John 11:1,3-5,7-9,11-17,19-25 TPT
In the village of Bethany there was a man named Lazarus, and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Mary was the one who would anoint Jesus’ feet with costly perfume and dry his feet with her long hair. One day Lazarus became very sick to the point of death.
[3] So his sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, our brother Lazarus, the one you love, is very sick. Please come!”
[4] When he heard this, he said, “This sickness will not end in death for Lazarus, but will bring glory and praise to God. This will reveal the greatness of the Son of God by what takes place.”
[5] Now even though Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, he remained where he was for two more days.
[7] Finally, on the third day, he said to his disciples, “Come. It’s time to go to Bethany.”
[8] “But Teacher,” they said to him, “do you really want to go back there? It was just a short time ago the people of Judea were going to stone you!”
[9] Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight in every day? You can go through a day without the fear of stumbling when you walk in the One who gives light to the world. But you will stumble when the light is not in you, for you’ll be walking in the dark.”
[11] Then Jesus added, “Lazarus, our friend, has just fallen asleep. It’s time that I go and awaken him.”
[12] When they heard this, the disciples replied, “Lord, if he has just fallen asleep, then he’ll get better.”
[13] Jesus was speaking about Lazarus’ death, but the disciples presumed he was talking about natural sleep.
[14] Then Jesus made it plain to them, “Lazarus is dead.
[15] And for your sake, I’m glad I wasn’t there, because now you have another opportunity to see who I am so that you will learn to trust in me. Come, let’s go and see him.”
[16] So Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, remarked to the other disciples, “Let’s go so that we can die with him.”
[17] Now when they arrived at Bethany, which was only about two miles from Jerusalem, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
[19] Many friends of Mary and Martha had come from the region to console them over the loss of their brother.
[20] And when Martha heard that Jesus was approaching the village, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house.
[21] Martha said to Jesus, “My Lord, if only you had come sooner, my brother wouldn’t have died.
[22] But I know that if you were to ask God for anything, he would do it for you.”
[23] Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise and live.”
[24] She replied, “Yes, I know he will rise with everyone else on resurrection day.”
[25] “Martha,” Jesus said, “You don’t have to wait until then. I am the Resurrection, and I am Life Eternal. Anyone who clings to me in faith, even though he dies, will live forever.

John’s accounts of when Lazarus of Bethany was on his deathbed, Martha and Mary, his sisters, sent Jesus an urgent message imploring His assistance tells us that God is punctual. How can this be though, when Jesus stayed where He was? Why did He do that?
Does this mean Jesus can be late? Would the Lord arrive too late to help and deliver us when we need Him?
ABSOLUTELY NOT! THE LORD IS NEVER LATE!
So many already think the Lord is late. They have prayed, fasted and waited but feel that since the Lord did not turn up when they asked, it means He’s late or may not even answer them.
There is a lesson in every adversity and the process must be completed before the change, otherwise, we would find ourselves repeating the process to gain what is required.
Remember the significance of names? Check out the significance and ironic meaning of Lazarus: Lazarus is synonymous with the Hebrew, “Eliezer.” meaning “my God is help.” And God did help!
The Lord was aware of Lazarus’s sickness, He mentions it to the disciples, and then goes on to proclaim that “the sickness is not unto death. Why? Yet Jesus made no move to travel to Bethany He waited two extra days before setting out, timing His arrival to be exactly on the fourth day after Lazarus’ death in verse seventeen. Jesus was at least one day’s journey away from Bethany and by the time the message reached him, Lazarus had already died.
The Lord is purposefully intentional in all He does, and the maximum glory of everything goes to Him alone. If Jesus had arrived “too early” the Jews would not have seen this event as a miracle because the Jewish tradition believes that the soul of a deceased person was believed to linger behind, hovering over the dead body for three days, desperately trying to get back inside the body.
So introduces the reason why Jesus stayed two days longer. No room for doubt or dispute! He wanted the people to see his power over death, maximizing His glory in verse five.
Some would ask why Jesus didn’t come on time to heal Lazarus, Jesus’ answer in verse fifteen points us again to maximum glory, healing Lazarus was not in His plan but that would have happened if He had come too early, this was an occasion to manifest the glory of God to man, and to establish our faith.
Timing is everything to the Lord according to Ecclesiastes 3, the Lord is never late or too early. It was a miracle to see Lazarus was dead, at least for the disciples, as no person had come to announce it to them. It was a greater miracle to raise a dead man than to cure a sick man. And it was a greater miracle, to raise one that had been buried for four days, and in whose body, putrefaction might have begun to take place, than to raise one that just died.
Don’t give up, God would never be late to help you or too early to miss you, He will arrive on time, He is punctual because time belongs to Him. The Lord is never late.
Shalom