Foot Washing

John 13:1-15

We begin a new section of John’s Gospel this morning. From John 1:19 to 12:50, we’re told about Jesus’ public ministry. That section is often called the Book of Signs because in it John records seven miraculous signs that Jesus did which demonstrated His identity as the Son of God. John shined a spotlight on Jesus’ works and His words that proved that He is the Christ, the Son of God. One of the key words in that whole section was “light.” He used that word 24 times. John wrote about Jesus in his introduction, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Jesus concluded His public ministry by crying out in a loud voice (John 12:46), “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”

And now, beginning in Chapter 13, and going all the way to the end of chapter 17, John gives us a record of Jesus’ private conversation and prayer with His disciples just before He went to the cross. The second half of John is often called the Book of Glory because Jesus has just stated in John 12 that the time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, speaking of His coming death and resurrection. But it could also be called the Book of Love. In chapters 1-12 the word love appears an average of once per chapter. In these next five chapters love appears 34 times, about 7 times per chapter. It is obvious that Jesus is emphasizing His love for His own.

John 13, begins with love. In John 13:1 John writes about Jesus, “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” This section ends in John 17 with Jesus praying, “that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them,” (John 17:26). He begins and ends with His love for His own. It’s just like the Savior! And down through these five chapters we are given the heartbeat of our Savior for those He loves.

And this morning, we’ll look at the first great event of this great section in John’s Gospel—Jesus washing His disciples feet. More →

Jesus’ Final Appeal

John 12:44-50

Randy K. Kilby at the age of 42 was president of Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute in North Carolina. On February 6, 1997, he was preaching at Southeastern Baptist Seminary, and said as he began, “Pray that I will come into this pulpit as if it were my first time, pray for the me that I’ll preach as if it were my best time, and pray for me as it could be my last time.” It wasn’t his last time, but five days later, as he preached very passionately at a Bible conference at West Lenoir Baptist Church, he finished his sermon, walked out of the sanctuary, and died of an apparent sudden cardiac arrest. (“Fruitland President Kilby dies at 42 of heart attack.” Baptist Press, February 17, 1997. Online: http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=3094).

The great Puritan pastor Richard Baxter once famously said, “I preached, as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men!” In an age where being a Puritan was subject to persecution, Baxter never knew when he might be preaching his final sermon. But of course, it is true for us all: we never really know when we might preach, or hear, our last sermon; even when we might draw our last breath. (Richard Baxter, The Poetical Fragments of Richard Baxter (London: Pickering, 1821), 35. Online: http://www.archive.org/stream/poeticalfragment00baxt#page/34/mode/2up/search/%22dying+man%22).

I hope this is not the last sermon I will preach, and I pray it is not the last that you will hear. But here in John 12, we find the last public sermon of Jesus Christ–one that He knew would be His last. These are not the last words of Christ. The next five chapters contain many words spoken privately to His disciples on the night He was betrayed. Jesus spoke very few words during His trial, and He spoke seven brief utterances on the cross.  But here in John 12 we have Jesus’ final public appeal to the Jews who had not believed in Him.

John tells us “Then Jesus cried out and said.” It means to shout in a loud voice. Jesus is doing more than just teaching. He’s strong urging His hearers to pay attention to these truths. He wants these words to resonate in the ears of those who heard Him.

Listen as I read our text, John 12:44-50:

44 Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.

45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.

46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him–the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.

50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

With the very loud declaration of those final words, the Son of God put a ‘period’ on three-and-a-half years of public ministry. If you have been following along in our teaching of the Gospel of John you may notice that Jesus does not say anything really very different from what He had said on other occasions. So His words here serve as a review of some of the key truths of John’s Gospel so far. These truths focus on His identity, His purpose in coming, warnings of judgment and encouragement to believe in Him for eternal life.

So in Jesus’ final public sermon He clearly reminds us of who He is, why He came, and what the consequences are for those who believe and for those who do not believe.

First, we see that Jesus came …

1. To show us the Father (John 12:44-45)

Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.

Did you notice that twice in those verses that Jesus declares that He was “sent”? Later, in John 12:49, He lets us know specifically that the one who sent Him was God the Father. In fact Jesus says 35 times in John’s Gospel that the Father “sent Me.” This truth is at the core of who Jesus is. Jesus came into this world in a way that was true of no one else who has ever walked upon it. He was sent by the Father.

And Jesus declares to us that He was sent into this world as One who is so united to the Father who sent Him, that to believe in Him is also to believe in the Father, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.” Lest we miss what that means Jesus strengthens the impact of it by saying, “And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.” The word that is here translated “see” means to gaze upon in a contemplative and thoughtful way. And so, to gaze upon Jesus and to contemplate Him is to gaze upon and accurately contemplate the Father.

Jesus is affirming here what John states in his introduction to his Gospel. John introduces Jesus as the Word in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then tells us how the eternal Son of God was sent in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Then John 1:18 tells us what it means for us that He was sent, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

Jesus came to show us the Father. He shows us the Father because He is one with the Father. In John 10:30 Jesus said, “I and My Father are one.” And again in John 10:38 He said they should, “know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” In John 8:19 Jesus says to those who do not believe in Him, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.”

Jesus will repeat this truth in answer to Philip’s request for Jesus to show them the Father (John 14:9-10), “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” So to know God, you must know Jesus. As 1 John 2:23 affirms, “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

The Jews to whom Jesus spoke that day said they believed in God, but many of them refused to believe in Jesus. And many people today claim the same thing. Some will even say, “I believe in God; but I don’t believe in Jesus Christ.” Jesus says this is impossible. The only way to have a relationship with God the Father is through His Son. To believe on Jesus is to believe on God the Father; and to see Jesus is to see God the Father.

No wonder Jesus shouted this. There is no other way to have a relationship with the Father but through Him. That’s why Jesus came into this world—to show us the Father. Next Jesus says He came:

2. To shine as a light in the darkness (John 12:46)

46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

Again here, Jesus restates a truth that has been repeated throughout John’s Gospel. John 1:4-5 affirms, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:9 calls Jesus “the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” John 3:19-21 refers to Jesus as the Light:

19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

In John 8:12, Jesus proclaimed, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” In John 9:5, just before He opened the eyes of the man born blind, Jesus repeated, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” And in John 12:35-36, Jesus taught again:

“A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

This means that the world without Christ is in spiritual and moral darkness. This fallen world is a very dark place; and apart from Jesus, we don’t know God the Father, and we don’t know how to live in a way that pleases Him. Without Christ we do not understand the things that the Spirit of God has revealed in God’s Word (1 Cor. 2:14). Without Christ we are darkened in our understanding and excluded from the life of God (Eph. 4:18).

Jesus is the light and there is no other. He came to shine the light of God into the darkness of our world of sin.

Thirdly, Jesus came …

3. To save the world (John 12:47)

47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

Jesus says He did not come to judge the world, He came to save the world. Again, Jesus is stating truths that He has repeatedly taught in this Gospel:

John 3:17-18 – “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

You see, Jesus did not have to come to bring judgment. Judgment was already upon this world. Jesus did not need to condemn sinners, they stood condemned already. But in His coming, Jesus was on a mission to save from that judgment those who would believe upon Him.

The purpose for which Jesus came in His first advent was to save the world. He came to be the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” (John 1:29). He came so that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” (John 3:16). Jesus said (John 10:9), “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.”

As the Son of God, He would not have had to be born into humanity in order to be the judge of the world. But He did have to be born into the human family in order to be our Savior. And that’s why He came. He left the glory of heaven, was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, and was born in Bethlehem as one of us. He grew up in the midst of this dark and fallen world without committing any sin. He walked upon the earth in perfect obedience to the Father’s commandments; and finally took all the guilt of human sin upon Himself as the sinless Lamb of God when He died on the cross in our place.

Jesus did not come to judge the world but to save the world. But what we see next is that everyone will be judged by what they do with Him. Jesus next tells us that He came into this world . . .

4. To speak judgment and eternal life (John 12:48-50)

First, in John 12:48 Jesus speaks of judgment: “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him–the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”

Jesus says there will be a last day, and that it will be a day of judgment. The Bible warns us that judgment will come and the wrath of a holy God will be poured out. But ultimately, it will be the words of Jesus that judge people on that day. Jesus came to this earth and spoke the words that God the Father gave Him to speak. John 12:49, “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.” We will be judged by what we do with Jesus and His words. The one who rejects Jesus and His words will remain condemned on that day.

But the opposite will be true of those who receive Jesus and His word. In John 5:24 Jesus offered a sure way to escape the judgment of condemnation, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

When Jesus came into this world He put every man and women in it at the crossroads of a decision. They must either receive His words and believe on Him, or not receive His words and reject Him. And what they do with what He has said will determine their eternal destiny. He told His disciples (John 15:22), “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

At the end of Jesus’ last public sermon He cried out (John 12:50), “And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” The mission that the Father commanded the Son to fulfill—which He fulfilled perfectly; and the words that the Father commanded Him to speak—which He declared boldly and publicly; all lead to eternal life.

That’s why Jesus came. Jesus Himself shouted it out. He came to show us the Father. He came to shine as a light in this dark world. He came not to judge sinners, but to save them. He came to speak of judgment and eternal life so that we might believe on Him and be saved.

This is why the Lord Jesus speaks with such urgency, crying out these words of His final public sermon. And that was the end of His public ministry. It was the last time they would hear Him preach. We don’t know but that this could well be the last sermon I ever preach. It might well be the last one you hear. This may be your hour of decision. It is not my words which are important, but His words, so clearly spoken in this great Gospel.

Have you taken the words of Jesus to heart? Have you believed His words about who He is and why He came? Have you received Him as the One who died for your sins, who bore your punishment on the cross? Have you received His free gift of eternal life?

A Summary of Unbelief

John 12:37-43

Today in our study of the Gospel of John we are at the end of John 12. This chapter records the very last public teaching of Jesus in the Gospel of John. It contains a bold affirmation of His identity, and gives a final call for those who would believe on Him to come to Him. From here to the end of John, the only public appearances of Jesus will be at His trial and His crucifixion. Even after His resurrection, Jesus only appeared to those who would believe. The time is short. The hour is at hand and last words of Jesus carry great weight. Listen as I read John 12:35-50.

35 Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:

40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”

41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.

42 Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

44 Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. 46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. 47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him–the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

As that passage stresses, some would hear these words of Jesus but not believe. Next time we will study those last public words of Jesus from John 12:44-50. But before we get there, we find that the apostle John pauses in the narrative and gives a summary and a commentary that helps explain why it was that so many did not believe on Him. The sad outcome of Jesus’ public ministry is summed up in John 12:37. “But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him.” In John 12:37-43 the apostle will show how Israel’s refusal to belief in Jesus confirms that He is the Christ.

Remember that the purpose of John’s Gospel is “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name,” (John 20:31). But John also warned us from the beginning (John 1:10-11), “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”

John 12:37-43 is a comment by the apostle John under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, on the outcome of the Christ’s public ministry. John helps us understand the difficult question of why the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah. And it also serves as a call to believe on Jesus today before it is too late.

First let’s look at:

I. The summary of their unbelief (John 12:37)

John writes (John 12:37), “But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him.” John states clearly what we have seen over and over again in the Gospel: that many who heard Jesus, who saw His miracles, and who even heard the voice of God did not believe in Jesus. Notice the characteristics of this unbelief. First, it is a persistent unbelief. The verb “believe” is constructed in such a way as to communicate that the Jews kept on and kept on in unbelief. The picture is one of constant refusal to believe. It is one thing to be slow to believe – many of us are. It is another thing to continue to refuse to believe when the evidence has been clearly given.

And the evidence was overwhelming. John exclaims, “He had done so many signs before them.” So secondly, it was an unbelief that was in spite of the signs our Lord had performed. The first 12 chapters of John have been called the “book of signs” because they record seven miraculous signs that Jesus did that point to the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Not every miracle that the Lord performed is told to us in this Gospel. As John tells us near the end of his account (John 20:30), “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.” But as we said, John’s purpose in writing about the signs he chose is so that people would believe.

So, why then didn’t most people believe after they saw these things He had done?

Stop and think of the many things that we have read already about our Lord in the Gospel of John:

1. In John’s opening statement in John 1 he set forth Jesus as the divine Word who became flesh so that we beheld His glory.
2. Then, John the Baptist testifies about Jesus, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) and “I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God,” (John 1:34). after testifying that the Holy Spirit identified Jesus at His baptism and the voice of the Father testified of Him (see also 3:22-36).
3. Jesus proved His omniscience by His witness to the very thoughts of Nathanael as he sat under the fig tree (John 1:50-51).
4. Then there was the first sign when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding of Cana; showing Jesus’ authority and His creative power (2:1-12).
5. Then Jesus went to Jerusalem and cleansed the temple; showing His authority over His Father’s house (2:13-25).
6. In John 4 Jesus again revealed His all-knowing power to the woman at the well—so that she ran into the town of Samaria and declared “Could this be the Christ?” (4:29), drawing the whole town out to meet Him and believe on Him.
7. Then our Lord healed a nobleman’s son in Capernaum from a distance, showing His power to heal by merely speaking the word (4:43-54).
8. In John 5 Jesus healed the infirm man at the pool of Bethesda (5:1-18) on the Sabbath day causing the religious leaders to want to kill Him (v. 16).
9. Jesus again revealed His power in the feeding of the five-thousand (6:1-14) in such a way as the people sought to make Him king and declare, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world” (v. 14).
10. In John 7 Jesus testified of Himself (John 7:10-39) in such a way as to cause those who sought to arrest Him exclaim, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” (John 7:46). And in John 8 Jesus would declare His eternal preexistence, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58).
11. In John 9 Jesus healed a man born blind (9:1-41) in such a way as to cause the man to fall down and worship Him as the Son of God (v. 38). In John 10 Jesus would declare, “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11) and “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30).
12. Jesus’ greatest sign came in John 11 when He raised His friend Lazarus from the dead (11:1-44) so that many believed on Him as ‘the Resurrection and the Life’ (v. 45).
13. And here in John 12, we saw the way He rode into the city of Jerusalem in fulfillment of the prophecies of Zechariah (12:12-36); causing the people to cry out, “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!” (v. 13).

