If Christ has been declared Son of God in power when He rose, so also shall we believers, who are sons of God, be publicly declared such when we rise. Then here we see how, with a single word of Christ, He destroyed the whole effects of sin; “Lazarus, come forth!” This single word overthrew the whole power of Satan in death. Death may be viewed under three aspects—it is the wages of sin, it is the judgment of God, and finally, it is the power of Satan; but in resurrection, by the word of Christ, man will be freed from all this. It is written (1 Cor. 3:2222Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; (1 Corinthians 3:22)), that “death is ours.” It frees us from sin, from the world, from all evil; then it will open to us the gates of heaven. The Apostle Paul would have preferred, for himself, death to life in this world, because by death the veil that separates us still from Jesus is rent, and we are brought into His presence.
It is said at v. 45 that many believed in Him because of this miracle; but the same love and the same power that was the occasion for some believing in Him, for others was the occasion of their going to accuse Him (v. 46). Here we still see the horrible state of the Jews, who wished to kill Him because many believed in Him. For them it was not a question of truth or no truth, but of their own reputation. Isaiah is not always so with man in all times? The high priest is moved (v. 50) by the Holy Spirit to prophesy, as Balaam was moved, a wicked man. Here we have two objects for the death of Christ—first, for the Jewish nation to lay the foundation for its restoration and all its blessings; and then, second, to gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Nothing is said here of the individual salvation of the soul. It ever was and is the intention of God to have His children united together, and He has sent the Holy Spirit to gather them together. This union was, in fact, first effected at Jerusalem, and maintained for some time; however, the seeds of divisions sprung up from them ever since. Already, in the second century, the greater part of Christians were not converted; and in the fourth century the mass of the unconverted came into the Church. Thus, for long this unity has disappeared through the infidelity of Christians, to whose responsibility this truth was entrusted. The unity of Christians on earth ought to have corresponded to the unity of the body of Christ. All God’s children ought to be together in one body, and the world outside; the Holy Spirit always works to gather them together, and it is always our duty to meet outside the world. If Christians have failed in this, our duty is ever the same. Christ is dishonored by the scattering of the children of God.
At v. 53 we see how man is a murderer, and that, because Christ had given life to a dead man.