Raised from the Dead

When is the last time you had an Ah Ha moment? That happened to me just the other day.  I noticed something as I have been reading through the Bible over the past few weeks. I am around Deuteronomy 10 and I noticed the phrase “the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” over and over and over. As a matter of fact I looked it up and it has been stated 20 times up to where I am and a total of 27 times in the Old Testament. So what is so significant about this? What did the Lord show me with this phrase being repeated over and over and over? What was my Ah Ha thought? This is it: He is in control. He chose me. He redeemed me. I had nothing to do with it. Just like Israel had nothing to do with being released from Egypt. God brought them out, God parted the sea and allowed them to cross over on dry land, God closed the sea and destroyed the army of Egypt. God provided manna. God did not allow their sandals to wear out as they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness.

Fast forward to the New Testament and we see this as it relates to the Believer.

Colossians 2: 13 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins

Ephesians 2: 1-5 - And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

The New Testament says we were dead in our sins and a dead man cannot do anything for himself. If his tie is crooked or his hair is out of place as he lies in the coffin he cannot fix them. He is completely dependent on someone else to fix them. That is us before God intervenes and spiritually raises us from the dead.

A vivid picture of this is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead:

John 11: 38-44 - 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

This is a great picture of the Gospel. Christ calling forth a dead man from the grave. Lazarus was not seeking Christ, Lazarus was not looking for Christ, Lazarus was dead but Christ made him alive. He brought Lazarus back to life some 2000 years ago and he is still bringing dead people back to life today in the spiritual sense.

I worship an amazing God who raised me from the dead over 20 years ago and I am eternally grateful.

Jude 24, 25 - 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.