Let's look at John chapter 12, back to the
gospel of John, our ongoing study in this incredible account of the life, ministry,
death, resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We come to chapter 12, verses 27 to 34, 12:27-34. Let me read those verses for you. John 12:27, our Lord is speaking here. He says: "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. Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven: "I have both
glorified it, and will glorify it again." 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." Jesus answered and said, "This voice has not
come for My sake, but for your sakes. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler
of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men to Myself." But He was saying this to indicate the kind
of death by which He was to die. The crowed 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?" In this amazing text, our Lord speaks of His
crucifixion in very direct terms. In verse 33, it tells us that when He said
He would be lifted up, He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He
was to die. When the Jews historically executed someone,
they threw them down, and then stoned them to death. When someone was lifted up, everybody knew
that was a crucifixion. Jesus then is speaking of His crucifixion. They understood that because in verse 34 they
say, "What kind of Son of Man must be lifted up," to die? Isn't the Messiah to live forever? Apparently, the idea of being lifted up had
become synonymous with crucifixion because the Romans had done this to tens of thousands
of people around this period of time in the land of Israel as well as in other parts of
the Roman Empire. People knew what it was to be lifted up in
death. Apparently, He spoke of it frequently enough
that His disciples for certain and even the crowds knew what He was referring to. Our Lord is facing the cross. This passage looks at the cross and its impact,
the cross and its effect, the cross and its power. Now, the cross hasn't happened, but this is
the theology of the cross from the lips of Jesus before He's crucified. It's a really remarkable portion of Scripture. He had just said back in verse 23 that, "The
hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." Then immediately said, "Truly, truly, I say
to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but
if it dies, it bears much fruit." He was going to be glorified through dying. He said that through an analogy, through an
illustration in a little more obscure way, but now He describes it without an analogy
in words that everybody understood. He will literally be lifted up, which is a
euphemism for being crucified, and they all knew it. This is why He came, and through His death
much spiritual fruit would come. He understood that He had come to die. From His birth, He had been called Jesus because
He would save His people from their sins. He knew that salvation was to be through His
death. He knew He was God's chosen sacrifice. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save
the lost. Yes, but how? Has come to give His life a ransom for many. He was born to die a sacrificial death. He knew that. This was not a surprise. This isn't a good plan gone wrong. This is the plan. Revelation 13:8 says, "He was the Lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world." Before He ever came into the world, He knew
He would come into the world to be slain. Peter tells us He was the sacrifice to God
who would redeem His people with His blood and that this sacrifice was pre-determined
from the foundation of the world. He appeared to accomplish what had been planned. The cross and the subsequent resurrection
from the dead is the theme of Scripture. The cross and the subsequent resurrection
is the great theme of Scripture. In many powerful ways, the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ reigns over all other issues in Scripture. When you go to the Old Testament, you're struck
very soon by the reality of sacrifice. It happens early in the third chapter of Genesis. As you flow through the Scripture, sacrifice
goes on through the whole Old Testament. It goes on all the way into the New Testament
until 70 A.D. None of those lambs, none of those millions
of goats or lambs or bulls could ever take away sin, but they all pictured one who would:
the Lamb of God. Ancient, Old Testament prophecies specifically
speak about His death. Daniel 9 says, "He will be cut off," a term
to describe death. Zechariah 12:10 says, "He will die being pierced." Isaiah 53 describes in detail His substitutionary
death. Psalm 22 describes His experience on the cross. There are even scriptures that speak about
His betrayer. So, first of all, we can say that His death
is the theme even of the Old Testament and the fulfillment of ancient Old Testament predictions. When you come into the New Testament, His
death is the theme, the dominant theme of the gospels. As Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record our
Lord's life from His birth on, He talks about His death from time to time, but the volume
of their work that focuses on His death is greater than any other category of interest
for the gospel writers. One-fifth of all four gospels is directed
at His crucifixion, the events of His death and resurrection. It is their dominant theme as writers of the
gospel. Everything in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
