John 5:25-27 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
The time we are living in, ever since the first coming of Jesus, has been the time of Jesus’ reign as King. All things were given into His hands, as Jesus said recorded in Luke 10:22. “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” He told His disciples in Matthew 28:18 that He has authority over heaven and earth. In Luke 10:18, upon the return of His disciples from a ministry adventure, Jesus said, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” In this verse, He made the stunning declaration that He has authority to execute judgment and that the time had come for the dead to be given life by the Father through the Son. We are children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Lord of life and the Lord of love.
We will see in the next two verses the resurrection of life is juxtaposed with the resurrection of judgment, so I take Jesus’ being given authority to execute judgment to mean He has the authority to determine who will be resurrected to life because He has been given the authority to give eternal life by the Father. Jesus said that He has that authority because He is the Son of Man. It is His favorite title for Himself as it signifies His humanity, humility, divinity, and fulfillment of prophecy.
We who live to love with Jesus are encouraged today, by this verse, because living to love with Jesus is the fruit of eternal life. Because we see His love flowing through us, we know we have life. We should be able to remember when we were dead in our sins, and we heard the voice of the Son of God, as the gospel was either presented to us, or read in the Bible. We were given repentance and faith as His life came to dwell in us. The Word of God came alive, our heart desires changed, and we became aware of Jesus’ presence and power. His love was poured out within our hearts by the Holy Spirit as described in Romans 5:5.
His love operates in our hearts today and will be manifested to the people God puts in our paths. I encourage you. You have the life of Jesus in you. You are no longer dead, but alive in Christ. Enjoy living to love with Jesus.
I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of "giving it forward," so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.
