The Dead Hear Jesus’ Voice and Live

A Study of John 5:24–27

“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. “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. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.”
‭‭John‬ ‭5‬:‭24‬-‭27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:

-Truly: “Ἀμὴν”, “amēn”; particle indeclinable — verily, amen, at the beginning of a discourse — surely, truly, of a truth.

-Word: “λόγον”, “logon”; noun, accusative, singular, masculine — word, message, instruction, teaching.

-Believes: “πιστεύων”, “pisteuōn”; verb, present, active, participle, singular, nominative, masculine — believe, equivalent to: to believe and embrace what God has made known either through Christ or concerning Christ.

-Eternal: “αἰώνιον”, “aiōnion”; adjective, accusative, singular, feminine — perpetual; eternal; forever; everlasting.

-Life: “ζωὴν”, “zōēn”; noun, accusative, singular, feminine — life real and genuine, vita quae sola vita nominanda (Cicero, de sen. 21, 77), a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last forever; to be obtained in fellowship with Christ.

-Death (v.24): “θανάτου”, “thanatou”; noun, genitive, singular, masculine — death; metaphorically, the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name, i. e. “the misery of soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body”.

-Dead (v.25): “νεκροὶ”, “nekroi”; adjective, nominative, plural, masculine — corpse, dead; tropically: spiritually dead, i. e. “destitute of a life that recognizes and is devoted to God, because given up to trespasses and sins; inactive as respects doing right”.

-Will Hear: “ἀκούσουσιν”, “akousousin”; verb, future, active, indicative, third person, plural — to perceive the distinct words of a voice.

-Voice: “φωνῆς”, “phōnēs”; noun, genitive, singular, feminine — a voice, i. e. the sound of uttered words; In John 5:25, 28: the sound of the words of Christ as he shall recall the dead to life (the resurrection-cry).

-of The Son of God: “τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ”, “tou Huiou tou Theou”; noun, genitive, singular, masculine — Jesus Christ.

-Will Live: “ζήσουσιν”, “zēsousin”; verb, future, active, indicative, third person, plural — emphatically, and in the Messianic sense, to enjoy real life, i. e. to have true life and worthy of the name — active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God.

-Authority: “ἐξουσίαν”, “exousian”; noun, accusative, singular, feminine — the power of authority (influence) and of right; of the divine authority granted to Jesus as Messiah, with the infinitive of the thing to be done.

-To Execute: “ποιεῖν”, “poiein”; verb, present, active, infinitive — joined to nouns involving the idea of action (or of something which is accomplished by action), so as to form a periphrasis for the verb cognate to the substantive, and thus to express the idea of the verb more forcibly. In John 5:27: “to execute judgment”.

-Judgment: “κρίσιν”, “krisin”; noun, accusative, singular, feminine — judgment; i. e. opinion or decision given concerning anything, especially concerning justice and injustice, right and wrong; That judgment which Christ occasioned, in that wicked men rejected the salvation he offered, and so of their own accord brought upon themselves misery and punishment.

-Son of Man: “Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου”, “Huios anthrōpou”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine — used by Christ himself, doubtless in order that he might intimate his Messiahship and also that he might designate himself as the head of the human family, the man, the one who both furnished the pattern of the perfect man and acted on behalf of all mankind. Christ seems to have preferred this to the other Messianic titles, because by its lowliness it was least suited to foster the expectation of an earthly Messiah in royal splendor.

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

In this passage Jesus says that whoever hears and believes Him also believes the One who sent Him and therefore has eternal life. They have not come under judgment, but have moved from existing in death to existing in life. Next, Jesus says the time will soon come when the dead will hear His (the Son of God’s) voice and live. This is possible because the Father who is the source of life has also given Jesus, the Son, this same life to give to others. And the Father has also given Jesus the authority and right to execute judgment because Jesus is “The Son of Man.”

Implication (what does this mean to us):

In these verses Jesus continues to explain His total equality with God the Father (Jesus is fully God and fully Man), and the authority He has been given to judge the world and to give or withhold life accordingly. In the previous verse He explained that anyone who does not honor Him in the same way they honor God the Father, does not honor God the Father who sent Him.

