Gods Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

The Issues Involved

In the death and resurrection of Lazarus, the issues were crit ical. Christ’s claim to be God’s Son was to be either established forever or eternally disproved. Why was it so vital that this con firmation of Christ’s claim be given? In direct contrast to the fearful destroyers—Satan and sin— God is the Life Giver, Life Saver, and Life Sustainer ( Psalm 36:9). But Satan has charged God with being the opposite, de claring that He is the one responsible for all the death and suf fering in the world. An example of this spirit in operation is seen in Elijah’s case where the king, who was responsible for the drought, charged the guiltless prophet to be the cause of it (see 1Kings 18:17). So powerful and subtle are Satan’s arguments, that the issue cannot be solved by declaration alone. It requires demonstration as well. Therefore, when Christ was here on earth, He had to give a visible demonstration of God’s character and power as the Life Giver, by giving life back to the dead. Countless times He had ac complished this by delivering people dead in trespasses and sins to newness of spiritual life. Perfect and complete as this spiritu al manifestation of God’s character was, it did not suffice. Those whose minds were entrapped by sin could not discern this won der-working power, for they could see and understand only phys ical things. That is because spiritual things are spiritually dis cerned ( 1 Corinthians 2:14). Therefore Christ had to raise dead physical bodies in order to give a conclusive witness both of His Sonship to God and of the character of His ever-loving Father.

Two Previous Resurrections

Prior to the death of Lazarus, Jesus had already raised two dead people—the widow of Nain’s son (see Luke 7:11–17) and Jairus’ daughter ( Mark 5:21–24, 35–43). But neither of these met the need of an indisputable witness, because each occurred under circumstances which the Pharisees and Sadducees could explain away.