John 5:25-29 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
John Piper, in a sermon “The Life-Giving Voice of the Son of God”
The main point here is that Jesus raises all the dead. Let that sink in. All the dead who have ever lived will be raised from the dead by Jesus. Millions of Chinese and Nigerians and Indonesians and Germans. He will raise Julius Caesar from the dead, and Judas Iscariot, and Isaiah the prophet, and Michelangelo, and Johann Sebastian Bach, and Adolf Hitler, and Marilyn Monroe, and Kurt Cobain, and Princess Diana, and Michael Jackson, and Ted Kennedy. He will raise them, and they will stand before him. And you too.
John 5:25: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” When I first read this, I thought the only dead being spoken of were believers. But when you bring in verses 28–29, the picture changes. Jesus refers back to what he just said in verse 25:“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”
So who will be raised by Jesus? Verse 28: “All who are in the tombs.” And who does that include? Verse 29: Those who are raised to life and those who are raised to judgment. Believers and unbelievers. This is what Daniel 12:2 taught: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” And this is what Paul said to Felix when he was on trial in Acts 24:15: “There will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.”
Jesus Will Raise Michael Jackson and Ted Kennedy
All these people and millions more—all people, without exception, will be raised from the dead by Jesus. Jesus is universally superior to all these people. He is universally sovereign over all these people. He holds them in being and will give existence to their decomposed bodies so that there is a continuity between the body that was and the body that will be raised. He lets no one go out of existence—there is no such loss for the righteous, and no such hope for the wicked. Jesus raises them all.
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 