If you could know the definitive answer to the question of the afterlife right now or maybe you already know what God’s Word says about it, what would you do with this knowledge, would you keep it to yourself or would you share it with others, would it affect the way you live your life?
Today we will address the question of what the future holds as we read through John 5:24-29.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
25 Truly, truly, I say to you, a time is coming and even now has arrived, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not be amazed at this; for a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come out: those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the bad deeds to a resurrection of judgment (John 5:24-29).
Jesus is talking about the:
Resurrection of the spiritually dead
Resurrection of the spiritually dull and
Resurrection of judgment
Resurrection of the spiritually dead
John 5:24 says,
Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life (John 5:24).
We could ask, how is it that the Pharisees memorized the Old Testament, they knew it word for word, yet were never changed? The problem is a heart issue. They did not believe the word of God.
The word believe means believing and embracing what God has made known either through Christ or concerning Christ in His Word.
Jesus was making it clear to the religious crowd that the reason why they do not believe in him is because they never believed in what God said about the coming Messiah.
When we understand what Jesus Christ did for us in the Scriptures, what He made possible for us, when we embrace it, believe it - we have eternal life. You can know right now that
“your future is secure.”
Having eternal life is to know the only true God and the One He has sent. That means we have come into a relationship with the living God. We have come to know God as our Father and Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
We now can talk with Him and He talks to us by the Holy Spirit and His word. He not only rescues us from the guilt, power and condemnation of sin, but He gives us a new heart.
God who is perfectly Holy, loving and just cannot compromise His holy character by allowing anything imperfect in heaven. If you and I were to stand in the courtroom of God whose nature and attributes are perfect, we would all be guilty of sin and God the righteous judge would have to pass His just sentence on us which would mean eternal separation from God and hell.
But God in His mercy, while He has all the right to do just and repay everyone according to his deeds, doesn’t want that people perish but that all should come to repentance and He made a way through His Son Jesus Christ - who on our behalf has taken God’s judgment for our sin upon himself - thereby satisfying His perfect justice.
When God sees us through His son, He sees us as forgiven.
There is no longer any condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, now there is life.
Resurrection of the spiritually dull
In verse 25-26 Jesus said:
Truly, truly, I say to you, a time is coming and even now has arrived, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; (John 5:25-26)
Jesus was saying that you do not need to wait until you get to heaven before you experience His life -
“you can experience eternal life right now. ”
Our natural default mode is to go back to the old life, to think and act in our old ways, to become comfortable in a form of Christianity without Christ’s life being the source of our power and strength.
Resurrection of judgment
…and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this; for a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come out: those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the bad deeds to a resurrection of judgment (John 5:27-29).
One day everyone will hear and see Jesus for who He is. The billions and billions of people who have lived and died on this earth, those already buried whose bodies have long since decayed.
Those who resisted God and ignored His word, who thought that they could get away with evil deeds and simply pass into non-existence, will also be resurrected. In other words, there will be two groups of people - those raised to a resurrection of life and those raised to a resurrection of judgment.
When He calls, all, believer and unbeliever, will stand before Him in judgment.
Daniel 12:2 says,
Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace (Daniel 12:2).
Every word spoken, every deed done will be brought to light and receive judgment: “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.
Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Luke 12:2-3).
This is what the future holds for those who have rejected the Lord time and time again. It is going to be a terrible, heart-wrenching day. No one will be able to say, “I didn’t know, or I never heard about this.” Everyone could have known,
“because all of creation testifies of God.”
Ignorance will not be an excuse. On that day no one can run away, no one can hide.
Matthew 7:23: Many will say to me in that day - Lord Lord, did we not do amazing things in your name? But He will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ It will be too late.
The believers' future is secure, our sin has already been judged. God will only judge us by what we did with our lives and reward us accordingly.
This is what the future holds for the saved and unsaved. For the believer and unbeliever. For those who trusted Christ as their Messiah and those who rejected Him.