moves inexorably toward the greatest of all events, which occupies them most and that
is His death. His death then fulfills ancient Old Testament
predictions and patterns. His death is the theme of the New Testament
gospels. Thirdly, we could say His death is the reason
for the incarnation. He came to save His people. 1 John 3:5, "He appeared to take away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself." This is the reason He came. He didn't come to be a good teacher. He didn't come to be a philosopher. He didn't come to start a religion. He came to die. His death became the teaching, which dominated
His own interest as He moved toward the cross. He said, "I came down from heaven to give
my life for the world," John 6:51. The closer He got to the cross, the more He
talked about His death. His death then became the theme of apostolic
preaching. When you leave the four gospels, and you come
into the book of Acts, the apostles begin immediately to preach that the Messiah had
to suffer and die, that Jesus was crucified, died, rose again. That is apostolic preaching. In fact, it was so dominant among the apostles
that Paul could say on behalf of all of them, "I'm determined to know nothing among you
except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We preach Christ crucified." That was the apostles calling. It is then the theme of the Old Testament,
the theme of the gospels, the reason for the incarnation, the theme of our Lord's own teaching
and the theme of apostolic preaching. As you come to the epistles of the New Testament,
starting after the book of Acts, the New Testament is filled with epistles all the way to the
book of Revelation. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ and His
subsequent resurrection is the theme of those epistles. Sometimes it is explicit. Sometimes the epistles talk particularly about
His death and about His cross. You find that dominant theme in Romans, for
example, chapter 5. You find it in Galatians chapter 3. You find the emphasis on the cross, however,
all through the epistles. You find it in the book of Hebrews. It dominates the wonderful, really incredible
book of Hebrews, just one illustration, chapter 5 and verse 9. "He became to all those who obey Him, the
source of eternal salvation." How did He become the source of eternal salvation? Chapter 2, verse 9, "By suffering death, by
suffering death." So the writers of the epistles look at the
cross explicitly and describe its meaning and its significance. It also is implicit in the epistles. In fact, all the implications of obedience,
behavior, life in the church, godliness, virtue, spiritual living are all implications of the
cross. If He died for us, how can we not live for
Him? That kind of implication. So you will, as you read through the rest
of the New Testament, going through the epistles, find yourself confronted with the cross and
the implications of the death of Christ to give us new life that we might live to His
honor and His glory. His death is also the theme of worship in
the church. It's the theme of worship in the church. Two ordinances the Lord gave to the church. One is baptism. The other is Communion. In Baptism, we identify with the death of
Christ and His resurrection in a symbolic way. In the Lord's Table, we gather to eat the
bread and the cup, which are representative of His body and blood given for us. The only two ordinances the church has, and
they both point at His death and His resurrection. This is the heart and soul of the worship
of the church. The cross occupies us. That's why in churches there are crosses because
from that cross radiates the essence of all biblical emphasis. If you were to leave earth and go to heaven,
you would find that the death of Jesus Christ is also the theme of heaven. It is not only the theme of worship on earth. It is the theme or worship in heaven. We see a glimpse of that in the fifth chapter
of the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 5 takes us to heaven. We've now come to the end of the New Testament. We have seen the cross in the Old Testament,
the gospels, the ministry of Jesus, the reason that He came, the apostolic preaching in the
book of Acts. It is the theme of the epistles of the New
Testament and when the book of Revelation lifts us into heaven, this is what we read:
"The Lamb Himself, the Lamb of God, Christ, comes out of the throne and He is a Lamb - " verse
6, " - standing who had been slain." Down in verse 7, "He takes the book out of
the right hand of God." The book is the title deed to the earth that
He's about to take over the earth. "When He had taken the book, the four living
creatures - " who are angels, " - the twenty-four elders - " who represent redeemed saints,
" - fall down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which
are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song." This is heaven's song. This is the song of heaven. What is it? "Worthy are You to take the book and break
its seals; for You were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe
and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests
to our God; and they will reign on the earth." Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many
angels around the throne and living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was
myrian times myrian - " tens of thousands times tends of thousands, " - and thousands
