And Jesus did not have to be in Bethany to heal Lazarus. 6.8) and that the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does (John 5.20) ? Apparently, Jesus did not have to be in Bethany to be well aware of what was happening in Bethany. So, is too much for you to believe that Jesus already knew Lazarus was sick unto death way before first word of his illness ever arrived and that Jesus presence to heal Lazarus would be needed and sent to Him? In fact, Jesus knew about the coming request long before the request ever arrived!! Didnt He say that the Father knows what we have need of even before we ask Him (Matt. I suggest that Jesus waited because He knew that A/ it was too late for healing - resurrection from the dead would be required now, and B/ having decided that, He now waited to ensure the resurection would take place after the body was in the grave 4 days, because the Jews of the time believed the spirit lingered by the body until that time, and so a resurrection as late as that, when the spirit had most certainly left the body, was going to be extra specially impressive to them.ġ1 These things He said, and after that He said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up. 12 Then His disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps he will get well. 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. So the sisters sent word as soon as Lazarus looked dangerosuly ill, it took several days for the message to arrive 'where He was' and Jesus knew Lazarus was already dead or would be dead even if He ran all the way at that stage. Looks like Jesus may have been several days' travel away from Jerusalem and Bethany, which are only about a mile and a half (less than an hour's stroll) apart. 8 But Rabbi, they said, a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there? In fact the text states He was not even within the land of Judea:Ħ Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.ħ Then he said to his disciples, Let us go back to Judea. Jesus was not in Jerusalem at the time the messengers came to Him. I dropped it then, but since you're obviously happy to discuss it, I would like to understand. Hi Balance, you probably remember I got confused about this before. For the purpose of this study, I will use literal dates to illustrate what is being spoken about. As such, they have to be taken and interpreted literally.

Because the account of the death of Lazarus is about the actual events surrounding a real person, we can see that these verses are literal/historic. Literal/Historic a literal account of an historical event. Allegory A symbolic representation of a truth Example would be parables. Example would be the Davidic Psalms which were written, but also sung. The three literary styles of writing found in both the Old and New Testament are: Poetic The Word of God written in prose. The first step in interpreting or rightly dividing a scripture is to determine which of the three literary styles it is written in. You will note that there is no individual doctrine expressed here, but a plain line by line study of the Word of God concerning the death of Lazarus.

When is lazarus' story in the bible