The Seventh Sign - Christ Raises Lazarus from the Dead

In John 11, Jesus confronts death head-on—not with a lecture, but with a miracle. His friend Lazarus has been dead for four days. There’s no pulse, no chance, no hope. And then Jesus speaks.

“Lazarus, come out!”

And he does. Wrapped in grave clothes, stumbling into the sunlight, Lazarus becomes living proof that Jesus is more than a teacher or a healer—he is the resurrection and the life.

But this moment wasn’t just for Lazarus. It was a sign—the final and most dramatic of seven signs in John’s Gospel, pointing us to who Jesus is and what he came to do.

Here are three truths that change everything:

1. Jesus Is the Author of Life

Jesus doesn’t just bring life. He is life.

“I am the resurrection and the life…” (John 11:25)

He doesn’t offer self-help or moral improvement. He offers a resurrection—the kind that raises dead people, physically and spiritually.

We’re not mostly fine with a few issues. The Bible says we’re dead in sin—until God makes us alive. (Ephesians 2:1-5).

There’s a line in The Princess Bride that’s more theological than it lets on.

“He’s only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. All dead, well with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do... Go through his pockets and look for loose change!" 

Miracle Max’s wisdom is funny, but it also taps into something very real. Spiritually, a lot of people are trying to live while being “mostly dead.” There’s movement, routine, responsibilities—but no life - just existence. Moreover, “dead in sin” - our condition apart from Jesus - means truly dead, not “mostly dead”: apart from divine intervention, there’s no hope for life at all. Sin is a pervasive and destructive power affecting the entirety of our persons, the human story, and the entire created order.

The undoing of death is one dimension of Jesus’ saving mission, and what we see at Lazarus’ tomb is a preview of coming attractions - Christ raising us from the death of sin into eternal life, as well as the general resurrection at the end of time. The gift of eternal life that raises us from the death of sin means that the greatest question is not whether or not there is life after death (there very clearly is), but whether there is life before death. Christ gives eternal life now that we may be members of his everlasting resurrection society.

Real life—eternal life—starts the moment you’re united with Jesus, not the moment you stop breathing.

2. Jesus Is the Shepherd in Our Sorrow

John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible, but maybe one of the loudest.

“Jesus wept.”

He doesn’t stand at a distance from our pain. He steps into it. He weeps with the grieving. Christ’s experience of anguish, grief, and anger at death - convulsing in tears at the tomb - not only declares his full humanity in a Gospel dedicated to unveiling his full deity, but shows us God’s heart as he looks upon the devastation death has wrought through sin. God sees the vandalism of death, this terrible enemy and thief that’s been stealing from humanity since Eden.

Jesus is outraged not at people’s lack of faith, but at the devastation death has caused. And he does something about it. “Deeply troubled“ was a phrase employed to describe the angry snort of a war horse drawn up in battle array, pawing at the ground, ready to charge, ready to enter the fray. Christ stands before the tomb and says, “Move the stone. Don’t worry about smelling the stench of death; get ready to see the glory of God.”

In the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus charges at death, letting Death know his time as a conqueror is nearly up. “I’m coming for you, Death. Just another week, and I’ll strike you down.”

3. Jesus Is the Savior of the World

Lazarus answered the call of Jesus and walked out of the grave. He had been utterly dead and decomposing, but Christ made him alive through the power of his word. This “effectual call” regenerated Lazarus, and the same Gospel call still raises dead sinners. This is the way of salvation and new life in Christ. We are elect, called, regenerated, and justified. But God doesn’t stop there. “Take those grave clothes off of him and let him go free” is the ongoing work that God the Spirit does in us to clothe us with Christ, to sanctify us, and lead us into holiness.

When Jesus calls Lazarus out of the grave, he wasn’t simply performing a miracle. By this sign, he signed his own death warrant. Raising Lazarus from the dead cost Jesus everything. This moment sets off the chain of events that leads straight to the cross. The one who gave life will soon give his own life. That’s what makes Jesus the Savior.

He doesn’t just interrupt death for a moment—he defeats it forever. As the great John Donne would write many centuries later, “Death, thou shalt die.”

So what about you?

The question isn’t “Will you live after you die?” The question is: Are you alive now?

You can be biologically alive and spiritually dead. Or you can be biologically dying (like all of us), but fully, eternally alive in Christ and destined for everlasting life in the general resurrection of the dead.

Jesus is still calling names. Still waking the dead. Still saying, “Unbind them and let them go.”

If you hear his voice today—get up. Come out of the grave. And live.