[24] Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
[25] Verily, verily, I say unto 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.
[26] For as the Father hath life in Himself; so Hath he given to the Son to have life in Himself.
[27] And hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.
[28] Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice,
[29] And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Today, we discover the second of three claims Jesus makes in this early part of His earthly ministry. 

Second Claim: He said he had the power to bring the dead back to life (vv. 24–29).

Jesus said "verily, verily" again before His words (see John 5:19, 24–25). You will find Jesus using this serious way of speaking more than twenty times in John's gospel. It was as if He was saying, "Listen to this! . . . What I'm going to say is very important!"

In this interesting paragraph, Jesus talked about four different resurrections. He described the resurrection of lost sinners to eternal life (see John 5:24–25; Eph. 2:1–10). The sinner who is lost is as dead and helpless. No matter how an undertaker gets a body ready, it is still dead, and no corpse is "deader" than any other corpse. If you're dead, you're dead! The sinner who is lost can't save himself, and he definitely can't give himself life.

How do people who are spiritually dead come back to life? By listening to God's Word and putting your faith in His Son. Jesus healed the man who couldn't move at the pool with His Word (John 5:8). He spoke God's Word every time He brought someone back to life (Luke 7:11–17; 8:49–56; John 11:41–44). His Word is "living and powerful" (Heb. 4:12) and can bring sinners back to life. "Everlasting life" means they can never die spiritually again or be condemned (Rom. 8:1). To hear and believe His Word leads to salvation; to reject it leads to condemnation (John 12:48).

The second resurrection is the one that happened to our Lord (John 5:26). Our life comes from something else, but His life is "in Himself." John 1:4 says, "In Him was life." He is "the Prince of life" (Acts 2:24; 3:15), so the grave could not hold Him. Jesus gave up His life and then took it back (John 10:17–18). He can give life to everyone who trusts Him because He has life in Himself.

The third resurrection is the future resurrection of life, when people who believe in Jesus are brought back to life (John 5:28–29a). 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 and 1 Corinthians 15 explain this miraculous truth. Remember that resurrection is not the same as reconstructing. It doesn't mean that God "puts the pieces back together again." The resurrection body is a new, glorified body that is perfect for the new heavenly environment. For the believer, death is not the end, and he will not live in heaven as a spirit without a glorified body. God saves the whole person, body and all (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:20–21). When Jesus Christ comes back in the air and calls His people will experience this resurrection of life.

The fourth resurrection He talked about is the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:29b). This resurrection is only for the lost, and it will happen right before Jesus Christ brings in the new heaven and the new earth (Rev. 20:11–15). What an amazing thing it will be when the dead, "small and great," stand in front of Jesus Christ! The Father has given the Son the power to judge (John 5:22) and has given Him the power to carry out that judgment (John 5:27). Today, Jesus Christ is the Savior, but one day He will be the Judge.

The title “Son of man” used in John 5:27 refers to Daniel 7:13–14 and is a definite messianic title. It appears twelve times in John's gospel and more than eighty times in all four gospels. The Jews knew this title from Daniel, and they knew Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah and Judge.

Believers will receive resurrection bodies to reign with Christ in glory. Unbelievers will be given resurrection bodies—but not glorified bodies—that they might be judged and then suffer eternal punishment in those bodies. Bodies that were used for sin will suffer the consequences.

The fact that Jesus has the authority to raise the dead is proof that He is equal with the Father, and therefore He is God.

[19] Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
[20] For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth: and He will shew Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
[21] For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.
[22] For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
[23] That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him.

This historical beginning in Jesus' public ministry has a third and final part that I will call Jesus' claims. There are three claims Jesus makes.

First Claim: He said he was equal to God (vv. 19–23).

Jesus didn't deny their accusation; instead, he agreed with it! If a man said something like this in the present day, we would think he was joking or crazy. There is no doubt that Jesus was not crazy, and there is no doubt that He meant what He said when He said it. He is either who He says He is, or He is lying. If He is lying, how do you explain all the good He has done for people in need? People don't want to trust liars. Jesus' followers were ready to die for Him.

Jesus said that His works were the same as His Father's. If it was wrong to heal a man on the Sabbath, then the Father was at fault. Jesus didn't do anything "of himself"; He only did what the Father was doing. The Father
and the Son worked together, doing the same deeds in the same way. "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).

When our Lord arrived on earth as a man, He did everything the Father asked of Him. "Behold, I come to do your will, O God" (Heb. 10:9). He hid His glory and stopped using His divine powers on His own. Satan tried to convince Him to use His divine powers for Himself in the wilderness, but He wouldn't do it. He relied entirely on the Father and the Holy Spirit of God.

The Father not only showed the Son His works and let Him do them, but He also shared His love with Him (John 5:20). The first three Gospels start with the Father calling Jesus "My beloved Son." John 3:35 says the same thing. We often think of John 3:16, which talks about how much the Father loves the lost world, but we should also contemplate how much the Father loves His Son.

The Father shows the Son His works because He loves Him. The religious leaders who were blind could not see what Jesus was doing because they did not know the Father or the Son. The Father had even bigger plans for them, plans that would make them wonder. He may have been thinking of Lazarus' healing because He talked about raising the dead in John 5:21.

The Jewish leaders thought it was blasphemous for Jesus to say He could raise the dead; they thought only God could do that. They said that Jehovah had the three great keys: the key to open the heavens and provide rain (Deut. 28:12), the key to open the womb and give conception (Gen. 30:22), and the key to open the grave and raise the dead (Ezek. 37:13). The gospel accounts indicate that Jesus had not yet resurrected anyone; thus, making such a claim would provoke additional opposition.

John 5:21 can mean a lot more than just bringing people back to life physically. Jesus was definitely talking about giving spiritual life to people who were spiritually dead. He elaborated on this truth as documented in John 5:24–29.

Jesus said that He was equal to the Father in His works and in judging (John 5:22). To the Orthodox Jew, Jehovah God was "the Judge of all the earth" (Gen. 18:25), and no one would ever call himself that. But Jesus did! He said He was the Judge, which meant He was God. “Because He [God] hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained” (Acts 17:31).

Our Lord asserted equality in another domain, specifically, equal honor with the Father (John 5:23). People should respect Him because He is the Judge. What a significant assertion: if one does not honor the Father, one does not honor the Son! People who say they worship God but don't believe in the deity of Christ don't have either the Father or the Son. We cannot know, worship, or serve the Father without Jesus Christ.