Throughout the history of the world, we have misunderstood the Messiah. There are four misunderstandings in particular that we are going to look at this evening in John 12: 20-36.
READ 20-22. You might remember from last time that Jesus had just been hailed as the coming King and Messiah by thousands of people. One of the last statements we looked at was made by the Pharisees in verse 19 where they said, “The whole world has gone after him.”
You see, there were some Greeks representing the world that even sought Jesus. Some of the Greek pilgrims who can come to attend the Passover Feast wished to see this Jesus who was being proclaimed King. In John’s mind, as he wrote this book, these Greeks represented the Gentile world, all the God-fearing people of the world who would see Jesus.
READ 23. Here we see the first misunderstanding and that is the Messiah’s glory. The Greeks had just seen Jesus glorified as Messiah by thousands. It was as if the world were going after Him. They wanted to be part of the movement, so they requested an interview with Him.
What Jesus did was try to correct the misunderstood idea of the Messiah held by the world. He wanted to prepare both the Greeks and those standing around for His death. He wanted to teach that the way to glory is not through triumph and praise, not through domination and subjection. The way to glory is through death to self and through service to God and man. Jesus does this by doing two things.
1. Jesus said that His hour had come. The Son of Man was now to be glorified. His hour referred to His death as the next verse states and this whole passage shows.
READ v. 24. Jesus revealed His death by using the picture of a grain of wheat. He said that He would now be glorified, but His glory wasn’t going to be an earthly glory. His glory was to be the glory of the cross. It was to be by death that He would gain the allegiance of men and be exalted as King.
God would exalt Him as King because He had done exactly what God wished: He died for the sins of the world. The picture of wheat can be simply stated—before the glory—before the fruit of seeds can be borne—death is a necessity. Jesus must die before He can be enthroned as King.
So, the glory of Christ is the glory of the cross. It’s the cross that stirs God to exalt His Son above every name that is named. It’s the cross that stirs men to offer themselves as living sacrifices to God’s Son (in appreciation for saving them.)
READ v. 25-26.
2. The second thing Jesus said was that man’s hour had now come. Man must do the same as He did. In other words, man must lose his life to gain eternal life. What did Jesus mean by this unusual statement? He meant that the person who abandons this life and world, who sacrifices and gives all that he is and has for Christ, will save his life.
But the person who keeps his life and what he has and seeks more and more of this life, will lose his life completely and eternally. The person who neglects Christ, who ignores Christ, who rejects Christ will lose his life eternally. So, the call of Christ is just what He says, a life of denial that takes up the cross and follows in His steps.
But there’s more that man must do. Man must serve and follow Jesus. The person who does is assured of Jesus’ presence. That person is assured of the Father’s honor. God will honor any person who honors His Son.
READ 27-30. Here we see the second misunderstanding and that is the Messiah’s cause or purpose.
Jesus was experiencing a troubled heart. The reason His heart was so troubled was that He was about to face the great cause for which He had come into the world. His hour was at hand, staring Him in the face; the terrible sufferings were now beginning.
His supreme purpose was to face the hour God had set for Him: He was to die. He had come to die, and to die was the supreme cause of His life. Note His obedience. Imagine the terrible sufferings of the hour. Should He pray, “Father save me from this hour?” Really, He couldn’t because He had come to die. He must obey God.
1. Jesus prayed for the glory of God. He prayed for the Father to glorify His own name. And that’s significant. It shows a complete selflessness on the part of Jesus. It shows that the primary concern of Jesus was to complete His purpose and cause on earth, which was to glorify God by doing exactly what God wanted. How was God glorified? By Jesus’ obedience. His Word was carried out and obeyed.
The verb “glorify” is in the Greek aorist tense which means it was a single act. The single act was the cross. So, Jesus was asking His Father to glorify His own name through the cross.
2. God accepted and approved Jesus’ prayer. The approval was audible. God actually spoke from heaven, saying that He had glorified His name and that He would glorify it again. Let’s make a note here of three things.
a. Jesus prayed according to God’s will. So, God answered His prayer. For those that say that God never answers their prayers, I must say that God will answer any prayer that is according to His will. That’s why it is so important to know God’s will. And you learn what God’s will is by studying God’s Word.
b. God accepted Jesus’ prayer. This means He accepted Jesus’ death on behalf of man. We can rest assured that we are delivered from death if we believe in Jesus.
c. God will glorify His name in the future. He will keep His Word and fulfill all His promises.
3. The people standing around were confused. Some thought the voice was merely thunder; others thought that an angel had spoken to Jesus.
4. Jesus plainly told the people that a voice had spoken. It had spoken for their sakes in order to help them believe that He was the Son of God.
The point is this. By the thousands, people had just welcomed Jesus in the triumphal entry as their earthly King and Messiah. Jesus had to correct the misunderstanding of His cause. He had come not to rule as an earthly King for man; He had come to die for man. God’s concern was not just for the 70 years of a person’s life; God’s concern was to save man eternally.
READ 31-33. The third misunderstanding about the Messiah concerns the world. The world is not what it should be. It’s not what it was created to be. It was created perfectly. But man misunderstands the world. He ignores the fact that the world isn’t perfect. He ignores the fact that the world isn’t in its original state or even close to it.
And today, there are so many that still ignore the fact that this world is not permanent. It won’t always be here. It will be changed and recreated into a new heavens and earth just as God intended.
Standing there, the people had welcomed Jesus in the triumphal entry, thinking He was going to set up a worldly kingdom on this earth. They thought in terms of the physical earth, in terms of worldly kingdoms and material wealth and power. Jesus had to correct their misconception. He had to show them that God’s concern was not for man and his world to exist for just a brief time, but for eternity.
Note what Jesus revealed by using the word “now.” He said, “NOW, it is I—my being lifted up, my cross and death—that would cause these things to happen.” He said this world would be judged, that this world is ruled by an alien power, and that both the world and Satan would be conquered by the cross, by His death.
READ 34-36. The fourth misunderstanding concerns the Messiah as the Light. The people clearly understood that Jesus was speaking of death, but it was this that confused them. They had just acknowledged Him to be the Messiah, and they had always understood the Messiah was to live forever. So, was Jesus really the Messiah? Could they be mistaken? Was the Son of Man someone else?
Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, the Light of the world. But notice that He stressed that the Light was to be with them for only a little while longer, then the Light would be extinguished.
So, He tells them that man must walk in the Light while he has light. Since the Light was going to be extinguished, it wouldn’t always be present for men to see. And once the Light was out, darkness would overtake and overcome men. Men wouldn’t know where they were going.
Jesus also stressed that man must believe in the Light. If men would believe, something significant would happen. They would become children of the Light.
Let’s do a quick word study to close out tonight’s study. (v. 36) The word “believe” or “trust” is a continuous action verb in the original Greek. The word “become” is a once-for-all act, a personal experience that happens all at once.
So, with that in mind it helps us better understand what Jesus said in v. 36. A person who truly sees Jesus Christ as the Light of the world believes and trusts and continues to believe and trust. And the very moment a person’s heart leaps toward Christ in belief and trust, they become a child of the Light, a child of God Himself. So, the person sees the Light and begins to walk in the Light, living the kind of life he should.
