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Sermon

The Hour Has Come, Part 2

Speaker
David Capoccia
Scripture
John 12:27-36

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

This passage from John 12:20-36 reveals Jesus’ response as His appointed hour of suffering and glorification arrives. Rather than fearful evasion, Jesus offers confident proclamation about what His death will accomplish. We are shown that Jesus’ soul was deeply troubled — not by the physical pain of crucifixion, but by the prospect of bearing God’s infinite wrath against sin in our place.

Yet Jesus takes His distress to the Father in prayer, seeking God’s glory above His own deliverance. Through His apparent defeat on the cross, Jesus accomplishes a threefold triumph: judgment upon the unbelieving world, the casting out of Satan’s dominion, and the drawing of all kinds of people to Himself for salvation.

Key Lessons:

  1. Soul distress is not necessarily sinful — Jesus models how to bring deep trouble to God in prayer and submit to the Father’s purpose.
  2. The cross represents triumph through apparent defeat: judgment on unbelief, Satan’s overthrow, and salvation offered to the whole world.
  3. Jesus bore not merely physical suffering but the infinite wrath of God against sin — the equivalent of hell — as our substitute.
  4. The opportunity to believe is urgent and not guaranteed to last; spiritual darkness can overtake those who delay.

Application: We are called to believe in Jesus as the light while we still have the opportunity, not delaying with endless objections or excuses. We must follow Jesus’ pattern of taking our soul troubles to God in prayer, seeking His glory above our own comfort, and trusting that God brings triumph through trouble and apparent defeat.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does understanding what Jesus actually endured on the cross — bearing God’s infinite wrath against sin — change the way you think about the seriousness of sin and the cost of your salvation?
  2. When your soul is deeply troubled, do you tend to spiral into anxiety and complaint, or do you follow Jesus’ model of bringing your distress to God and praying for His glory? What would it look like to grow in this?
  3. Jesus warned that the time to believe is limited and darkness can overtake you. Is there someone in your life you have been hesitant to urgently call to faith in Christ? What holds you back?

Scripture Focus: John 12:20-36 is the central passage, showing Jesus’ three proclamations as His hour arrives. Supporting passages include John 3:14-18, Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 9:7, Hebrews 2:14-15, Romans 16:20, and Psalm 46:1.

Outline

Introduction

As we prepare to hear from God in his own word, let us pray. Lord, we love you and we love your word, but you must open our eyes to it.

You must open my mouth to explain it, God. That’s why we’re here. Bless this time. Do a mighty work by your preached word. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Knowing the Day of Your Death

Before we return to our passage this morning, I have a hypothetical question for you to consider. If you could know the day of your death, would you choose to? If someone could tell you for certain when you were going to die, would you choose to learn that information or would you rather not know?

In some ways, knowing the exact length of your life would be helpful. For example, you would better know how much time you have to complete certain life goals, preventing you from accidentally leaving important tasks or conversations unfinished.

You would also have greater assurance proceeding through life’s uncertain and dangerous situations because you would know that you could not die until you reached your appointed time. Additionally, you would probably live with greater wisdom and usefulness since knowing your rapidly approaching end would encourage you not to waste your life.

However, in other ways, knowing the exact time of your life could be a disadvantage. For one, you would have to grapple much more directly with the vapor-like nature of life. You would know from the beginning that terrible frustration with how limited time on earth is and how ability to accomplish anything is also so limited.

“Knowing your rapidly approaching end would encourage you not to waste your life.”

You might struggle to keep a perspective that would allow you to enjoy life since it is all coming to an end very soon and you will leave your loved ones very soon. Also, as you approach your appointed time, it might be difficult not to become anxious because even if your death should happen swiftly, you would still know that it is imminent.

Again, think which would you choose—to know or not know your dying day? Now consider these follow-up questions. What if you couldn’t choose, but you just happened to know or were told when you would die? And what if you didn’t just know when, but also how?

What if God told you that you would not live a full life? That at the end your own friends and family and countrymen would betray you in your prime years to be killed in the most painful and shameful way possible. What if God told you that your coming death would be like hell on earth for you?

Who would not be overwhelmed by such knowledge? Who would not then go through life with a permanent cloud over his head? Who would not also approach that prophesied end with terror and a desperation to escape?

But what if God also told you that in dying in this difficult way, you would give your God the greatest glory you could give him? You would become the means of salvation of many others and afterwards you would be received into God’s presence to reward and honor forever.

And someone might say, “That’s a lot of hypotheticals, Pastor Dave.”

Jesus Knew — And Was Not Overcome

What’s the point? No one is going to encounter the exact circumstances that you’ve outlined. Now, that is true. Though maybe some of us might approach part of it. Maybe you get a diagnosis that says you only have this long to live.

But there is one exception. A man who always knew the exact when, how, and why of his own death. And that is the man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly in his eternal divinity, but also very much in his true humanity.

