The Two Resurrections

(John 5:25-30)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Last week,
We saw just how closely the Father and Son were working together:
The Son did nothing but what He saw His Father doing
The Father continually revealed His plan to His Son,
And His Son continually carried it out.
We see just how important this is when we consider what it was they were doing:
Working out Gods plan of redemption
Doing what was necessary to save us from judgment.
The Father and the Son were both intimately involved
In bringing us to glory
The Spirit is as well, in applying that salvation.
The Father gave His Son to pay for our salvation,
The Son paid the price for our salvation,
And the Spirit is what they purchased for our salvation.

We also saw that the Father planned what He did

So that the Son would receive the honor.
Jesus would have the privilege of purchasing spiritual life,
Giving spiritual life to whom He wills,
And of raising the dead on the last day,

That He might judge them.

The Father wanted everyone to honor His Son

Even as they honor Him.
He wanted to glorify His Son
Because of His love and delight in Him.
And the Son, in turn, wanted to honor and glory His Father
Because of His love and delight in Him.

B. Preview.
Jesus now goes on to explain a bit more
What this authority is the Father has given Him.
Thats what were going to consider this morning
In what Jesus refers to as two resurrections.
1. First, well consider the spiritual resurrection Jesus said had already begun and
would continue into the future,
2. And second, the physical resurrection Jesus said would yet take place in the
future.

II. Sermon.
A. Lets consider first, the spiritual resurrection that had already begun and would
continue into the future.
Jesus says, 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. For just as
the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in
Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son
of Man (John 5:25-27).
The resurrection Jesus speaks of here was still coming,

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And yet it already was
It was taking place at that time
A resurrection in which the dead
The spiritually dead, not physical
Because of the verses that follow
Would hear His voice
Outwardly, in the preaching of the Gospel,
And inwardly, by His Holy Spirit
And that those who heard
By Gods grace
Would live
Would be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life
From hating God to loving Him.

Just as the Father has life in Himself

To confer spiritual life on whom He wills
So He gave the Son to have life in Himself
To have authority to give this life
To give the Spirit
To whomever He wills.

The Father also gave Him authority to execute judgment

Not only in the world then,
As He ministered on earth;

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Not only from heaven,
As He is now the king over this world;
But also in the future
When He will judge all men at the final judgment
Because He is the Son of Man:
Because this is how the Father desired to honor His Son
For His work of redemption
As we saw last week.

The first resurrection was taking place then

During His earthly ministry
As He was preaching the Gospel,
But its also happening now
An hour is coming
Jesus continues to speak today with a voice that raises the dead
Outwardly, through the Gospel,
And inwardly, by His Holy Spirit.

Have you heard His voice?

Has He opened your ears?
Has He changed your heart?
If He has, bless God for His mercy.

If He hasnt
If youve still not trusted Him,

If youre still not following Him

Then pray that He would give you ears to hear,
Pray that He would give you a heart of flesh,
So that you will trust Him, follow Him, and be safe.

B. The first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection,

From the spiritually dead condition
In which we come into this world
To a new and better condition
That gives us the power to trust in Jesus.

But Jesus says there is also a second, a physical resurrection,

That is yet to take place.
He says, Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the
tombs will hear His voice, 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. I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My
judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who
sent Me (vv. 28-30).
Jesus says an hour is coming when He will speak
And all who are in the tombs will hear His voice
And come forth.

Come forth to what? Judgment:

Those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life,
And those who did evil to a resurrection of judgment.

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On that day, Jesus will be the Judge
As weve seen
This is the honor the Father has given Him.
And His judgment will be just.
Tonight, well look at that judgment.

Lets pause for a moment to consider

That what Jesus says here goes against
What is commonly taught in the church today.

Most evangelicals believe in at least three resurrections.

The resurrection of dead believers at the rapture
Just before the Tribulation.
The resurrection of dead believers and believing Jews
After the Tribulation, just before the Millennium.
And the resurrection of all the unbelievers who have ever lived
Following the Millennium.
Theres some question about whether there will be
Another resurrection for the believers
Who are killed during the final conflict with Satan
If any of them die, they must be raised as well.

Why do they believe this?

The answer is somewhat complicated.
Its because they go first to Revelation 20

And then interpret the rest

Of what the Bible says on the subject
Through what they see there.

What do they see in Revelation 20?

They see a binding of Satan following a time of Tribulation,
A resurrection of the saints,
A thousand year reign of Christ with His saints,
A releasing of Satan for the final battle,
A coming of Christ in judgment,
A resurrection of the dead,
Then a final judgment of the dead.
If this is a straightforward, literal account of events,
You have at least two resurrections
With a thousand years between them.
Is this what John is saying?

The problem is that Revelation 20 is prophecy,

Given in highly symbolic visionary language.
Its not meant to be taken literally
Or understood in a straightforward way.
Dont misunderstand:
It is speaking about something literal
Something that would take place in the future

From Johns perspective

But the language itself is not to be taken literally.

For example:
John wasnt meaning to say
That a seven-headed beast
Would literally rise from the ocean, with ten horns,
Wearing ten crowns (Rev. 13:1),
Anymore than Pharaohs dream meant
That seven fat cows would come up out of the Nile
Only to be eaten by seven gaunt cows (Gen. 41:1-4).
Pharaohs dream was referring to literal events
There would be seven years of plenty
Followed by seven years of famine
But the cows were only symbols,
Just as the seven-headed beast is a symbol.
We have to be careful how we understand visionary language.

