LIFE OR DEATH AS JESUS REVEALED THEM IN THE 2 RESURRECTIONS- JOHN5:28,29

By Edward O'Hara

It’s hard to put into words just how much God loves us. The Holy Spirit tells us through the apostle John that the greatest love is when a man lays down his life for his friend. Citing Jesus’ example when He gave His life willingly for every man. As Dan.9:26 tells us He would.

And when He did this He knew He had to because it was the only way He could conquer death. Even though the thought of what He would suffer was so excruciating that He sought the Father asking if there was any other way to do what must be done to save mankind apart from His having to suffer and die.

But, knowing the Father’s will Jesus submitted to Him for the sake of mankind. God is so willing that everyone who has ever lived will not perish, but would be saved, that He came as a man to join with mankind in our mortality. So that through faith in Him and His resurrection man could join with Jesus in His immortality.

Mortality has a body. A natural one. It is one that is the same as Adam’s was when he was made a living soul. Immortality also has a body. A spiritual one. One that the apostle Paul says after the mortal body goes back to the dust will be raised up as different from the natural body as a seed is from the plant that grows from it when the seed is planted in the ground.

We read of this new body in 1Cor.15:36-ff where Paul teaches us that our resurrected body is “a body as it hath pleased Him(God), and to every seed his own body.” And one that “42 is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption”. And for the believer “43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power”. And for all men Paul says, “44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

And Peter tells us in 2Peter3:9 that because of His great love for mankind God’s will is that none should perish. But, rather that all should come to repentance. And because this is God’s will did you know that He has made provision for every man ahead of time by making a body for everyone who has ever lived? It’s true. And it’s also true that there are 2 very different types of resurrection. Based on whether one has trusted in Jesus or not.

We read about these 2 resurrections in John5:25-29. Here Jesus is explaining to Israel these differences saying, “25 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.

26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

In that last verse we see Jesus making a declaration about resurrection that shows first of all that there are 2 different resurrections. And second He shows His great desire for all men. But, how is resurrection unto damnation an example of God’s will that all men would be saved, you ask?

The answer is found in John14 where we read about what Jesus said He is doing in preparation for that day. He said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”

What do you think this “place” is that Jesus is talking about here? Many have been led to believe it’s some edifice we will be able to walk in and out of in heaven. But, what it really is is the new body that Jesus said in John5 He has gone to prepare for all men to receive in the resurrection.

An immortal body that Paul explains in 2Cor.5 saying, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”

So this new body will house the believer’s spirit. And will be immune to the effects of death our mortal bodies were subject to. Because of the spirit in us that will give it this kind of life.

However, this new body is not just for believers. We know this because as I showed before Jesus said in John5 there is a resurrection unto life, and a resurrection unto damnation. Both requiring a body.

In one the resurrected body houses a spirit that gives it the life it needs to live in God’s kingdom. Spiritual life that believers all received when they first trusted in Jesus. And that gives life that is impervious to any affects of death the old bodies knew.

This life is the spiritual life that Jesus spoke of in John6:63 saying, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

A spirit that Adam and everyone that lived after him until Jesus came never had. But, have now received if they died in faith before Jesus rose from the grave.

Because like all who have not yet been born again today, all those were not spiritual, but natural. Just as Paul taught in 1Cor.15:45-48. So these who lived before Christ’s ascension were to receive a spirit when Jesus rose from the grave.

And in the latter having never trusted in Jesus to receive a spirit, their new body will have no spirit in it to give it the spiritual life the new body needs to be free from the effects of death, or to live in heaven. Because they never trusted in Jesus while they were alive here on earth. But, rejected Him and chose a false god instead. And the thing about judgment is it is predicated on God’s most wonderful gift of free will He gave to all men. So the final judgment is that we go with the god or God we choose.

This is the beauty of the love of God. It requires free will so that just as God in His great love for men has freely chosen to give His life for all men. So too must men freely choose the god or God they will spend eternity with. This is what Jesus was saying when speaking of some men’s desire for mammon He said, “No man can serve 2 masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.”

And they won’t be able to blame God for their predicament. Because in His great love He has done all that was needed to assure all men of eternal life and immortality. Even going ahead to make new bodies for every man. But, He has left it to us whether we will choose to trust in Him. Or to trust in another.

And because all false gods will be in the lake of fire. So too will those be who join themselves to them by trusting in them. This is why Paul continues in 2Cor.5:5-15 saying,

“Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him… 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

When Paul says “if one died for all, then were all dead.” He is speaking of man’s mortality. A mortality that was unknown to the “natural man”, “living soul” Adam, until after he ate the fruit and was sent from the garden. But, since then has been made known to all men.

To be separated from the tree of life that had kept his mortality at bay, but not separated from God. This is why Paul says “death passed to all men” in Rom.5:12. Not because all men were made sinners as is taught in false gnostic doctrine of original sin. But, because like Adam, all men were no longer able to eat from the tree of life.

Because until that time he was eating from all the trees in the garden including the tree of life. Which kept death at bay so to speak. Until such time as he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Known only to God at that time was the fact that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would be the preparation he needed to move forward to the next step in God’s plan for him. A plan that in 1Peter1:20 we see was for all of mankind.

A step that takes us back to the question that will ultimately decide man’s eternal home. What will you have? Will you remain one of those who will receive the new body, only to take part in the resurrection unto damnation? By rejecting God’s gift of eternal life through a spirit birthed in you and immortality in God’s kingdom through faith in Jesus?

Or will you join with us who have believed in Jesus and His resurrection? To have the spirit birthed in you housed with the new body, God’s temple made without hands, that Jesus said He has gone to prepare for us to be clothed with in the resurrection unto life? By confessing the Lord Jesus. And believing He has conquered death by His resurrection.

I pray you will come to a saving faith in Jesus to take part in His life everlasting. The eternal life where love, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit reign. In a place where pain and death does not exist. Where the love of God shines so there is no more need for the sun.

Join with us in this wonderful life that comes only from a saving faith in Jesus. The real reason for this season we celebrate called Christmas. The one who joined with man in our mortality. So that by conquering death in the resurrection we can join with Him in eternal life and immortality.

Do this and you will have eternal life now. Do this and you will have immortality in the resurrection unto life. Do this and as God’s child you will inherit His kingdom of love, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. Do this and… I will see you there or in the air!

This message can also be heard at: https://rumble.com/v41nao0-life-or-death-as-jesus-revealed-them-in-the-2-resurrections-john52829.html