By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10:45am Svc, 2009-11-01

Text: John 12:27-36

In the past week the hottest news in the entertainment world has been the worldwide screening of the concert movie of the late Michael Jackson. For 4 months Michael Jackson had been rehearsing for the 50 gruelling performances of this major concert that was to be held in London. If it had proceeded as planned, the concert would have been attended by several million fans, earned over S$230 million for Jackson, generated about 1 billion pounds for the British economy, and broken the world records for the fastest ticket sales in history, the greatest number of shows performed by an artist at a single venue, and the largest audience ever to see an artist in one city. The concert was named 'This Is It' because Jackson planned it to be his final hour of glory on stage before he would call it a day. In March this year he told a press conference, 'This will be my final show-When I say this is it, it really means this is it.' I think you all know what happened -he never made it to his concert. He died on the 25th of June, 18 days before his first show was to begin. 

Michael Jackson will go down in history as one whose death had kept him from his final hour of glory. But there is Someone who has gone down in history as One whose death was His finest hour of glory. And what an awesome glory it has turned out to be - a glory that has remained undiminished for 20 centuries; a glory that continues to impact millions of lives in the world today, including ours. The One whose death was His finest hour of glory, is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we will see as we study our text of Scripture in John 12:27-36.

I. The Knowledge Christ Had of That Hour

This passage marks an important transition point in the earthly life of Jesus Christ - the transition from His public ministry, to His hour of suffering and death on the cross. In our previous sermons on John's Gospel we had seen several occasions when it was mentioned that His hour had not yet come (2:4; 7:6,30; 8:20). But now in v.23, Jesus says, 'The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.' And in v.31 He said, 'Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.' The time had come. Jesus no longer talked of these things as events that were still to come. He announced that they were to happen right then. 

That's not all. There are a few other indications of the transition. One of them is the voice of God speaking from heaven. When Jesus began His public ministry by being baptised, the voice of God was heard by the people, saying to Him 'Thou art my beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.' (Luke 3:22) Now, in v.28 the voice of God is heard by the people once more to mark the end of the public ministry of Jesus. 

Then in v.35 Jesus Himself announced to the people, 'Yet a little while is the light with you.' Throughout His entire public ministry they had been seeing Him in person, hearing Him teach and preach, and experiencing the great miracles that He did. But now Jesus announces that this was the last time they would be able to do this. In a little while He would no longer be with them. And this happened in v.36 which ends with the words, 'These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.' He retired away from public view to spend the 3 remaining days before His death, with His disciples. The next time that Jesus would be seen in public was at His trial and crucifixion.

Isn't it really amazing that our Lord Jesus was so fully aware of the exact moment when His public ministry must end and his hour of trial and suffering must begin? None of us here can claim to know our life like that. We may try our very best to plan the course of our life carefully - when we should complete our studies, begin our career, settle down and have kids, and retire. But all the plans we make are uncertain at best, and they will have to change as God disposes whatever we propose. 

Unlike any of us however, Jesus had full knowledge of His entire life from beginning to end. Nothing was unclear or uncertain to Him. According to v.27 He knew exactly why He had come into this world - to suffer and die for sinners. According to v.33 He knew exactly how He was going to die - by being lifted up on a cross. He also knew exactly when and where this would happen - at Jerusalem (cf. Matthew 16:21) at that particular Passover feast in AD 30 (cf. Matthew 26:2). But what is most striking is that Jesus knew exactly what He was going to endure - the bitterness of being betrayed by his own disciple, the 6 humiliating trials, the excruciating pain of being crucified and, worst of all, the anguish of being forsaken by God the Father! And it was this particular knowledge that caused Jesus to say in v.27 'Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour'

Two days later, that same knowledge would cause Him to say in the Garden of Gethsemane, 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,' (Matthew 26:38) and to cry out 'O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me' (Matthew 26:39). As he agonised in prayer, His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22:44) and He needed the help of an angel to be strengthened. 

Now, here is something really wonderful to us - that He whose deity was so clearly displayed in all the things He knows, could feel just as troubled, agitated and sorrowful as we would feel in the face of the worst trials and sufferings in life. Here we see the humanity of Jesus displayed as clearly as His deity. From this we know that though Jesus is unlike us, being fully God, He is also like us since He is fully man. 

And this can be a tremendous source of comfort - In Jesus Christ you have an all-knowing and all-powerful Saviour who fully understands your feelings, your fears, and your weaknesses because He Himself was troubled by these things. You should come to Him every day for all the help you need to cope with every trial of life. Are you burdened with a heavy load of cares and problems in your life? - tell it to Jesus. He understands you. Are you weary of some long-term suffering or sickness that is afflicting you? - tell it to Jesus. He cares a lot for you. Are you worried about your future or that of your loved ones? - Go and tell it to Jesus. He knows exactly what you need and is able to help you.

