An Altar Call From Jesus Himself.

AN ALTAR CALL FROM JESUS HIMSELF.

John 12:44-50.

“Jesus cried and said” (John 12:44a). This may be a response to those chief rulers who ‘believed on Him’ but ‘did not confess Him’ (cf. John 12:42).

There are several things which Jesus emphasised as His public ministry in Jerusalem drew to a close.

First, Jesus once more drew attention to the unity of purpose between the Father and the Son: “he that believeth on Me, believeth not (only) on Me, but on Him that sent Me” (John 12:44b). Jesus is the sent One of the Father, and to put our trust in Jesus is one and the same thing as putting our trust in the Father.

Second, Jesus stressed the complete oneness between the Father and the Son: “he that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me” (John 12:45).

Third, Jesus said, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46).

“I am come” suggests His prior existence BEFORE His incarnation. He came “a light” into this dark “world.” He came with a mission of salvation: “that whosever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness.”

The only way of salvation is to “believe” in the Lord Jesus Christ, the true light of the world. And when we do so, we no longer “abide in darkness” (John 12:46). Again, this may be addressed to those who allegedly ‘believed on Him,’ but who ‘did not confess Him’ (John 12:42).

Fourth, Jesus clarified a misunderstanding about why He, the Messiah, was come into the world. It was not “to judge the world,” as His hearers might have expected, but “to save the world” (John 12:47). This is the difference between the First Advent of Christ, and the Second Advent of Christ.

Fifth, Jesus pointed to “the last day.” It is THEN, “in the last day,” that “he that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words” will be judged by the same very “word that I have spoken” (John 12:48). This is the certainty of a judgment to come, in which those who refuse Jesus will be finally judged “in the last day.”

The rejection spoken of here is defined as ‘to despise, to set at naught.’ It is a terrible thing to refuse the person of Christ, to discredit His teaching, and to deny His miracles which are so many evidences of Who He is. This is to deliberately choose to “abide” still “in darkness” (cf. John 12:46).

Sixth, Jesus again emphasised that “I have not spoken of myself,” (John 12:49a); meaning, ‘I have not spoken independently of My Father.’ On the contrary, Jesus spoke out of the harmony that exists between the Father and the Son in the Godhead. There is no subordination here: Jesus was as willing to come as the Father was willing to send Him.

“But the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (John 12:49b). In other words, the Father gave Jesus a commission, already agreed upon (by the three Persons of the Godhead) in the counsels of eternity. Here we see Jesus to be the Prophet, spoken of by the LORD to Moses: ‘I will put my words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him’ (cf. Deuteronomy 18:18).

Seventh, “I know,” said Jesus, “that His commandment is life everlasting” (John 12:50a). Life everlasting to whom? To those who believe, and receive it into their heart!

Jesus signed off this discourse by stressing that His ministry had been nothing but this: “whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak” (John 12:50b). In other words, what Jesus speaks are the same very words of life that His Father speaks. Amen.