Note 4 at Joh 11:4: As explained in note 7 at Joh 11:6, Lazarus was already dead by the time this messenger reached Jesus. Therefore, we can be sure that Jesus was not saying that Lazarus would not die; He was instead speaking forth His faith that death would not be the final outcome of this situation. He knew at that time that He would raise Lazarus from the dead.

His statement about this sickness being for the glory of God must be understood in this light. He was not saying that God put this sickness and death upon Lazarus so that He could turn around and heal him and receive glory thereby (see note 3 at Lu 13:16 and note 2 at Joh 9:2). He was using the creative power of His words (the same creative power that created the heavens and the earth, Heb 11:3) to counter a situation that was an attack of Satan (Joh 10:10) and change it into something that would glorify God.