The Word of the Lord is powerful. Out of His heavenly temple it booms like thunder and flashes forth like lightning, filling the earth with awe.

And the Word of the Lord is creative. In the beginning, God spoke. He spoke and through his Word all things that are came to be out of nothing.

Now this Word which was from the beginning and through which all things were made came to dwell with us men. He was named Jesus, for He came to save His people from their sin.

One of those people He came for was his dear friend, Lazarus. After wiping away His own tears, Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus and spoke in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And Lazarus did. He walked out of that grave by the Word of the Lord.

Commenting on this story, Thomas Aquinas mused that Jesus had to call Lazarus specifically by his name. Why did he think this? Because Christ’s word was so powerful that all the dead would have been awakened if he had not limited the command to that one man. What a wonderful and glorious thing to imagine! Our Lord having to focus the power of His Word on one, lest all those in the earth came wandering out of their graves prematurely…

And this same Word, that created the world out of nothing and raised Lazarus from the dead, has called you—and He called you by name.

If you are a Christian, you have been born again through that same Word of God that abides forever. It is out of God’s own eternal will and good pleasure that He has brought you forth by His Word and made you a new creation. If you know this to be true, give thanks to God for His great grace and endeavor to walk daily in accordance with that Word which has saved you.

And if you have not yet heard His voice, He is calling to you right now. The Lord is calling you by name, out of your sin and shame, to glorious fellowship with Himself, saying, “Come forth…”