June 26
________________________________________
TWO RESURRECTIONS
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.– John 5:24-29
________________________________________
In this account, we hear Jesus continue to reveal what God has in store for those who hears His word and believes Him who has sent Him. He talks about two resurrections in this exposition to the Jewish leaders who have been constantly hounding him when He healed a man on a Sabbath day. He emphasizes the importance of believing the Father who has sent Him so mankind will have eternal life. In verse 25, He explains that even those who have physically died will come to life if they have believed in the Son of God, in other words, they will be resurrected just like Jesus is going to be resurrected. Jesus was speaking of things to come to these Jewish leaders who cannot comprehend any of these truths He was speaking about. Their unbelief hinders them from understanding truth. They were stuck in their obsession to persecute this man who claims that he is equal with God. Jesus further expounds at more revelations in verse 28-29 where he presents the two resurrections, one will be for those who did good deeds and another one for those who did evil. He talks here of consequences of believing and following Him and the aftermath of continued evil deeds. In other words, Jesus talks about hell and heaven here.
I do not know of any other religion who has a god who became human in order to save mankind from their sinful nature and won over death by coming back to life after he was crucified. In my quest for God, I tried many other religions in my youth and nothing can ever compare to what Jesus Christ offers. No other religion offers eternal life by believing that God came in human form to cleanse those who believe him from sin and re-unite with their creator.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• What happens when people deny the existence of hell?