‘These things he spoke, and after this he says to them, “Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep, but I am going so that I might awake him from sleep”.'
‘These things he spoke, and after this---' is possibly intended to indicate that a period of some hours elapsed between the two statements. Alternately it may simply be a device to separate two profound sayings.
The New Testament constantly refers to death as ‘sleep' in the context of resurrection (Mark 5:39; Luke 8:52; Acts 7:60; 1 Corinthians 11:30; 1Co 15:6; 1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15; 2 Peter 3:4). Jesus knew that those who were His might ‘sleep', but that they merely awaited the ‘awakening'. Here He informed His disciples that Lazarus was ‘asleep' and that He intended to ‘waken him from sleep'. He was fully aware of what the situation was.