Jesus' presence brings life

What must it have been like to be in the presence of Jesus when he walked this earth all those long years ago.

Obviously, he was no ordinary man as there was something that generated from inside him and shone forth to those around him — life came from within him.

“Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out — the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’

“Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

“They were all filled with awe and praised God. ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said. ‘God has come to help his people.’ This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.” — Luke 7:11-17

Notice what the people were saying, “God has come to help his people.”

It needs to be pointed out the people didn’t say, “God sent someone to help his people,” but that God came.

It seems dead people had a habit of coming to life around Jesus. We are familiar with the story of Lazarus, this widow’s son, Jarius’ daughter and there may have been many others. In any even, it seems it was hard to be dead around the Living God.

We know (notice I said know) from the account of Genesis that God brought into being creation from nothing. We also read how God formed man out of dust and then breathed life into him.

Paul tells us in Romans 4:17, “God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”

Only God can create and give life, and the people around the town of Nain saw life given that day and they knew from whence it came when they said, “God has come to help his people.”

It is interesting to note the people of the town of Nain made the profession of faith that Jesus was God living among them, in the passages immediately following the great prophet who proclaimed the arrival of Jesus, John the Baptist, was doubting who Jesus was. We will not get into that, but John was expecting a different kind of power to come down from heaven. He, like many others, expected the conquering Son of David to come and set things aright. John didn’t expect the arrival of the suffering servant.

Yes, the power was inside Jesus to do the things John expected, but God’s love, mercy and grace were the embodiment of his awesome power. Yes, Jesus had come to set things aright, but not in the way John believed. Jesus came to restore life and to “call into being things that were not.”

The story of Jesus’ response to John the Baptist is another message for another day. The focus today is the restoration and the giving of new life.

It is amazing when we read about Jesus restoring life to this dead young man. Jesus, spoke to the lifeless body, just like a father would talk to his drowsy son on a school morning, “Young man, I say to you, get up!”

Those same words were spoken to us as sinners, and are spoken still to all who don’t know Christ. Matthew Henry, the great 17th Century preacher and writer noted in his famed commentaries, “The gospel call to all people, to young people particularly, is ‘Arise, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light and life.’

For us, as believers, Christ gives us so much more than mere restoration. Notice again what Paul said in Romans, “God calls into beings things that were not.”

We have a truth, which is complex in its simplicity, but a truth nonetheless; the power that raised this young man from the dead, the power that enabled Jesus to walk out of the tomb three days after he was taken from the cross; the power that created the church on the Day of Pentecost is at work in all believers at this very moment.

This power, the Holy Spirit, is not making us better, it is not adjusting things inside of us; this power is creating a new life within us to be conformed to the image of the risen Christ.

Just like the young man Jesus raised, we are dead in our sins, but Jesus will do so much more than simply restore life for those who believe in him.

“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” — Romans 6:3-4

While we have not obtained this perfected state, it awaits us at the coming of Christ, when we will be cloaked in his glory and not this temporary and corrupt tent of human flesh.

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” — 1 Corinthians 13:12

For years I have dreamed I would have endless questions of God when I got to heaven. Questions my linear mind would never be able to grasp here in this earthly body. They were questions of space-time; questions of God’s limitlessness and questions of I dare to even think about, but then I read this verse and understand there will be no need for questions.

In this new life Christ creates for us upon our belief on him, every question we ever have will be known will be answered. The sum of all knowledge will be available to us — and people think I’m a know-it-all now — wait until they are around me in a glorified body.

All this can be ours if we allow Christ to raise us from the dead — then we can be in his life-giving presence and we can proclaim to the entire world “God has come to help his people.”

Brothers and sisters, Christ, through his Holy Spirit, is still here with us today and he is still giving life to those who call on his name.

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I appreciate you reading my Bible commentaries. This, along with many I have written over the past few years can be found at http://enterthenarrowdoor.blogspot.com. I invite you to visit the site and study the word of God with me.