And in the face of all this evidence and much more, many did not believe. His own people for whom He came and revealed Himself through these signs and words so disbelieved Him as to eventually crucify Him.

So we see in John 12:37 the summary of the Jews’ unbelief. It was a persistent unbelief and it was unbelief in spite of the overwhelming evidence that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. That leads us to ask, “Why?” Why did most of the Jews persist in unbelief in spite of the evidence?  

The answer, John writes, is that there is a purpose in their unbelief.

II. The purpose of their unbelief (John 12:38-41)

It may seem a bit odd for John to emphasize how the Jews refused to believe in Jesus as the Christ. After all, the point of John’s Gospel is to convince people reading it that Jesus is the Christ. The Jews were the people who were to bring forth the Christ. The Jews were the people among whom the Christ worked. When the Greek came to see Jesus in this chapter, Jesus implies that the glory of the Son of Man will spread also to the Gentiles. But that time has not yet come. The focus is first of all on the Jews. You’d think if the Jews accept Jesus, that would be a strong argument in favor of accepting Jesus as the Christ. And if the Jews reject Jesus it might be reason for us Gentiles to reject Him as well.

But John turns that argument completely on its head. He shows how Israel’s unbelief actually proves all the more that Jesus is indeed the Christ. How?

First, the unbelief of the Jews should come as no surprise, because Israel’s unbelief and rejection of Jesus as their Messiah was foretold by Old Testament prophecy. It was “that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’” (v. 38).

This is a quote from one of the most beloved passages of the Old Testament—Isaiah 53. It’s a passage that describes our Lord’s vicarious suffering for us in vivid terms; and also tells us of the redemption He accomplished through His death. The prophet Isaiah begins that passage by saying,

Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him (Isaiah 53:1-3).

That passage from Isaiah is describing the dismay of the prophet Isaiah over the fact that so few believe the testimony God had given His servants regarding the promised Christ. When Israel as a whole rejected the Christ, Isaiah 53:1 was ‘fulfilled’, was ‘realized’, that’s when this ‘prophecy’ became ‘reality’.

“Lord, who has believed our report?” It’s a rhetorical question, a question to which the answer is obvious. “Who has believed?” “No one has believed.” If Israel had all believed in Jesus, if the Jews as a whole had put their faith in the Jesus as the Christ, He could not fulfilled this prophecy of the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah. See how John turns it around? The unbelief of Israel does not undermine the claim of Jesus to being the Messiah, the Christ, it strengthens that claim!

Then there’s the second part to the quote. “And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The “arm of the Lord”, refers to God’s power. It was the “arm of the Lord” that delivered Israel from Egypt. In Deuteronomy 26:8 Moses writes, “So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders,” (also Exo. 6:6; Deut. 4:34; 5:15; 7:19). The “arm of the Lord” is the Jewish expression for God’s presence in power. That’s the connection to “signs”. In view of John’s Gospel one could paraphrase the quote of Isaiah “And to whom have the signs from the Lord been revealed?” In one sense the answer to that question is “To everyone”! The Jews all saw and heard of the many signs that Jesus performed revealing the arm of the Lord. In another sense the answer to that question is “to no one”. For while they saw the signs they did not believe what they revealed. People failed to see how the signs they saw were proof that Jesus was the Christ.

John wants his readers to know that the rejection of our Lord by the nation Israel was no failure on His part, but the fulfillment of Scripture. It not only did happen—it had to happen. Israel’s lack of faith had a purpose. It fulfilled the rejection of the Servant of the Lord prophesied by Isaiah. So one reason we’re given for why people didn’t believe on Jesus is because it was promised in the Old Testament that they wouldn’t.

But why is that they wouldn’t? What caused them to fail to believe when such overwhelming evidence of His identity had been given to them? John goes on to tell us, “Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them’” (John 12:39-40). Here, John not only lets us know that the Scriptures promised that they wouldn’t believe, but that God Himself blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they could not believe.

Again John quotes from Isaiah. This time from Isaiah’s vision of the Lord “high and lifted up” at the very beginning of his prophetic ministry in Isaiah 6. At that time, the prophet was called by God to a very difficult task. God told him, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10). What a dreadful task! Isaiah asked, “Lord, how long?” (v. 11)—that is, how long would he have to proclaim a message that the people wouldn’t hear? God answered, “Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate, The Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land” (v. 12). In other words, the proclamation of truth from God would itself reveal the hardening of the heart and would lead to judgment. But inherent in the judgment would be the promise of mercy. He said, “But yet a tenth will be in it” (that is to say that, in the population, there would remain a remnant through which God would work), “and will return and be for consuming, as a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump” (v. 13). Jesus Himself is that promised “holy seed“. But their eyes were blinded and hearts were hardened to the message of His coming. Only some would hear and believe it, most would persist in unbelief.

Jesus Himself testified to this very thing in His earthly ministry. In Matthew 13, when the disciples asked Him why it was that He taught the people in what seemed like confusing parables, “He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand,” (Matthew 13:11-13). Jesus went on to quote this passage in Isaiah; saying that “in them“—that is, in the people who were even then hearing His teaching and were not understanding—”the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled” (Matt. 13:14). But then Jesus went on to tell His disciples, “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; or assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it,” (Matt. 13:16-17).

The consequence for refusing to believe in God and obey Him becomes the God-ordained inability to trust in God and obey Him. This blinding of their eyes and hardening of their hearts is the judgment that God imposes on the sin of Israel. It happened in the days of Isaiah – Isaiah was the prophet who very clearly spoke of the coming exile from the Promised Land. And still the people did not repent, so that the exile became a reality.

There’s a repeat of this in all its fullness in the days of Jesus the Christ. A very parallel repeat: Jesus was the Servant of the Lord who very clearly spoke of God’s departure from Israel when the temple would be destroyed. Jesus is that temple of the Lord. It’s a repeat because Israel’s worship of God was a sham. Sadducees did not believe the teachings of the Bible, priests were in it for the money, and Pharisees were for the most part hypocrites who preached the truth but did not live it. If you refuse to believe, God will make it so that you are not able to believe. And the inability to believe means that God does not heal. God only heals those who repent. If repentance is absent, salvation is absent.

God’s judgment on their sin is for them to remain in their sin. When sinners suppress the truth (Rom. 1:18), refusing to believe the light that God has given (Rom. 1:21), God gives them over to be hardened and blinded in their own sin (Rom 1:24). Steven Cole writes, “God’s judicial hardening is not the capricious manipulation of an arbitrary Sovereign toward morally neutral or good people, but rather His holy condemnation of guilty people who are condemned to the judgment that they themselves have chosen.” (paraphrasing the argument of D.A. Carson).

The purpose of their unbelief was because it fulfilled scripture, because God hardened their hearts in their sin, and thirdly because it displayed the glory of God.

John tells us this remarkable fact: “These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him,” (John 12:41). When did Isaiah see the glory of Jesus? I think it was in both Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 53.

In Isaiah 6 he saw the marvelous vision of the Holy God:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’ And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:1-4).

John is letting us know that it was none other than our Lord Jesus—in His preincarnate glory—that Isaiah spoke of seeing. But it was this same Isaiah that also saw His glory in the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. Right before prophesying of Jesus’ rejection, suffering, and substitutionary death for our sins, Isaiah writes (Isaiah 52:13), “Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.” The cross displayed the glory of the Lord. Remember Jesus said about the time of His death (John 12:23), “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” And signifying by what death He would die Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

The same God who is Holy, Holy, Holy is also the Lord who suffered and died for our sins on the cross. The fact of Israel’s lack of faith does not undermine the claim that Jesus is the Christ of God. People did not believe on Him because, in His sovereign wisdom, this very same glorious Lord did not give them the ability to do so. He decreed that the preaching of His identity would harden their hearts—at least for a time, in order that His purposes might be served. God foreknew and used the unbelief of His own covenant people so that they would reject and crucify the Messiah resulting in atonement for the sins of the world. The unbelief and evil deeds of sinners never frustrate the purposes of our sovereign God, but actually fulfill His purposes (1 Pet. 2:8).

Paul also mentions this same passage from Isaiah (see Romans 10:16). And it led to his marvelous explanation that “blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,” (Romans 11:25). God still loves His chosen people; and their blindness is only temporary—so that the Gentiles might hear of the Redeemer and believe on Him. But the point is that the whole matter of seeing and not believing is a work of God—in some cases as a judgment from Him, and in some cases as a means of drawing others to Him.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4,6, Paul writes, “…whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. …. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Satan has blinded unbelievers so that they cannot see the glory of Christ. But when we believe, it is because God has shone in our hearts to reveal His glory in Christ. Isaiah was granted a vision of Jesus’ glory. The beginning of faith is when God opens your eyes to see something of Jesus’ glory. When you see His glory on the cross, you may believe in Him for eternal life.

So we have seen the summary of their unbelief and the purpose of their unbelief. Finally we see the imperfect faith of some who believed.

III. Their imperfect belief (John 12:42-43).

John next goes on to say that some did indeed believe on Jesus. John writes, “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him,” (v. 42a). Among them we would certainly count Nicodemus—one of the rulers of the Jews who spoke with Jesus—seemingly secretly—at night in John 3. We would also count Joseph of Arimathea, who we’re told was “a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews,” (John 19:38).

But this leads us to yet one more reason why some do not believe. Even among the rulers of the people who did believe, we’re told, “but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God,” (John 12:42b-43). One reason that people do not believe on Jesus today—and even why some who do believe are hesitant to testify of that belief—is because of the fear of man. Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.” Jesus Himself once spoke to the religious leaders and asked them, “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44). In Mark 8:38, Jesus said, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

I think John included these verses to warn those who say they believe, but are afraid to confess Christ, that they will face Jesus in judgment someday (John 12:48). He wants us to see that true faith sees Jesus’ glory and confesses Him, no matter what the cost. True Christians are not ashamed to confess Christ before this adulterous and sinful generation. Man’s approval may last a few years; God’s approval lasts forever.

Let me conclude by asking you three questions about your relationship with Jesus Christ:

• Are you obeying the light that God has given you or could you be suppressing the truth because you love your sins?
• Have you seen the glory of God in Jesus Christ who died for your sins? If so, have you believed on Him for eternal life?
• Are you living for the glory of men or the glory of God?

Jesus Lifted Up

John 12:27-36

Let’s begin today by reading our scripture passage. We are in John 12. Please follow along in your bibles as I read John 12:27-36.

27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

28 “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”

29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”

30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.

31 “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.

34 The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

35 Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.

36 “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

The pivotal verse in our text is John 12:32 where Jesus says, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”  Jesus’ use of that phrase is loaded with meaning. In his Gospel John has been big on emphasizing Jesus’ sayings that have double meanings. The normal meaning of the word translated “lifted up” is to “lift up on high, to exalt, to raise in dignity and honor.” Jesus uses this word in Matthew 23:12 saying, “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted,” (also Luke 14:11; 18:14). Luke uses this word in Acts 2:33 when Peter preaches about Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven, “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” And again speaking about Jesus in Acts 5:31 he says, “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Jesus will be exalted, lifted-up in honor and glory.

But notice how this glory is revealed. We don’t have to speculate about what Jesus meant by that phrase “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,” because John explains it to us clearly in John 12:33, “This He said, signifying by what death He would die.” Jesus meant that He would be lifted up on the cross to suffer and die.

Jesus meant the same thing when He used that word as He spoke to Nicodemus (John 3:14), “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Jesus says it again (John 8:28), “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.”

This double-meaning phrase is central to our passage and colors everything. Jesus is saying that He would be lifted up from the earth on a cruel Roman cross to die like a criminal and the cross would be the hour of His exaltation.

Jesus’ being lifted up on the cross, which was the ultimate in shame, resulted in His being exalted as the Savior of the world. It resulted in God’s glory and Satan’s defeat. The cross became the watershed event in human history and it’s the watershed in your history. How you respond to Christ lifted up on the cross determines your eternal destiny.

First we see how,

I. What Jesus being lifted up involves (27-30)

Jesus says (John 12:27), “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” Back in John 12:23 when the Greeks came seeking Jesus, He answered saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” The hour of Jesus’ glorification is also the hour of His death on the cross. Now Jesus knows that hour has come. Jesus has come to earth for this hour. So as Jesus prepares for this hour John shows us that:

A. Jesus agonizes over the cross (27-28)

Jesus says, “Now My soul is troubled.” The word (tarassw/tarasso) means to be “agitated,” “distressed” or “stirred up.” As Jesus stands in the shadow of the cross he confesses a great reality. He is in turmoil regarding the events that lay before Him. Jesus will display the same anguish of soul the night before the crucifixion while praying in the Garden of Gethesemane. His soul is troubled. This causes Him to ask hypothetically, “and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’?” This is similar to His agony in the Garden when He prayed, (Luke 22:42), “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me.” But there He added, “nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Here Jesus adds (John 12:27b-28a), “But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”

What troubles Jesus about this hour?

Here we peer into the deep mystery of the two natures of Jesus Christ. Being a man, Jesus certainly would not have longed for all the physical suffering that would come to Him as He is lifted up on the cross. The scourging. The crown of thorns. The nails being driven through His hands and feet. The slow suffocation hanging on the cross. The mocking and shame He would endure.

But above all of that, being one with the Father from all eternity (John 10:30), Jesus had never experienced even a split-second break in fellowship with His Father. But when He went to the cross, there was that humanly incomprehensible moment when He cried out (Matt. 27:46), “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” At that moment, God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,” (2 Cor. 5:21). He bore the awful punishment of God’s wrath and the death that we deserved. That’s why Jesus’ soul was troubled as He thought about the cross.

