In John 5 verses 25 and 26, Jesus begins to describe something happening at that very moment that will also happen at a time yet to come. He’s talking about dead people coming to life. And He starts by saying the Hebrew word, “amen,” twice. This is sometimes translated as, “verily, verily” or “truly, truly,” or “most assuredly.” The Lord uses this introduction method 25 different times in John’s Gospel when He wants to underscore what follows. It’s as though He’s saying, “There’s nothing more true than this.” In other words, He wants us to pay VERY close attention to what He’s about to say.
Now, we’ll wait until we get to verse 28 to look at its implications for what He describes as, “the hour that is coming.” But for now, I’d like to focus on the impact of this regarding what he calls the hour that, “now is.”
He tells us that right now the dead who hear His voice will live. And yes, every time the Gospels tell us about Jesus raising a physically dead person to life, He’s described as speaking to them first or CALLING them back to life. But I think it’s clear from the context of this passage, that He was referring to those who are spiritually dead being made spiritually alive. And this is possible, He says, because He has, “life in Himself.”
And that’s the point.
None of us can engineer our own spiritual resuscitation. Only He’s qualified for that job. And that’s because He defeated death on the cross and then rose again for us.
Still, many of us try to administer spiritual CPR to ourselves.
Now behind me is a busy emergency room at a local hospital. And CPR or Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation is a frequent occurrence within those walls. It’s a method for attempting to restart someone’s heart when they’ve suffered a cardiac arrest. But you can’t do it for yourself. In fact, you can’t be more INCAPABLE of helping yourself than when you’re in that state. It requires someone who HAS life to offer it to the one who DOESN’T.
And when it comes our spirits, we are COMPLETELY dependent on Jesus to do that. Not only is spiritual self-help ineffective, it’s IMPOSSIBLE. None of us can offer life to ourselves.
So, if you long to become fully alive, let me tenderly invite you to stop the insanity of trying to do it yourself. Instead, just respond to the voice of the One calling you to life.