Jesus knew that he came to earth to die a hellish death at God’s appointed time on behalf of sinners. Yet Jesus was not depressed or anxious about this during his life. Rather, he was determined to fulfill his salvation mission and glorify his Father.

“Jesus was not depressed or anxious. He was determined to fulfill his salvation mission and glorify his Father.”

Reading John 12:20-36

Indeed, as we return to the Gospel of John and again see Jesus arriving at his passion—that is, that short final period of his life leading up to and culminating in his crucifixion—we discover that Jesus’ response to this time is not fearful evasion, but confident proclamation. Our gospel’s author, the apostle John, records Jesus’ words for us so that we might believe in Jesus and, in Jesus’ same spirit, prepare to walk obediently in Jesus’ same footsteps.

Please open your Bibles to John 12:20. The sermon title today is “The Hour Has Come, Part Two.” We are looking at John 12:20-36 this morning. That’s on pew Bible page 175 if you’re using those. Today we’re focusing on verses 27-36, but let’s read the whole section: John 12:20-36.

“Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. These then came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and began to ask him, saying, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip came and told Andrew.

Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. 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. 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.’ 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, 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. The crowd then answered him, ‘We have heard out of the law that the Christ is to remain forever.

And how can you say the son of man must be lifted up? Who is this son of man?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘For a little while longer, the light is among you. Walk while you have the light so that darkness will not overtake you.

He who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become sons of light.’ These things Jesus spoke and he went away and hid himself from them.”

Here we are at Jesus’ final Passover and the turning point of his life and of this gospel. Jesus’ hour has finally come.

What is Jesus’ hour? That’s a question we discussed last time after looking at previous appearances of this phrase in John. Jesus’ hour refers to the special time of glorification through suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension.

What initiates or signals the arrival of Jesus’ hour? We saw this before too. Right at the beginning of our passage, some Greeks—that is, Gentiles—begin to seek Jesus and his salvation, just as the Jews as a nation are about to reject Jesus and his salvation.

“Jesus’ hour refers to the special time of glorification through suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension.”

Thus, according to God’s perfect pre-ordained plan, it is time for redemption to move forward and for God’s son to secure the way for the whole world—Jew and Gentile—to be saved and brought into Jesus’ one new redeemed flock.

What is Jesus’ response to the arrival of his hour?

Review: Jesus’ First Proclamation — Godly Dying Produces Fruit

Not fear but faith, not complaint but determination to fulfill the work given him by the Father. In fact, Jesus uses the very occasion to proclaim the glorious outcome of his coming death so that his disciples, the crowd of Jews, and even the seeking Greeks might believe and be saved. Our author records Jesus’s words for the same reason, so that we will benefit.

Here’s the main idea of this section again. John records Jesus’s three profound proclamations at the arrival of Jesus’s hour so that you will believe in Jesus and obediently follow Jesus’s pattern.

Now last time we looked at Jesus’s first profound proclamation at the arrival of his hour, and that’s in verses 20 to 26. We saw number one: Jesus proclaims, “Godly dying produces abundant spiritual fruit.” Godly dying produces abundant spiritual fruit.

In response to some Greek God-fearers seeking out Jesus in verses 20 to 22, and these Greeks may be Hellenized Gentiles from the Decapolis area, Jesus proclaims in verses 23 and 24 that his own godly dying will bring about abundant spiritual fruit. Comparing himself to a wheat seed buried, germinating, and growing to a multiplied harvest, Jesus reveals that his own hour of glorification will consist of his dying, being buried or planted in the ground, and then rising again to bear much salvation fruit for his people.

Jesus immediately follows up this surprising revelation by declaring in verses 25 and 26 that what is true for him will also be true for his genuine disciples. Your godly dying, if Jesus bears abundant spiritual fruit. As Jesus says, anyone who clings to his earthly life and to his own way is already losing it. But whoever freely gives up his earthly life for Jesus will keep life forever.

After all, a servant must follow his master and be where his master is. If Jesus is truly your master, then you must follow him even into obedient suffering, even into the death of self, and even into physical death for his sake.

“A servant must follow his master. If Jesus is your master, you must follow him even into obedient suffering.”

Proclamation Two: Triumph Through Trouble and Defeat

But as Jesus is raised to eternal reward and honor by the Father, so will you be as you are his servant.

Now at the mention of Jesus’ Father in verse 26, Jesus moves to make another profound proclamation in verses 27 to 33. A proclamation giving more insight into the Savior’s true soul burden and into the unconventional type of victory to which the Son of God is marching.

We’re going to take a look at this second profound proclamation and the third in our time today. What is Jesus’ second profound proclamation at the arrival of his hour so that you will believe and obediently follow in his pattern?

It is number two: Triumph comes through trouble and defeat. Defeat in quotes.

“Triumph comes through trouble and defeat.”

Let’s start examining the new words of Jesus starting in verses 27 and 28a. I’ll reread those.

Jesus’ Soul Becomes Troubled

Jesus continues, “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. Father, glorify your name.” Jesus begins verse 27 by confessing something that may at first surprise us, that his soul has become troubled.

