Jesus was history's most powerful voice

JESUS WAS HISTORY'S MOST POWERFUL VOICE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 5:28 28"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is
coming when all who are in their graves will hear his
voice.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Two Resurrections
John 5:28, 29
B. Thomas
1. The effect of Christ's preceding discourse on his hearers was wonder.
"They marvelled."
2. The teachings and deeds of Christ were wellcalculatedto produce this
emotion in all.
3. Eachmanifestationof his power and glory was only introductory to
something greaterstill. "Marvelnot at this," etc. The two resurrections - the
resurrectionof life and that of judgment. Notice -
I. THEIR SIMILARITY.
1. In the physical condition supposed. The subjects of both are dead, and
describedas being in their graves. The gooddie as well as the bad. They lie
down and sleeptogether;their graves are often in close proximity to each

other, and their dust is mingled together. They are under the same physical
condition, that of mortality and complete dissolution.
2. Both are similar in their wonderful effects. Bothare resurrections. There
wilt be a quickening into life, into full conscious existence. There will be a
reunion of body and soul after a long separation;the physical effects will be
similar in both. The goodand the bad shall hear, and come forth.
3. Both are the result of the same Divine power.
(1) The Agent is the same in both. "The Sonof God." To raise the dead is the
prerogative of Divinity, and by the powerof the Son of God shall the goodand
the bad be raised. As the resurrectionforms a most important part of the
greatscheme of redemption, it most befittingly falls to the Redeemer's lot to
do it. He has the right and the power; and it will be exercisedon this occasion
on all, irrespective of character.
(2) The process in both is the same. "Shallhear the voice of the Son," etc.
There will be an outward manifestation - a voice - and there will be a
response. The same voice can awakethe goodand the bad. They would sleep
on forever unless calledby him. The voice of angels would be ineffective. But
all will hear and know his voice, and come forth. Even the Son of God never
addressedsuch a vastcongregationbefore at once, and never with such
unexceptional success.How many of his sermons missed the mark! But this
grand resurrection sermonwill not fail in a single instance. All shall hear and
come forth.
4. The subjects of both resurrections shallcome forth in their own and true
character. As good or evil. Neither the sleepof death nor the Divine process of
the resurrectioncanproduce any change in character. Whatevera man
soweththat shall he reap. The resurrection will not change this law, but help
to carry it out. Characterwill cling to us forever.
5. The subjects of both shall come forth in their true character - according to
the characteroftheir deeds. "They that have done good, and they that have
done evil." Characterin both casesis formed by actions;so that the
resurrectionwill be the same in its process to both classes. It will be fair to

both - a faithful reproduction, not merely of the physical and mental, but also
of the moral and spiritual self. Identity will be preserved intact. No one will
have any reasonto complain.
6. Both are similar in their certainty. The resurrectionof the goodand bad is
equally certain. "All that are in the graves shall hear," etc. There is an
absolute necessityfor both, and there is an adequate power. Divine physical
poweris irresistible; Divine moral power is not so. What is absolutely
necessarymust come to pass. The goodmust be raisedfor the purposes of
grace, the bad for the purposes of justice.
II. IS THEIR DISSIMILARITY.
1. Dissimilarin the characterof their subjects. The subjects of one are those
who have done good, the subjects of the other are those who have done evil.
And betweengoodand evil there is an essentialand an eternal difference - a
difference which neither eternity nor omnipotence canefface. Goodwill be
goodand evil will be evil at the last day, and the difference will be more
strikingly seen.
2. Dissimilarin their results.
(1) One is the resurrectionof life, the other is that of judgment. Those who
have done goodwill not be raisedto judgment, for they have passedfrom
death unto life. Therefore they must rise unto life; the highest, the truest life
of the soul - a life like that of Christ himself. The other is the resurrection of
judgment, of condemnation - the opposite of life.
(2) The one is a reward, the other is punishment. Life is the natural
consequence ofgoodnessand faith in Christ; still it is a reward and a Divine
favour. The resurrectionand its consequenceswill be a reward to the good,
but punishment to the wicked. It would be mercy to them to let them sleepon;
but justice demands their resurrectionto receive the wages ofsin, which is
death.
(3) The one will be followedby a glorious ascension, the other by horrible
descent. Those who have done goodwill come forth to rise forever in the ever-
increasing enjoyment of a pure, happy, and endless life; while those who have

done evil will rise to sink deeper in spiritual death. The reunion of body and
soul to the goodmust intensify their happiness. To the wickedit must intensify
their misery. What a difference there is betweenthe goodman being awaked
to join his family at the breakfasttable and at the mercy seat, and the culprit
being awakedin the morning to undergo the terrible sentence ofthe law! This
is but a faint illustration of the difference betweenthe resurrectionof life and
that of judgment.
LESSONS.
1. We have passedthrough many important crises, but the most important
and marvellous one is yet in store. "The hour is coming," etc. A most
important and wonderful hour! Time and eternity in an hour! We should live
continually in that hour.
2. The inseparable connectionbetweenthe present and the future. Our future
is in our present, and our present will be reproduced in the future.
3. The importance of welldoing in the present. Let us hear the voice of the
Son of man, now that we may welcome the voice of the Son of God in that
hour. The physical process ofthe resurrectionis entirely future, with which
we shall have nothing to do. The spiritual process is going on now, and by
Divine help we can shape our ownresurrection and determine whether it is to
be one of life or of judgment. - B.T.

Biblical Illustrator
The hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear His
voice.
John 5:28, 29
The generalresurrection
A. Beith, D. D.
I. The RESURRECTION.
1. Its subjects. All who are in their graves.(1)The almostuniversal customof
preserving the remains of the departed bears witness to the truth of the text.
No such custom obtains with reference to animals. The body was not formed
to die, and men cherish the hope of its recovering its lost immortality.(2) Our
text, therefore, gratifies the most sacredfeelings of the human heart. Our
separationfrom our loved ones is only temporary.(3) The same persons shall
rise. Momentous changes, indeed, take place; but what changes take place
betweeninfancy and old age! Yet it is the same personin whom they
transpire.(4) The analogyby which Scripture illustrates this mystery is that of
grain sownin the earth, which dies in order to live again.
2. The power by which it is accomplished. Christ's voice.(1)Notthe voice as
heard through pastors, etc. The seasonfor hearing, that for conversion,
sanctification, comfort, etc., is over. This we canrefuse to hear, but not
that.(2) The voice of the archangeland the trump of God, terrible, irresistible,
dead awakening.
3. The time.(1) It is determined in the counsels ofGod.(2) It will be at the
winding up of the affairs of time, "the lastday." The day of world's first
judgment came; so did that of Sodom, and Babylon, and Jerusalem;and just
as surely shalt this.

II. The JUDGMENT.All shall come forth.
1. The righteous.(1)They shall not taste of death.(2) Their bodies shall be
fashionedlike unto Christ's glorious body.(3) They shall obtain everlasting
blessedness.
2. They that have done evil.(1) The unbelievers who are condemned already to
have their condemnation confirmed.(2) They shall rise to be everlastingly
banished.
(A. Beith, D. D.)
The resurrection
J. Donne, D. D.
What Christ AVOWS and affirms is that He is the Sonof God, and that is the
first thing that was ever done in heaven — the eternal generationof the Son:
that by which He proves this is that there shall be a resurrectionof the body;
and that is the last thing that shall be done in heaven.
I. The DIGNITY of this resurrection. Marvel not at this — at your spiritual
resurrection, that a sermonshould work, or sacramentcomfort. Deem not this
a miracle. But there are things which we may wonder at. Nil admirari is but
the philosopher's wisdom; he thinks it a weaknessthatanything should be
strange to him. But Christian philosophy tells us that the first step to faith is
to wonder with holy admiration at the ways of God with man. Be content,
then, to wonder at this, that God should so dignify as to associate to His
presence the body of man. God is a spirit, every soul is a spirit, angels are
spirits, and therefore proportioned to heaven; so no wonderthey are there.
But wonder that God, who is all spirit, and is served by spirits, should have a
love for this body.
1. Beholdthis love even here.(1)The Father was pleasedto breathe into this
body at first, in the creation.(2)The Son assumedthis body in the
redemption.(3) The Holy Ghost consecratesthis body and makes it His temple

by His sanctification. So the whole Trinity is exercisedupon the dignifying of
the body.
2. This purpose of dignifying the body is opposed —(1) By those who violate
and mangle the body which God made in inhuman persecutions.(2)By those
who defile the garment Christ wore by licentiousness.Some ofthe Roman
emperors made it treasonto carry a ring that had their picture on it to any
place in the house of low office. What name canwe give that sin to make the
body of Christ the body of a harlot? (1 Corinthians 6:15-18).(3)By those who
sacrilegiouslyprofane the temple of the Holy Ghost by neglecting the duties
belonging to the dead bodies of God's saints.
3. Those exceedthis purpose who —(1) Pamper with wanton delicacies or
sadden and disfigure with lastings and disciplines His own workmanship.(2)
Who dishonour or undervalue the body or forbear marriage.(3)Who keep
any rag of a dead man's skin, or chips of their bones, or lock of their hair for a
relic, amulet, or antidote againsttemporal or spiritual calamities.
II. The APPROACHof this resurrection. The former resurrection Christ said,
"Now is";of this He said, "It is coming." In a sense this applies to death. The
resurrectionbeing the coronationof man, his lying down in the grave is his
sitting down on that throne where he is to receive his crown. To the child now
born we may say, "The day is coming";to him that is old, "The hour is
come";but to him that is dead, "The minute is come" — because to him there
are no more minutes till it do come.
III. The GENERALITYof this resurrection. It reaches to all that are in the
grave. God hath made the body as a house for the soul till He call her out; and
He hath made the grave a house for the body till He call it up. Shall none,
then, rise but those who have enjoyed a grave? It is a comfort for a dying
man, an honour to his memory, the duty of his friends, a piece of the
communion of saints, to have a consecratedgrave;but the word here is in
monumentis — i.e., in receptaclesofbodies of whateverkind. Some nations
burnt their dead, there the fire is their grave;some drowned them, there the
sea;some hung them on trees, there the air. The whole mansion of the dead
shall be emptied.