In Jesus’ troubled soul we get a glimpse of the horror of sin. Sin and the deadly separation from God that it brings causes the very Son of God to shudder in distress as He thinks about bearing that sin, guilt and shame in our place. On the cross Jesus becomes sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). On the cross all our sins are laid on Him (Is 53:6). On the cross the righteous will suffer for the unrighteous (1 Peter 3:18). On the cross Jesus will drain the cup (Mt 26:39) of God’s wrath (Is 51:17) against sin.

But in spite of all of this suffering Jesus will experience on the cross, He is resolved to do the will of His Father. John 12:27, “But for this purpose I came to this hour.” Even though what was coming was causing His soul to be troubled, it was the very purpose of why He came. Jesus came to die. The cross was always God’s plan. No matter the cost Jesus will go to the cross to glorify the Father and to save people.

What did Jesus do with His troubled soul? He prayed. He poured out His soul to His Father. And as He does so,

B. Jesus prays for God’s glory (28)

Jesus prayed (John 12:28), “Father, glorify Your name.” Now something amazing happens. A voice from heaven speaks. Before we hear what the voice says I want us to listen to what the words sounded like to the people. After the voice from heaven spoke, John 12:29 says, “Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”” Thunder is the sound of the voice of God.

David sang, (2 Sam. 22:14; also Ps. 18:13) “The LORD thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice.” Job 37:5 says, “God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.” God challenges Job (Job 40:9), “Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?” Again David sings (Psa. 29:3), “The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God of glory thunders.”

The thunderous voice of the Father says, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” God had glorified His name through Jesus’ life and ministry to that point; He would be glorified again through Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and His second coming.

If I were to ask, “Why did Christ die?” you might answer, “Christ died to save us from our sins.” That is a biblically correct answer. But this verse reminds us that Jesus died first and foremost to glorify the Father. Jesus was willing to endure the awful agony of the cross in order to glorify the Father’s name. The cross displays the glory of God like nothing else ever could.

There is a two-fold reason for Jesus being lifted up. Here in John 12:28 Jesus is lifted up in order to glorify the name of the Father. In John 12:32 we see the result of Jesus bring lifted is to draw all to Himself. The purpose of the cross is the salvation of men for the glory of God.

While Jesus walked this earth the Father spoke audibly from heaven three times. The first was at Jesus’ baptism when He said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). The second was at the Transfiguration, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Luke 9:35). And now as Jesus prepares for the cross, “I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.” Each time the Father speaks He is verifying the identity and mission of the Son.

And why is the Father speaking? For whose benefit are these words uttered? John 12:30, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.”

Jesus want people to see the glory of God in His death on the cross. But the bible testifies that anyone hung on a tree is cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). As the people will say in John 12:34, it was a common belief from Scripture that the Messiah would not die. Everyone will be tempted to believe that Jesus could not be the Messiah because He will be lifted up on the cross.  Before that fateful day people needed to hear that Jesus’ crucifixion was not outside of God’s will. It was for God’s glory.

The Father was glorified in Jesus’ life and the Father will be glorified in Jesus’ death.  As we unpack the things that Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension secure it will become even more evident how it is that through the shameful cross the Father is glorified.

II. What Jesus being lifted up produces (31-33)

How is God glorified in the cross?

God glorifies His name on the cross by:

A. Judgment of this world (31a)

About this hour of the cross Jesus states, “Now is the judgment of this world.” The day of judgment comes at the cross. Let’s turn back to John 5 where Jesus talks about judgment and it will shed some light on what this means.

John 5:26-27, “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.” Jesus says judgment is going to happen through Him. The Father has given Him that authority to execute judgment.

John 5:28-29 “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” So there is a future judgment that’s coming at the resurrection of all people — the good and the evil.

John 5:24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” In other words, those who trust Christ to reconcile them to God will not come into judgment. Why? Because they have already passed from the condemned state of death into the justified state of eternal life. Their judgment already happened.

When did it happen? That’s what John 12:31 tells us, “Now is the judgment of this world.” Jesus says it is “Now, this hour of My death.” In other words, the death of Jesus becomes the dividing line between the condemned and the vindicated. If you trust Jesus, you are united to Him and His death is your death (Galatians 2:20), and your sin was judged and condemned at the cross (Romans 8:3).

On the other hand, if you never believe in the name of Jesus for salvation, you stand under judgment, condemned both by your sin, and by your rejection Christ.

But here also is the good news for all those who believe in Jesus Christ.  Our judgment has already occurred. The condemnation and guilt caused by our sins have been swallowed and removed by Jesus Christ.  Every sin that separates us from God and others has been judged by God and punished by God on the cross.  There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus because on the cross He took it all on Himself.

So God is glorified at the cross because there He judged the world. And second God is glorified at the cross because,

B. The ruler of the world is cast out (31b)

Verse 31, “now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” In what sense was Satan cast out at the death of Jesus? Isn’t the devil still active in this world?

Yes, but he is a defeated foe. In John 14:30-31 Jesus will say, “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.” We know from John 13:27 that Satan entered into Judas in that final hour. Satan was making a final move against Jesus. Satan tried to get Jesus to disobey the command of His Father, and having failed at that the devil worked through wicked men to put an end to Jesus.

But as the resurrection shows, Satan failed and was judged and decisively defeated. Jesus says in John 16:11 that He will send the Holy Spirit to convict the world “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” The ruler of this world was “cast out” or “judged” at the cross. There he suffered the decisive  defeat — not the final defeat, but the one that secures and guarantees the final defeat.

Jesus bore our sin on the cross. And in doing so victoriously He stripped Satan of the one weapon that he had that could condemn us: namely, the valid accusation of our unforgiven sin. That weapon is taken from his hand. He is disarmed. We have no unforgiven sin. The blood of Jesus covers our sin — all of it. Therefore the cross was the decisive defeat of the condemning power of the devil.

When Jesus took my sins upon himself and died in my place under my guilt Jesus took the power of sin.  He dethroned the ruler of this world. Jesus, according to the rules of God, took away all the devil’s ammunition.

The devil has no claims on you. He has nothing to hold against you.  When Jesus was lifted up Satan was thrown down. He is a defeated enemy running for his life; grasping at straws. Do not submit again to his selfishness and foolishness. He has been defeated by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the world’s true ruler. The cross secured his rightful place.

Thirdly God is glorfied at the cross because there

C. Jesus draws us to Himself (32-33)

Jesus said, verse 32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

Sometimes preachers use Jesus’ words in verse 32 to mean that if we exalt Jesus (“lift Him up”), He will draw people to Himself. That is true, and as I explained, John probably intended a double meaning. But in verse 33, John makes it clear that by “lifted up,” Jesus primarily was referring to being lifted up on the cross. His death on the cross would draw all men to Himself. But, what does that mean? Does that mean that all people will be saved?

Actually, the verse simply says “draw all to Myself” the word peoples is added by the translators to help the flow of the text. What does Jesus mean by “all”? I think it is clear from the rest of scripture that Jesus does not mean all without exception, but all without distinction. In other words He does not mean that all will be saved, but that all that will be saved will be drawn. The word “draw” is the same word that Jesus used in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” This points to the fact that people lack the spiritual ability to come to Christ unless God powerfully works to open their blind eyes and soften their hard hearts so that they can believe (John 12:39-40). But when He does draw them, they will come to Jesus. It is for all who believe. As Paul put it (Rom. 1:16), “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

The cross produces my judgment and salvation. The cross severs Satan’s power. And the cross draws us to Jesus. If that is what the cross provides let’s look now at,

III. What Jesus being lifted up demands (34-36)

A. The cross demands that we think biblically about Jesus (34)

John 12:34, “The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”” The temptation of that day is still a temptation of today. We latch onto one promise of God concerning Jesus and demand that it be the one defining promise of God that rules out all others.

They latched onto the promise of a forever kingdom ruled by the Messiah. The scriptures certainly promised this.

[2 Sam. 7:13] 13 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

[Psa. 72:17] 17 His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And [men] shall be blessed in Him; All nations shall call Him blessed.

[Psa. 89:36-37] 36 His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; 37 It shall be established forever like the moon, Even [like] the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah

[Psa. 110:4] 4 The LORD has sworn And will not relent, “You [are] a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

[Isa. 9:7] 7 Of the increase of [His] government and peace [There will be] no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

[Dan. 7:14] 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom [the one] Which shall not be destroyed.

But that is not all the scripture promised about the Messiah. Isaiah 53 clearly prophesies about the substitutionary death of the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah. The whole chapter is about Christ, but listen especially to this part about His death:

[Isa 53:8-12] 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked–But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor [was any] deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put [Him] to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see [His] seed, He shall prolong [His] days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, [and] be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Psalm 22 which Jesus quotes from the cross also details the kind of death that He would die (see also Psalm 31). Jesus would fulfill the Old Testament types of sacrifices for sin and the Passover lamb (Exo. 12). His blood would make atonement for sin (Lev. 17:11).

So the people latched onto the promise of a forever kingdom and missed the scriptures about the death of Christ. So when they hear Jesus making messianic claims but also stating that He will die there is a conflict.  “We think you’re the Messiah and we’re hearing you say you have to die.  But the Messiah won’t die. Who is this Son of Man? Maybe he’s not the Messiah.  We’re confused.”

That is why we must study all of scripture to understand what that passage is saying in its immediate context and understand how that passage fits into the whole of Scripture. We get are in grave danger when we refuse to listen to the whole of Scripture and we are in grave danger when we refuse to listen to each passage. The cross demands that we think biblically about Jesus.

What does Jesus demand from us?

B. The cross demands that we believe in Jesus right now (35-36)

35 Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.

36 “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

Jesus’ point is simple.  He’s telling us to listen to Him and believe what He is saying. As we continue to follow Him and listen to him He’ll teach us and make Himself ever clearer.  As we gaze at Him we’ll be transformed and look more like Him (2 Cor. 3:18).

So he tells the crowd that time is running out, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light.” He’s calling us to believe. We might not have everything figured out. Tomorrow might be very vague. But this much we know. We are drawn to Jesus; drawn to His life that glorified God in every way. We’re drawn to His death that gives us life.

All those that do not go after Jesus are lost: “he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.” He’s confused. Every effort is fruitless. Every turn brings uncertainty. This is the futility of your life without Christ—always going but never getting anywhere.

Note that Jesus emphasizes “light” five times. He is the Light of the world, but in just a few days, He would be gone. They had a narrow window of opportunity to give up their preconceived notions about Messiah being a political savior and to act on the truth that He had given them about Himself. But that truth centered on the fact that they were sinners, walking in darkness, and they needed to come to Jesus as the Light, which implied turning from their sins. The main issue was (and still is), “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (John 12:36a).

Right now as the Spirit draws you to Christ, “While you have the light, believe in the light.” Today is the day. Now is the time. Believing in the light makes you become a son of light. The things that characterize Jesus are to become the things that characterize you. The love of the Son for the Father will be implanted in you and begin to grow. As you see Christ through His word He will change you.  Your life will become less important and the glory of God will become more important. Serving like Christ and following Christ will become priorities and you will experience joy, humility, and purpose like never before.

Today, while you have the light, while the good news of Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected, and ascended lies in front of you, believe in Him.  Reach out to Him. It’s simple but it changes everything. Your sins which nailed Jesus to the cross, repent of them. Tell God that you are sorry that you turned away from Him and put your trust in Christ alone.  Believe that His death takes away the punishment you deserve. Believe that His life provides every ounce of holiness that God requires.  Repent to God, place your faith in Jesus Christ, and you will become a son or daughter of light.  You will have life eternal in that very moment.  For those who desire Christ now is the time.

Death and Life of a Follower of Christ

John 12:24-26

Today’s lesson is a follow-up to last week’s sermon in John 12:20-26. You may remember we are coming to the end of Jesus’ public ministry in John. It is the week of the Passover during which Jesus will be betrayed, arrested, tried, convicted and crucified. That week began with Mary anointing Jesus with costly perfumed oil in Bethany while Judas objected to the waste (John 12:1-8). The next day Jesus fulfilled scripture as He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the praises of the crowds and the frustrated grumblings of the Pharisees (John 12:9-19).  Then some Greeks came seeking Jesus which prompts Jesus to announce (John 12:23) “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.”

As I said last time this text answers two questions for us. First, how do we see Jesus and His glory? The answer from our text is: We see Jesus and His glory at the cross. The hour of the Son of Man’s glorification is the hour of the cross. So Jesus immediate began to teach about His death in John 12:24-36. Jesus is the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies so that it bears much fruit (John 12:24). Christ is glorified on the cross because there God judged sin (John 12:31a), there He triumphed over Satan (John 12:31), there He draws all peoples to Himself (John 12:32), and there He produces much fruit (John 12:24)—the salvation of everyone who believes in Him (John 12:36, 46).

Jesus died so that we might live. The Bible declares that we have all sinned against God. For our sin we deserve death and separation from God for all eternity. But the good news is that God has not left us without a remedy. He has come to us in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, Who lived the life we could not live—a life of perfect obedience to God. Even though He had no sin and therefore did not have to die, He chose to die on behalf of sinners. He took our place. He became our Substitute. He died so that any one of us, by turning from our sin and trusting in His death on the cross for us, can be forgiven of all our sin and restored to eternal life with God. His death brings us eternal life. Jesus died so you might live. Jesus is clearly talking about that in this passage. Have you believed in Jesus and His death on the cross?

The second question this text answers for us is: What difference will seeing Jesus and His glory make in our lives? The answer to that question is in John 12:25-26. Here Jesus applies the principle of death through life to us. Jesus is not only teaching about what He will do for us on the cross, He is also teaching about what He will do in us by faith. Jesus is saying, “If you want to live, you have to die.”

