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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 2
feeble, tottering limbs, but as a man in the prime of life, and in the
vigor of a noble manhood, his eyes beaming with intelligence and love
for his Saviour. He bows at the feet of Jesus and glorifies him. A dumb
surprise at first seizes all present; but now succeeds an inexpressible
scene of rejoicing and thanksgiving. The sisters receive their brother
back to life as the gift of God, and with joyful tears, brokenly express
their thanks and praise to the Saviour. But while brother, sisters, and
friends are rejoicing in this reunion, Jesus retires from the exciting
scene, and when they look for the Lifegiver, he is nowhere to be found.
This crowning miracle of Christ caused many to believe on him.
But some who were in the crowd about the grave, and heard and
saw the wonderful works performed by Jesus, were not converted,
but steeled their hearts against the evidence of their own eyes and
ears. This demonstration of the power of Christ was the crowning
manifestation offered by God to man as a proof that he had sent his
Son into the world for the salvation of the human race. If the Pharisees
rejected this mighty evidence, no power in Heaven nor upon earth
could wrest from them their Satanic unbelief.
The spies hurry away to report to the rulers this work of Jesus,
and that the “world is gone after him.” In performing this miracle,
the Saviour took a decisive step toward the completion of his earthly
mission. The grandest evidence of his life was now given that he was
the Son of God, and had control of death and the grave. Hearts that had
long been under the power of sin, in rejecting this proof of the divinity
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of Jesus, locked themselves in impenetrable darkness and came wholly
under the sway of Satan, to be hurried by him over the brink of eternal
ruin.
The mighty miracle wrought at the grave of Lazarus intensified the
hatred of the Pharisees against Jesus. This demonstration of divine
power, which presented such unquestionable proof that Jesus was the
Son of God, was sufficient to convince any mind under the control
of reason and enlightened conscience. But the Pharisees, who had
rejected all lesser evidence, were only enraged at this new miracle of
raising the dead in the full light of day, and before a crowd of witnesses.
No artifice of theirs could explain away such evidence. For this very
reason their hate grew deadlier, and they watched every opportunity of
accomplishing their secret purpose to destroy him. In heart they were
already murderers.