It was an awesome moment.  At Jesus' command the huge stone, covering the rock tomb of Lazarus, was taken away.  Then all eyes were upon Jesus as He called out to Father God.  He intended His prayer to be overheard.  It was important that everybody grieving around the grave could hear God the Son and God the Father working together, as He did on six other occasions as well (Luke 3:21-22; Matthew 11:25-26; John 12:27-28; Matthew 26:26; Luke 23:34; Luke 23:46).  This time, Jesus wanted Martha and Mary to understand that when the Father and the Son decide to raise the dead, nothing can stop them.  It was also a preparation for the disciples to preach the resurrection in the Name of Jesus (Acts 4:2).
 
Then Jesus commanded the dead man to come out of his grave.  Lazarus obeyed, even though he had been dead for four days.  It was a miracle – a supernatural work of God.  Dead people cannot even hear, let alone walk.  But when Jesus speaks - the dead must respond.  The Lord Jesus Christ was fulfilling His own prophecy in John 5:25: "… a time is coming, and has now come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live."

Lazarus was alive.  However, it was difficult for him to walk: his hands and feet were tightly bound to his body by the strips of burial cloth.  Nor could he see where he was going, because his head and face were covered by the burial cloth. He must have looked a strange sight shuffling like a penguin towards the glow of sunshine.  So having commanded the dead to listen, live and walk, Jesus completed his rehabilitation, commanding that Lazarus be released from the burial cloths, to walk free with Jesus.
 
The power of Jesus to bring new life to the dead is a mark of His divine power.  It also demonstrated that He was working intimately with Father God, the penultimate sign that He was the promised Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world (the ultimate sign was His own resurrection). John did not include this account in his Gospel in order to excite the church that death will not come to believers. No, this was a special sign to help people like us to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing, we might have eternal life in His Name (John 20:31). Amazingly, those who do believe in Jesus will all be given new bodies when He comes again. Do you believe that?  If so, live in faith, love and hope – without the graveclothes of your old life - and with your own resurrection as your personal horizon (John 6:40).