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The Resurrection of El’azar
Its Prophetic Significance

Waiting On His Timing

Yochanan [John] 11:1-6
1 Now a certain man was sick, El’azar of Bethany, of the village of Miriam and her sister Marta.
2 And it was that Miriam who anointed the Master with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother El’azar was sick.
3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Master, behold, he whom you love is sick.”
4 But when Yeshua heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of Elohim, that the Son of Elohim may be glorified thereby.”
5 Now Yeshua loved Marta, and her sister, and El’azar.
6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was.

This was a family with which Yeshua apparently stayed quite often.  He came to love them very dearly for their love and devotion to YHWH.  El’azar (Lazarus) became ill, and his sisters immediately sent word to Yeshua so He could come and heal their brother.

However, that was not YHWH’s will this time.  Yeshua was not to heal El’azar before he died.  In fact, if we will notice what verse six tells us, Yeshua actually delayed His leaving to go to El’azar so that he would actually die before He got there.

It is at this very point, that this whole incident begins to take on prophetic significance.  Let us examine these two days, particularly as it relates to this phrase:

…he abode at that time two days in the place where he was.

Let us examine what YHWH has spoken to the house of Israel through the prophet Hoshea.

Hoshea 6:1-2
1 Come, and let us return to YHWH; for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up.
2 After two days will He revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him.

Please notice that YHWH states through His prophet, that the northern kingdom of Israel which consisted of ten tribes, was going to be torn and smitten by YHWH.  This was due to their following after idols.  However, YHWH would come and heal and bind up those wounds.  Furthermore, YHWH states when He would do this.  He would do it after two days, on the third day.  The question then becomes: after what two days?  When do we begin counting these two days?

If we remember that the chapter and verse divisions were added much later, after the prophets wrote down the words, then we will be able to see beyond these divisions in His word.  This seems to be one of those places where a chapter division actually hinders or hides proper understanding.  But then this, too, was of YHWH, to help seal up the prophecies until the latter days.

Let us consider the verse immediately preceding these two verses in chapter six of Hoshea.

Hoshea 5:15 
“I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face; in their affliction they will seek Me earnestly.”

YHWH, in speaking these words, states that He will return to His place, until those who are of the house of Israel will acknowledge their sin and truly seek His face.  The primary way in which we must acknowledge our sin, is to stop sinning!  We need to do away with those offensive idols that we have placed before our eyes!  When will He go to His place?

He came in the form of a man about two thousand years ago.  His own people killed Him, and He returned to His place at the right hand of the Father in heaven. 

Ma’aseh [Acts] 1:11 
who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?  This Yeshua, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.”

Yeshua returned to heaven, His place, and shall remain there until He returns.

Kepha Bet [2nd Peter] 3:8 
But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with YHWH as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

He has remained in the place to which He returned for the last two thousand years, which is as two days to YHWH.  So when will Yeshua come to us and heal us and return us to our land?  It will be at the beginning of the third day, or the third one thousand year period.  This third one thousand year period has just begun.  Because of several calendar changes, we cannot know exactly how many years into this third one thousand year period we are, neither does Scripture indicate to us how far into the third day we will be when this happens.  Fear not, YHWH knows!

Judea

Yochanan [John] 11:7
7 Then after this He says to the disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.”

When Yeshua did leave the place in which He was staying, He went directly into Judea.

Ma’aseh [Acts] 1:11 
who also said, “You men of Galilee, why stand you looking into heaven?  This Yeshua, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.”

Where did this happen?  They had all gone out to the Mount of Olives.  But this is not the only place that teaches us that He will return to this mount.

Zecharyah [Zechariah] 14:4 
And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

We know that this clearly has not yet happened!  The Mount of Olives is still only one mount.  One day, YHWH willing, it will soon no longer be just one mount, but two.

We see that His act of returning to Judea to go and see about El’azar, is quite prophetic in nature.

Walking by the Light

Yochanan [John] 11:8-10
8 The disciples say to him, “Rabbi, the Yehudi were seeking to stone you; and now you go there again?”
9 Yeshua answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight?  If a man walks in the daylight, he stumbles not, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

Yeshua is making a comparison between the physical light of this world, and the spiritual light that He gives.  When a person walks in the light of this world, he can see where he is going, and is less likely to stumble.  When a person walks during the night, the chances of not seeing something in the path is much higher.  Thus, the chance of stumbling is much greater at night in the darkness.

