Joh 5:28 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord sees in their minds their marvel about what He is saying. It doesn’t have to be all that marvelous. From the Old Testament they may know that God has given the control of creation to a Son of Man ( ; ). But the authority of the Lord goes further. His overall authority over all things He also executes over the dead in the tombs. The Lord also spoke of an ‘hour’ in . With that He means the present period, which He indicates by saying that it is ’now’. The hour of which He speaks here, in , is a future hour. It is not the hour of giving life, but of the resurrection of the corporeal dead from the tombs. In the first ’now’ His voice sounds amidst the spiritually dead, and only those who believe hear His voice. In the second ‘now’ all those in the tombs hear His voice and without exception they will all rise from the tombs. However, there is a distinction between those who rise. Those who have heard His voice in the hour of stand up to live. They had the strength, the capacity, to do good because they possessed the life of the Son of God. That life manifested itself in doing good. The second group consists of those who did evil because they refused the life of the Son of God. Without that life only evil is done. It is important to understand that there is no such thing as a general resurrection of believers and non-believers simultaneously. There are two resurrections. There is a resurrection of the living and a resurrection of the dead. Between the resurrection of the living and the resurrection of the dead there is a period of thousand years. This is evident from Revelation 20, which speaks of “the first resurrection”, indicating the resurrection of all believers ( ). That ‘first resurrection’ has several phases: 1. Christ, Who is to take first place in all things, is the First Who is resurrected ( ). 2. When He returns, the resurrection of those who believe takes place. His return for the believers also takes place in phases. 1. First He comes in the air and then catch up all the believers from Adam until that moment to Himself ( ). He takes them all to heaven. 2. Shortly thereafter He comes to earth and raises up all the believers who died in the time between the being caught up of the Old and New Testament believers and His coming to earth ( ). In what the Lord says here, He does not speak about the time between the various resurrections. What matters to Him is to indicate the totally different relationship of the two groups with respect to Him as the Son of God and the Son of Man. After emphasizing His authority to execute the judgment as given to Him by the Father, he immediately points out again that He does not execute it independently from the Father. When He says that He cannot do anything of Himself, it means again that He is acting in perfect agreement with the Father. That is why it is a perfect judgment. His personal will is always perfectly attuned to the will of the Father. As Man on earth He has taken place before the Father every morning as a disciple and the Father has opened His ear ( ). Therefore His judgment is righteous. He did not let himself be deceived by anything because He did not seek His own will, but the will of the Father. He describes His Father as “Him who sent Me”, which points to the mission He received from the Father as well as to doing the will of the Father.

‏ John 5:28

The Future Judgment

The Lord sees in their minds their marvel about what He is saying. It doesn’t have to be all that marvelous. From the Old Testament they may know that God has given the control of creation to a Son of Man (Psa 8:5-7; Dan 7:13-14). But the authority of the Lord goes further. His overall authority over all things He also executes over the dead in the tombs.

The Lord also spoke of an ‘hour’ in Jn 5:25. With that He means the present period, which He indicates by saying that it is ’now’. The hour of which He speaks here, in Jn 5:28, is a future hour. It is not the hour of giving life, but of the resurrection of the corporeal dead from the tombs. In the first ’now’ His voice sounds amidst the spiritually dead, and only those who believe hear His voice. In the second ‘now’ all those in the tombs hear His voice and without exception they will all rise from the tombs.

However, there is a distinction between those who rise. Those who have heard His voice in the hour of Jn 5:25 stand up to live. They had the strength, the capacity, to do good because they possessed the life of the Son of God. That life manifested itself in doing good. The second group consists of those who did evil because they refused the life of the Son of God. Without that life only evil is done.

It is important to understand that there is no such thing as a general resurrection of believers and non-believers simultaneously. There are two resurrections. There is a resurrection of the living and a resurrection of the dead. Between the resurrection of the living and the resurrection of the dead there is a period of thousand years. This is evident from Revelation 20, which speaks of “the first resurrection”, indicating the resurrection of all believers (Rev 20:4-6).

That ‘first resurrection’ has several phases:

1. Christ, Who is to take first place in all things, is the First Who is resurrected (1Cor 15:20 ; 23).

2. When He returns, the resurrection of those who believe takes place.

His return for the believers also takes place in phases.

1. First He comes in the air and then catch up all the believers from Adam until that moment to Himself (1Thes 4:14-18). He takes them all to heaven.

2. Shortly thereafter He comes to earth and raises up all the believers who died in the time between the being caught up of the Old and New Testament believers and His coming to earth (Rev 20:4-5).

In what the Lord says here, He does not speak about the time between the various resurrections. What matters to Him is to indicate the totally different relationship of the two groups with respect to Him as the Son of God and the Son of Man.

After emphasizing His authority to execute the judgment as given to Him by the Father, he immediately points out again that He does not execute it independently from the Father. When He says that He cannot do anything of Himself, it means again that He is acting in perfect agreement with the Father. That is why it is a perfect judgment. His personal will is always perfectly attuned to the will of the Father.

As Man on earth He has taken place before the Father every morning as a disciple and the Father has opened His ear (Isa 50:4). Therefore His judgment is righteous. He did not let himself be deceived by anything because He did not seek His own will, but the will of the Father. He describes His Father as “Him who sent Me”, which points to the mission He received from the Father as well as to doing the will of the Father.