It is reported in John 11 that Jesus spoke twice when Lazarus died, onle to Lazarus while he was still in the grave. ‘Lazarus, come out,’ and ‘Unbind him and let him go.’ His first message was heard by the ‘dead’ man and still in his grave shroud he emerged from the tomb. Then Jesus spoke to those standing nearby. ‘ ‘Unbind him and let him go.’ Does that mean let him go from the ties of death. Lazarus was no longer a dead man but a living one.
When we are released from the ties of death through our salvation, do we continue to hang on to the power of sin or make a great and glorious break from it. Do we revel in the total completion of our salvation? Our salvation is a complete act. We can’t be partially redeemed. Its integrity is a change from death to life. There can’t be a greater reversal. Our time on earth and the everlasting time in heaven are revolutionary. Nothing can ever be the same again.
As one missionary said, I believe it was Gladys Aylward ‘Once you have seen, you can’t unsee.’ We don’t need to stand by the gates of heaven. we can plunge right in. We have received the welcome.