Other Attesting Signs (Continued)
Raising the Dead
Raising the Dead
Besides healing those who were almost dead, Jesus
Messiah raised those who had died. The gospel narratives record the raising of
the dead in general terms. When the
Messiah gave His disciples power to raise the dead[1],
they reported back with the words, “the
blind receive sight and the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed
and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them”.[2]
The gospel writers have also included a
sample selection of this particular genre of miracle. The three synoptic
writers recorded the ‘quickening’ of a young girl, the twelve-year-old daughter
of Jairus, a synagogue ruler.[3] Luke
adds an incident when Jesus stopped a funeral to raise a widow’s son.[4] In
addition, John is famous for his narrative of the raising of Lazarus, beloved
brother of Mary and Martha, who had been in the tomb four days.
A comparison of the 3 miracles would
show :
1. A
daughter. 2. A son. 3. A brother.
1. Just
died. 2. Dead a
day. 3. Dead 4 days.
1. In
the home. 2. At the
funeral. 3. At the cemetery.
1. Raised from a bed. 2. Raised
from a bier. 3. Raised from the tomb.
1. She ate 2. He talked 3. He
walked.
Raising the dead was the most startling of all
His miracles. To give sight to the blind
was wonderful, to loosen the limbs of the paralysed extraordinary, to cleanse a
leper was amazing, to provide hearing for the deaf and speech for the dumb was
remarkable, to give clarity of thought to the lunatic was astonishing, but when
He raised the dead He did all these things at one time. To give life to a
corpse, especially one who had been days in the grave, was astounding. The cadaver is blind, deaf, dumb, paralysed,
numb, unclean and without a thought in its head, all together. In giving them
the essence of life he provided sight, speech, feeling, hearing, mobility and
best of all a head full of thoughts, imaginations and aspirations – in other
words, He caused them to live.
Nevertheless, it was still not the final answer,
for each of these three died again, but they were tokens of an ultimate
resurrection. Martha said, “I know that he (my brother Lazarus) will rise again
in the resurrection at the last day.”[5] The
resurrection of which Martha spoke, is still future – then the dead will rise
no more to die. Confidence in that respect is high, because Jesus raised the
dead while incarnate on earth. The second fact that gives confidence is, Jesus
also rose from the dead - rose to die no more – He is the firstfruits of those
that died.[6] In
Jesus we have the answer to the question Ezekiel raised in the giant graveyard,
“can these bones live?” Messiah’s answer
is an unequivocal ‘Yes’.
When Jesus died He descended into Hades, and
emptied that part where the Old Testament saints were resting, namely, that
section of Hades called Abraham’s bosom or Paradise. As a sign that this was accomplished the
Messiah sent into Jerusalem
many resurrected saints after His own resurrection.[7] It
was the sign of the prophet Jonah multiplied many times.[8]
[1]
Matt.10.9
[2]
Matt.11.5
[3]
Matt.9.18 ff; Mark 5.21 ff; Luke 8.40 ff.
[4] Luke
7.11 ff
[5] John
11.24
[6] 1
Cor.15.20,23
[7]
Matt.27.52
[8] See
chapters 12-14