of thousands." What are they all saying? "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." The cross becomes the theme of heavenly worship. It is the theme of redemptive history here. It is the theme if heavenly worship. Now, all of that leads us to our text starting
in verse 27 and going down to verse 34. Our text today is a depository of profound
truth, expansive truth and reality regarding the death of Christ. Let me just set the stage for you a little
bit. We don't know exactly the day that Jesus said
this or this happened. Probably it is Wednesday, maybe Thursday of
the final week of our Lord. The year is 30 A.D. The Lord has entered the city of Jerusalem. He came in on the previous weekend. He stayed with His friends in Bethany. There was a feast for Him there. You remember that at the house of Simon, who
was a healed leper. Monday, He came into the city in what we call
the triumphal entry. He came in. The people had heard about His raising Lazarus
from the dead, a man who had been dead for four days. Everybody knew he was dead, and yet Jesus
raised him from the dead. They knew the history of what He had done,
healings all over the land, casting out demons all over the land, incredible miracles, creating
food to feed tens of thousands of people. Surely, this must be the Messiah. Now the capstone miracle on His life is the
raising of this man, who had been four days dead. This must be the Messiah. They're ready, and so when He comes into the
city, massive crowed converges on Him and hundreds of thousands of people gather around
Him saying, "Blessed is the Son of David, and the One who comes in the name of the Lord." They give Him all the Messianic attribution,
and they expected that if He was the Messiah and they were right about this, that He would
assault the oppressive, pagan, invading, occupying Romans who dishonored God with their idolatry
and were the enemies of God. But He came back in on Tuesday after going
back to the Bethany for the night with His friends. He came back in on Tuesday and instead of
attacking the Romans, He attacked the Jewish temple. He attacked them at the pinnacle of their
religion. He attacked the elite. He attacked the agents of the true and living
God. His attack was so fierce and so forceful that
the people fled out of the entire temple. There were tens of thousands of people there,
and all the money changers and buyers and sellers who were extorting the people, basically
grabbed what they could, left what they couldn't and fled. He emptied the place just by the sheer power
of His person. This is a warning. This is a preview of what is coming by the
judgment of God on Jerusalem, and it came in 70 A.D. about 40 years later at the hands
of the Romans. This was a shock. When He came in on Monday, they would have
expected Him to attack the Romans. Fort Antonius, the Praetorium, where the Romans
were, where the Roman governor was. Instead, He attacks the temple. He calls it a den of thieves, a house of robbers. Then He comes back on Wednesday into that
temple, which is not yet fully recovered from the evacuation that He created, and He takes
over the place. Now that it is for the moment cleaned of its
corruption, He spends the day teaching. Possibly on that day, this happened here. The timing isn't important, except to say
that it was before His death. It reminds us that He knew everything about
His death before it ever happened. This was not a surprise. Whatever day it is during that week, He's
fixed on Friday. Friday is the day He will be crucified. He's thinking here about the meaning of His
death. He's thinking about what's going to happen. The words that He speaks are just amazing,
far-reaching. Here is Jesus' theology of His own death before
it happened. So John starts recording in verse 27, and
He tells us the things that Jesus said as He looked at His own coming death. He opens up mystery to us. I would like to think of this as the enigmas
of the cross, the enigmas, a word for mysteries that are revealed here. There are three of them, and they're far-reaching
and profound. Number one, as our Lord looks at the cross,
there is the enigma of the Son's anguish, the enigma of the Son's anguish. Verse 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. Father, glorify Your name." That is a startling, enigmatic, puzzling statement. His soul is troubled? How can His soul be troubled? He is God. Oh, you say, well, that's His humanness. Really? That's His humanness, and you're telling me
His deity can't suppress that? Is He more man than God? How can He be troubled as He looks at His
coming death? Martyrs seem to pull this off better than
He does. If you read Foxe's Book of Martyrs , you find
so many martyrs who went calmly to their death - burned at the stake, killed some other way
- who seemed to be impervious to what is going on, who are praying to God, proclaiming the
gospel, singing hymns. How is it that the Son of God, the incarnate
God is a troubled soul? Well, we already know that was possible because
back in chapter 11, verse 33, when He arrived at the tomb of Lazarus, it says He was there
watching Martha and Mary and all the weeping, and He was deeply moved in His Spirit and
was troubled. We see that in chapter 13, verse 21. He became troubled in spirit over the realities
of betrayal. So He could be troubled in spirit. He was troubled when He faced the consequences
of sin in the death of Lazarus and the shattering of the family, and the breaking up of that
unity. He was troubled to think about the betrayer