IV. The INSTRUMENT. The voice of the Sonof Man. In the spiritual
resurrectionit is the voice of the Son of God, lest the human vehicle should be
despised. Here it is that of the Sonof Man, who has felt all our infirmities, lest
we should be terrified at the presence of the offended God. The former we
may hear if we choose;the latter we must hearwhether we will or not. God
whispers in the voice of the Spirit; He speaks a little louder in the voice of a
man; but let the man be a Boanerges, yetno thunder is heard over all the
world. But the voice at the resurrectionshall be heard by the very dead, and
all of them.
V. The DIVERSE END.
1. You have seenmoral men, or impious men go in confidently enough; but
they will "come forth" in another complexion. They never thought of what
was after death. Even the best are shakenwith a consideration ofthat. But
when I begin this fear in this life, I end it in my death, and pass away
cheerfully; but the wickedbegin this fearwhen the trumpet sounds, and never
shall end it.
2. Fix on the conditions "done good." To have known good, believedit,
extended it, preachedit, will not serve. They must be rootedin faith, and there
bring forth fruit.Conclusion: Remember with thankfulness the several
resurrections that God hath given you.
1. From superstition and ignorance, in which you in your fathers lay dead.
2. From sin and a love of it, in which you in your youth lay dead.
3. From sadness, in which you in your worldly crossesorspiritual temptations
lay dead; and —
4. Assure yourselves that God, who loves to perfectHis own work, will fulfil
His promise in your resurrectionto life.
(J. Donne, D. D.)
The doctrine of the resurrection

C. H. Spurgeon.
is peculiarly Christian. With natural reason, assistedby some light lingering
in tradition, a few philosophers spelled out the immortality of the soul; but
that the body should rise againis brought to light by Christ. It is the key-stone
of the Christian arch; for if Christ be not risen our faith is vain. It was the
main weaponof the early missionaries, and therefore should be oftener
preached. It is, moreover, continually blessedof God to arouse the minds of
men. We shall —
I. EXPOUND THE TEXT.
1. There is a forbidding to marvel at the renewing of natural life, as in the case
of Lazarus, etc., and at the quickening of the spiritually dead — both of which
are things which it is legitimate to wonder at by way of admiration, but not in
the spirit of insulting unbelief. But the greatermarvel is the general
resurrection. Yet to you it is less than that of the marvel of saving dead souls.
In the former there is no opposition to omnipotence, but in the latter the
elements of death are so potent that regenerationis a complicatedmiracle of
grace and power, Nevertheless,to the few the former is the greatestmarvel.
Let us be admonished by these marvelling Jews. Does it seemimpossible for
that ungodly man to be converted? That you should be supported in your
trouble? That your corruptions should be cleansed? Doubtno more. Your
Saviour will raise the dead.
2. The coming hour.(1) "An hour," because nearto Him: since we do not
begin to look for an hour that is remote. It may be a thousand years off, but
with Him that is but as one day. Like Him, therefore, count it close, andact as
though it would come to-morrow.(2) "Coming," therefore, certain. Dynasties
may stand or wither; but the hour of resurrectionis sure, whateverelse may
be contingent or doubtful. Every secondbrings it nearer. Look at it, then, as a
thing that ever cometh —(3) the hour par excellence. We hearof hours which
have been big with the fate of nations, crises in history; but here is the
culminating crisis of all.
3. All "that are in their graves." Those before the flood, those after; from east,
west, north, south; mighty empires, etc., and you.

4. "Shallhear His voice."(1)Why, the ear has gone! But the God who gives
the earto the new-born babe, shall renew yours.(2)That voice now sounding
in this place is not heard by those who have ears;yet those who have no ears
shall then hear it. How deaf must those be who are more deaf than the dead.
You must hear the summons to judgment; God grant that you may hear the
summons to mercy.
5. "Shallcome forth." Notonly emerge, but be manifested. Hypocrisy will be
unmasked, and unobtrusive goodacknowledged.
6. "Those who have done goodand those who have done evil."(1) Deathmakes
no change in character, and we .must expect no improvement after death..(2)
Only two characters willrise. There are no mingled characters.(3)All will be
judged according to their works which have evidenced their faith.(4) They will
meet with different dooms.
II. DRAW LESSONS FROMTHE TEXT.
1. Of adoring reverence. If the dead are to rise at the voice of Christ let us
worship Him.
2. Of consolationto those who mourn departed friends. Weepnot as if thou
hadst castthy treasure into the sea, thou hast only laid it in a casketwhence
thou shalt receive it brighter than before.
3. Of self-examination.(1)What shall be your position?(2)How shall you meet
before God those whom you have sinned with before men?(3) How shall you
meet Him as your Judge who would have been your Saviour?
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The resurrection
P. Grant.
I. THE EVIDENCE BY WHICH IT IS ESTABLISHED.

1. The express declarations of the commissionedservants of God (Hebrews
9:19; Job 19:25-27;Psalm 16:9-11;Isaiah26:19; Hosea 13:14;Daniel 12:2;
Matthew 27:52, 53; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17;1 Corinthians 15:1).
2. Our Saviour's own resurrection. If Christ did not rise, our faith is vain; if
He did, He can raise us, and His resurrection is a pledge of ours.
3. Let this evidence produce on your minds its legitimate impression, and
banish all uncertainty.
4. The folly of scepticismwill appear when we considerthat this is in harmony
with reason. Foradmitting God's infinite power, this is not impossible; and
granting His infinite goodness, it is certain.
II. THE AGENCY BY WHICH IT SHALL BE ACCOMPLISHED.
1. By hearing Christ's voice. The archangel's trumpet is a symbol of that in its
awakening power.
2. The mode is uncertain, but Christ has innumerable resources ofwhich we
have no knowledge.
III. THE IDENTITYOF THE BURIED WITH THE RAISED.
1. If new bodies were produced they could not be said to come out of their
graves. The word "resurrection" suggestssomething different from a new
creation. Besides,it would be contrary to equity that one body should do good
or evil and another be rewardedor punished.
2. Still "we shallall be changed," but not so as to lose our identity. The
glorified Christ is the same Jesus as "the Man of sorrows."We shall be like
Him, yet the same persons that we are now.
IV. THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE ACT.
V. THE IMPROVEMENT. The subjectsuggests —
1. A powerful motive to seek aninterest in the Christian salvation. We must
all die; and if we have not been savedwe shall rise to the resurrection of
damnation.

2. Comfort under the loss of near and dear relatives.
3. Confidence in the prospect of our own dissolution.
(P. Grant.)
The resurrectionbrought to light by Christ
T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.
I stoodon the top of the Catskills one bright morning. On the top of the
mountain was a crown of flashing gold, while all beneath was rolling,
writhing, contortedcloud. But after a while the arrows of light shotfrom
heaven, began to make the glooms of the valley strike tent. The mists went
skurrying up and down like horsemenin wild retreat. The fogs were lifted,
and dashed, and whirled. Then the whole valley became one grand
illumination; and there were horses of fire, and chariots of fire, and thrones of
fire, and the flapping wings of angels of fire. Gradually, without sound of
trumpet or roll of wheel, they moved off. The greenvalleys lockedup. Then
the long flash of the Hudson unsheathed itself, and there were the white flocks
of villages lying amid the rich pastures, goldengrain-fields, and the soft,
radiant cradle of the valley, in which a young empire might sleep. So there
hangs over all the graves, and sepulchres, and mausoleums a darkness that no
earthly lamp can lift; but from above the Sun of Righteousnessshines, and the
dense fogs of scepticismhaving lifted, the valleys of the dead stand in the full
gush of the morning of the resurrection.
(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
The conquerorconquered
T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.
If I were to call on you to give the names of the world's greatconquerors, you
would say, Caesar, Alexander, Philip, and the first Napoleon. You have
missed the greatest. The men whose names have just been mentioned were not

worthy the name of corporalwhen compared with him. He rode on the black
horse that crossedthe fields of Waterloo and Atlanta, and bloody hoofs have
been seton the crushed hearts of the race. He has conquered his every land
and besiegedeverycity; and to-day, Paris, London, St. Petersburg, New York,
and Brooklynare going down under his fierce and long-continued assault.
That conqueror is Death. He carries a black flag, and takes no prisoners, He
digs a trench across the hemispheres and fills it with carcases.Had not God
kept creating new men, the world, fifty times over, would have swung lifeless
through the air; not a foot stirring in the cities, not a heart beating — a
depopulated world — a ship without a helmsman at the wheel, or a captain on
deck, or crew in the rigging. Herod of old slew only those of two years old and
under, but this monster strikes all ages. Genghis Khan sent five millions into
the dust; but this, hundreds of thousands of millions. Other kings sometimes
fall back and surrender territory once gained; but this king has kept all he
won, save Lazarus and Christ. The last One escapedby Omnipotent power,
while Lazarus was againcaptured and went into the dust. What a cruel
conqueror! What a bloody king! His palace is a huge sepulchre; his flowers
the faded garlands that lie on coffin lids; his music the cry of desolated
households;the chalice of his banquet a skull; his pleasure. fountains the
falling tears of a world. But that throne shall come down; that sceptre shall
break; that palace shall fall under bombardment, "For the hour is coming in
which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth."
(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
The inevitableness of the resurrection
J. L. Nye.
An infidel German countess saidher grave never should be opened. She
ordered it to be coveredby a solid slab of granite; that around it should be
placed square blocks of stone, and that the whole should be fastenedtogether
by iron clamps. On the stone, by her order these words were cut, "This burial-
place, purchased to all eternity, must never be opened." Thus she defied the
Almighty. But a little seedsprouted under the covering, and the tiny shoot

found its way betweentwo of the slabs, and grew there, slowlyand surely until
it burst the clamps asunder, and lifted the immense blocks. Man's powerfails
even to secure a tomb from natural destruction; much less can it secure the
soul againstthat day in which eachone is to give accountof the deeds done in
the body.
(J. L. Nye.)
Evil
Archbishop Trench.
may be contemplated from two points of view, either on the side of its positive
malignity, its will and powerto work mischief, or else on that of its negative
worthlessness, and, so to speak, its good-for-nothingness;πονμρός
contemplates evil from the former point of view, and φᾶυλος from the latter.
There are words in most languages whichcontemplate evil under this latter
aspect, the impossibility of any true gain ever coming forth from it. Thus
"nequam" (in strictness opposite to frugi), and "nequitia" in Latin, "vaurien"
in French, "naughty" and "naughtiness" in English, taugenichts, "schlecht,"
schlechligkeitin German. This notion of worthlessnessis the centralnotion of
φαῦλος (by some idnetified with "faul," foul), which in Greek runs succesfylly
through the following meanings: light, unstable, blown about by every wind,
small, slight, mediocre, of no account, worthless, bad; but still bad
predominantly in the sense ofworthless. Φαῦλος, as used in the New
Testament, has reachedthis lateststage ofits meaning; and τα φαῦλα
πραξαντας, are setover againstτὰ ἀγαθὰ ποιήσαντες and condemned as such
to the "resurrectionof damnation."
(Archbishop Trench.)
The resurrectioncredible
Wycliffe's corpse was burnt to ashes, and these ashes were castinto the river;
carried into the sea, and thence dispersedin a thousand directions, can the

