910 God’s Authority to Bring Back the Dead
Intro
When Jesus resurrected Lazarus,
He said only, “Lazarus, come forth.”
So what do these words show?
Verse 1
God can do anything just by speaking,
including bringing a man back from the dead.
When God created the world and all things,
He did so with spoken commands, words with force.
Thus all was made, and it was accomplished.
Verse 2
These few words Jesus spoke were just like God’s
when He made the heavens and earth and all things.
They held God’s authority and His power.
All was formed and stood because of God’s words,
and Jesus’ words brought Lazarus back to life.
Bridge
This was God’s authority, shown and realized
in His incarnate flesh.
This authority belonged to the Creator
and the Son of man in whom
the Creator was realized.
God taught this to man
by bringing Lazarus back from the dead.
Verse 3
When the Lord Jesus caused things to happen
like bringing Lazarus back from the dead,
His goal was to prove to humans and Satan
and let them know that all about mankind,
including life and death, are decreed by God.
Verse 4
This was so that mankind and Satan would know
though God became flesh, He stayed in command
of the physical world that can be seen
and the spiritual world man can’t see,
and that Satan doesn’t rule all about mankind.
Outro
This was a revelation and a demonstration of God’s authority;
it was a way for God to send a message to all things,
that man’s life and death are in God’s hands.
Adapted from The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III