JESUS:
The Resurrection and the Life!
John
5:24-29
Introduction: Yogi Berra had some memorable one-liners, I think
one thing he said was that “It is a difficult thing to prophesy, especially
about the future.” When I was a new Christian (back in the late 70s) it seemed
that Prophecy Conferences were all the rage. Everyone was excited about God’s
plan for the future, and a lot of preachers had worked out in great detail
their understanding of how future events were going to unfold. Almost every
decade had someone arguing that the signs of the times were so clear that the
rapture could not be too far off. Well, it is certainly true that when they
said that, the return of Christ is nearer than it ever had been! The same is
true today, and we are closer than they were. Jesus is returning, and it could
be soon! We can acknowledge the signs of the times, we can hear the distant
thunder, but the truth is we don’t know God’s timetable. As Jesus himself said to His
disciples, “It is not for you to know the times and seasons the Father has
set by His own authority…” He then spoke to them about the coming of the
Holy Spirit and empowerment for the mission. We who know Christ are included in
that promise. There is a practical aspect of “eschatology,” or the study of the
end times, that we are confronted with in these verses.
John
emphasizes the idea that in a real sense, in and through Christ, the last days
are here, this is the age of promise and fulfillment. This does not
negate the promise of the rapture, and the Lord’s return, and the future
kingdom. Some theologians call this already/not yet tension “inaugurated
eschatology.” The future is present? We saw similar language in Jesus’
interaction with the Samaritan woman in John 4. He said in 4:22-24…
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what
we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the
true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is
seeking such people to worship him. 24
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and
truth."
How can the time be coming, and at the same time, be
already here? The coming of Jesus is the initiation of the New Age, the age of
promise. We have God’s indwelling presence, in the Person of the Holy Spirit,
as the pledge and downpayment on our inheritance. And so, the writer to the
Hebrews began his epistle saying,
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the
prophets, 2 but in these last
days he has spoken to us by his Son…”
(Heb 1:1-2a).
The future is here! Jesus is the ultimate revelation
of God, in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He came in the fullness
of time to carry out the plan of salvation, and then, when the work was done,
He said, “It is finished.”
The Big Idea: By faith, we have new life in Christ, and one day,
as Jesus was raised, so too we will receive a new resurrection body. We’ll
start with John 5:24 as we consider this and we’ll see Jesus’ teaching on, 1)
The Present and the Future (24); 2) The Presence of
the Future (25-26); and then 3) The Promise in the Future
(27-29).
I. The Present and the Future:
We see the awesome Sovereignty of the Son as the
Lord of the Present and the Future, life comes through faith in Him
(24).
24
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me
has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to
life.
This is where we left off two weeks ago
in John 5. Jesus begins this verse and the next with the phrase, “truly,
truly…” or “amen, amen…” We saw that first in 1:51, as Jesus
responded the Nathanael’s profession of faith. We saw it earlier in this
chapter as Jesus was affirming the unity of His work and that of the Father
(5:19). It will appear 20 times in all in the Gospel of John, always with Jesus
calling attention to an important truth, the “Big Idea,” of what He was
teaching. He uses it in this verse and the next, I don’t think we see it
elsewhere is consecutive verses.
Here, He ties together “hearing” and “believing”
as evidence of authentic spiritual life (v.24). As it is given here, Jesus is
not referring to hearing His word, and believing the One who sent him, as two
separate things, as though someone might do one and not the other. On the contrary,
one pronoun serves as the subject of both verbs, the “one who hears”
Jesus, “believes Him who sent” him. As we’ve seen elsewhere, He is not
talking about hearing as simply allowing the sound waves to register the sound
of His words. It is hearing with faith, listening and believing, receiving what
He says.
Do you see what He is saying? Hearing
the Words of Christ, receiving what He says, is believing the Father. His
Word is God’s Word. That is where John started His Gospel, “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” Elsewhere
it is clear that faith is the means God uses to save, For God so loved the
world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life. Here John is saying that listening to Jesus
and believing Him is evidence that one has
eternal life.
So,
just as we saw in the previous context that His works are God’s works, so also His
word is God’s word. The Big Idea here is that
*by faith, we have new life in Christ, and one day,
as Jesus was raised, so too we will receive a new resurrection body
II.
The Presence of the Future (25-26).
25
"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, 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.
“The
hour is coming, and is now here…”
It says “The dead will hear the
voice of the Son of God and live…” We know that there is a day yet future, a
day to which He will refer in 5:28-29. However, here, in 5:25, the hour is
now here. This is an example of what scholars called “inaugurated eschatology,”
which it seems to me is a key to victorious Christian living. We have a future
hope to be sure, but we should also recognize that there is a sense in which we
are already participating in the Kingdom. Paul said it like this in
Colossians 1:13-14,
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and
conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
This is the Day of Salvation, the hour is now present
when those who are spiritually dead can live through the life-giving Word of Christ. Erich Sauer
explained “the presence of the future” in terms of the historical resurrection
of Jesus as the “first-fruits” of our future resurrection:
“The present age is Eastertime. It begins with the
resurrection of the Redeemer, and will end with the resurrection of the
redeemed. In between lays the spiritual resurrection of those who are called
into new life in Christ. So, we live between the two Easters. And in the power
of the first Easter, we go to meet the last Easter.”
