“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.”
My Notes
What Does John 5:25 Mean?
John 5:25 is one of the most staggering claims Jesus ever made. "The hour is coming, and now is" — the future has invaded the present. What was expected only at the end of time is breaking through right now. Jesus collapses the timeline: the resurrection isn't just a distant event. It's happening in His presence.
"The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." On one level, this refers to spiritual death — people who are alive physically but dead to God, who will hear Jesus' voice and be awakened to real life. On another level, it anticipates the literal resurrection, which Jesus will demonstrate with Lazarus (John 11) and ultimately embody Himself.
The mechanism is voice. The dead don't act first — they hear first. Life comes through hearing the Son of God speak. This echoes Genesis, where God spoke and creation came into being. The same creative, life-giving word that called the universe into existence is now calling dead people to life. Jesus isn't merely teaching about resurrection. He's claiming to be the cause of it.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What part of your life feels most 'dead' right now — most beyond hope or revival?
- 2.Jesus says life comes through hearing His voice. What does it look like practically for you to 'hear' Him in this season?
- 3.The dead can't save themselves — they can only respond to the voice. How does that challenge your instinct to fix yourself?
- 4.Do you live more in the 'already' or the 'not yet' of your faith? What would it look like to hold both?
Devotional
"The hour is coming, and now is." That tension — the already and not yet — is where faith lives. The full resurrection is future. But the voice that causes it is present. Right now. Speaking into whatever deadness you're carrying.
The dead don't reach for life. They can't. They're dead. What Jesus describes here is a one-directional rescue: His voice reaches into death, and those who hear it live. You don't have to generate spiritual vitality on your own. You don't have to muster enough faith to climb out of the grave. The voice does the work.
If there's a part of your life that feels dead — a dream, a relationship, a sense of purpose, your own faith — this verse says it's not beyond the reach of Christ's voice. He speaks to dead things. That's literally what He does. And when He speaks, they don't stay dead.
The qualifier is important: "they that hear shall live." Hearing here isn't passive — it's responsive. It means receiving the word, letting it in, not blocking it out. The dead can't generate life, but they can be open to the voice. That's the posture Jesus is looking for. Not strength. Not performance. Just openness to the word that raises the dead.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Verily, verily, I say unto you,.... With the same asseveration as before, and for the further illustration and…
The hour - The time. Is coming - Under the preaching of the gospel, as well as in the resurrection of the dead. Now is -…
The dead shall hear the voice - Three kinds of death are mentioned in the Scriptures: natural, spiritual, and…
We have here Christ's discourse upon occasion of his being accused as a sabbath-breaker, and it seems to be his…
Repetition of Joh 5:5 in a more definite form, with a cheering addition: Joh 5:5 says that whoever hears and believes…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture