John 5:28 tells you that a day is coming when the dead will hear the voice of Jesus and rise from their graves. Jesus speaks these words in the Gospel of John, during a conversation with religious leaders in Jerusalem who were angry that he had healed a man on the Sabbath. He is answering their challenge about his authority and explaining that the Father has entrusted him with the work of giving life and judging the world.
Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice…
John 5:28 (WEB)
What John 5:28 Means
The phrase “Don’t marvel at this” tells the listener that the claim Jesus has just made should not be treated as shocking or impossible. He has said that he will judge and give life, and now he moves to something even larger. The word “hour” points to a set time that God has appointed, not a vague future hope. Jesus is saying that this event is as certain as the timing God has already fixed.
When the verse says “all that are in the tombs,” it means every person who has died, not only the righteous or the famous. The image of hearing his voice recalls the earlier line in the same passage that the dead will hear the Son of God and live. The verse does not give a timetable or describe what the risen body will be like. It promises that death will not have the final word over anyone.
The Context of John 5:28
John’s Gospel was written late in the first century, traditionally attributed to the apostle John, and it was written so that readers would believe Jesus is the Son of God and have life in his name. The audience is a mix of Jewish and Gentile readers, many of whom were familiar with the hope of resurrection found in the Hebrew Scriptures and in Jewish belief. The scene in chapter 5 takes place around a feast in Jerusalem, after Jesus heals a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
Just before verse 28, Jesus says the dead will hear and live, and that the Father has given him life in himself and authority to judge. Just after it, he says that those who have done good will rise to life and those who have done evil will rise to judgment. Read in that setting, verse 28 is the foundation for the claim that Jesus is both the source of resurrection and the judge who will sort every person at the end, so his authority is not a small matter.
Key Phrases in John 5:28
1 Corinthians 15:52
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
(WEB)
Paul describes the moment of change in a twinkling of an eye, when the dead will be raised imperishable. It fills in the picture of what happens when the voice of God calls the dead, showing that the resurrection is sudden, complete, and final.
Daniel 12:2
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
(WEB)
This Old Testament passage speaks of many who sleep in the dust awaking to everlasting life or shame. It shows that the hope Jesus describes was already rooted in the promises God gave long before the Gospel was written.
A Short Prayer From John 5:28
Lord Jesus, thank you that you are the one whose voice reaches even into the grave. When I think of the people I have lost, help me hold them in your hands and trust that death does not have the last word. Teach me to live today in a way that honors the coming day of resurrection, so that my choices reflect your love and your truth. Give me peace in the waiting, and let my hope rest in you alone. Amen.
