“In very truth I tell you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live.”

‘The hour is coming.' That was the expectancy of the Pharisees, that an hour was coming when men would be raised from the dead for either life or judgment. But Jesus tells them that that hour has now come. Because He is there men can hear His voice and receive eternal life immediately, because He is the Son of God.

‘And now is'. The claim is momentous and epoch-making. The hour has now come for men to hear the voice of the Son of God and receive life, and it is here now. It is true that they are spiritually dead, but they can come alive by responding to Him and receiving life from Him (as the woman of Samaria and her fellow Samaritans had already done). It does not await Pentecost. It does not await the resurrection. He is speaking now, and they can respond now. He who ‘has the Son has life' (1 John 5:12). So if they do respond they will receive life now and the guarantee of resurrection at the last day. ‘Spiritual resurrection' is now a present possibility for those who respond to His words. This is the ‘first resurrection' which results in our sharing the throne with Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:6; Revelation 20:4). From this point on the title ‘the Son of God' takes on new meaning (compare on John 1:34; John 1:49). He is God, the Son.

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