What does it mean that believers have passed from death to life (John 5:24)?

This is not all that is said here. He who has eternal life is "passed from death unto life." It was not a cure: the soul had been spiritually dead, separated from God, dead in its trespasses and sins, and it has come out of that state of death by the quickening power of the Saviour. It is not merely that, being quickened, it escapes the consequences of its responsibility when the day of judgment shall come: the Lord has taken the other means, in grace, of glorifying Himself with regard to it. The soul was already dead: it is the teaching of the Epistle to the Ephesians: a new creation. The unrepentant sinner will come into judgment, if he who is under grace escapes it. But we are all dead now; it is the state of us all already: we are dead as regards God, without a single sentiment which answers to what He is, or to His call, and if it were a question merely of that which is found in man, it would be impossible to awaken any. But God communicates life, and the soul passes from death unto life. It is a new creation; we become partakers of the divine nature. At the same time it ever remains true that we shall give account of ourselves to God, that we shall all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ; but it is not a question there, for us who believe, of any judgment as to our acceptance. We are in the glory, like Christ, when we get there; Christ Himself will have come in person to seek us, that we may be there, and He will have changed the body of our humiliation into conformity to His body of glory.

But the whole truth has not yet been told. It is not only that you are sinners, but the Scriptures teach also that all who are unsaved are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1). The Lord Jesus thus says that the believer "is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24), showing plainly that the previous condition of the believer was death, spiritual death. The sinner therefore is both under the condemnation of sin, and is dead in sins. It is not meant of course that he has no life at all; for it is very palpable that he has physical life. But what is asserted is, that through sin the sinner is separated from God, cut off from the source of life (for God is the Fountain of life), and consequently that the sinner is in a state of spiritual death, having no life, and no power of life towards God. The whole dealings of God with men, from Israel downwards, do but prove the truth of His word; and hence I have to ask you again, Do you accept this further testimony concerning yourself?

Nothing can be clearer than the testimony of the Lord Jesus as to the result to the believer of simple faith in His person as the Son of God, and his word. "He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life." We do not get here merely the fact that the believer has life in the Son, but that he has passed out of one state, that is "death," into another, "life." The believer appropriates by faith Christ's death, which judges the state and condition in which he is found, but delivers him out of it. Life in the Son is in a new sphere outside this world of death, and is characterized in us by knowledge of the Father and Jesus Christ whom He sent.

When the peculiar significance of the voice of the Son of God is heard, the soul lives. "They that hear shall live." Such pass out of the region of death into the region of life where God is known.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life." It is he that submits, "he that hears," he that owns himself to be without strength, dead altogether as to hope or help from self. If I am brought into such a place before God as to listen to Christ and receive from Him, then have I life. "He that heareth my word shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life." If my soul has bowed to Christ - if I have listened to Him - if I have learnt from Him, owning that I was lost - then have I a portion in life which settles every question of judgment. "He that heareth my word," etc. This is the very way I have learnt that I am lost, and it has just come to this - I must either take my place with those who have the real life and shall not come into judgment, or with those who will be in the resurrection of judgment because they are rejecting Christ. I am a vile sinner, but I do believe the Father sent the Son; and this settles every question of my guilt. Am I mixing up the resurrection of life with that of judgment, so that the thought of judgment is still distressing me? God has committed all judgment unto the Son. Will He judge what He has quickened into life? Most assuredly He will not. Shall I find some other God to judge me? The thought would be blasphemy. The word is particularly clear: but we, in confusing the two, lose the comfort of their meaning.

"Exactly so. Thus you see He meets the present and the future in this verse. Nor is that all. We all lay in death; we were each one 'dead in trespasses and sins,' and out of that state we pass the moment we hear His voice, for He quickens us by His word; and so He adds here that the one who hears and believes 'is passed from death to life.' Nothing could be simpler or more blessed."

I think I hear thee saying, Is this true of me? Trembling believer, Jesus has said it; it cannot be false. This moment, if thine ears are opened by the Spirit of God to hear the words of Jesus, and in thine heart to believe on God who sent Him, then certainly thou, even thou, hast everlasting life. And how blessed, how perfect, the salvation of God! Thou not only hast everlasting life, but thou shalt not come into condemnation. Jesus says it and He will keep His word to thee. Yea, even more still, — thou art passed from death to life. Just as all Israel passed through Jordan with the Ark of God, so, my dear follow-believer hast thou passed with Christ from death into resurrection, and therefore into everlasting life. Open thine eyes, for thou art risen with Christ. As surely as He took thy place in death, the divine Substitute, so surely has God given thee a place with Him in spotless brightest glory. Go in peace, then, and doubt no more.

But we must touch upon some essential truths connected with the value of the cross. First,there must be practical fitness in drawing near to God. This brings us to the truth of "the laver" which stands between the altar of burnt-offering and the tabernacle. The laver, filled with water, is first of all typical of the washing of new birth. It is utterly impossible for an unregenerate man to enter into God's presence. He could not be happy there. He needs, first of all, to be born again, though he may not necessarily learn it first. If one asks: How can I be sure that I have been born again, that I have passed from death unto life, and am fit for the presence of God? The simple answer is, Have you accepted Christ? You remember our Lord's words in John 5:24: "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." Thus the way is clearly stated. Christ being received by faith, we have passed out of death into life. We have had the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. This is the first great truth which the laver conveys.

Man was in death, but judgment was not yet executed. It is the same now. But whenever a person has listened to Christ's voice, and owned the Father in sending Him, he hath everlasting life; he is passed from death unto life.

But eternal life is distinct from immortality. Eternal life is what a man may possess here, and not have "immortality" at all as yet. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." (John 3:36.) Does this mean "hath it in promise" merely? It does not. He has the life itself, is quickened from the dead, and passed from death (that is, out of death, literally,) into life. (John 5:24-25.) In contrast, we are told that "no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him: " eternal life, then, the saint has abiding in him.