‘Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus says, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, says to him, “Lord, by this time he will smell dreadfully, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus says to her, “Did I not say that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone.'
Lazarus' tomb was a cave. Such burial caves were common in the limestone cliffs of the area, and are in evidence today. A stone lay across the entrance to the cave, mainly to keep wild beasts out, so He said, ‘take away the stone'. This caused a stir, and Martha, ever practical, even protested, ‘Lord, by this time there will be a terrible smell, for he has been dead four days'. By now her hopes that Jesus would do something had reached a low ebb. A short while previously she had been almost confident, but now her confidence had lapsed. She did not believe that Jesus had given cause for hope for an outstanding miracle.
As mentioned previously the Jews later (evidenced by the 3rd century AD) believed that a man's soul left his body three days after death. This belief was probably connected with the length of time before decomposition visibly began. Thus Martha is expressing the same thing when she pointed out that he would now be decomposing. She believed it was now too late. But Jesus reminded her, ‘did I not say that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?' (see John 11:4). The repetition emphasises that this is to be a revelation of both His Father's glory and His own.
So they took away the stone, wondering at the same time what He was intending to do. Did he want to see the body? Was there some funeral rite He wished to carry out? But none could foresee what they were about to observe. For although they could not know it, the taking away of the stone was necessary so that Lazarus could come out. Here there would be no earthquake to move the stone, nor was Lazarus rising in a spiritual body.
What followed next can only be described as magnificent. The foundation had been laid in references to the resurrection. Now we are to see the future resurrection acted out in vivid picture form. There can be no doubt that John has this in mind. Previously he had quoted the words of Jesus, ‘the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation' (John 5:28-29). Now such an event will take place in microcosm before our eyes.
Jesus stood there before the cave in which Lazarus was entombed, the crowds were gathered around in awe, wondering what He was about to do, and obedient to His command they had removed the stone. Now they waited. The tension must have been tremendous. What was Jesus about to do?