and where he was headed. So we know He could be troubled. What does the word "troubled" mean? It's a Greek word tarassō, tarassō. It literally means "to shake or to stir up." That's what you would use if you were doing
something in the kitchen. You'd use that word. But it had figurative significance as well. In a figurative sense, it could be translated
anguish. He was anguished. He was agitated. He was deeply disturbed. He was upset. He was unsettled. Sometimes it can be translated terrified,
frightening, horrified. A very strong word, very strong word. It's so strong that it's used, for example,
in Matthew 2:3 of the troubling of Herod, who was so profoundly troubled by the thought
that a king was being born in Bethlehem, that he ordered his men to go there and massacre
every baby boy/child in the area. That's being seriously troubled when you become
a mass murderer. It's the same word used in Matthew 14:26 for
the attitude of the disciples when they see Jesus walking on the water. Some of the translations say they were terrified. It's a highly disturbing emotion. It is the word that is used to describe Zacharias
the priest when an angel came to him in Luke 1 to tell him that he and Elizabeth who were
barren and in their 80s certainly, had never been able to have children. An angel comes and announces that they will
have a son, and Zacharias is terrified by an angel. Angels didn't appear to people. It is the same word used to describe the attitude
of the disciples who were in the upper room the night of the resurrection, Luke 24:38,
and Jesus comes through the wall with the door being shut, stands in their midst. It says they're terrified. Jesus actually used this word on Thursday
night in the upper room with His disciples when He said in John 14:1, "Stop letting your
heart be troubled." How can He be troubled? How can He be so agitated? How can He be so distressed? Isn't He less than a martyr? Why this distress? Many martyrs seem calm facing death. Why is this going on? Was this weakness in Him? Was this sin? No, no. This is not the anguish of - listen carefully. This is not the anguish of anticipated physical
suffering. This is not that. This is not the anguish of anticipated physical
suffering. This isn't being agitated. This isn't being horrified at the thought
that He will be flogged. This isn't horror at the thought that He would
be nailed, the thought that He would be crucified, not that. Oh, He felt all that. He really, really died and really felt the
nails and the piercings in His head. The spear in His side came after His death,
but he felt it all. He felt the whipping. Yes, He must have felt it 10,000 times before
He ever actually felt it, right? In anticipation. How did He know? Because He knew everything that was to come. He knew exactly what was going to happen to
Him. He detailed it out. They're going to arrest me. They are going to take me. They are going to spit on me. They are going to beat me. They are going to crucify me. He knew all of that, and if you know all of
that, you live that before it ever happens, don't you? You do that when you're going to the dentist. He had felt every pain, every aching muscle,
every torn piece of flesh, every thorn piercing His blessed brow, every dislocation of bones
and organs, the stifling suffocation, gasping for breath, the flies, the dripping blood
that He couldn't wipe away, the naked shame, the dried mouth, the cracked lips. He had felt that in anticipation because He
knew it was coming. But that is not the real suffering. That's not what troubles His soul. He could go calmly to a martyr's death and
accept that. That's not what troubles Him. His death had been the focal point of His
whole life. He must have thought it over and over thousands
of times in His mind before He ever got there through the years of His life when He came
to an understanding of it. Maybe that's why He never laughed, that's
why the Bible never says He laughed. It says He cried, but He never laughed. Were there not moments of joy? Of course there were, but there was this looming
reality hanging over His conscious mind of the agonies to come. That was always there. Was He afraid to be beaten? Was He afraid to be nailed? Was He afraid of the cross? No, no. That wasn't what tormented Him. People seem to think, well, isn't this an
evidence that His humanity was more powerful than His deity? No. This is an evidence that His deity is more
powerful than His humanity. Why? Listen, His trouble came not from anticipating
physical suffering, but anticipating divine wrath, spiritual suffering. That was a terrifying reality. Though the nails must have gone through His
hands and feet thousands of times as He thought about it, the agony of the sinless Son of
God was not that He would be nailed, but that He would be judged by the wrath of God. Not that He would be stained with blood, but
that He would be condemned for sins He did not commit, the sins of all who would ever
believe. Those tortured His soul with a fierceness. Let me tell you something, if He didn't become
troubled by that, He wouldn't be God. God should be troubled by the prospect of
bearing sin. The Son of God should be troubled by the prospect
of divine wrath and alienation from His eternal Father. Yes, He's troubled, but it's not the physical
part that troubles Him. It's the spiritual reality. So, in His trouble, He asks, "What shall I
say? Shall I say, 'Father, save Me from his hour?'" Is that what I should say? Hypothetically, should I say, "Save me from
