazarus had lain, called forth by His word and power and restored to his family, made her think of it as a possible place to bury Jesus.

Raising the dead stands with healing the sick, controlling satanic agencies, stilling the angry waters, and walking upon the waves as proof that He possessed power over disease, evil spirits, the elements of nature, and death, power to quell all opposition and to set up His kingdom. Raising the dead to life fulfilled His mission as the Pattern Man to lift the whole race to a new and perfect life, just as certainly as toiling as a carpenter hiding His divine mission, treading the foaming waves on the Sea of Galilee, and dying as man's sacrifice on the cross. His attention to small things is an even higher proof of His greatness and compassion. His death would not stop miracles performed in His name or the spread of the teaching He had given.