John 11:17

He found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

Christ had in Galilee raised two persons from the dead, one soon after death; the other from the bier on which he was carried to burial. Now, in Judea, right at Jerusalem, in the face of his enemies, and just before his own death and burial,. crowning miracle is to be wrought. He will demonstrate that he is "the Resurrection and the Life" by demanding back from the grave one buried, buried four days,. period so long that in that hot climate decomposition had begun. The miracle is to be wrought under circumstances such that the most captious cannot question the reality of the death, or the resurrection.