Last week, we spoke about “Following the King” from John 12:12-26. We spoke about Christ’s triumphal entry into our hearts, but then we spoke about going beyond simply thanking and worshiping Him for all He has done to taking steps of faith to follow Him. Following Jesus means no longer following the things that were formerly king in our lives. Unfortunately, many Christians and non-Christians alike worship the spirit of our age which is the god of human freedom. Freedom from all the traditions, values, judgments, and relationships that burden us. No duties, responsibilities, debts, commitments, or relationships must define me. I must be free to define myself and my commitment is to myself. I can determine my own definition of freedom but then I need to consider where my “freedom” actually leads to. Jesus, on the other hand, tells us if we truly want to experience genuine life and freedom, we need to die to ourselves.
Jesus made a promise that the Father will honor those who follow and serve Him. The word for honor means there is a future reward that will not fade nor grow old. In other words, there is a reward in time and also for all of eternity. When we follow Jesus, He will prune us, continually cutting away the things in our lives that keep us far from Him and hinder us from being fruitful. There will be times of testing so we can become more faithful and steadfast, times of heartbreak so we can become empathetic. There will be times when we have to face our own frailty and failures, so we become more humble, forgiving, and gracious towards others.
There will be times of inner and outer conflict because our biblical convictions are at odds with the current cultural Zeitgeist. These are the times when the Lord is teaching us to trust Him, to persevere, and follow Him through very difficult seasons. Let’s turn to John chapter 12.
John 12:27-36
Now My soul has become troubled; and what am I to say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” So the crowd who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him!” Jesus responded and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for yours. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” Now He was saying this to indicate what kind of death He was going to die. The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how is it that You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; also, the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus proclaimed, and He went away and hid Himself from them.
Jesus wants people to:
? Witness God’s Glory
? Experience His glory
? Respond to His glory
Let’s look at the first point - Jesus wants us to:
Witness God’s Glory
When Jesus said, “Now my soul is in turmoil,” in verse 27, He was responding to what He knew He would be facing within a few short days. Turmoil signifies the revulsion, horror, agitation of what He would be facing on the cross. He understood the darkness and devastation of sin and evil. He knew that to face the deep and furious wrath of an infinite God even for an instant would cause the most profound fear. Jesus was well aware that His suffering would not be over in a minute or two or even ten.
Jesus then poses a rhetorical question within His prayer:
“Should I ask You, Father to save Me from this hour - from what You have sent Me to do?” He immediately answers His own question - “No, for this is the very reason I came.”
This "hour" must be faced and passed through. The "hour" in this passage has about it the air of inevitability.
It represents the fulfillment of the Father's will and Jesus affirms that the reason for His coming was for this very hour. The purpose for Him coming to this earth was not just to preach the Kingdom, teach, do miracles, show Himself as the Messiah. Ultimately the purpose for His coming culminated on the cross when the weight of the world's sin and guilt was fully laid on Him. We cannot even fathom how He felt, we would get upset if someone blamed us for something we did not do, now Jesus took the blame for the entire human race.
When Jesus Christ came to the earth, He lived a perfect life that no other human being ever had or ever could. His desire was to bring glory to His Father’s name in everything He said and did. Glorifying the Father was the motivation for His entire life and ministry. Jesus said in John 8:29, “I always do the things that please Him.” He did this because He knew we couldn’t.
In v. 28, in front of the crowd Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify Your name,” God the Father immediately responded, “I have glorified it - and will glorify it again.” This phrase “I have glorified it” is in the aorist tense - speaking about specific events. It could have been referring to Jesus’ baptism or the transfiguration - there were many occasions throughout the gospels when God glorified His name through His Son. When God confirmed that He would glorify His name again, He was talking about how He would do it through Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The crowd heard the immediate response of the Father to Jesus’ prayer and they didn’t understand it but some would get it later.
Then Jesus said in v. 31: Now judgment is upon this world, meaning the sentence is being passed and the whole world past, present, and future is guilty of sin before God. Who is the one who deceived them into sinning? The devil - who knew that the penalty for sin was death and eternal separation from a perfect, holy, righteous God. He knew the penalty must be paid in order for justice to be satisfied and that no one could pay the debt for their own sins, no one could ever be good enough to save themselves. He is the one accusing people before God day and night. But Jesus paid the penalty of every sin in full, exhibiting His great love for us and satisfying God’s perfect justice once and for all. When Christ died for our sins, Satan was disarmed and defeated. Then Jesus said, “Now the ruler of this world, that is Satan, will be cast out.” The phrase cast out is the word “banished” - deprived of the power and influence he exercises in the world. The one eternally destructive weapon that Satan had was stripped from his hand, namely, his accusation before God that we are guilty and should perish just like he will one day. But Jesus said in v. 32,
And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.
