My dear friend, this is a very interesting question, but my quick answer is that Lazarus was “asleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). This phrase speaks of heavenly bliss for those who are saved, those who believe the promises of the Lord, those to whom His righteousness has been imputed (Romans 4:3,23-24). In short, the spirits of the saved go to be with Christ Jesus when they die.  In the NT the Bible often speaks of believers who have died as “being asleep”, and this reflects the truth that our bodies are subject to death, but our spirit is not. I think we see a clear picture of this truth in the account of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. In verse 22 we read, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried…” In this portion, we have two Jewish men, both of whom died, but though their bodies had died, their spirits were very much alive as we clearly read in verses 23-31. Now Lazarus in this account was carried into the bosom of Abraham. And where is that you might ask? In the Morrish Bible Dictionary under the heading “Abraham’s Bosom” we read: Abraham their forefather was believed by the Jews to be in the highest place of happiness, and their writings show that ‘to be with Abraham’ and to be in his bosom were terms they used to express the highest security and happiness. Our Lord therefore used an expression that was well understood by His hearers and needed no explanation. Luke 16:23 stands in contrast to hell, or hades, and was therefore figurative of heaven.” Now at this juncture, I want to tell you that in the remainder of this response, I will not further reference “hell” or “hades” except to say that the term “hades”, in Scripture, is generally not used to describe the place of a person’s spirit after death, but rather to describe the situation of the body when separated from the person’s spirit after a person dies-in other words, the grave (see Acts 2:27).

Now the Lazarus of John 11 was also a Jewish man, but he clearly loved the Lord Jesus, and I believe that the Scriptures clearly indicate that Lazarus and his sisters were believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 11, the Lord Jesus said to His disciples that Lazarus “sleepeth” (John 11:11), which He clarified in verses 13 and 14 that Lazarus had died. Personally, I love the thought that Christians who have died have “fallen asleep in Jesus” as this for me paints a picture of the temporary nature of death for believers, and of believers being safe with the Lord when they die. We know from John 14:1-3 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 that when our Lord Jesus returns to the clouds, He will catch us up to be with Himself, our spirits being reunited with our resurrected bodies, and these bodies will be made like unto His glorious body (Philippians 3:21). But as to where the spirit of the believer goes when the body has died, I think we have several verses to comfort us. In Acts 7:59-60 we read about the death of Stephen, “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit…And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Stephen’s spirit was received by the Lord Jesus when he “fell asleep”. Then in 2 Corinthians 5:8 we read: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Philippians 1:23 reacts to the possibility of the death of the body in a similar manner: “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better….”

In summary, I believe that it is Scriptural to speak of Lazarus in John 11, for the four days he was in the tomb, as being “absent from the body and present with the Lord”, asleep in Jesus, or simply “with Christ which is far better”. The body of Lazarus was in the grave decomposing, but his spirit was safe with Christ. Now, Christ, being the Son of God, had the power over death to restore the spirit of Lazarus to his body which was raised up to more of his natural life. And this same Lord Jesus has the power to raise up every one of us who have believed on Him, never to die again as Lazarus did at length, but to everlasting life. As we read above, our bodies will be changed to be like His glorious body, and our spirits, which have been safe with Christ, will be reconnected to our bodies when He comes back to the clouds.  (SF)  (707.2)