John 11:43

Cried. Gr. kraugazo, “to call out loudly.” The verb appears elsewhere in the NT in (Matt. 12:19; 15:22; John 18:40; 19:6, 15; Acts 22:23).

Loud voice. Gr. phone megale. These two Greek words appear together also in Matt. 24:31; Mark 15:34, 37; Rev. 1:10.

Lazarus. Jesus addressed him as we would a familiar friend to arouse him from sleep.

Come forth. Gr. deuro exo. Deuro, meaning “hither,” has the force of “come,” and is thus translated in Matt. 19:21; Mark 10:21; Acts 7:34; etc. Exo means “out.”

There is no hint in the entire narrative that the soul of Lazarus left his body at the moment of death and ascended to heaven. If such had been the case, we might have expected Jesus to address the conscious soul rather than the lifeless body. He could have said, “Lazarus, come down and live again in the flesh.” But like David, Lazarus had “not ascended into the heavens” (Acts 2:34). The past four days had been to him a period of oblivion and unconsciousness (see Ps. 146:4). If anyone expected to learn from him a glorious account of the exploits of the soul after death, he was doomed to disappointment, for Lazarus had nothing to relate.