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.”
Jesus had the Jews release Lazarus from his grave clothes so that they would have the hands-on experience to know for certain and be witnesses of the fact that it was indeed Lazarus who was raised from the dead.
It is quite possible that the legs of Lazarus were bound together by the strips of linen. If so, there is a miracle within a miracle happening here, because he would be unable to walk out of the tomb under his own power.
Notice that Jesus is conscious of the needs of Lazarus and has them met, even in the face of such a great miracle. The priority for Jesus was taking care of the individual and it still is.
Note also the spiritual symbolism of the physical act here of Jesus raising the dead. Unless we are alive at His second coming, He will raise each of us from the dead twice. When is that? The first is when we accept His calling on our life and are raised to new life in Him (John 5:25). The second is when He comes back and calls all of the dead forth from their graves (John 5:28-29).
John 5:25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
John 5:28-29 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
How are we like Lazarus? What do the strips of linen that bind the dead body of Lazarus symbolize?
The raising of Lazarus from the dead reveals to us some things about Christ. One is that He is absolute Lord over life and death.
The second is that there is permanency of relationship between Jesus and those who are His. Nothing can separate us from Him and His love. Wherever Lazarus was, he heard the Voice of Jesus, recognized it, and obeyed it. Maclaren puts it his way: “the thing that we call death is but a film which spreads on the surface, but has no power to penetrate into the depths of the relationship between us and Him.” He is our friend forever and nothing, not even death, can change that fact.