John | Chapter 12

John 12:12-19

“Joyful and Triumphant”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 12-15 The hour has come

III. Vs. 16-19 A donkeys’ testimony


Intro.

All four gospels record the only public demonstration that Jesus allowed in His earthly ministry. The last we read in John was that Jesus was at a quite dinner party in His honor now John skips to a few months later as Jesus is seen heading up a public parade. John’s account of the triumphant entry it is abbreviated when compared to the other gospels and knowing that John had the other gospels I suppose he knew that it was well covered so he doesn’t cover it as thoroughly as the others had and the only detail he adds is the use of palm branches. Further more John spends more time speaking of the reaction to this event from three groups as he does telling us the event it’s self.    

The first thing that strikes me when looking at all four accounts is that this event does not seem to be as spontaneous in fact it seems as though Jesus orchestrated it. He is the one that made the arrangements for the donkey as well as the timing of the event. I can only guess that He did so based upon the prophetic word. Since John’s account centers more on the reaction to the parade we need to ask ourselves what this mean to three groups of people:

  • Jesus
  • Romans
  • Jew’s

“What did this act mean to Jesus”:

  • Certainly was an act of obedience to the Father.
  • Then it was a fulfillment of the Word.
  • Finally Jesus was openly announcing to the people that He indeed is the King of Israel (John 1:49), the promised Messiah.

“What did this act mean to the Romans”:

To the Roman’s who would keep a special watch on this day it must have been quite comical to watch a poor peasant ridding a donkey to the shouts of save now, as there was nothing triumphal about it to them. Whenever a Roman general was victorious he was given a “Roman triumph” when he returned to the city our equivalent in American would be a “ticker-tape parade”. The victor would be permitted to display the trophies he had won and the enemy leaders he had captured but as these Roman soldiers watched they saw none of that. Had they had the spiritual eyes of Paul that day they would have seen behind Jesus what Paul comments on in Col. 2:15 when he says that Jesus “disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” How did Jesus do that? Well according to the 14th verse He would nail it to the cross.

“What did this act mean to the Jews”:

That is a more difficult question to answer as it involves three different groups, the disciples, the pilgrims and the people from Jerusalem (religious leaders included), all of which we will look at in detail. But to some up these three Jewish groups let me just say that Jesus riding a young donkey that had never been broken seems to indicate that the young donkey had greater understanding of who his master was then did everyone else that day.


Vs. 12-15 The hour has come

Vs. 12-15 We left off in verse 11 with the words, “Because on the account of him (Lazarus) many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus”. This is the first time Jesus will say “My hour has come” (verse 23) up until this time He has always said “My hour has not come”. It is only when we go back to verse 12 and get the timing of this event that the significance comes into focus. John told us that it was 6 days before the Passover which would make this the tenth day of Nisan or Sunday the April 6th A.D. 32. There are two significant points to make about this one practical the other prophetical.  

  1. Practical: According to Exodus this was the day that every Jewish family celebrating the Passover was to choose a lamb to sacrifice. They would then give the lamb to the priest who would watch it for four days to make sure it was with out spot (flaw) or blemish (defect). So on this day as thousands of lambs were being selected by families for the sacrifice came the “Lamb of God” with out spot or blemish into the city to the cries of “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!” Perhaps the people were thinking of Psalm 118:25-26 “Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.” But as the people were doing that according to Luke 19:41 Jesus wept as He saw the city. Now you know what “Hosanna” means don’t you? Well it means save now. Ah but before those words the psalmist say’s in verses 22-24 “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” At Jesus birth the angels announce that there was “peace on earth”, and in Luke 19:38 as Jesus rode towards Jerusalem the “city of peace” the people said that there was “peace in heaven” but without the “Prince of Peace” in their hearts there would be no peace. You may remember that in Luke’s account in 19:39-40 that “some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, Teacher, rebuke Your disciples. But He answered and said to them, I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” They were selecting a lamb that was going to be sacrificed for their sins at the very moment when the Lamb of God could “Save now”. The author of Hebrews in 10:4 says, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”        
  2. Prophetical: Ah but that is not the only significant point to the timing of this. Here we have to go back to Daniel 9:25 where the Lord spoke through Daniel saying, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.” If you do the math you will come up with 483 years and Daniel said that those 483 years would start at the command to restore and build Jerusalem. It just so happens that we have the date according to Neh. 2:1 that this decree went forth as Nehemiah went before king Artaxerxes on the “month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes”. We know that King Artaxerxes reign began 465 B.C. and 20 years later makes it 445 B.C. So the first of Nisan would have been our March 14th 445 B.C. The Jews used a 12 month 360 day calendar and then they would put in a 13th month when necessary to correct the calendar and if you place the use of that calendar with the date of March 14th 445 B.C. and count out the 483 years or 173,880 days the date according to Daniels’ prophecy when Messiah the Prince would come would be on April 6th A.D. 32 and that was this very day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey to the cheers of Hosanna and the waving of palm branches. No wonder Jesus cried out in Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” In Daniel 9:26 the prophet said “And after the sixty-two weeks  Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.” So Daniel clearly saw that Jesus entry was one linked to the cross.

