John 12:27-36
27 “Now My soul has become troubled;
and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I
came to this hour. 28 “Father, glorify Your name.” Then
a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it
again.” 29 So the crowd of people who
stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying,
“An angel has spoken to Him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This
voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. 31 “Now
judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast
out. 32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men to Myself.” 33 But
He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. 34 The
crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to
remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is
this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “For a
little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so
that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know
where he goes. 36 “While you have the Light, believe
in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.”
Jesus continues to respond to the disciples about who He is
and why He was here. The Greeks and many
of the multitude were seeking Him out because of curiosity and a desire to see
the kingdom established. Jesus wants to
make it very clear that He has a different agenda. It is so easy for us to become focused on our
earthly agendas and the different things we want to accomplish. God has a purpose in this world and for our
lives. He wants us to become sons of Light. This is not an easy or painless task. Taking sinful men and changing them into sons
of Light can only be accomplished though God’s glorious plan of salvation. Jesus wants to make sure that all who were around
Him knew that this was God’s purpose.
These truths are recorded so each of us might also know that this is God’s
mission in the world today as well.
THE EXCLAMATION OF GLORIFICATION: It was not an easy thing
for Jesus to go to the cross. He became
a man with all the physical pain associated with being a man. The suffering and agony of death was a
daunting reality He had to face. He
could not even ask for the Father to save Him from this experience because the
entire reason He had become a man was to die for the sins of men. Se He did the only thing He could do in this
situation; He prayed for the Father to be glorified in His impending
death. At the utterance of this prayer,
the Father exclaimed from heaven once again and assured Him that He had
glorified His name and that it would be glorified again in the days ahead. The Father and the Son are completely united
in the goal of promoting the glory of the Father. There could be no doubt as to the identity of
Jesus. If the Greeks had any questions
as to who Jesus was, this voice from heaven should have answered any doubts. The people who heard the voice thought it
might be thunder or some said the angels had spoken. This was not the first time God had audibly
spoken from heaven about Jesus. Jesus
lived to honor the Father and the Father gave glory to Jesus. God calls us to live for His glory and has
promised to eternally honor all who do so.
THE EXALTATION OF CRUCIFIXION: The time was coming for Jesus
to make a crushing blow to the ruler of this world, Satan. Jesus had come to pay for the sins of the
world as well as to set me free from enslavement to Satan. There will be a time in the future when Satan
is completely banned from access to men.
He will be forever imprisoned in the lake of fire. Unfortunately, many men will also be condemned
to an eternity separated from God in the terrible place. In fact, all men are destined to hell apart
from salvation through Jesus. Jesus
proclaims that the only means by which man can be saved is if He is lifted up
from the earth. Jesus is making reference
to the bronze serpent that Moses made and lifted up on a pole so those who were
bitten by the snakes in the camp could be saved by looking at the serpent on
the pole. In a similar fashion, Jesus would
be lifted up on the cross. This is the
means by which man can be saved and it is God’s plan for drawing men to
himself. God’s name is glorified by the salvation
of men who are reconciled to Him through the cross of Christ.
THE EXPLANATION OF SALVATION: The teaching of Jesus on crucifixion
generated confusion on the part of his audience. They were expecting a Messiah who would reign
forever and establish the kingdom. This
was not a wrong expectation, it was just incomplete. They were focused on only one part of the teaching
of the Old Testament: the kingdom. They
ignored the teaching on the sufferings of Messiah and the transformation of
hearts. In their minds, they were ready
for the kingdom. Jesus wants to make
sure they understand that they most definitely were not ready for the
kingdom. First, they needed salvation
through faith in Christ. He was the Light
of the world. They must believe Him and
then they could become children of Light.
In order to be a citizen in the kingdom it is necessary to become a
child of the Light. The only way this
could happen was through the death of Christ and man believing in Him as their
only hope for salvation and forgiveness.
This is the only means by which any person can be ready for the kingdom.
APPLICATION: Live for the glory of God and not our own
personal comfort. Our will must always give
preference to the will of the Father.
Always look up to Jesus as the only solution for the problem of our sin. He is our hope and our salvation. Don’t allow our fascination for kingdoms on
this earth distract us from preparing for His eternal kingdom that is still to
come. Allowing Him to form our character
as a means of getting ready for the kingdom must take precedence over any priority
we might have on earth.
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