“Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have practised evil to the resurrection of judgment.”
Now Jesus moves on to the idea of the final resurrection. The picture is stirring. One day it will be the voice of Jesus that will command the dead to come forth. Then some will enjoy the resurrection of life, for they are those who have previously heard His voice and have received life, and their resurrection will simply be entering more fully into that life in a new resurrection body. Others will experience the resurrection of judgment, because they have never received life.
‘Those who have done good.' This includes the thought that they have received His word and believed on Him. As He says elsewhere this is what doing the works of God involves (John 6:29). But those who claim to have received the gift of eternal life will reveal the genuineness of what they have received by their lives. ‘By their words they will be justified' (Matthew 12:37). It is impossible to have the new life and live the old life (compare 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 6:1-11; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:9-10). To do good is to do what God requires. It signifies full acceptability with God. Thus it includes having been reconciled to God and then having responded in an obedient life.
‘Those who have practised evil.' Those who have not responded to Jesus' words in this life will come forth to the resurrection of judgment, for they will have refused life. And this refusal will be revealed by the way they live and by their attitude to Him. They will practise selfishness and wrongdoing. No one was more conscious of failure than the genuine Pharisee, for he struggled to obey the Law and yet found himself failing again and again. But now he too is faced with the consequence, a consequence true for all. If they refuse the transforming of their lives through believing in Christ they can only receive judgment.
Behind the words are a contrast too, for in the Last Day all the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and respond. The Word will speak. Yet in the present it is only believers who hear His voice. There is no response to that voice in the hearts of the Judaisers. They are proving themselves to be worse than dead.
So Jesus has made clear what He really is. He not only reveals the Father's workings while on earth, but He also works with the Father and offers eternal life now to all who hear His voice and respond from the heart, and it will in fact be His voice also which raises men at the last day, giving resurrection life to those who have responded to Him, and passing judgment on those have refused to hear His voice. They will have to obey His voice, either now or then, but if it is then it will be too late.