In the Word

Guest (Female): Hello and welcome to In the Word with Michele Telfer. Thanks for joining us for this in-depth study of God's Word, the Bible. For more of Michele's free resources, visit her website at intheword.com. And now, Michele.

Michele Telfer: Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for drawing us together as you have, and I pray, as always, that I'd not get in the way of what you plan to do, but that you would speak. In Jesus' name, amen.

As we've seen, many of the miracles that Jesus performed were in direct fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies that stated what the Messiah would do. In fact, when people questioned whether or not he was the Messiah, Jesus quoted from some of those very prophecies.

Guest (Female): For instance, he reminded them that Isaiah the prophet had said that when the Messiah arrived, the blind would receive sight, the lame would walk, those who had leprosy would be cleansed, the deaf would hear, the dead would be raised, and the good news would be proclaimed to the poor, just as he had been doing.

Michele Telfer: The disciples also understood this to be the purpose of the miracles Christ performed. In his sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, verse 22, Peter declared that the miracles served a distinct purpose, showing that Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited or certified by God by the miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him.

These signs all pointed to Jesus Christ as being the way, the truth, and the life, the only way that mankind can come to God the Father to be reconciled.

Guest (Female): Later, the writer to the Hebrews would also confirm in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 3 to 4, that we need to pay careful attention to the message of salvation which Christ preached because not only was it confirmed to us by those who heard him, but God had also testified to the truth of Christ's message by signs, wonders, and various miracles.

Michele Telfer: So, no study of the miracles of Jesus would be complete without looking at those in which Jesus raised people from the dead. Interestingly, the vast majority of them are reported in the Gospel of Luke, which is hardly surprising seeing as Luke was a doctor himself.

Guest (Female): The first person that he records as being raised from death by Jesus was a young man who is only known to us as the widow of Nain's son. The account is found in Luke chapter 7, verses 11 through 17, and it tells us that as Jesus was approaching the small Galilean settlement of Nain, he encountered a funeral procession leaving the town.

Michele Telfer: As we've noted before, Jesus was always quick to see the needs of the individual even when they were surrounded by a crowd. That day was no different as he noticed the face of the grieving woman in the sea of faces coming towards him. She had not cried out to him, she had not flung herself at his feet, but he saw her tears and he immediately responded with compassion and love. His heart went out to her and he gently said to her, "Don't cry."

Guest (Female): In that culture, funeral processions were often large with many hired mourners in attendance. According to verse 12, the dead person who was being carried out was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."

Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on. All the bearers stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up." The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

Michele Telfer: I'm sure that we each appreciate his kindness to her in the midst of her pain, but perhaps we do not realize just how deep her pain really was. Not only did her son's death subject her to yet another loss, but in that culture, a widow would have completely depended upon her sons to take care of her once her husband was gone. Now that her only son had died, she would have had no way of living. What would she do without him?

Jesus was moved by her pain and touched the stretcher on which the young man lay. He spoke to the lifeless body and told him to get up, and when the young man did, the mourning was turned to celebration in an instant. People began to praise the Lord saying that surely God has come to help his people. This story gives us such a beautiful glimpse of Christ's compassion for his people. He knows the pain in our hearts and the fear we might have for our future. Like this woman that day, our circumstances do not escape his notice. We matter to him.

But the miracle is also a sign of what Christ came to do: to rescue those who are bound for the grave and restore us to life. This was not the only time that Christ demonstrated his incredible power and authority. In the very next chapter, Luke reports that Jesus brought another child back to life.

Guest (Female): Luke chapter 8, verses 40 to 56, tells us that a man named Jairus came to Christ and begged him to heal his 12-year-old daughter who was dying. Jairus was the head of a local synagogue and was a well-known religious leader in the community. Jesus went with Jairus to his home, and they were on their way there when the woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years touched his cloak.

Jesus stopped to heal her, and Luke explains in Luke chapter 8, verse 49, that while Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't bother the teacher anymore."

Michele Telfer: I think if I had been in Jairus's position, I would have been anxious when Jesus delayed to speak with the woman who touched his cloak. I can only imagine this father's frustration and heartbreak when someone arrived with the news that they were too late; the girl had died.

Guest (Female): Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid. Just believe, and she will be healed." 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. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. "Stop wailing," Jesus said. "She is not dead, but asleep." They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead, but he took her by the hand and said, "My child, get up." Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Michele Telfer: Jesus first spoke words of hope to this distraught father. No matter how desperate the situation seemed to be, he was not to be afraid; he was to just believe. Then, Jesus rebuked the disbelieving and mocking mourners gathered at the family's home, and he calmly declared that the girl wasn't dead, but asleep. He knew all would be well.

Taking a small group of people into the house with him, Mark tells us in his account that Jesus took the girl by the hand and said in Aramaic, "Talitha koum," which means "Little girl," or "My child, get up." Immediately the girl's spirit returned, and she obeyed his command to the astonishment of all who saw it. I think we can learn from these first two miracles that nothing is impossible for God. He is Lord over even death itself.

However, God's timing and purposes are often not like ours. Sometimes he asks us to be patient as he did with this father. He makes us wait longer than we think is right. At times, he even allows what seems to be a loss in order to show us the abundance of his blessing. Through it all, he asks us to trust him to do that which no one else can.

Nowhere was that better demonstrated than when Jesus raised his dear friend Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 11. Jesus often stayed in Bethany with Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary when he was visiting Jerusalem just two miles away. They were some of his closest friends, and so when Lazarus fell gravely ill, the sisters' first thought was to send for Jesus. He was ministering near the Jordan River about a day's journey away.