This is also true in the spiritual realm.  When a person walks in the spiritual realm, but he has little or no spiritual light which comes to him through Yeshua our Mashiach, then the chances of stumbling are very great. 

Yochanan [John] 8:12 
Again therefore Yeshua spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he that follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

The truth is, that we need to make sure that we are following the true light.  For, if a person is following a counterfeit light, then stumbling in the spirit is practically guaranteed.  Counterfeit light can take on many forms; but one thing that all the forms have in common, is that they will be partially true.   Most likely, it will also entail some other person’s idea about the light, rather than the light itself.  We see this in many groups today, in which they think they are following the light; but in reality, they are only following their leader’s ideas about the light.  In essence, they are only following the earthly leader of their group rather than He who is light!
  
Matithyah [Matthew] 6:23 
“But if your eye be evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is the darkness!”

Yeshua, who is our light, fills us with that light that we may walk in its fullness.  If we are not walking in His light (Torah), then we are walking in darkness (sin).  We cannot have it both ways. 

Hoshea 5:5 
And the pride of Israel does testify to his face; therefore Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall stumble with them.

Why are Israel and Ephrayim stumbling?  They stumble because of their sinful pride; because they choose to walk in the darkness of their idolatry, rather than in the light of His Torah.  They have rejected following His Torah for all these millennia; and as a result, have followed after strange gods and worshipped and served them, resulting in darkness for them.

Dead to Torah

Yochanan [John] 11:11-16
11 These things He spoke; and after this He says to them, “Our friend El’azar is fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep.”
12 The disciples therefore said to him, “Master, if he is fallen asleep, he will be saved.”
13 Now Yeshua had spoken of his death; but they thought that He spoke of taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Yeshua therefore said to them plainly, “El’azar is dead.”
15 “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent you may believe; nevertheless let us go to him.”
16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow talmidim, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

When a person dies, he is no longer concerned with keeping Torah.  It is too late.  The lesson here, seems to be that one can be awakened out of his deadness to Torah, and brought back into His light so that he can walk in His Torah and life. 

The picture of El’azar is also a picture of Ephrayim and Israel.  Our fathers were taken away into captivity for idolatry.  They did not want to keep His Torah, so YHWH removed them from His land.  In essence, they were already dead to Torah, so YHWH just removed them to their graves so as not to defile the land.

Hoshea 4:6 
My people perish for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me; seeing you have forgotten the Torah of your Elohim, I also will forget  your children.

There is a very high price to pay for rejecting His Torah.  It is death.  It is death to ourselves and death to our families.  El’azar went into the grave to teach us that we do not have to stay in the grave.

Really Dead

Yochanan [John] 11:17-20
17 So when Yeshua came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.
18 Now Bethany was near to Jerusalem, about two miles away;
19 and many of the Yehudi had come to Marta and Miriam, to console them concerning their brother.
20 Marta therefore, when she heard that Yeshua was coming, went and met him; but Miriam still sat in the house.

Yeshua knew that the current belief among the Yehudi and Pharisees, was that a person who had been dead four days or more, could not come back to life until the resurrection.  On the fourth day, the decomposition of the body was past the point of no return.  Yeshua knew this.

Yeshua was about to demonstrate without any doubts, who He was; that He was YHWH in the flesh.  He had authority over all creation, including the resurrection of those who were absolutely dead.  He was about to show to all who have ears to hear, that in this world there is no hope; but in Him, there is always hope.

Do you have a beloved family member who seems completely dead to YHWH and His Torah?  Well, in Yeshua there is always hope.  Stop doubting that all things are possible in Yeshua and never give up hope.  Yeshua is in the miracle working business! 

If Only…!

