The Saviour has arrived at the home of Jairus. It is a place of great morning but the Saviour is soon to change that.
The old hymn speaks of the change the Saviour makes:
What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought
Since Jesus came into my heart!
I have light in my soul for which long I had sought,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
The first thing the Lord did was to chase away the unbelieving crowd who gathered to mourn! I believe that often those who mourned were nothing more than ‘hired’ mourners who gathered at funerals. Listen to Amos. “Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing,” Amos 5:16.
I have a feeling those mentioned here were such for they could quickly switch off their ‘grief’ and start laughing at the Lord. “And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
And they laughed him to scorn,” verses 39-40. That is not something genuinely grief-stricken family members would do.
I. THE FIRST TO SEE THE LITTLE GIRL RAISED FROM THE DEAD WERE HER PARENTS.
“But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him,” verse 40. The parents would witness the miracle in order to take away their grief and sorrow but the three disciples were there for their learning. They would use that which the witnessed there that day as part of the message of salvation by Christ, the only Saviour of sinners.
We can only surmise the wonderful change that came over the little girl as she lay dead in her room. Colour would return to here cheeks. Likely she would immediately speak to her parents and of course she would have begun to move, likely to get out of bed. I am sure she said something to the Lord Jesus but we are not permitted to know that. Our conversations with the Saviour are very much between He and us!
II. NOTICE HOW THE LORD JESUS WROUGHT THIS WONDERFUL MIRACLE.
1. “And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise,” verse 41.
“He took the damsel by the hand.” verse 41. What power there is in the hand the Lord Jesus!
“Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them,” Psalm 17:7.
“My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me,” Psalm 31:15.
“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand,” Psalm 37:24.
“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me,” Psalm 138:7.
“Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing,” Psalms 145:16.
Life in all its fulness is in the hand of the Lord.
2. He spoke gently. “Said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” He called her ‘Damsel’ or little child.
3. But what He said was a command. It was so in the case of Lazarus. “He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth,” John 11:43.
What the Lord says to us are commands to be obeyed. Also, note He has power over death. The little girl was released from death’s grip! One day there will be a great shout, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. The little girl will be one of the very very few who will hear that call twice and respond twice! She was a very favourited little girl indeed.
III. BOYS AND GIRLS, ALL WHO GO TO HEAVEN WILL LIKEWISE EXPERIENCE TWO RESURRECTIONS.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live,” John 5:25. This when we are raised to new life in Christ by hearing and believing the gospel.
“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,” John 5:28. This the resurrection of all from the grave. The Christians when Christ returns and the unsaved at the end of Christ’s earthly reign and just before they stand before the great throne of judgment, Rev 20:12. Have you experienced the new life through faith in Christ?