this hour?" Chapter 7, verse 30, He said, "My hour hasn't
come." Chapter 8, verse 20, He said, "My hour hasn't
come." Now, My hour has come. Chapter 13, verse 1, "Jesus, knowing that
His hour had come." I'm now at that hour. Shall I say, "Father, save Me from this hour?" If I wanted to, I could, He said in Matthew
26:53, I could call 72,000 angels. I could call 72,000 angels like that, but
that kind of prayer would deliver Me and damn everyone. No, I can't say that, "But for this purpose
I came to this hour." This is the reason I came. This is why I'm here. John 10:17, "For this reason, the Father loves
Me, because I laid down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me. I lay it down on My own initiative." He's not unwilling. He is totally willing. I will not say, "Father, save Me from this
hour." This is the reason I came. I came willingly. No one is doing this to Me; not God, not man. This is completely voluntary, completely voluntary. Does that mean there's no anguish? No. The anguish is palpable and beyond comprehension. If you listen to Him in Luke 22, He says in
verse 42, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me." This is later on Thursday night. "If You are willing, remove this cup from
Me." What's this cup? The cup of divine wrath. That's a concept that comes from the Old Testament. The cup of God's wrath. He's not talking about nails. He's not talking about physical pain and suffering. He is saying, "Father, what terrifies Me is
the cup of wrath. Yet not My will, but Yours be done." The battle is so fierce, listen to how fierce
it is. "An angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening
Him." An angel strengthening the Son of God? Wasn't the first time. Angels came and ministered to Him after His
40 days of temptation. Here, an angel comes to strengthen Him because
He is in agony. He is in such agony, Luke 22 says, he was
praying very fervently, "And His sweat became like drops of blood falling down on the ground." His capillaries began to disintegrate under
the pressure and tension of His own fervency, and blood begins to drip through His skin. This is intense struggle. Yes, He was born to die. Yes, He came to die. Yes, He willed to do this. Yes, He was not forced into this, but that
doesn't lessen the overwhelming trouble of the reality of a sinless one becoming sin
for us. In Hebrews 10:5, there is some insight. "Therefore, when He comes into the world - " speaking
of Christ, " - He says, 'Sacrifice and offering You have not desired.'" That is, the Old Testament system of animal
sacrifices. "'But a body You have prepared for Me.'" Body prepared for Me. "Then He said, 'Behold, I have come to do
Your will.'" By the offering of that body, Jesus sanctified
all who would believe forever. You gave Me a body so I could be a sacrifice. Yes, the battle is profound. The battle is actually beyond our imagination,
beyond our comprehension. But He doesn't lose the battle. Verse 28, "Father, glorify Your name. Glorify Your name." The purpose Jesus said He came for was to
glorify the Father. "I only do what the Father tells Me to do,
what the Father wills for Me to do, what the Father shows Me to do. I only do what glorifies the Father." We read that all through the gospel of John. This, He knows, will glorify the Father. His love for the Father is divine. It is perfect, righteous love. He will do what His love demands. Love for the Father demands that He glorify
the Father. This will glorify the Father. How does the cross glorify the Father? The cross glorifies the Father in several
ways. First of all, the cross puts on display all
God's attributes. God is glorified when we are made aware of
who He is. On the cross, you see God's love in action. You see His grace in action. You see His mercy in action, His justice,
His wrath, His judgment. You see His wisdom. You see truth being vindicated. You see prophecy being fulfilled. His Word is affirmed. You see righteousness declared. You see power declared. All of that is on the cross. God is putting on display more of His attributes
in a concentrated form at the cross than any other event in redemptive history. God is glorified in the event itself. The event of making Christ the substitute
for sinners who bears our justice, our wrath, God's vengeance on us in our place. But the glory of God is further displayed
at Calvary in the fact that it is by the death of Christ that God is able to redeem humans
from all human history, bring them to heaven to forever glorify Him. It was the death of Jesus Christ that formed
the hallelujah choir that occupies heaven. So the Father will, by means of His revelation
in the Son, cause the radiance of His own majestic attributes to become publicly displayed
at the cross in order that He might redeem people from all human history, who will forever
gather into His presence and give Him glory by ascribing to Him the honor that He deserves. So our Lord Jesus, troubled as He is, anguished
as He is is victorious over that struggle and does what He wills to do, what He loves
to do, what the Father desires Him to do, and what glorifies the Father. This is good comfort for us. This is great comfort for us. Listen carefully, conflict with sin is not
sin. Conflict with sin is not sin. There was agony in the tortured soul of Christ
over the thought that He would have to bear this sin, which means He was fighting through
to obey God, fighting through strong, strong forces. That's not sin because He was without sin,
