By Melissa McLaughlin

A Resurrection Miracle

I will never forget it.

One summer afternoon, my husband and I were resting in the family room when I was startled by the sound of a man screaming. This was not a kid’s scream or the sound of someone joking around, but the sustained, piercing wail of sheer terror erupting from a man.

I scrambled out the front door to see what was wrong. A car had pulled over in front of our house. The driver’s window was down, his head leaned out moaning and bellowing for help.

I rushed to the driver’s window to ask what was wrong and in a split second I saw it.

Another man was in the passenger seat. Dead. Absolutely, positively dead. The stillness of his body told the story. There was no breath. His head was slumped back, his mouth hung open lifeless, his face white as a sheet, his eyes closed and his lips a strange pale, grayish-white color. I have seen dead bodies before and this man was dead.

In the next second, my eyes refocused on the young man shrieking, “Someone dial 911, help me, help my dad. Please don’t die, Dad. Please don’t die!”

At that very moment another car headed toward us. I flagged down this driver and asked her to dial 911 for an ambulance. I began shouting for help as I raced into the house to get my husband.

Together we sprinted to the front passenger seat of the car. The young man climbed out of the car, weeping, repeatedly crying, “Please don’t die, Dad. Please don’t die.”

My husband and I reached in to touch the man’s lifeless body to see what we could do. Still. No pulse. No breath. No color in his body. Dead.

He was a large man and we were not able to lift him out to attempt any resuscitation. Though only seconds had passed, it felt like an eternity.

We did the only thing we knew. My husband placed his hands on the man’s chest, I placed mine on his shoulder. I had no words left to pray. My lips formed the only sound my soul could utter.

“Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!”

The moment I spoke the name of Jesus, that very instant the man’s head bolted up and his eyes shot wide open, as if we had jump-started his heart. He gazed at us questioningly and began to ask what happened.

This dead man came back to life.

There is Power in the Name of Jesus

I realize others may try to explain it away. But I can’t deny what I witnessed. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, a dead man was raised to life, in a car, in front of my house, one summer afternoon. He came back to life when we laid hands on him and called out the name of Jesus. I have never seen anything like this before or since. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. But I did see it. And I will never forget it.

In just a few minutes, the ambulance arrived to transport him to the hospital. We later found out that he died several times in transit, but the ambulance and crew were equipped to resuscitate him. The doctors determined he was bleeding internally. However, the location of hemorrhage had been healed for no apparent reason.

We witnessed a miracle that day that I cannot explain. I thank God that he allowed a simple person like me, to be a part of His miracle-working power for someone else.

The Resurrection Power of Jesus Christ

Though miracles are incredible and point us to the One who is the source of all life, we know that this life is not the end. For all who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and LORD, after this earthly life, we will be raised to eternal life with God in heaven. Because Jesus rose up from the dead, so will we. Because Jesus is alive, so shall we live!

Jesus spelled out this very thing for His followers, recorded here in John 11.

Jesus’ Resurrection Power

John 11:1-3 – Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

John 11:5 – Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 

John 11:14-15 –  Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 

John 11:17-27 – Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”  Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

John 11:34-44 – And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

It is important to note, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, He waited. Jesus intentionally delayed two days, allowing time for Lazarus to die. This divine timing set up the scene for Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead and prove that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Though Jesus had already foretold of His own death and resurrection, many of His followers did not understand until after He arose from the grave. This demonstration of power over Lazarus’ death, provided a glimpse of Jesus’ true deity.

So, too, in our lives, the evidence of death may be allowed by God for a time, in order to clearly bring Him the glory when He restores. Through these experiences, God provides us the opportunity to look beyond our own strength to the strength of Almighty God. When we as humans have used up all of our options, the LORD can demonstrate He is the God of life and the God of new life.

Remembering Jesus’ Resurrection Power

Certainly, God alone numbers our days and determines what doors He will open. However, He calls us to pray and be part of His kingdom work on earth. As we pray, let us bear in mind Jesus Christ is our Resurrected King and the Spirit of our resurrected LORD indwells us.

Jesus Christ is LORD over all.

LORD over sin.

LORD over hell.

LORD over the devil.

LORD over death.

We know He holds all power, yet at the same time we surrender to God’s sovereign plan for the greater good. God causes all things to work together for good, for those who love Him. God’s good plans are to save us, to bring us into His family and help us grow into the image of Christ. Sometimes, this means going through deep valleys.

Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for HE is with us. Christ has made a way for us, even through the valley of sin and death.

Praying with Christ’s Resurrection Power

Therefore, let us pray with resurrection power and resurrection faith, anchored in our Resurrected KING!

Let us pray for ourselves and for others…

  • Resurrection from spiritual death to new life in Christ.
  • Resurrection of relational death.
  • Restoration of physical illness.
  • Restoration of mental health.
  • Restoration of emotional health.

As we remember Jesus, we rest in God’s good plans and we believe in God’s absolute power. Let us pray! For God is able!

The Resurrection Power of Jesus Christ

John 10:17-18For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.

Matthew 20:18-19 – We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!

Matthew 28:5-6 – The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”

Romans 6:5-6For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

1 Peter 1:3 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Additional Resources:

Powerful Prayer Tool – Praising Over Pleading by Melissa McLaughlin

How to Pray According to God’s Will by Melissa McLaughlin

How Did Jesus Pray? The Model Prayer by Melissa McLaughlin