Divine Echo

All right, if God’s people would
take their Bibles and turn once again to John chapter 12. John chapter 12 to a passage
that, a section really that I entitled last week, Divine Echo. The context here is that these
non-Jews, identified here as Greeks, came to see Jesus and
that caused no little stir. And that whole thing sits as
a backdrop to this entire passage. If you would, I want to go back
to verse 20. We’ll take a running start at
it all the way down through verse 32. Now there were some Greeks among
those who were going up to worship at the feast. These 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 the 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. The context is these visitors
who desired an audience with Christ and these, what are identified
here as Greeks, represented really the breadth of humanity outside
of just national Israel. They were representative of the elect from
every nation as the scriptures speak. Those that would come
to a real and active faith in Christ by God’s work in their
life. And so, Christ recognizes this. It stirs
his heart. He sees the moment for what it
is. He knows that His death on the
cross is soon, and He knows likewise that Satan’s influence and power
over the world is soon to be destroyed. The world up to this
point has been under the power of the devil himself, under his
dominion and influence. But now, Now that Christ’s sacrifice
is made, a tremendous change is in the offing. From the moment of Christ’s death,
Satan begins to lose his grip on power. Satan begins to lose
his influence. And even though his influence
continues even to our day, it is waning and ultimately, it
will be finished. That’s what Jesus points to. We saw last week that Christ,
upon hearing this, really wanted to articulate His ministry. He
wanted to tell people about His marching orders from the Father.
What were those things that He had affirmed so greatly, so clearly? Jesus Christ outlined His ministry,
and we looked at this last week, Just briefly, by way of review,
the first thing that he said about his ministry is the purpose
for which his death on the cross fulfills. Verse 23 says that
Jesus said, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. It was his time. His death on
the cross would fulfill that divine purpose. Secondly, we
saw that it was the principle by which Christ’s death on the
cross illustrated. There was literally this illustration
of a kernel, a grain falling into the earth, beginning the
process of decay and dying before bursting forth to give much increase. The third was the pattern which
Christ’s death on the cross establishes. Look at verse 25, he who loves
his life, loses it, He who hates his life in this world will keep
it to life eternal. That applied not only to Christ,
but also to us. We must be selfless about our
lives, as we saw. The fourth mark of Christ’s ministry
was this participation that death on the cross entails. It is a
real death. If anyone serves me, he must
follow me. Where I am, there my servant
will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father
will honor him.” It is participation with Christ.
It is walking with Christ. It is living with Christ. It
is fellowship with Christ. And finally, the pain that Christ’s
death on the cross embraces. here essentially has the same
interaction with the Father that He did in the garden, desiring
that this cup would pass from Him. Here, He, in a much briefer
fashion, says, my soul has become troubled. Jesus Christ was really
in anguish as He approached the cross. But instead, instead of saying,
save me from this hour, His prayer is that God Himself would be
glorified. I entitled this section, Divine
Echo, because what you have in those verses that we just reconsidered
was Christ’s echo of what the Father’s plan of redemption entailed. Jesus Christ said that He affirmed
and agreed with every point that those were the Father’s orders
for him and that Jesus Christ affirmed each one. But at the
very end, at the very end, Jesus, Jesus says, father, glorify thy
name. It’s a prayer. It’s a short prayer. His prayer is really an affirmation
of everything that God had asked him to do already. And instead
of asking for a backdoor, a way out, Jesus says, I want nothing
more than for you to be glorified. And what we have is this reverberation
of the deity himself, a divine echo. where the Father echoes
back to what Christ has just appealed, which was in itself
an affirmation of what God’s plan of redemption already was. God says, I agree. God affirmed
what Christ prayed. Look first at the Father’s affirming
reply to Christ’s prayer in verse 28. Christ’s very short prayer,
Father, glorify Your name, then a voice came out of heaven. I
have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Jesus Christ issued forth this
very short, very brief prayer. And to that came an affirmation
from the heavenly father himself, the voice of God. And there’s
no doubt here, as you look at it, what the Apostle John wants
us to understand of what some people just refer to as mere
noise. The Apostle John says that a
voice, an audible, articulate voice echoed, thundered from
