Lazarus

It was to bring glory to God. Jesus did a lot of miracles.

You can't equate God's power to black magic.
That would be equivalent to what the Pharisees did.

 

1John 4:6 -- "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us."

"In the last days there shall be scoffers saying..." 2Pet 3:3 I guess it's the "season" for such.

skypair

 

SIGN MIRACLES, Sopi! Dr Rogers used to teach them as well. on account of what John wrote in John 20:30. Make the sense of them that John/God intended and your questions are pretty much answered.

skypair

 

The Jews of that day equated Heaven with being "in the bosom of Abraham"---which they equated with being in the presence of God, their Heavenly Father

Interestingly---Lazarus---upon his being called forth from the grave---left the presence of God and went to the presence of God---so there was never a moment where he was not in the presence of God--whether he be in Abraham's bosom---Heaven---or whether he be face to face in front of the Lord Jesus Christ

Where was Lazarus those four days?? In the presence of Heaven's "Holy, Holy, Holy!!!!"

 

"appointed unto man once to die" doesn't mean that one cannot be raised from the dead. This simply is stating that mankind is appointed to die physically, and then the judgement will determine the second death.

Here's a question I have to add to this thread. Did Lazarus have to be regenerated prior to obeying the words of Christ? In other words, did he have to be made alive before Christ raised him from the dead?

 

Webdog, don't you think it's possible that Lazarus, a personal friend of Christ and a man who sat under Christ's teachings for quite a while, might have already been regenerated before he died?

I'm pretty much with Scarlett on the idea that the ones spoken of as being resurected were all believers and/or children. Only two occasions I can think of that might contradict that idea. One is the raising of an army from a field of dry bones (there's a story for ya!). The other is Jesus raising the widow's son. This second being done on her belief and the son's not being spoken of. Of course the son may have still been a child.

 

So, if I didn't "hear" you and receive "your" blessing then I'm not of God and I don't know God?

I'm a scoffer too?

I don't scoff at God or His word. I just don't agree with all of "your" interpretations. There's a huge difference.

 

I'm just following the corpse argument to it's logical conclusion. If a spiritually dead person needs to be born again prior to answering Christ...why wouldn't this apply to a physical corpse, too? Was / is there no power in the words of Christ without the Holy Spirit's regeneration?

 

As Skypair has pointed out there large chunks of valuable Scriptural gold beneath the surface, and one must work at it to get there. Unfortunately there are MANY today that are satisfied with the gold dust found on the surface.

I'm not sure I would agree with Skypair's post as I didn't read it that closely, but the raising of Lazarus was a sign, which means it is pointing to something that is going to happen out in the future.

Lazarus is a type of Israel that is currently seen as dead (among other pictures) and this gives us insight as to the timing of Israel's resurrection as a nation.

Six out of the seven signs (I believe) in John's Gospel are tied to "days" which when understood with the arrangment of Scripture helps us see God's timeline for human history, especially in this case with Israel.

But you aren't going to find this on the surface of Scripture. Of course there are valuable lessons to learn on the surface, but there is even more value in mining the depths of Scripture that God has placed before us!

Keep digging Skypair!

 

You're close. I don't think regenerated is quite the right word in this instance. But I do think the answer is yes, Lazarus had to be made alive before he heard and obeyed Jesus' call to come out of the tomb.

It's a pretty good picture of salvation. We who were spiritually dead were made alive and enabled to freely and willingly respond to Christ's call in repentance and faith.

 

I never knew that you were of that bent.

 

So, there's no power in the words of Christ? Is Christ lesser than the Holy Spirit? You seem to be saying that a dead person cannot respond to Christ WITHOUT being made alive first, is that correct?

I'm sorry, but when Jesus said "Lazarus, come forth", it was the words of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that made that man alive. There is power in Jesus Christ's spoken and written words. I understand many calvinists believe that man has to be made alive to respond to Christ, I believe the power of Jesus Christ is sufficient. Which view questions Jesus' sovereignty?

 

You mean the Calvinist bent? Yep, 'fraid so.

I don't participate much in the C/A debates. Don't need to. You, Npet, Russell55, Reformed Believer, Amy G and the others are doing just fine without me.