Bound in Sin
Let's continue with Uncle Bud Robinson's book The Story of Lazarus, tracing the descent of Lazarus as a picture of what sin does to the human soul.
We have seen Lazarus as a sick man - a picture of the child born with the inherited disease of sin. We have seen him as a dead man - a picture of the soul that has chosen sin and died spiritually. Today, something new happens to Lazarus. He gets bound.
Bound Hand and Foot
It was the custom in the ancient world to bind a corpse when preparing it for burial. Uncle Bud says in the book that he finds this puzzling - why would you bind a man who is already dead? But he sees in it a profound spiritual lesson. He writes this on page 26: "Sin will not only kill the man but we know that it will bind him after he is dead."
This is an important progression. Death came first, and now bondage follows. The man who chose sin and died spiritually now finds himself bound by the habits and chains that sin produced. Uncle Bud describes it on page 28: "After he is dead morally the devil begins to put the cords on him and bind him."
And the cords come one by one. Disobedience. Profanity. Addiction. Lust. Anger. Each one is added to the last until the person is, as Uncle Bud puts it, bound hand and foot - just as Lazarus was.
Taken Captive at His Will
2 Timothy 2:26 speaks of those who have been "taken captive by the devil at his will." Uncle Bud points out that if the devil is taking someone captive at his will, then that person is bound - completely overpowered, with no ability to free himself.
I think we all know people who are living this reality, and perhaps we might recognise ourselves here. Addictions, bitterness, disinterest in God - these are cords that bind us, like the cords around Lazarus in his tomb; and as Uncle Bud writes on page 27: "Lazarus had no power to deliver himself from the cords that were around him, and the sinner has no power to deliver himself from the cords that the devil has put around him."
This is not just weakness. This is bondage. There is a difference.
The Deliverer is Coming
Uncle Bud, when he saw people living like this in his day, felt depressed. He writes on page 33: "The picture is as black as the midnight hour to me. When I see men and women going on in sin and rejecting the Saviour, I wonder if they want to go to the tombs."
Dark words. And true of our day too. Most people don't want to be delivered from their sin. They'd rather die in it.
But for those who recognise their own dead spirits and discover with sadness that they cannot unbind themselves, there is good news. We read in the book of Acts that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and... He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him." (Acts 10:38)
Like Lazarus, the dead and bound person cannot free themselves. But thank God there is One who can. His name is Jesus Christ.
The story of Lazarus reminds us that sin doesn't just kill - it binds us. We are powerless to save ourselves.