The Greek word translated troubled often refers to intense feelings of distress. The word can also be translated disturbed, stirred up, or shaken together. We’ve actually already seen this word back in John 11:33. John used it to describe Jesus’ inner agitation at seeing Mary and the mourers weeping so fervently over Lazarus.

He was disturbed. He was shaken up by that. But what now? What has shaken Jesus’ soul, the soul of the very Son of God? It’s as the rest of verse 27 makes clear: Jesus’ arrival to his hour and to the suffering and death that he knows imminently awaits him.

“What has shaken Jesus’ soul? His arrival to the suffering and death that he knows imminently awaits him.”

Distress That Is Not Sinful

Now, someone may ask, “Wait, has Jesus become sinfully afraid and anxious? Is he losing trust in his father at this late hour?” No, that cannot be. Jesus is not sinning. For then his salvation mission, the scriptures, and the son’s very being as a member of the triune Godhead would be compromised. That’s not what’s happening here.

So, what is? Well, here’s an important point to clarify. A feeling of distress or sorrow, of spiritual burden, of even deep soul agitation is not necessarily sinful or a sign of unbelief. There is a way of experiencing and responding to such feelings that is righteous.

Now yes, we often feel agony of spirit because of sin and unbelief. We sin and experience the guilt of it, or we go through a great trial and we find ourselves unwilling to trust God. When tested, we yield to sin. We yield to anxiety. We yield to despair.

We even yield to angry accusation of God. And is that going to be good for our souls? No, because we will not persist in taking the Lord at his word, we afflict ourselves unnecessarily.

Yes, soul agitation may be because of sin, but that is not what the son of God is doing here. Rather, he is providing an example for us and how to deal with even the worst soul troubles. You can experience trouble in your soul that is not related to sin and Jesus is going to show you how to deal with it.

As I said, Jesus is distressed about his upcoming suffering and death. But what specifically about that event shakes Jesus, shakes the son of God? Is it the beatings that he knows he will experience? Is it the mocking and the spitting? Is it the crown of thorns? Is it the nails? Is it the desperate breathlessness and thirst while hanging on the cross for hours?

These would probably shake any of us if we were imminently facing them. But these don’t. And they won’t be what distresses Jesus. Not really. It’s interesting that the only remark Jesus makes about his physical suffering on the cross is that he’s thirsty. I mean, wow.

“You can experience trouble in your soul that is not related to sin, and Jesus is going to show you how to deal with it.”

What Truly Troubled Jesus — The Wrath of God

But there is one aspect of what is to come that distresses Jesus now and will do so even while he’s on the cross. And which aspect is that? The father’s forsaking of the son in holy anger as the son bears the sins of his people.

After all, what is the only statement of agony that is recorded in the scriptures that Jesus makes on the cross? It is this: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

You see, in John 12:27, Jesus feels agitation of soul as he considers the prospect of soon enduring the infinite wrath of God, the wrath of his God, his beloved father against sin. To say that another way, he anticipates experiencing the unquenchable torment of hell in Jesus’ own spirit.

For as the Bible teaches, that is the price of sin.

“Jesus feels agitation of soul as he considers the prospect of soon enduring the infinite wrath of God against sin.”

The Infinite Price of Sin

If any of us quake at the thought of facing the agonies of hell, how much more the son of God who not only knows just how sinful sin is, but also how furious and holy God’s wrath is against it. We barely know because we’re finite creatures. God knows because he’s God.

Consider too, brethren, the torment of hell is eternal because no finite sinful being can ever experience enough of God’s punishment to pay off those sins. A crime of infinite offense, which is what every sin is, against an infinitely holy God, can only justly be paid for with infinite suffering. Unending punishment and torment, not annihilation, not end of existence. That does not equal the crime. It must be eternal torment.

“A crime of infinite offense against an infinitely holy God can only justly be paid for with infinite suffering.”

Thus, the only way that Jesus can save humanity is that Jesus must die. In dying, Jesus must experience hell’s infinite suffering all at once in his own infinite soul. He’s the only one who can do this.

He’s the only able substitute for sinners because he is a man and therefore can serve as our substitute.

The Incomprehensible Suffering of the Cross

But he is also God and he can actually pay the penalty. He can suffer infinite suffering. But how intense this required suffering and punishment must be. For how do you distill the boundless torment of hell into one short period of time, even three hours on a cross. And this is the required penalty for only one sin of one of his people.

Yet Jesus must pay the hellish price for all the sins of all of his people. The millions and billions of people across time who did believe, do believe, or one day will repent and believe in Jesus Christ. He must pay for it all. For how many sins then must the Son of God suffer?

How many hells must the Son of God experience one on top of the other to rescue his servants and bring them to God?

My brothers and sisters, we can only begin to comprehend the horror Jesus experienced on the cross for sin, for us. Yet all his earthly life, Jesus knew it was coming and that he was relentlessly approaching it.

