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In this passage of John 12, 20 and following for a while, but we're working through it slowly. There's some important principles here that are certainly beneficial for us. So it does us well to give attention.
So today we'll continue to consider this passage. And it's really the conclusion of our Lord's public ministry as recorded by John. And then we have a transition at the end of chapter 12 to in which he began really his private and personal ministry to his apostles in the last few days of his passion week before his arrest and crucifixion.
And so once more, here is John 12, 20 to 36. And I hope as I read it, that it has more meaning or significance to you than when we first read it. Now, there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.
Then they came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and asked him saying, sir, we wish to see Jesus. And Philip came and told Andrew and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the son of man should be glorified.
Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am there, my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him, my father will honor. Now my soul is troubled, then what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. And therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.
Others said, an angel has spoken to him. And Jesus answered and said, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. This he said, signifying by what death he would die. The people answered him, we have heard from the law that Christ remains forever.
How can you say the son of man must be lifted up? Who is this son of man? And then Jesus said to them, a little while longer, the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.
He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. These things Jesus spoke and departed and was hidden from them.
Once again, drawing your attention to the outline that we used, have been using for this passage, there are five divisions. We have first the desire of the Greeks or Gentiles that they wanted to see Jesus.
Secondly, we had Jesus speaking about the necessity of his cross in order to inaugurate and advance his kingdom. Thirdly, we read of Jesus's appeal for help from his father to endure his cross. And then fourthly, the father purpose to glorify Jesus before the people through his cross.
And then fifth, Jesus exhorts those Jews who heard him to believe that which they had been taught and had witnessed regarding him. We've been working through this outline now and this is what the fourth Lord's day in this passage.
Last week, we began to consider the third division of this outline, in which we read Jesus's appeal for help from his father to endure his cross, verses 27, 28. However, before we consider this matter, I want to elucidate a little further one of the statements of our Lord that we may not have readily understood or seriously taken to heart.
We might've passed over it without giving a great deal of attention to it. And that's verse 25, the Lord Jesus said, he who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
The Lord had a way of stating matters that awaken people's attention, stimulated their contemplation of the meaning and relevance of his word. And so in his teaching, in his speaking, he would often use great contrasts or opposites in order to establish the stark distinction between his people who inherit eternal life and those who will not see life, but rather experience the damnation of their bodies and souls in hell.
In doing so, Jesus made clear that the way of life of his disciples was essentially different from the fallen people of the world. You commonly see the bumper sticker here, the expression, you know, the only difference between the Christian.
And the non-Christian.
Is the Christian has his sins forgiven. That's not true. The Bible sets forth the world a difference between the life of the Christian and the life of the non-Christian. Jesus made it clear the way of his disciples, the life of his disciples was essentially different than the fallen people of the world.
Now, an example of this kind of language that Jesus commonly employed is when he said in Luke 14, 26 to the crowds, if anyone comes to me, it does not hate his own father and mother. That's pretty direct.
And wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. That would arrest people's attention.
Hate?
They would think about it and ponder what he was saying. Another example would be when Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it.
But whosoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gained the whole world but lose his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? And so Jesus spoke in a manner to awaken people and convict his hearers, to awaken them to the radical difference between the world's ways and the ways in which his disciples live.
And this is what he was doing in the manner he stated this verse before us. Again, Jesus said, he who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. This is clearly a principle that is true of every true Christian.
So what was Jesus saying precisely? Well, he was stating that to live with view to eternity should be the driving concern of life for his disciples. We don't live for this world, we live for the life to come, the world to come.
We should not regard the sinful ways and values of the world as the focus or purpose of our lives. Our desire and intention is to know God and live before him and unto him in this life, which will one day open eternal life for us.
The Lord asked elsewhere, what shall a man give in return for his soul? We might just ask you the question, would you exchange the eternal wellbeing of your soul for all the money or power or pleasure that the world has to offer?
Not for a moment, would you? So the Christian answers, not for a moment, the eternal wellbeing of my soul has far more value than anything this world could possibly offer or confer upon me. I resolve by the grace and mercy of God to love and serve Jesus Christ first and foremost in my thinking and living.
And that is the attitude and the desire, the opinion of every true Christian. Matthew Henry wrote these comments on this verse, see also the blessed recompense of a holy contempt of life. He that so hates the life of the body as to venture it for the preserving of the life of his souls, shall find both with unspeakable advantage in eternal life.
Note first, it is required of the disciples of Christ that they hate their life in this world. And then he explains what that means. A life in this world supposes a life in the other world and this is hated when it is loved less than that.
We love less life in this world than life in the world to come. Our life in this world includes all the enjoyments of our personal state, riches, honors, pleasures and long life in the possession of them.
These we must hate, that is despise them as vain and insufficient to make us happy and dread the temptations that are in them and cheerfully part with them whenever they come in competition with service to Christ.
See here much of the power of godliness that it conquers the strongest natural affections and much of the mystery of godliness that it is the greatest wisdom and yet makes men hate their own lives. And secondly, those who in love to Christ hate their own lives in this world shall be abundantly recompensed in the resurrection of the just.
He that hateth his life shall keep it. He puts it into the hands of the one who will keep it to eternal life and restore it as with great an improvement as the heavenly life can make of the earthly one.
And so we are to hate this world in the sense that it is not our primary concern and motivation and desire in our lives. We long for the world to come, eternal life that God has promised us in Christ.
Now, upon our Lord announcing that the time had arrived for him to die, that is to be glorified, and that's how he describes his death on the cross here, we read of his personal struggle as he was facing death.
Again, we're rehearsing what we've already covered. We read his words of distress and petition in verse 27 and his father's response to him in verse 28. Now, my soul is troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and will glorify it again. Last Lord's day, we spoke about how the sufferings of Jesus Christ were in his human nature, not his divine nature.
God cannot suffer. There's no change in God. He cannot be affected by anything outside of himself because he's infinite in all of his being, on all of his attributes. And John Murray emphasized this in this rather extended quote.
We may focus attention upon our Lord's prayers in Gethsemane and by this means, gain some insight into these implications and into their bearing upon his obedience. When Jesus prayed, oh, my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will, we must not suppose that he did not desire that the cup should pass from him. In other words, he did desire that this cup would pass from him. This would negate the reality that formed the background of the prayer and the sincerity that must be predicated of the Savior.
So we must ask, how could such a desire be entertained? You know, how could Jesus experience this? He knew he was to die. To the necessity, he gave repeated expression on earlier occasions. The only explanation is that at this time, there was an unprecedented enlargement of knowledge in reference to what was entailed in his sufferings, particularly his suffering unto death upon the accursed tree, the cross.
Mark tells us that he began to be amazed. The inference is inevitable. There now invaded his consciousness such increased understanding and experience of the involvements of his commitment that amazement filled his soul.
Our Lord was now looking into the abyss already beginning to inundate his soul, the abyss that he was to swallow up himself. The recoil of his whole soul was inevitable. If he had not recoiled from the incomparable ordeal, it would be unnatural in the deepest sense.
We must reckon with the enormity of his agony and the reality of his human nature. Here was the unrelieved, unmitigated judgment of God against sin. It filled him with horror and dread. The recoil evidenced in the prayer is the proof of the ordeal and of the necessary sensibilities and sensitivities of his human nature.
His sufferings were centered in his human nature, even as he's the God man. One Christ, one person, two natures inseparable, but never conflated. They're distinct from one another. And so here we see the human nature of our Lord Jesus on full display.
His sufferings or his words reveal the great sufferings he undertook for the guilt of our sin. I appreciated what Calvin wrote about this. Besides, it was highly useful and even necessary for our salvation that the Son of God should have experience of such feelings.
In his death, we ought chiefly to consider his atonement by which he appeased the wrath and curse of God, which he could not have done without taking upon himself our guilt. The death which he underwent must therefore have been full of horror because he could not render satisfaction for us without feeling in his own experience the dreadful judgment of God.
And hence we come to know more fully the enormity of sin for which the heavenly Father exacted so dreadful a punishment from his only begotten Son. Let us therefore know that death was not a sport amusement to Christ, but that he endured the severest torments on our account.
And nor was it unsuitable that the Son of God should be troubled in this manner for the divine nature being concealed. Notice it wasn't evident in, it was there, but it wasn't evident in his sufferings.
Being concealed and not exerting its force may be said to have been reposed in order to give an opportunity of making expiation, but Christ himself was clothed, not with our flesh, but with human feelings.
In him, no doubt, those feelings were voluntary for he feared not through constraint, not because he had to, but because he had of his own accord subjected himself to fear. And yet we ought to believe that it was not in pretense, but in reality that he feared.
Though we differed from other men in this respect that he had all his feelings regulated in obedience to the righteousness of God, as we've said elsewhere. There is also another advantage which it yields to us.
If the dread of death had occasioned no uneasiness to the Son of God, which of us would have thought that his example was applicable to our case? For it has not been given to us to die without feeling of regret.
But when we learned that he had not within him a hardness like stone or iron, we some encouraged to follow him. And the weakness of the flesh, which makes us tremble at death, does not hinder us from becoming the companions of our general in struggling with it.
In other words, you know, death is something that's not pleasant for the Christian either, even though we know on the other side, it's gonna be glorious. Death is an enemy, is it not? And the last enemy that'll be destroyed is death, according to the gospel.
Now, as we stated last week, the desire of our Lord Jesus to escape undergoing his sufferings reveals to us that the desire to escape tribulation in itself is not sinful. It's a natural human desire and response to want to escape difficulty and suffering.
But this desire would not govern our Lord's behavior. Jesus affirmed his father's will for him to die upon the cross. Jesus said, but for this purpose, I came to this hour. And so he would not seek to do his own human will, but he purposed to do the will of his father, which was to enter and endure tribulation in which he would suffer and die.
But the result of his obedience to his father's will unto death would be his resurrection from the dead and his glorification to be seated with his father on his throne in heaven. It was his certain knowledge of his father's will that moved him to resolve not to escape his cross, but to remain committed to die.
He saw that in dying, he would be in obedience to his father which would glorify his father in his death. Doing his father's will was greater than his desire to avoid or escape the terrible sufferings of his cross.
Of course, the obedience of Jesus was evident throughout his entire life, from his birth, even to the cross. The Apostle Paul described the entire life of Jesus as one singular act of obedience. That's in Romans 8, 518.
Therefore, as through one man's offense, referring to Adam, judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act. That is a snapshot of the entire earthly life of Jesus.
One act of righteousness. The free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous.
Often when the obedience of Jesus Christ is addressed, it's distinguished as either a manifestation of his active obedience or his passive obedience. His active obedience was his intentional keeping the law of God throughout his entire life.
He was always obedient. He never transgressed the law of God. He never sinned. The passive obedience of Christ is his choosing to be obedient to his father through all the temptation and trial that resulted from obeying his father in this fallen world, which was even, of course, onto his death upon the cross.
He was obedient even unto death so as to die as a sacrifice for sinners. And so by our Lord's passive obedience onto his cross, he atoned for our sin. And then he died upon the cross and it was an act of obedience, passive obedience.
He paid for all our transgressions as believers, suffering and dying on our behalf. Through his active obedience, however, keeping God's law perfectly through life, he attained the righteousness of the law that is credited to every believer.
A righteousness in which every true believer will stand on the day of judgment.
It's a gift.
The righteousness of Christ is a gift to everyone who believes on Christ. And so through Jesus Christ's passive obedience, shouldn't be righteousness, obedience, God has forgiven our sins. Through his active obedience, he will enable us to stand as righteous before his throne on the day of judgment.
And we need both, don't we? We need to be forgiven of our sins, but we need more than just to be forgiven on the day of judgment. We need to stand in righteousness. And that gift of righteousness is given to us, credited to us through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
And so first God forgives a believer the guilt of all the sins, past, present, future sins, due to the passive obedience of Christ on the sinner's behalf when he died on the cross. And secondly, God treats the believer as if he were perfectly righteous due to the active obedience of Christ.
Christ kept the law perfectly and his righteous life is credited to the believing sinner as though the believing sinner himself kept the law perfectly. And because of our justification through faith in Christ alone, by God's grace through faith alone, God regards you as a Christian, as a believer, as righteous as his son, Jesus Christ.
You think about that. We live through life, of course, we're struggling with temptation and sin, we're always failing, falling, and we tend to identify ourselves with our sin. God identifies you, if you're a Christian, as holy and righteous as Jesus Christ himself because he took his righteousness and he credited that to your account.
And that's the blessing of justification, isn't it? And we should never lose sight of that. And so the Lord Jesus, God's own dear son, did for us what Adam failed to do and what we could never do. He lived a life without sin, that is he lived a life of full and complete obedience and compliance to the will of God.
He alone, Christ alone is righteous. And so here we see the glorious love of God to man that he gave his son to die. George Whitefield, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, thought the greatest preacher that ever produced in the English world.
The evangelist during the great awakening, he said it this way, here then opens the scene of divine philanthropy. I mean, God's love to man. For behold, what man could not do, Jesus Christ, the son of his father's love, undertakes to do for him.
And that God might be just and justify the ungodly, though he's in the form of God and therefore thought it not robbery to be equal to God, yet he took upon him the form of a servant, even human nature.
And in that nature, he obeyed and thereby utterly fulfilled the whole moral law in our place, in our stead. And also died a painful death upon the cross, thereby became a curse for, instead of those whom the father had given him.
As God, he satisfied at the same time that he obeyed and suffered as a man. In other words, he died in his human nature, but because his human nature was joined with his divine nature, it made his sacrifice of infinite value and worth.
Here then we see the meaning of the word righteousness. It implies the active as well as the passive obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. We generally, when talking of the merits of Christ, only mention the latter, his death, whereas the former, his life and act of obedience is equally necessary.
Christ is not such a savior as becomes us unless we join both together. Christ not only died, but lived, not only suffered, but obeyed for, or instead of poor sinners. And both of these jointly make up that complete righteousness, which is imputed to us, is active and passive obedience.
Now, some do not seem to esteem very highly the righteousness that is based on keeping God's law. They think and speak of the law of God only in a derogatory manner. They think little of God's law, but that's not how we should view the righteousness of God attained through the works of the law.
This is the righteousness that Jesus Christ achieved and obtained. Just as we stated, the righteousness of the law is the very righteousness that our Lord Jesus attained through his active obedience to the law of God throughout his life and his passive obedience, even to God's law unto death.
And so we should have a high regard for the righteousness based on the law. The problem lies with us, not with God's law. For sinners to attempt to gain righteousness through the works of the law is great error.
That's heresy. And so to do so, when one has the knowledge of the gift of righteousness through faith alone, if they think that they're gonna be saved by the merit of their works, they're committing heresy.
They're not gonna have salvation. It's even described as foolishness by the apostle. But the righteousness, which is based upon the law itself is not evil. That is the righteousness by which we're saved, a righteousness of the law that Jesus Christ worked out on our behalf, and which is given to us as a gift through faith in his name.
The law is holy.
The commandment is holy and righteous and good. Do not have a negative view of the law of God. The problem is not the law of God. The problem is sinners who are incapable of keeping the law of God apart from the enabling grace of the Holy Spirit.
The righteousness based upon the law is impossible for sinners to attain, but it was the very righteousness the Lord Jesus attained for himself and for all his people. The righteousness that Jesus acquired through the works of the law, again, is bestowed as a gift upon all who believe on him.
As Paul writes, for if because of one man's trespass, Adam's sin, death reign through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
When you believe on Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, God gives you, reckons to you, counts you as having this gift of righteousness. You are as holy in the sight of God as Jesus Christ is holy himself, which is incredible, amazing when you think about it.
Now, we also emphasized last week that when Jesus said, if anyone serves me, let him follow me, he was actually telling his disciples that to follow him was to follow him in the same path of obedience that he walked throughout his entire life, even onto the cross.
We too are to show forth our faith through active obedience and obeying God's laws as he obeyed God's laws. We too are to show forth our passive obedience, purposing to obey God, even though it will cost us for having done so.
Our Lord's submission and obedience to his father was unconditioned on whether he would suffer for doing so. We speak of the passive obedience of Christ because he purposed to obey, even though it cost him his life to do so.
Because of sin, however, we stop far short of giving our life. All too often, we're only willing to obey God to the point of inconvenience. This is not Christian. When we went into the waters of baptism to profess publicly our faith in Christ, we were essentially saying that we would die to our own will and our own interests, and we purposed to walk in newness of life regardless of the consequences.
But too often, Christians, at least professing Christians, will only go so far, but then they dig in their heels and say, no more, I will do it my way or no way. They're not following Christ as he commanded them to do.
This is sin. This is essentially what sin is. I'm gonna do what my will is, Lord, not your will. And every one of us are guilty of sin, whether we're Christian or not. Jesus Christ, of course, was not guilty of sin.
Our Lord Jesus promised to those who follow him that they would receive honor and that from their heavenly father. And so we read in verses 26 and 27, the Lord's promise. If anyone serves me, let him follow me.
And where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor. Our father honored Jesus due to his obedience onto him, through his life and through his suffering and death.
And once again, I wanted to draw your attention to a statement of Matthew Henry who states the matter so well. Here are the wages which Christ promises to his servants. They are very rich and noble. First, they shall be happy with him.
Where I am, there also my servant be. To be with him when he was here in poverty and disgrace would seem but poor preferment. And therefore, doubtless, he means being with him in paradise, sitting with him at his table above, on his throne there.
It is the happiness of heaven to be with Christ there. Christ speaks of heaven's happiness as if he were already in it. Where I am, because he was sure of it and near to it, and it was still upon his heart and in his eye.
And the same joy and glory which he thought recompense enough for all his services and sufferings are proposed to his servants as the recompense of theirs. Those that follow him and the way should be with him in the end.
Secondly, they should be honored by his father. He will make them amends for all their pains and loss by conferring an honor upon them. Such as becomes a great God to give, but far beyond what such worthless worms of the earth could expect to receive.
The rewarder is God himself, who takes the services done to the Lord Jesus has done to himself. The reward is honor, true lasting honor, the highest honor. It is the honor that comes from God. It is said that he that waits on his master should be honored.
And those that wait on Christ, God will put honor upon him, such as will be taken notice of another day. A glory that will one day, though now under avail, those that serve Christ must humble themselves and are commonly vilified by the world in recompense of both, which they should be exalted in due time.
Later in John 17, 22, we read of our Lord Jesus's prayer to his father. The glory that you've given me, I have given them. Think about that. The glory God gave his son, Jesus says I've given to my disciples.
Can you even fathom what that entails? You can't imagine the glory that we've already been given by Christ, a glory that one day will be fully manifested when we're resurrected and come forth in the final judgment.
Paul wrote of this in Romans eight, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
You are gonna be so manifesting glory in the presence of Jesus Christ, you're gonna be an amazement to yourself and everybody else who sees you. And again, this glory is conferred freely by grace. Jesus said, father, the glory you've given me, I've given to them.
And this will be manifested fully one day. Now, let's move on to this fourth division of this passage in which the father purpose to glorify Jesus before the people through his cross. Our Lord Jesus prayed, father, save me from this hour.
But then he appended his prayer, but for this purpose, I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And it was then that the voice of God the father spoke from heaven. The voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
God, of course, he glorified himself. God the father glorified himself through Jesus throughout his entire life. But he declared here that he would further glorify him, particularly into meeting his cross, his resurrection and his exaltation.
We then read our Lord's explanation of this voice to the crowds who heard it.
Everybody heard.
Nobody at that time seemed to perceive it rightly, however. Therefore, the people who stood by heard it, said that it thundered. Others said an angel had spoken to him. And Jesus answered and said, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake.
Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. This he said, signifying by what death he would die.
In other words, the death on the cross. Our Lord Jesus heard and understood clearly the message from the father. All others, it would seem, did not perceive the content of what the father said to the son.
The people standing by said there was a sound of thunder. Others had understood there was a voice and it was directed to Jesus, but they didn't understand that it was a word from God the father. They assumed it was the voice of an angel, not the voice of God.
In the Old Testament, there are several places where the voice of God is likened to the peal of thunder. David wrote of the victory that God had given him over his enemies. And he wrote, the Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered his voice.
See, thunder and God's voice are equated with one another. And then David repeated this. This was so significant to him. He repeated it in Psalm 18 with a little bit different words. And when I was reflecting on this, I recalled one of our daughters when she was very young, just a toddler, a little older maybe.
We were outside and there was a clap of thunder, very close lightning bolt, and it scared her, startled her. And I tried to calm her. You need not be afraid, that's God speaking. And then of course, as a child, she turned to me, daddy, what's he saying?
And I told her, he's saying I'm powerful and I have authority. And that seemed to satisfy her, seemed to calm her a little bit with regard to the thunder. But I think of that every time I hear a peal of thunder, that's God speaking.
He's declared he's powerful. And it's a physical demonstration of his power. But we might ask the question, if no one but Jesus recognized it was the voice of God the Father and no one understood the content of his speech, how could Jesus say unto them, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake?
How could it have been for their benefit if they didn't understand it? Donald Carson, I thought, gave a good explanation. Even if the message of the heavenly voice is mediated through Jesus and not grasped immediately by the bystanders, that message recorded in verse 28 is for the enormous benefit of the disciples among the bystanders once they have lived through the period of the cross and find themselves in urgent need of making sense of it.
Some truths the disciples could not manage to digest at the time. The evangelist, that would be John, makes much of these. That is one reason why he constantly plays on the theme of misunderstanding. And that's a theme you find in John's gospel frequently.
But eventually they would remember what Jesus had told them the voice had uttered, and it would be for them a divine confirmation that the shameful cross and all that flowed from it was not a defeat, but a victory, not final destruction, but ultimate glorification.
Even in the evangelist day, Jews most urgently needed to hear heaven's pronouncement, the pronouncement that the cross did not stamp Jesus out as irredeemably cursed and condemned, but proved to be the locus of his glorification.
That is one of the great shifts in history that God brought about. When Jesus died on the cross, everybody, even his disciples watching it, assumed this means that he was cursed of God and rejected by God.
But the early message, and it's continued for 2000 years, of course, of the Christian church is that this cross was actually the place and time of victory, not defeat. And it was through his suffering and death that he conquered all of the forces of the world, Satan, the demons, as well as all other authorities.
And he accomplished that through his suffering and death on the cross. It was a great paradox. It was ironic. And one of the apostles even says, had the rulers of the world known this, had the devil known this, they would have never crucified the Lord of glory.
They were clueless, thinking that they had triumphed over Jesus in crucifying him, they actually brought about his conquering of all his foes. It's amazing. Nobody anticipated. Look at verses 31 through 33.
I know the time is slipping away, but I wanted to point this out and the meaning of these words. Even as the crowds did not understand precisely what God said, this thunderous voice served to accentuate the next words that Jesus spoke.
Verses 31 through 33. Now is the judgment of this world.
He's talking about his cross.
Now, the ruler of this world, that's the devil, will be cast out. And I, if I'm lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. Remember, this is in the context of certain Greeks, Gentiles who wanted to see Jesus.
The hour is coming. Now I've got to be lifted up the cross and then I'll be able to draw Gentiles from all over the world to me. He said this, signifying by what death he would die. This is a very important statement of our Lord.
That in my opinion, establishes the amillennial understanding of the kingdom of God that's held by many who identify themselves as reformed. In other words, historically Protestant. I want to explain why.
Most evangelicals of course are premillennial in their understanding of the end times. This is the position that the second coming of Christ will take place and then a future thousand year millennium on earth will transpire, will take place.
They claim that Jesus comes first and then the thousand year earthly millennium. They claim that this is taught in Revelation 20 and they claim they take it literally. It describes Christ's kingdom as yet future from our time after the second coming, they argue.
A time on earth in which Satan will be bound and thereby effectively removing him from the world. It will result in a state of peace and tranquility for the entire world for a period of a thousand years while King Jesus sits on a throne, a literal throne in Jerusalem over there in Israel.
They say this earthly kingdom will be ruled by King Jesus who seated on David's throne in Jerusalem. Here's the Revelation 20 passage over which the entire debate is centered. John is speaking here, same John who wrote the gospel about the same time in the 90s AD.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit, a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan, bound him for a thousand years.
And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up, set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while.
And I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who'd been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.
And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years but the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection over such the second death has no power but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.
And so our premillennialist friends would argue this is a literal thousand year future reign of Christ on earth when Satan's completely removed from the world and it will be a time of peace and righteousness enjoyed by everybody in the world.
However, we who are reformed would differ from their interpretation that Revelation 20 speaks of a future thousand year earthly kingdom. Rather we assert that Revelation 20 sets forth the present rule of Jesus Christ over his kingdom during this church age.
And that's what amillennial means, all being the Latin letter A negating the idea not a literal thousand years but we're living in the age of the kingdom, the promised kingdom of the Old Testament. And so we would say the thousand years is an apocalyptic term to depict a kingdom of long duration for the Lord didn't want anybody to know how long this church age was gonna last.
Thousand years is a symbolic number to suggest his kingdom was gonna be of some duration. The binding of Satan in Revelation 20 is not a declaration that the devil will be removed from the world but rather look closely at those verses.
It's his authority, his ability to deceive the nations that is the Gentile nations will be removed. It's not saying that devil's taken out of the world it's saying that he is bound and limited so that he can no longer deceive the Gentile nations.
When Jesus was glorified, lifted up to heaven by means of the cross, he was enthroned, Satan too was dethroned. What residual power the prince of this world enjoys is further curtailed by the Holy Spirit, the counselor.
When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, the devil was cast out of his position of authority and power that he formerly enjoyed. That's what Jesus declared in John chapter 12. And so we would argue that our Lord's words in John 12 to 31 supports this millennial understanding.
Now let's just see in the little bit of time we have how this can be understood quite clearly by these verses. First, remember what occasion Jesus's words, certain Greeks or Gentiles wish to see Jesus and this is what led Jesus to acknowledge his hour had come to be glorified.
That is to be crucified, raised and enthroned. In verses 31 through 32, we read this would result in first, the judgment of this world. Secondly, the ruler of this world being cast out, that's the devil.
And thirdly, in his ability, the Lord's ability to draw all peoples onto himself. That is, he would call onto salvation, elect Jews and Gentiles from all over the world onto himself as their Lord. And these three results are precisely what is depicted in apocalyptic language in Revelation 20.
Let's consider these. First, Jesus declared that when he was lifted up, the judgment of this world would take place. Was the death and resurrection of Jesus the judgment of the world? That's what Jesus declared.
The world thought that he was passing judgment on Jesus when the world had him killed, but actually God was passing judgment on the world through his son dying on the cross. There's a sense in which God's judgment will take place at the end of the age.
We talk about that all the time at his second coming, but there's a sense in which God judged, that is condemned the world in the death of Jesus on his cross, as the commentator Edward Klink wrote. What is important to notice is that the judgment of this world is directly connected to the cross.
The cross is simultaneously the glorification of Jesus and the judgment of the world. It's the throne upon which the King of Kings has crowned his glory. Yet it's also the point of decision for the world, either the place of their salvation in which the cross is the sacrifice of the Lamb of God on their behalf, or the place of their judgment by which they stand already condemned.
We read earlier in the gospel, this is a judgment that light has come into the world and people love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. God's judgment began with the first coming of Christ, his earthly ministry and culminating with his death on the cross.
Now, Jesus did not come with the intention of condemning the world, but to save the world. He declared that, but when the world refuses to him, to come to him in faith for salvation, then God's judgment is past respecting them.
Those who do not believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are condemned, they're judged already is what is declared in John 3, 18. If you believe not, you're judged already, you're condemned already because you fail to believe on the name of the Son of God.
J .C. Ryle expressed the judgment of this world through the cross of Christ in this way. We're at the top of page nine now of your notes. I take it that the word we render judgment can only mean condemnation and that the meaning of the sentence is this.
Now has arrived the season when a sentence of condemnation should be passed on my death on the whole order of things which is revealed in the world since creation. The world shall no longer be let alone and left to the devil and the powers of darkness.
I'm about to spoil them of their dominion by my redeeming work and to condemn and set aside the dark godless order of things which is so long prevailed upon earth. It has long been winked at and tolerated by my father.
The time has come when it will be tolerated no longer. It's very weak by my crucifixion. The religious systems of the world shall receive a sentence of condemnation. And Jesus declared that when I'm lifted up on the cross just a few days from now, the judgment of the world will take place.
But secondly, Jesus declared that when he was lifted up, the ruler of this world will be cast out. Revelation 20 uses the description that the devil will be bound for the duration of the kingdom. The ruler of this world is Satan.
Before Satan had first sinned, he was an angel to whom he had been trusted by God, great authority. When God first created mankind, the world, he gave authority to Satan as a sheriff, as an anointed angel, a guardian of the world.
But then the devil in his rebellion sought to usurp God's authority as his own. And so when he tempted Adam and Eve to sin, he led them into a state of rebellion to God, even while they placed themselves in servitude to himself.
Sinners are servants of the devil. The devil is their Lord. He's the prince of the power of the air. He's the God of this world, according to the scriptures. The nations of the world do his bidding. We all did before we were Christians, as Paul wrote in Ephesians, in which he once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.
But when Jesus Christ died upon the cross and was raised on the third day, he was seated on the very throne of God in heaven, exalted above all in creation, even over the devil and his minions. When Jesus was enthroned, Satan was cast out.
Peter wrote of this, of Christ who's gone into heaven as his right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him. Up until that point in time, until the man Christ Jesus was enthroned, Satan had authority over all the peoples of the world.
Yes, God carved out a nation, a people, for himself through Israel, but by and large, Satan was the God of this world. But when Jesus was enthroned, Satan was deposed. Yes, he continues to be the ruler of unsaved people in this world, but he no longer had the power to prevent the gospel from going out into all the world.
Jesus declared in the great commission, all authority has been given me in heaven and earth, therefore you go out into all the world and make disciples of all nations. And the reason that could be said by Jesus is the devil no longer had any authority to keep people blind to the gospel when King Jesus issued the decree for an individual to be saved.
Satan was bound. He could no longer prevent the Gentiles from hearing the gospel. And that's why when certain Greeks wanted to see Jesus, he immediately said, the hour has come, I must be lifted up. And when I do, I'll draw all peoples to myself, Jews and Gentiles.
And one of the reason is because the God of this world will be cast out. The devil will be cast out. He'll no longer have the ability and power to keep people in ignorance and blindness because King Jesus had the authority to open their eyes and their hearts to the gospel.
The Lord Jesus intimated that he had this authority even during his earthly ministry. Remember when the 70 disciples came back from a short term mission trip and they were so rejoicing in the devil's demons being subject to them through Jesus's name.
Bottom of page nine in our notes, we read of it in Luke 10. Then the 70 returned with joy saying, Lord, even demons are subject to his name. And what did Jesus say in response? He said, behold, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
In other words, this was an indication the devil no longer had power to keep people bound. He was cast out of heaven. He was cast down from his position of authority and power. And now King Jesus was giving authority to his disciples and the devil couldn't prevent them from carrying on their work.
He was declaring that Satan had lost his former authority to keep people under his rule when Christ acted to set them free in order to come to him. And when Jesus Christ, the God-man ascended into heaven, was seated on the throne of God, the devil was cast out.
On other occasion, the Lord Jesus intimated that this would occur is when he was accused one day of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons. And he declared this in response.
Every kingdom divided against itself has brought to desolation. Every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he's divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
But if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? And therefore they should be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
And then he uses this illustration. Listen closely. How can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? You got to deal with the owner of the house before you can go in there and take his goods away from him.
This is what Jesus did when he died upon the cross. He came in and he bound the strong man. Revelation 20, he was bound. Not that he was removed from the world, but that he could no longer deceive the nations.
Jesus bound him, that is, deposed him. Jesus was highly exalted over him. And this is what he accomplished. And the result was his ability to send forth his kingdom throughout the entire world, to evangelize the Gentile world.
And this is what is declared in Revelation 20. And then lastly, again, we'll close with this. Jesus declared thirdly, when he was lifted up, he would draw all peoples to himself. And this was in view of the Gentiles, the Greeks who wished to see him.
Their desire indicated to him his hour had arrived, for upon his being lifted up, he would draw all peoples onto himself. He would declare to his disciples, this occurred. All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth, is what Jesus said.
Go therefore into all the world and make disciples of all nations. Satan's authority was deposed. Yes, Satan is still the prince of power of the air. He is the God of this world. That is, he is the God of unsaved people.
He has a kingdom. The devil has a kingdom, the kingdom of this fallen world. But King Jesus is building his kingdom. And when he purposes, I'm gonna save that soul who's currently in the kingdom of Satan, he pulls them out and the devil cannot prevent it from happening.
The Lord Jesus successfully calls and summons every one of his people and they become citizens of his kingdom because he has all authority in heaven and earth in order to bring this about. And it's with this confidence and assurance that we should have in the authority of our Lord Jesus as we are living in this fallen world today.
Who's in control of things? Who's the Lord of history? Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. And he is summoning people out of darkness into light. He's summoning people out of the kingdom of Satan and God translates them into the kingdom of his dear son.
We are the victors, folks. In spite of all the hardship and difficulty that we're enduring, we have our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have confidence in the gospel. The Lord has a people out there in the world and he's purposing to save them.
And amazingly, he's purposed to use you and me in accomplishing that work. May the Lord bless us and give us faith and confidence in the authority of the Lord Jesus, but also confidence and authority in the gospel to accomplish everything that God would have us do in his name.
Amen.
Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the cross of Jesus, Lord, in which we see the powers of the evil one broken and King Jesus highly exalted over him. And we prayed, Lord, that we would have this confidence and insurance of Jesus, our Lord.
We know the devil, Lord, is a powerful foe, but he's a defeated foe. He's been wounded in the head, as the scriptures say. Yes, he bruised the heel of our Savior, that our Savior rose from the dead and he's exalted and thrown even now.
Our Father, help us to have fullness of understanding of faith and confidence in him and of the wonderful work before us to further the kingdom of Christ in our world today. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.