43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
He who called creation into being by his Word, who controls nature by His Word, indeed, who sustains all things by His powerful Word, here raises the dead to life by His Word as well – achieved by His own authority. The writer of Hebrews states:
3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Heb 1:2-3 (NIV)
King David gives us the following Truth in Psalm 29 to which, I am confident Lazarus would exclaim a hearty “Amen!”
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic. Psalms 29:4 (NIV)
I think it interesting that Augustine once quipped that if Jesus had not specifically stated Lazarus’ name, all would have come out of their graves. Scripture cites other examples where our Lord raised the dead with His Word as well thus giving forth added public proof that our Lord had absolute power over the material world. The only son of a widow in Nain found in Luke:
11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out--the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." 14 Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Luke 7:11-15 (NIV)
The daughter of Jairus the synagogue ruler:
49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't bother the teacher any more." 50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed." 51 When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. 52 Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. "Stop wailing," Jesus said. "She is not dead but asleep." 53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he took her by the hand and said, "My child, get up!" 55 Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. Luke 8:49-56 (NIV)
Yet this scene at Lazarus’ tomb seems even more spectacular. Lazarus had been buried for four days, his flesh already beginning to decompose. Jesus orders the stone to be removed. With mouths and eyes of the onlookers as wide open as the tomb, Jesus calls forth the dead to life. Immediately, Lazarus’ emerges all wrapped in the cloak of death, fettered and encumbered with grave clothes. Jesus’ first Words to the onlookers being: "Take off the grave clothes and let him go." Free him from what drags him down, hampering his steps which would cause him to stumble and fall. What a picture of our own salvation. Those who are saved have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Peter tells us:
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)
Like Lazarus, we are to take off the old clothes of sin and death which inevitably causes us to stumble and fall adorning the new through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. We are to be new creations in Christ. Paul states in Colossians:
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Col 3:5-10 (NIV)
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Col 3:12-14 (NIV)
The life of our souls is in the blood of our Savior. Jesus is our Savior, our Sacrifice, our Sanctifier, our Sufficiency, and our Sovereign. He clearly tells us:
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 (NIV)