Luke 8:55

Now the maid arose straightway, because when Christ strengthens the hand, man revives from the death of the soul. For there are some, who only by the secret thought of sin are conscious of bringing death to themselves. The Lord signifying that such He brings to life again, raised the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue. But others, by committing the very evil in which they delight, carry their dead as it were without the gates, and to show that He raises these, He raised the widow's son without the gates. But some also, by habits of sin, bury themselves, as it were, and become corrupt; and to raise these also the grace of the Saviour is not wanting; to intimate which He raised from the dead Lazarus, who had been four days in the grave. But the deeper the death of the soul, so much the more intense should be the fervour of penitence. Hence He raises with a gentle voice the maid who lay dead in the room, the youth who was carried out He strengthens with many words, but to raise him who had been dead four days, He groaned in His spirit, He poured forth tears, and cried with a loud voice. But here also we must observe, that a public calamity needs a public remedy. Slight offences seek to be blotted out by secret penitence. The maid lying in the house rises again with few witnesses; the youth without the house is raised in the presence of a great crowd who accompanied him. Lazarus summoned from the tomb was known to many nations.

And her spirit returned, and she immediately got up. Mark says it this way: And immediately the girl got up and walked. And spiritually it teaches that whoever recovers from the death of the soul with Christ strengthening him by the hand, ought not only …

And He commanded that she be given something to eat. He ordered her to eat, given as a testimony of life resurrected, so that it would be believed as truth and not a phantom. But if someone has risen from spiritual death, it is necessary …

Thus the hand of Christ's grace goes along with the calls of his word, to make them effectual. Here that is expressed which was only implied in the other evangelists, that her spirit came again; her soul returned again to animate her body.

What Christ made the constant business of his life --it was preaching; in that work he was indefatigable, and went about doing good (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And her spirit came again,....

And he commanded to give her meat - Though she was raised to life by a miracle, she was not to be preserved by a miracle. Nature is God’s great instrument, and he delights to work by it; nor will he do any thing by his sovereign power, in the way of miracle, that can be effected by his ordinary providence. Again, God will have us be workers together with him: he provides food for us, but he does not eat for us; we eat for ourselves, and are thus nourished on the bounty that God has provided.

The verses we have now read, contain one of the three great instances which the Holy Spirit has thought fit to record of our Lord restoring a dead person to life. The other two instances are those of Lazarus and the widow's son at Nain. There seems no reason to doubt that our Lord raised others beside these three. But these three cases are especially described as patterns of His almighty power. One was a young girl — who had just breathed her last. One was a young man — who was being carried to his burial.

The verses we have now read, contain one of the three great instances which the Holy Spirit has thought fit to record of our Lord restoring a dead person to life. The other two instances are those of Lazarus and the widow's son at Nain. There seems no reason to doubt that our Lord raised others beside these three. But these three cases are especially described as patterns of His almighty power. One was a young girl — who had just breathed her last. One was a young man — who was being carried to his burial. One was a man — who had already laid four days in the grave. In all three cases alike, we see life at once restored at Christ's command. Let us notice, in the verses before us — how universal is the dominion which death holds over mankind. We see death coming to a rich man's house, and tearing from him the desire of his eyes with a stroke! Such tidings as these, are the bitterest cups which we have to drink in this world. Nothing cuts so deeply into man's heart — as to part with beloved ones, and lay them in the grave. Few griefs are so crushing and heavy — as the grief of a parent over the death of an only child. Death is indeed a cruel enemy! He makes no distinction in his attacks. He comes to the rich man's mansion — as well as to the poor man's cottage. He does not spare the young, the strong, and the beautiful — any more than the old, the infirm, and the grey-haired. Not all the gold of Australia, nor all the skill of doctors — can keep the hand of death from our bodies, in the day of his power. When the appointed hour comes, and God permits him to smite — then our worldly schemes must be broken off, and our darlings must be taken away and buried out of our sight. These thoughts are melancholy, and few like to hear of them. The subject of death is one that men shut their eyes at, and refuse to look at.