Was Lazarus Happy To Be Brought Back from the Dead?
I’m just trying to figure out something in my head. As a former Adventist, I now believe that our spirits go to be with the Lord when we die. An Adventist friend of mine brought something up on Friday, and I can’t seem figure it out. He asked why would Lazarus have been happy to be raised from the dead when he was already with the Lord? I know that those who died pre-Cross were not with the Lord and were in Abrahams bosom. Is that where Lazarus was? Can you explain how all of that may have worked out? Thank you so much.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing!
First, that Adventist argument that Lazarus wouldn’t have wanted to return, that he had no words to say what he experienced—those arguments are entirely speculative. They go FAR beyond the words of Scripture and assign “what if’s” to an account that doesn’t tell us the details.
Those “what if’s” and speculations are human reasoning about a reality we have absolutely no knowledge of. The Bible does not tell us what the dead EXPERIENCE when they die. In fact, in 2 Corinthians 12 we learn that Paul was not allowed to tell what he experienced when he was taken to the third heaven.
God has not told us the details of what happens after death except that we are absent from the body and present with the Lord if we are believers.
Before the cross, we know even less. But in Jesus’ story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16), He told of Lazarus being in Abraham’s bosom and the rich man being in Hades and being in torment.
All we know about Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha is that Lazarus died, and his spirit separated from his body. When Jesus brought him back, Lazarus came to life and left the tomb. We have absolutely no permission nor information from which to deduce an ARGUMENT for what Lazarus might have felt or wanted! The story wasn’t about Lazarus, anyway. The Lord Jesus raised Lazarus because He was showing that He Had the Power of Life in Himself!
In fact, just days later he gave the story of Lazarus and the rich man and said that if people didn’t believe the Scriptures they had, they wouldn’t believe even if someone rose from the dead! He was pointing forward to His own resurrection which would occur just a few days from then. And certainly Lazarus’s being raised did not cause them to believe. John tells us that the Pharisees looked for ways to kill him after his being raised!
Adventists always argue using speculations about Lazarus. We can’t go beyond what Scripture tells us. We can’t make arguments about something of which we have NO knowledge beyond what God has told us. We have to live with the unanswered questions—but when we believe that what He actually says is REAL, those questions begin to resolve even if we don’t have the details.
What I believe occurred at this point is that, before the cross when Jesus’ blood broke the curse of death for believers, the righteous dead went to the “place of the dead” (also called Hades), but to a place or in an environment that was not suffering. Apparently that place was called “Abraham’s bosom”, and I believe this is a real thing because it was Jesus who told the story. It wasn’t “in Christ” yet because He hadn’t died and risen yet, but it was a place of rest and peace, not suffering.
When Jesus died and descended and preached to the “spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19), he apparently left and took with him the spirits of the righteous dead (Ephesians 4:8).
Now, I cannot PROVE this understanding is exactly what happened, but it is how I see these somewhat obscure passages might be understood.
What we know is that Lazarus was dead and was brought back to life—not glorified, but brought back to a mortal body. He couldn’t have been glorified yet because Jesus is the first fruits of the dead. He was the first human to rise, glorified, in the resurrection. All of us who believe will follow in our own time:
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by a man [came] death, by a man also [came] the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.— (1 Corithians 15:20-23 LSB)
I’m sorry I can’t be more specific, but we are simply not told. But I know that the arrogance and deceptive nature of the Adventist arguments and scoffing are irreverent and oppose what we actually do know from Scripture. Jesus raised Lazarus, and his spirit left his body just as Paul said it does in Philippians 1:22, 23 and 2 Corinthians 5—and just as Jesus’s own story of the rich and and Lazarus shows us!
What About the Other Nine?
I’m sorry to bother you again. You are my go-to with your knowledge and experience.
Many Adventists will say, “Well, what about the other nine commandments? Is it OK to lie, steal, and murder?”
I honestly don’t know how to answer that. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing!