“We can only begin to comprehend the horror Jesus experienced on the cross for sin — for us.”

Therefore, with the hour of the cross and its hell-filled darkness now arriving in John 12:27, surely we can understand why Jesus would say, “Now my soul has become troubled.” Indeed, if Jesus did not express any deep disturbance at the prospect of soon suffering for sin, we would rightly question the sinfulness of sin. Maybe it is no big deal.

We would rightly question the terribleness of God’s wrath, the holiness of God, and even the love of the Son of God for his Father. For if this sacrifice requires a breach of fellowship between these who have enjoyed such intimate love from all eternity, does the Son really love the Father at all if he’s not disturbed by it?

Thus, Jesus’s distress is not only understandable, it is worshipful. It is a mark of his reverence for God. So he experiences this incredible distress, but it is not for his own sin.

It is for the sins that he will bear.

Jesus Takes His Trouble to God in Prayer

But what does Jesus do with this properly felt distress? He admits it as we see in verse 27. But then more importantly, Jesus also takes it to his God in prayer just as we should. After all, what does Psalm 46:1 say?

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Jesus goes to God. You notice Jesus asks rhetorically what he should say to God in prayer: “And what shall I say?” The next statement, “Father, save me from this hour,” could be part of Jesus’s question or it could be an immediate answer—a short prayer from Jesus to God similar to what Jesus prays later in Gethsemane. You remember that, right?

Father, if possible, take this cup from me.

Now, because the emphasis here in John 12 seems to be on Jesus’s confidence in God despite his soul trouble, I lean with most interpreters in seeing the statement as part of Jesus’s question as we see in our NASB 95 translation.

“What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?” Either way, in John 12:27, Jesus is giving a view into the working out of his conflicting holy desires. In view of the overwhelming wrath awaiting him, Jesus desires for his loving Father to save him. After all, if you’re in any distress, what’s the thing you can do in that moment to honor God? Call out to him for help.

Call upon him for deliverance. Jesus does that.

Yet Jesus also recognizes that facing his hour and suffering wrath is the purpose for which he came. Thus, whether Jesus actually expresses that first desire in prayer or not, Jesus ultimately prays what is his greater desire and commitment. Verse 28: “Father, glorify your name.”

Isn’t this what Jesus, the perfect Son, has been about this whole gospel? It’s still what Jesus is about as he faces the cross. God, I’m just concerned about your glory and your will. And again, we find a poignant model for ourselves and our own prayers in Jesus.

When your soul is in trouble, seek your refuge and deliverance in God who is the only savior. Yet acknowledge that God has a good purpose in bringing you into your great trial. Ultimately, seek and pray for God’s glory through whatever situation or outcome he chooses for you. God will be sure to answer that prayer.

“When your soul is in trouble, seek your refuge and deliverance in God who is the only savior.”

The Father’s Voice from Heaven

Now, in what is surely a surprise to the witnessing Jews, the disciples, and maybe even the Greeks, if they’re there, Jesus’ short-spoken prayer gets an immediate audible response, which is what we see in the rest of John 12:28.

Look there. Then a voice came out of heaven.

I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. What’s this voice?

Well, considering Jesus’ prayer, this must be the voice of God the Father. And what does the Father say?

That the Father has glorified his own name thus far in Jesus’ life. And that in Jesus’ hour of suffering and glorification, the Father will be sure to glorify the Father’s name again.

What is this? This is a statement of reassurance to the Son. This is a sure testimony on the Son’s behalf. This is what you prayed for. I’m telling you, it’s going to happen.

“The Father has glorified His name and will glorify it again — a statement of reassurance to the Son.”

The Crowd’s Failure to Understand

Wow. But did the surrounding listeners get the message? Look at verses 29 and 30. 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.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for my sake, but for your sakes.”

This is a bit strange. We learn in verse 29 that the crowd does not understand what the Father just said. Some in the crowd think they only heard thunder, others that an angel must have spoken to Jesus, not to everybody else, just to Jesus. Why couldn’t the crowd hear the Father? Was the message only for Jesus?

If so, then why does Jesus say in verse 30 that the voice did not come for his sake, but for theirs?

What precisely is going on here is a little hard to say. It could be, as many suggest, that what we’re seeing again here is the crowd’s spiritual dullness because they do not expect to hear God. They do not understand or believe when God actually speaks. And though the voice was supposed to benefit them mainly, their stubborn unbelief prevented that beneficial result.

That is possible. Others suggest, however, that we could be in a situation here similar to the Apostle Paul’s in Acts 9. In Acts 9:4-6, Paul, then called Saul, sees and hears Jesus speaking from heaven. Acts 9:7 says that Saul’s companions heard the voice but saw no one. And Acts 22:9 says that these companions did not understand what the voice was saying.

In short, only Saul both heard and understood the voice because the message was for him. His companions, the others around, they heard a voice or a sound, but they could not understand it.

