This is the last miracle recorded by John, and undoubtedly the greatest.
Lazarus is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, though his sisters, Mary and Martha, are (Luke 16:19-31). In chapter 12 John will tell of Mary's anointing of Jesus with perfume. However, v3 indicates that Jesus did know Lazarus. There is a lesson for us in this too. Jesus knows us and loves us personally. And He will act on our behalf, personally, as He did with Lazarus. As we know, Lazarus died, yet Jesus raised him. It seemed as though Jesus had missed out on the chance to help him, but this was not true. In fact He was going to do an even greater miracle than "merely" healing Lazarus, He was going to raise him from the dead! Now this of course applies to all who die in the Lord, at the last day all who have died in the Lord will be raised to new life. Death is not the end. Even if it sometimes seems as though Jesus has forgotten about us. this is never true.
Jesus knew what was going to happen, the out turn of events was not a surprise to Him. The Son and God would be glorified through this. Now some may say that it is rather selfish for God to let Lazarus (and his relatives) go though all this in order for His name to be glorified. But the purpose of God's name being glorified is that we realise just who He is, and the extent of His power and love.
"So when he heard Lazarus was sick .." (TNIV). The NIV says "yet when he heard", implying a sort of callousness on Jesus part. The Greek does not have the word "yet", and the TNIV seems to have corrected this. Even if He had left straight away it would have taken two days to get there, so Lazarus would still have died. In fact he had been dead four days when Jesus got there. The significance of this is that there was a belief that the spirit of the dead hovered over the dead for three days (this is not to say there is any scientific or theological substance to such a belief!), so after four days they would know that Lazarus was well and truly dead, so they would realise the enormity of the miracle that would take place.
Lazarus is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, though his sisters, Mary and Martha, are (Luke 16:19-31). In chapter 12 John will tell of Mary's anointing of Jesus with perfume. However, v3 indicates that Jesus did know Lazarus. There is a lesson for us in this too. Jesus knows us and loves us personally. And He will act on our behalf, personally, as He did with Lazarus. As we know, Lazarus died, yet Jesus raised him. It seemed as though Jesus had missed out on the chance to help him, but this was not true. In fact He was going to do an even greater miracle than "merely" healing Lazarus, He was going to raise him from the dead! Now this of course applies to all who die in the Lord, at the last day all who have died in the Lord will be raised to new life. Death is not the end. Even if it sometimes seems as though Jesus has forgotten about us. this is never true.
Jesus knew what was going to happen, the out turn of events was not a surprise to Him. The Son and God would be glorified through this. Now some may say that it is rather selfish for God to let Lazarus (and his relatives) go though all this in order for His name to be glorified. But the purpose of God's name being glorified is that we realise just who He is, and the extent of His power and love.
"So when he heard Lazarus was sick .." (TNIV). The NIV says "yet when he heard", implying a sort of callousness on Jesus part. The Greek does not have the word "yet", and the TNIV seems to have corrected this. Even if He had left straight away it would have taken two days to get there, so Lazarus would still have died. In fact he had been dead four days when Jesus got there. The significance of this is that there was a belief that the spirit of the dead hovered over the dead for three days (this is not to say there is any scientific or theological substance to such a belief!), so after four days they would know that Lazarus was well and truly dead, so they would realise the enormity of the miracle that would take place.
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