21He will even raise from the dead anyone he wants to, just as the Father does.22And the Father leaves all judgment to his Son,23so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. But if you refuse to honor the Son, then you are certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.24"I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.25"And I assure you that the time is coming, in fact it is here, when the dead will hear my voice -- the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live.26The Father has life in himself, and he has granted his Son to have life in himself.27And he has given him authority to judge all mankind because he is the Son of Man.28Don't be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God's Son,29and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to judgment.30But I do nothing without consulting the Father. I judge as I am told. And my judgment is absolutely just, because it is according to the will of God who sent me; it is not merely my own.
(commentary by Marion Adams from www.easyenglishinfo/bible-commentary)
Verses 21-22 Most *Jews believed that, in the future, God would make dead people become alive. Then he would punish those who had done bad things. And he would reward those people who had obeyed his laws.
But verse 21 has another meaning. It could refer also to people who are *spiritually dead. Because after a person accepts Jesus as their *Saviour and their *Lord, they become *spiritually alive. Jesus gives *eternal life to them.
God has made Jesus the judge of every person who has ever lived on the earth.
Verse 23 Everyone has a choice. We can choose to believe that Jesus is God’s Son, our *Saviour and our *Lord. Or we can *reject him. But if we *reject him, then we *reject God also. We do not respect God if we *reject his Son.
Verse 24 We receive *eternal life when we decide to *believe in Jesus as our *Saviour and our *Lord. This new *life begins at that moment (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our physical bodies will die. But when Jesus returns to the earth, our bodies will live again. But we will not have the same kind of bodies. We will live with Jesus always (1 Corinthians chapter 15). So we ‘have already passed out of death and into *life’.
Verse 25 In this verse, Jesus was referring to people who were *spiritually dead. People who *believed in him received *eternal life. But he was also referring to people who were physically dead. When he was on the earth, Jesus made several dead people become alive again. He will come to the earth a second time. Then, all *Christians who have died will become alive again (1Thessalonians 4:16).
Verses 26-27 God had given the authority to Jesus to *judge all people. This was because Jesus was the ‘Son of Man’ (see also John 1:51). In the book of Daniel, there is a description of ‘someone like a son of man’ (Daniel 7:13-14). This person has authority over the entire world. A ‘son of man’ also meant a human person. Jesus was one of us, a human person, but he was also God. So he has the right to *judge us.
Verses 28-29 When Jesus returns to the earth, all dead people will become alive again, both *Christians and non-*Christians. (Non-Christians are people who are not real *Christians.) Death is not the end for non-*Christians. All those who have chosen to *reject Jesus during their lives will not live with him always. They will spend all the future apart from him. They chose this when they refused to *believe in him.
Verse 30 God is completely *holy and perfect. He knows everything about everyone. He knows everyone’s personal situation. We can hide nothing from him. And he loves everyone. When God *judges people, he will be completely fair. We can be confident about that. So Jesus’ judgement will be completely fair, because he has the same mind and the same heart as his *Father.
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