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I. THE SOCIAL SADNESS OF DEATH. The death of Lazarus had spread a dark shadow over the hearts of not a few. Besides the sisters the neighbours were affected (ver. 19). The God of Love has implanted in human hearts a mighty tie of sympathy, and the groan of one will vibrate on the heart chords of many. The more love a man has in him the larger the amount of vicarious suffering that he will endure in this world of grief. Hence He who had more love in Him than all the race besides became a "man of sorrows" to carry ours. To suffer for others by sympathy is not only natural, but Christly. We are commanded to "bear one another's burdens."

II. THE EXTRAORDINARY CLAIM OF CHRIST (vers. 25, 26). These words, which flow so naturally from Christ, would have been blasphemy from any other. They imply —

1. That death is a great evil — not as a mere dissolution of soul and body, which is natural, but as the consequence of sin, and so having a dreadful moral significance and terror — a "sting," giving it virus and agony. There are —

(1) Its physical sufferings. Had there been no sin there would have been no pain.

(2) Its grievous disappointments. Rut for sin man would have had no broken purposes.

(3) Its social disruptions.

(4) Its moral forebodings. Without these death might be hailed as a blessing — these make it a curse.

2. That from this evil Christ is the great Deliverer.

(1) Christ is life — original, absolute, "I am He that liveth," etc.

(2) He is resuscitating life — not only creating the new, but raising the old. Understanding death as the curse of sin, Christ is the Resurrection in that —

(a)  He delivers men from sin.

(b)  He has abolished death.

3. That from this evil He delivers on the condition of trust in Him, not in doctrines about Him, etc.

III. THE NOBLE CONFESSION OF FAITH (ver. 27).

(D. Thomas, D. D.)

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KJV: Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

WEB: So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.