Listen to His words again in John 12:24-26,

24 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. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

All of Jesus’ teaching are important. But when He repeats a message often we really need to pay attention. Jesus taught this same truth in a number of settings in all four gospel accounts:

Matthew 10:39 – “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Matthew 16:25 – “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Matthew 19:29 – “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

Mark 8:34-37 – “… Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Luke 9:23-24 – Then He said to [them] all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”

Luke 14:26 – “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

 Luke 17:33 – “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

These words of Jesus are not just for the apostles or super Christians or martyrs. This is basic Christianity. Jesus’ words apply to everyone who wants to follow Him. He assumes that we all want to save our lives. But He tells us that the way to save our lives is to lose them for His sake and the gospel’s. And, He’s talking about saving or losing our lives eternally as John 12:25 says. So it’s vitally important to understand and apply Jesus’ words in our text.

Jesus brought us life through His death (John 12:24)

Jesus said (John 12:24), “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.” Jesus was referring to the cross. He is the grain of wheat that fell into the ground, died, and bore much fruit. By giving His life as a ransom for many, Jesus “brought many sons to glory” (Mark 10:45; Heb. 2:10).

We can never imitate Jesus in His substitutionary death for the sins of others. His death was unique because Jesus is unique. He is the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18). He is the eternal Word made flesh (John 1:1, 14), who came as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Only Jesus could do that. He died “once for all” (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 10:10).

We must hate our life to have eternal life (John 12:25)

Jesus is not only talking about His death—He’s talking about our lives. Although we cannot duplicate Jesus’ death on the cross, we can participate in it.

One preacher titled his sermon on this text, “Why You Should Hate Your Life.” This teaching runs counter to everything our world stands for. The world teaches loving yourself, looking out for number one, and building self-esteem. But Jesus teaches (John 12:25), “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” The one who loves his life will lose it. Loving your life means living with only for this temporary world. It’s to live as if this world is all there is.

Jesus told about parable about a man who was enjoying his best life now. He said to himself (Luke 12:19), “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him (Luke 12:20), “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” Jesus concluded (Luke 12:21), “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Our goals, our desires, the way we spend our money and our lives, should not be focused on this life only. Loving your life in this world is the sure way to lose it.

Instead Jesus teaches us to hate our life in this world. You die to your old life through faith in Jesus Christ. This is what happens when you become a Christian by believing in Jesus.  When we believe we are united with Christ in His death. As Paul teaches in Romans 6, that is the meaning behind your baptism:

[Rom 6:3-5] 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be [in the likeness] of [His] resurrection,

As Paul writes in Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Again in Galatians 2:20 he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” That is your position in Christ. In order to become a Christian, you must be united to Christ by faith so that you die to sin and yourself.

But God also calls us to experience practically in daily life what is true about us positionally in Christ. Right now in this gathering, through His Word, Jesus is saying, “If you want to live, you have to die.” That’s what Jesus means when He talks about hating your life in this world. Jesus is not saying to hate life ultimately. He’s saying to hate life that is caught up in this world of rebellion against God and His ways. Do not love life like that. Hate life like that. Die to life like that. And as Jesus says in Luke 9:23-24, we must do it daily: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”

A cross is an instrument of death. If you take up your cross to follow Jesus, you are following Him to death. To live, you die. To live in the next world, you die to this world. You die to yourself daily.

It is a death to sin. If you want life, Jesus is saying you have to die to sin. This doesn’t mean as a Christian you don’t ever sin. All of us would be disqualified by that measure. As long as we are in this world, we are prone to sin. But that’s just it. We hate that. We hate that we are prone to sin. We hate our sin. When we do sin, we confess it before God and others. We repent. We turn from sin. We don’t toy with it. We don’t treat sin as trivial. We die to sin. Paul writes in Romans 6:11, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Again in Colossians 3:5 he writes, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” We die to sin daily.

It is also a death to self. Kathy and I had a wonderful trip to NYC a couple weeks ago. There we experienced a praying church. What is prayer? Prayer is an expression of death to self. Prayer is saying, “We can’t do it. We need You, God.” Whenever we don’t pray, we’re saying, “God, we can do this without You.” But Jesus says, you can’t. We need God in our lives. We need God in our marriages. We need God in our families, in our kids’ lives, in our teenagers’ lives. We need God in light of all the temptations and trials we’re walking through. We need God in our church. We need God in our country.

We need to stop living our lives—in our families and as a church—like we can do this without Him. We cannot. We need God. If we believe this, we will pray like we need Him. We’ll cry out to God with desperation, because we can’t do this on our own. “God, help us to die to ourselves. God, deliver us from our sinful self-sufficiency.”

And it is a death to this world. It’s clear in John 12:25. Hate your life in this world. Again, this means to hate the kind of life that is caught up in the ways of this world—the pursuits, the pleasures, the possessions and the priorities of this world. In order to really live, you have to die to these things. Christians follow Jesus in death to this world. Paul suffered beatings, imprisonments, a stoning, shipwrecks, and frequent dangers for the sake of the gospel (2 Cor. 11:23-27). Christian martyrs down through the centuries have been persecuted, burned at the stake, had their heads cut off and worse. None of these stories make sense if John 12 is not true. If life is all about the possessions, pleasure and pursuits in this world, then these brothers and sisters totally wasted their lives. But Jesus says they didn’t waste a thing. They spent their lives for what matters. I guarantee you not one of those brothers and sisters regrets hating their lives in this world for a second. Remember the famous words of missionary martyr Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Taking up your cross or hating your life in this world is not something you achieve in an emotional moment of spiritual ecstasy or dedication. You never arrive on a spiritual mountaintop where you can sigh with relief, “I’m finally there! No more death to self!” Nor are there any shortcuts or quick fixes to this painful process. The need to hate my life or die to self is never finished in this life; it is a daily battle. A. T. Pierson said, “Getting rid of the ‘self-life’ is like peeling an onion: layer upon layer—and a tearful process!”

We must follow Jesus by serving (John 12:26)

Jesus is the example for us all. During His short ministry on earth, Jesus was constantly dying to Himself as He loved others. We will see a beautiful example of this in John 13, where Jesus takes a towel and a basin of water to wash the disciples’ feet. Jesus humbled Himself, died to Himself to serve His disciples. Jesus did it as an example of how we are to lay aside our lives to serve one another (John 13:15). The culmination of Jesus’ dying to Himself was when He literally laid down His life on the cross for us. That’s how He bore much fruit. When we follow Him by daily dying to ourselves to serve others, we will bear much fruit, and so prove ourselves to be His disciples (John 15:8). Jesus applies this principle of service to us in John 12:26, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”

Jesus assumes that all His people will serve Him. And all who serve Him must follow Him. This means obeying His teachings and commandments, of course. But in the context, it especially means following Him by dying to self so that we might, like Jesus, bear much fruit. Then comes the motivation: If we serve and follow Jesus, we will be with Him forever and the Father will honor us.

Jesus here doesn’t say that He will be with us, although that is true (Matt. 28:20). Rather, He says that we will be with Him. In John 14:3, He promises, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” “Where I am” refers to heaven. To be with Jesus in heaven throughout eternity is more than sufficient reward for all of the trials and persecution that we may go through in this life! And on top of that, Jesus promises that the Father will honor us! He will say to us (Matthew 25:21), “Well done, good and faithful servant … Enter into the joy of your lord.”

C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity) nails it:

The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up your self, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

This is what Jesus teaches. It’s what the cross of Jesus Christ does for and what it demands of us. While preparing for a communion service in 1707, Isaac Watts wrote a hymn he originally titled “Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ.”

Ask yourself, does this hymn express my experience of life in Christ?

When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.

See from his head, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er his body on the tree;
Then am I dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

We Wish to See Jesus

John 12:20-26

This morning we will worship by observing the Lord’s Supper. In our communion service we will be remembering the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. My desire for you is that this remembrance will not be just a meaningless ritual but that it would truly be a time of worship that expresses your deep love and commitment to Christ. I would hope that through the elements of the bread and the cup, you would see Jesus and that it will serve to remind you what is most important in life.

And what is that? The most important thing in our life, in light of Jesus’ death and resurrection, should be living for Him, the one who loved us and gave Himself for us. In other words, the most important thing in our lives should be serving Christ and following Christ. Nothing is more important than knowing Christ and following Him. Christ is more important than our comfort, our possessions, our accomplishments, our family, even our very lives.

This truth is highlighted for us in the passage that we are studying today. We are in the Gospel of John chapter 12. It is the week of the Passover. Jesus had ridden a donkey into Jerusalem while multitudes of Jewish pilgrims waved palm branches and cried out (John 12:13), “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!”

This very public entrance by Christ recorded for us in John 12:12-19 was no accident. Jesus arranged to enter into Jerusalem with this kind of fanfare. By doing so He purposely pushed the Jewish religious leaders to the point of desperation. John 12:19 tells us, “The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”” The Pharisees were clearly frustrated. All of their efforts to subdue Christ’s growing popularity were failing. They were already plotting to put Jesus to death (John 11:53). This event just served to speed up their timetable. So in fulfillment of scripture in obedience to the Father Jesus must be glorified by dying during the Passover as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

This brings us to our passage today, John 12:20-26:

20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 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. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

This text answers two questions for us. First, how do we see Jesus and His glory? And second, what difference will seeing Jesus and His glory make in our lives?

The Greeks come to see Jesus (John 12:20-22)

Notice the powerful transition that John makes for us here. In John 12:19 the exasperated Pharisees exclaim, “Look, the world has gone after Him!” And immediately the world comes to Jesus even through some Gentiles who want to see Jesus.

We are not told the background of these certain Greeks. They may have been Greek converts to Judaism. They may have been Greek God-fearers, those who had great respect for Judaism but didn’t fully convert and become circumcised. Just like the Jewish pilgrims they are there to worship at the feast. John 12:21 says, “Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”” This may not seem to be a very significant request, but it was. These Greeks were on the fringes of Jewish religion. Unless they had been circumcised as full converts they were excluded from the inner courts of the temple on penalty of death. For Jesus to take the time to meet with them would have been very unusual since Jesus ministry so far was almost entirely, with only a few exceptions, to Jews.

These Greeks had heard of Jesus, perhaps of His reputation as a teacher and worker of miracles. What they did know of Jesus made them want to know more about Him, so they came to Philip asking to see Jesus. Why Philip? It could be because he was the disciple with a very Greek name. John also points out that Philip was from Bethsaida of Galilee, an area very close to Gentile territory.

So, how did Philip respond? Philip may not have been sure how to handle this request, and so he came and told Andrew (John 12:22). The two of them then must have pressed their way through the crowd, back to our Lord’s side. I can see Andrew and Philip standing by our Lord as He taught, and at an opportune moment, getting Jesus’ attention and then whispering in His ear, “There are some Greeks here who would like to talk with you.”

I’m not sure what Philip thought Jesus would do, but I am fairly confident that what Jesus did was not on the list of what Philip might expect from Jesus. Jesus doesn’t say anything about the Greeks. In fact, they kind of drop out of the story at this point.

The hour has come (John 12:23)

How did Jesus respond? He responded to this request as if He had been waiting for it. John 12:23, “But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.”

This request from these God-fearing Greeks was the trigger for Christ to communicate more specifically to His disciples about His glorification. Jesus sees this request as a pivotal point in His ministry. As I showed last time, up to this point, there has been a repeated theme in John’s Gospel that Jesus’ hour or time had not yet come. (John 2:4; 7:6, 8, 30; 8:20). But now, in response to the request of these Greeks to see Him, Jesus announces (John 12:23), “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” Why? What was the significance of these Greeks and their desire to see Jesus? The answer is that Jesus knew that very shortly the wall that kept these Greeks from being fully and totally accepted into the community God’s people was shortly going to be torn down at the cross. These Greeks signaled a turning point in which the Jewish people have rejected Jesus as their Savior and that would result in the gospel going out to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Salvation in Jesus would soon be proclaimed to the whole world. John wants us to see that the Jews’ rejection of Jesus did not thwart God’s plan of salvation; rather, it means good news for the world (Rom. 11:15).

What did Jesus mean when He said, “the Son of Man should be glorified”? If you were to ask the disciples at that moment what Jesus meant when He told them that He was about to be glorified, they probably would have thought He was telling them that He was about to set up His earthly kingdom. Hadn’t Jesus just encouraged the crowds as they proclaimed Him to be “The King of Israel” (John 12:13).

But the verses that follow make it clear that this is not what Jesus was saying. Rather  He was referring to the cross. In John 12:24, Jesus immediately begins to teach about His death. He says, “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.” Jesus is the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies.

In John 12:27 Jesus says “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” Jesus says His soul is in anguish about that hour. It is the hour of His death on the cross. But it is because of His death on the cross that He is glorified. In John 12:28 Jesus prays “Father, glorify Your name.” Then the Father answers from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Jesus glorified the Father and the Father glorified Jesus through the cross. Jesus would go on to say in John 12:32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all [peoples] to Myself.” And John instructs us in John 12:33 “This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”

Jesus would die by being lifted up from the earth on a cruel Roman cross. How could something so shameful as dying on a cross be in the mind of God so glorious?

Christ is glorified on the cross (John 12:24)

Jesus uses an analogy from agriculture in John 12:24. A grain of wheat by itself, sitting on the shelf, remains alone. But if it falls into the ground and that outer shell “dies,” the life inside is released and produces a plant containing many grains of wheat. Listen, if the Son of God had come to earth; lived among us as a perfect man; taught us the ways of God; performed signs and wonders proving who He was; and then left earth to go back to heaven, He would have gone alone. He would have been the only human being in heaven because He is the only sinless man.  When the rest of us died we would all have perished, separated from the presence of the Holy God forever in hell.

Unless Jesus died for us, we are all hopelessly lost. That’s how important the cross is. Our salvation, our eternal life, depends on the death of Jesus Christ. 