particles ever againbe reunited? The Christian philosopher sees no difficulty
in the case. Didany of these changes happen to the Reformer's body
irrespectively of those natural laws which God has ordained? And, if even so,
is it not just as easyfor Him to reverse their action as it was to give them that
actionoriginally? It is a well-knownchemicallaw, that, by the use of proper
agencies, bodies thoroughly dissolvedmay be recoveredand restoredto their
pristine shape. A single illustration will suffice. If we throw a lump of solid
camphor into a vesselof spirits of wine, it will soonbe completely dissolved;
nevertheless, by diluting the spirits of wine with water, we may recoverthe
camphor in the form of a sediment; nay, with the loss of a few grains, we may
restore it to its original shape. So, too, of a silver vase dissolvedin aquafortis.
Beyond all controversy, these experiments are, in the eyes of the philosopher,
far less marvellous than the act of reconstituting a dispersed, disorganized
body; and yet, bearing in mind the infinite powerof Jehovah, we canconceive
it just as easyfor Him thus to restore originally as to create.
The future punishment of the wicked
A professorin one of our leading collegessome time ago went to the president
with his doubts upon the subject of endless punishment, and confessedthat he
could "hardly believe the doctrine." "I couldn't believe it at all," was the
president's reply, "if the Bible did not teachit."
Everlasting damnation
W. Baxendale.
A venerable minister preacheda sermon on the subjectof eternalpunishment.
On the next day it was agreedamong some thoughtless young men, that one of
them should endeavourto draw him into a dispute, with the design of making
a jest of him and of his doctrine. The wag accordinglywent, and commenced
by saying, "I believe there is a small dispute betweenyou and me, sir, and I
thought I would call this morning and try to settle it." "Ah," saidthe
clergyman, "what is it?" "Why," replied the wag, "you say that the wicked

will go into everlasting punishment, and I do not think that they will." "Oh, if
that is all," answeredthe minister, "there is no dispute betweenyou and me.
If you turn to Matthew 25:46 you will find that the dispute is betweenyou and
the Lord Jesus Christ, and I advise you to go immediately and settle it with
Him."
(W. Baxendale.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(28) Marvel not at this—i.e., that He has Himself a source of life and authority
to judge. There shall follow from this “greaterworks,” atwhich they shall
marvel. There is an hour coming (here not with the addition “and now is,”
verse .25)when the victory over physical death shall also make manifest this
life, for “allthat are in the graves” shallhear His voice, and the final
judgment shall declare to the universe His authority to judge.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
5:24-29 Our Lord declaredhis authority and character, as the Messiah. The
time was come when the dead should hear his voice, as the Son of God, and
live. Our Lord first refers to his raising those who were dead in sin, to
newness oflife, by the power of the Spirit, and then to his raising the dead in
their graves. The office of Judge of all men, can only be exercisedby one who
has all knowledge, andalmighty power. May we believe His testimony; thus
our faith and hope will be in God, and we shall not come into condemnation.
And may His voice reachthe hearts of those dead in sin; that they may do
works meetfor repentance, and prepare for the solemn day.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible

Marvel not - Do not wonder or be astonishedat this.
The hour is coming - The "time" is approaching or will be.
All that are in the graves - All the dead, of every age and nation. They are
describedas "in the graves." Thoughmany have turned to their native dust
and perished from human view, yet God sees them, and can regathertheir
remains and raise them up to life. The phrase "all that are in the graves" does
not prove that the same particles of matter will be raised up, but it is
equivalent to saying "all the dead." See the notes at 1 Corinthians 15:35-38.
Shall hear his voice - He will restore them to life, and command them to
appear before him. This is a most sublime description, and this will be a
wonderful display of almighty power. None but God can"see" allthe dead,
none but he could remould their frames, and none else could command them
to return to life.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
28. Marvel not at this—this committal of all judgment to the Son of man.
for the hour is coming—He adds not in this case (as in Joh5:25), "and now
is," because this was not to be till the close ofthe whole dispensationof mercy.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Do not marvel at this powerwhich I tell you the Father hath given me, to
execute in the world justice and judgment; to raise some particular persons
from a natural death, and whom he pleasethfrom the spiritual death of sin:
for the hour is coming, when all those who are in the graves, shall, by an
archangel, Matthew 24:31 1 Thessalonians 4:16, hearmy voice, commanding
them to arise; and they shall obey my command.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Marvel not at this,.... Either at the cure of the man that had been diseased
thirty and eight years, as some think; or at the Son of God being also the son
of man, as the Syriac version suggests;or rather at the dead hearing the voice
of the Son of God, and living upon it; and at his having authority to execute

judgment upon all, to govern and defend his own church and people, and in
the lastday acquit them, and to take vengeance onhis and their enemies, both
now and hereafter:
for the hour is coming, in which all that are in their graves shall hear his
voice. This respects the generalresurrection;for there will be a resurrection
both of the just and unjust, of all that are in their graves;and though all that
are dead are not in graves, or interred in the earth, as some are in the sea;yet,
because the greaterpart are in graves, this phrase is chosento express the
universality of the resurrection:and this is also a proof of the resurrectionof
the same body; for what else are in the graves but bodies? and what else can
come forth from them but the same bodies? and the time is hastening on when
these bodies shall be quickened, and hear the voice of the Sonof God; which
whether the same with the voice of the archangelin 1 Thessalonians 4:16;and
whether an articulate voice, or a violent clapof thunder, which is the voice of
God, or only the exertion of Christ's mighty power is intended, is not easyto
determine, and may be needless to inquire. Certain it is, that this voice of
Christ will be attended with almighty power, as the effectfollowing upon it
will show. The Jews observe (g), that
"there are three things which do not come into the world but "by voices";
there is the voice of a living creature, as it is written, Genesis 3:16, "in sorrow
thou shalt bring forth children", and as it is written, Genesis 30:22, "andGod
hearkenedto her"; and there is the voice of rains, as it is written, 1 Kings
18:41, "for there is a voice of abundance of rain", and it is written, Psalm
29:3, "the voice of the Lord is upon the waters";and , "there is the voice of
the resurrectionof the dead", as it is written, Isaiah40:3, "the voice of him
that crieth in the wilderness";''
but that was the voice of John the Baptist. It will be the voice of the Son of
God that will quicken and raise the dead.
(g) Zohar in Gen. fol. 70. 4.
Geneva Study Bible

{7} Marvelnot at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the
graves shall hear his voice,
(7) All will eventually appear before the judgment seatof Christ to be judged.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
John 5:28-30. Marvelnot at this (comp. John 3:7), viz. at what I have asserted
concerning my life-giving and judicial power;for[218]the lastand greatest
stage ofthis my Messianicquickening work (not the work of the λόγος as the
absolute ζωή, to whom Baur refers the whole passage,John5:20 ff.; see, on
the contrary, Brückner) is yet to come, namely, the raising of the actually
dead out of their graves, and the final judgment.[219] Against the
interpretation of this verse (see on John 5:21) in a figurative sense (comp.
Isaiah26:19; Exodus 37:12;Daniel 12:2), it is decisive that οἱ ἐν τοῖς μνημείοις
would have to mean merely the spiritually dead, which would be quite out of
keeping with οἱ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ποιήσαντες. Jesus Himself intimates by the words οἱ
ἐν τοῖς μνημείοις that He here is passing from the spiritually dead, who thus
far have been spokenof, to the actualdead.
ὅτι] argumentum a majori; the wonder at the less disappears before the
greater, which is declaredto be that which is one day to be accomplished. We
are not to supply, as Luthardt does, the condition of faithful meditation on the
latter, for the auditors were unbelieving and hostile; but the far more
wonderful factthat is told does awaywith the wonder which the lesserhad
aroused, goes beyondit, and, as it were, causesit to disappear.
ἔρχεται ὥρα] Observe that no καὶ νῦν ἐστιν, as in John 5:25, could be added
here.

πάντες] Here it is as little said that all shall be raised at the same time, as in
John 5:25 that all the spiritually dead shall be quickened simultaneously. The
τάγματα,which Paul distinguishes at the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:23-24,
and which are in harmony with the teaching of Judaism and of Christ Himself
regarding a twofoldresurrection (Bertholdt, Christol. pp. 176 ff., 203 ff.; and
see on Luke 14:14), find room likewise in the ὥρα, which is capable of
prophetic extension.
οἱ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ποιήσαντες, κ.τ.λ.]that is, the first resurrection, that of the just,
who are regarded by Jesus in a purely ethical aspect, and apart from all
national particularism. See on Luke 14:14, and comp. John 6:39. It was far
from His objecthere to dwell upon the necessityof His redemption being
appropriated by faith on the part of the dead here spokenof; He gives
expressionsimply to the abstractmoral normal condition (comp. Romans 2:7;
Romans 2:13; Matthew 7:21). This necessity, however, wherebythey must
belong to the οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ (1 Corinthians 15:23;comp. Matthew 25:31
sqq.), implies the descensusChristi ad inferos.
εἰς ἀνάστ. ζωῆς]they will come forth (from their graves)into a resurrectionof
life (representedas local), i.e. to a resurrection, the necessaryresult of which
(comp. Winer, p. 177 [E. T. p. 235])is life, life in the Messiah’s kingdom.
Comp. 2Ma 7:14 : ἀνάστασις εἰς ζωήν; Daniel 12:2; Romans 5:18 : δικαίωσις
ζωὴς.
κρίσεως] to which judgment pertains, and judgment, according to the context,
in a condemnatory sense (to eternaldeath in Gehenna); and accordingly
ἀνάστασις ζωῆς does not exclude an act of judgment, which awards the ζωή.
As to the distinction betweenποιεῖν and πράττειν, see on John 3:20-21. John
5:30 further adds the guarantee of the rectitude of this κρίσις, and this

expressedin a generalway, so that Jesus describes His judgment generally;
hence the Present, denoting continuous action, and the generalintroductory
statementof John 5:19, οὐ δύναμαι, etc.
καθὼς ἀκούω]i.e. from God, who, by virtue of the continual communion and
confidence subsisting betweenHim and Christ, always makes His judgment
directly and consciouslyknownto Him, in accordance withwhich Christ gives
His verdict. Christ’s sentence is simply the declarationof God’s judgment
consequentupon the continuous self-revelationof God in His consciousness,
whereby the ἀκούεινfrom the Father, which He possessedin His pre-existent
state, is continued in time.
ὅτι οὐ ζητῶ, κ.τ.λ.]“I cannot therefore deviate from the κρίνειν καθὼς
ἀκούω;and my judgment, seeing it is not that of an individual, but divine,
must be just.”
τοῦ πέμψ. με, κ.τ.λ.]as it consequentlyaccords with this my dependence upon
God.
[218]Ewald renders ὅτι that: “Marvelnot at this, that (as I saidin ver. 1) an
hour is coming,” etc. But in ver. 25 the thought and expressionare different
from our text.
[219]It is not right, as is already plain from the text and ver. 27, to saythat in
John the judgment is always representedas an inner fact (so even Holtzmann,
Judenth. u. Christenth. p. 422). The saying, “The world’s history is the
world’s judgment,” only partially represents John’s view; in John the lastday
is not without the last judgment, and this lastjudgment is with him the world-
judgment. See on John 3:18.

