While Jesus performed many miracles during his time on this earth, maybe the one that most challenged the human experience of the Disciples and the rest of the crowd that looked on was the raising of Lazarus from the tomb. Humans do not understand the supernatural and God operates through supernatural powers and abilities and Jesus displayed these abilities over and over again.

Any person who was aware that a family member or friend had died would be in a state of utter shock if that person stood up and regained life. It is unimaginable in our human experience. So, you can just imagine the response that the crowd gathered outside Lazarus’ tomb must have experienced as Jesus called out to him to emerge from the tomb. Even those with the greatest faith in Jesus would have had at least a modicum of doubt. It defies all that is within our human experience.

In John 11:11, Jesus says: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”  As I have written about in previous posts, this is one of the best examples in the Bible of the concept of soul sleep. Jesus regularly used metaphors and parables, but he did not use euphemisms. Jesus knew the glory of Heaven and would not recall a human, especially his friend, from such a majestic place to return to the hardships of earth. If that person only slept though, awaiting the Lord’s return at the Rapture, then it would make sense that Jesus would say that Lazarus had simply fallen asleep. The Apostle John and the Apostle Paul both described the death of a believer this way.

In this great reenactment of this incredible historic event, The Chosen shows us what it might have been like and the human response that resulted from this unexplainable event. (well done The Chosen) This was Jesus’ last public miracle before his execution.