John 5:24 (ESV) … “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Again the words “verily, verily” indicate that Christ considers the statement to follow especially solemn and significant (see 1:51). There are actually two truths set forth.
First, He continues to emphasize His unity with the Father by saying that to hear (hear with appreciation, take heed to) His word (His whole teaching) is to believe the Father who sent Him. He is so intimately identified with the Father that to hear Him is to hear the Father, and to believe Him is to believe the Father just as to see Him is to see the Father (John 10:30; 14:9).
Second, the person who believes on Christ (and thereby on the Father) has (presently possesses) eternal life and will not ever come under the condemnation of God’s righteous wrath. He has already passed from death unto life. Eternal life, the life of the age to come, the life of the heavenly sphere, is already his present possession. He is already living on the heavenly plane.[1]
[1] Stallings, J. W. (1989). The Gospel of John. (R. E. Picirilli, Ed.) (First Edition, p. 85). Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications.
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