Expositor's Greek Testament
John 5:28. And another reasonfor restraining surprise is ὅτι ἔρχεται ὥρα, etc.
It has been proposedto render this as if ὅτι were explanatory of τοῦτο, do not
wonder at this, that an hour is coming. But (1) τοῦτο usually, though not
invariably, refers to what precedes;and (2) when John says “Do not wonder
that” so and so, he uses μὴ θαυμάσῃς ὅτι without τοῦτο;and (3) the ordinary
rendering suits the passagebetter: Marvelnot at this [that my voice gives life]
because a time is coming when there will result from my voice that which if
not really greaterwill strike you more sensibly. The bodily resurrection may
be said to be greater than the spiritual as its consummation, completion, and
exhibition in results. Besides, the Jews ofour Lord’s time lookedupon the
resurrectionas the grand demonstration of God’s power. But here the οἱ ἐν
τοῖς μνημείοις shows that the surprise is to be occasionedby the fact that even
the physically dead shall hear.—πάντες … κρίσεως. That the resurrectionis
alluded to is shown by the change from οἱ νεκροί of John 5:25 to οἱ ἐν τοῖς
μνημείοις. Some rise to life, some to κρίσιν, which from its opposition to ζωήν
must here be equivalent to κατακρίσιν. If it is askedwith regardto the
righteous, With what body do they come? much more may it be askedofthe
condemned. The entrance into life and into condemnationare determined by
conduct; how the conduct is determined is not here stated. For the expressions
defining the two types of conduct see on chap. John 3:20-21. That the present
receptionof life is the assurance ofresurrectionis put strikingly by Paul in 2
Corinthians 5:5. The fact that some shall rise to condemnation disclosesthat
even those who have not the Spirit of God in them have some kind of
continuous life which maintains them in existence with their personalidentity
intact from the time of death to the time of resurrection. Also, that the long
period spent by some betweenthese two points has not been utilised for
bringing them into fellowship with Christ is apparent. In what state they rise
or to what condition they go, we are not here told. Beyond the fact of their
condemnation their future is left in darkness, and was therefore probably
meant to be left in darkness.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges

28. Marvel not] Comp. John 3:7. Marvel not that the Son cangrant spiritual
life to them that believe, and separate from them those who will not believe.
There cometh an hour when He shall cause a generalresurrectionof men’s
bodies, and a final separationof goodfrom bad, a final judgment. He does not
add ‘and now is,’ which is in favour of the resurrectionbeing literal.
all that are in the graves]Not‘whom He will;’ there are none whom He does
not will to come forth from their sepulchres (see on John 11:7). All, whether
believers or not, must rise. This shews that spiritual resurrectioncannotbe
meant.
28, 29. The intimacy between the Fatherand the Sonfurther proved by the
powercommitted to the Son of causing the bodily resurrectionof the dead.
Bengel's Gnomen
John 5:28. Μὴ θαυμάζετε τοῦτο, marvelnot at this) They are greatthings
which He spake all along from John 5:21, and worthy of marvel; but greater
and more marvellous are the things which follow:τοῦτο, this, is to be referred
to what goes before. Jesus knew the feeling of wonder which had been just
now raisedin the mind of the Jews.—ὥρα, the hour) See note on ch. John
5:21. [It is termed an hour, not because thatwhole time is short, but because
its beginning is near.]—φωιῆς, the voice) 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “The Lord
Himself shall descendfrom heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God.”
Pulpit Commentary
Verses 28, 29. - It is impossible not to draw a distinction betweenthe theme of
these verses and that of vers. 24, 25. The Lord announces an event which is in
the future altogether. The "and now is," which characterizedthe first
resurrectionof which he spoke, is here omitted. The descriptionof the
subjects of the resurrectionas those "in their graves," contradistinguishes
them from "the dead" of ver. 25 - a phrase which will suffer several

interpretations. The universality of the summons, and the impossibility of
neglecting it or ignoring it, form another marked contrastto the resurrection
already referred to. Marvelnot at this! At what? Clearly at the entire
statementthat the resurrectionof dead souls will be the undoubted issue of
accepting Christ's word and identifying it with the word of God. Marvelnot
that the judgment of the world is entrusted to "the Son," because he is both
Son of man as well as Son of God. "Marvelnot" is a relative word. It means
obviously that there is a greatermarvel still in store. Becausethe hour is
coming; always coming, though it seemethlong - coming swiftly, measuredon
the greatclock face ofthe universe. Geologicaltime, astronomicalaeons,
should before this have rebuked our impertinence about the delays of God,
and our shallow criticism of the fulness of the times. "One day is with the
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." As compared
with geologicalannals, stillless with God's eternities, it is only the day before
yesterdaywhen Adam fell; it is only yesterdaythat Jesus died and rose again,
and tomorrow that he will come in his glory. The hour is coming when all who
are in the graves shall hear his voice. The same voice that wakes the
spiritually dead shall pierce the clods, shall find the buried dead, shall bring
once more into the world of the visible and tangible the long forgotten lived.
Every solitary life lives with him and before him. The organic clothing of the
spirit, which goes on, as St. Paul suggests (2 Corinthians 5:1) from the death
of the physical body till the coming of the Sonof Godwith glory, does not
render this statement more difficult, but more comprehensible. As far as this
world is concerned, those who are clothed upon with the house not made with
hands - those who are with Christ, are to all appearance dead, and in their
"graves,"in their memorial places;but they will all hear the voice of the Son,
and they will come, forth; they that have done goodthings, to the resurrection
of life; they that have practisedevil things, to the resurrectionof judgment.
They will come forth from these hiding places of fading memories. Even
tombs of prophets and kings are themselves buried, coveredby the graves of
the many generations that have followed. The grave hidden will come forth
into what we call the reality, visibility, tangibility, of things. The hour is
coming on apace when Deathhimself shall be dead, and the mystery of time
be finished. They that rise will divide themselves into two classes. The
anastasis willhave two forms. There is a "resurrectionof life" and a

"resurrectionof judgment." Those who have indeed passedfrom spiritual
death to life will not come into "judgment" (not κρίμα or κατάκριμα, but
κρίσις) when their anastasis is complete, their judgment is over, their life is
secure. When those who have not heard the voice of the Son of God, have not
come to the light, who are not of God nor of the truth - men who have
deliberately practised"evil things" without compunction or amendment, -
when these are calledfrom their tombs, from their shadowyhiding places,
into the presence of him who executes judgment, it will be to undergo the
(κρίσις) judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10). We must, indeed, all be made
manifest before the judgment throne of Christ, to receive the consequencesof
"the doing of well" and "the practice of evil." The issue of the one is life, and
of the other is judgment. The suggestionseemsto be that such judgment may
issue unfavourably, but the thought is centredupon the process ofthe
judgment. The effort of Reuss and others to draw a marked distinction
betweenthe eschatologyofthe synoptists and of John fails. Christ does not
representthe spiritual resurrectionas "greaterwork"than the physical
resurrection. On the contrary, white he speaks ofthe marvelling of his hearers
at his claim to quicken the spiritually dead, yet the ground of their marvel is
emphatically arrested(see ver. 28) until they should recognize to the full the
fact that, as Sonof Godand Son of man, he would callall the dead from their
graves. Thoma finds admirable justification for this representationby the
Johannist of the Messianic Judge, alike in the Book ofDaniel, in the synoptic
Gospels, in the Pauline Epistles, and Apocalypse!
Vincent's Word Studies
The graves (τοῖς μνημείοις)
Rev., better; tombs. Two words are used in the New Testamentfor the place
of burial, τάφος, and μνημεῖον or μνῆμα. The former emphasizes the idea of
burial (θάπτω, to bury); the latter of preserving the memory of the dead; from
μιμνήσκω, to remind.

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BARCLAY
This is the truth I tell you--the hour is coming and now is when the dead will
hear the voice of the Son of God, and, when they have heard, they will live.
For, as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in
himself; and he has given him authority to exercise the process ofjudgment,
because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonishedat this, for the hour is
coming when everyone in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come forth;
those who have done goodwill come out to a resurrectionwhich will give them
life, but those whose actions were base will come out to a resurrectionwhich
will issue in judgment.
Here we come to the first of the long discourses ofthe Fourth Gospel. When
we read passageslike this we must remember that John is not seeking so
much to give us the words that Jesus spoke as the things which Jesus meant.
He was writing somewhere round about A.D. 100. Forseventy years he had
thought about Jesus and the wonderful things which Jesus had said. Many of
these things he had not fully understood when he had heard them. But more
than half a century of thinking under the guidance of the Holy Spirit had
shown him deeper and deepermeaning in the words of Jesus. And so he sets
down for us not only what Jesus said, but also what Jesus meant.
This passageis so important that we must first study it as a whole and then
take it in shorter sections.
First, then let us look at it as a whole. We must try to think not only how it
sounds to us, but also how it sounded to the Jews who heard it for the first
time. They had a backgroundof thoughts and ideas, of theologyand belief, of
literature and religion which is very far from our background;and, to
understand a passagelike this, we must try to think ourselves into the mind of
a Jew who listened to it for the first time.
This is an amazing passage,becauseit is woven togetherof thoughts and
expressions whichare all claims by Jesus to be the promised Messiah. Many

of these claims we do not now readily see, but they would be crystal clearto
the Jews andwould leave them aghast.
(i) The clearestclaimis the statementthat Jesus is the Son of Man. We know
how common that strange title is in the gospels. It has a long history. It was
born in Daniel 7:1-14. The King James Versionmistranslates the Son of Man
for a sonof man (Daniel 7:13).
The point of the passageis this. Daniel was written in days of terror and of
persecution, and it is a vision of the glory which will some day replace the
suffering which the people are undergoing. In Daniel 7:1-7 the seerdescribes
the greatheathen empires which have held swayunder the symbolism of
beasts. There is the lion with eagle's wings (Daniel7:4), which stands for the
Babylonian Empire; the bear with the three ribs in his mouth, as one
devouring the carcase(Daniel7:5), which stands for the Median Empire; the
leopard with four wings and four heads (Daniel 7:6), which stands for the
PersianEmpire; the beast, greatand terrible, with iron teeth and with ten
horns (Daniel 7:7), which stands for the MacedonianEmpire. All these
terrible powers will pass awayand the powerand the dominion will be given
to one like a sonof man. The meaning is that the Empires which have held
swayhave been so savage that they could be described only in terms of wild
beasts;but into the world there is going to come a powerso gentle and kind
that it will be human and not bestial. In Danielthe phrase describes the kind
of power which is going to rule the world.
Someone has to introduce and exercise that power; and the Jews took this title
and gave it to the chosenone of God who some day would bring in the new age
of gentleness and love and peace;and so they came to call the MessiahSonof
Man. Betweenthe Old and the New Testaments there arose a whole literature
which dealt with the golden age which was to come.
One book which was speciallyinfluential was the Book of Enochand in it
there appears againand againa great figure calledThat Son of Man, who is
waiting in heaven until God sends him to earth to bring in his kingdom and
rule over it. So when Jesus calledhimself the Son of Man, he was doing

nothing less than callhimself the Messiah. Here was a claim so clearthat it
could not be misunderstood.
(ii) But not only is this claim to be God's Messiahmade in so many words; in
phrase after phrase it is implicit. The very miracle which had happened to the
paralysedman was a sign that Jesus was Messiah. It was Isaiah's picture of
the new age of God that "then shall the lame man leap like a hart" (Isaiah
35:6). It was Jeremiah's vision that the blind and the lame would be gathered
in (Jeremiah 31:8-9).
(iii) There is Jesus'repeatedclaim to raise the dead and to be their judge
when they are raised. In the Old TestamentGod alone can raise the dead and
alone has the right to judge. "I, even I, am he and there is no godbeside me: I
kill and I make alive" (Deuteronomy 32:39). "The Lord kills and brings to
life" (1 Samuel 2:6). When Naaman, the Syrian, came seeking to be cured
from leprosy, the king of Israel saidin bewildered despair: "Am I Godto kill
and to make alive?" (2 Kings 5:6). The function of killing and making alive
belongedinalienably to God. It is the same with judgment. "The judgment is
God's" (Deuteronomy 1:17).
In later thought this function of resurrecting the dead and then acting as
judge became part of the duty of God's chosenone when he brought in the
new age of God. Enoch says of the Son of Man: "The sum of judgment was
committed to him" (Enoch 69:26-27). Jesus in our passagespeaks ofthose
who have done goodbeing resurrectedto life and of those who have done evil
being resurrectedto death. The Apocalypse of Baruch lays it down that when
God's age comes:"The aspectofthose who now act wickedlyshall become
worse than it is, as they shall suffer torment," whereas those who have trusted
in the law and actedupon it shall be clothed in beauty and in splendour
(Baruch 51:1-4). Enoch has it that in that day: "The earth shall be wholly rent
asunder, and all that is on earth shall perish, and there shall be judgment on
all men" (Enoch1: 5-7). The Testamentof Benjamin has it: "All men shall
rise, some to the exalted, and some to be humbled and put to shame."
For Jesus to speak like this was an act of the most extraordinary and unique
courage. He must have known well that to make claims like this would sound

the sheerestblasphemyto the orthodox Jewishleaders and was to court death.
The man who listened to words like this had only two alternatives--he must
either acceptJesus as the Son of God or hate him as a blasphemer.
We now go on to take this passagesectionby section.
The FatherAnd The Son (John 5:19-20)
5:19-20 This is the truth I tell you--the Son cannot do anything which
proceeds from himself. He can only do what he sees the Father doing. In
whateverway the Fatheracts, the Son likewise acts in the same way; for the
Father loves the Son, and has shown him everything that he does. And he will
show him greaterworks than these, so that you will be moved to wondering
amazement.
This is the beginning of Jesus'answerto the Jews'charge that he was making
himself equal to God. He lays down three things about his relationship with
God.
(i) He lays down his identity with God. The salienttruth about Jesus is that in
him we see God. If we wish to see how Godfeels to men, if we wish to see how
God reacts to sin, if we wish to see how God regards the human situation, we
must look at Jesus. The mind of Jesus is the mind of God; the words of Jesus
are the words of God; the actions ofJesus are the actions of God.
(ii) This identity is not so much basedon equality as on complete obedience.
Jesus neverdid what he wantedto do but always whatGod wanted him to do.
It is because his will was completely submitted to God's will that we see God
in him. Jesus is to God as we must be to Jesus.
(iii) This obedience is not basedon submission to power;it is basedon love.
The unity betweenJesus and God is a unity of love. We speak oftwo minds
having only a single thought and two hearts beating as one. In human terms
that is a perfect description of the relationship betweenJesus and God. There
is such complete identity of mind and will and heart that Father and Son are
one.
But this passage has something still more to tell us about Jesus.

(i) It tells us of his complete confidence. He is quite sure that what men were
seeing then was only a beginning. On purely human grounds the one thing
Jesus might reasonablyexpectwas death. The forces of Jewishorthodoxy
were gathering againsthim and the end was already sure. But Jesus was quite
certain that the future was in the hands of God and that men could not stop
what God had sent him to do.
(ii) It tells of his complete fearlessness.Thathe would be misunderstood was
certain. That his words would inflame the minds of his hearers and endanger
his ownlife was beyond argument. There was no human situation in which
Jesus would lowerhis claims or adulterate the truth. He would make his claim
and speak his truth no matter what men might threaten to do. To him it was
much more important to be true to God than to fear men.
Life, Judgment And Honour (John 5:21-23)
5:21-23 For as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so the Son
also makes alive those whom he wishes. Neitherdoes the Fatherjudge anyone,
but he has given the whole process ofjudging to the Son, that all may honour
the Son, as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not
honour the Father who sent him.
Here we see three greatfunctions which belong to Jesus Christ as the Son of
God.
(i) He is the giver of life. John meant this in a double sense. He meant it in
time. No man is fully alive until Jesus Christ enters into him and he enters
into Jesus Christ. When we make the discoveryof the realm of music or of
literature or of art or of travel, we sometimes speak of a new world opening
out to us. That man into whose life Jesus Christhas entered finds life made
new. He himself is changed;his personalrelationships are changed;his
conceptionof work and duty and pleasure is changed;his relationship to God
is changed. He meant it in eternity. After this life is ended, for the man who
has acceptedJesusChrist there opens life still more fun and still more
wonderful; while for the man who has refusedJesus Christ, there comes that
death which is separationfrom God. Jesus Christ gives life both in this world
and the world to come.

(ii) He is the bringer of judgment. John says that God committed the whole
process ofjudgment to Jesus Christ. What he means is this--a man's judgment
depends on his reactionto Jesus. If he finds in Jesus the one person to be loved
and followed, he is on the way to life. If he sees in Jesus anenemy, he has
condemned himself. Jesus is the touchstone by which all men are tested;
reactionto him is the testby which all men are divided.
(iii) He is the receiverof honour. The most uplifting thing about the New
Testamentis its unquenchable hope and its unconquerable certainty. It tells
the story of a crucified Christ and yet never has any doubt that at the end all
men will be drawn to that crucified figure and that all men will know him and
acknowledge him and love him. Amid persecutionand disregard, in spite of
smallness of numbers and poverty of influence, in the face of failure and
disloyalty, the New Testamentand the early church never doubted the
ultimate triumph of Christ. When we are tempted to despair we would do well
to remember that the salvation of men is the purpose of Godand that nothing,
in the end, can frustrate his will. The evil will of man may delay God's
purpose; it cannot defeatit.
Acceptance Means Life (John 5:24)
5:24 This is the truth I tell you--he who listens to my word and believes on him
who sent me has eternal life, and is not on the way to judgment, but he has
crossedfrom death to life.
Jesus says quite simply that to accepthim is life; and to rejecthim is death.
What does it mean to listen to Jesus'word and to believe in the Father who
sent him? To put it at its briefest it means three things. (i) It means to believe
that God is as Jesus says he is; that he is love; and so to enter into a new
relationship with him in which fearis banished. (ii) It means to acceptthe way
of life that Jesus offers us, howeverdifficult it may be and whatever sacrifices
it may involve, certain that to acceptit is the ultimate way to peace and to
happiness, and to refuse it the ultimate way to death and judgment. (iii) It
means to acceptthe help that the RisenChrist gives and the guidance that the
Holy Spirit offers, and so to find strength for all that the way of Christ
involves.

When we do that we enter into three new relationships. (i) We enter into a
new relationship with God. The judge becomes the father; the distant becomes
the near; strangenessbecomesintimacy and fear becomes love. (ii) We enter
into a new relationship with our fellow men. Hatred becomes love;selfishness
becomes service;and bitterness becomes forgiveness. (iii) We enter into a new
relationship with ourselves. Weaknessbecomesstrength;frustration becomes
achievement;and tension becomes peace.
To acceptthe offer of Jesus Christis to find life. Everyone in one sense may be
said to be alive; but there are few who canbe saidto know life in the real
sense ofthe term. When Grenfell was writing to a nursing sisterabout her
decisionto come out to Labrador to help in his work there, he told her that he
could not offer her much money, but that if she came she would discover that
in serving Christ and the people of the country she would have the time of her
life. Browning describes the meeting of two people into whose hearts love had
entered. She lookedat him, he lookedat her, and "suddenly life awoke." A
modern novelist makes one charactersayto another: "I never knew what life
was till I saw it in your eyes."
The personwho accepts the wayof Christ has passedfrom death to life. In
this world life becomes new and thrilling; in the world to come eternal life
with God becomes a certainty.
DeathAnd Life (John 5:25-29)
5:25-29 This is the truth I tell you--the hour is coming and now is when the
dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and, when they have heard, they
will live. For, as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to
have life in himself. And he has given him authority to exercise the process of
judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonishedat this, for the
hour is coming when everyone in the tombs wig hear his voice and will come
forth; those who have done good will come out to a resurrectionwhich wild
give them life, but those whose actions were base will come out to a
resurrectionwhich will issue in judgment.

Here the Messianicclaims of Jesus standout most clearly. He is the Son of
Man; he is the life-giver and the life-bringer; he wig raise the dead to life and,
when they are raised, he will be their judge.
In this passageJohnseems to use the word dead in two senses.
(i) He uses it of those who are spiritually dead; to them Jesus will bring new
life. What does it mean?
(a) To be spiritually dead is to have stopped trying. It is to have come to look
on all faults as ineradicable and all virtues as unattainable. But the Christian
life cannotstand still; it must either go on or slip back;and to stop trying is
therefore to slip back to death.
(b) To be spiritually dead is to have stopped feeling. There are many people
who at one time felt intensely in face of the sin and the sorrow and the
suffering of the world; but slowly they have become insensitive. They can look
at evil and feelno indignation; they can look at sorrow and suffering and feel
no answering swordof grief and pity pierce their heart. When compassion
goes the heart is dead.
(c) To be spiritually dead is to have stopped thinking. J. Alexander Findlay
tells of a saying of a friend of his--"When you reach a conclusionyou're
dead." He meant that when a man's mind becomes so shut that it can accept
no new truth, he is mentally and spiritually dead. The day when the desire to
learn leaves us, the day when new truth, new methods, new thought become
simply a disturbance with which we cannotbe bothered, is the day of our
spiritual death.
(d) To be spiritually dead is to have stopped reprinting. The day when a man
can sin in peace is the day of his spiritual death; and it is easyto slip into that
frame of mind. The first time we do a wrong thing, we do it with fear and
regret. If we do it a secondtime, it is easierto do it. If we do it a third time, it
is easieryet. If we go on doing it, the time comes whenwe scarcelygive it a
thought. To avoid spiritual death a man must keephimself sensitive to sin by
keeping himself sensitive to the presence ofJesus Christ.

(ii) John also uses the word dead literally. Jesus teachesthatthe resurrection
will come and that what happens to a man in the after-life is inextricably
bound up with what he has done in this life. The awful importance of this life
is that it determines eternity. All through it we are fitting or unfitting
ourselves for the life to come, making ourselves fit or unfit for the presence of
God. We choose eitherthe way which leads to life or the way which leads to
death.
JOHN CRISWELL
OUR BELOVED DEAD
Dr. W. A. Criswell
John 5:25-29
5-31-87 8:15 a.m.
Once againwe welcome the throngs of you that share this hour on radio. This
is the pastorof the First Baptist Church in Dallas presenting the message
from God’s Word concerning our dead. In our preaching through the Gospel
of John, we are in chapter 5 and the verses ofpresentationare 25 and 28.
John 5:25 and 28, “Verily, verily,” amen, amen, it is in Greek:
Truly, truly, I sayunto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
[John 5:25]
verse 28—

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the
graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth. . .
[John 5:28-29]
the most amazing revelationthat could be found in all of God’s Word.
There are two kinds of dead spokenhere; there are two kinds of dead people.
There are those who are alive in the flesh but dead in their souls; they are
spiritually dead. Then second:there are those who are dead in their physical
bodies and are buried in the earth. Our Lord in this passagespeaks ofHis
raising both kinds of dead. The occasionof His speaking was the bitter attack
againstHim delineatedin the first half of this fifth chapter of John, overHis
healing the paralytic man: thirty and eight years he had been invalid, and the
Lord healed him [John 5:5-9]. And over the bitter confrontation because of
that miracle [John 5:10-27], the Lord said, “Notonly does the Son of Man
have powerto speak and the paralyzed are restored, but the Son of Man also
has powerto raise the dead” [John 5:28-29];two kinds of dead. He has power
to raise the dead who are dead in their souls: “Marvelnot at this: I sayunto
you, the hour now is, when the Son of Man shall speak;and they that hear
shall live” [John 5:25]. That’s the voice of God in our heart when we’re
saved, raising us from spiritual death. Then He speaks ofa future time, not
“now is,” but, “the hour is coming, in which all that are in their graves shall
hear His voice, and they that hear shall come forth” [John 5:28-29].
How does Jesus raise the dead? He does it by His omnipotent voice. He
speaks andthe dead are alive [John 11:43-44]. That’s a remarkable thing.
But God is always presentedjust like that. “And God said, Let there be light:
and there was light” [Genesis 1:3], by fiat. And God spoke, and the worlds
and the universes and the planets in their orbits came into existence [Genesis
1:14-19]. In the first chapter of the Book ofthe Revelation, Johnsees Him in
His glory [Revelation1:12-15];and out of His mouth proceededa sharp two-
edgedsword [Revelation1:16]. In Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is powerful and quick, sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and of the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart.
The voice and the Word of omnipotence: Jesus, by His voice, by His word
raises the dead [John 11:43-44].
The centurion from Capernaum, when he came up to the Lord in another city
said, “Myservant is dying. Would You healhim?” And the Lord said, “I will
go with you.” He always answers the cry of the human heart. “I will go with
you.” And the centurion says, “You need not come;just speak the word, say
the word, and my servant will be made whole” [Matthew 8:5-8]. The voice of
Christ, “Ephphatha,” and the dumb could hear and speak [Mark 7:34-35].
Talitha cumi; and the daughter of Jairus is raisedfrom the dead [Mark 5:41-
42]. Stopping the bier that carried the sonof the widow of Nain to the grave,
He speaks and the youth rises from the dead [Luke 7:11-15]. He speaks and
Lazarus comes forth [John 11:43-44];the omnipotent powerof Christ our
Lord. And this is the will of God for us, “that we be not agnoeō,” ourword
“atheist” comes from that “. . . that we be not without knowledge concerning
these who die, who fall asleep. . .” [1 Thessalonians 4:13]. Deathis so
universal that our Lord would not have us stumble in darkness concerning its
ultimate and final meaning and what lies beyond the grave.
This last week, within a day two of our noblest deacons have died. What of
death and its ultimate and final meaning for us? So God reveals its meaning
and what lies in the darkness beyond: “I would not have you without
knowledge, my brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that ye sorrow not,
as others who have no hope” [1 Thessalonians 4:13]. This vast world beyond
the pale of the promise of Christ lives in utter darkness and deathly fear.
I take two extremities of that spectrum. One: the animist in darkestAfrica;
death is a terrifying thing, it is a paralyzing thing and he trembles before it. I
speak of the other side of the spectrum, the learned philosophical Greek. Man
said, “Everything we know we learned from the Greeks.” Backyonder,

hundreds of years before Christ, they were speaking of the atomic molecular
framework of this universe. “Physics”is a Greek word; “metaphysics,”
beyond physics, is Greek. Theypeered into the darkness and could find
nothing beyond the silent, swollenRiver Styx. When Paul stoodbefore the
Areopagus in Athens and preachedJesus and the resurrection, the Epicureans
laughed at him—ridiculed him. The Stoics, more gracious bowedout saying,
“We will hear thee againof this matter” [Acts 17:19-32]. To them it was
unthinkable!
In our modern day the severestattack againstthe resurrectionof this physical
body is brought by the preacher-theologian. Thatsomehow has beentypical
through the ages. Isn’t it strange that it should be the Sadducees—the
Sadducees—thesewho had control of the temple and all of the worship of
Israel? It was the materialistic, secular, humanistic Sadducees that scoffedat
the resurrection[Acts 23:8]. But in our Lord, there came another voice and
another hope, another revelation. And that hope lies in our commitment and
belief in the deity of Jesus our Lord. When we turn aside from our faith in
Christ, we turn into absolute hopelessnessand sorrow.
Albert Einstein, our greatestmodern scientist, said, “I want it understood that
I am an atheist. And when I die there is to be no service. Mybody is to be
burned and its ashes scatteredto the wind.” And when the greatscientist
died, there was no service;they burned his body and scatteredthe ashes to the
wind. When we deny the being, and the presence, and the ableness, and the
omnipotence, and the very fact, the very truth of our Lord, we turn to abject,
indescribable darkness and oblivion.
That’s why Paul says, “I speak unto you by the word of the Lord.” The only
revelation we could ever have of what lies beyond the grave lies in the
revelation of God. “This I say unto you by the word of the Lord. If we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them that believe in Him will God
bring with Him” [1 Thessalonians 4:14-15]. Our own resurrectionlies in the
truth of the resurrectionof Jesus Christ our Lord [1 Corinthians 15:14-17].
And I haven’t time to submit it, just to affirm and to avow. There is no
historicalfact in history substantiated with greatercertaintyand affirmation
than the resurrectionof Jesus Christ from the dead. There’s no other way to

explain the marvelous, indescribable change in the apostles who laid down
their lives for that truth. There’s no other way to explain the incomparable
conversionof Saul of Tarsus exceptthat Jesus appearedto him raisedfrom
the dead [Acts 9:3-5]. And there’s no other wayto explain the powerof the
gospelin the days of the Roman Empire than that back of it lay the great
affirmation: “Jesus lives! He is alive!” [Matthew 28:5-7; Luke 24:5-7]. And
that brings to us the great affirmation and revelation of the powerof Christ in
our day and in our lives.
In this passagein the fourth chapter of 1 Thessaloniansand in the
incomparable revelationof God in the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, in
both places we don’t die, we just fall asleepin Jesus, awaiting the day of His
voice to awakenus [1 Thessalonians 4:13-17;1 Corinthians 15:51-52].
In this brief moment, may I apply that to the three ages oflife? First: that
death has lost its sting and the grave its victory [1 Corinthians 15:55-57]when
we lay to rest these aged, our fathers and mothers, these who have come to the
end of a long life, what death means to them. When I beganas a young
pastor, just seventeenyears of age, whenI began there is so much that a
young pastor has to learn. I had to learn. I knelt down by the side of an old
warrior of the cross, anagedsaint, invalid. I knelt down by his bed and began
to pray. And I prayed in my youthful not-knowing, I prayed, “Lord extend
his days, give him years, raise him up, make him strong and well again.” I
was praying that. And while I was praying, he reachedforth his hand and
touched me, and interrupted, saying, “Young pastor, don’t pray that. Don’t
pray that I will have length of days and years added to my life, or that I’ll be
raisedup, don’t.” He said to me, “Young pastor, my life is lived and my work
is done. My wife is gone. My children are gone. All of my friends are gone.
And I am alone here in the world.” He added, “Young pastor, pray that God
will release me and let me go to be with Him and these I have loved and lost
for the while. Pray, young pastor, that God will release me, and open heaven
for me.” I changedmy prayer. I have never forgotten that lesson, sixty years
ago. Deathhas been robbed of its sting and the grave of its victory [1
Corinthians 15:55]; and no longeris it a fearsome and horrible visitation. It is
the opening of the doors of heaven.

