raising the dead

Are we left here on our own?
Can you feel when your last breath is gone?

Last night I googled an old friend from college. Wanted to see if he could come to speak to our youth group. What popped up on screen were copies of his obituary. Shock. And instant, deep sadness.

Night is weighing heavy now

He was one of the first friends I made and one of the most faithful for those four years. I met him when he stood up in class on the first day and introduced himself saying, "I'm Jeremy. I was a drug addict and was involved in darkness until Jesus Christ saved my life." Not your normal freshman introduction. Jeremy, with his bleached, spiked hair, was a revolutionary believer.

This morning I was thinking of the Biblical statement that Christ did so many miracles but that we would do even greater things in His name. Among those, raise the dead.

Be quiet and wait for a voice that will say
Come awake
From sleep, arise

Smith Wigglesworth once punt-kicked a dead infant under a command from the Holy Spirit, and the infant was resurrected. Strange, yes. Can I quite wrap my mind around this one? Not especially. But a dead child became a living one.

You were dead
You’ve come alive
Wake up wake up
Open your eyes

Many reports have come from Africa, where the lack of sufficient medical care combined with an abundance of belief makes raising the dead a much more common miracle than here in the States. Rolland Baker tells about an African convert Jorge who "heard that ministers of the Gospel should go out healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons, so he went home and did just that. Recently God used Jorge to raise a man who had been dead for eight hours after just thirty minutes of prayer."

Climb from your grave
Into the light
Bring us back to life

Feeling skeptical? I tends towards caution, but come on (read with appropriate John Webber inflection)...raising of the dead is central to anyone who calls themselves Christians. It was Christ's sign of being the Messiah--he was dead for three days and became alive. Before he was dead, he and his disciples brought others back to life. After his death, they continued this miracle. Like healings, resurrection testimonies arise from across centuries, latitudes, and longitudes.

You are not the only one
Who feels like the only one
Night soon will be lifted friend
Just be quiet and wait for the voice that will say
Come awake
From sleep, arise
You were dead
You’ve come alive

Jeremy was one of those people resurrected. He had lived in the death of addiction and darkness until he responded to the Holy Spirit telling him to come alive. His testimony was one of resurrection. His testimony also had the power to raise that which had been dead in other people. I saw him speak to people who were dead in the ways he was and life entered in.

Wake up wake up
Open your eyes

God still raises the dead.
He raises the dead in me and makes that which is lifeless and empty come awake.

Climb from your grave
Into the light
Bring us back to life
Rise, rise, rise, rise, rise
Rise, rise, rise, rise….
Shine, shine,
Oh shine
We will shine
We will rise
We will shine, shine, shine

words in italics by David Crowder