Yochanan [John] 11:21-24
21 Marta therefore said to Yeshua, “Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 And even now I know that, whatsoever you shall ask of Elohim, Elohim will give you.”
23 Yeshua says to her, “Your brother shall rise again.”
24 Marta says to him, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Marta did not understand why Yeshua took so long in coming to them.  She did not understand why her brother died.  When Yeshua finally got there she began by chastising Yeshua.  If only you would have been here, my brother would not be dead right now!  It almost seems an afterthought that she added that Yeshua could still do something about it.  She didn’t know what, because she was not thinking about seeing her brother again alive in this life, which is obvious from her answer to Yeshua.

Please note that the resurrection mentioned here, the resurrection of the righteous, is upon the last day.  Yeshua does not correct this understanding.  In fact, later Yeshua makes reference to this resurrection on the last day.

Yochanan [John] 12:48 
“He that rejects me, and does not receive My word, has one that judges him; the word that I spoke, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

In the Peshitta it has דברי – d’varai, which means “my word” in the above verse.  What Yeshua is simply saying, is that it is the Torah that will judge on Judgment Day.

Proper Believing

Yochanan [John] 11:25-29
25 Yeshua said to her, “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believes on me, though he die, yet shall he live;
26 and whosoever lives and believes on Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?”
27 She says to Him, “Yes, Adoni; I have believed that You are the Mashiach, Son of the Elohim, He that comes into the world.”
28 And when she had said this, she went away, and called Miriam her sister secretly, saying, “Rabbenu is here, and calls you.”
29 And she, when she heard it, arose quickly, and went to Him.

Yeshua was putting Marta in a box.  He was confronting her with what was really in her heart.  Did she know that He was the Mashiach?  Or, was this only head knowledge?  Her answer may indicate that it was only in her head, not in her heart.  After she answered the question, she left, not wanting to discuss it any further.  She was hurting.

The word “believe,” or a form of that word, occurs four times in this passage above.  From the Peshitta text, we learn that it is from the root Hebrew word אמן – aman, which means “to build up,” “to support,” or “to establish.”  What Yeshua wanted to know from Marta, was whether she had made this truth an established reality in her life.

This is also the same root word from which we get the word “amein.”

When we speak of believing that Yeshua is Mashiach, it is not only just mental assent.  Rather, what we are indicating from a proper Scriptural context, is that we have established Yeshua as the Mashiach in our own personal lives.  It is common for people to say that they believe upon Yeshua as Messiah, but then live like the devil.  This is not truly establishing Yeshua as one’s Rabbenu (Master-teacher).  In order to truly “believe” that He is the Mashiach, then we must obey His word, the Torah!

Again – If Only…!

Yochanan [John] 11:30-32
30 Now Yeshua had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Marta met him.
31 The Jews then who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Miriam, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32 Miriam therefore, when she came where Yeshua was, and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Adoni, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Miriam did the same thing that her sister had done; she immediately chastised Yeshua for letting their brother die.  How often we do not see the big picture of what YHWH is doing in our lives!  If we only had the eyes to see as He sees, to see what He is doing in our lives, to perfect us into the image of His Son, Yeshua our Mashiach!

In this section, there is a concept that we don’t want to miss.  In verse thirty, we are told that Yeshua had not yet come into the village.  Let us prayerfully consider the deeper meaning of this phrase.

Tessaloniqim Aleph [1st Thessalonians] 4:17 
then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet Adonenu in the air; and so shall we ever be with Adonenu.

Before Yeshua actually gets back to earth, we go to meet Him.  We see that same concept here in this chapter.  Before Yeshua actually arrived back in the village, those who loved Him went out to meet Him.

Deeply Moved

Yochanan [John] 11:33-35
33 When Yeshua therefore saw her weeping, and the Yehudi weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 and said, “Where have you laid him?”  They say to him, “Adonenu, come and see.”
35 Yeshua wept.

Yeshua was deeply moved in His spirit.  Even though He knew that in just a few minutes, El’azar would be standing next to Him, still He was moved to tears.  We can properly infer from the context that these tears were tears of sorrow.  But why the sorrow, since it was about to be turned into rejoicing?

Romans 12:15 
Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep.

However, Yeshua’s greatest sorrow may have been that His people are continually going astray and do not really understand the spiritual aspect of life very well.

Yeshayah [Isaiah] 22:4 
Therefore said I, “Look away from Me, I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort Me for the destruction of the daughter of My people.”