Christ is glorified on the cross because:

• There God judged sin when His wrath was poured out on Jesus. In John 12:31 Jesus says about His coming death on the cross, “Now is the judgment of this world…”
• There He triumphs over Satan to win a world of people. John 12:31 continues, “now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”
• There He draws all peoples to Himself. Through Jesus’ finished work on the cross, His resurrection from the grave, and His ascension back to God’s glorious right hand, He accomplished the salvation of all peoples, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself,” (John 12:32).
• There He produces much fruit. “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,” (John 12:24). If Jesus skips the cross, if He does not die, He remains alone. There is no salvation. But, since Jesus endured the cross dying in our place He brings forth much fruit. And you are that fruit if you have believed in Jesus. Just as millions of grains of wheat come from the death of one grain so the salvation of the nations comes from the death of the only Son of God.  Eternal life depends on the death of Jesus Christ.

The death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus didn’t just show us something, they secured something. The cross means that Jesus did everything necessary for our salvation. He paid in full the debt that we owe. He satisfied God’s righteous judgment against our sins. As Jesus said (John 6:39), “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” He did not shed His blood in vain, hoping that some might be saved. He shed His blood to save all whom the Father had given Him. The glorious work of Jesus Christ on your behalf secures your salvation.

So the cross reveals Jesus’ glory by having all people come to Him alone for salvation. There is no salvation, no eternal life, outside of faith in Jesus’ death for our sins.

That is why we come to the Lord’s Table today. Because as Paul writes (1 Cor. 11:26), “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” We proclaim the Lord’s death. We proclaim that His death is necessary for our salvation because we are sinners. His death is sufficient for salvation because He is the sinless Lamb of God. The heart of the gospel is this, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). The salvation of sinners did not come through Christ’s birth, nor His teachings, nor His miracles, nor His example. It came through His death on the cross.

The cross reveals Jesus’ glory. As we come to the Lord’s Table ask God to open your eyes to see Jesus, to see the glory of Christ and Him crucified! The cross of our Lord puts everything else in its proper perspective. There is no better way to see things clearly than from the vantage point of the cross. Meditate often on the cross. It will humble your selfish pride, which is your biggest obstacle to loving God and loving others. It will stir your heart with love and worship for the Savior, who gave Himself for you when you were a sinful rebel. It will give you compassion and hope for the lost, who can be saved by looking in faith to Jesus as the substitute for their sins. And, as we’ll see next time in John 12:25-26, seeing Jesus’ glory in the cross will transform you so you will become more like your Lord.

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Public Presentation of the King

John 12:12-19

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, dad?” The father said, “When Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today.” The little boy replied, “Aw Shucks The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up”

Today in our study of the Gospel of John we come to the event that is often called Palm Sunday. All four Gospels report Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem that occurred just a few days before His arrest and crucifixion. John’s account of this event is fairly brief—only 8 verses. John does not tell us how Jesus prearranged for two of His disciples to procure the donkey and its colt. John does not tell us that the Pharisees insist Jesus silence those who are praising Him, and that Jesus refuses, indicating that if He does so the “rocks would cry out” (Luke 19:39-40). John does not report our Lord’s weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44), nor His cursing of the barren fig tree (Mark 11:12-14, 20-26). John does not mention our Lord’s cleansing of the temple (see Matthew 21:12-13), nor does he inform us concerning our Lord’s miracles of healings, performed in the temple that final week of His ministry (Matthew 21:14). But John is the only one who mentions palm branches.

John limits the focus of Jesus’ public ministry that last week to just three important incidents here in John 12: (1) Mary’s anointing of Jesus in preparation for His burial (12:1-8); (2) Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem (12:9-19); and (3) the request of the Greeks to meet with Jesus (12:20-26). John concludes with an exposition on unbelief, rooted in the Old Testament Scriptures and in the words of our Lord Himself (12:27-50).

Today we will see that in this public presentation of Himself as the Messiah, Jesus was declaring Himself to be Israel’s King, but not the kind of King that they expected. As we study this account ask yourself: What kind of king is Jesus and how does His kingship apply to me?

Let’s begin by reading John’s account, John 12:12-19,

 12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!”

14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

16 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. 17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”

In this text, first we see the,

Timing of the King – John 12:12

Last time I mentioned from John 12:1 that Jesus arrived in Bethany “six days before the Passover.” There John tells us (John 12:2) “they made Him a supper,” and Mary anointed Jesus with the costly oil of spikenard. Now in John 12:12 he tells us that it was the next day after that dinner. As I pointed out in my introduction, tradition has it that this event occurs on Sunday, five days before Jesus’ death on Passover. Although there are a number of scholars who argue that it may have actually occurred on Monday.

One reason is that a Sunday processional would then require the dinner at Bethany to be on the Sabbath, which is not likely because Martha was serving (remember no food could be prepared or work could be done on the Sabbath day, unless they held the meal after sundown on Saturday. A Sunday dinner in Bethany makes more sense.

Another reason is the typology. Jesus was to be the perfect “Passover” sacrifice and the Mosaic Law required that the sacrificial lamb for Passover be selected on the 10^th of Nisan (the first month) and then sacrificed on the 14^th of Nisan. Assuming Jesus was crucified on Friday, the 14^th of Nisan, if Jesus came into Jerusalem on that Monday, then He would have been fulfilling the symbolism of Passover to the smallest detail including being received by the Jewish nation on the 10^th of Nisan the same way each Jewish family was receiving into their home the sacrificial lamb. Jesus was coming into Jerusalem as the “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

In addition, if Jesus came into Jerusalem on a Monday, then all the days of that week are accounted with something recorded about what Jesus did that day. In traditional chronologies of the week, one day is considered “lost” because nothing is recorded about what Jesus did that day. Usually it is assumed it was a day that Jesus stayed in Bethany and rested.

The exact chronology of this week is difficult and both a Sunday and a Monday entrance are possible. So I will not be dogmatic about the day of the week. The important thing to note is that Jesus set the timing. This triumphal entry into Jerusalem no doubt came as a surprise to the disciples who witnessed it.

Our Lord’s previous visits to Jerusalem have always brought trouble. His journey to Jerusalem in John 2 is marked by the “cleansing of the temple” (2:12-22). In chapter 5, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for an unnamed feast (John 5:1), and there, on the Sabbath, He heals a paralytic who has suffered from his malady for 38 years. When Jesus defends His actions by claiming to act with God, and as God, this completely sets the Jews off, so that they are intent on killing Him (John 5:18). Lord appears again in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles in chapter 7. This results in a failed attempt on by the Jewish religious leaders to have Jesus arrested (John 7:30, 44-53). When Jesus makes the statement, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM!” (John 8:58), they immediately seek to stone Him. The healing of the man born blind in John 9 also takes place in Jerusalem, and it further intensifies the animosity of the religious leaders toward Jesus. In John 10 when Jesus is in Jerusalem for the feast of dedication (John 10:22) again the Jewish leaders try to arrest (John 10:39) or kill (John 10:31) Him, prompting our Lord to retreat to a remote location along the Jordan River (John 10:40-42). By the time we come to chapter 11, the disciples of our Lord are afraid to go to Jerusalem, fearing that they—along with Jesus—will die there (John 11:16). Opposition from the Jewish leaders intensifies after Jesus raises Lazarus from the death in John 11 and Jesus retreats from Jerusalem, once again—for a time (or should I say, till “His time”).

Not only is this event surprising because of the hostility of leaders in Jerusalem, it is also a complete reversal of all that Jesus has done in His ministry to this point. Jesus has avoided publically proclaiming His identity as Messiah. When a demon proclaimed Him to be the Holy One of God, He told him to be quiet (Mark 1:24-25). When He healed people, Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone (Mark 1:44; 7:36). Even when He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, He gave strict orders that no one should know about it (Mark 5:43)! When Peter confessed Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” Jesus told His disciples not to tell anyone (Mark 8:30; 9:9). In John 6 when they tried to make Jesus king by force after He fed the 5000 John tells us (John 6:15), “He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.”

But now Jesus deliberately stages a public demonstration to proclaim Himself as Messiah in Jerusalem at the most widely attended feast of them all. Luke tells us that when some of the Pharisees in the crowd objected to the people’s shouts of, “Hosanna!” rather than quieting the shouts, Jesus affirmed them by saying (Luke 19:40), “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” So there is a dramatic shift in Jesus’ ministry at this point.

Why? Jesus was waiting for the Father’s perfect timing. When Jesus’ mother wants Him to act in the wedding feast at Cana Jesus says (John 2:24), “My hour has not yet come.” When Jesus’ brothers want Him to present Himself publically at the feast of tabernacles Jesus told them, “My time has not yet fully come.” When the Jews tried to seize Jesus, John tells us in John 7:30, “His hour had not yet come.” Again in John 8 we read, “no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.”

Now finally here in John 12 as Jesus comes into Jerusalem before this Passover Jesus will say (John 12:23) “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified,” and  speaking about His coming death He says (John 12:27), “for this purpose I came to this hour.”

So we see the perfect timing of the King.

Preparation of the King – John 12:14-15

John assumes his readers would already have familiarity with one or more of the other gospel writers, so his account just summarizes what occurs as Jesus enters Jerusalem. Matthew, Mark and Luke give greater detail including the preparation made for Jesus to enter Jerusalem according to the prophecies.

The other Gospels tells us that before entering Jerusalem, when Jesus came to Bethphage, He sent two of His disciples ahead of Him to procure a donkey and its colt (Matthew 21:1-6; Mark 11:1-6; Luke 19:29-34). The went into the village there between Bethany and Jerusalem and told the owner of the donkeys “The Lord has need of them.” While the term “Lord” could be used out of simple respect, the usage here is as a proper title. Jesus is Lord in the sense of being the ruler over all, the master, and He has need of these two animals.

Jesus would not enter Jerusalem as just a pilgrim or just a rabbi as He had done in past. Jesus must enter Jerusalem this time in a manner that would declare to everyone His identity. John tells us why Jesus needed to ride into Jerusalem this way. It was a fulfillment of scripture (John 12:14-15), “… as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.””

This prophecy occurs in Zechariah 9:9. The “daughter of Zion” is a reference to Jerusalem which was often referred to as Zion because that is the name of the city’s highest and most important hill – Mount Zion. There were many prophecies concerning the Messiah, and this one noted that He would come as a king, but not in the usual way. A conquering king would come riding on a war steed or a carefully groomed white stallion. That is the manner in which Jesus come again at the end of the age as prophesied in Revelation 19: riding a white horse leading the armies of heaven. But for this entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus did not come as the leader of a victorious army. He came in the manner of a king of peace.

I like what one of my commentaries said about this. “He who makes his entry unarmed with unarmed followers on a peaceful animal must … aim at dominion in such a manner as excludes all force and political power.” That certainly fits Jesus. He was already ruler, though not acknowledged as such, and the manner by which He would gain dominion would not be by force of arms or by political power. Jesus came not in wealth, but poverty; not in grandeur, but modesty; not as judge, but as savior. He came into Jerusalem as Messiah, the king who would be the Passover lamb.

None of this was by chance. It was all orchestrated precisely by the sovereign hand of God. So we have seen the timing of the King and the preparation of the king. Now we see in John 12:13 the,

Reception of the King –  John 12:13

The crowd who had come to Jerusalem for the feast (John 12:13), “took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him.” It seems there were two crowds converging that day. There was the crowd that had come along with Jesus as pilgrims to the feast. They had probably followed Him from Jericho and were with Him in Bethany. Then there was the multitude that came out from Jerusalem to see Jesus. John 12:9 says, “Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came.” They all line the road and accompany Jesus as He comes over the Mount of Olives and begins His descent into Jerusalem.

The other Gospels tells us that many in the crowd put their outer garments on the road before Jesus. This is a sign of respect. We do something similar in our own time in rolling out the “red carpet” for visiting dignitaries or the use of a runner in a wedding. For them, it also had the practical value of keeping the dust down. John tells us about the palm branches. Two centuries before Christ, Judas and Simon Maccabaeus had driven the Syrian forces out of Israel. Their victory was celebrated with music and the waving of palm branches (1 Macc. 13:51), which also had been prominent at the earlier rededication of the temple (2 Macc. 10:7). Thus palm branches were a symbol of Jewish nationalism and of victory over their enemies. The crowd was hopeful that Jesus was the messianic liberator who would free them from Rome’s domination (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 432).

Their cry (John 12:13), “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” comes from Psalm 118:25-26, which is the climax of the Hallel (Psalms 113-118), which was sung at the Feasts of Tabernacles, Dedication, and Passover (Carson, ibid.). “Hosanna” meant, “Save now!” It may have been a prayer or just a cry of praise to God. The next line (John 12:13), “The King of Israel!,” is not from Psalm 118, but rather shows that the crowd understood Psalm 118 as referring to the Messianic King.

Imagine the commotion all of this would have caused. Jerusalem is already in a state of excitement because of the preparations for Passover. Then you hear and then see this huge crowd of people coming over the Mt. of Olives and down the road through the valley to enter Jerusalem through the East gate. The people are cutting down the palm branches and putting their coats down in front of Jesus as a sign of honor. At the same time people are shouting, “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!” (John 12:13). And “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38). And “Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:10). What a sight! What a wonderful event at which to be present!

What they were shouting out was exactly what was being done for them. Salvation was coming from the Messiah. Jesus was coming as Lord. The one who was from the highest heaven was bringing to them salvation.

Did the people understand all that they were saying? Sadly, for the most part, they did not. The people were still looking for a king who would save them from Roman oppression, not someone who would bring them salvation from sin’s oppression. What they were shouting was true, but most did not understood the significance of what was happening. Even the disciples did not fully understand until later. John 12:16 states, “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.”

Rejection of the King – John 12:18-19

Many of the crowd had come out not necessarily because they believed in Jesus, but because they were curious. A crowd attracts a crowd as people join in just to see what is happening. John 12:18, “For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.” Jesus was famous for raising Lazarus from the dead. They wanted to see this for themselves. This is true of some people who come to churches today. Large churches especially attract people simply because they are large and people want to be a part of the spectacle. They hear about amazing things that God may be doing and want to see more.