Verse 24 opens with Jesus saying, “Whoever hears my word…”. In this context the word “hears” implies believing and obeying what Jesus says. Jesus made this statement in the context of explaining His perfect unity with God the Father. All that He says and does is perfectly aligned with the will of the Father and therefore what He says must be believed and obeyed by those who truly wish to honor God. Failure to believe and obey the Son of God is the same as disbelieving and disobeying God the Father and will bring judgment. But belief and obedience to the Son of God will bring eternal life, as Jesus communicates by continuing on to say, “…and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.” This means all those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will undergo a transformation and will not face the righteous and just condemnation sin deserves. Before coming to Christ we are all dead spiritually in that we are born dead in our sin; and we are dead physically in that our bodies are decaying with each passing day. But when we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we immediately pass “from death to life.” We are immediately transformed, or in other words, resurrected to new life in Christ, and this life is eternal.

The one who believes in Christ does not have to wait to experience this new life. As the apostle Paul says of Yahweh in Colossians 1:13, “He has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.” While our bodies will still decay and we will struggle against sin in this world, the follower of Jesus has been resurrected to new spiritual life and will also receive a resurrected, perfected body one day that will never decay or die. The believer in Jesus has passed from living as one of the dead and unredeemed citizens of the kingdom of darkness, into living as one of the alive, redeemed citizens of the kingdom of King Jesus.

For us who have accepted this free gift from Jesus we should take note of the first part of verse 24. Jesus says it is “whoever hears my word” and believes that passes from death to life. As His representatives here on earth He has given us the task of proclaiming His words for others to hear so that they too can pass from death to life. For as the apostle Paul also said in Romans 10:14, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” If we have passed from death to life by grace through faith in Jesus, then we must now tell others, just as we ourselves have been told.

If Jesus’ claim in verse 24 seemed incredible, He goes even further in verse 25 by saying the time is coming soon when even “the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God” and live. These verses (24–25) are a continuation of Jesus’ constant and persistent claim to Deity. Only God can cause the dead to live, and Jesus is saying He will do that very thing. Jesus’ words “an hour is coming and is now here” speak to a theme referred to as “already but not yet” that runs through the Bible. He said something very similar to the Samaritan woman in John 4:23 when He told her, “the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.” This is the tension we see communicated throughout Scripture. The “already, but not yet” kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is already here, but also not yet. Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross resulted in the defeat of the kingdom of this world that Paul mentioned in Colossians 1:13. And Jesus has begun building His kingdom “already” in the hearts of men and women as they come to Him in faith, but at the same time His kingdom has “not yet” come. As Christian’s we have been resurrected to new life in Christ “already,” but at the same time we are patiently waiting for the full redemption of our bodies that has “not yet” come (Romans 8:23–25).

So this verse has eschatological implications. In other words Jesus is pointing forward to the ultimate and final victory that will come one day (Revelation 21), but that has also already been accomplished. The kingdom of Yahweh is advancing day by day as He saves and redeems sinners like us, rescuing us from the kingdom of darkness and adopting us as His own children into His kingdom. And one day, Jesus will speak and all of us who have died in Him, will arise in new, glorious bodies, to dwell with Him and each other in the new heavens and new earth where death, suffering and mourning will be no more. This Kingdom is already here, but also not yet. As D.A. Carson puts it, “the coming hour already is: the resurrection life for the physically dead in the end time is already being manifest as life for the spiritually dead. It is the voice of the Son of God (or his word: cf. v. 24; 6:63, 68; 11:43) that calls forth the dead, and those who hear will live.”

Verse 26 opens with the word “For…”. Whenever we see a word like “for” in the Bible, that means we need to keep in mind what was said previously, because the following statement will directly build upon what was previously said. To explain how He will do what He just said, Jesus explains that “just as [God] the Father has life in himself, so he has granted [God] the Son to have life in himself.” Jesus is not slowing down. Here is another claim to Deity. He says that just as God has life in himself to give or take, so does He, because He is God. Jesus is Yahweh. David Guzik describes this statement well when he says, “With these words Jesus lifted Himself far above the level of any mere man. Think of it: “Hear My word and have everlasting life.” This was either the babbling of an insane man or the words of God Himself. There is no neutral ground to be found here.”

