“Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24 ESV)

Doesn’t that Scripture seem the opposite of what really happens? In this world, don’t we go from life to death? Everyone who is living now will experience death… from life to death… right? Well, not so fast!

In the Kingdom of our Lord, things are the opposite of what the Kingdom of the world says. God says if you want to be first, you have to be last… if you want to save your life you have to lose it… if you want to be the greatest, you have to be the least… and you will pass from death to life!

There are two major tombs in the Bible, both being in the New Testament. One tomb is the tomb that held Jesus and the other tomb is the tomb that held Lazarus. They were both tombs of death. They were tombs where life ended as well as dreams, hopes and joy. Normally, that would be the end of the story.  But these tombs were not an ending, but were a beginning. Through death came life. Here, the tomb brought forth new life. But for new life to truly be new life, death had to be left in the tomb. Something of death had to be left behind in order for new life to go forward.

In John 11:44, when Lazarus rose out of the tomb into new life, Jesus told some who were there to loosen the linen cloth around Lazarus’s face and body and to let him go! The burial cloth was left in the tomb. In John 20:5-7, when Jesus rose out of the tomb into resurrected life, left behind in the tomb were the linen cloths that covered His face and body. The burial cloths were left in the tomb!

Today, as we experience new life in Christ, as we experience a journey from spiritual death to reborn life, and as we walk out of the tomb of this world into His marvelous light… what has to be left behind? What grave clothes do we have to shed to be unencumbered from what once held us back. What linen cloths do you have to leave behind in order to experience the fullness and abundance of new life in Christ?

Maybe your linen cloths to leave in the tomb are: ungodly attitudes about yourself and others, lies the devil told you about your past and your future, regrets, could haves, should haves and would haves, failures, bitterness and unforgiveness, doubt and unbelief, feelings of rejection and isolation, hopelessness and despair, guilt and shame, and the thoughts that God is mad at you and making you pay for all of your mistakes and sins. All those things, and more, must be left behind in the tomb with the help and strength of the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to show you what must be left behind in order to go forward. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to let it go… out of your hands and into His hands. You must come to that place of death to those things to truly find new and abundant life in Christ. Only those who leave those grave cloths behind can find and experience a new beginning.

Walk with Jesus today as you walk past the tombs that once held you… passing from death to life… leaving those old things behind and breathing the fresh air of a new beginning in the presence of Jesus. And when you do that in Him… you’ll find what you’ve been looking for!