When the Lord rebuked Aaron and Miriam

For their rebellion against Moses,
He actually gave us the key to understand prophecy:
He said, Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD,
shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.
Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; with him I
speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the

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form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant,
against Moses? (Num. 12:6-8).
Sometimes the Lord speaks to His prophets in dark and obscure language,
And sometimes mouth to mouth, or clearly.
Revelation 20, as Ive said, is highly symbolic visionary language:
We are not to understand it literally.

My point is, we shouldnt go there first

To try and understand what the Lord is going to do.
We should go instead to the straightforward,
Clear teaching of the New Testament in the epistles.
We need to let Scripture interpret Scripture,
But let clearer Scripture interpret what is less clear.

What does Jesus teach in our passage?

He teaches that there are two resurrections
But that the first is spiritual,
And the second is physical.
He also teaches that there is only one physical resurrection
Not three or four:
An hour is coming
An event that takes place at one time
When all who are in the tombs
Not some, but all
Will come forth

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And all will be judged

Not the righteous only,
But the righteous and the wicked
At the same time.

This must be the only physical resurrection,

Because it includes everyone who has died
All who are in the tombs.

It must be the only one

Because all the living will be raptured at the same time,
And there will be no one left to die.

It must be the only one

Because everyone is raised and gathered to final judgment
The righteous to a resurrection of life,
And the wicked to a resurrection of judgment.

And it must be the only physical resurrection

Because the Bible speaks of only one such resurrection.
Everywhere the resurrection is spoken of in Scripture
Its called the resurrection.

When the Sadducees tried to trap Jesus

By attempting to reduce His teaching about the resurrection to absurdity

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With their question about the woman married to the seven brothers,
They asked, In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be?
For they all had married her (Matt. 22:28).

When Jesus comforted Martha regarding the death of her brother Lazarus,
He said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha said to Him, I know that he
will rise again in the resurrection on the last day (John 11:23-24).

Paul told the Philippians that his one goal in life

Was to leave what he had done as a Pharisee behind,
And to press forward to Christ,
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the
resurrection from the dead (Phil. 3:10-11).

Paul even rebuked two men for upsetting the faith of some believers
Because they claimed the resurrection had already taken place.
But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and
their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has
already taken place, and they upset the faith of some (2 Tim. 2:16-18).

Which resurrection were they referring to?

For believers when Jesus returns for them?
For the tribulation saints and believing Jews when He sets up the Millennium?
For the righteous or the wicked at the end of the Millennium?
If there were three physical resurrections,
They would have had to distinguish which one they were referring to.
But they didnt, because there is only one.

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What difference does it make, really, what you believe regarding the resurrection?
On one level, it doesnt make any difference.
Things are going to happen as the Lord planned,
Regardless of what you believe.
Every true believer is wrong about some things.
You dont have to believe this to be a Christian.

On another level, it does matter.

You dont want to believe, or tell others,
That there are three or four resurrections, if theres really only one,
Otherwise, youre going to confuse the church
Like Hymenaeus and Philetus,
And perhaps upset their faith.

On still another level,

Confusion in this area could really hurt someone.
Those who believe in three or four resurrections
Also believe that if you miss the first
When Jesus comes for His church
Since they believe the rapture is connected to it
Even though you will have to endure the Tribulation
You can still catch the second
When Jesus comes to raise and gather the Tribulation saints.

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By saying this, theyre going to cause some
To bank on the fact that theyre going to have a second chance.

What if there is only one coming of Jesus and one resurrection?

If youre not ready when Jesus returns, it will be too late.
You wont get a second chance.
Jesus says, An hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His
voice, 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
5:28).
You need to be ready before He comes,
Or you will be lost forever.

Does it matter what you believe regarding the resurrection?

Yes, especially if you havent trusted Jesus.
Do you want to be ready
When it comes time for you to die?
Do you want to be ready
To meet the Lord, if He should come in your lifetime?
Do you want to know that youre not going to end up in the lake of fire
What is called the second death in Revelation 20?
Then you need to listen to Jesus now
As He offers you spiritual life in the Gospel.
Jesus says, 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 (John 5:25).

Do you hear Jesus speaking this morning?

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If you do, then trust Him, turn from your sins, and He will save you.
John writes in Revelation 20:6, Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the
first resurrection [i.e., the spiritual resurrection, the new birth]; over these the
second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and
will reign with Him for a thousand years.
If youre a part of the first resurrection
Through faith in Jesus Christ
If youre safe in Him
You will never have to fear the second death
Hell, the lake of fire
You will be a priest of God and of Christ
One who continually offers to Him
The sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
Not only here on earth,
But also in heaven,
When you join in His reign
That He is now enjoying in heaven
Seated at the right hand of God
Now, during the time Satan is bound
Which began when Jesus came the first time
And began to plunder his house
And will close when Satan is freed to gather the world together
Against the church for the final battle.

If you want to be part of this first resurrection,

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Then listen to Jesus as He speaks to you this morning.

Turn from your sins,
And trust Him to save you.

If you have heard Him,

If you have trusted Him,
If you have repented and are following Him,
Then remember to give Him all the glory
Its only because of Him
That you are safe. Amen.
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