John has been clear throughout his Gospel that coming to Jesus because of the signs may be a start of faith, but it is certainly not saving faith in Jesus Christ. Remember back in John 2 when many people of Jerusalem believed when they saw the signs Jesus performed, “But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,” (John 2:24). In John 10 Jesus encourages belief in His works but expects that this initial faith must lead to believing in who He really is (John 10:37-38), “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” Belief in Jesus’ works must lead to belief in Him as the Son of God who is one with the Father. Only then can it be saving faith.

It is still proper for those who are curious to give praise, honor and glory to Jesus because He is worthy of it. However, our prayer is that curiosity will bear fruit in repentance and faith in Christ so that there will be genuine knowledge of Him as Lord and Savior which brings peace to the soul and not just an emotional response that is empty of a real relationship with Jesus Christ.

Not everyone in the crowd was supportive or simply curious. The Pharisees had also come out. Those in the crowd may or may not have understood the significance of what they were saying, but the Pharisees did understand and they did not like it. They considered it to be wrong if not blasphemy to use such language for a man they had rejected as Messiah. Luke 19:39 tells us, “And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”” Jesus refuses to rebuke them and gladly receives their praise. So John 12:19 tells us, “The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!””

The Pharisees meant, “Everyone is going after Jesus. Our efforts to get rid of Him have failed!” They rejected Jesus’ claims and resented those who were giving Him praise. There are still plenty of people around like that today, and it seems like there are more everyday. I doubt there is anyone here this morning that is actively like that, though there may be some here who are passively like that. You are here, but you don’t really want to be here, and in fact, you may even resent it. You are anxious to be out of here and go somewhere else. My prayer for you is that you is that God will open your heart to receive this message. That you would give serious thought to being prepared for eternity. What will you do with Jesus?

But John wants us to see that although by the end of that week, the tide had turned and Jewish leaders were gloating in their victory, it was short-lived. Jesus arose from the dead and when John wrote, the gospel was going out to the whole world, to Jews and Gentiles alike. This anticipates the next paragraph, where the Greeks want to see Jesus.

John 12:19 is serves as a warning to us, the Pharisees meant that they were frustrated that they could not stop the crowd from shouting and celebrating Jesus’ arrival. But the truth of it is an eternal one. You cannot stop God’s plan from going forward.

It would only be a few days later when some in the crowd who were then shouting “Hosanna!” would be shouting, “Crucify Him!” Jesus would be lifted up on the cross and die for the sins of the world. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead and within a few weeks the church sees explosive growth as people believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. The efforts of the religious leaders to squash it by persecution would only cause it to spread throughout the world and turn it upside down (Acts 17:6) with the gospel. In the end, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).

Bow before King Jesus the Son of God today. He will give you the gift of eternal life, the peace of the forgiveness of sins, and a relationship with Him forever.  Today is the day of salvation, for you may not have tomorrow.

Mary Anoints Jesus

John 12:1-11

As we begin John 12 we are half way through the Gospel of John. But we have entered into the last week of Jesus’ life. Like all the Gospels, John devotes more pages to the week of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection than to anything else. These events are the heart of the Christian gospel. This is what the Gospel has been building toward. John has demonstrated to us through the work and words of Jesus that He is the Christ, the Son of God in whom we must believe for eternal life.

Throughout our study of the Gospel of John we have seen mixed responses to Jesus Christ. There’s no one else like Him who evokes the opposite extremes of love and hate, devotion and rejection, worship and blasphemy, faith and unbelief.  He divides believers from unbelievers, sheep from goats, wheat from tares, light from darkness, children of God from children of the devil (MacArthur).

The epicenter of this divide is really belief and unbelief. John has written his eye-witness account of Jesus in this Gospel so that people would believe. MacArthur points out:

Unbelief and belief are extreme reactions to Christ. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is so extreme it leads to eternal life in heaven. Not believing in Jesus Christ is so extreme it leads to eternal death in hell.

We have seen those extremes in this Gospel. Now, as we come to John 12, those extremes become manifested, in particular, through two characters. One is Mary and the other is Judas. They demonstrate those extremes of belief and unbelief by how they respond to Jesus. At the same time one person is demonstrating her belief and her love for Jesus through a very expensive gift, another is indignant at the waste because of his greed and his unbelief.

Ultimately this is a story about the worth of Jesus. The contrast is between one who places infinite value upon Jesus and another who values money more than Jesus. Piper writes:

It is a beautiful thing when the worth of Jesus and the love of his followers match — when the value of his perfections and the intensity of our affections correspond. Mary’s heart corresponded to the treasure that Jesus is. Judas’s heart contradicted the treasure that Jesus is.

Listen for that contrast as we read John 12:1-11

1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s [son], who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. 7 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 “For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”

9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

The supper in honor of Jesus (John 12:1-2)

This account begins with “Then, six days before the Passover…” The word “then” really means therefore, indicating that something follows from another necessarily. The scene is really set for this event at the end of John 11. The antagonism between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders had reached a peak when He had raised Lazarus from the dead. Ever since that time they had been planning a way to kill Jesus (John 11:53). They were anticipating His arrival in Judea for the Passover week and looking for their chance to seize Him (John 11:57). Therefore, because all of this was waiting in Jerusalem and God’s timing was right, “Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany.”

If our Lord’s arrival at Bethany is an amazing thing in John 11, it is even more amazing in John 12. Bethany is the very place “where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.” The miracle of the raising of Lazarus is fresh in our mind. It is also very fresh in the minds of those who witnessed the raising of Lazarus in Bethany, and came to trust in Jesus as a result. It is painfully fresh in the minds of the unbelieving Jewish religious leaders, who look upon the raising of Lazarus as the last straw. At the direction of Caiaphas, the High Priest that year, the Sanhedrin had been called together, and the members were now unified in their resolve to kill Jesus. 

“There they made Him a supper,” (John 12:2). The supper was for Jesus. Others were there but it was held in His honor. Matthew and Mark tell us that the supper was held at the home of Simon the leper (Matt. 11:6; Mark 14:3). We should probably say, “Simon the former leper,” because I imagine that Simon had been healed by Jesus. Otherwise, he would not have been hosting such a dinner. Jesus’ disciples are also present (Mt. 26:8), but John only mentions one of them in his account here.

True to her nature, “Martha served,” (John 12:2). It would appear that hospitality was one of Martha’s gifts, for we find her doing the same thing in Luke 10. Martha is a doer and likes to give of herself in serving others. There is no complaining about her service here as in Luke 10. She does it because she loves her Lord and she loves the people she serves. Thank the Lord for those who serve. In fact, the Lord Jesus says in Luke 22:27, “I am among you as the One who serves.” Serving is Martha’s gift to the Lord.

Mary anoints Jesus (John 12:3)

Mary also likes to give, but from what we know of her from Luke 10, she is more contemplative, more absorbed with the person and words of Jesus. Her gift is also very personal. John points out “Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him,” (John 12:2). Again the word “then” which means “therefore” connects verse 2 and 3 and indicates the motivation of Mary’s action. She is grateful to the Lord for raising her brother Lazarus from the dead who even at that moment was there reclining at the table with Jesus. It is a heart filled with joy and love that prompts her beautiful act.

“Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” Mary takes a Roman pound (about 12 ounces) of this very precious and costly perfume made from pure nard. Nard is an aromatic herb grown in the high pasture-land of the Himalayas, between Tibet and India. Harvesting this plant in such a remote location, processing it and then transporting it to Israel would have made this an extremely precious perfume. The value of it is expressed as well in Matthew in that he points out that it was in an Alabaster jar, which in itself would have been expensive. In John 12:5 its value is set by the man who knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing: Judas Iscariot. He estimates its monetary cost at 300 denarii. A denarius was the common wage for a full day’s labor. This perfume was worth what the average laboring man would have earned in a full year. To give you a little perspective, a worker who makes a minimum wage of $10 per hour earns about $25,000 in 300 days of labor. This was a very expensive gift!

Mary has sought to do something lavish for the Lord as expression of her great love for Him and gratitude for having her brother back alive. What Mary does here is remarkable. Mark tells us that Mary broke the alabaster jar and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head (Mk 14:3). But John emphasizes that she also anointed Jesus’ feet with it to such an extent that she needed to wipe of the excess, which she did with her hair.

This is shocking. In complete disregard for Jewish rules of propriety for women not to loosen their hair in the presence of men, she anoints Jesus feet and wipes them with her hair. This is love that knows no limits, love without restraint. It’s extravagant. It’s humble. It’s generous. She gave the most precious thing she had. Mary was so caught up with her devotion to Christ that she didn’t stop to consider what others might think about her. Like David dancing before the Lord wearing only an ephod (2 Sam. 6:14-23), Mary cast public opinion to the wind, let her hair down, and wiped Jesus’ feet. David’s fervent devotion embarrassed his wife, but the Lord stood with David. Mary’s action made the apostles uncomfortable, but Jesus sided with Mary. She loves Jesus and she gives to Him her best as a demonstration of that love.

No wonder the house was filled with the fragrance of this perfume. Heartfelt worship of King Jesus is never merely private. It always spills over onto others — one way or the other. The lavish, heartfelt, sacrificial, grateful display of affection was for Jesus. But everybody was blessed (Piper). There must have been stunned silence.

Judas objects (John 12:4-6)

The silence didn’t last. As they were contemplating the humble sacrifice of Mary, they were interrupted by the hypocritical self-interest of Judas. John 12:4, “But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s [son], who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?””

What a horrible interruption to such a lavish expression of believing love and devotion. The scene is tortured by the intrusion of a man identified by Jesus back in chapter 6 as an unbeliever (John 6:64) and a devil (John 6:70).

The question had a certain pragmatic ring to it, so, according to Matthew and Mark the other disciples joined in with Judas saying “Why this waste?” (Matt. 26:8). From their standpoint it seemed like such a waste to anoint Jesus with something worth that much. Why, a real ministry, like feeding the poor, could have been accomplished if it had been sold.

John is also quick to point out the character of Judas introducing him in the story as the one that would betray Jesus, but then he also specifically points out the greed that was in Judas’ heart. John 12:6, “This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.” Judas was not really concerned about the poor. His only thought was what he might get out of it if it had been sold and put into their money box. Judas was a thief. He was the treasurer for Jesus and the disciples. They trusted him to be honest with the money that was given to them to pay for their living expenses. The rest of the disciples seemed to have no clue of Judas’ real motives. Even on the night that Judas left the last supper to betray Jesus to the Pharisees, the other disciples just thought that he had left to give alms to the poor since he was the treasurer (John 13:29).

Judas was evil, but the reaction of the other disciples was really not much better. They were not looking for personal monetary gain from the sale of the perfume, but they had a false idea of the nature of what it meant to worship, to serve God. They, like the Pharisees, viewed giving to the poor as a superior to a direct act of worship. Human pragmatism distorted what was really important.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We are to reach out the poor and strive to meet their needs. Both the Old Testament commandments concerning the care for the poor and the New Testament teachings about the poor call us to have practical ministry to those in need. However, that ministry must be done with proper motive and never as a substitute for true worship. Good works in themselves are not even pleasing to God unless they are done for His glory (Matt. 5:16). In addition, helping people out, meeting their needs and making them comfortable in this life is of little value if we are not also preparing them for eternity.

Another element we must see in what Mary did that makes it superior to selling the nard for a practical ministry to the poor, is that Mary did it as an act of selfless and sacrificial worship. She gained nothing for herself from it. Inherent in the idea among the Jews in giving alms to the poor was a benefit to themselves in gaining the favor of people by doing it. That is why Jesus had to make a stern correction of their practice in Matthew 6:1-4 that it be done for God’s glory and not their own.

Mary gave out of her love for Jesus in gratitude for all that He had done. Judas only considered what could have been in it for him. The other disciples improperly judged an act of pure worship with a pragmatic outlook.

Jesus rebukes Judas (John 12:7-8)

Jesus rebukes Judas and with him the other disciples in John 12:7-8, “But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 “For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.””

Matthew records what Jesus said more fully (Matt. 26:10-13):

 10 But when Jesus was aware of [it], He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. 11 “For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. 12 “For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did [it] for My burial. 13 “Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

She did a good work for Jesus. She did not do it to get noticed. she did not do it for others. She did it for Jesus. It was all for Him. Let me ask you, why do you come to worship? Is it for Jesus? Or is it to be noticed by others? It is a good work for the Lord? Or are you trying to gain favor with God and people? Jesus said, “she has done a good work for Me.”

Also He said “she has kept this for the day of My burial.” Her anointing Jesus was in anticipation of His death and burial. We don’t know how long Mary had this precious oil. Perhaps it was a family heirloom. But she had not used it or sold it. She had kept it for Jesus. How much did she understand about Jesus’ impending death? Perhaps Mary had understood what Jesus had said on previous occasions about His approaching death (John 6:52-56; 7:323; 8:21-23; 10:11,15). Perhaps it was the amazing providence of God that she unwittingly anointed Jesus for His burial.

Jesus also added a statement that these pragmatic disciples would understand. He seems to quote Deuteronomy 15:11, “For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’” There would always be opportunity to do good for poor people because they would always be around, but the opportunity to minister to Jesus before His death would soon be gone. So, yes, we do have a responsibility to help care for the poor, and that is a work that will never end until Jesus returns. We should take that responsibility seriously and help according to Biblical principles.

The rebuke silenced the disciples from further attacks on Mary and her actions. What Mary did was an act of selfless and sacrificial worship. It would be an act that would be spoken of in memory of her wherever the gospel message would go in the future.

The response of the Jews (John 12:9-11)

John now changes the scene to what is happening outside the house. Remember that Bethany is only a short distance away from Jerusalem. News about Jesus arrival in Bethany would have spread throughout Jerusalem. Many would seek to have their curiosity satisfied.

“Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.” So the curious come out to see not only Jesus, but also Lazarus because of the miracle performed upon Him. It is good to have a healthy curiosity about Jesus—if it leads you to seek to know more about Him and even to believe in Him. Jesus had told the Pharisees (John 10:38), “though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”

But others were not curious. They only had hatred for Jesus and now that hatred was spilling over to anyone that caused people to believe in Jesus: 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

Notice the witness of Lazarus. John does not record a single word that Lazarus spoke. The people were not believing in Jesus because Lazarus was some great orator and convincing them of the truth. The very fact that He was alive was evidence enough that Jesus is Lord. Only the Son of God, the promised Messiah could raise a man from the dead.

But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also. They wanted to destroy the evidence. You get an idea of the extreme hatred they had for Jesus. It never was about evidence. They never denied His miracles. They didn’t deny the resurrection of Lazarus. As we saw at the end of John 11, their unbelief was in spite of the evidence. As Abraham says in Jesus’ story about the rich man and a poor man named Lazarus   in Luke 16:31, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” They wanted to kill Lazaus because on account of him many of the Jews were going away, going away from the temple, going away from Judaism, going away from them and believing in Jesus.

We have seen two opposite extreme responses to Jesus. What is your response to Jesus? Is it a selfless and sacrificial love like Mary? Is it self-centered materialism like Judas? Perhaps you are like one of the curious multitude. If so, I pray you will soon see and also believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

This story illustrates Jesus’ words in Mark 8:35-36: “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

Jesus repeats this idea later in this chapter (John 12:25), “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Mary denied herself and “hated her life” for Jesus’ sake by her extravagant act of devotion to Him, and she gained that which would not be taken from her (Luke 10:42). Judas greedily wished that he could have pocketed some of Mary’s gift. In a few days, he would sell Jesus for a paltry sum. But he forfeited his soul.

Judas’ god was money and within a matter of a few days he would commit suicide by hanging himself. If your god is money you will forfeit your soul.

Mary worshipped Jesus with everything she had and in a few days she will be celebrating another resurrection. Because Jesus Himself will give up His life on the cross. He will be broken, His blood spilled out. He will take the punishment of death for the sin of the world. And Jesus would rise triumphant over sin and death three days later. Now He gives the gift of eternal life to all who believe in Him.

Have you trusted in Jesus?

Reaction to the Raising of Lazarus

John 11:45-57

In John 11 we have seen how the Lord Jesus demonstrated—in a profoundly public way—that He truly is “the resurrection and the life”; and that whoever believes in Him, “though he may die, he shall live” (see John 11:25). This most significant sign that Jesus performed brought out strong reactions from those who experienced it. The raising to life of His friend Lazarus after being dead for four days caused many who saw this miraculous sign to believe—and left the religious leaders who opposed Him in a state of fear and frustration.

At the end of John 11, we find that the time of the Passover was drawing near. This will be the third Passover in John’s Gospel—the first being the time when Jesus cast out the money changers from the temple (John 2:13ff), and the second occurring near the time when Jesus fed the 5,000 (John 6:4ff). The third Passover will be the one in which Jesus would—Himself—be sacrificed as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” (John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5:7). The passage we’ll be looking at this morning concerns the events that occurred between the raising of Lazarus and the beginning of the Passover. In it, we see the various responses to Jesus’ raising of Lazarus. These responses demonstrate the sovereignty of God even over the wicked purposes of man.

Do you remember Genesis 50:20; and how we’re told there of Joseph’s word to his eleven brothers? He revealed himself to them after he had become a leading power in Egypt—long after his brothers had cruelly sold him into slavery. He was now in a position to serve them and keep them alive. And he told them, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” That statement illustrates what happens at the end of John 11. Here we will see powerful but frightened men plot evil against the Son of God. But the very evil that they meant, God—in His sovereignty—meant for good and for the salvation of many.

45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.
46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did.
47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.
48 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”
49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”
51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
53 Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.
55 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
56 Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, “What do you think–that He will not come to the feast?”
57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.

In this passage we first see that there was a mixed response to Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

1. The mixed response to the raising of Lazarus (John 11:45-48).

As we have seen happen throughout the Gospel of John, those who witness this amazing sign of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead have two dramatically different responses. Many find the evidence compelling and they believe in Jesus. Others do not.

Jesus’ miracle of raising Lazarus was a very public event. There were Jews from Jerusalem in Bethany mourning Mary and Martha over the death of their brother (John 11:18-19). When Mary had left her house to go to where Jesus was, many of the Jewish people who were there to comfort her had followed her (John 11:31). So there were many who witnessed firsthand the raising of Lazarus.

Notice here that the response of the people to this miracle is quite different from the response of the Pharisees to our Lord’s healing of the man born blind in John 9. In the case of the blind man’s healing, the Jewish leaders sought to disprove the miracle. In chapter 11, no one disputes that it is indeed Lazarus who has been raised from the dead. No one even attempts to challenge the claim of those present that he has really died and been dead for four days, after which he is raised. No one challenges the fact that it is Jesus who raises him. The facts are clear and unquestioned; but the conclusions reached are dramatically different.

A. Those who believed. (John 11:45).

The first reaction of the people is that many believed, “Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.” In John 12, we’re told that many more would come to see Lazarus—and in doing so, many more would believe (John 12:9-11). This is what we would expect as the result of this powerful miracles isn’t it? Many believed. Jesus had said that was the purpose of the miracle, “that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4), and “that you may believe,” (John 11:15). Jesus had prayed before He raised Lazarus, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” The sign had accomplished its purpose. God was glorified through His Son and people believed. They believed that Jesus was sent by the Father.

Jesus did not simply want people to believe that He was able to raise Lazarus from the dead. He wanted more than this. He wanted them to see the great truth behind this miracle. He wanted them to see that no one could have performed the miracle that He had just performed unless the Father had, in fact, sent Him into this world. He wanted them to believe that He is “the resurrection and the life.”

But that is not the only reaction to the miracle. We also see,

B. Those who went away (John 11:46).

“But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did,” (John 11:46). We don’t know all the motives of this group. It may be that those who told the Pharisees were simply wanting to report the miracle to them. But it may also be that some who witnessed the raising of Lazarus were on the side of those who were hostile to the Lord. I think it is significant that the verse says they “went away.” Most of the time in the gospels when people believe, they stay with Jesus. They want to follow Jesus. But these leave.

C. The Chief Priests and Pharisees (John 11:47-48).

We don’t have to speculate about the motives and priorities of the Pharisees and the religious leaders. John tells us, “Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ‘What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation’” (John 11:47-48).

The chief priests were mostly Sadducees. The Sadducees rejected things like Angels, miracles or the resurrection (Acts. 23:8). Unlike the Pharisees, they would work with the Romans in order to get what they wanted. The Pharisees and Sadducees were generally antagonistic to each other, but when they had a common purpose they could work with each other. They both had a common purpose in being against Jesus. So when the Pharisees received the news about Lazarus’ resurrection, they “gathered a council,” probably an unofficial meeting of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews.

They topic of their meeting was, “What are we doing?” or as the NKJV states, “What shall we do?” This expression by the chief priests and the Pharisees was the outflow of total frustration. They had tried to persuade individuals not to follow Jesus through threats and intimidation. They had challenged His teachings in public forums; some of them had even on several occasions tried to arrest Jesus or stone Him to death. But in spite of all these things, the influence of Jesus continued to grow. They are totally frustrated.

Notice that they acknowledge that Jesus was working “many signs”. Jesus had done many miracles publically. The signs He did were such powerful evidence of His identity that Jesus had said to them, “though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know that and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him,” (John 10:38). The words that they speak are incredible, almost beyond belief. They express no doubt about the power of our Lord, or the legitimacy of the signs He has performed. They do not deny that the evidence in support of His claims is piling up. In fact, they virtually admit that it is all true. But they wouldn’t believe Him—even though they clearly saw the works. In fact, they believed that they had to put a stop to these works of His.

Their fear was that, if they didn’t stop Him, “everyone will believe in Him”. They thought Jesus was a false teacher, leading people astray. So I imagine that they convinced themselves they were protecting the ignorant people from this dangerous teacher. But behind their words it is easy to spot their priority. They were driven by a jealous concern that they would lose the devotion of the people. If things weren’t put to a stop, they would lose the respect of the people and their position of preeminence over them.

They were also concerned that they would suffer politically. Judah was under Roman occupation. And even though they were permitted to carry on their traditions under the watchful eye of Rome, any disorder would surely result in the Romans coming down upon them. Jesus was proving to be a disturber of the relative peace by which they had managed to appease Rome; and they were fearful that the political order they had established would be disturbed; and that the Romans would step in and take away both their place and their nation.

This group had a vested interest in the system as it was and they were afraid of losing it. If the people believed in Jesus as Messiah, they feared that the Romans would intervene and they would lose their power and their comfortable living through controlling the temple.

That brings us to:

2. The wicked plot of Caiaphas (John 11:49-50).

In these verses we meet Caiaphas, the epitome of a political maneuverer, yet even He is subject to the sovereign will of God. He was said to be high priest that year, that is, while these events were taking place, he was in power. High priests were permitted to hold their position by the Roman authorities; and so, men who wished the position would often compete for it or buy it. At this point, it had been given to Caiaphas. He was the son-in-law of Annas; before whom Jesus would later be brought bound after His arrest (John 18:12-14). All the various Biblical references to Caiaphas as well as other historical accounts present him to be a very shrewd and calculating opportunist. And so, as the Pharisees and the chief priests were wondering “What shall we do?”, Caiaphas, interjects, “You know nothing at all . . .” (v. 49).

Caiaphas, the high priest spoke with the characteristic rudeness of the Sadduces. But after he insulted their intelligence, he then went on to offer his solution to the problem of Jesus, “nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:50). Caiaphas’ premise was that if the nation followed Jesus, then the nation would be destroyed by Rome. Therefore, it was better for Jesus to be destroyed than for the whole nation. Jesus must die.

Think of the irony of these words of the High Priest. Jesus has just raised a man from the dead, and so they decide the best way to counteract our Lord’s ministry is to kill Him, the One who is life. Are you kidding me? These Jews might do well to “wake up and smell the coffee.” These people are so threatened, so much in a state of panic, that they are not thinking clearly at all. The best way to be rid of one who can raise the dead is to put Him to death? Their rebellious unbelief has blinded their reasoning.

If you drop down to John 11:53 you see that they all agreed to Caiaphas’ plan: “Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.” The council entered into a conspiracy to murder Jesus. There was no charge brought against Jesus. There was no trial. There were no witnesses and no one present to defend Him, yet they condemned Him to death.

But as so often happens with ungodly men that God places in positions of power, Caiaphas’ words and his evil plot meant far more in the purposes of God than he realized.

So we see,

3. The sovereign purpose of God (vv. 51-54).

Caiaphas was acting according to his own calculated plan to get rid of Jesus whom he considered his enemy. Yet, God was doing something else at the same time. As it turns out, Caiaphas was an unwitting mouthpiece for God. John explains to us, “Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad” (vv. 51-52).

This may surprise some that God would use Caiaphas in such a way, yet this was appropriate. Caiaphas was the High Priest even if he arrived at that office improperly in an ungodly manner and was not of the proper lineage. But God is not limited by man or man’s sin. Part of the historic role of the High Priest was prophecy (Ex. 28:30). God used him accordingly.

Consider who God used in times past. Balaam was a wicked man who plotted to curse God’s people, yet God used Him to prophecy a blessing on Israel (Numbers 23, 24). And speaking of Balaam, didn’t God even use a donkey to rebuke Balaam? (Numb. 22). It should not really surprise us then that God could and would use Caiaphas for His own purposes even though they were in direct opposition to Caiaphas’ own intent.

It is incredible that Caiaphas became a prophet, but what he prophesied is even more incredible. Jesus was going to die for the nation. The preposition here means, “in behalf of.” It is the idea of substitution. Jesus would die as the substitute for the nation. Substitution is at the heart of the Christian gospel. The death I should have died for my sin, Jesus died for me, in my place, in your place. All the wrath of Almighty God against sin was poured out on Jesus Christ on the cross.

Isaiah prophecies of this:

4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 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.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked–But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor [was any] deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put [Him] to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see [His] seed, He shall prolong [His] days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, [and] be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:4-12).

The substitution in verse 51 is specifically for nation of Israel, but then verse 52 expands the scope of the substitution to include all “the children of God who were scattered abroad.” John’s explanation hints at the work that Jesus would do not only to save His own people, but to also gather the redeemed from out of among the Gentiles—making them one fold (see John 10:16). Truly, Caiaphas spoke far more truth than he ever could have understood!

It’s the same truth of which Isaiah writes—prophetically giving us the words of our Lord Himself;

“And now the Lord says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel is gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And My God shall be My strength),
Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
Thus says the Lord,
The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One,
To Him whom man despises,
To Him whom the nation abhors,
To the Servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the Lord who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel;
And He has chosen You” (Isaiah 49:5-7).

They plotted, but God purposed! They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good! We’re told, “Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples” (John 11:54). But it would not be long before He would make His triumphal ride from the country into the city to submit Himself to their hands—and to God’s sovereign purpose for our salvation.

4. Plot and purpose come together (John 11:55-57).

Jesus’ absence had created a buzz. People were talking about Him. John tells us, “And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, ‘What do you think—that He will not come to the feast?’” (John 11:55-56). In the outworking of time, man’s plot was taking shape according to God’s plan.

And one of the great miracles of it all is how man’s plan was made to conform to the purpose of God. We’re told, “Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him” (v. 57). They would take any opportunity they could get. But in the end, God would give them only the opportunity that would fulfill His purposes.

In Matthew 26:1-2, Jesus told His disciples, “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” But Matthew also lets us know that right then, the religious leaders were planning to do something completely different than what Jesus had said. They were saying “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people” (Matthew 26:4). They knew that many of the Jewish people who where beginning to believe on Jesus would be present for the Passover feast. And they didn’t want to risk creating the kind of commotion that would force the Roman authorities down on them. And so, they specifically purposed not to take Jesus during the feast, but to wait until the feast was over.