There are there are two other things that are remarkable about this event and has to do with what people were waving and what Jesus was riding. 

  1. Vs. 13 “A great multitude…took branches of palms and went out to meet Him”:  Every year we celebrate this event as Christians calling it “Palm Sunday” but this was not some spontaneous event for the Jews as they had done this before. You see around two hundred years before this after a successful revolt led by Judas Maccabee (whose name means the hammer) over the blasphemous Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes the people celebrated the victory over oppression by waving palm branches. In fact it became such a symbol that it was minted on the back of their coins. The palm branches were a symbol of Jewish nationalism as such this was little more that a patriotic rally, and the crowds looked to Jesus as a political and national savior, but not a spiritual savior. So 200 years later a multitude gathered and cut down palm branches to celebrate the coming victory when they thought a new “hammer” had come thinking He would come and break the yoke of bondage and oppression of the Romans. Oh friends don’t miss this truth as Jesus came into Jerusalem to defeat a much greater oppressor then the Roman’s, He came as the “Savior” not the “Hammer” to break apart the bondage that our sin has upon our lives. Folks the greatest oppressor in our lives isn’t some political force, it’s not the economy or some outside enemy, NO it’s that fellow you see in the mirror each and every day! So how did these people respond when Jesus wasn’t the hammer but the Savior? Well they changed their words of “Save now” to “Die now” and little did they know that in order to “save now” He needed to “die now”. I find the response interesting as it is always easier for you and I to praise the Lord when we think He is going to do what we think He should do and whole other thing when what He does is tell us to go wait at the foot of the cross.       
  2. Vs. 14-15 The final remarkable thing about this is the fact that Jesus came riding a donkey. In Zech. 9:9 the prophet said, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you;     He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” But why not a horse as Kings didn’t ride donkey’s they came on horses? Well the rabbis had a theory that said that the Messiah would come ridding on a white horse if the nation was ready to receive her Messiah but He would come riding on a donkey if they weren’t ready. So when will the nation be ready? When will the Messiah come riding upon a white horse? Well the prophet predicted that the nation wouldn’t be ready but in the next chapter he said, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zech. 12:10). So according to Rev. 19:11 that will happen at the end of the tribulation as John declares that he “saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”

Vs. 16-19 A donkeys’ testimony

Vs. 16-19 The traditional view of the “Triumphal Entry” is that it was long over due and the people’s response was a genuine expression of their understanding of Jesus right to rule the nation. But the first thing that indicates that this may not be accurate is that this multitude had come to the feast and as such were not residents of Jerusalem but were pilgrims many from other countries. In Matthews account we are told that Jesus drew near the city from the Mount of Olives and upon this route these pilgrims cried Hosanna and waved their palm branches. Matthew goes on to tells us when the whole multitude arrived in the city the reaction of the inhabitants of the city was far from the “save now” that they had chanted along the way as they only asked “Who is this” to which the pilgrims said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee”. (21:10-11) A further indication that not very many understood the significance of the event at the time is John’s own words in verse 16 where he admits that, “His disciples didn’t understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him.” Apparently the pilgrims who started the parade did so because they had heard of the sign Jesus had done in raising Lazarus from the dead. The people saw Jesus raising of Lazarus as a sign that He was indeed the Messiah. “One who could summon a dead man back to life would certainly be able to deliver the holy city from the yoke of Caesar.” And the Pharisees, well they too didn’t get what was going on as they saw the crowds and commented, “Look, the world has gone after Him.” In fact it was this reaction that changed the plan of the Pharisees not to take Jesus during the feast to arresting Him out of desperation at the time they didn’t want to. 

Jesus also knew of the 9th chapter of Daniel as to the specific day of the event.

