John 5:28

Hour is coming. See on v. 25.

All. This is a general reference to the resurrection of the dead at the end of the world, without making a distinction between the first and second resurrections (see Rev. 20:5, 6). Jewish thinking in Jesus’ day was divided over the question of the resurrection. The Sadducees denied that the dead would arise at all, while the Pharisees strongly maintained that they would. Even among those Jews who held the doctrine of the resurrection, a division apparently also existed over the question of who would be included in it, some holding that only the righteous would arise, others maintaining that both the righteous and the wicked would come forth from their graves. In line with this latter view, a document from the late 2d and the early 1st century B.C. represents the patriarchs as declaring: “Then shall we also rise, each one over our tribe, worshipping the King of heaven. Then also all men shall rise, some unto glory and some unto shame” (The Testament of Benjamin 10:7, 8, in R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2, p. 359). Jesus, in accordance with His usual practice, did not enter into dispute over the various views held by the Jews regarding the resurrection, but simply stated the truth that “all that are in the graves . . . shall come forth.”