Conceivably, possibly the same is happening with Jesus in John 12:28. Only Jesus hears and understands the voice while the crowd, those around, they hear the sound or they hear a voice but they do not understand it.

If this is true, then how can Jesus say that the voice came for the people’s sakes and not his own? Well, even if the crowd couldn’t understand the words, the fact that a booming thunderous voice immediately answers Jesus’ prayer for the Father to glorify himself should have told the Jews plenty. Jesus is God’s Son. He is glorifying the Father. You should believe in him.

Additionally, Jesus’ disciples or any other interested parties would be free to ask Jesus later what exactly the voice said and thus receive the full benefit of the Father’s testimony on behalf of his Son. Besides, it’s not like the Son of God needs a voice from heaven to reassure him. The Son is one with the Father. They have the same spirit. They can communicate instantly and without spoken words. They are one.

So any audible communication from Father to Son or vice versa would be more for the people’s benefit than for God’s. I lean more to the second interpretation here.

“The Son of God does not need a voice from heaven to reassure Him. Any audible communication is for the people’s benefit.”

Threefold Triumph: Judgment on This World

Regardless, the father’s sudden testimony from heaven causes a shift in Jesus’ proclamation. No longer focusing on his present and coming trouble, Jesus now focuses on his impending three-fold triumph. Even three victories to be won soon through an apparent defeat.

Look now at verses 31-33. Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out and 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.

Notice the repetition of the word “now.” In the beginning of verse 31, Jesus is again referring to what is about to be accomplished in Jesus’ hour of suffering and glorification. First, Jesus says that now judgment is upon this world.

What does Jesus mean by this world? Well, the term “world” usually characteristically appears in the Gospel of John with the sense of the dwelling place of rebellious mankind and thus sinful mankind itself. This is the sense of the term “world” as Jesus used it here. Judgment is upon sinful mankind.

Why does Jesus inaugurate judgment in this way? Not because Jesus has come to judge. Jesus came expressly to save, as Jesus has already made clear in John 3:17 and John 8:15, and he’ll make it clear again later in this chapter.

Nevertheless, Jesus inaugurates the judgment of mankind because sinful humanity beholds God’s light so clearly yet rejects it, rejects him, rejects their only savior and substitute. Sinful humanity judges itself. Though every sinner is justly condemned by his own sin, the height of every sinner’s condemnation—the most heinous of his crimes—is unbelief and rejection of God’s precious son, the one who is even enduring hell on humanity’s behalf.

John 3:18 also says:

John 3:18: “He who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the only begotten Son of God.”

Threefold Triumph: Satan Cast Out

So then though an unrepentant, stubbornly wicked world may think that they are about to judge and condemn God himself, the truth is that God is about to judge and condemn this stubborn unbelieving world. Second, Jesus says that now the ruler of this world will be cast out. Who is the ruler of this world?

Well, in the ultimate sense, God is the ruler of this world and of all the universe. But surely the Son is not going to cast his Father off of the ruling throne. So here the focus must be on the usurper currently allowed to rule over the world of sinful humanity. And who is that? That is Satan.

Ephesians 2:2 calls Satan the prince of the power of the air, even the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience. Second Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan the god of this world. How will Jesus’s hour represent a casting out or dethroning of the devil’s rule over humanity? In that Jesus through his cross and resurrection will defeat sin and death once and for all.

You see, once mankind fell in the garden, Satan supposed that the human race was now his forever to deceive, enslave, destroy with sin, and to terrorize with the fear of death. But even in the garden, Genesis 3:15, God foretold that the seed of the woman would one day crush the serpent’s head and thus deliver captive mankind.

Jesus is that foretold seed. And in his now arriving hour, he will utterly defeat the devil. Jesus will make an end of sin’s penalty and power and even overcome death itself. Thus freeing humanity from certain destruction at the devil’s hands and rendering Satan ultimately powerless over all who believe in Jesus.

Hebrews 2:14-15 says the same thing. Now for us here today after the cross, Satan does continue to operate in the world and he even continues to exercise a dominating influence over unbelievers and over the evil world system. But remember brethren, the devil is a defeated enemy and a mortally wounded foe.

He and what’s left of his dominion are living on borrowed time. For as Paul says to believers in Romans 16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Jesus proclaims this glorious reality before it happens.

What Satan may think is the imminent victory of darkness over light and the death of God’s Son on the cross is actually the opposite. The cross represents the devil’s undoing, humanity’s rescue, and the Son’s triumph.

“The cross represents the devil’s undoing, humanity’s rescue, and the Son’s triumph.”

Threefold Triumph: Drawing All Men to Himself

Third, Jesus says in John 12:32 that when he is lifted up from the earth, he will draw all men to himself. We’ve encountered a proclamation like this from Jesus before in this gospel, and we heard it read earlier in the service. In John 3:14-15, Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life.”

