![]() It is something to which to look forward. Lazarus still waits for the resurrection. His existence would have made him unpopular with Jesus’ enemies. In fact, some conjecture suggests that Lazarus might have made it on a hit list. Above the sarcophagus there was built a beautiful church, which was renovated. The faithful wept and buried him with honors in a sarcophagus made of Cypriot marble, on which they wrote in Hebrew: Lazarus of the four days and the friend of Christ. It will be uniquely you, but cleansed of sin and the curse and perfected. Lazarus ended his second earthly life at Cyprus in 63 A.D. Resurrection may not even use that much, if anything, of your earthly remains. The best modern medicine and even future science can hope to do for you is fix you. A new set of capabilities and less limitations can be expected as well. He has the full remake that humans have been promised by God: no more sickness, aging, pain, death or whatever. When Jesus comes out of the tomb after three days, He is resurrected. As with people who have Near Death Experiences, Lazarus was temporarily fixed and revivified by Jesus. A Word You May Not Know: Sheol As Lazarus is summoned from the grave, it would be easy to say that Jesus resurrected him but that would not be technically correct. Still, as a pre-resurrection of Jesus person, I would expect that he was experiencing what every righteous, Old Testament person experienced–which is not Heaven but a part of Sheol. Lazarus was not having your typical near death experience. Our awareness will be of wherever our soul happens to be. When we die, we may be unaware of the state and surroundings of our bodies, but we are very much aware and animated. When we naturally sleep, we enter an altered state of brain activity. The choice of sleep has lead to some confusion, though. Why did Jesus and later Paul refer to death as sleep? They want to save the word “death” to describe eternal exile from God. Jesus told his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.” They, naturally, assume Jesus was using the word sleep in the usual sense, but He was not. ![]() Jesus allows the death to happen to demonstrate His power over death and His compassion for all of us with respect to our eventual death. He told his disciples, “This sickness will not end in death.” A true statement, though Lazarus would literally die and be dead for four days. Time was of the essence, but Jesus delayed His departure for two days. Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived just outside of Jerusalem. ![]() Jesus was in Judea, keeping his distance for the time being from the Jewish leadership. ![]() In an attempt to help their brother, the sisters sent word to Jesus of Lazarus’ illness. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha, and all were friends of Jesus. In John 11 we find the story of the death of Lazarus. ![]()
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