Jesus knew that there would be joy waiting for Him on the other side of the cross because this ultimate sacrifice would draw all types of people to a saving knowledge of Himself. People from every nation, tribe, and tongue throughout the ages would be saved from death and hell for all of eternity because He chose to glorify the Father.
Jesus knew that because of His sacrifice, people would one day see God, face-to-face. Jesus wanted people to:
Experience His glory
Why is it so important for us to understand the meaning and the magnitude of God’s glory shown through Jesus? It’s because Jesus reveals the very nature and character of God and exhibits the glory of the invisible Creator of the universe. By beholding the glory of God in Jesus we are beholding God Himself. By beholding His glory, you can see that you are not following some weak and worn-out deity but One who is eternal, all-powerful, everywhere present, good, personal, gracious, merciful, caring, and loving. But will everyone experience God’s glory? John Owen, 17th century Puritan wrote:
If the beauty and glory of Christ do not capture our imaginations, dominate our waking thought, and fill our hearts with longing and desire—then something else will. We will be “continually ruminating” on something or some things as our hope and joy. Whatever those things are, they will “frame our souls” and “transform us into their likeness.” If we don’t behold the glory of God in the face of Christ, then something else will rule our lives. We will be slaves.
We may think the things we choose to think about, what we allow to capture our imagination is freedom of thought and expression, but do we think about where these longings and desires will ultimately lead us? Where does loving my own life and being committed to myself and my own glory lead? To a self-centered, solitary life, I will end up alone.
There is a continual temptation to seek this kind of fading glory for ourselves instead of or at least more than the glory of God. The temptation is to store up more treasures on earth than in heaven, to live before and in the fear of people instead of living in the fear of the Lord. No one is immune to this. But the question is what will we gain in the end? Do we always seek to do the things that please ourselves or our heavenly Father?
Jesus made this promise - that if you seek His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right - the attitude and character of God], all the things you need will be given to you also (Matt 6:33 AMP). That’s why He tells us not to be anxious or worried about what we have or don’t have. And as we experience God’s glory and He more and more becomes our heart’s joy, we will become less anxious and more courageous because our focus is not on ourselves and circumstances or what we will lose if we follow Him, but instead on what we will gain.
Tim Keller wrote:
If we want freedom from being driven by fear, ambition, greed, lust, addictions, and inner emptiness, we must learn how to meditate on Christ until his glory breaks in upon our souls.
But how does this happen, how do we experience God’s glory personally? Experiencing God’s glory goes beyond just coming to God for His forgiveness, for His help in time of need, for blessings and favor in life. It goes beyond a transactional type of relationship with God to considering who Jesus really is, His character and His words. Experiencing His glory requires focused meditation on the Person of Christ. We experience His glory when we worship Him with thanksgiving, reflect on His love, His beauty, and what His grace has accomplished in our lives. When the Apostle Paul, who was the greatest of sinners, pondered on the grace of God and what it did in His life, he was overwhelmed by the “glory of His grace“ and energized to serve Him more. In the same way when we experience His glory, we can then:
3. Respond to His glory
He said in vv. 35-36:
For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; also, the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.
Jesus urges the listener to act on the light they have. “Jesus enjoins his hearers to walk, actually ‘to keep on walking,’ while they have the light, so that darkness does not overcome them. It’s one thing to be illuminated and know who Jesus is but another thing to respond to Him by following Him as children of the light. “Sons of the light are not merely people with a slight interest in light, but those whose lives have been so revolutionized that they may be characterized with reference to light.” Kostenberger said, “Sons of light describe those whose lives are governed and characterized by the true light that was brought by Christ.” In the Light you know who you are, why you are here and where you are going, you see things clearly. This is what happens to those who respond to God’s glory revealed in Jesus Christ, you become the children of God. Have our lives been so revolutionized that we are now governed and characterized by the true light? Let’s be a people that continually witness, experience, and respond to God’s glory.