a lamb without blemish and without spot. Be encouraged. This is what Paul's talking about as a believer
in Romans 7 when he says, "I don't do what I want to do. I do what I don't want to do, O wretched man
that I am." But He is a believer. He is a believer. It is the true experience of every Christian
to live in this conflict. The true experience of every Christian to
live in this conflict. We who are holy, we who are holy are confronted
by evil all the time around us and in us, and that war goes on all the time. Let me encourage you with this: your genuineness
as a believer, your authenticity as a believer is as much manifest by your conflict as it
is by your joy. I'll say that again. Your authenticity, your genuineness as a Christian
is as much manifest by your conflict as it is your peace, your joy. So Jesus, in anguish, is totally obedient. The enigma of the anguish of the Son. A real struggle, a real battle in His soul,
but perfect, willing, loving obedience. The establishment of the kingdom of heaven,
the introduction of new life, the forgiveness of sin, the populating of heaven: all of this
was dependent on Jesus being obedient; even though the idea of sin bearing was totally
alien to His holy soul. That's what troubled Him. So the enigma of the Son's anguish. Then we see the enigma of the Father's answer. This too has a kind of a mysterious reality
to it, unveiled. Jesus prays the prayer, "Father, glorify Your
name," and gets an immediate answer. "Then a voice came out of heaven, 'I have
both glorified it and will glorify it again.' So the crowd of people who stood by and heard
it were saying that it had thundered. Other were saying, 'An angle has spoken to
Him.' Jesus answered and said, 'This voice has not
come for My sake, but for your sakes.'" Jesus explains the mystery, the enigma of
the Father's answer. The Father speaks from heaven. The voice out of heaven is the Father. Jesus says, "Father glorify Your name," and
the Father responds, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." Now, the Father did speak from heaven in a
couple of very, very significant times in the life of our Lord. At His baptism, Matthew 3:17. The voice came out of heaven, "This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." At His transfiguration, Matthew 17, the Father
spoke again. Christ is affirmed at the beginning of His
ministry in His baptism in Mathew 3. He is again affirmed in that marvelous scene
of His exaltation in Matthew 17, where He is seen with Moses and Elijah, which means
He is the living fulfillment of the Old Testament. The Father has validated Him on those two
occasions. This is the third. This is the third. This day, maybe it's Wednesday of that week,
God speaks out of heaven to validate and affirm the cross, the cross. The hour was the hour of His death, the purpose
for which He came. "Father, glorify Your name," through My obedience
unto death. And the voice said, "I have both glorified
it." What does that mean? What do you mean you have glorified it? What He means is that I have already glorified
My name through you. I've already done that through you. Go back to chapter 21, verse 40. He did it through His whole ministry. He validated Him by His miracle power. Power over demons, power over disease, power
to create food. He did it recently through the resurrection
of Lazarus, that capstone miracle, verse 40 of chapter 11. Jesus is at the tomb, tells them to remove
the stone, and then says to Martha, "Did not I say to you that if you believe, you will
see the glory of God?" which is to say, the glory of God is on display through the miraculous
power of Jesus. That marks His entire life and ministry. So when the Father says in verse 28, "I have
both glorified it," He means throughout your whole ministry I have put My power and glory
on display through You. "And will glorify it again," meaning I will
glorify My name through your death. I did it through your life. I will do it in your death. I did it through your life. I will do it in your death. Now, verse 30 says that, "Jesus spoke and
said, 'This voice hasn't come for My sake.'" I knew this. I know all this, "'But for your sakes.'" Who is He talking to? Most likely the disciples. They're having such a hard time with the fact
that Jesus is going to die. The people who are maybe in a dilemma of whether
to believe or not believe, this is divine heavenly affirmation of the death of Christ. There was affirmation of His ministry at His
baptism, affirmation of His deity at the transfiguration, and here is affirmation from God verbally
at His death; which is to say this, the union of the Father and Son is unbroken. The union of the Father and Son is intact. There is no separation. He didn't die because He displeased God. He didn't die because something went wrong. He died to glorify God and God will glorify
Himself through His death. This is the most important affirmation of
the death of Jesus Christ. So the Father has been glorified in the past
through the Son's life and miracles. He will be glorified in the near future on
Friday, in fact, through the Son's death and far beyond through His resurrection, the salvation
He provides. This voice was for the sake of those who had
ears to hear. On the other hand, there was the crowd, verse
29. "The crowd of people who stood by and heard
it were saying that it had thundered." They thought it was a weather event, but then
