John 5 – Eternal Life for the Dead
On one occasion Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. It was a marvelous miracle, but more than that it was a demonstration of Jesus’ authority to judge among men as the King, the Messiah, or Christ. The kingdom issue was brought up in John 3 to Nicodemus when Jesus declared that no one could enter the kingdom unless he was born again, literally born from above. Now Jesus displayed His defiance of Jewish traditions by working the works of God on the Sabbath. As King Jesus had the right to reshape the customs and culture of everyday life. He had the right to shape the life of every citizen of God’s kingdom into the image of God. The disobedient Jews were incensed by this disregard of their authority, even though it was an act of God initiated by the hands of the Son of God. Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now and I am working.” (John 5:17) He explained, “whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise,” v19. Jesus assured them that He would do even greater works, that they might marvel. He was speaking of raising the dead and giving them “life” according to His own will. That life was the same life or eternal life that He discussed with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman. It is a life that begins with judgment, because God must first judge the sins of men and condemn them so that they might repent of those sins and begin life anew. “All judgment” had been given to the Son, “that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.” (John 5:22) Jesus the King has every right to command how we should live even to every detail of how we should think and plan our lives. He commands His kingdom!
The work of John the Baptist began with a call to repentance which he spelled out in detail. The humble Jews came out to him confessing their sins and being baptized in water for the remission of their sins. Luke 3:10-14, “And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”; Mark 1:1-5, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”
Jesus continued the same work baptizing more disciples eventually than John. When the Pharisees and Sadducees came for baptism, John told them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:7) When Jesus drove out the money-changers from the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people asked Him “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23) In response Jesus asked them, “The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” They could not answer, “From heaven,” because Jesus could then have asked, “Why then did you not believe him?” Here in John 5 we see how that unbelief played out as Jesus displayed the glory of God on this earth through “signs, wonders, and mighty works.” In the face of all the proof that Jesus offered them, they justified their stubborn resistance by appealing to the human traditions which they had added to God’s revealed law. Their authority was presumptuous and illegitimate. Jesus’ authority to judge them came from the Father in heaven.
Now listen to Jesus explain the eternal life that He was offering to His disciples. He said, “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.” (John 5:24) This is very important. The possession of eternal life comes from first hearing the word of Jesus. Lest someone get the wrong idea about the blessing of hearing the words of Jesus, remember that “hearing” in the Bible means doing what you hear. James 1:22 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Returning to our text (John 5:24), eternal life is the possession of those who hear the word of Jesus and believe God who sent Jesus. God in heaven sent His Son Jesus with a message from above which we must receive as the command from on high. If you believe that message, you will obey it. There is no blessing is theoretically acknowledging or even confessing belief in the commands of the Commander of Heaven and Earth, if we do not follow His orders. Again, it was James who explained to those who put too much importance in the virtue of believing. He wrote, “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:18-24) We have already seen the context of faith in John 3:16 as expressed in verse 36. The opposite of believing is not obeying the Son and His celestial commands. The eternal life that the Father in heaven offers is the new life that results from victory over both the practice and the guilt of sin. The knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation. (Romans 1:16-17) Death is the practice and guilt of sin, because we will certainly come into judgment if we continue in sin and the darkness that it brings into our lives.
Jesus repeats this very important declaration, “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. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” (John 5:25-27) What does the Father have in himself that is called life? What is the life that He has granted to the Son to have in himself? It is the same thing that the Son grants that we may have if we hear and obey Him. It is the righteous and holy life. The root idea of sonship is the image of the father that is seen in the son. We are called sons of God, not as a legal right but as the image of God that the world sees in us when we think, walk, and talk like our Father in heaven. Those who hear his voice will live. They will have eternal life. That life is in the Son as it is in the Father, and can be in us if we will hear his voice. That is, the life will be in us when we put those teachings into practice. The day that we cease to live the life that God teaches, we will die in our sins and rebellions. God is watching us. He is judging us. The words of the Son will execute judgment on us all because He has that authority. (John 12:44-50, “And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”)
For there to be eternal significance to the “eternal life,” there must also be a resurrection from the dead physically. Jesus anticipates the question by adding to the former declaration, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (v29) The first resurrection was already going on as the word was preached, the words that Jesus brought down from heaven from the Father. Those who chose to hear and believe were being raised from the death and bondage of sin. Not everyone would believe that message. On the other hand, the resurrection of verse 28 was not happening yet because it was for another hour yet to come. The same voice and authority would summons all the dead without exception, “all who are in the tombs,” and this future summons will be for the final judgment. For those who have responded to the message that brings life in Christ, it will be a resurrection of life, but for those who have done evil it will be pure undiluted condemnation. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus often spoke of the judgment of hell, an eternal punishment in fire, darkness, and despair in the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Several judgment parables depict that scene. Matthew 25 describes the separation of the merciful from the merciless as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The great prophecy of Revelation envisions a great white throne and all the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, being judged by the books of God that are opened. (Revelation 20:11-15)
The justice of Jesus’ judgment
The judgment of Jesus is firmly based on the testimony given from God in heaven. (1) He Himself bears witness that He seeks not his own will but the will of God the Father who sent Him, 5:30. (2) Add to that the testimony of John the Baptist, 5:31-35. (3) Now add John’s testimony to the testimony of Jesus’ works, works that the Father gave Jesus to accomplish which verify that the Father had sent Him, “signs, wonders, and miracles,” 5:36. (4) The third testimony was the voice of the Father who sent Jesus. Men heard that voice on three different occasions declaring that Jesus is God’s Son, 5:37. (5) The fourth testimony was the Sacred Word, the Scriptures. The unbelieving Jews missed this testimony because the Father’s Word did not abide in them. They searched the Scriptures thinking that in them they might have eternal life, but although the Scriptures bore witness of Jesus, they would not draw near to Jesus that they might have life. (5:38-40)
Why did the unbelieving Jews fail to value all such testimony from God in heaven? They first failed to love God. (5:41-42) Remember the warning of the apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Because their hearts were not right with God, they preferred fraudulent men who came in their own names, whose motivations were selfish. (5:43) They could not believe in Jesus because they were busy receiving glory one from another and were not seeking the glory that comes from God. (5:44) Returning to the indictment of verse 39, Jesus declared that Moses in his writings accused the Jewish unbelievers because he wrote of Jesus. They did not even believe Moses! (5:45-47)