John 5:24-30 PODCAST
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, 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. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. John 5:24-30
Our text for today makes clear that "whoever hears the word of the Lord Jesus and believes him who sent me has eternal life." It is clear, according to v.24-27, that mankind has a responsibility to believe before being made right with God. It is our faith in Him as the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior that bridges the gap between us and God. Otherwise, we will remain in our debilitating sin and we will spend an eternity apart from Him and all that is good.
Anyone who is willing to listen to Christ's claims about Himself, and believe His Father sent Him to deliver eternal life to all who believe, will cross over from death to life. This is not arbitrary on God's part. He does not choose some to go to heaven and others to not. It is simply up to us to believe He is our Messiah, our Christ, our Savior.
We were all born condemned to eternal separation from God by our sinfulness. We were conceived into sin, and, as a result, we are all bound for this lonely eternity apart from all that is good and substantive. Unless we receive the free gift of eternal life through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are hopeless. Thus the most important question is whether we have believed in the Lord Jesus and received from Him the gift of eternal life.
Every person who has or will ever live on this earth will experience resurrection. And, as a result, this said resurrection will be met by damnation or will lead to life. The resurrection is the subject of this passage as we can easily see. And it is in this passage that the Lord Jesus makes the disrupting claim that He is the One who raises the dead and judges all.
According to v.29, "those who have done what is good will rise to live." It appears that our good behavior factors in on whether we are made right with God and subsequently have a personal relationship with Him, resulting in us spending eternity in heaven with Him. But this is not what this verse is saying. "Those who have done what is good" means to have received eternal life. Only those in whom the life of God is dwelling can "do good" in God's eyes.
According to v.29, what does "those who have done what is evil" mean? Obviously this is referring to those who have refused His life, turned their backs on truth, and shut their ears to the offer of grace from God. Those are the ones who have all their life "done evil" even though there were times when they thought they were doing good. These "will rise to be condemned."
Our text informs us that "all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out." Consider the power of the Son of God. One day, He will speak, and everyone who has ever lived in all of human history will rise from the dead to face Him. Only God’s equal is qualified to judge in this way. Only God’s equal is able to raise the dead in this way. Why didn’t the Jewish authorizes believe that Jesus was God’s equal and that He would judge the world and raise the dead? They had every reason to believe, based on the evidence that Jesus puts forth, but they refused.
We live in a world that is no longer capable of being afraid of God. As a result, we have ended up with a me-centered gospel that attracts many, but changes no one. This American god of comfort must be revealed for what it is, full of meaningless stuff and empty of substance. The God of the Bible must be embraced once again by a people who once knew Him. And, as has always been the case, the God of the Bible must crush us of self, so that His Son is exalted to draw all who would come to His healing resource to drink and be satisfied aright.
