0302. Four Days Dead

Four Days Dead

"Then when Jesus came, He found that he had lain in the grave four days already" (Joh_11:17).

There are three whom Christ raised from the dead.

1. He raised the daughter of Jairus. This dear child was just dead. When her father left home in search for Christ, she was at death’s door. As he was returning, accompanied by Christ, he was met by a runner who said: "Trouble not the Master, your daughter is dead."

Christ quickly strengthened the crushed spirit of Jairus by saying: "Only believe, and thou shalt see the glory of God." Together they went in, with the mother of the child, and he brought her back from the dead.

2. The second instance, where Christ raised the dead, was the case of the son of the widow of Nain. This young man was at least two days dead, and they were en route to the burial.

Christ stopped the procession, raised the young man from the dead, and gave him back to his widowed mother.

3. The third case of resurrection was that of Lazarus. Lazarus had lain in the grave four days, and his body was already decaying.

Whether was easier? For Christ to raise the daughter of Jairus, or to raise the widow’s son, or Lazarus? The three were all dead. The three were all equally dead. Yet, one was just dead, one was two days dead, and one was four days dead.

All of the unsaved are dead in trespasses and sins. The boy or girl who has come to the years of responsibility is dead. The youth who is traversing the early stages of the evil way, is dead. The great sinner, who has spent years in an immoral life, is dead.

Whether is easier? To save the child, or the youth, or the full grown man?

In either case it takes a power beyond man. Only God can raise the physically dead, and only God can raise the spiritually dead.

The effect of sin is quite different in different lives, but the fact of sin is always the same. It may take more grace to guide the feet of one saved from the depths, than it takes to guide the feet of the one who has just entered the downward way: but it takes the same power to impart salvation to the one as to the other.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR