SERMON: “Crucified for Glory” (John 12:27–33)
“Crucified
for Glory” (John 12:27–33)
Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name” Text: John 12:27–33
By: Shaun Marksbury Date: February
4, 2024
Venue: Living Water Baptist Church Occasion: AM Service
I.
Introduction
Living in the South, we have seen our share of storms. Sometimes, these storms blow in on the bands of an Atlantic hurricane, and sometimes, they sweep up from warm moisture of the Gulf. They may provide torrential rains and lightning strikes as the trees bow in the wind. There have been a few nights we have awoken to weather alerts and sirens, and we’ve taken shelter in the center of our home. There’s an incredible power and intensity to these storms in the night. Yet, all storms eventually break up under the light of the sun.
After the rain, there’s a certain glory to seeing the sun
break through the clouds. We see its
radiance, its golden rays gilding the clouds, and we begin to feel differently
about the day. This is especially so
when we experience days of dreary cloud cover and humid conditions. The sun in its glory seems to recharge our
batteries, giving us vigor. This is
true, of course, at any point in the year except in the hottest of the summer
months, when we desire the sun to shine a little less!
What do we mean, though, when we talk about glory? Essentially, glory is something which has weight
or value to us, whether it be intangible (like the sun’s rays) or tangible (like
gold or silver). When we apply glory to
God, we consider the totality of who He is and understand His majesty and worth
to us. We are seeing his attributes, His
perfection, His splendor, His transcendence, and seeing how these come together
in his eternal nature to bring about his loving purposes. Not only does considering God’s glory inspire
awe within us, it also helps us to understand the precious nature of the
salvation he brings.
This is what we read this morning. The Lord prays that the Father would be
glorified, and the Father replies that He is glorified and will be
glorified — centrally here through the cross. So, this morning, we will see that the cross glorifies
as God’s purpose (v. 27), God’s revelation (vv. 28–29), God’s judgment (vv.
30–31), and God’s instrument (vv. 32–33).
II.
The Cross Glorifies as God’s Purpose (v. 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.
Jesus begins here by saying His soul — His inner man or
being — is “troubled.” As one commentary
notes, this verb is “filled with a deep sense that shock or trauma has come
upon a person.”[1] The Legacy Standard Bible translates
that “dismayed.”
This comment might seem strange for a couple of reasons. First, some are troubled to find Jesus has
feelings! Because of the prevailing
themes of John, such as the presentation of Jesus as divine and victorious, some
can’t comprehend Jesus’s trouble. Considering
that John doesn’t record the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, they wrongly
assume John presents Jesus as dispassionate and aloof. Jesus has emotional distress here and, in
places like John 4:6–7, He also gets thirsty and tired. John isn’t a gnostic, so he doesn’t present Jesus
as lacking a real body or real temptations.
John does emphasize the divinity of Christ, but he allows us to see Jesus’s
human side — Jesus identifies with us in His humanity.
Second, this seems like an odd follow-up to the fact that
the Greeks were coming to Jesus. We’ve
already seen that He didn’t directly respond to their request to come to
Him, but that He instead instructed all potential disciples. Still, why would His soul shift from a
possible point of joy in folks coming to Him toward such deep turmoil?
The answer is in the cross.
Their coming and His teaching reminded Him as to what was next. From a human perspective, we can appreciate
the desire to avoid pain and death, and crucifixion is one of the most horrific
methods of execution ever devised. That would
be difficult enough, but in Jesus’s case, He has the added weight of the sins
of believers He must bear upon the cross.
As Scripture says, the Father “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Because Jesus bore this sin, this means that
He also became a focus for the wrath of God, receiving the blow that we deserve. So, though He ultimately knows He should move
forward with this, it is a difficult prospect before Him, to say the least.
In fact, there’s a parallel between these verses and what we
see in Gethsemane. His words parallel
His prayer in Matthew 26:39, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass
from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
So, here, He asks a question rhetorically, speaking to Himself. No one will fully understand or appreciate the
situation that He is in, so He’s not asking this question for counsel. Rather, because of His distress, He is reasoning
aloud. It obviously was something on His
mind quite a bit this week, but we know that, just as He would in Gethsemane, He
decided to follow the divine purpose before Him.
What is the question He asks? This translation reads, “[A]nd what shall I
say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’?”
(There are questions as to how to best translate this, but this seems
best fitting the context.[2]) He doesn’t pray that the Father save Him
(though, it would be understandable if He did).
He is asking whether He should say or pray that.
He dismisses that thought out of mind, taking it captive (cf.
2 Cor. 10:5). He states, “But for this
purpose I came to this hour.” He begins
with a strong disjunctive in the original, stronger than the term usually
translated “but.” He is not going to
pray that the Father deliver Him from the time and purpose for which He came!
The cross glorifies God’s purpose in redemption. Jesus, therefore, isn’t going to rob the
Father of the glory of the cross by turning away from it. He knows it’s the Father’s purpose because of
what God has already revealed, which the next couple of verses underline.
III.
The Cross Glorifies as God’s Revelation (vv. 28–29)
“Father, glorify
Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and
will glorify it again.” 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.”
Having that moment of distress, Jesus does now pray. He says, “Father, glorify Your name.” Just like in the psalms, He reasons through
His pain and comes to the correct solution.
He submits His human will to the divine will, seeking what we all should
seek: the glory of God.
Of course, God answers prayer, but this was a surprising
reply! The verse continues, “Then a
voice came out of heaven.” This sudden
voice from heaven is heard two other times in the Gospels, at the baptism and
then at the transfiguration of our Lord (Matt 3:17; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 9:7; Luke
3:22; 9:35). This third time was an immediate
response to the Lord’s prayer.
The voice of the Father reveals, “I have both glorified it,
and will glorify it again.” How and when
did the Father already glorify His name?
This would be throughout Christ’s earthly ministry: We’ve read several
times that the Father testifies through works of Jesus. All the miracles our Lord performed, the words
He spoke, and His active obedience to the Father all glorified the name of
God. The Father has already seen His
name glorified through Christ.
And the Father says He will glorify it again. In the concluding work of Christ, the Father
will glorify His name by providing salvation to sinners through the atonement
of the cross. Then, He will glorify His
name through the resurrection of Christ, providing eternal life to all who
believe!
A voice from heaven is an instance of divine revelation. However, the natural man does not receive or
always understand divine revelation (1 Cor. 2:14). So, there is competing information from the
crowd as to what just happened. Some
heard only thunder, just like how Paul’s companions would later heard the sound
of the Lord’s voice but couldn’t understand (Acts 9:7; 22:9). As one commentary notes, “Thunder was often
associated in the Old Testament with the voice of God,”[3] so they should have, at
least, interpreted this as a heavenly response to Jesus’s prayer. It’s amazing how some only hear noise when
they hear the glorious revelation of God.
Another group hears, though they misunderstood. They believe that they just heard an
angel. This is, of course, closer to the
mark; an angel is a messenger sent by God with His word or to carry out His purpose. Though they misjudge the cause for the voice,
they at least affirm that it is divine in origin.
Yet, this response wasn’t for Jesus’s sake, as we see in the
next verse. Jesus didn’t need this
response, for God has already given a clear revelation in Scripture concerning
the person and work of the Messiah. Because
we have the sure word of Scripture, we shouldn’t need such special revelations,
either, which is Peter’s point in 2 Peter 1:16–19.
Still, since God’s revelation is still unfolding at this
point, even if everyone in the crowd couldn’t understand His words, He gives
the people a special grace to confirm everything they’ve thus far heard in
Scripture about the Messiah. This
includes His death on the cross, regardless whether they want to accept it. If they don’t accept it, though, then God’s
revelation serves as judgment, as we read next.
IV.
The Cross Glorifies as God’s Judgment (vv. 30–31)
Jesus answered and
said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler
of this world will be cast out.