we wouldn't expect them to recognize the voice of God, would we? Of course not. Some others had a different idea. They thought it was a supernatural event,
and they were saying, "An angle has spoken to Him." So some more naturally-inclined said, "It's
a natural event. It's the weather. There's thunder somewhere." Others said, "It's a supernatural event. It's an angel." You can understand why they were saying those
kinds of things. This is the mixed crowd, which would be some
Jews, maybe still the Greeks who came to Jesus. Maybe, of course, including leaders in the
temple. They were trying to figure out what had just
happened. They had no capacity to know the voice of
God or hear the voice of God, and they weren't about to acknowledge the voice of God if He
did speak. Thunder, often in the Old Testament, is the
voice of God. Exodus 19, "God thundered." Second Samuel 22:14, "The Lord thundered from
heaven and uttered His voice." Job 37:5, "God thunders with His voice wondrously." You see that also in Psalm 18, Psalm 29. Job 40:9, "Can you thunder with a voice like
His?" So thunder was associated with the voice of
God, but for them, this was just a weather event. They weren't thinking of it in a divine way. Then for the others, it was an angelic event,
which gets a little closer to reality, but in both cases, they missed the point. Again, the natural man understands not the
things of God, right? Jesus says to them, "You don't get the truth,
and because I speak the truth, you don't understand what I'm saying." Remember that back in chapter 8? So they have a way to explain it that is short
of the reality. The bottom line is that God had spoken, and
God had validated, authenticated, affirmed the death of His Son. So we see the enigma of the Son's anguish,
the enigma of the Father's answer, and then a final one: the enigma of the cross as accomplishment,
the enigma of the cross as accomplishment. What began as anguish, torture, terror in
the soul of Jesus, all of the sudden turns to triumph, all of the sudden turns to anticipation. The blessedness of His Father's voice and
the presence of the Father has strengthened Him, has reminded Him that glory is coming
through His death, glory is coming to the Father and to Him because they share glory
equally. Now, rather than viewing the suffering of
sin-bearing on the cross, He focuses on the salvation through that suffering and He turns
from being troubled in verse 27 to words that are triumphant in verse 31. He goes from troubled to triumph. He states the consequence of His death, the
accomplishment of the cross, the mystery of the cross unfolded in three massive far-reaching
statements. Number one, "The judgment is on the world." Number two, "The ruler of this world will
be cast out." Number three, "And I, if I am lifted up from
the earth will draw all men to Myself." These are sweeping, far-reaching realities. He goes from that very personal, intimate
agony of verse 27 to this global, historical reality of verses 31 through 32. Three anticipated accomplishments in the cross. Number one, the world was judged. The world was judged. Sin's empire was judged. Sin's system was judged. The crisis had come. The probation of the world was over. The doom was sealed by the rejection and murder
of the Son. This flips the whole event on its head. The Jewish people thought they had judged
Him. In reality, He had not only judged them, but
He had judged the entire world. They thought that they had brought Him into
their court and rendered their verdict on Him. In reality, He had brought them into His court
and rendered His verdict on them. The cross would condemn and judge the world,
meaning the Jewish people who rejected Him, the leaders who condemned Him, Judas who betrayed
Him, the Roman soldiers who mocked and executed Him, Pilate who sentenced Him, the whole society
of evil men alienated from God who crucified Him. And extending beyond that, all the world of
people who are caught up as children of Satan in an anti-God, anti-Christ attitude. What looked like the judgment of Christ was,
in fact, the judgment of the world because at the cross, He won the victory and was ascended
and at the right hand of the Father became the Lord and Judge of all. The whole Christ-rejecting world was judged
by the cross of Christ. The verdict is in. The sentence is waiting. Every time a person dies, that sentence is
executed, but for the whole world, that sentence will be fully executed in the day that He
appears a second time to judge, Acts 17:31. The world said, "We tried Christ and judged
Him." How wrong they were. He condemned the world. The world, every man in it from now on, is
condemned. They're born condemned to death unless they
repent and embrace Christ. Second thing, massive effect: the ruler of
this world will be cast out. Who's that? Satan, the prince of the power of the air,
the ruler of this world. Satan was dethroned at Calvary. Again, this is a reversal of what you might
think. It looked like Satan won. It looked like Satan triumphed, and the devils
of hell thought there was a triumph. Satan had conquered Christ at Calvary, but
in reality, Christ had crushed his head, dealt him the deathblow. Now, Satan fights from death row. He is a vanquished enemy. He had nothing on Christ. He has nothing on us. He is a conquered, defeated foe. To the disciples on Thursday night, John 14:30,
Jesus said, "Satan has nothing on Me. I crushed his head at the cross. Took away his power. He is cast out." You can see the progression of his being cast
