John 5:24-30: a reflection

24“Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 25Most certainly I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. 27He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. 28Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. 30I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is righteous, because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.

Jesus makes a striking promise about the present standing of those who believe: Most certainly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Notice the tenses: the believer has eternal life now, not only in the future; and has already passed from death to life. The great transition is not merely something to come; for the one who believes, it has already happened.

Notice what Jesus says has already taken place for the believer: he has passed from death to life. This is not described as a future hope only, but as a present reality. The one who hears Christ's word and believes has, already, crossed over from death to life; he possesses eternal life now, and will not come into judgment. The decisive change has already occurred; the believer already stands on the far side of it, in life, not death.

That gives the believer a present assurance, not only a future hope. We often think of eternal life as something we will receive after death, and of our standing before God as uncertain until then. But Jesus says that the one who believes has eternal life now, and has already passed from death to life. If you have heard Christ's word and believed, you have already made that crossing; you possess eternal life now, and will not come into judgment. Live, then, as one who has already passed from death to life, in the present assurance of eternal life, rather than in fear and uncertainty. The decisive change has already happened for those who believe; rest in it, and live as one already alive in Christ.

Lord Jesus, you promised that whoever hears your word and believes has eternal life, does not come into judgment, but has already passed from death to life. Thank you for that present assurance. I often think of eternal life as something I will receive only after death, and of my standing before you as uncertain until then. But you say that the one who believes has eternal life now, and has already passed from death to life. If I have heard your word and believed, I have already made that crossing; I possess eternal life now, and will not come into judgment. Help me live, then, as one who has already passed from death to life, in the present assurance of eternal life, rather than in fear and uncertainty. The decisive change has already happened for those who believe; help me rest in it, and live as one already alive in you. Thank you that I have passed from death to life.