Grave Clothes

John 11:41
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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.”

..you sent me… He desired that those present would believe that You, Father had sent Your holy and righteous Son and that He stood before them. That He came directly to them from the Jehovah God that they worshiped.

If a person believes that Jesus was sent by You, Father, they will trust that what He says is true….I AM the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). They will know that these words are Your words also. They will know that You must deeply love them to send Him to pay for and forgive them of all of their sins thereby giving them a new life; a redeemed life from the past. (Col 1:13-14)

The past that is like the grave clothes that Jesus commanded the people “to take off” of Lazarus; the past that keeps people in the tomb and keeps them all bound up and chokes the life out of them. It is one of the greatest tools the enemy of our soul uses to bind us up.

But Jesus said in verse 44 …"take off the grave clothes and let him go".

Jesus is not about bondage but about freedom and resurrected life.

John 11:25-26
I AM the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies,
And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”