John records three responses to Jesus triumphal entry:

  1. Vs. 16 First we have the group that John himself belonged to and he says, “His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.” They were stupefied until He was glorified, “What’s all the commotion, waving of branches, the shouten of save now?” Friends there are a lot of things going on in our lives now that seem to be confusing and causing lots of commotion don’t they? Hey but wait a minute perhaps the problem lies in the fact that we aren’t noticing Who’s riding through it all, Jesus. Hear me out on this one it is when we look at Jesus glorified that all the commotion will clear up in His glory. There are a lot of times that it takes me seeing Him glorified for me to understand the things written.
    1. Vs. 17-18 That brings me to the next group those that had been their when Jesus had raised Lazarus testified. The multitude was recognizing Jesus to be the King but the king they wanted Him to be and soon they will reject Him. Sense the time of Jesus there has always been folks who have watched Jesus bring back folks from the dead and because of that some have come asking Him to “save now”. Friends this Christmas as we gather let’s not forget that we are still the greatest proof that Jesus’ words are true, that He has come as the “Savior” not the “Hammer”! All of us according to Paul’s words in Ephes. 2:1 “He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, were once dead” so why not come out of the tomb of the world and start living in freedom and joy.
    1. Vs 19 Finally we are given the last group, the Pharisees who in 11:57 said “if anyone knew where He was, he should report it” now have found Him and calls it too late as all the “world has gone after Him”. They viewed Jesus a threat instead a savior and because of it they were bummed out.

Oh the Irony as the crowds cried “save now”:

  • The disciples didn’t “understand now”
    • The Pharisees couldn’t “find how”
    • The multitudes would in four days would change their shouts from “save now” to “die now”!  

Finally it appears the triumphal entry wasn’t “triumphal” as far as Jesus was concerned as we are told in Luke’s account that as He entered the city He wept. So as the tears ran down His face He said in 19:42-44 “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Jesus came on a donkey; His crown was made of thrones, his scepter a broken reed His triumphal entry is really ours friends.    


John 12:20-36

“Sir we wish to see Jesus”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 20-26 Subtraction to multiplication

III. Vs. 27-36 Elevation to exaltation


Intro.

The 12th chapter provides for us Jesus’ last public teaching opportunity, though He will be teaching the disciples and those gathered near Him. Based upon the text this message of Jesus was meant for the ears of the Greeks but why would the Greeks the most educated bunch of folks seek an audience with a Jewish rabbi? The Greeks are best described in the words of Paul in Acts 17:21 where we are told that they “spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” You may recall that Greek mythology was a mere representation of their own sinful life style which was engaged in parties and orgies. These had become frustrated with the Greek life and had heard of the stories of a God who came down as a man but continued to live as a God. Yet with that said they have travelled along way to hear from Jesus which suggests that the philosophies and mythologies of the world didn’t hold any true answers and they sought not another philosophy but a person. 

Perhaps you’re like these Greeks as we start a new year and you want to make an appointment with Jesus, you have a few things you liked to ask Him concerning your situation. That’s perfectly alright remember in Matthew’s gospel we are told that a group of gentile magi followed a star from the east to seek Jesus near the time of His birth. And now here we are told of a group of gentiles that have come to inquire of Jesus at His death. The point is that the brightness of His glory is always drawing people to Him in good times and in bad times.


Vs. 20-26 Subtraction to multiplication

Vs. 20-22 The Greek indicates that these folks kept asking Phillip to see Jesus so they were persistent. Now probably they had come into contact with Judaism through the Old testament but had not became Jews. Interesting that the Greeks picked out of the disciples the two that had Greek names Phillip and Andrew to see if they could gain an audience with Jesus. At any rate they came to Phillip and he went to Andrew and Andrew and Phillip went to Jesus. Andrew is always bringing folks to Jesus and it never seemed to matter what they originally came for or the doubts they may have had Andrew treated them all the same by bringing everything and everyone to Jesus.

Vs. 23-24 From the beginning Jesus’ ministry in 2:4 He spoke of “His hour not yet coming” but here for the first time He says that His hour has come and by that He means the very purpose of His coming His death burial and resurrection. At every juncture of His life His hour had not come so no one could lay a hand on Him not Herod at His birth nor satan at His temptation nor the hoards of angry religious folks during His earthly ministry. 

