What are grave clothes symbolic of in the Bible?

"Loose him and let him go," is now the enfranchizing word. The will of the Lord is that those who have received life from Him should enjoy it in all its blessed freedom, delivered from the grave-clothes of Judaism, meant to put on men the stamp of death, and not of life. "Loose him and let him go," is the Lord's word now to the evangelist and to the teacher. Let the law do its work thoroughly upon the life of flesh and nature; and let the Cross confirm the lesson of the end of human strength, human wisdom, human will; but let the man in Christ be free as the light and air of heaven to which now he belongs: not in bondage but in freedom can the Son of God be glorified; and everywhere there rings through the New Testament the echo of His own words here, "Loose him and let him go."

When this was done the Lord first prayed (vv. 41-42), not asking for the resurrection of Lazarus, but in calm, conscious unity with the Father, to show those who stood by that he did nothing apart from the Father's will. The Father heard Him always: He did not plead with Him at all; for He speaks not as the dependent Man in Luke, but as being One with the Father. With a loud voice He calls, “Lazarus, come forth!” It is not therefore in answer to prayer that Lazarus was raised, but by the Lord's own authoritative, divine word. In spite of being bound hand and foot with graveclothes, Lazarus came forth. His face too was bound (v. 44): he could not see where he was going, but the power was in the voice that called him, the power of resurrection life. The miracle is accomplished fully and perfectly.

Then again others may do their work: “Loose him and let him go,” the Lord says (v. 44). The graveclothes would speak of law in a different way than the stone; for the law too can keep in bondage one who truly has life. A renewed person is not to be left fettered by these, but set free. For grace, not law, is to be the power of the new life, and God's servants are to be the ministers of grace. But life itself is entirely in the hands of the Son of God.

A second word He spoke: "Loose him and let him go." Lazarus is the type of a sinner who hears His Word. We are dead in trespasses and sins. Spiritually man is in the grave, in death and in darkness. He is in corruption. The Lord of Life gives life. And besides this He gives with that life-- liberty. He looses from the bondage of the law and of sin. In the next chapter we read of Lazarus again. He is in fellowship with the Lord Who raised him from the dead. Life, Liberty and Fellowship are the three blessed things which he receives who hears and believes. Compare this great chapter with the teachings of the fifth chapter. And Lazarus is also a fit type of Israel and her coming national resurrection.

Verses 42-44. "But because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin." This is the answer. There was the Son of God glorified. He says, "Come forth" — he comes forth. Divine power was there. Yet He does it in dependence, that belongs to His perfection as Son of man. "Loose him, and let him go." Resurrection life can never harmonise with bondage, but with perfect and holy liberty. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of liberty and holiness.

There is not only life, but liberty; for when Lazarus heard the voice of the Son of God and came forth, he was bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and could not see, or walk, or move at all. But when the second word reached him, "Loose him and let him go," he gets liberty.

Thereon comes the word of power: "Lazarus, come forth." He had prayed to the Father, jealous above all for His glory, and never forgetful of the place He had Himself come down to as man. But He was the Son, He could quicken whom He would, and so He does. Yet even in the majesty of this Divine display, He intermingles after, as well as before, what drew men's attention, that they might not be faithless but believing. What difficulty was there in the stone? For Himself He needed to remove nothing. It was for their sakes. Behold, man in the loathsomeness of death before he was raised! And so now what for Him mattered the binding of the grave-clothes, or of the handkerchief? The grace of the Lord by both would only give them the better confirmation of what He had wrought. He could have loosed Lazarus as easily as He could have caused the stone to disappear; He could have willed all without crying with a loud voice; but He, Who would that we should confide in the power of His word, would have us note the corruption that precedes quickening and the bondage which may follow it now. Liberty is needed as well as life; but it is unnatural that one who is made to live should be longer bound.

And finally, for Lazarus (John 11:44) coming forth from the sepulchre, bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face bound about with a napkin, Jesus said (to those that stood by) "Loose him, and let him go." Souls need liberation if they are to sit at table with Him. Liberation from the world (2 Cor. 6:14 et seq.), from the ecclesiastical systems of men (Heb. 13:10-13) and from associations that defile (2 Tim. 2:19-22).

We notice also the difference in the sequel. In the case of Jairus' daughter, our Lord commanded something to be given her to eat. When there is life, there can be nutrition. The young man begins to speak and our Lord relieves his mother's sorrow by putting her son in her arms again. Lazarus is bound with grave-clothes, and the word for him is, "Loose him and let him go." Carnal ordinances have no claim upon the soul set free. We next see Lazarus at the feast with our Lord.

John 11:43-44. Then with a loud voice He bids Lazarus come forth, and the dead came forth bound hand and foot. "Jesus says to them, Loose him, and let him go." Only the Lord could raise a man from the dead, though others may be used to free from the bands that Judaism has wrapped around men.

You will recollect that these two sides to the truth are also shown in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ at the grave of Lazarus. The Lord spoke at the tomb, saying, “Lazarus, come forth.” The dead man came forth, but he was seen still fettered in his funeral cerements. Then the Lord said, “Loose him, and let him go.” The loosing was the work of another. The word of the Lord to Lazarus did not remove the garments that fettered Lazarus, and prevented his mingling in his former pursuits. Until the risen man was unbound he was not free and active to serve God in this work-a-day world. And there are similar conditions in our spiritual relationships. God does His work; let us not fail to do our part in our cleansing, whether of ourselves or of one another.