As the explanatory verse in John 12:33 makes clear, both Jesus’ previous proclamation and this one in John 12:32 are veiled references to Jesus’ coming death by crucifixion and to what this death will accomplish. When Jesus is unjustly nailed to the pieces of wood and lifted high in the air to die a slow and shameful death, Jesus will not merely draw a crowd of onlookers for a few hours.

But in fact, Jesus will draw all kinds of people across time and space to himself so that they will believe in him, receive eternal life, and behold forever his glory.

Said another way, when Jesus suffers and dies on the cross, he will be raised like a standard or a banner to which all peoples of the world may rally. Jew, Gentile, boy, girl, rich, poor, civilized and uncivilized. Behold, lifted up the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Whoever you are, whenever you are, wherever you are, believe and you will be saved.

Recall again the poignant double meaning of this verb, “lift up.” To lift someone up could mean literally to raise them higher, like Jesus was on the cross. But “lift up” can also mean to exalt, to lift high in praises and glory. Jesus has both senses in mind in his declaration.

“Jesus’ literal lifting up in death is also his figurative lifting up in the glory of his accomplished salvation.”

What Is True of the Master Is True of His Servants

For Jesus’ literal lifting up in death is also his figurative lifting up in the glory of his accomplished salvation for sinners. Indeed, it is in one sense the clear view of the glory of Christ on the cross that God uses to draw every chosen sinner to repent and believe. You see him lifted up in glory and you say, “I have to believe in him.”

Again then, in Jesus’ hour trouble turns to triumph, defeat to victory, dishonor to glory. Now let’s still keep in mind verses 20 to 26. What’s true of the master will also be true of his servants.

If you have repented and believed, if Jesus is your master, if you live to serve him and not yourself, then your troubles too will turn to triumph. Your apparent defeat to victory, your present dishonor to forever glory.

“Your troubles too will turn to triumph, your apparent defeat to victory, your present dishonor to forever glory.”

Jesus proclaims, “Triumph comes not apart from trouble, but through trouble and through apparent defeat.”

Proclamation Three: Time to Believe Is Running Out

God’s triumph will not be stopped.” Now, Jesus has one more profound proclamation in verses 34 to 37. This proclamation comes after the crowd voices some confusion. What is Jesus’ third profound proclamation?

Number three: time to believe is running out.

The Crowd’s Confusion About the Messiah

Time to believe is running out. Look at verse 34. The crowd then answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ is to remain forever. And how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this son of man?”

Often in John’s gospel, the crowd doesn’t quite get what’s going on and doesn’t quite understand Jesus. But here, let’s give the crowd some credit. The listening people do make some remarkable connections. Notice in this verse that the crowd grasps three key truths from Jesus.

Number one, Jesus is the son of man. Back in verse 32, Jesus said, “When I am lifted up,” but in verse 34, the crowd asks about the son of man being lifted up. They put two and two together. Jesus is the son of man. When he says what he says, he’s talking about the son of man.

Number two, the son of man is also the Christ and Messiah. I told you before that though son of man is a messianic title from Daniel 7:13, most Jews in Jesus’ day don’t seem to grasp its full significance as Jesus uses it. However, here the crowd realizes that son of man must be a title equivalent to Christ, which is the Greek term for anointed one or Hebrew Messiah.

Notice, though Jesus only made proclamation about what will happen to himself as the son of man, the crowd responds by asking how what Jesus just said fits with what the law says about the Christ. So the crowd not only sees that Jesus is the son of man, but that Jesus also is the Christ. That’s why they’re confused.

Number three, the crowd realizes that lifting up means something like going away or dying. As far as we can tell today, lift up was not a phrase that automatically was associated back then with death or crucifixion. It’s not like you’d say, “Oh that guy’s being lifted up,” and they’d be like, “Oh, no. He’s going to die.” No, there was no association like that.

Nevertheless, the crowd has gathered from Jesus’ use of the phrase that his being lifted up as the son of man, as the Christ, necessarily means that the Christ will not remain with his people.

These three realizations thus birthed the crowd’s confused question to Jesus. How can he, the Christ, make a proclamation about going away and being gloriously lifted up when the law—and that term is being used here to refer to the entire Hebrew scripture, what we call the Old Testament—says that Christ comes to remain forever?

We should ask, does the Old Testament teach that the Messiah is to remain and rule forever? Yes, it does. One clear example is Isaiah 9:7.

Isaiah 9:7: “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David… forevermore.”

More examples would be Ezekiel 37:25 and Psalm 89:35-37. So the crowd appears to raise a fair question.

How can Jesus the Messiah say he must go away if the Old Testament prophesies that he will stay and reign forever? By the way, considering the crowd’s realization that Jesus is the son of man and Messiah, their question at the end of verse 34 should not be understood as asking about identity but about type. What kind of son of man are you?

Jesus Warns: Walk While You Have the Light

If the scripture seems to speak so differently than you do, how can you, as the prophesied Christ, go away, even die, yet rule forever? How does Jesus answer their questions? Once again, not as they or we might expect. Look at John 12:35-36a.

Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer, the light is among you. Walk while you have the light so that darkness will not overtake you. He who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become sons of light.”

Notice Jesus doesn’t answer the crowd’s questions at all. Why not? Because he already has. Both earlier in this gospel and earlier in this conversation, the Jews ask, “How can the Messiah both die and remain forever? Who exactly are you?”

Jesus essentially says, “I am the seed dying and going into the ground, but coming back to life with much fruit. I am the king who suffers hell for my people so that I and they may triumph through trouble. I am the lifted up banner so that the whole world may see, believe, and receive eternal life in me.”

He’s already answered their question. You see, once again, the crowd’s problem with Jesus is not lack of information, lack of explanation, lack of evidence. It’s lack of faith.

Though Jesus’s miracles are undeniable, Jesus just doesn’t fit their expectations of what the Messiah should be by his words. Remember Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:23 that a crucified Messiah, the cross, is the stumbling block for the Jews. It’s the part of the Christian gospel that generally speaking the Jews simply cannot compute.

So in hearing Christ’s cross previewed as it is here, these Jews unsurprisingly have trouble computing. They vainly grasp for more information. Jesus can’t mean what he’s saying. Messiah came to give us the good life—get rid of our enemies, give universal health and wealth and food, and lead us to rule the world. Not lead the way in sacrificial death for God’s glory.

Guys, we must have missed something. Let’s ask Jesus more questions. But what’s the danger in always asking questions like this? Offering objection after objection, excuse after excuse why you cannot accept what Jesus is saying, you never deal with the real issue. You run out of time and you never believe.

Thus, instead of answering the crowd of Jews again, Jesus warns them just like he did in John 7 and John 8. Essentially telling them, “Time is running out to believe and be saved.” Jesus is God’s life-bringing light. He is the light of the world. But he tells the Jews they only have him a little while longer. He will soon leave them.

So what should they do? Not offer endless man-centered objections to his words, but believe. Jesus essentially says, “Walk by the Son’s light to follow him and find his eternal life before darkness overtakes you and you no longer see where you should go.”

“Walk by the Son’s light to follow him and find eternal life before darkness overtakes you.”

Beware, lest like the ancient person so busy outside with work, play, his own pursuits, that he does not notice the sun going down, that you are not similarly overtaken by sudden darkness. For then, without a torch, without a lamp, without stars or moon, you will stumble about alone in darkness, vainly searching for the way.

What It Means for Darkness to Overtake You

What exactly does it mean for darkness to overtake someone?

Jesus leaves the metaphor undefined. But surely it represents anything that takes away a person’s ability to believe in Jesus. You no longer can.

For Jesus’s original hearers, these Jews, darkness represents lost access to Jesus himself and to his words. He says, “I’m going away.” That will be darkness for them. For John’s original audience and for us today, darkness could be death. Darkness could be your loss of ability to think. Darkness could be loss of access to God’s Bible and God’s messengers. It could be entangling, delusion-bringing sin.

“Darkness represents anything that takes away a person’s ability to believe in Jesus.”

It could be hardening of heart. Again, Jesus tells the Jews and us right now: you have me, you hear me, you see the light. So believe. This is a precious opportunity. Believe so that you may become sons of light.

What is a son of light?

Becoming Sons and Daughters of Light

This is a Semitic idiomatic expression. Just as a son is thought to be just like his father, so a son of light embodies and exhibits the quality of his father, light. Like light, a son of light is bright, beautiful, and clean in himself. And a son of light also acts like light in the world, illuminating, splendid, even life-bringing.

That’s such a description. Who wouldn’t want to become a son or a daughter of light? But look again at verse 36. How does one become a son of light? Does Jesus say, “Work really hard, confess your sins constantly, keep God’s commandments, get baptized, and you’ll become a son of light”? No. Jesus says, “Believe in the light.

Believe in me so that you may become sons of light.” Did you catch that? You don’t become a son of light so that you may then believe and become saved. You believe so that you may then become a son of light.

When you believe, Jesus immediately makes you a son of light positionally before God. And gradually, Jesus makes you a son of light practically before the world. In other words, you are saved to holiness and good works, not by them. But that’s only if you believe while you have the light.

Notice now the end of verse 36.

“You are saved to holiness and good works, not by them. But only if you believe while you have the light.”

The Light Was Hidden from Them

These things Jesus spoke, and he went away and hid himself from them. How striking. Jesus means what he says.

For a while, the crowd had the light, but while they were asking their questions, the light was taken away and hidden from them.

“For a while the crowd had the light, but while they were asking questions, the light was taken away and hidden.”

The Urgent Call to Believe

Friends and brethren, Jesus has given you his light this morning from this passage. For a little while, you have enjoyed the precious light of Christ. How will you now respond? Will you believe in the light? Will you become sons and daughters of light? Will you walk in the light? Or do you need more time?

I’ve got some questions for God. I’ve got some objections. I’ve got some things going on, and I’m not ready to believe.

