A Study of John's Gospel

John 5:28-30: Jesus Will Resurrect Everyone

But it should not surprise us by now that Jesus takes this a step further. After telling the listeners not to marvel at His previous statement about spiritual resurrection, He tells them there is also a time coming when all of the physically dead people from all of human history will hear His voice, and be resurrected. We know this is a future event only, and not an "already but not yet" event because verse 28 only says, "is coming," while verse 25 said, "is coming, and is now here.". This distinguishes verse 28 as a purely end times, apocalyptic statement about final judgment, when all peoples will be raised. And this tells us also that resurrection will be for those who have done good and those who have done evil. But importantly, those who have done good will be resurrected to life, while those who have done evil will be resurrected for judgment.

How do we define those who have done good and those who have done evil though? Jesus is not referring to any kind of works based salvation here. John's gospel makes it abundantly clear that eternal life is only given to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Jesus says in John 6:40, "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." Salvation is not by works. We all stand condemned for sin, and nothing we do can save us. Salvation comes only through belief in Jesus. Jesus also says in John 3:21 "But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." So, when Jesus says, "those who have done good" He is referring to those who have believed in Him, and then having been resurrected to new life in Him, have lived lives where it can be plainly seen the good they have done has been done by God, through them.

This is what the Christian life looks like. It is not that we must do good and obey God to retain our salvation, but rather, because we have been saved and resurrected to new, eternal life, we can now live for God by the power of His Spirit in us. To put it another way, we do not do good works as Christians to be saved or to stay saved, we do good, loving things because we have been saved already (Ephesians 2:8-10). We have been freed from slavery to sin and freed to start living righteously. And while we will never do so perfectly in this world, the grace of Jesus covers over our sin, and one day when we pass on from this earth, we will never sin or desire to sin again.

To be clear, as was briefly mentioned already, all people will be resurrected, or as Jesus puts it, "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." It is not only the followers of Jesus who will be resurrected. Apparently everyone will be resurrected and given new bodies that are suited for the eternity that awaits them. Those who have believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior will receive bodies suited for eternity in the new heaven and new earth where there will be only joy and pleasure forever. And those who have not believed in Jesus will receive bodies suited to endure the eternal punishment that awaits all those who reject Christ. This latter outcome sounds harsh, and it is. But this is the reality of our situation. This is why Jesus came to die for us. As He said in John 3:16-18, we are all already justly condemned for our sin, but because of His boundless love and grace, Jesus, the God of the universe took the full penalty we deserve for our sin, and now we can be saved from eternal death and suffering and for eternal life and flourishing.

While Jesus did not come to judge in His first coming, He will come again to execute judgment and administer justice. And we know this judgment is good news because, as we read in verse 30, the judgment of Jesus is perfectly just. This means none of the evil and corruption we see in the world will go unpunished. Everything will be made right. And all who have trusted in Jesus will be made new. Verse 30 is a restating of verses 19-20 where Jesus explained He has authority to execute judgment, and in all that He does He is perfectly unified with the will of God the Father because He is God the Son whom the Father sent for this very purpose. This attribute of God as being perfectly just is one of the ways He has revealed Himself to His people even all the way back in Deuteronomy 32:4 where Moses said of Yahweh, "The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he."

Moses was speaking of Yahweh and therefore he was speaking of Jesus. Jesus did not come to judge in this first coming. He came to satisfy the righteous requirements of His just judgment in our place. He came and lived the life we never could, and then He died the death we deserve. It should have been us on that cross, but God Almighty took our place. Now, all we have to do to be saved from the penalty we deserve and the judgment He will bring in His second coming is to repent of our sin, confess Jesus as our only Lord and Savior, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-10).

Jesus first came in meekness and humility, but He will come again in power and might. And everyone will stand before Him and be made to give an account for what they have done with the life given to them. No one is getting away with anything. But all who are in Christ will get the reward and glory He deserves, because He took the death and suffering we deserve.

"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭20‬:‭11‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

"Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him."

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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

This passage should cause us to realize this life is not the end. The day will come when Jesus will recall everyone to life. Everyone who has trusted in Him and His redemptive work for the forgiveness of sin will be resurrected to eternal, glorious life. But everyone who rejected His free gift will face the penalty they deserve for their sin themselves. And because this sin is against an eternal Being, the punishment is eternal. This may sound harsh, but the reality is God is too loving and too just to allow sin to continue. Sin is why there is so much suffering in the world; so while God has graciously made a way for us to be redeemed, He will also not allow sin to continue forever. Judgment day is coming.

This should cause us to respond. First we must confess our sin, and confess Jesus as our Lord who died and rose again. Then, having received such a great salvation, we must begin to live as one of God's resurrected and redeemed children should. In reliance on the Holy Spirit, we must step out and show the love of Jesus to others in both word and deed. We must lovingly warn others about the coming judgment, declare to them the good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus, and we must also take action to show the love of Christ in real practical ways. Jesus proclaimed the truth without compromise, but He also helped and healed people. We must now go and do likewise.

Self Reflection:

Do I understand that this current age has a fixed and certain end date? Do I understand that God has determined a specific date and hour when this age of sin and rebellion will be ended forever, and judgment will come?

Has my sin been taken care of by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? If yes, rejoice! If no, what is holding me back from accepting this free gift?

If the stakes really are this high (eternal punishment or eternal reward) who has Jesus put me in close proximity to and how can I show His love and truth to them?

Even if it sounds harsh to me, how does the fact that Jesus is infinitely loving and perfectly just give me confidence in the goodness and righteousness of His judgment? (Deut. 32:4)

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