In the Jewish culture it was believed that after four days the spirit of any person had left his body and that person is totally dead. This belief was rooted in various Rabbinic texts such as the Midrash Tanchuma and Leviticus Rabbah which suggested that; for the first three days, the soul lingers, hoping it might return to the body. And on the fourth day, the bodies facial features begin to change significantly due to decay and once the face is lost, the soul accepted that it could no longer inhabit the frame. This timeframe was so significant that traditionally a person could only be legally declared dead after three days had passed as it was thought however rarely that they might just be in deep coma.

John 11:44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them,"Unbind him, and let him go."

Lazarus offers an example to us the church today as we have been reborn into salvation. For our old self is gone and our new man lives. We are held prisoners by remanence of our former life, our very fallnness clings to us and though we live, we stink. It's as if we are bound in our grace clothes and this is the reality of our spiritual life. As soon as Lazarus's death rags were removed, the stench was gone and the corruption of death no longer clang unto him.

Killing sin is a lifetime effort. There are no short cuts. For it's a daily routine to always hewn sin to pieces using all means of grace by reading and studying the word of God, listening to sermons, worshipping, meditating upon the law and commandment of GOD, pray, pursuing things that only bring us to holiness and righteousness.