As we noted, Jesus didn’t need the voice from heaven to
confirm His ministry. Perhaps it was
nice to have, but His faith was in the written Word. The voice was for their sakes, so they would receive
the truth.
However, it doesn’t seem like they will. So, Jesus warns in the next verse that judgement
is coming upon the world. In fact, He
says it is “now” — He even repeats the word “now” twice in this verse. Just as He said back in v. 23 that the hour has
come, so has now the judgment. Since the
cross is so close, this judgment is immediately upon those who don’t choose to
obey.
This is what He means referring to the world. The term “world” in this sense is the system
of man against Christ, whether it be the religious side run by the Sanhedrin or
the political and military power of Rome.
This rebellious world follows after Satan, “the ruler of this world.” This is the way that the term world is
used in Ephesians 2:2, where unbelievers walk “according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is
now working in the sons of disobedience,” and the New Testament often refers to
the devil as having a power over this world (John 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph
6:12; 1 John 4:4; 5:19). Because the
world was in the process of rejecting Jesus, even condemning Him to a cross, He
says that this very cross will stand as judgment against the world.
How is that? This
judgment will be upon the ruler of darkness.
As Hebrews 2:14–15 says, “ Therefore,
since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook
of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power
of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death
were subject to slavery all their lives.”
The domain of the devil, which includes evil spirits and perhaps even
the men they inspire, will experience attack and defeat at the cross of
Christ. In fact, it is this judgment
upon Satan that explains how the godless world system under his sway is judged.[4] What appears to be a victory of the darkness
over the light will, in fact, provide the means by which those trapped in
darkness can finally step into the light.
The hold of Satan over unregenerate hearts will always be broken by the
gospel of the cross!
This judgment will lead to a future eventuality, hence the
future tense of “will be cast out.” Judgment could also rightly be said to be a
re-ordering, a reformation.[5] If taken in that way, then we could see a futuristic
aspect in this. The cross will reform
hearts. Moreover, it will establish the
future kingdom of Christ, which will bind Satan for a thousand years. In the eternal state, the Prince of this
world will finally be cast out, and death and hell with them. God will ultimately and finally cast out the
devil, and he will never again have power over the world or its people.
Thus, the cross brings about another glory to God. The evil and the wickedness of man will come
to an end as he repents and turns to Christ.
The deceptions of the enemy will become empty as he loses his sway over
redeemed man. And the final defeat of
sin and Satan lies on the horizon when, as Romans 16:20 says, “The God of peace
will soon crush Satan under your feet.”
This is done through the cross, as we see next.
V.
The Cross Glorifies as God’s Instrument (vv. 32–33)
“And I, if I am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” But He was saying this to indicate the kind of
death by which He was to die.
There's quite a bit that this verse reveals about the work
of the Lord on the cross, and, as such, it has engendered quite a bit of
debate. There’s a question as to what
this is an image of, what the drawing of people might mean, and whether all
means all. Let’s consider this for a
moment.
First, these verses obviously refer to crucifixion. They say here that this refers to His death, such
as in John 8:28. It’s possible that “lifting
up” was a common idiom of hoisting a person upon a cross.[6] Here, not only does John reveal to the reader
that this refers to “the kind of death” He’ll experience, but the people
understand Him of speaking of death in v. 34.
This is the same image Jesus used with Nicodemus — just as
the serpent was “lifted up” in the wilderness, He provides eternal life (John
3:14–15). Here, He also says His death somehow
effects people, describing a drawing effect.
Previously, He spoke of the Father drawing; in John 6:44, He says “No
one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise
him up on the last day” (same word). Here,
He says He will do it Himself.
To understand what He means, consider other instances of
this word. In John 18:10, the word
refers to Peter drawing out his sword.
In John 21:6, this word is used of the disciples trying to haul in the
great catch of fish. In Acts 16:19, it
refers to the hauling away of bound Paul and Silas to the authorities. Because of the drawing power of God, a sinner
finds his heart desires drawn in a new direction, toward Christ (cf. John
12:32). This is a reference to a sinner
being drawn to salvation.