II. The Prayer Christ Made for That Hour

The problem with many of us is that we don't turn to Him enough for help. Instead of praying, we carry all our problems by ourselves and let them torment us from within. Instead of casting all our cares upon Him, we worry ourselves to death. And why do we not pray? Perhaps because we feel that our prayers are not powerful enough or effective enough. We ask, but we receive not - because we ask amiss (cf. James 4:3). Our prayers are very often just a listing of all the things we want. We tell the Lord to do things our way, thinking that this is the best way for us. 

That is not the right way to pray. The right way to pray is taught by Jesus Himself in vv.27-28 of our text. Jesus said, 'Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.' The key to understanding this correctly is the question 'What shall I say?' Here our Lord reveals that though praying for deliverance from that dreadful hour would seem to be right and logical for Him at this time, that is not what He should pray for. 

This is because that very hour was what He had come into this world for. Hence He will not pray for deliverance from that hour no matter how dreadful it was to Him. Instead of this, His prayer for that hour was, 'Father, glorify Thy name.' (v.28) This is a prayer of full surrender to the will of God. It was a selfless prayer. It was echoed in the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane, 'Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.' (Luke 22:42)

Dearly beloved, is this the way you pray when you face difficult trials and painful experiences? Do you pray that God's name will be glorified, and leave it to God to decide how His name will be glorified - whether by delivering you from the trial, or by giving you more grace to bear it? We have regularly uttered the words of the Lord's Prayer in our worship service 'Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.' Does this not teach us that God's name and God's will should be more important to us than our own need for deliverance? 

If you find that your prayers has become ineffective, and you have been praying amiss, then change the way you pray. Surrender your will to the Lord, and express it to Him in your prayer 'Lord, above all let Your will be done; let Your name be glorified in answering my prayer.' Soon you will notice a difference in your prayer life. You will be amazed at how God answers prayers that sincerely put His glory and His will as the first and foremost petition.

In v.28 of our text we see that immediately after Jesus prayed, 'Father, glorify Thy name,' the Father answered Him, 'I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.' What a firm assurance this was, of answered prayer. And what a powerful testimony it would have been to all who heard it, that God's name will indeed be glorified through His dreadful hour of trial. And this became much clearer when Jesus gave them a short exposition of how this would be accomplished.

III. The Exposition Christ Gave about That Hour (vv.31-33)

Firstly, He said in v.31 that it would result in the judgment of this world and the casting out of the prince of this world. This judgment refers to the universal conflict which would come to a head at the Cross. It refers to the conflict between good and evil which began when Satan rebelled against God in the beginning. It resulted in Satan usurping the dominion of this world from man. 

How did this happen? According to Genesis 1:26, God had created man in His image so that man would exercise dominion over the world under God. But by his sin of eating the forbidden fruit, man gave up his dominion to Satan, who then claimed the world as his own domain. Hence, Satan is called the 'prince of this world' in v.31 (and also in 14:30 and 16:11, cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; 6:12). 

However just after the Fall, God promised that Satan's rule will end one day and that man will exercise his rightful dominion over this world again. This promise was given in Genesis 3:15. (Let us turn to this verse and read it). Here is what God said to the serpent, which represents Satan 'And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.' The 'woman's seed' refers Jesus Christ. His bruising of the serpent's head refers to His victory over Satan which took place at the Cross of Calvary. And since Jesus is fully man, He will assume man's rightful dominion over this world. This verse, by the way, is the very first good news of salvation from sin in the Bible, and the very first prophecy about Jesus Christ, in the 'woman's seed.'

This prophecy also mentions that the serpent will bruise the heel of the 'woman's seed.' This refers to all the agonizing trials and torment that Jesus suffered in the events that led to His crucifixion. Satan thought that by going all out to turn the world against Jesus he would be able to destroy Him forever. He moved the unbelieving Jews to oppose Jesus. He inspired Judas Iscariot to betray Him. He moved Pontius Pilate to accede to the Jews' demands to put Jesus to death. But all this proved to be futile - merely bruising the heel. After Satan and the world under his dominion had done their very worst against Jesus, Satan was resoundingly defeated at the cross.

This then is the meaning behind the words of Jesus in John 12:31: 'Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.' I think that we can fully appreciate now, how important that hour of judgment was in the entire history of redemption. That hour had been announced just after man sinned in the Garden of Eden. After that, all the events of biblical history were preparing for that hour. Then, when that hour finally came, the conflict between good and evil was brought to a head. In that hour the Lord effected our salvation and cast out the prince of this world. And today we who are in Christ have inherited all the blessings that God had planned for us because of what He accomplished in that hour! Doesn't all that show how great and glorious our God is?