Inaugurated Eschatology: “Already, Not Yet.” We are
living between the two Easters, between the lightning of Christ’s resurrection,
and the thunder of his return and our future resurrection. And so, here we see
the “already.” As it says in our text, v.25 “The hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the
Son of God; and those who hear will live.” Jesus just said in the preceding
context…
“For as the
Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom
he will…” (John 5:21).
Remember in the Prologue John said in 1:4, “In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men.” In John 3:16 we were told that “…whoever
believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” We have
the oracle of the Lord in Isaiah 55:3, “Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear that your soul may live…” Paul describes that “spiritual resurrection”
in Ephesians 2:1,5-6…
1 “And you He made
alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins…
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and
made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”
Our future is that certain, in Christ — because of Him,
we have eternal life. There is a sense in which we are already living in
eternity. Jesus will say as much to Martha at the graveside of Lazarus in John
11:25-26…
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever
believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and
believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
We
have life, eternal life, through faith in Christ. The Big Idea: By faith, we
have new life in Christ, and one day, as Jesus was raised, so too we will
receive a new resurrection body. So, we see the presence of the future in our
new life, and also…
III.
The Promise in the Future: He
is the Lord of history, and the Day is coming that all will be judged on the
basis of their response to Him (27-29).
27
And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of
Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who
are in the tombs will hear his voice 29
and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those
have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
John has emphasized the two
natures of Christ, fully God and fully man. He is the Son of God, and the Son
of Man. “Son of Man” in the NT is Jesus’ favorite way of referring to Himself
in the third person. Only those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to
understand got what He was saying. Son of Man was a messianic title, drawn from
Daniel 7:13-14…
13 I
saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one
like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented
before him. 14 And to him was
given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and
languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
Jesus tells us in John 5:27 that the Son of God
spoken of in 5:25-26 is that eschatological Son of Man predicted by Daniel, the
One who will have dominion and glory and a never-ending Kingdom. He has been
given authority to exercise judgment. We see in 5:28-29,
27 And
he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28
Do
not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the
tombs will hear his voice 29
and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those
who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
“…an hour is coming…” pushes the resurrection(s) described here
into the future, it is not yet here, but it is as sure as the promises of God. We
have already been translated into the kingdom of the Son…” and “…if
any man be in Christ—a new creation”! We have moved from death to life. But
there will also be a future physical resurrection and a future day of
judgment. And notice what John says, “All
who are in the grave” will be raised: some to life, others to
condemnation. But beyond question in
that day “…every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord.”
“…those who have done good… those who have
done evil…” You might think, “Wait a minute, for five years you’ve been
saying we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone…” Yes. This is not saying we are saved by good
works. The Bible is clear that salvation is only by grace through faith in
Jesus and his finished work. Good works are, however, an evidence of
authentic faith: “…You are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God
ordained beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10). John calls us
to believe in Jesus, 1) to recognize that He is God the Son; 2) to trust in his
death for our sins as your only hope of salvation. Our new life in Him will be
evident in the good fruit. For those who have done that our hope is a future
resurrection unto life, not judgment. We'll see Jesus say in John 6:29, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
“…but
those who have done evil…” The ESV uses the same verb translating both
phrases, but John used a different verb, some English versions reflect that, “those
who have practiced evil to the resurrection of judgment…” The
contrast sounds to me like the difference between the “fruit of the Spirit”
and the “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5, where Paul says of those
controlled by their sinful nature, “those who practice such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:21). We are saved by grace alone through
faith alone in Christ alone. So, all will be raised, some to Life
eternal, others to eternal damnation. It is a sobering truth. It reflects what
we say at the end of chapter 3…
35 The Father loves the Son and has
given all things into his hand. 36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains
on him…
(John 3:35-36).
There
is no neutral position. There is no avoiding the truth. All of humanity is in
one position or the other. Have you believed?
What is God saying to me in
this passage? The Big Idea here is that *By faith, we [CAN] have new life in Christ, and [THEN] one day, as Jesus
was raised, so too we will receive a new resurrection body. Jesus is the
Son of God; as such He is the Lord of Life and the coming Judge. That points to
John’s “big idea” in this Gospel: “Many other signs did Jesus in the
presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these have
been written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God,
and that believing you might have life in His Name.” The evidence is clear, it is compelling.
Jesus is the Son of God, God the Son. The question is, what will you do with
Jesus? ALL will be judged based on our response to Him. Do you believe?
What would God have me to do in response
to this passage?
1) Here
it says “…he who hears my word and
believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into
judgment, but has passed from death into life.” Have you heard his voice in this passage?
Have you believed who He is, and trusted what he has done for you? If you are
not yet certain where you stand, but even as you read these words you sense a
stirring in your heart, it may be that the God of all creation is stirring
faith in your heart. Remember from John 1, “He came unto His own, but His own
people did not receive Him. But to as many as received, to those who believed
on His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” Call on Him,
entrust yourself to Him!
2) And
believer, don’t miss what this passage is saying to you. If you know Him, you have
eternal life. You are forgiven, you are His, no one can snatch you from His
hand! You will never perish. Eric Sauer said this in Triumph of the
Crucified:
…it is precisely the certainty of the
“now” which establishes the high contrast of the “not yet.” The very greatness
of our today causes us to look longingly for the still greater tomorrow. Our very longing is a blessed enjoyment, and
by being satisfied, our hunger grows (Phil 3:12; Matt 5:6).
Amen! Maranatha Lord Jesus. AMEN.
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