Thinking of this part of the passage, I cannot help but think of a story my dad once told me. Soon after he became a Christian, my dad got to know a neighbor named Barbara and shared the gospel with her.

She responded with cautious receptivity. She said to him, “I’m thinking about becoming a Christian.” My dad answered her, “That’s fine, but I need to tell you that if you die while you’re thinking about it, you’re going non-stop to hell.” Now, that’s bold. I don’t know if I would have said that, but he was a zealous new believer.

Unsurprisingly, she got very angry with him and stormed away. But his warning stuck with her. And later that week, she came back and told him, “I believe in Jesus.” Now, that’s wonderful, isn’t it?

But the sobering part comes next. Only a few months later, Barbara was dead. She was the unfortunate victim of a random vicious crime. Talk about believing in the light while you have time.

Friends, Jesus knew the day of his death, the day that darkness would fall. But you don’t. So like Barbara, you must believe in the light while you have time. While you behold the light, believe in the light because darkness is coming, but you don’t know when. Repent and believe in Jesus while you have the opportunity.

“Believe in the light while you have time. Darkness is coming, but you don’t know when.”

Turn from your sins. Turn from all that dishonors God. Turn or rather let go of the treasures of this world. Give over, give up all your own efforts at achieving righteousness before God by your good works, by your religious rituals. None of these will save you.

Instead, you must believe in Jesus Christ. He is the son of God. He is the Christ. He lived the perfect life that you should have lived. He was perfectly obedient to the Father in his thoughts, in his words, in his deeds. You haven’t been. He was.

And then he died the death that you should have died. He took hell, the penalty of sin in your place on the cross. So that if you would believe in him, when you would believe in him, your sins would be gone forever and you would be made acceptable to God once and for all.

If you will believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you will only believe, if he is the only trust that you have for your salvation, God says you will be saved. You will become a son of light, a daughter of light. God will do that for you. Amen.

So, will you believe? Will you believe? Will you repent and believe in today so that you may experience this?

Don’t get caught making excuses. Don’t be like the crowd here. Don’t say to yourself, “I’ll repent later. I’ll believe later.” You don’t know if you’ll be able. Your life might not last that long, or you might become so spiritually hardened that you won’t do it later.

But also don’t say, “It’s too late for me. I’m set in my ways. I’m set in my beliefs. I was born this way. I’m going to die this way.” That’s not what Jesus says. As long as you have the light, there’s hope. While the light is shining upon you, you can believe. You can be saved. You can be transformed into a son or daughter of light.

Now is the day of salvation. The Bible says, “Consider the warning. Consider the gracious invitation. Consider the trouble, the sole trouble Jesus went through for you as a sinner.” What is the only proper response?

Yes, Lord, I believe. Yes, Lord, I will follow. Yes, Lord, make me into your servant. It’s not about me anymore. I give that up. I give up all my sins, Lord. They were just destroying me. I was losing my life in pursuing the treasures of this world. I give all that up because I want you and I want your life.

Is that your heart this morning?

Closing Prayer

If it is, well, then take hold of all the promises of Jesus. If it’s not, be warned. Time is running out to believe.

Let me now pray. Lord, I feel somewhat like Jesus in this passage. What shall I say? These are such magnificent truths proclaimed by the Son, by the Lord Jesus.

Jesus, to know a little better the trouble you foresaw and that you endured for sinners, for all those who believe in you.

God, spiritually speaking, by our sinful disobedience, we put you through hell on the cross. Oh Lord, it is one of the most tragic realities of our universe. But it is also the most glorious and beautiful.

For as your scriptures say, “By your stripes, we were healed.” Oh, there was no other way. There was no other way to be reconciled to you.

The sin penalty had to be paid, but we couldn’t do it. Eternity in hell could never pay it off. But you could do it, and you did it.

As we sang earlier, it was finished on that cross. What an amazing God. What an amazing God you are.

How deep is your love. How glorious is your salvation. You saved us and you made us into sons and daughters of light.

All we can do is praise you, God, and seek to become more like you and make you known in the earth. Lord, it is so important that we believe while we have the light and as your servants faithfully proclaim the message so that the world, though still in stubborn rebellion, may believe and not remain under judgment anymore.

Lord, make us your faithful messengers. Let us not be ashamed of you. Let us not be ashamed of the trouble that we must face if we will follow you as faithful servants.

Because what do you promise? Triumph through trouble. Victory through apparent defeat. You showed us the way and you’re with us as we go on the way.

Lord Jesus, if you will help us, we will be obedient. Again, I pray, Lord, if there’s anyone who’s heard this word today that you would not let them get away from it. That it would remain this burden in their soul till they say, “I must fly to Jesus.”

For your glory, God, so we can increase membership in this church? No, for your glory, God. Because you are worthy of it.

And because we know, God, as fellow sinners, how desperate the state of sinners is. Oh Lord, save through your preached word and sanctify and encourage, comfort, bless your people so that we may know you more and walk with you more faithfully in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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