Why Do The Dead Live?
Joe Terrell

When he had said this, Jesus called 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”. (John 11:43, 44)

Why did Lazarus come out of the tomb? We may answer, “Because Christ called him out of the tomb”, and that answer would be absolutely right. But what motivated Him to come out? The answer is so very simple:

He was alive. And the living despise the grave. They find the tomb a disgusting and revolting place.

It seems that so much of religion is an effort to get the dead to leave the tomb. I advise against that. The dead belong in the tomb. When the dead are out among the living it makes the living uneasy and the dead’s putrification is an offense to them. Instead, let us preach the word of life with the hope that the Lord Jesus will issue the call of life just as He did so long ago in Bethany. Then will the dead come forth from the tomb ALIVE, and will be willing and able to exist among the living. Then will men be amazed. Then will Christ, Himself, have the glory for it.