“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24
While unbelievers — those who do not repent of their sinful ways and look to Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross in faith for pardon and forgiveness — face the condemnation of God’s Son on the Last Day, the day of His coming in judgment, those who hear Jesus’ Word and trust in the promises of God to pardon and forgive the sins of all who trust in Jesus the Messiah and His sacrifice for the sins of the world have every reason to take comfort and rejoice.
Why? Listen to Jesus’ words: “Verily, verily, I say unto you …” Jesus is telling us to listen up, for this is absolutely true! “… He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life …”
What does this mean? While all who continue in impenitence and unbelief remain dead in their trespasses and sins and under the wrath of God, those who hear Jesus’ Word and look to Him and His cross in faith have everlasting life!
And of great comfort to sinners like me, they “shall not come into condemnation; but [have] passed from death unto life.”
This means that all who trust in Christ Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross will not be condemned on the day of judgment but have passed from death to life — from being dead and under the curse and condemnation of God because of their sins to being alive to God and free of all condemnation because their sins were judged and atonement was made on the cross of Christ.
Jesus said the same thing to Nicodemus in John 3:14-16, 18: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. … He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
If you believe Jesus’ words and trust in Him and His cross for pardon and forgiveness, take comfort! You will not be condemned on the day of judgment but have passed from death unto life!
But, if you do not believe Jesus’ words and do not trust in Jesus and His cross for pardon and forgiveness, you stand condemned already because you do not believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God, your only Savior. Now is the time to repent and look to Jesus for pardon and forgiveness!
Dear Lord Jesus, Son of God and my only hope of salvation, wash away my sins in Your blood, shed on the cross when You made atonement for the sins of the world. Keep me in the true and saving faith that I may not be condemned when You return in judgment but partake of the everlasting joys of heaven for Your sake. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]