The Raising At Nain

Most of us know the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44) from the dead by Our Lord Jesus Christ. The scene is engraved in our minds since Sunday School and watching films depicting the scene as in “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” starring Max Von Sydow. Less known is the raising of Jairus’ Daughter (Luke 8:40-56), in which Christ tells the unbelieving mourners to leave, and only He, Jairus and his Wife, Peter, and John his disciples, are permitted to remain as Jesus raises the young girl back life.   More obscure than Jairus’ Daughter is another resurrection that takes place at Nain: 

“Soon afterwardc he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesusd gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.” (Luke 7:11-17)

As aforementioned, Lazarus’ raising gets the fan faire, while the raising at Nain gets little attention.  I actually find it fascinating, a family is having a procession, carrying the coffin with friends and family members when Jesus approaches, and lays hands on the boy and he comes back to life! Imagine you are at a funeral and instead of the typical procession, hearse, and memorial, Christ comes and raises the departed back to life! You then can get a sense of the excitement and astonishment of Nainites who while in middle of a funeral have the Son of God turn it into a celebration of new life! 

The resurrections our Lord and God Jesus preforms via Triune power make our faith grow. To know God Incarnate commanded power over death even before His death on the cross and taking the keys of death and hades (Hebrews 2:14) before His own Resurrection (John 20;1-21), gives us hope. For “Jesus has “tasted death for all of us (everyone),” (Hebrews 2:9) and He is the resurrection life, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). Sadly many of us share a view that Christ raised the dead then in 30-33 A.D. and will again at the end (Revelation), but not in between.  This is a lie! Like the cessationalists, who refuse to believe the Gifts are for today (refutation to cessationalism, see 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 1 Corinthians 14:20-48, Acts 2:27) there are those who think resurrection power has ceased, when it has not!, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,” (Philippians 3:10), and “As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near, those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give,” (Matthew 10:7-8); now Jesus gave power to raise the dead to his disciples, but He who raises the dead lives in us now, “All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God,” (1 John 4:15), and “Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16), so we too have resurrection power inside us because the Risen Christ who has power over death and hades (Revelation 1:17, Hebrews 2:7-14) resides inside us! (Colossians 1:27). We have resurrection power! If we would just have faith like the centurion Christ commended before He went to Nain, “After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servanta who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurionb heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son. Soon afterwardc he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.” (Luke 7:1-11). 

I have witnessed a raising from the dead. A woman I knew was hit at 73 kilometers per hour in a cross walk, went up 7 meters (height of two story building) and landed on her head. The paramedics worked on her for an hour and the coroner came and pronounced her dead.  She was in the helicopter headed for the morgue when she sat up alive. She had five fractures of the knee and no tibia bone; she was going to  need 2yrs surgery and recovery, but Jesus grew her tibia bone back in days and her fractured came back together without surgery! The Jewish Doctor said “bones don’t grow back,” to which she said “My Savior is the Son of David.” This was all documented by the hospital, paramedics reports, and eyewitnesses. Resurrection power is sill here! Jesus can raise the dead now in the 21st Century! Amen.