That’s why Revelation14:13, “Makarios, makarios, happy, blessedare the
dead who die in the Lord! Yea, said the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labors; and their works do follow them.” Nothing is lost; all we’ve ever done
or said for Christ is our eternal rewardin heaven. “Makarios,blessed, happy,
fortunate are those who die in the Lord.” Our reward is up there [Matthew
5:12]. Our home is up there [John 14:2-3]. Our inheritance is up there
[Matthew 6:20]. Happy day when we come into the presence of Christ and
receive from His blessedhands these things, these better things He hath
prepared for those who love Him [1 Corinthians 2:9].
Bringing that affirmation to the youth who dies, the young man and the young
woman who die, we think, “What an indescribable sorrow and tragedy!” It’s
like Josephin a strange and far country, but calledto high office and exalted
[Genesis 41:37-44]. Orlike Rebekahmarried to Isaac and taken awayinto a
far country [Genesis 31]. These, evenin their youth translated to heaven; and
there, living a life of glory and exaltationin the presence of God. When the
youth dies, he is separatedfrom all the sorrows that we know in this life.
And last, our little children: what of that baby who has died? Our little ones?
There is a famous painting, The Pitcher of Tears, and this poem:
Many days a strickenmother,
To her loss unreconciled,
Wept, bitter tears, complaining,
“Cruel death has stolenmy child.”
But one night, as she was sleeping,
To her soul there came a vision;
And she saw her little daughter
In the blessedfields Elysian.

All alone the child was standing,
And a heavy pitcher holding;
Swift the mother hastened to her,
Close around her arms enfolding.
“Why so sadand lonely, darling?”
Askedshe, stroking soft her hair,
“See the many merry children
Playing in the goldenfair?”
“Look! They’re beckoning and calling,
Go and help them pluck the flowers,
Put aside the heavy pitcher,
Play awaythe sunny hours.”
From the tender lips a-quiver,
Fell the answeron her ears;
“On the earth my mother’s weeping.
And this pitcher holds the tears.”
“Tears thattouch the heavenly blossoms,
Spoils the flowers where’erthey fall;
So, as long as she is weeping

I must stand and catchthem all.”
“Waitno longer,” criedthe mother,
“Run and play, sweetchild of mine;
Nevermore shall tears of sorrow
Shroud your happiness sublime.”
Like a bird releasedfrom bondage
Sped the happy child away;
And the mother woke, her courage
Strengthened for the lonely day.
[adapted from “The Legend of the Pitcher Of Tears,” MaryA. Borroughs,
1877]
God says it is better over there than it is here [Philippians 1:23]. And when
we lay to rest our beloved dead—if it is a child, God will guide the life into
perfect beauty and happiness of that darling little one. If it is a youth in
young manhood and womanhood, Godhas a heavenly purpose for that Joseph
and that Rebekahin another land. Or if it is in our old age and our task is
finished, to us it is a release and a reward. “Evenso, come, blessedLord
Jesus” [Revelation22:20].
In this moment when we sing our hymn of appeal, to give your heart to the
Lord [Romans 10:9-10], to come into the fellowshipof the church, to answera
call of the Spirit in your heart, or for any reasonGod would bid you, make the
decisionnow. And when we stand and sing this song of appeal, in the name of
our Lord, risen and resurrected, welcome, welcome, while we stand and while
we sing.

S. LEWIS JOHNSON
Dr. S. Lewis Johnsonexpounds Jesus'first words to his disciples about his
relationship with the Fatherand the powerof the Trinity.
SLJ Institute > Gospelof John > The Dead and the Voice of the Son of God
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[Message]We are studying the 5th chapter of the Gospelof John and I’d like
for you to turn with me for the Scripture reading to verse 19 and I want to
read verse 19 through verse 30.
Now, we’ve had a little bit of a delay and it was two weeks agothat we
consideredthe first eighteenverses and the healing of the impotent man.
What follows now is our Lord’s sermon, his interpretation of the significance
of the sign of the impotent man. So, let’s read beginning with verse 19. And
remember this, as a result of what had happened he healedthe impotent man,
told him to rise, take up his bed and walk. And as he was carrying his bed
awayhe met some Jews on the way home and they saw him carrying his bed
and they in effectsaid, “You’re breaking the Sabbath because you’re not
supposedto carry a bed on the Sabbath day.” And he said, “Well, the person
who healedme told me to do this.” And our Lord found him in the temple
afterwards and he said, “You’ve been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse
thing come unto you.” So he went immediately to the Jewishleaders and told
them it was Jesus who had made him well. And therefore, they persecutedour
Lord and sought to slay him. Our Lord’s response to them was, “MyFather is
workethhitherto, and I work.” And they, when he said, “My Father,” thought
the more that they wish to kill him because by saying, “My Father,” he was in
effectmaking himself equal with God. So, we read in verse 19,
“Then answeredJesusand said unto them, Verily, verily, I sayunto you, The
Son cando nothing of himself, but what he seeththe Father do: for whatever
things he doeth, these also doeth the Sonin the same manner. For the Father
loveth the Son, and shewethhim all things that he himself doeth: and he will
shew him greaterworks than these, that ye may marvel. (There is a very
interesting variation in words, this is not the only time that this happens, but
in verse 20 when we read “the Father loveth the Son,” he uses the term phileo
in Greek, which means not simply to love in the sense of an expressionof the
will towarda person that might include some sacrifice, but the love of
affectionand also a love that expresses a common delight in the same things.
And that’s very fitting because the passagehas to do with the unity between
the Fatherand the Son). So the Father loveth the Son, and shewethhim all
things that he himself doeth: and he will shew him greaterworks than these,
that ye may marvel. For as the Father raisethup the dead, and giveth them

life; even so the Songiveth life to whom he will. Forthe Father judgeth no
man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the
Son honoureth not the Fatherwho hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that heareth my word, and believeth (Now my text has “on him,” but
that little word “on” is not here. This is not so much believing on and trusting,
but just accepting the truthfulness of the word. So), believeth him that sent
me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement; but is passed
from death unto life. Verily, verily, I sayunto you, The hour is coming, and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that
hear shall live. For as the Fatherhath life in himself; so hath he given to the
Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment
also, because he is the Son of man. (That expressionis probably to be
rendered “the Son of man” even though there are no articles in the Greek
text. It’s really something like “for he is such a person as the Sonof man”).
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice, And they shall come forth; they that have done good, unto
the resurrectionof life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrectionof
judgement. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my
judgment is just; because Iseek not mine own will, but the will of the Father
who hath sent me.”
This morning after the message, someone askedme a question regarding the
30th verse in the light of the factthat one of the major thrusts of the message
this morning will be the full deity of Jesus Christ. How is it then that he can
say, “I canof mine ownself do nothing”? Well that, of course, is a statement
that arises out of his mediatorial position at this time. It is true that while he is
here upon the earth carrying out his mediatorial work, he is completely
dependent upon the Father, not only for the things that he does, but also for
the things that he says. So that’s why he says, “I cando nothing of myself.”
Our subject for today in the exposition of the Gospelof John is “The Dead
and the Voice of the Son of God.” What we have in John chapter 5, verse 19
through verse 30 is our Lord’s interpretation of the significance of the sign of
the impotent man.

Now, some of you may not have been here when we went over the part of the
chapter that had to do with the healing of the impotent man and for the sake
of you and perhaps some over the radio who are tuning in now, just previous
to the sermon, or the interpretation that was delivered, the Lord Jesus had
healed the man who was by the pool of Bethesda and had been there for
thirty-eight years, gave him deliverance from his difficulties by telling him
rise, take up his bed and walk. And he immediately took up his bed and
walkedprovoking criticism from the Jewishleaders because the Lord Jesus
had not only healed the man, but he had done it on the Sabbath day. And one
was not supposed to carry anything like a bed on the Sabbath day. As an
outgrowth of that, the Lord Jesus made reference to the factthat God in
heaven was his own Father, and by so doing brought upon him further
condemnation as contending that he was equal with God. And so the Lord
Jesus goeson to explain the significance ofthe fact that he is the Sonof the
Father.
And further, he said, “Notonly should you be not surprised by this, but
actually greaterworks shallbe done. He will shew him (that is the Son)
greaterworks than these, that ye may marvel.” He goes onto speak aboutthe
fact that through the Son there comes the quickening powerof God. He is able
to make men alive and not only that, he is able to raise men from the dead in
bodily fashion.
W.T.P. Walston, a British Bible teacherwho has written a number of books
and now is with the Lord has a book of sermons that include one on John
chapter 5. And his title for this sectionis “EternalLife and How to Get it.”
Well, this is a goodchapteron that topic.
The argument is very simple in the sectionthat we are looking at. The Lord
Jesus gives a statement of the unity that he possesses withthe Fatherand of
the greaterworks that one may expect him to do. Then he gives, in verse 21
through verse 23, a generalexpressionof his authority. And then in the
remainder of the section, deals in some detail with the more specific meaning
of the generalidentification of his authority. So it is a passage thathas to do
primarily with the unity of the Son with the Father and the consequent
authority of the Son of God.