If we could only hear and understand the anguish that YHWH has had for us down through the ages, it would surely bring us to a place of true repentance.

Again – If Only!

Yochanan [John] 11:36-37
36 The Yehudi therefore said, “Behold how He loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him that was blind, have caused that this man also should not die?”

It is a sad reality that many people live in the “what if” and miss so much of what YHWH is doing.  If a person spends a lot of time in this state of mind, he is going to miss much of the true joy of life.  He will also not have that true sense of shalom which only YHWH can give to us.

What Marta, Miriam, and the rest of these people did not understand, was the aspect of YHWH’s sovereignty.  They did not understand that He was in control of the situation and that nothing happens without His say so.  When we as His people can solidly get a hold of the truth that He is Sovereign of the universe, then we can be at peace with whatever is happening in our lives.  In fact, we will begin to see that nothing truly bad happens to us, only good.  Then, regardless of what is happening, we can live a life of thankfulness and gratitude to YHWH, which is pleasing to Him.

Romans 8:28 
And we know that to them that love Elohim all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.

The Resurrection

Yochanan [John] 11:38-44
38 Yeshua therefore again groaning in Himself came to the tomb.  Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 Yeshua says, “Take away the stone.”  Marta, the sister of him that was dead, says to Him, “Adonai, by this time the body has decayed; for he has been dead four days.”
40 Yeshua says to her, “Did I not say to you, that, if you believed, you would see the glory of Elohim?”
41 So they took away the stone.  And Yeshua lifted up His eyes, and said, “Abba, I thank you that You heard me.
42 And I knew that You hear Me always; but because of the multitude that stands around I said it, that they may believe that You did send Me.”
43 And when He had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, “El’azar, come outside.”
44 He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin.  Yeshua says to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

This is where it really gets interesting for us concerning the prophetic significance.  Let us consider this passage.

Yechezqel [Ezekiel] 37:11-13 
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.’
12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, ‘Thus says Adonai YHWH; “Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And you shall know that I am YHWH, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.”’”

These words were prophesied concerning this generation.  These words have been spoken to us.  We are coming up out of our graves in the same way that El’azar did when Yeshua called him to come outside his grave into the light of day!  Do you remember the verses (9-10) above, in which Yeshua referred to walking in the light?  Here is where they are applied!

But, here is something that we should not miss.  Notice what Yeshua says in verse 44.  El’azar had come outside into the light, but he was still bound up in his grave clothes.  What do these represent, you may ask?  Well, what put Ephrayim in the grave in the first place?  It was his chasing after idols.  It was his propensity towards pagan worship.  Hmmm…. 

Now look at what is happening today in this movement of His Spirit.  People are waking up out of the grave which we have inherited from our fathers. 

Kepha Aleph [1st Peter] 1:18 
knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers;

Literally, there are thousands of people walking around in their grave clothes, the clothes of pagan worship.  They have been awakened to the true light of Yeshua, but have not gotten rid of all the false worship, yet.  Yeshua commanded that those be taken from El’azar so that he could walk freely about.  Likewise, YHWH is commanding that not only do we come out into His light, but that the grave clothes of pagan worship be loosed from us and that we be freed. 

The question that we each must ask ourselves is this:  Am I willing to be freed from that which has bound me for so long?  Only you can answer that for yourself.  It is time that we stop kicking against His goad and embrace His ways in their fullness.  There is nothing but death in those grave clothes.  May He give us wisdom that we may see what is a grave cloth and what is not!

Two Groups

Yochanan [John] 11:45-46
45 Many therefore of the Yehudi, who came to Miriam and beheld that which He did, believed on Him.
46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Yeshua had done.

There are some who embrace the truth in all its fullness.  Then there are others who have seen the truth with their own eyes, who even follow along for a time; but then, for some reason, they choose not to believe any longer.

Matithyah [Matthew] 13:21
“yet he has no root in himself; but is temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”

The reality is, that there are some who genuinely come to believe in Yeshua, who are only temporary believers.  Are you a permanent believer or a temporary believer?  It is your choice.

Matithyah [Matthew] 24:13 
“But he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved.”

