Bible Studies

zombies and Lazarus

by Douglas Eckert
11/18/16
Free to Share
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

-zombies and Lazarus

Is the Biblical story involving Lazarus a prophecy for the end times church?

This dead man, Lazarus, who Jesus raised back to life is posited in a very interesting location in John's (the revelator's) Gospel. Especially in light of our modern days. God's living Word comes to life yet again.
For it is quite undeniable, I have noticed, that this "Lazarus thread" is sewn quite prominently throughout these chapters of John.

 Not only does this miraculous raising by Jesus of the dead man show us God's power, but this physically dead man who has been "reborn" is a spiritual symbol of a Christian's rebirth.  Not only THAT, but it seems obvious that Lazarus is actually a symbol for the state of the church in these modern, or end times.I'll go so far as to say, and I will cite verses that support this, that Lazarus' sister Martha represents, in her interactions with Jesus, the dead modern, worldly, apostate church; and then the other sister Mary and her interactions with Jesus represent the still living, modern alive church. It is very interesting also (perhaps a support for this idea) that John in chapter 11 mentions Mary as the one who "washed Jesus' feet with her hair" BEFORE the story even unfolds in Chapter 12. ( Could this be some kind of "clue" of the prophetic nature of Mary, Martha and Lazarus?)

I also find it interesting that in John chapter 11, the Jews are incredulous at how Lazarus could have died in the presence of Jesus (an apostate church?) It is what Jesus says right in the middle of the Lazarus narrative, and immediately after His disciples fearfully state a (dare I say? "worldly") concern for Jesus' physical safety, that points to my idea.   It is here that Jesus suddenly and strangely starts talking about those who stumble around in the dark, (zombies?) and those who won't:

John 11:9-10 asv

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him. He repeats this idea in the next chapter, so it must be pretty important to Him , I would think.

John 12: 35-36 NASB

So Jesus said to them, "For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light." These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them.

We know that the purpose for the church is to glorify the Lord. This is the same thing Jesus says about the future of Lazarus:

John 11:4 nasb

But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."

The raised up Lazarus in the narrative clearly has a place as testimony to Christ as described here:

John 12:17-18 NASB

So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign.

Did God's own voice then confirm the future role of "Lazarus" as the future church when He declared?:

John 12:28 nasb

"Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." ( Through His raised up Lazarus like church?)

What is also interesting is how Lazarus' two relatives (sisters and brothers ...this sounds like a church to me) Mary and Martha are clearly presented in the Gospels as two operating "spirits" of how the loving church can relate to Jesus. This plays out especially in light of today's church.
There is Martha, the sister of service and good obedience, and then there is Mary, the loving adorer who rests at Jesus' feet and basks in His glory.
It's interesting that Luke chapter 10 starts with Jesus sending out the first "church" 2 by 2 with many instructions, then the chapter shifts to Jesus' warnings about how He is perceived, and HE talks about how He saw Satan fall from Heaven in context of what the church should REALLY be thankful for. The chapter then moves to Jesus talking about, by comparing and contrasting the good Samaritan to a Pharisee, what it is to "love thy neighbor".  And the chapter finishes out with Jesus chastising Martha because Mary chose a better way to relate to Him. The whole chapter feels like a warning to the "church " to me.

Upon looking more into this idea of Lazarus' prophetic role, I find that a common commentary says that Lazarus represents the end time Jews rather than the church.   And it says that Mary and Martha represent the church, much in the same way that I am illustrating, but with one crucially different, 180 degree shifted take. I'm not saying that this other take is necessarily wrong, but I feel one poor assumption is made (that I will point out) and then future points seem to be made by these expositors, based upon this incorrect, in my view, assumption.

Here is an excerpt of one of these commentaries (with my own take on it in the parenthesis):

Probably the most difficult type to understand is Martha's representation of the First fruits Rapture and Mary's representation of the Main Harvest Rapture. The reason for this is that most Christians view Mary as more spiritual than Martha, because of the incident in Luke 10:38-42.(Jesus, Himself confirms this very view.) Martha was busy with serving the Lord, and Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus and "heard his word." The lesson from this story is that worship and study of the Word come before service. (Jesus even says Mary chooses what is better...listening to His Word over being busy with works and being a worrier.) This is a lesson that Martha learned very well, according to her behavior and responses to the Lord in the story of Lazarus.
This reversal in order of Lazarus, Mary and Martha is a confirmation of the Biblical principle that the first shall be last and the last shall be first (Mat. 19:30; Mk. 10:31). For example, the order of the people mentioned in the above Scripture is the exact reverse of how they will be judged and rewarded according to their works. ..
( huhhh? An assumption is made here that I see as not really supported as this commentary asserts. The incorrect assumption that Martha chose better by works being rewarded is wrong and in direct conflict to what Jesus just said.)

Here is even more support of this idea of Mary relating to Jesus in a better way:

John 12:2-8 NASB

So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; (a VERY intimate way of relating to him) and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ( Perfume and oils are an idiomatic symbol of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus usually called "The spirit of Truth', or "the helper") But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people? ( This seems a VERY worldly way of serving Jesus) " Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. (I, myself experienced a "church" where two of these very pharasitic "disciples" were for years, pilfering the Church's money box.) Therefore Jesus said, "Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me." (So, relate with ME, in this BETTER way every chance you get.)

This 180 degree conflict, I think, speaks directly to the problem that plagues the modern pharisitic, worldly, deceived church. Doing works OVER having a relationship WITH Jesus that would give them a REAL understanding of the great deceiver, Satan. For, in the very intimate words of the very intimate part of the REAL Lord's prayer that IS John Chapter 17, the Lord says:

John 17:14-19 NASB

I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to KEEP THEM FROM THE EVIL ONE (emphasis added) They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. (This need for His people to be sanctified, or set apart from lies, or being "in TRUTH" is the source and inspiration for many, many of my writes.)