Who are the ones drawn to Him? Some have suggested that, since it says “all”
here, it must mean every man, woman, and child.
This would be a view known as universalism, where every person
eventually comes to salvation. This is
an attractive view because no one enjoys to ponder the horrors of hell. However, Jesus has been just as clear that a
person must believe in Him for this work to be efficacious for them. John began by saying that only those who
receive Jesus by faith are given the right to become children of God (John 1:12).
Moreover, Jesus said that there will be
many raised to a resurrection of judgment, not life (John 5:28–29), so universalism
doesn’t work biblically.
Some Christians have developed another theory — that this drawing
is merely a prevenient grace. Perhaps “all”
does mean every man, woman, and child, but the drawing Jesus speaks of
here is less than salvific, only helping people to choose to respond. In other words, the whole world is “wooed” by
the cross, though only those who choose to believe will be saved by it. This is a much closer view to Scripture, but
there may be one that is better. Besides,
as Simeon prophesied in Luke 2:34, many will oppose and fall before Christ, so
not all are drawn to Him.
We must consider the immediate context. The Greeks have just come to Jesus. All does mean all, but it means it apart from
a solely Jewish concept — the cross is open to every tribe, tongue, and
nation. It’s the instrument for all
kinds of people, Jew or Gentile. This
view has the better exegetical case, and it doesn’t require us to use a
different understanding of “draw” here. When
Jesus is placed upon the cross, He will draw individuals from the entire world of
nations.
Of course, this isn’t done through the simple existence of crucifixes
upon church doors or hanging from necklaces.
Instead, this is referring to drawing which will occur through the Holy
Spirit regenerating hearts. The Spirit
and His Word work together to awaken sinners to their need for salvation, and
their spiritual eyes will then naturally fixate upon the cross. They see the full atonement for sin there,
come, and believe in Christ.
Jesus came for this purpose.
So, as v. 33 says, He signified what kind of death He would die. The fulfillment of this is in John 18:31–32,
which says, “So Pilate said to them, ‘Take Him yourselves, and judge Him
according to your law.’ The Jews said to him, ‘We are not permitted to put
anyone to death,’ to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by
what kind of death He was about to die.”
He chose the cross as the instrument of our salvation.
VI.
Conclusion
We don’t like to think about the cross, but God is glorified
through it. It also glorifies God’s
Messiah, too, which is what we see next time.
So, it is important that we see the value of the cross.
If you’ve never known that the cross is necessary for the
forgiveness of your sins, I hope that you will take this knowledge to God in
prayer. Ask Him to place your sins
there. Jesus will willingly bear your
burdens so you never have to carry them again.
This glorifies the Father, and it pleases the Son to pay for your sin so
that you’ll be redeemed. Trust in the
Lord Jesus and be saved.
If you’ve already called out to Him for salvation, I hope
that you will see this work as finished.
You don’t have to fear whether Satan can conquer you again, for the
cross conquered him. If you find
yourself wandering toward the worldliness of the past, remember the deliverance
you have in Christ and turn back toward Him.
Follow Him and His Word in thanksgiving for all He has done!
[1] Gerald L. Borchert, John 12–21, The New American Commentary, (Nashville: Broadman &
Holman Publishers, 2002), 25B:53–54.
[2] “Some commentators disconnect the two phrases what shall I say and Father, save Me from this hour, ending
the former with a question mark and making the latter a petition to the Father.
It seems better, however, to adopt the nasb punctuation and view the two
phrases as expressing one hypothetical thought (cf. Andreas J. Köstenberger, John, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the
New Testament [Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004], 381).” — John F. MacArthur Jr., John 12–21, MacArthur New Testament
Commentary, (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2008), 39.
[3] Ibid., 40.
[4] Ronald L. Trail, An
Exegetical Summary of John 10–21, Exegetical Summaries, (Dallas, TX: SIL
International, 2018), 141.
[5] John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on the Gospel according to John, (Bellingham, WA: Logos
Bible Software, 2010), 2:36.
[6] Trail, 142–143.
