I want to continue to look at some passages showing the voice of God and the power of it. This time the focus will be on the 11th chapter of John and most specifically John 11:43 but for contextual purposes we will use the verses leading up to this as well.
John 11:43 says “When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” There are a few key things about this verse I wanted to dive into, the first is Jesus (God) speaking in a loud voice. While I do not know every verse in the Bible in which God speaks but of those I do and after a bit of research I was not able to find another instance of that level of specificity regarding God speaking loudly. We see God speaking in a still small voice, we see God speaking in general but not in a loud voice. You may wonder why I would focus on the fact that his voice was loud vs. the content or some other feature of the surrounding passages, and while that makes sense (and I will draw from the passages previous to this one) I would point out that every word of the Bible has a meaning and a purpose. God does not put idle words in his text. As we read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ALL scripture is God breathed….which means each and every word including the ifs, ands or buts of the text; or in the case the word loud.
I cannot presume to know why this is done in this passage but I am going to speculate based on my reading of the text.
The section of scripture leading to this verse give a hint as to why a loud voice is used. In verses 38-42 we see what has transpired before the loud voice is used.
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Jesus arrives and is moved by the stark reality of the loss of his good friend, however he is undaunted and asks that the stone in front of the tomb be removed. Martha, Lazarus’ sister, does what 99% of us would do in this circumstance, she points out to Jesus (God) that her brother has been dead four days and his body will have started to decompose causing an odor. Jesus, always the teacher, points out to Martha (and us by proxy) that he has previously stated if you (we) believe you (we) will see the Glory of God. I am sure Martha felt rebuked and maybe a bit shameful as Jesus said these words and I am certain I would have felt and have felt the same way at times when questioning God and his motives rather than just believing.
The stone does get moved and Jesus once again takes the opportunity to pray to his heavenly Father. The prayer and its content in my mind are the key to what happens in verse 43. Jesus says, “….I knew that you always hear me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me….” and THEN he says in a LOUD voice, “Lazarus, come forth”. Jesus could have easily said these words in a normal voice or a quiet voice and Lazarus would have still obeyed as it was God who commanded him to rise, but he did not use a quiet voice…he chose to use a loud one. Why? In verse 42 Jesus tells us…..so that the people standing here may believe you sent me. How do I draw that conclusion here? To be blunt, it is what the people around him expected. It does not specifically say that but in my mind it is inferred. Put yourself in the shoes of the people who were there and watched this miracle transpire. If a man, who claimed to be the Son of God, came up to a tomb where a dead man was laying for 3 plus days and quietly said “Lazarus, come forth” and he did, you would still be amazed but likely thrown off because the quiet voice was not expected. You would expect the Son of God to be an authority figure who would draw upon God’s power and command with a loud voice for the person to come forth. Jesus was an expert in human nature….funny how that works when you are the Son of God……and he knew that there are times in which you need to shake people up and throw them off to make them think and there are times in which you need to be GOD and in this circumstance he needed to be God so the miracle was the focus not the way in which it was done.
When I am going through life and listening for the voice of God to talk to me and I cannot hear it there are days (more than I care to admit) that I wish he would use this same approach with me and say in a LOUD voice…..”Knucklehead, come forth….or dont do that!!” The thing is, he is doing that but I (we) do not take the time to listen….
thesefivesolas 