When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb.So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.
3 sermons cite this verse
… So Thomas called Didymus said to his fellow disciples let us also go to die with him. When Jesus arrived he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem only about two miles away and many of the Jews who had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went to meet him. But Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise. Martha said to him, I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus told her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if he dies will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? She said, Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world. When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, The teacher is here and is asking for you. As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary …
… let us also go that we may die with him. And so when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb for four days. And Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away, and many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary was sitting in the house. And Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. …
… But let's read then the record of what takes place when Jesus comes to the home of Lazarus. So Jesus came, and He found that He had already been in the tomb four days. Now that minor detail in the narrative that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days was significant to the ancient Jew, because the Semitic people of that day, many of them at least, had this view that when a person died, the soul that had departed from the body would come back and visit the body periodically for a couple of days after death. But by the fourth day, when it was obvious that the decay had set in to the corpse, that at that time it was believed that the soul had abandoned the body once and for all. So it's not as though they believed that you weren't really dead unless you were dead for four days, but the idea that it was impossible for any kind of revival to take place once the fourth day began. …