And yet, Judas came to those religious leaders—in the evil intention of his own heart, but under the sovereign rule of the Almighty God—to make an offer to them that changed their plans into conformity to God’s purposes (Matt. 26:13-16). Judas sought an opportunity to betray the Lord into their hands (v. 16); and the sovereign Lord Jesus waited in the garden in order to give him that opportunity . . . on Passover night, just as He said.

This highlights to us who truly was in control. Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. His death is the fulfillment of the Passover observance that God gave to His people long ago through Moses, in the book of Exodus (Exodus 12). He must and would be offered on the Passover, just as He said—and just as God the Father had purposed. Not even the plans of powerful men could change that.

May God help us to remember that ungodly people may plot and scheme, but God’s purposes always prevail. God uses those wicked plots and schemes in order to accomplish His sovereign purpose. God even changes the plots of men mid-course, so that their plans conform to His will. The wicked people of this world—and even the devil himself—can never thwart the plan of God, but only fulfill it.

Jesus always causes a decision. The same question that faced the Jewish leaders is the question each of us must face. “What shall we do?” (John 11:47). Either you believe in Christ Jesus, that He died for sins in your place and was raised to life for you or you will die in your own sins. The question is the same question that Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe?”  How will you answer today?

If You Believe You Will See the Glory of God

John 11:28-45

As I have done many times in our study of the Gospel of John, I want to begin today by reminding you of John’s purpose in writing his eyewitness account of Jesus Christ. He states it clearly in John 20:31, “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.”

John wants us to believe. But John does not want us to have faith in just anyone or anything. He wants us to believe in Jesus, that He is the Christ, that He is the Son of God. John presents Jesus to us as the Eternal Word become flesh, the Lord of glory in the likeness of men. Remember in his opening John wrote (John 1:1,14), “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Two things stand out about Jesus in the Gospel: His powerful divinity and His perfect humanity. It is marvelous how these unite in the God-man: everything is there in Christ to draw out our hearts in adoring love and reverent worship. In His works and His words we see both His mighty power and His blessed tenderness. They display not only His absolute authority, but also His entire dependency. These two lines of truth stunningly meet in John 11. The very chapter which chronicles His mightiest “sign” reveals the principles by which He walked—submission, dependence, obedience. Side by side with the record of His omnipotent voice calling the dead to life again, we read of Him groaning and weeping.

This chapter began with Martha and Mary of Bethany sending word to Jesus that their brother, Lazarus, whom Jesus loved, was sick (John 11:1-3). They trusted Jesus to respond according to that love. When Jesus heard the news, He responded “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). Martha and Mary probably understood that message to mean that their brother would not die. But Jesus waited two days after He received the message before beginning His journey to Bethany. Jesus made it clear to His disciples that He had purposely waited until Lazarus was dead because He was planning on “waking him up” (John 11:11) so they would believe (John 11:15).

When Jesus arrived in Bethany Lazarus had been dead for four days (John 11:17). Martha gets word that Jesus has come as rushes out to meet Him (John 11:20). She pours out her grief and disappointment to Jesus saying (John 11:21), “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus assures Her that her brother will rise again (John 11:23), proclaims to her that He is “the resurrection and the life,” (John 11:25), and asks if she believes this (John 11:26). She responds by confessing Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world,” (John 11:27).

So we pick up the story now in John 11:28,

28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.

The Master has come and is calling for you (John 11:28-31)

John 11:20-31 set the stage for Mary’s encounter with Jesus which follows in John 11:32-37. It seems as though Mary had remained in the house because she did not know Jesus had arrived. Verse 20 tells us that Martha left Jesus, returned to the house and secretly told Mary, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.”

Would you allow me to sermonize on that sentence just a bit this morning? That secret message from Martha to Mary is the public message that we proclaim every time the scriptures are read or the gospel is preached: “The master has come and is calling for you.” Could it be that is why the providence of God has led you to this congregation this morning? You need to hear that the messiah, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus has come. You need to know that through the inspired word of God He is calling you today. How will you answer?

Mary answers this way: she immediately gets up and rushes out to Him (John 11:29). Following along are the mourners who have come from Jerusalem. They don’t know she is going out to meet Jesus. They think she is going out to the tomb, to mourn, and so they follow her out.

Jesus groans, is troubled and weeps (John 11:32-37)

When Mary arrives at the place outside Bethany where Jesus is, she falls at His feet and repeats the words she and Martha must have repeated among themselves many times, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died” (verse 32). From what we read in verse 33, we realize that Mary’s words to Jesus are interspersed with deep sobbing.

Her words reveal her grief and disappointment. All of Mary’s hope for Lazarus’ healing is gone now that he is dead. I’m sure that it all seems so senseless to Mary, because she knows Jesus could have prevented Lazarus’ death. Why did Jesus wait so long to come?

Jesus knows from the very beginning that the death of Lazarus will be reversed (John 11:4, 11). We might therefore conclude that all of this grieving is, in one sense, needless. But our Lord does not think so. Seeing Mary’s tears, and those of the Jews who have come to mourn with her, Jesus is deeply touched. In verse 33, John employs two terms to describe our Lord’s deep emotional response to the grief of those around Him. The NKJV renders the first term “groaned.” Another version (ESV) translates it “deeply moved.” This word is only used five times in the New Testament. In three of those it has the connotation of sternness as in a stern warning (Matthew 9:30; Mark 1:43) or scolding (Mark 14:5). Thus, another translation says here, “He was angry” (CSB).  If Jesus was bristling with indignation, what was He angry at?

It is not that Jesus groans because Lazarus died. Remember, Jesus said He was glad that He was not there to heal Lazarus so that the disciples would believe (11:15). It’s not just the pain that He feels in the loss of a friend. So why this response? Let us look carefully at the text. The first time Jesus expresses this is because of the weeping and wailing of Mary and the crowds (11:33). The second time is when the people say, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:37). I believe the problem is that no one sees who Jesus is. Jesus’ grief and his troubled spirit are not about Lazarus but over so much unbelief. No one believes that Lazarus will live. No one recognizes that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He understands that He is surrounded by unbelievers, who are representative of a world of unbelievers who are all being catapulted into eternal judgment because they will not receive Him. He understands what sin has done to the world and what unbelief has done to these people who are gathered around Him.

This word for “groaned” was used in extra-biblical Greek to refer to the snorting of a horse preparing for battle. Calvin (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], p. 442) sees in this groaning that Jesus is gearing up for the conflict as our champion in the battle against sin and death.

The second term, rendered “troubled,” is the same word used to describe Herod, who is greatly troubled at hearing of the birth of Israel’s King from the magi (Matthew 2:3). When the disciples were on their way across the Sea of Galilee and saw Jesus passing by, walking on the water, they were “troubled” (Matthew 14:26). In John, the term is used by our Lord to describe His troubled soul, as He contemplates the cross (John 12:27), and in chapter 13 when Jesus considers the fact that one of His disciples, seated at the table with Him, will betray Him (John 13:21).

All of this is to let us know that our Lord is greatly affected by the sorrow of those about Him. He does not dab away at a tear or two; He visibly trembles as He weeps. This is observed by those there at the burial place of Lazarus, along with Mary, and they say to each other, “See how He loved him!” (John 11:36).

Even though He knew that He was going to raise Lazarus, it didn’t prevent Him from entering into the sisters’ grief. He experienced deep feelings and grief, just as we do. And even though He knows that one day He will wipe away all of our tears (Rev. 21:4) He still sympathizes with us in all of our sorrows. Lightfoot commented, “The expression used here implies that He now voluntarily and deliberately accepts and makes His own the emotion and the experience from which it is His purpose to deliver men.” (cited by Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans], p. 557, n. 69).

So after Jesus asks where Lazarus is buried and they respond, “Come and see,” we read the shortest verse in the English New Testament (John 11:35), “Jesus wept.” Jesus could have restrained His tears. After all, He knew that He would soon raise Lazarus. Besides, His tears could be misinterpreted as weakness or frustration on His part. But Jesus did not worry about that. He was completely human (without a sin nature) and His tears show that it’s not wrong to express our feelings as long as our hearts are submissive to God.

It’s worth noting that John uses a different word (11:33) for weeping to describe the loud wailing of Mary and the mourners than the word in 11:35 where “Jesus wept.” This word could be translated, “Jesus burst into tears.” Jesus wept, but He was not wailing in despair. He was not crying out in anguish. In the words of Paul (1 Thess. 4:13), believers are to grieve, but not as those who have no hope.

In 11:36 we read in response to Jesus’ weeping, Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”  And they were right, because John has previously underscored Jesus’ love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (11:3, 5). In fact, Jesus’ love for these dear friends was the reason He stayed two days longer where He was, allowing Lazarus to die (11:6). Love always seeks the highest good for the one loved, and the highest good for anyone is to grow in faith by getting a greater vision of God’s glory. Both of these aims were behind Jesus’ delay in going to Bethany (11:4, 15, 40).

Some of the Jew there express bewilderment that Lazarus should have died at all: “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” (verse 37). They had witnessed Jesus’ power to heal when He gave sight to the man born blind (John 9). Anyone who knows anything about Jesus knows that He could have healed Lazarus. What no one seems to believe, at the moment, is that Jesus can and will raise Lazarus from the dead, that very hour!

Lazarus raised (John 11:38-44)

Lazarus is buried in a cave, with a stone covering the opening. This sounds strikingly similar to the burial sight of our Lord (e.g. Matthew 27:60). The raising of Lazarus almost looks like a dress rehearsal for the resurrection of our Lord in the near future. Jesus orders the stone to be rolled away (John 11:39).

Martha, however, objects to our Lord’s instruction to remove the stone. She protests that too much time has passed. The body will certainly smell very bad, she explains. But beyond this, it just seems to reopen a very painful wound. It seems quite obvious that Martha is not expecting Jesus to perform any miracle here, and certainly not the raising of one who has been dead for several days. 

So Jesus says, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Jesus is seeking to stretch her faith. Martha relents, and the stone is removed. It is time to see who Jesus is. It is time to bring believing to a greater level. The way to see the glory of God, to see God for how glorious He really is, is to believe in Jesus Christ. Those who believe, see. God reveals His glory to those who believe. Jesus’ aim in all that He did was to glorify the Father (17:1-5). Jesus is the revelation of God’s glory to us. Hebrews 1:1-3 summarizes this truth,

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by [His] Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of [His] glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

If you believe, you will see the glory of God.

So Jesus prays outloud to the Father so that people will believe And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” (John 11:41b-42). Jesus is working the plan of the Father and relying on the Father.

Having prayed in this manner, Jesus now cries out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” (John 11:43). In shouting with a loud voice, Jesus reveals His confidence that the Father will hear Him, and that Lazarus will rise from the dead. He does not mumble these words under His breath, so that no one will hear what He is saying. No one comes away from this burial place wondering if there is a connection between that shout and Lazarus’ coming forth. It is a clear case of cause and effect. Jesus is the cause of Lazarus’ rising from the dead.

Lazarus emerges, still wrapped up in his burial attire. Jesus says, “Loose him, and let him go.” This miracle shows that Jesus can do what mere men cannot do. Religion could not raise the dead. All that the Jews could do was offer consolation to Mary and Martha. The scribes and Pharisees could not raise the dead. Even modern medicine, with all of its advanced knowledge, cannot raise to life a body that has begun to decompose. But Jesus could do what no mere man could do. He spoke the word and Lazarus instantly came to life.

This miracle validates Jesus’ astounding claims in John 5:21, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” Jesus added (John 5:28-29), “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” Because Jesus raised Lazarus, we can know that He will make good on His promise to raise all the dead someday, either for eternal life or for judgment. Jesus is the author and giver of both physical and eternal life. He has all power over death. It proves the claim of Jesus (John 11:25-26), “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

This is the glory of Jesus. Jesus raised Lazarus because He is the resurrection. He is the arrival in history of God’s final, glorious renovation of all things, including our bodies. Believers, you will be raised from the dead and shine like the sun in the kingdom of your Father. Lazarus is a preview of your resurrection. Jesus is coming back to this earth in power and great glory. And this event, and this story, and this sermon is window onto that glory.

And therefore it is God saying to you today: “I love you. My love for you is not sparing you suffering and death. It is the gift of myself. My glory.” Do you see Jesus? Do you see Him for who He really is?

Can you see the glory of both Jesus’ humanity and His deity? We see His glorious deity in His omniscience to know that Lazarus is dead and in His power and authority to raise him from the dead (John 11:11, 14). We see His perfect humanity very plainly (John 11:34-35) where Jesus asks the location of the tomb and then He groans, is troubled, and weeps. Alfred Edersheim, (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah[Eerdmans] 1:198), wrote this about Jesus:

It has been observed, that by the side of every humiliation connected with the Humanity of the Messiah, the glory of His Divinity was also made to shine forth. The coincidences are manifestly undesigned on the part of the Evangelic writers, and hence all the more striking. Thus, if He was born of the humble Maiden of Nazareth, an Angel announced His birth; if the Infant-Saviour was cradled in a manger, the shining host of heaven hymned His Advent. And so afterwards—if He hungered and was tempted in the wilderness, Angels ministered to Him, even as an Angel strengthened Him in the agony of the garden. If He submitted to baptism, the Voice and vision from heaven attested His Sonship; if enemies threatened, He could miraculously pass through them; if the Jews assailed, there was the Voice of God to glorify Him; if He was nailed to the cross, the sun craped his brightness, and earth quaked; if He was laid in the tomb, Angels kept its watches, and heralded His rising.

Do you see the glory of the God-man, Jesus Christ?

John then records for us the response that he wants for us to have (John 11:45), “Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.” How about you? Will you believe in Jesus? If you believe, you will see the glory of God.