Jesus Summoned the Dead to Life

What Did Jesus Do?

“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.”
John 5.25

It may come as something of a shock to some of you, but the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is not intended for a lively audience. I know, most people these days want to attend a congregation that “rocks,” but the Gospel doesn't need to be broadcast to the those alive and on fire so much as it must be heard by those who are cold and dead. The truth is, everyone who has not heard the Gospel and responded to it is, there's no other way to put it, dead. Dead in sin.

And, if those who are dead in their sins don't get to hear the voice of the Son, well, they will remain dead from here thru eternity. But the hour has already struck when the preaching of the Gospel has gone forth, and as long as the Good News is proclaimed there is the chance that those who are dead will yet hear it. This is why the preaching of the Gospel is so important, so absolutely central to the mission of the Church in this age—the hour is now here for the dead to hear!

There are others who are dead today, not dead in their sins, but rather “asleep” in the grave, if you will. The saints who have finished their race and now enjoy their rest (see Revelation 14.13), will hear the voice of the Son one day, calling them to rise and live again and forever in the eternal kingdom of God. Those now in the grave, who have died without the atoning sacrifice of Christ being credited to them, will also hear the voice of the Son and rise, but rather than rising to life they will rise to judgment and eternal condemnation (John 5.29). Be assured, this hour is coming as certainly as the sunrise is coming tomorrow morning, and at that hour there will be a resurrection of all who are in the grave.

Here's the thing, if our congregations are merely convocations and celebrations of those who, having heard the Gospel, are now alive in Christ, and our proclamation of the Gospel never reaches the ears of those who now quite dead spiritually, we are failing to fulfill the Church's primary mission—to seek and save the lost.

I believe that there needs to be a far greater sense of urgency for the bearing of the Gospel out into the world, the world full of the dead who desperately need to hear the voice of the Son. If our worship services aren't commissioning and sending us out each week into the fields already white for the harvest, there will be fruit that will perish every day.

The hour has now come for the Body of Christ to go out and summon the dead to life. That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministrie.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4