From John 11:39-44 – “Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Three things we are commanded to do for those Christ is to raise up:

a. Remove the stone(s).

First, even before the day of resurrection, take away the stone(s). Clear the way. Remove any obstacles that men may encounter unnecessarily.

This is a profound need for both apologetics – where there are legitimate questions which need answered, AND the crying need for the Church to avoid placing obstacles in the way of those the Spirit is quickening by the voice of Christ.

Do not require them to be clean first.

Do not make them fit into a preconceived cultural framework.

Several years ago I had a conversation with a friend who evangelizes in predominately Muslim countries. When I asked him about the key “stone” he needs to clear away for those hearing the Gospel, it he told me that they feared they had to become Americans in order to be Christians. His BIG work was to disabuse them of that concept.

We need to help take away the objections their own fallen minds, the world and the enemy have placed in front of them as best we can.

And arrest all of their doubts by pointing exclusively to the Cross, to Christ! To faith in Him and His atoning work, and to nothing else.

We must labor to take away the stones.

And, we need to be sure not to put stones in front of them ourselves.

Don’t make them victims of Christian-speak.

Don’t connect their coming to Christ with a political point of view.

Don’t require anything of them Christ does not require.

I fear that right now in American Evangelicalism, we are making it seem (if not actually saying it) that one must be a Republican or a Trump supporter – or at the very least, a Biden/Democratic hater – in order to be a Christian.

God forgive us for such a conflation and for placing this monumental stumbling stone in front of the graves Christ is calling them out of.

b. Unbind, unwrap them.

People come to Christ with their old grave clothes still clinging to them. Some former sins still drag on them, and they need help getting extricated from them. They have the smell of death still on them.

They are bound in hand – for they do not yet know how to praise, nor how to work for the Lord. They are bound in their feet: How to walk with Him is still beyond them, even though they’ve taken the few feeble steps to exit the tomb. And their faces are wrapped in a cloth: They cannot yet see very well. The truth of God’s Word must be taught to them that they might truly know this Christ and His wonders.

c. Release them. Let them go.

Do not make them bound now to you – but make them free to follow Christ wherever He goes.

You did not raise them – Jesus did.

They do not belong to you, they belong to Him.

As long as they follow Him and serve Him and love Him, no matter that they leave you. Let them go.