Now in Jesus’ reply it appears at first glance that Jesus is brushing off these seeking Greeks but in reality Jesus’ is providing the answer to their request to see Him. Further more Jesus’ reply was to be delivered by Philip and Andrew. The first thing we notice in Jesus’ words is the analogy He employs, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” The use of the phrase “Most assuredly” was akin to saying “listen up, pay attention” which is then followed by the analogy which is one though the realm of agriculture. Why did Jesus employ an illustration using agriculture instead of Biblical prophecy? Well Jesus knew His audience would not have known the prophetic word. The Greeks were educated but not in Old Testament scripture they were educated in the sciences, philosophy and nature, so Jesus spoke to them in the realm of their understanding. Friends it does us no good to quote scripture at folks who don’t understand it in the first place it is better for those folks to put theology into their understanding.  

So what was Jesus trying to communicate to the Greeks? The context of Jesus’ words come from the Greeks trying to “see Jesus” to which Jesus tells them they won’t truly be able to “see” Him until after His death and resurrection. If I was too hold up a grain of wheat to you it would not seem very impressive, in fact it would appear to be plain with no real purpose. Ah but plant that one seed into the earth and wait and see what it will be able to accomplish as it will bare much fruit. In fact if you took that grain of wheat and planted it and kept repeating that process of planting every grain of wheat that each stock produced in 14 years it would fill up every inch of soil in the earth. Jesus word’s hit the crux of the matter as folks have no problem with Jesus as a person but they have a huge problem with Jesus with regards to His purpose. Jesus the teacher, Jesus the prophet, Jesus the miracle working liberator, no problem but Jesus the Savior of our souls big problem. Why? Well because if Jesus is the savior of our souls it means that our souls need saving and if our souls need to be saving then we can’t keep living the way we want to.  

Hey folks, the answer to those seeking Jesus is always to be found at the cross; in fact the answer to all the questions we are facing can be found there. “Why Lord, why?” we cry out and the answer is “My arms are open wide for you and I love you!” “I alone can make sense out that which makes no sense. Watch and wait and you will see what I can produce in My love from that which has fallen from your life and is swallowed up in the hopelessness of this life. Why I’ll water it in My word and daily I’ll shine the rays of my love upon that seed and some day you will recall not just the sorrow and despair but you will see a field of fruitfulness.” The measure my friends of God’s greatness is best seen not in His creating something out of nothing but in His recreating beauty from ashes. That is what the Lord promises in Isaiah 61:3 when He says through Isaiah “console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

The kernel of grain left alone can produce nothing but if it is buried and dies it can then multiply. Three thousand-year-old grains of wheat found in the tombs of the Pharaohs were found to be absolutely the same as any grain of wheat today. In fact, when they were planted they began to grow even though they were totally unchanged for 3,000 years or more. So to you with you and me if we want to be fruitful we will need to die too multiply and in this instance contrary to mathematic principals “subtraction” is the only way to “addition”. Paul would say to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 15:31 “I die daily” now in saying this he can’t be speaking of dying physically because you can’t do that more than once so Paul us speaking of dying to the old nature the self centered life.

Vs. 25-26 Notice that Jesus never grants that audience but sends His disciples with His words, “You can’t see Me except through the cross; you won’t know Me unless you come to see me through My death, burial and resurrection.” In this last teaching He tells everyone listening the key to living life: “He who loves his life will lose it”. We are called to hate our life in the sense that we freely give it up for God. Our life is precious to us, but only because it is something we can give to Jesus.

So Jesus followed His words with, “Tell them that if they want to follow me they are going to have to die to the self life” that was exactly the opposite of what the Greek philosophies suggested ads they said indulge yourself. The key to living life is not by pushing yourself to the top, looking out after number one but rather dying to your self centered life, that my friend is the key to a joy filled life. Here friends is the great Christian paradox, the unmistakable mark of an authentic gospel: It begins with dying, with a cross. If the gospel that you hear preached on the radio, the television, or wherever, does not begin with a cross, does not begin by telling you that something in you has to die, it is not the true gospel. This is the identifying mark.  “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” That doesn’t mean you have to hate yourself, it means you must recognize that living for yourself will never supply what you really want out of life. A. W. Tozer said, “The cross is the symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of the human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going out to have his life redirected. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, and spared nothing. It slew all of the man completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck swift and hard and when it had finished its work the man was no more.” If you belong to Jesus, every day will have its cross, every day will have something you ought to do but you don’t feel like doing, that is your cross. Jesus said in Luke 9:23 “He who follows me must take up his cross daily and follow me”.   Every day has its bit of death in order that it might bring forth life. The end result is a life so glorious, so complete, so obviously what we were made for that I can hardly find the words to describe it. But the testimony of millions is that it’s all true. Life comes only out of death.


