John 5:19-30, Passing from Death to Life

Jesus claimed to be one with the Father, doing the same work, having the same ability to give life, agreeing in judgment, and sharing the same glory.  Why was it important for Jesus to present this to the Jews who were persecuting Him (v16)?  The reason is that Jesus is the essence of the gospel, the good news by which people can be saved.  What do we mean?

Look at 5:25-30.  Jesus speaks of the same things as He did in 5:19-23: He has life in Himself, as does the Father, and He has been given authority to judge.  But now He says these things in the context of resurrection.  A day is coming when the dead will hear His voice, the voice of Christ, and will live.  “All who are in the graves will hear His voice” (v28).  At that time, He will also exercise His authority to judge.  The result of His judgment will be that some will be raised to a resurrection of life and some to a resurrection of condemnation (v29). 

There are two things to note as to why Jesus is the judge of all mankind.  First, He has been given this authority by the Father because “He is the Son of Man” (v27).  Jesus is a qualified judge of mankind because Jesus became one of us.  Second, He sought and did the will of His Father while on earth.  In His earthly life He endured all the temptations that any person experiences, and He endured them all without sinning (Heb. 4:15).  He experienced death, our final enemy (1 Cor. 15:26.)  In all His sufferings, Jesus was perfected.  This means He completed the course His Father had for Him.  “Having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Heb. 5:8-9).

This should bring us to a question: since after I die, I am going to be resurrected, and I am going to stand before Jesus in judgment, how can I be assured that I will be raised to a resurrection of life and not of condemnation?  The answer to that question is in 5:24. Most assuredly, I say to you, 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.

In other words, there is good news.  The good news is all about who Jesus Christ was and what He did.  It took someone who could live this life without sin, so that in His death He could pay the price of the sins of everyone else.  This is what Jesus told Nicodemus (John 3:16) and the woman of Samaria (John 4:13-14).

In a previous paragraph we quoted from Hebrews: “Having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”  You may have wondered: what obedience must I give Him?  You and I, we cannot be perfect as He was because we are already sinners.  The obedience is this: “he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me.”  That one has received the good news of our Lord, Jesus Christ.