Last time we ended our study with Judas being asked by Jesus to go and do quickly what he was going to do. Tonight we find Jesus talking about His approaching death. In tonight’s passage we will find that Jesus’ death did three things, so that is where we will focus our attention.
First, let’s look at what is meant by Jesus’ death brought a threefold glory. READ 31-32. Here we see that threefold glory.
1. First there was the Son of Man’s glory. The glory of Jesus was the cross. This was true in four senses.
a. Jesus was now ready to secure an eternal righteousness for man. He was now ready to take the final step as the Son of Man
• As the One who was the Servant of all men.
• As the One who was to secure perfect righteousness by dying as God willed.
• As the One who was to pay the supreme price in obeying God (to die).
• As the One who was ready to die in obedience to God’s will so that God could save man.
Jesus was now ready to make the final sacrifice for man, and He was ready to pay the supreme price to bring about the greatest event in all history: the salvation of man. The cross attracts and stirs men to give themselves to Jesus and to honor and praise Him. It’s in the cross that men find their salvation so the cross is the glory of Jesus.
Jesus was now ready to triumph over Satan by breaking Satan’s power over death and over the souls of men. He triumphed over the rulers, and authorities, and principalities, and powers. And He did it all on the cross. He destroyed the devil’s work. He broke the power and fear of Satan over lives and death. So there’s glory in the triumph and victory over Satan, especially over one so powerful and influential as Satan. Yes, the cross truly is the glory of Christ.
Jesus demonstrated what perfect sacrifice and self-denial, courage and strength, love and compassion really are when He died on the cross. So all this clearly shows the Son of Man’s glory.
2. Then there is God’s glory. The glory of God was the perfect obedience of Jesus. How was God glorified in Jesus’ death?
God was glorified by the supreme obedience of Jesus dying on the cross. That obedience glorified God. God’s justice was perfectly satisfied on the cross. His honor was restored by the cross, for the evil done against Him was justly punished on the cross. So the cross glorifies God. God’s love was perfectly demonstrated on the cross. He gave His ONLY Son to pay the supreme price FOR man.
3. Then we see there is Jesus’ glory in Himself. This glory is the resurrection, ascension, and exaltation. What is meant by “in Himself” (v.32)? There are two possible answers.
Jesus was asking to be glorified in God himself; with God’s Own Person, with His special presence and power and glory. Jesus was asking to be glorified in His own Person; to be infused with a manifestation of God’s presence and power and glory. This was done in the resurrection, the ascension, and the exaltation of Christ. Notice that Jesus said that God would immediately glorify Him. We will see this immediate glorification of Christ in chapter 17 when Jesus said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
READ 33-35. This highlights point two. Jesus’ death demanded a new commandment. Jesus said He was departing, that He would only be with the disciples a little longer. So He gives them a new commandment about loving one another. And there are three reasons why the new commandment on love was needed by every generation of believers.
1. There are times when we as believers differ. There’s always a danger of us becoming critical, judgmental, and divisive. The disciples had just been struggling over who would receive the highest authority in Jesus’ new government. They had been divided. The need for this new commandment existed then even as it does today.
2. There are times when believers feel a keen need for Jesus’ physical presence. Have you ever found yourself yearning to have Jesus’ physical presence before you? Jesus knew we would. That’s the reason He said that the disciples would seek His presence. Sure, we have the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. But being human, believers need another human presence with them. They need a brother or sister, a genuine believer who loves them with the supernatural love of Jesus Himself. Jesus knew this so He commanded believers to love each other.
3. There is the need for some supernatural force to hold the disciples together. Jesus’ physical presence was what held the disciples together. But once He was gone, His followers would need something else to hold them together. They must stay and serve together in one spirit and purpose. But how? The new commandment is the answer.
The new commandment is to love as Christ loved. Note that this is not the old commandment of “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is not human, neighborly love that is being commanded. This new commandment was given to disciples only. That’s us. It’s the spiritual love that is to exist between believers as brothers and sisters and as servants of God who minister together.
The love being commanded is the love of Jesus Himself which is the love of God Himself. It’s not the normal physical love among human neighbors which is being commanded by God. It’s a spiritual love that is brought about only by the Spirit of God.