Vs. 27-36 Elevation to exaltation

Vs. 27-30 John does not mention the Garden of Gethsemane even though he was their but he does include an incident which has sometimes been called “little Gethsemane” for it reflects the same agony of spirit felt by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. This incident occurred perhaps two days before the experience in the garden. 

Jesus saw beyond the crisis of the cross to the Glory of obedience and friends that is what we need to do as well. Jesus used the image of a seed to illustrate the great spiritual truth that there can be no glory without suffering, no fruitful life without death, no victory without surrender. Notice that Jesus didn’t say “What shall I do?” but “What shall I say?” He knew what His purpose was and it was that which guided Him not anything else. In the hour of suffering and surrender my friends there are only two choices we can pray, either “Father, save me!” or “Father, glorify Thy name!” Friend’s God’s promises to us are not based upon our being “comfortable” they are based upon us being “conformable”. That is what Paul reveals to us in Romans 8:29 where we read “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son”. That is God’s work in us conforming us into the image of His Son. If we are looking for comfortable lives, then we will protect our plans and desires, save our lives, and never be planted. But if we yield our lives and let God plant us, we will never be alone but will have the joy of being fruitful to the glory of God.    

I love the fact here that in Jesus words He is honest, “now My soul is troubled” as Jesus pondered the reality of the cross He realized its implications that becoming man’s sin offering brought namely momentary separation from loving fellowship with the Father. Next notice that Jesus clearly had a choice, “what shall I say? Father save Me from this hour?” “Shall I put My desire above My calling and obedience; shall I put this above others?” Then instantly comes the reply, “But for this purpose I came to this hour.” And what was that purpose? Well Jesus says, “Father, glorify Your name.” Jesus gives you and me a great way to always evaluate the decisions we face:

  1. Always put purpose above your person: So many decisions we make center around how they benefit us personally with little or no regard to how they work with in our purpose and calling.
  2. Secondly, we need to ask ourselves, “Does this decision bring glory to me or to God?” Friends you do those two things and you will stay on coarse.
  3. Third, remember that the cross is much more than and instrument of death it as an emblem of Love and Grace so when we focus upon His love and grace we will go towards self denial. Hear now how Paul put it to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 4:17 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”.

This is the third time the voiced of the Father thundered from heaven, first at His baptism, then on the mount of Transfiguration and finally at the end of His ministry as He spoke of the cross. The interesting thing is that each one of these times had to do with Jesus’ death:

  • Baptism is a symbol of death
    • At the transfiguration according to Luke 9:31 He spoke with Elijah and Moses about His death
    • Finally here right after His words about the cross.

My point? Well do you ever feel as though God doesn’t talk much to you, you have a hard time hearing from Him? Well may I make an observation based upon the fact that every time Jesus spoke of dying the Father thundered His words of encouragement? Where do you stand in reference to dying to your self centered nature? The truth I have found in my own life is that I always seem to hear God’s word the best when I’m surrendering the most! Now those around Jesus just heard thunder but Jesus heard the words and so too when the Lord speaks to our hearts some will hear noise others may call it a religious experience but we will know that it was the Lord speaking.

            I love the fact that Jesus proclaims our victory here don’t you? The outcome was not in doubt the moment the decision to go to the cross was made and sin and satan were going to be defeated. Isn’t interesting that once sin was dealt with satan is a goner? Folks when we give into the flesh and choose to be disobedient we give satan something to grab onto in our lives. In 1 John 1:7 we are told that “if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” So as John tells us in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Now the word “confess” just means to “speak the same as” in other words when we agree with Jesus about our sin then “He is faithful and just to forgive us”. Friends Jesus blood covering us makes us “slippery” to satan’s hold so why not agree with Jesus about our sin and keep the devil at bay in your life.