out. If you go to Revelation chapter 12, he's cast
out and eventually chapter 20, he's cast out. Finally, he's cast into the lake of fire,
which burns forever and ever. Satan is totally defeated by Christ at the
cross. Hebrews 2:14 says that, "Through death He
rendered powerless him who had the power of death - " that is, the devil, " - so that
He might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." He destroyed the one who had the power of
death. Death, for us, has no fear because in Christ
we go right through death into everlasting life. This doesn't mean Satan is not around gasping
like an animal with its head cut off. He flails around aimlessly, aimlessly, randomly,
vilely, and wickedly, but he is a defeated enemy, who was defeated at the point at which
it looked like he had won. The world thought they won over Christ. They lost. Satan though he won. He lost. Finally, positive note of triumph, verse 32. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,"
if I am crucified. That's what that means. He's not talking about preachers lifting Him
up, which we should do. He's not talking about people who should point
to the cross and lift up Christ, which we should do. That's not what this is about. He is saying, "If I am crucified, I will draw
all men to myself." All men, meaning all Jews, Gentiles, people
from every tongue, tribe, nation of the planet. I will draw them all to myself. He, at the cross, provides the work by which
all can be saved. Children of God from all over the world. This is the fruit of the grain going into
the ground and dying, as He said back in verse 24. It is because He is crucified that He can
draw men to Himself. It is in death that He gives life. Everything is an enigma. Everything is reversed. The world thinks it judged Him. It was judged. Satan thinks it condemned Him. He was condemned. You look at Christ and you assume He is completely
defeated. The truth is He is triumphant at the cross
and has done a work by which He can gather the elect throughout all history. He was talking about, verse 33 says, the kind
of death He would die: His crucifixion, His crucifixion. So His anguish becomes anticipation. His trouble becomes triumph. As He sees in the cross the glory of God,
the overthrow of evil, the end of Satan, the drawing of all men to Himself. He weighs the gain and because He can see
the joy that is before Him, He despises the shame. He will gladly pay the purchase price because
the gain of the glory of God, the overthrow of evil, the end of Satan, the drawing of
all men is worth the price. So what was the reaction to this incredible
moment where He describes His death? The crowd then answered Him, "We have heard
out of the law that the Christ or Messiah is to remain forever. And how can you say the Son of Man must be
lifted up?" Again, they know what that means. "Who is this Son of Man?" Ah, this is a turning folks. On Monday, they were hailing Him as the Messiah. That begins to go downhill on Tuesday when
He attacks the temple. It's really going downhill now because they
all know He is saying, "I will be crucified," and they are saying, "Wait a minute. The Son of Man?" that Old Testament term from
Daniel chapter 7, the Son of Man, the Messianic term. "The Son of Man is to remain forever." And they were right about that. He is the everlasting Father in Isaiah 9. He has an everlasting kingdom in Daniel 7. So who is this Son of Man who will be crucified? Because they don't understand Isaiah 53, they
don't believe Isaiah 52. They don't understand Daniel 9, that He would
be cut off, Zechariah 12:10, that He would be pierced. They only see a Messiah who sets up an everlasting
kingdom, and so the cross, Paul says 1 Corinthians 1 is to the Jews a what? Stumbling block, stumbling block. "What Son of Man is this?" So we're starting down from Monday to Friday
pretty fast, aren't we? This is Wednesday, maybe even Thursday. By Friday, they're convinced this man needs
to die. Perhaps, they didn't even think about the
fact that in His crucifixion, He was fulfilling exactly what He said. This is the scope of the death of Christ in
His own simple words before the cross. Staggering. Father, we thank you for the greatness of
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that the results of the cross
have been going on ever since the event, and even before; how that the cross reaches back
in history and forward in history to gather all who believe. We thank you for the majesty of the cross. We thank you that in His dying, His willingness
to go through the troubling reality of horrible darkness and alienation from you and the bearing
of fury over sin that He didn't commit, and the willingness to be the substitute and the
sacrifice. He judged the world, condemned the arch enemy,
and has drawn all the redeemed from all history to Himself. What a glorious cross. What a glorious cross. Thank you, Lord, that He was in all points
tempted like as we are yet without sin. He who wept, He who was troubled, tortured
by the obvious realities of sin, and most troubled by having to bear sin was triumphant
in the trouble. He shows us that the conflict is not sin and
that triumph brings you glory. May we so live to follow our Master and triumph
over our own temptations to be disobedient to you. Give us victory through the pattern of our
Lord in His cross, as you have given us salvation through His cross. We ask these things in His name. Amen. END