Note that the distinctiveness of this love is that it’s the love of Jesus Himself that dwells in the heart of the believer. Only the Spirit of God can put the love of Jesus in the heart of the believer.
The Holy Spirit can create within the believer a love that can melt and mold his heart to the hearts of other believers. But we must also note that it is a commandment, so it’s conditional. The Holy Spirit can create such a loved, but believers have to receive it. When the love of Jesus dwells in the heart of a believer, several things happen. The believer has a love that causes him to:
- Bind his life to the lives of other believers.
- Tie his life to the same purpose as other believers.
- Surrender his will and to be of the same mind as other believers.
- To understand and feel with other believers.
- To forgive other believers, always.
- To sacrifice himself for other believers, always. Put others first.
- To seek the welfare of other believers before his own.
- To deny self completely.
The new commandment is the mark of a true disciple. It’s the spiritual and supernatural love of Jesus Himself that dwells within the life of that believer. By this love all men know that a person is a true disciple of the Lord.
READ 36-38. This is the third point tonight. Jesus’ death revealed stumbling and faltering loyalty. Do you notice that Peter paid no attention to the new commandment Jesus had just given? Jesus just said that He was going away and leaving them but He wasn’t’ clear. He spoke in kind of secretive terms. It was this that had gripped Peter’s heart. He HAD to know what Jesus was talking about—if he was talking about some spiritual truth and using symbolic terms or if He were really going to be leaving them.
Note now what Jesus did. He still used the same language: He was leaving, and where He was going they couldn’t follow, at least not now. But they would follow Him later.
Peter was delving into things he didn’t understand. Jesus was returning to heaven and going back to the Father from whom He had come. He couldn’t say it any clearer than what He had said. The disciple couldn’t and wouldn’t understand until after the resurrection and ascension.
We find this a lot in our studies. How often our curiosity is aroused by the hints of Scripture about future events and the details are kept secret. All because it’s not yet time for us to fully understand. Just think! If it were revealed, how could we walk by faith and prove our faith? We wouldn’t need faith then because we would know.
Did you notice that Peter got so distracted that he paid no attention to the greatest commandment Jesus had ever given His followers?
Jesus used the occasion to reveal Peter’s stumbling and faltering faith. Peter stumbled for two reasons.
1. He misunderstood Jesus’ death. Jesus was going to die and arise from the dead and then return to the Father. He had drilled this fact into the disciples for some months now. Yet, they refused to accept His prediction. They still thought in terms of a physical kingdom on earth. They thought of Jesus as an earthly ruler. They thought in terms of earthly freedom, position, power, fame, wealth, possessions, comfort, pleasure, and satisfaction. They were blind to the spiritual.
They didn’t see God’s concern with eternity and the need for the cross. They didn’t see that man had to be created spiritually anew with the very same nature as God in order to live with God and that the cross was God’s way for man to be saved.
Very simply, it was the idea of Jesus hanging on the cross that was going to cause Peter to deny Jesus. Jesus had told Peter about the cross, but Peter had refused to believe it.
I wonder how many make the same mistake about the cross. Misunderstanding the cross and Jesus as the exalted Lord (as opposed to His being just a great teacher) causes stumbling and faltering faith.
Peter’s commitment was a carnal, fleshly commitment. It was caused by not knowing himself—his own personal weaknesses or the weaknesses of human flesh. Peter saw himself as being above serious sin and failure. He asserted with great confidence that he would die for Jesus before denying Him.
But Peter was so much like many of us today. And let’s close with this tonight.
1. Peter was a strong believer, one of the stronger.
2. Peter really failed to understand self and the flesh. The one sin that a believer should not commit is to deny Jesus. To die for Jesus rather than to deny Him is the one thing a genuine believer would be expected to do.
3. Peter believed strongly that he was above serious sin. Do you sometimes feel that way?
4. Lastly, Peter failed not once, but three times, and all three failures were on the same night with Jesus right off to his side.
So tonight we have seen that Jesus’ death and departure brought a threefold glory. (Son of Man’s glory, God’s glory, and Jesus’ glory in Himself.)
We have also seen that His death and departure demanded a new commandment.
(Love one another as I have loved you.)
His death revealed a stumbling loyalty in Peter who was so much like us.
