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I. MARTHA'S REGRETFUL LAMENTATION; or faith struggling with imperfect knowledge (ver. 21). The language neither of reproach nor complaint, but.

1. Of deep sorrow that Christ had not been present, at least, before the end came.

2. Of sincere faith, since she believed that had He been present, He would have healed him, or entreated God on his behalf.

3. Of imperfect knowledge —

(1) Allied to superstition in thinking Christ's presence needful (cf. chap. John 4:47).

(2) Akin to over confidence in asserting that Lazarus would have lived had Christ not been absent.

II. MARTHA'S CONFIDENT PERSUASION; or faith rising into ardent hope (ver. 22).

1. Faith's firm assurance. That Christ's access to the Father on behalf of men is —

(1)  Immediate, at any moment.

(2)  Direct, by simply asking.

(3)  Unlimited, "all things."

(4)  Efficacious, certain to prevail.

2. Faith's joyous expectation. That nothing will prove too great.

(1)  For Christ's love to devise, or —

(2)  Christ's power to execute on behalf of His people (Ephesians 3:20-21) — hence that a resurrection is neither impossible nor absurd.

III. MARTHA'S DESPONDING ADMISSION; or faith relapsing into doubt (ver. 24).

1. Her disappointment. She had expected Christ to speak about an immediate restoration of her dead brother, whereas He only seemed to hint at a far away resurrection (ver. 23).

2. Her concession. She acknowledges, notwithstanding, such a resurrection, and consequently Lazarus's continued existence.

IV. MARTHA'S SUBLIME CONFESSION; or faith soaring into lofty adoration (ver. 27). That which lifted her beyond the atmosphere of doubt was Christ's exposition of the doctrine (vers. 25, 26), in which were set forth —

1. That the resurrection was not an event to be thought of as distinct from the life, but as a manifestation of the life.

2. That the resurrection and the life, as thus explained, have their primal source in Himself, in whom is life (chap. John 1:4), and from whom all true life in the soul proceeds.

3. That the resurrection, and the life from which it springs, are secured to men by their union to Him through faith.

4. That in the experience of the believer there is —

(1)  A resurrection of the soul from sin.

(2)  A living in the Spirit.

(3)  A transformation of death so that the believer may be said to "never die."

(4)  A complete abolition of death by the resurrection of the body.Lessons —

1. Christ's presence with the soul is the certain destruction of death.

2. Christ's intercession for His people is better understood now than it was then (Hebrews 7:25).

3. The resurrection, as explained by Christ, a perennial source of comfort for the bereaved and dying.

4. The only just verdict that can be pronounced on Jesus is that of "Son of God."

(T. Whitelaw, 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.