First, the Adventist argument assumes their doctrine that the Law is eternal and existed in heaven before creation. It assumes that the Law is how we know morality and right from wrong.
But the law is NOT our source of moral knowledge. Romans 2:14 even explains that some gentiles “who do not have the law” nevertheless do the things of the law because their consciences convict them. So—where do those gentiles without the law get sensitive consciences?
A sense of morality is part of the image of God created in us. Morality comes from GOD, not from the law!
In fact, human laws reflect moral values, and where do those values originate? They flow from the Creator of all humanity!
Laws, meanwhile, often reflect the same moral values even when they are governing different nations. The laws of Great Britain, for example, contain prohibitions against stealing, treason, and murder—and so do the laws of the USA, of Germany, of France…and so on. Yet Americans are not under the laws of those other countries, nor are they judged or ruled by them. Americans are governed and judged only by the laws of the USA.
The Law in the Bible refers to the old covenant, the law mediated by Moses on Sinai. The Ten are not separate from the whole law but were actually “the words of the covenant” (Ex. 34:27, 28). The Decalogue was the actual “abstract” of the Mosaic covenant; all the other 603 laws explained how to apply the Ten. They were not (are not) eternal; they had a distinct existence: they were given 430 years after Abraham and lasted until the Seed came (Gal. 3:17–22).
In the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, there is a new law. Hebrews 7:11, 12 explains that when the priesthood changes, there is a change of the law OF NECESSITY. This new law is what Paul calls the “law of Christ” (1 Cor. 9:20). The old covenant law is now fulfilled in Jesus—including “the other nine”—and a new law now governs believers.
The new law contains the same—plus many more requirements of the heart—as did the Mosaic law, because the Author of both laws is the same: the Lord God. Morality comes from God, not from the law.
The laws of Great Britain and the USA, for example, contain many of the same moral requirements because they have similar origins: the Magna Carta, the Decalogue, the actual morality of the Judeo-Christian legacy. All moral purity originates in God; law flows from God’s justice and righteousness.
So what is the law written on the hearts of believers?
It’s not the Ten. The Law of Christ is the literal presence of the Law-giver indwelling us, and we have God Himself working in us to will and to do His pleasure. He teaches us to say NO to ungodliness. Even more specifically, we have the entire opus of the epistles written to believers, articulating the behaviors that God will not tolerate in true believers. The New Testament, in fact, is a much stricter law than was the Ten. In the new covenant, gluttony, slander and greed (which is idolatry) are all sins that cannot be the identity of true believers. The Decalogue never forbade those specific sins.
The “other nine” are not the law we’re under. Jesus fulfilled the whole law. We are under a NEW law, the law of Christ—and our moral sensibility is even more fine-tuned now because we are now spiritually alive and indwelled by the “living Law”: God Himself.
We are not under ANY of the Ten. We are under the Lord Jesus who holds us to a much higher standard—and who literally indwells us and gives us His Spirit as He teaches us to trust Him and to submit to His authority as we live our lives. He teaches us to take His word to us seriously and to understand what covenant we are in. The Ten defined the old covenant; the new covenant in Jesus’ blood—with the entire witness of the New Testament Scriptures written to believers—directs our lives now!
Here is an article that may be helpful. It is very clear and explains the law in a way that puts to rest the Adventist arguments about divisions within the law:
Help for Adventist Wife
I appreciate these videos. My wife was Adventist, and by the grace of God, she’s starting to see truth. And channels like this have been HUGE in helping educate me so I can have the very difficult conversations with her to help her understand the errors in Adventist doctrine.
—VIA YOUTUBE
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Hi Colleen! Many thanks for your scholarly commentary and clarification on many biblical topics. I wonder if, above, you meant to write that the law was given 430 yrs after Abraham, not ”after Moses”. Gal. 3: 17. I thank you and those working with you for the help and insight you have shared with us all. God bless. HFC
Thank you, Jeff. It’s fixed!