Predicting the Future
John 12:26-37
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
John 12:27 “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. 31 “aNow judgment is upon 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 men to Myself.” 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. 34 The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 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; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. 36 “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.”
Did you know I can predict the future? Yes, I can. For example, if I do not show up to work at my job, my employer will not pay me for the day. Here is a second example. I know that if I bake chocolate chip cookies and take out the hot pan and say to my 6-year-old daughter not to touch them because they are hot, she will touch them and burn her fingers. I don’t have to be a prophet to know these things. By the way, I know a lot more events that I can predict.
In this passage, we have Jesus discussing the end of his ministry and his death. I am not downplaying what he said. I say that he and his disciples knew what was about to happen. Prophets came to Jerusalem to offer the message from the LORD and then to die. Jesus and his followers knew this. So, what is the purpose of telling us this. The author wanted to make sure that his audience would understand how things worked. Prophets came with a message from the LORD that the leadership disliked, and they paid the ultimate price.
Jesus did not back away from what was going to happen. He knew that his message from the LORD was going to resonate with many people. He also knew that the leaders of the Temple were going to be upset with him. So, why go to Jerusalem just to die? A valid view of the events is that Jesus truly believed in his message. He was willing to died to bring his message to the people and especially the leadership.
Let me tell you the story of Steve. He was an excellent civil engineer. The company he worked for was a private company. The owner interviewed Steve and, on the spot, hired him. The owner’s wife was a project manager and Steve was assigned to her project. Steve joined her team and reviewed the wife’s work. He found numerous errors in the work. He asked me about what he should do. I warned him that if he was not careful, they would fire him. Steve went to the owner and told him directly about the errors and he added a few unkind words about the owner’s wife’s work, nothing personal. It does not take the ability to see the future to know that Steve was fired on the spot. Steve was in shock. He asked me, “how could the owner pick his wife over him?” Yeah, seriously he asked me that question.
I am not a prophet, but in a private company, you don’t complain about the owner’s family. In Jesus’ day, you did not complain about Herod the King, the High Priest, the Sanhedrin, nor the Roman overseers. If you did, you might not like what was going to happen. Jesus told them all that they were not following the ways of the LORD. The result was a death sentence.
Now for the surprise that no one expected! On the third day after his death, Jesus rose from the grave and communicated with many of his followers. The “ruler of the world” was Satan at that time. The evil and sin that was in the world was influenced and controlled by Satan. Certainly, Satan wanted Jesus dead. He was upsetting Satan’s apple cart. Even Satan did not understand the power of the LORD in Jesus. He certainly discovered about it when Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus proved that the hold of Satan on the world was broken. After Jesus’ resurrection, it was a person’s choice to allow Satan or God into their heart.
Freewill returned to the world. Today we have the choice. Is it God or Satan who is going to guide your life? The ways of Satan look good on the surface. That is why Satan could get so numerous followers. However, an eternal life in Heaven does not come from Satan. An eternity in Hell is not appealing. Of course, Satan does not tell his followers about that. If your choice is Satan, you better enjoy your time on Earth because your future afterlife is pretty grim. Jesus called that life Darkness.
The life following the Light does not have some of the excitement as Darkness does, but which is more important. For us who follow the Light, we want the time after this life in Heaven. Life on Earth is a forked road. You can choose Light and the LORD or you can choose Satan and Darkness. I pray you are choosing the Light of the LORD. When you do, you become sons and daughters of Light. You then belong to Jesus. Choosing Light makes you a part of Jesus’ family and a member of the Kingdom of Heaven. There is nothing on this Earth that compares to that.
Choose Light and know that the LORD is always with you.
