Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Let’s examine God’s reclassification of existence.

Today’s scripture, Colossians 2:13-14 (NLT) says…
[13] You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. [14] He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

Consider…
The Holy Spirit is leading me to the ressurection of Lazarus to illustrate God’s reclassification from death to life.

Let’s do a closer examination of John 11:38-44 (NIV) to see what we can learn about God’s reclassification. Scripture says…
[38] Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. [39] “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” [40] Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” [41] So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. [42] I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” [43] When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” [44] The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Upon examination of this passage, the first thing we discover is that a resurrection reclassification begins with God’s compassion. Notice verse 38 said…
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.

This reminds me of Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV) which says…
[4] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

God’s resurrection reclassification stems from His great love and rich mercy. That’s important because it indicates that God’s unfailing love is not negated by our failures. And God’s rich mercy responds, rather than recoils, to our sinful dead corpses.

Speaking of dead corpses, the next observation is, despite the stones that Jesus rolls away from our lives, others will challenge our ability to be changed. I discovered that based on Lazarus’ sister’s comments…
“by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

The Holy Spirit is telling us to ignore loved one’s faithless commentary when our faithful God is ressurecting us from being dead in our sin, to alive in Him. Like your loved ones, God knows who you were, but unlike them He knows who you will become.

This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 5:15-18 (NLT) which explains…
[15] He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. [16] So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! [17] This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! [18] And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.

My first instinct was to only reference being a new person in Christ in verse 17, but the Holy Spirit led me to include the surrounding verses. That’s because, the preceding verses point out how Christ’s ressurection changes our purpose and perspective. Our purpose becomes living for Him and our perspective changes to seeing life through Him.

The trailing verse reminds us that our resurrection is God’s gift. It also tells us that we are reconciled, brought back into alignment, or made right with God. I don’t think we fully appreciate the perfect relationship that Adam and Eve had with God in the garden before sin ruined it.

Genesis 3:8-9 (NLT) says…
[8] When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. [9] Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

Think about the fact that Adam and Eve knew God’s footsteps and His voice. Then expand your mind to remember Jesus Christ is God incarnate, meaning in the flesh. I think Adam and Eve saw and talked to Jesus.

The reason this matters is because we just read in 2 Corinthians 5 that God’s resurrection reclassification makes us alive in Christ to live for Him. The Holy Spirit is showing us a right relationship with God requires walking and talking with Jesus.

So no matter how far, or long, you’ve been away from Jesus, His resurrection reclassification calls you back. When He calls, ignore the naysayers that would keep you in the dark, and keep walking towards Him into the marvelous light.

Which brings us to our third and final observation of the day. Even though Jesus changes your classification from dead to alive, you’re going to need help with taking the grave clothes of sin off. In Lazarus’ story, Jesus told the onlookers to help unbind Lazarus. But praise God, in our story it’s the Holy Spirit who is told to help unbind us from the grave clothes of sin.

When God reclassified us from dead to alive, He also reclassified us from powerless to empowered. Romans 6:6-11 (NLT) explains…
[6] We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. [7] For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. [8] And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. [9] We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. [10] When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. [11] So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

That last verse sums up God’s resurrection reclassification perfectly. We’re dead to sin and alive to God through Christ.

Therefore, we must heed Romans 6:12 (NLT), which says…
[12] Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.

Which is where the Holy Spirit’s comes in. Galatians 5:16 (NLT) exhorts…
[16] So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

To recap, God’s resurrection reclassification…

• Begins with His compassion
• Tells us to ignore all other voices except His
• Tells us we need the Holy Spirit’s help to take off our grave clothes of sin

I challenge you the next time that you read or recall Lazarus’ ressurection story that you remember that God is still rolling stones and reclassifying those who were dead in sin to alive in Him! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Today’s Song is…
Still Rolling Stones

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)