Guest (Female): So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son might be glorified through it."

Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."

Michele Telfer: Now, Jesus' response to the sisters' message is very interesting. He said that this sickness would not end in death but that God's Son would be glorified through it. Note that he didn't actually say that Lazarus would not die, only that that would not be the end of the story.

John goes on to say in verse 6, "So, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days before suggesting they go to Bethany to see his friends." It almost sounds that it was because Jesus loved his three friends that he delayed. Christ's disciples objected, knowing that it was very dangerous for him to return there since the Jewish religious leaders had recently tried to stone him. But Jesus explained to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up." Thinking that Jesus was talking about normal sleep, they protested saying, "But Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better."

Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake, I am glad I was not there so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

Guest (Female): When they reached Bethany, it was four days after Lazarus's death. Lazarus's grieving sisters both greeted Jesus with the very same words, "Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died."

Michele Telfer: In their position, I think I would have questioned Jesus' love for me. After all, if he truly cared, why had he delayed? And I think that is perhaps why John emphasized in verse 5 that Jesus' love for these sisters and their brother was never in question.

Can I just say to you that if you know what it is to face an unexplained delay, if you wonder if your appeal to heaven has gone unanswered, can I promise you that Jesus' love for you is not in question? He is at work and he is able to use even this type of situation for good if you continue to trust in him.

Guest (Female): "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, "I know he'll rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

"Yes, Lord," she replied. "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

Michele Telfer: Honestly, I'm not sure Martha even realized what she was saying as she tried to make sense of everything in her grief. In his reply to her, Jesus promised to raise Lazarus from the dead, and when she thought he was talking about the final resurrection on the Day of Judgment, Jesus spoke one of those powerful "I Am" statements we've talked about before. This time he said, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die."

When he asked if she believed what he'd said, Martha's remarkable confession of faith followed there in verse 27. She said, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

Guest (Female): Unlike her sister, Mary had no words of faith, only tears. Verse 33 says that when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept.

Michele Telfer: The shortest verse in the whole of scripture contains the deepest truth about the love of Christ. He weeps with us and for us in the face of death. Though he surely wept because of the terrible toll the death of their beloved Lazarus had on those who loved him, I believe that he might also have been crying for Lazarus because Jesus knew that he was about to call the dead man back from glory.

Guest (Female): Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. "But Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."

Michele Telfer: At that time, the Jews believed that the soul remained near the body for three days after death in the hope of returning to it, but it has been mentioned several times now that this was the fourth day that Lazarus lay dead. Any hope they had held onto of Lazarus returning to life was indeed gone forever. Once those present had obeyed Christ's command to remove the stone that lay across the mouth of the tomb, Jesus then cried out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

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." I believe Jesus called Lazarus by name because if he didn't, all the dead would have come out of their graves; such was the power of his command. As Lazarus was joyfully restored to his family and friends, we can only imagine the stir that this miracle caused in Bethany.

Do you remember at the beginning of this passage, Jesus had promised that Lazarus's sickness would not end in death and that it was all for God's glory because God's Son would be glorified through it? Now, I know that many people think that this marvelous miracle was intended to bring glory to God, and while that is certainly part of it, God's plan really was far greater than even that, for the raising of Lazarus would bring about the glorification of God's Son as well.

Guest (Female): Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."

He did not say this on his own but, as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on, they plotted to take his life.

Michele Telfer: The miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead was the event that caused the religious leaders to finally decide to put Jesus to death, an act that would lead to the greatest miracle of all, the final sign from God that his Son had come to rescue and redeem. It would lead to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

When the religious leaders had asked Jesus to give them a sign to prove he was who he said he was, Christ rebuked them in Matthew chapter 12, verses 38 to 41, saying, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here."

He then also declared to these leaders in Matthew 16 that his resurrection would be the sign from heaven that they were looking for that would confirm his ministry, providing convincing proof that he really is the savior of the world.

Michele Telfer: Christ's resurrection is the focal point of scripture, the most important event in the history of the world, and the raising of Lazarus was the miracle that began it all. Why is the final sign of the resurrection of Jesus Christ so important to those who follow God even today?

Guest (Female): But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Michele Telfer: You see, because death had no power over him, Jesus is able to give life to those who have put their trust in him. We can share in his victory. Jesus is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, meaning he is the first to be raised to eternal life, but he will not be the last. All those who hope in him will receive the same eternal life that he has.

Unlike other religious leaders, Jesus overcame death, and he promises that his followers will do the same. That truth gives us hope. It empowers us to live for God and to stand firm in the face of persecution because we know that we have everlasting life in Jesus Christ.

As we come to the end of our brief study on some of the miracles of Jesus, I hope you've seen the one that they point to: the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone can transform us and give us spiritual sight. He is the way to wholeness and the only way to true peace. He restores our relationship with the Father by his sacrifice on the cross, and he gives us a place and a purpose in God's kingdom.

He truly is the way, the truth, and the life. We can only come to the Father through him. If you haven't already done so, I hope you will follow the signs that we've studied and put your faith in the compassionate Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved you enough to die in your place and make you his beloved child. May God bless you.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to In the Word with Michele Telfer. Join us next week as we continue our study from God's Word, the Bible. Michele's teachings are available on all major podcast platforms, also on her website at intheword.com, and through the In the Word by Michele Telfer app. Please consider supporting this ministry with a donation through the app or at intheword.com, helping us reach more people with the truth of Jesus Christ.