When will the dead hear the voice of the Son of God (John 5:25)?

In John 5:25, Jesus says, “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.” Here, there is an inherent tension between the “already but not yet” aspect of eternal life. In other words, eternal life begins the moment sinners place their trust in the finished work of Christ (1 John 5:11–12), but it will be fully realized when believers are raised unto eternal life (John 5:29).

The theme of John 5:19–29 is the authority of the Son. In verse 19, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (ESV). This does not mean the Son is inferior to the Father (John 5:18). Rather, it means the Son willingly submits himself to the Father’s will as Jesus explains: “This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:29). The reason the Son will lose none of his sheep is because they will hear his voice, follow him, and receive eternal life (John 10:27–28; cf. John 5:25).

It is within this context that Jesus says, “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, ESV; cf. John 4:23). This simple yet profound verse captures the essence of Christian hope. This means eternal life is both a present and future reality. In the present age, believers experience the blessing of knowing God (John 17:3) and basking in his presence (John 15:4). In the future age, however, believers will see God “face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12) and have “fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11).

In John 5:25, the word “dead” can be interpreted in two ways: physically and spiritually. The physically dead are those who have passed away (Genesis 3:19), but the spiritually dead are those who are separated from God because of sin (Ephesians 2:1–3). In John’s Gospel, the apostle frequently mentions spiritual death. For instance, in John 3:3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. The implication is that Nicodemus is spiritually dead and must receive new life to see and enter the kingdom of God. If Nicodemus, “the teacher of Israel” (John 3:10), must be born again, how much greater is our need?

To receive eternal life, then, we must hear and respond positively to “the voice of the Son of God” (John 5:25). This is because his authoritative words have life-giving power: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63). Since Jesus is the Son of God, he has authority to grant eternal life to those who are spiritually dead, reconciling them to the Father “through his Son’s blood on the cross” (Colossians 1:20).