Will you endure to the end?  Or, will you stop short and not have a portion in the Olam Haba (World to Come)?

Gather Together

Yochanan [John] 11:47-53
47 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What do we?  For this man does many signs.
48 If we let Him alone, all men will believe on him; and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 But a certain one of them, Qayapha, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
50 nor do you take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.”
51 Now this he said not of himself; but, being high priest that year, he prophesied that Yeshua should die for the nation;
52 and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together into one the children of Elohim that are scattered abroad.
53 So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put Him to death.

YHWH chooses to speak through whom He will.  Qayapha (Caiaphas) was the kohen gadol that year; and even though he was not a completely righteous man, YHWH still chose to speak through him.  His motives were less than pure, as he was concerned about his own position of leadership.  May I be so bold to say, that when any leader’s motivation becomes that of staying in his position,  he is in danger of being removed from office by YHWH Himself!

Whatever capacity that a leader of any degree fills, he is to use his position to encourage and admonish the people to follow YHWH, not himself!  For those of you in any type of leadership position, please, make sure that you are directing His people’s attention to Him, not to yourself.  Do not be offended if the sheep find some good food to eat from another under-shepherd.  Ultimately, all good food comes from His hand to us.  Therefore, who are we to decide through whom He chooses to feed His sheep?

Notice what it also says in verse 52 above:

that He might also gather together into one the children of Elohim that are scattered abroad.

Now let us consider this passage.

Hoshea 1:10-11
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, “You are not My people”, it shall be said to them, “You are the sons of El Chay (the living El).”
11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up from the land; for great shall be the day of Yezre’el.

There are many such verses which speak of the gathering together of His scattered people and them being brought back into the land.  We see that Judah has been gathered, but it still remains that Ephrayim (Israel) will be gathered and brought back into the land.

Are You Kidding?

Yochanan [John] 11:54
54 Yeshua therefore walked no more openly among the Yehudi, but departed there into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He tarried with the talmidim.

Check this out: this verse says virtually the same thing, regardless of whatever translation you read it in.  It says that Yeshua no longer walked openly among the Yehudi (Jews).  For almost two thousand years, if a person was a Jew and a talmid of Yeshua, he was almost always a talmid of Yeshua in secret (i.e., not open about it)!  It is only recently, that so many have begun to declare openly that they are a disciple of Yeshua.  This is a sure indication of the lateness of the hour!

Then it states that Yeshua went into the wilderness to a city called Ephrayim.  Wow!  Where has Yeshua been for the past two millennia?  Where has Ephrayim been for the past two Millennia?  Ephrayim has been in the wilderness, to be understood as scattered among the nations of the world, his own identity lost to himself.  But during that whole time, Yeshua has been with him.

This is a very prophetic verse!

Now, Here is a Question

Yochanan [John] 11:55-57
55 Now the Pesach of the Yehudi was at hand; and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Pesach, to purify themselves.
56 They sought therefore for Yeshua, and spoke one with another, as they stood in the Temple, “What do you think?  That he will not come to the feast?”
57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given commandment, that, if any man knew where he was, he should show it, that they might take him.

Considering the prophetic nature and tone of this entire chapter, one has to wonder about the prophetic significance of these verses.  Could it be that we are being told that it will be during the Pesach that the house of Yehudah will once again seek Yeshua as Mashiach?  Other passages seem to indicate this as well.

Matithyah [Matthew] 23:39 
“For I say to you, You shall not see Me henceforth, till you shall say, ‘Blessed is He that comes in the name of YHWH.’”

Yeshua spoke these words in the last week of His life.  It was the season of Pesach.  These words were used in the yearly celebration of Pesach and would be spoken by the crowds as the Pesach lamb was brought through the city streets to the Temple.

So it seems reasonable that it might be at this season that YHWH will open the eyes of the Yehudim and reveal the truth that Yeshua is the Mashiach.  It will be a glorious time when YHWH does that.  It will be much like when the entire nation broke out in unison singing a song that they had not previously known, the Song by the Sea.  May it be soon and in our day!

ABBA YHWH, open our eyes to the hidden truth of Your word that we might be better able to serve You; in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach.

Amein and Amein

Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

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