Christ the Creator according to John 11. Part 12
Dr. Rafat Amari
In Jesus are explained the riddle of life and the secrets of creativity and order that life contains.
No history of prophets or of angels shows somebody moving towards a situation that is buried, stinking and dead. Jesus is the one who was there before the opportunity, before history and before creation. There are no principles that limit his work. He does not need to begin from a particular stage, or even from a cell. There is no aspect of the creation of man that he cannot bring into existence with a word from his mouth. There is no organ or cell that did not appear on the basis of Jesus Christ speaking to dust. There is no mechanism in the human body that was not established by that creative divine voice that stopped before the stinking body of Lazarus, ordering him to stand up and live. In Jesus are the springs of order, creation and life for that which is not and which he wants to bring into being. In his presence is the secret of creativity in our lives.
The way he approached that handful of dust in order to speak life into being explains the source of life. It reveals the riddle of life as lying in the presence of that un-beginning life about which the Gospel of John speaks: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” (John 1:3-5).
The way Jesus raised a living body from dust by speaking to it is a great confirmation that the order of creation, including man, came into being without gradation through an order given by the one who performed the sign in Bethany, and that the creation came into being mature, living and complete as Jesus let his will be heard.
We see an important truth here for us. Jesus holds an opportunity for every dead society to receive spiritual life.
Jesus does not have to wait for a decision from someone else in order to start work. He is not a construction worker following designs drawn up by another. When He created Adam, it was not a gradual work, nor did it start from a situation any better than that of Lazarus, who had begun to turn into dust.
Jesus is the one who places spiritual life where there is no longer the slightest hint of its presence. A tremor of hope flows through hearts that are living without either purpose or hope; where there is no difference between their state and the state of the dead societies which we live in, just as there is no difference between the body of Lazarus which has changed into a handful of dust and the dust in which he has been buried.
There is hope of spiritual awakening for hearts through hearing the voice of Jesus. There is a hope for barren hearts that are devoid of spiritual life, and approaching day by day the state of the dead societies in which they live. This fact makes the passing of Jesus an opportunity of life for every spiritually dead society.
The declaration of Jesus’ word and His Gospel prepares the way for a great spiritual visitation by Jesus to any society suffering from the factors of corruption and separation from God. Where the word of Jesus is presented, He creates spiritual life when it’s least expected.
No society is beyond hope. Jesus can create spiritual life in a culture more corrupt, dead and putrid than the body of Lazarus. In a society constructed from the rubbish of man, the result of cheap production that contains neither meaning nor truth, we see the word of Jesus addressing those who are under society’s cruel yoke, suffering from a deadly heritage that is burying their lives. He calls them to rise from under the authority of that deathly heritage and offers them new life.
As Jesus approached that pile of dust that was the body of Lazarus, to reveal his concern for the place where a greatly beloved friend of his had lived, indicating Jesus concern for any man who has been so effectively buried by a lying and corrupt heritage that Jesus’ friends had lost hope that he would rise from , just as the friends of Lazarus lost hope for Lazarus ,( I changed the sentence *) even though he had sat with Jesus and was counted among his friends and those who believed in him. They had also lost hope that a man in his state could emerge from under the corrupt earth and that treacherous heritage that had no faith in, love for, or contact with Jesus.
Today, many have joined the ranks of those who have been buried. Because of the corruption they lie beneath, there is no hope they will ever stand among the living. However, Jesus moves toward them, and His divine voice gives life, raising the soul from the clutches of a corrupt environment, false heritage and the dissolution of death.
Perhaps you too have friends or members of your family who lie beneath sin’s corrupt yoke. They live in corrupt conditions, where a healthy spiritual life is not expected to emerge. Do not lose hope and do not despair. A visit from Jesus can raise them up from that unhopeful state.
Pray to Jesus with fasting. Ask Him to save those you think are unapproachable. If you humbly pray and fast for such persons you will experience the impossible.
Copyright 2006 by Dr. Rafat Amari. All rights reserved.