Here is an excerpt of a big part of the scripture from John chapter 11 with my running commentary, that I think supports my stated theory about Lazarus' (zombie like) prophetic role in parenthesis.

John 11: 1-46 NASB:

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus (the modern, apostate,worldly, silent,zombie church) of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, ( a better way to relate to Him as Jesus goes on to explain, especially in Luke ch. 10, again the narrative of this doesn't unfold until John chapter 12) whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love (the church) is sick (apostate)." But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."(Amen! The church's purpose IS to glorify God) Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. (Everything about the church) So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?" (His church showing fear of man, and/or of unbelieving Jews) Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.(Truth) But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." (The stumbling, zombie like, lied to, apostate, silent church that is not seeing truth.) This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; ( a sleeping church indeed) but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep." The disciples then said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." ('This is a natural thing', a worldly church seems to claim, 'he will overcome without your help Jesus') Now Jesus had spoken of his death, (the Spiritual death?) But they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.( A spiritual sleep?) So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus (the apostate church) is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, (what would it mean if Jesus were actually there and the church STILL fell asleep or died? HMMMMMM?) So that you may believe; but let us go to him." Therefore Thomas, (doubting Thomas) who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him." ( The kind of following HIM that Jesus always talked about. It's also interesting that doubting Thomas who went on to explore physical evidence, (reason) and THEN believe in the Lord's resurrection is the one who said this.) So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.(The apostate church long dead and buried?-Even longer than Jesus was in the ground?...interesting) Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. ( End time Jews and Christians coming together and finding common ground?) Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, ( doing it Martha's way of service, and NOT REALLY intimately relating to Jesus) my brother (the church) would not have died. ( Become apostate) Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." Jesus said to her, "Your brother (the dead church) will rise again." Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." (I know I can wait for you to move the church to life in the last days, so why should we do ANYTHING?) Jesus said to her, "I (right this moment) am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, (right this moment) and everyone who lives and believes in Me (right this moment) will never die. Do you believe this?" (Jesus lays it down to her) She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." When she had said this, she went away (mad perhaps?) And called Mary her sister, saying secretly, (why secretly?, Is Martha thinking : 'Obviously, He likes you better' ?) "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, (this properly worshipping church spirit, going to Jesus) they followed her, (Mary, a much more enticing witness to the Jews?) Supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. (An interesting crux point for Jews? In relationship to the church in the end times) Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." (An agreement between the living church and the apostate church) When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, ( a coming together finally of the Jews to Christ?) He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!"(This gentile) But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?"(That die hard pharisitical spirit raising its eternally ugly head in some people, yet again!) So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" ( Another reprimanding of the dead church?) So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. (This calls to my mind kind of a modern image of a zombie) Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. (End time Jews being converted to Christianity)
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

This old write might explain or pinpoint further exactly what the Lord seems to be showing me:

Modern "Pharisees"?

It is said that the Pharisees in Jesus' time were those "Jews" who couldn't see the obvious manifest Saviour who was right in front of their very eyes.

Could it be, that we have come full circle and the "modern Pharisee" is now the "church" that can't see the obvious manifest destroyer, Satan, who IS right in front of THEIR very eyes?

As the Holy of Holies of the temple was moved, so that into our hearts it was found...

The oncoming fireball that is the Holy Spirit of Truth is about to burn the church's
"walls" down to the ground.

John 11:36-37 NASB

So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?"

The most compelling support for my supposition of Lazarus as the modern, end time church relates to the Story of Lazarus as it continues unfolding in John chapter 12, and the different interactions between Jesus, Mary, Martha and " the Jews". I will put my running commentary in parenthesis, as I did with chapter 11:

And then, because of the ongoing threat of Lazarus as a "witness" to Christ's power, the Pharisees, (the worldly powers of the day) not only wanted Jesus dead, but also wanted Lazarus dead. (Much like the world powers today want the REAL church dead):

John 12:10-11 NASB

But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus. (In this light, how could Lazarus represent Jews?) It is also interesting that Israel, has for the first time, since shortly after this Biblical time,( actually 352 A.D) reinstated the Sanhedrin* (Pharisees), perhaps to deal with this new raised up Lazarus church?

The MOST INCREDIBLE EVIDENCE of this idea, I think... of Lazarus symbolizing the present day REAL (willing to lay down its life) church... is supported by the very next narrative, which is somewhat obscured by modern man's editorial insertion of a break in the chapters because of a new day. But the very NEXT narrative involves the "waving of palm branches", which aside from their presence all over the Old Testament prophetic writings, these palm branches also appear prominently in the Revelation's of Christ in regards to the martyrs of the last days, or the "tribulation":

John 12:12-13 NASB

On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout,"Hosanna!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord , even the King of Israel."

Here is a solidifying of this idea of Lazarus the
"raised from the dead, but then martyred, end time church" as predicted in the Book of the Revelation:

Rev. 7:9 NASB

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;

Rev. 7:13-14 NASB

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

All I can say is WOW!

No, I'll add what Jesus said right before God's voice declared that Jesus' death will glorify His Name:

John 12:24-25 NASB

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. (Is this the modern REAL church's true destiny?)...

...Interesting and challenging times ahead for the called out "Lazarus church" indeed!

*
http://www.puritanboard.com/showthread.php/4182-Sanhedrin-reformed-in-Jerusalem-after-1600-years!