But that isn't the end of the story. While Satan has been defeated at the cross, he is still working hard and trying to recoup some of his losses. He hinders the preaching of the Gospel to keep it from reaching the whole world (1 Thessalonians 2:18). He blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they will not understand the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4). He multiplies false teachings and counterfeit gospels to lead people away from the Gospel. 

All this means that while we now rejoice in the resounding victory that Christ has won at the cross, we must remain vigilant against the Devil and all his devices. We must put on the whole armour of God and cannot afford to let our guard down (Ephesians 6:10-18). Dearly beloved, do you look to God for help to win your battles against the flesh, against the devil and against the world? Please don't ever forget this very important principle: Only God's power can enable you to overcome all these things. This principle also applies to your efforts to win souls for Christ. You ought to share the Gospel faithfully with your friends and loved ones, but you must trust in God's power to draw sinners to Himself. Jesus Himself said this in v.32 'And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.'

And this leads us now to the second way that God's name is glorified through Christ's hour of judgment. Awhile ago we saw that God's name is glorified by the Defeat of Satan - this effectively obliterates Satan's claims of world dominion. Now we see that God's name is glorified by the Drawing of all men unto Christ - this effectively overcomes Satan's hold of all people and nations under his power.

You may remember that when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days at the beginning his ministry, Satan showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and said, 'All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.' (Matthew 4:9). Our Lord Jesus would never accept such terms, and so He rejected the tempting offer. But this does indicate that the mission of Jesus was to gain all the kingdoms of the world for Himself - kingdoms which Satan held tightly under his power. And the way that was ordained for Jesus to gain all these kingdoms was by His death on the cross.

Now as we look back at our passage, we see Jesus at the threshold of the hour when He would go to that cross. Very soon, those same kingdoms of the world that Satan had used to tempt Him with would be His. 

Satan's power over the Gentile nations would be broken. And so He says in v.32, 'And I, If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.' The word 'all men' here refers to all without distinction. It means that not only the Jews, but also Gentiles of every race, every tribe and every language will be drawn to Him. Thus Jesus will truly be the Saviour of the world. This is why, when Jesus gave His disciples the great commission later on He said, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations' (Matthew 28:18-19) And then, we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:24 that at the end of the world, Jesus will deliver up 'the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.' Thus, the Father's name will be eternally glorified by the Son.

Knowing all this should make us doubly glad that Jesus went to the cross to die. If He had not done this, then all of us who are Gentiles would not only be hopelessly lost in sin, but also helplessly bound under the tyrannical power of Satan. How awful our lot would have been, if Jesus had not set us free. I trust that each time you think about your salvation from now on (and especially when you come to the Lord's Table this morning), your heart will be more thankful to God and your singing of praise will be more meaningful. 

IV. The Warning Christ Issued before That Hour (vv.34-36)

And if you are not saved yet, I would urge you not to delay any more to turn to Christ for salvation. As long as you are not in Christ, you have no part at all in His great victory over sin, over death and over the devil. Instead of that, you have a part in the awful darkness of sin. In v.35 Jesus said 'he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.' And besides that, you will have an eternal part in that miserable place of outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 22:13).

It is very sad that even in the time of Jesus so many people who had the privilege of seeing Him in person, hearing Him and experiencing His miracles ended up spending eternity in that outer darkness. Verse 37 tells us that 'though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him.' They had not heeded the urgent warning of Jesus vv.35,36 'Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.'

One reason why they did not believe in the light is that they could not understand why Jesus said that He has to suffer and die. This is what they said to Him in v.34, 'We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?' These people were Jews who were not ignorant of the Scriptures. They knew those passages of Scripture which foretold that the Messiah would abide forever as king over Israel (e.g. Isaiah 9:6,7). They looked forward to that. But they could not accept a suffering and dying Messiah even though there are passages in the Scriptures like Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 which clearly reveal this. This shows that their belief was selective. They believed what they liked to belief, and refuse to believe what they did not like.

And Jesus could see that the heart of their problem was the problem of their hearts - hearts of doubt and unbelief. That is why instead of attempting to answer their query, He gave them a loving final warning. He warned them that their time was running out very quickly. If they would humble themselves now and believe in Him, they would become children of light. Their hearts would be enlightened by God to understand all truth. But as long as they persisted in unbelief, the truth would just remain a mystery to them. It would be just like the voice of God that spoke in v.28 - all that they could discern was the sound of thunder!

Today there are some who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour because they cannot bring themselves to accept that everything the Bible says about Him is absolutely true. If you insist on allowing such doubts to stop you from coming to Christ, then you may miss your opportunity altogether. Dear friends, Jesus calls you to put your doubts away and come to Him right now. Humbly accept those things that you do not fully understand at present, and have faith that the Lord will make them plain to you one day, as you surrender your will and your heart to Him.

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