The Grave-Clothes

Date 01.10.2023

People of God GREETINGS!

It is another week and we thank and rejoice in the Living God, our Heavenly Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, for His provision, love, care, and his indwelling peace in us by the Divine Person of the Holy Spirit.

Glory to our heavenly Father in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at what the Lord has done. Today is 1st October, 2023 and you and I are alive in Christ Jesus and growing from glory to glory through the knowledge of His Word.

Main Bible Scripture:

John 11 v 39-44

Other Associated Scriptures: John 10 v 10, John 6 v 63 so on.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for another week of divine health, divine peace, divine provision and divine wisdom and revelation of God, the Father of spirits. We come today, this very hour, in our own accord, to feed our born-again spirit-beings with the rich nutrient of God’s Holy Word. We agree that your Word is the truth. We trust the Holy Spirit to bring the light of God’s Word into our minds and the direction of that Word into our spirits. We trust you, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we will be doers of your Word and not hearers, readers or speakers only.  In Jesus Name. Amen

Theme/Subject: The Grave Clothes

Our theme or subject is The Grave Clothes

John 11 v 39-44 reads 39“Jesus said take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Jesus, “Lord, by this time there is a stench (a smell), for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them “Loose him, and let him go.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, I like you to know that Lazarus had been dead and his body laid in the tomb four days before Jesus showed up.

Martha reminded Jesus of her brother’s decomposed body in the tomb. According to Martha, after four days of her brother’s body in the tomb it began to smell. By all natural accounts the situation was ‘decomposed (dead)’ and there was no sign of resurrection and life. By the natural predictions of the situation, Lazarus body was decomposed and smelly. But by faith in the Name of Jesus, the situation resurrected and it was living. Faith does not speak the natural situation but faith speaks the Word of God and faith believes the Word of God and practices the Word of God. Many children of God are so fluent in speaking of their natural circumstances and they lack fluency in speaking the Word of God and who the Living God has made them in Christ Jesus. A person of faith speaks but the Word of God.

It is true that in this natural life the absence of the Lord Jesus Christ in any circumstance or situation makes such circumstance dead, decomposed and lifeless. But glory to the Living God! Regardless of how long the decomposition- four days, four months, four years, forty years etc. Regardless of how strong the smell of the decomposition you are facing today; I dare you to call on the Name of Jesus!

He will show up to resurrect and bring life. For Jesus said this “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (see John 10 v 10).” Have you called on the Name of Jesus in that decomposed or dead circumstance you are facing that seems to wake you up in the middle of the night? The court hearing, the last medical report you received from the hospital, the departure of a loved one, your daughter’s marriage situation, your son’s marriage situation, your own marriage, your studies, your business, your career and so on. Just call on the Name of Jesus and He will show up to bring life. Please pause and reflect!

When Jesus said “Lazarus, come forth!” The command of faith was made and those words of Jesus that are life, brought back Lazarus spirit to his body. Lazarus body that by all natural accounts was decomposed. Jesus teaches that the Words that he speaks, they spirit and they are life (see John 6 v 63). This is why the Holy Written Word of God teaches us to let the Word of Christ dwell or live in us richly so that we can also speak life to dead situations in our own lives and that of our loved ones and others (see Colossians 3 v 16-17).

At the command of faith from the Commander in chief of our faith – the Lord Jesus Christ, when He said “Lazarus, come forth!” Lazarus, came forth! Glory to God! He came forth not in a decomposed body but he came forth living. Life overcame the decomposed body of Lazarus. Life, eternal life (ZOE) overcame our former decomposed bodies under Satan, the Life of God through Christ Jesus.

Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, I like you to know that although Lazarus came out of the grave by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ yet he came out bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Although, spiritually, Lazarus was alive, death was defeated yet Lazarus came out of the tomb still bound by the natural elements of the grave clothes. Jesus said to them “Loose him, and let him go.”  Many children of God spirits although are made alive with the Father of spirits through Christ Jesus yet they are not totally free from the natural elements (the grave clothes). The grave clothes today represent the longings of the flesh and the untransformed (un-renewed) minds (souls) (see Romans 12 v 1-2).

Although born-again child of God yet bound by the love of money, yet bound by pornography, yet bound by drug addiction, yet bound by gambling addiction, yet bound by alcohol addiction, yet bound by un-forgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, sickness and dis-ease and so on. These are all natural grave–clothes that entangle the child of God. But do not be afraid! In Christ Jesus, we have overcome! In Him we are loosed or set free.

Therefore, if the Son makes or sets us free, we shall be free indeed (see John 8 v 36).

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father in Christ Jesus we thank you for your incorruptible living Word, that Word has come to us, help us to be doers thereof. In Jesus Name. Amen.

To God be the glory forever and ever in Jesus Name by the power of the Holy Spirit. I know that you are blessed by these teachings, why don’t you share them with others to be a blessing also? It is also important to get your feedback and how together, through these teachings we are growing in faith in God’s Holy Written Word.    

By: Bro Thomas Boakye