John 11:11

Since the Lord's disciples were afraid to go to Judea, He says to them: "The Jews sought to stone Me because I refuted and reproved them. But now I am going not to reprove them, but to visit My friend. Therefore there is no need …

Our friend Lazarus sleepeth - This he spoke, just when he died. Sleepeth - Such is the death of good men in the language of heaven. But the disciples did not yet understand this language.

There is a covenant of friendship between Christ and believers, and a friendly affection and communion pursuant to it, which our Lord Jesus will own and not be ashamed of. His secret is with the righteous. Those whom Christ is pleased to own as his friends all his disciples should take for theirs.

These things said he,.... In answer to his disciples, and made a pause.

The conference is so very free and familiar as to make out what Christ saith, I have called you friends. Two things he discourses about--his own danger and Lazarus's death.

Lazarus sleepeth - Is dead. The word “sleep” is applied to death, 1. Because of the resemblance between them, as sleep is the “kinsman of death.” In this sense it is often used by pagan writers. 2. However, in the Scriptures it is used to intimate that death will not be final: that there will be an awaking out of this sleep, or a resurrection.

We should notice, in this passage, how mysterious are the ways in which Christ sometimes leads His people. We are told that when He talked of going back to Judea, His disciples were perplexed. It was the very place where the Jews had lately tried to stone their Master—to return there was to plunge into the midst of danger. These timid Galileans could not see the necessity or prudence of such a step. "Are You going there again?" they cried. Things such as these are often going on around us.

"The phrase here employed, 'our friend Lazarus,' means more than 'he whom Thou lovest' in Joh 11:3, for it implies that Christ's affection was reciprocated by Lazarus" [LAMPE].

We should notice, in this passage, how mysterious are the ways in which Christ sometimes leads His people. We are told that when He talked of going back to Judea, His disciples were perplexed. It was the very place where the Jews had lately tried to stone their Master—to return there was to plunge into the midst of danger. These timid Galileans could not see the necessity or prudence of such a step. "Are You going there again?" they cried. Things such as these are often going on around us. The servants of Christ are often placed in circumstances just as puzzling and perplexing as those of the disciples. They are led in ways of which they cannot see the purpose and object; they are called to fill positions from which they naturally shrink, and which they would never have chosen for themselves. Thousands in every age are continually learning this by their own experience. The path they are obliged to walk in is not the path of their own choice. At present they cannot see its usefulness or wisdom. At times like these a Christian must call into exercise his faith and patience. He must believe that his Master knows best by what road His servant ought to travel, and that He is leading him, by the right way, to a city of habitation. He may rest assured that the circumstances in which be is placed are precisely those which are most likely to promote his graces and to check his besetting sins. He need not doubt that what he cannot see now, he will understand hereafter. He will find one day that there was wisdom in every step of his journey, though flesh and blood could not see it at the time. If the twelve disciples had not been taken back into Judea, they would not have seen the glorious miracle of Bethany.

Lazarus sleepeth - It was very common among the Jews to express death by sleep; and the expression, falling asleep - sleeping with their fathers, etc., were in great use among them. The Hebrews probably used this form of speech to signify their belief in the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body. It is certain that our Lord received no intimation of Lazarus’s death from any person, and that he knew it through that power by which he knows all things.