Page 15 15 suffering. But there is also resurrection. And God can’t dispense the latter until we are willing to embrace the former. The power of His resurrection always follows the fellowship of His sufferings. Never forget: He is Resurrection and He is Life. And if you outwait Him, He’ll eventually roll the stone away and raise you from the dead. But there is something beyond all of this. It’s found in verse 44. Freedom From All Things Consider the Lord’s command in verse 44. “Loose him and let him go.” “Free him and let him go.” “Unbind him and let him go.” What is this? This is freedom from bondage. Look at Lazarus in the tomb. He is dead. His body is beginning to decay. Therefore, he stinks. He is bound with grave clothes. These are the clothes of death. Jesus dispenses His resurrection life by His word. And what happens? Lazarus is made alive. He’s made into a new creature. And He is freed from the bondage of his grave clothes. “Unbind him and let him go!” Notice that this was a command to the crowd. Jesus did not unbind Lazarus. He told the crowd to do it. I see two things here. First, Bethany is the place where God’s people are set free from all bondages. Bondage to religion, bondage to the Law and the spirit of legalism, bondage to sin, bondage to the world, bondage to serving God in the flesh, and every other kind of bondage. Second, we are the Lord’s co-laborers in setting others free. It was as if the Lord was saying, “I want you to co-labor with me in bringing freedom to others. Since I have set you free, you are now my agents to set others free.” “Loose him and let him go,” is the word that the Lord gave to those living in Bethany. If the Lord has set me free, He has given me His power to set others free. This is precisely what resurrection life does to us. It liberates us from all things except Christ Himself. So Bethany is the place where the resurrection life of Christ is displayed in the midst of crisis, and it is the place where God’s people are made free. Let’s now move on to the third narrative.