And in regards to how and when Jesus obtained this life Alexander Maclaren says, “What a paradox it is to say that it is ‘given’ to Him to have ‘life in Himself’! And when was that gift given? In the depths of eternity.” As John has explained from the very first verse of this gospel account, Jesus is the eternally existent, uncreated God of the universe from whom all life comes and is sustained. And here John demonstrates yet more claims to Deity by Jesus. Jesus is not a mere human. He is human, but He is also fully God, and He has always been God from eternity past. Humans receive life from God, and only God has life in himself to give to others.

Finally, verse 27 tells us that in addition to having been given life in Himself from the Father since eternity past, He has also been given authority to execute judgment “because He is the Son of Man.” This is one of the Messianic titles Jesus is recorded as using the most often; and this is given to us as yet another reason why He has the authority to give life and execute judgment. The title “son of man” is used elsewhere in the OT by God in reference to mere human prophets, but it is also a Messianic title from the apocalyptic prophecy of Daniel in Daniel 7:13–14 (LEB) that says, “I continued watching in the visions of the night, and look, with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming, and he came to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingship that all the peoples, the nations, and languages would serve him; his dominion is a dominion without end that will not cease, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.” So, this title Jesus gives for Himself does communicate His humanity, but more than that, it communicates His claim to absolute dominion over all peoples, nations and language groups that is everlasting and can only belong to God Himself.

It is this combination of humanity and Deity that is unique to Jesus that uniquely qualifies Him to receive from the “Ancient of Days” the right to judge the universe, and to give or take life accordingly. The reason for this judgment is given in multiple parts of John’s gospel, and we have already read one explanation in John 3:19 where Jesus explained to Nicodemus, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” The Son of Man has descended first to offer salvation to all the world (3:16–17), but also to announce to the world that we need salvation because we are already condemned. And what are we condemned for? For loving darkness rather than Light. The judgment for this rejection of the Light is eternal separation from the Light Himself: Jesus Christ. And remember, Jesus is the source of life, so to be separated from Him is to be separated from true, everlasting life spent in fullness of joy with Him everyone else who has believed in Him. This is the message we who follow Jesus have been sent to declare.

Jesus Christ alone has been given authority to judge, and He will give life to all those who repent and turn to Him in faith. All that is required is belief and confession (Romans 10:9–10). But all who reject His free gift of salvation through taking the penalty for the world’s sin on Himself, will get exactly what they want, eternal separation from Him in unending torment. Because to be separated from the source of life Himself, is to be separated from His good graces only to experience His just wrath in eternal punishment for sin against an eternal Being. It sounds harsh but this is the reality of our existence. Because Jesus is a good and just judge. He plays no favorites and He does not ignore sin, which is a violation of His perfect law (1 John 3:4). To ignore our sin would not be just. The penalty must be paid. So, because He is also infinitely loving and merciful, Jesus, the judge of the universe, stepped down from the judge’s bench and took our place on death row. Now if we confess we are sinners, ask Him for forgiveness, accept this free gift of salvation and believe in Jesus alone as our Lord and Savior, all of us can and will be saved for eternity.

Jesus is the just and righteous Judge of all. And this is gloriously good news because:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should cause us to think of Jesus as far more than simply a good, moral teacher or a prophet. He is those things, but He is so much more. He is God incarnate, God in the flesh, fully God and fully human. He is also the life-giving Judge of all the universe. And He descended from the perfect splendor of heaven to dwell with us in the dirt, to rescue us from the condemnation we rightly deserve by facing that very condemnation Himself (1 John 2:1–2).

This knowledge should cause us to respond. When the people Jesus spoke to heard Him they either loved Him or wanted to kill Him. There is no neutrality possible. Indifference to Jesus is simply passive hatred. He is the King of kings, and He is establishing His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And we must choose a side: the kingdom of darkness that we have been born into, or the Kingdom of Light that we may all be reborn into by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus.

Self Reflection:

Have I heard the words of Jesus and believed? If yes, why (1 Peter 3:15–16)? If no, why not (Matthew 11:2–6)?

Do I understand that if I have confessed my sin and placed my faith in Jesus I will not come under judgment because He was judged in my place? How should this affect my response when I stumble and sin? (1 John 1:9 and 2:1–2)

If it is true that the dead WILL hear the words of Jesus and live, who are the spiritually dead people around me that I need to pray for and speak the life-giving words of Jesus to?