Vs. 31-36 It is interesting to note that the Roman’s, the Jew’s and satan thought that it was the cross that was judging Jesus but reality the crossed that defeat the world system and satan thus securing victory. The Greek word used for lifted up in verse 32 has a deliberate double meaning as it means a literal “elevation” (as in being raised up on a cross) as well as “exaltation” (being raised in rank or honor). So in this word is the idea that His elevation of the cross caused is exaltation. The people had been taught of the triumph of the Messiah but they were unaware that His triumph was tied to His suffering. The people didn’t understand the two comings as they understood that the Messiah would live forever and here was the One they thought was the Messiah saying that He was going to die. These folks wanted to talk theology with the Jesus and He wanted to talk relationship with them saying, “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”   

Jesus explains what the glory consists of by listing three things:

  1. Vs. 31a First, “Now is the judgment of this world.” In the cross men will be able to see what is wrong with the philosophy of the world, what is evil in what sounds so right and necessary. Here the world’s phony values are exposed the fact is you cannot be a Christian and continue to live on the basis that your life belongs to yourself. That is the life of the world and all of that is judged in the cross.
  2. Vs. 31b Secondly, Jesus declares, “Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out.” Because we are continually victims of the deceptions of Satan we do not realize how total is his control of the human race. All men blindly follow demonic delusions that Satan sends into the world. We find ourselves manipulated by Satanic values and have no idea of how helpless we are to change, apart from Christ. The great word of the gospel is that when we believe in Jesus and follow him, we are freed from the power of Satan, transferred into the Kingdom of the Son of God’s love. For the first time we can do something permanent about the habits that destroy us, hurting us and others, wrecking our plans and sabotaging our highest hopes and dreams. In the cross the power of the devil over the human race was broken and deliverance to individuals was made possible.
  3. Vs. 32 Thirdly, Jesus says, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” John tells us what they mean when he adds, “He said this to show by what death he was to die.” These words of Jesus are clearly a reference to the cross: By means of the cross he would draw all people to himself. No one can escape Jesus of Nazareth. He stands at the end of every path. Though we may neglect him and be indifferent to him now, there will come a day when we will have to face him.   

Did you notice that the time of judgment of this world coincides with Jesus suffering and victory on the cross? The instrument of the world’s judgment of Jesus becomes that which mankind will be judged upon the cross. We are coming to a time when our enemy satan will be forever cast out, his evil influence forever broken, oh what a glorious time that will be.             


John 12:37-50

“Our own judge and jury”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 37-43 Surprising results

III. Vs. 44-50 Final public words


Intro.

Last week we read of Jesus surprise response to the Greek’s desire to “see Jesus”. In His response Jesus told them if they wanted to truly “see Him” that it was only possible if they saw Him in His purpose (the cross) and was willing to follow Him there as well. To illustrate this John now gives us the results of Jesus 3 ½ year ministry on earth as he interjects his commentary here as to why so many who had witnessed Jesus’ miracles yet didn’t respond to becoming “sons of the Light”. The first thing of note is the context as to how John viewed Jesus miracles they were “signs”. There is a tendency to make the sign the destination rather than something pointing towards a destination. Jesus worked His miracles to point people towards Himself instead folks saw the work marveled in it but failed to see what these signs told them about the very One who did them. Time and again we see this example in the Word that people would witness Jesus work and fail to read the sign and then hear the Word and realize what the sign had been pointing towards.

            Friends let that be a “sign” for us that Jesus has already given us the greatest “sign” of His love and it’s the cross so now we need only be in His word as “Faith comes be hearing and hearing by the word of God.”


Vs. 37-43 Surprising results

Vs. 37-38 John is about to record the final public words of Jesus having already told us in verse 36 that after these things He departed to spend the final days with His followers. But before John gives us those final words he summarizes the results of Jesus public ministry and I must say it is quite revealing. He declares to us that although Jesus “had done many signs before them, they did not believe in Him.” Now that flies in the face of common thought that it would have been much easier to believe in Jesus if we would have been able to witness the signs that He did. I mean show us one blind man that can now see, one lame man that could now walk, one dead man now breathing and we would say that’s enough for me, after all “seeing is believing right”? The key to understanding this passage before is to be found ironically in the word “believe” which repeated 8 times in 14 verses.

            Jesus authenticated His words with His works and yet the results are not what we would expect. To further understand this dilemma we have to remember that John only hand selected the “signs” that he has recorded in fact we are told in chapter 20:30-31 that “truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” Just how many other signs did Jesus do? Well John tells us the amount of volume in chapter 21:25 where he declares that “There are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” That changes our perspective on this a bit don’t you think? The evidence of Jesus words about Himself were constantly being authenticated by His works so that the outcome should have overloaded the senses bringing everyone into belief, yet John declares that they did not believe. How is that possible, that the general result of Jesus public ministry with His works constantly bearing with His words was unbelief?  