Now we’ve just read in verse 18, “Therefore the Jews soughtthe more to kill
him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was
his ownFather, making himself equal with God.”
Now, Jesus will point out that it is no blasphemy for him to say that God is his
own Father. In fact, it is no blasphemy for him to saythat he is equal with the
Father, though he does not specificallysaythat right here. What he is doing is
really giving a testimony to his own unity with the Father. And it is an
absolute unity, something that could only transpire in the life of an individual
who was equal with the Father. He speaks aboutthe factthat “He can do
nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing for whatever things he
does these also doeth the Son in the same manner.” That’s an expressionof
absolute unity. Later on he will sayfurther, “I and the Father are one. Not
simply one in will, but I and the Fatherare one in essence.”One thing literally
is what he says. So he’s talking about absolute unity only possible for those
who are truly possessedofthe same natures.
Now, this is a tremendous testimony on the part of our Lord and we do not
really understand this as well as we ought unless we realize that this is a very
vital testimony for the Lord as the Son of God. All of us sooneror later have
to give a testimony to our faith.
Now that may take place in your home with your parents, that may take place
in your business with your business friends, it may take place at the grocery
store;it may take place almost anywhere. But sooneror later those of us who
profess that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christare required to give a
testimony for our faith. And required to give a testimony at a point of time
where it really costs us something to do it. Some of the young people in this
audience, some of the children even, among your friends, you will have to give
a testimony for Jesus Christ.
We think of the greatexperiences ofthe saints down through the years and we
remember some of the outstanding testimonies that have been given by them.
One of the most outstanding of those who were not apostles is the testimony of
Martin Luther. After Luther had come to an understanding of the grace of
God and things were boiling within the establishedchurch of his day, it was

necessaryfor him finally to give his greattestimony which he did at the Dietat
Worms in Germany. He was required by the Diet to answertwo questions. His
books were on a table in front of the religious leaders and the first question
was, “Are these books yours?” And then the next question was, “Do you
renounce them?” But Luther had not expectedthat secondquestion. He had
thought that he had come to the Diet at Worms in order to give an explanation
of what he believed. But the question “Do you renounce them or recant,” was
one that he really didn’t feelthat he ought to answerat that first session. So he
said that after all he was just a simple Monk. That he would like a little time
to frame his answer.
Now in those days when you gave your answerand if it was not the right
answer, you frequently wound up on a fire or hanging from a scaffoldand so
one had to be a bit carefulin what he said. And Luther had not anticipated
that he would be asked, “Do you recant?” So he was given twenty-four hours.
And the next day he came in before the Diet, he was askedagainthe two
questions, “Are these books yours?” His lawyer who was with him as adviser
said, “You better not answeruntil you’ve examined all of the books onthe
table because they may have inserted one among the books whichwas an
hereticalbook and then you would lose your life because ofthat heretical book
that was on the table.” So he said, “Tellme what the books are.” And they
calledoff the name of the books and they had not inserted any hereticalbooks
among them. And so therefore he said, “Yes, they’re all mine.” And then he
was askedto recant or, “Do you renounce them?” And Luther gave his
famous answer. He said afterwards as he explained it, it was an answerwith
neither horns nor teeth. Apparently, he meant by that that it was not one that
would put them on the horns of a dilemma nor was it an attack on them in
reply. But in essencehe said, “Unless I am proved wrong on the basis of
Scripture and sound reasonfor popes and counsels have erred and might err
again.” He was bound fast by his consciousto the word of God and he could
not and he would not retract.
Now when you read about Luther’s appearance before the Diet at Worms –
someone has said a Diet of Worms, what a diet – but anyway, at the Diet of
Worms in Germany that Luther is supposedto have said, “I cando no other.
Here I stand. God help me. Amen.”

Now that is a famous statement. But unfortunately, the documentary evidence
that Luther saidthat is lacking and it’s likely that all that he said was, “May
God help me. Amen.” And he said that in German. But in essencewhathe
said was in that statement, “I can do no other. Here I stand. May God help
me. Amen.”
The great1546 addition of Luther’s works published immediately after his
death does not include the words. And therefore, they probably are not words
that he actually spoke. But he did utter, “MayGod help me.” And that is
exactly what he had done. He had given his testimony before the highest
religious tribunal of the day and had affirmed his faith in the things that he
had written in those books.
You know the Lord Jesus Christ gave his testimony before Pontius Pilate. But
this testimony here is part of the testimony that he gave. And sooneror later
you or I have to give our testimony too. The things that Jesus Christsaid
could only come from a God. It’s been often pointed out that when men say
the things that Jesus saidit sounds so strange, arrogantor blinded when we
say them. If you think of the greatphilosophers and saints and particularly
the greatreligious leaders who affirm that they cancorrectthings that the
Lord Jesus Christ said. It’s amazing when you think of the things that Jesus
said. Justthink of the things that Jesus said. He said, “Follow me.”
Now we might saythat if we’re playing a game. But who would say, “Follow
me”? Mostof us might say, “Don’tfollow me, but follow the Lord.” Or
perhaps we might say, “Don’t follow the things that I do, but follow the words
that I say.” But he said, “Follow me.” He said, “Be worthy of me.” He said, “I
am the light of the world.” He said, “Beholda greaterthan Solomonis here.”
Suppose I should saythat to you. [Laughter] That’s ridiculous, isn’t it? “A
greaterthan Solomonis here.” Suppose I should saythis. “You are from
beneath; I am from above.” That’s what our Lord said.
Now, there are people who do say that Jesus was a great teacher. But can he
be a greatteacherand say things like this? I like what Horace Bushnell said.
He said, “There are a lot of people who rejoice in their power to rectify the
mistakes and errors in the words of Jesus.”If you go to the theological

seminaries today and almostall of our theologicalseminaries acrossthe land
exceptfor a relatively few conservative theologicalseminaries, mostof them
correctthe words of our Lord. They follow principles in interpretation which
demand that they correctthe things that we have in Scripture as coming from
our Lord. And then many of them, of course, affirm that he was not God, but
only a goodor greatman, or sometimes a greatteacher. If that’s true, why
don’t they give us words like our Lord Jesus Christ? I always feel like
challenging them. “If you say that the words of our Lord are simply the words
of a man, you are a man, will you not give us some words like the words of
Jesus?”No one has ever been able to do that. And if they should ever make
the experiment, most of them realize it’s ridiculous to make the experiment.
But if you should ever experiment, then it would prove a thing to you that is of
significant truth. And that is that you’re a man and that Jesus Christ is God.
There is an old statement that C.S. Lewis made that puts it very tersely. Many
of you’ve heard it in this room, I know, but I’m going to repeatit again
because there perhaps are some who haven’t. Mr. Lewis is talking about
something along the same line of people who say Jesus was a greatteacher.
You’ll find that often. You’ll see it in the newspapers. “I’m trying to prevent
anyone from saying the really silly thing that people often sayabout him,” Mr.
Lewis says. “‘I’m ready to acceptJesus as a greatmoral teacher, but I don’t
accepthis claim to be God.’ That’s the one thing we mustn’t say,”’Lewis says.
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus saidwouldn’t
be a greatmoral teacher. He’d either be a lunatic – on the level with a man
who says he’s a poachedegg – or else he’d be the devil of hell.” J.B. Phillips
saying something of the same thing said, “He would be a man afflicted with
folie de grandeur.” “You must take your choice. Eitherthis man was, and is,
the Sonof God: or else a madman or something worse. You canshut him up
for a demon or you can fall at his feet and callhim Lord and God. But let
don’t let us come with any patronizing nonsense abouthis being a great
human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us.”
That’s right. We cannot callhim simply a teacher. Forhe may these fantastic
statements as a teacherthat demand that we must either decide he is the Son
of God, equal with the Father, or else a madman or something along that line.

Now, listen to what our Lord says.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he
seeththe Fatherdo: for whatever things he doeth, these also doeth the Son in
the same manner. For the Fatherloveth the Son, and shewethhim all things
that he himself doeth: and he will shew him greaterworks than these, that ye
may marvel.”
And then the 30th verse also is a verse on this unity. He says, “I can of mine
own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I
seek not mine ownwill, but the will of the Fatherwho hath sent me.” As the
mediator he has for a time submitted himself to the Fatherto perform the
things that the Fatherdesires for him to perform as the God-man.
But now he goes onto explain what he means by greaterworks. In verse 21
through verse 23 he turns to discuss his authority and he has the general
authority to give life, verse 21, and he has the generalauthority to judge, verse
22 and verse 23. Let’s look at verse 21 for just a moment. “Foras the Father
raiseth up the dead, and giveth them life; even so the Son giveth life to whom
he will.” It’s the prerogative of God to give life.
Remember the story of Naaman? Naamanwas a generalin the Syrian army, a
very goodman, a mighty man of Valla. Syria and Samaria were not getting
along too well. Naamanwas there, a mighty man of Valla, the text of Scripture
says he was a mighty man of Valla, but there was one greatserious problem
with Naaman. He was a leper. And so naturally the king was interestedin him
recovering because he had delivered Syria at an important battle. And in the
course of their struggles with Samaria, they had taken captive a little girl. And
this little girl was the maid of the wife of Naaman. And so one day she said,
“Would God that Naamanwould visit the prophet in Samaria because he
would recoverhim of his leprosy.” Well somehow the word came to the King
of Syria and he regardedNaaman, so how they wantedhim healed he
determined to send Naamanwith some gifts to the prophet in Samaria in
order that there he might be healed. So he sent ten talents of silver and six
thousand talents of something else and various other things and Naamanwent
with all of this booty down to the King of Samaria and there was a letter

written that saidthat he desiredthat Naamanshould be healed of leprosy.
Well evidently the king didn’t know anything about Elijah or else he didn’t
realize that Elijah could heal because the first thing he did was to interpret
this as a cause in order that Syria might have something againstSamaria and
come down and fight and take them. “So he tore his clothes in mourning and
said, ‘Am I God to slayor to make alive?’” You see, to make alive is a
prerogative of God. And yet, we read here, “The Father raiseththe dead,
giveth them life; even so the Son giveth life to whom he will.” He has the
prerogative of God.
Now furthermore, he has the generalauthority to judge all men. Listen. “For
the Fatherjudgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that
honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Fatherwho hath sent him.” This
quickening, this making alive, is within the orbit of judging.
Now this is a tremendous claim on the part of our Lord. He has been
committed with, he’s been given the right to execute all judgement. How can
you make too much of the Sonin the light of the statement“That all men
should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.” Do you know what
that means? That means that when we honor the Son, we give him the honor
that we give the Father. There are individuals who think of three levels. There
are men who are sinners and then there is the Lord Jesus Christ who’s a kind
of superman, he’s God’s plenipotentiary, but he’s not really God, and then
there is God. But there is no such.
About a year and a half or two years ago there was a minister of a well-known
denomination who was askedbecausehe had denied apparently the deity of
the Lord Jesus Christ, he was askedin officialsessionbefore the church court,
“Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God?” He said, “Jesus Christ is the Son of
God. God is God.” They askedhim to define his words. He refusedto define
them further. They went aheadand ordained him. Well, others who were
conservative and orthodox in their theologywere upset by that. You candeny
a lot of things in our churches and get by with it, unfortunately. But this was
the ultimate denial for a Christian church, Trinitarian church, destructive of
the whole confessionoffaith. And so he was againbrought before judicial

Jesus was history's most powerful voice

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