John is answering the hypothetical question, “If Jesus was so great, why didn’t everybody believe on Him?” And to do so he takes his readers to two prophecies in Isaiah the first one in the 53rd chapter and the second one in the 6th chapter and he is going to explain the unbelief of the people in verses 38-41 and what we find is a threefold progression that was prophesied in the book of Isaiah.

  1. Vs. 37-38 They would not believe: To understand this John quotes Isa. 53 which predicts the Messiahs mission but before it speaks of His mission in the very first verse John records the words here saying, “Lord, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”  In spite of all the clear evidence that was presented to them, the nation would not believe. They could not say that Jesus didn’t do any signs among them He raised the dead, the lame walked, the blind saw he feed the multitudes twice. So the first thing that we learn is that in spite of the constant words and works of Jesus God knew that this would not be enough to convince most people to believe. Why? Well they simply “would not believe” the lack of belief had nothing to do with a lack of evidence, the refusal to trust was not based upon a drought of information that was not the case and God said so 750 years before the event took place. In Luke 10:13 Jesus said “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.”   

Sometimes people will ask what about the Pigmies in Africa, you know the ones who have never heard about Jesus? Well hear we have the answer to that and it is rather simple it is not what we don’t hear that judges us it is what we have heard and chosen to reject that does. That is what Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”. I’m not certain what will happen but I kind of think that every time people were told the truth concerning Jesus, every time His character came into the conscience mind will be replayed and it will be that which each and every person heard and witnessed about Jesus that will rise up and testify against them the word will end up being a witness for or against them depending upon what they have done with what they have heard.     

Vs. 39-41 So reviewing this John informs us of the result of Jesus constant signs was unbelief because they “would not believe” now John tells us in verse 39 they “could not believe”. There was a group around Jesus who did believe and there were many who had trusted in Him still the majority of people would not believe because they “could not believe”.

  • Vs. 39 They could not believe: As they continued to resist the evidence they hardened their heart to the truth and became those who could not believe. Those who did not believe in verse 37 became those who could not believe in verse 39 because they would not God allowed them to have what they wanted. Since their wills were already made up God gave them over to it so that their minds would match their wills. That is the point of the quote in verse 38 as it is from the 53rd chapter of Isaiah in fact it is the very first verse where the Lord says to Isaiah, “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Isaiah will go one and speak about the suffering of the Messiah in verse 4-6 to say “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” So before the Lord spoke to Isaiah He told Isaiah that the nation wouldn’t believe the manor by which the Lord would save the world. Paul describes this condition in Romans 1:18 where he says that the “wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness”. That is why we need to heed the word of Isaiah in 55:6 where he admonishes us to “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”  

What I’m about to say may seem a bit odd but from a purely statistical perspective I know of no one who would say that Jesus public ministry was a success. With all the great claims and promises Jesus made then supported those with the proof that He could alone fulfill every promise by His works there were only a handful of people who believed Him, those my friends are just the facts. Least you think that some how I’m finding fault with Jesus method I am not what I am saying is that the problem lay not in Jesus Method in fact I believe that the problem was in the heart of those who saw and heard the evidence, “they could not believe”.

That brings me to the third and final progression that John brings up:

  • Vs. 40-41 That they should not believe: John quotes from Isaiah again only this time from the 6th chapter. So when a person who would not believe continues to do so until they become those could not believe God grants them what they want so that they should not believe other wise He would violate their free will. You see I am of the opinion that the evidence was so overwhelming that it was enough to make:
    • Stones cry out in worship
    • Donkey’s that had never been ridden to submit
    • Wind and waves becoming still at His mere words
    • Bones and other parts of the human body becoming whole at His command        

That the human mind had no chance but to become convinced but in so doing God would be forcing the head to do what the heart had no intention of doing! Now my opinion is supported in the words of Isaiah 6 where we are told that, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts”. To recap; they “would not believe” because they “could not believe” so God said, “they should not believe” because if He hadn’t done so “They would see with their eyes, understand with their hearts and He should heal them” but it would be against their wills, man would lose their freedom of choice in the face of the evidence!  Isaiah was told that he was to “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.” (Isaiah 6:9) So God confirms the decision of the unbelieving heart, He does not create it but neither will He violate it.

Vs. 42-43 There is yet another group who do believe but because they love the praises of men more than God won’t admit so publically as we are told as a result of Jesus constant words and works and that “even among the rulers many believed in Him” and as positive as that is John goes on to say, “but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.” The evidence was overwhelming enough to elicit belief but not enough to risk expulsion form their former life. John tells us that even among the rulers many believed of Jesus yet they publically denied doing so for they feared being put out of the synagogue because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Now one of those was no doubt Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who we are told in John 19:38 “was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews.” Now I mention these two because obviously they didn’t always stay in the state of believing but not doing so openly. You may recall the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:32 where He warns “whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.”  

Mere intellectual agreement isn’t enough with out personal commitment because it is with the heart one believes and with the mouth one confesses and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. There is no neutral ground with Jesus as He said in Matthew 12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” There are many in the world today like these rulers who have a conviction with regards to the Christ but not enough to cause them to confess as much to those near them as they wish to remain secret saints. Convinced of the truth but not to the point of confessing it is a cowardly way live but there were some who in time could no longer live that way and were among those who came forward at Jesus death. John tells us that the reason behind such cowardly action was that, “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God”. What brought about conviction with confession? I suggest to you it was the reality of seeing their mere conviction hanging upon a cross, Jesus conviction went the full distance to His confession seeing upon His willingness to die for the sin of all!


Vs. 44-50 Final public words

Vs. 44-50 Finally John records after the fact Jesus final public words in light of the results of His public ministry. John says that “Jesus cried out” a phrase that describes the manor in which He said these His closing words, that Jesus did so with a tremendously strong emotional appeal.

  1. Vs. 44-45 The first thing in His appeal is the relational connection His with the Father and those because of their belief in Him are also connected relationally with the Father. These words serve both as an admonishment as well as a warning that not believing Jesus words will be what judges a person. John will elaborate on this further in his first letter where he says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Jesus in Luke 19:10 said that “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” It isn’t Him who judges us it is our own actions if we continue to not trust Him.  
  2. Vs. 46-48 The next thing of note is the personal connection to Jesus one in which Jesus clarifies as changing their address from abiding in darkness to abiding with Him in the light. He had brought back into this world that which it lost the “light of life” which is brought into every heart that believes His words (and that is the word rhema). His words were to be for salvation not condemnation, He came to liberate not captivate. But the rejection of that which saves will in turn judge the very person who rejects them. Jesus tells us something very interesting here in verse 47-48 and that is that He has not come to judge the world but to save it and in rejecting Him a person judges themselves. It is very much like a person who fall overboard and someone throws them a life preserver but they choose to not put it on. The life preserver wasn’t thrown overboard to judge them but if a person rejects it they have judged themselves by rejecting it to save them.
  3. Vs. 49-50 Finally Jesus goes back to His relationship with the Father but the emphasis has to do with authority and as such has with a sense of finality and eternal consequences. Jesus says that if you believe in Him then you believe in the Father and that is interesting because people would like to tell you that you can believe in God without trusting in God the Son but Jesus says no. Jesus concludes His last public teaching with a promise of eternal life if they will but receive His word and that His word equals the word of God. Friends you and I have it so much easier to believe because we are looking back at the finished work of Christ and simply asked to believe the evidence after the fact while these folks were asked to believe the evidence prior to the cross, so we truly have no excuse not to trust. 

And with these words Jesus public ministry ends with only a little over have the book completed. John has carefully and purposefully chosen what words and works he included in his report and even gave us the results of those 3 ½ years upon those who witnessed them, “they did not believe”. Had the book closed at this point and not given us nine chapters to weigh the events of the final few ours of Jesus life I reckon that His name would have long ago been forgotten as little would have come of his time upon this earth. But the results of these nine chapters is the fact that we are here reading this text testifying of having personally met Him and demonstrating as much from the position of a transformed life. Friends never under estimate the power the cross has upon all of mankind as many who heard the words and saw the works that didn’t believe having known of His death and His temporary burial have gone on record to the point of death themselves declaring that that same tomb that held Him so briefly is and always be empty.

            The clear teaching in this section is that the Word offers salvation to those who will but trust its message but the very word that can save will judge if rejected. In John 15:22 Jesus said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” The sad truth is that many who reject Jesus do so because they are more afraid of what man will say about them then what God will say about them. Do you realize that all a person has to do to go to hell is nothing! Procrastinate and keep doing so until your heart becomes hardened to the truth to the point where you will not be “judge” and the truth is He came to save it is those who reject His salvation that are judging themselves. Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Next week we will pick up in chapter 13 with Jesus huddling together with His team in the upper room.