the heavens. Those words point not that just
some sound, not just as some thunderclap, but it was an articulate
voice that spoke. Many times in Scripture, there
are those recorded who heard the voice of God. Elijah heard
the voice of God, 1 Kings 19. Nebuchadnezzar heard the voice
of God, much to his dismay. Daniel 4, And according to gospel
narratives, this isn’t the first time that those who were closest
to Christ had heard the voice of God along with the Savior. Remember at Christ’s baptism,
recorded in all three of the synoptic gospels, this is my
beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased, echoed forth from the
heavens. Not only at His baptism, but
at His transfiguration, God’s voice was heard while he was
still speaking. A bright cloud overshadowed them
and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, this is my beloved
son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. The most polite
way possible of telling Peter, shush. And then the third occasion in
the Gospels is here. Here in this passage where the
voice, the audible voice of God was heard. Heard by mere men. Not only the Savior, but by those
who were with Him. Whether it was just a few on
the Mount of Transfiguration or perhaps dozens or even hundreds
as Christ was baptized. And here we have no idea how
great the crowd was, it’s just called a multitude, many, many
people. In addition to the 12, these
voices, voices from heaven were really given by affirmation of
the Father to His Son. They were telling those around
Him in essence, hush, be still, this is my Son, I am affirming
Him in every way, shape and form. And in that sense, this voice,
these audible sounds were for those who were standing about,
not only for those at the baptism, but also for those on the Mount
of Transfiguration, but especially here. And John goes out so far
as to tell us these This voice, this sound was for those who
were standing within earshot. And the testimony is simple.
God says, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. And those words are absolutely
extensive. It goes to everything that God
has ever done. It starts in eternity past. God glorified himself with a
great plan of redemption. Before there was even a world
and before there was even sin in the world, God had already
ordained a plan of redemption. And then God glorified himself
in creation. And God glorified himself in
the in creating mankind. And God glorified himself in
upholding his word when it was transgressed by Adam and Eve. And God glorified himself in
the giving of the law. And God glorified himself in
choosing a people. And God glorified himself in
pouring forth prophet after prophet. God continued to glorify himself
throughout history. The only limit here in this particular
passage to God glorifying himself is that he points very specifically
to Christ in this passage. The words of Christ, God had
glorified himself in the words of Christ and everything that
Jesus said, it was absolutely true and God was glorified in
that. In every miracle that Christ
performed, God was glorified. And as we see in this particular
setting, the mercy of God comes out and in the totality of this
message, we will see God’s mercy. We will see God’s righteousness
in all of God’s ways and all of God’s works from the, even
the foundation of the world. God has glorified himself and
he says he will glorify it again. Jesus Christ, as a gift to the
world, was God’s ultimate glorification. Hebrews 1 says, God, after He
spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions
and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His
Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also
He made the world. In other words, he says, when
God wanted to glorify himself, he gave the world Christ. That’s what verse 3 says. He
is the radiance of His, that is the Father’s glory, the exact
representation of His, that is the Father’s nature, and upholds
all things by the word of His power. God had indeed glorified Himself
and He glorified Himself through Christ and He says He will glorify
it even still. He will glorify it again. And
as Jesus Christ draws near to the cross, the fulfillment really
of God’s plan of redemption, not only the cross but the death,
the burial, the resurrection of Christ, all of it would be
the ultimate glorification of God’s name, as we’ll see in a
moment. It was the cross. This is where
God would be supremely and superlatively glorified. In this cross, even
as Christ walked through the valley of the shadow of death,
he ultimately would come through in the resurrection where the
shame of dying on the cross would become glory almost instantly. See the death, the death of Christ
on the cross ultimately reveals God’s character. It revealed
God’s character in that God’s righteousness was upheld. God couldn’t brush aside sin.
God couldn’t turn a blind eye to sin. God could have judged every sinner. Every sinner stood condemned
before him. But not only was God’s righteousness
upheld in dealing with sin, but also God’s mercy was put on full
display in sending Christ. That’s what the voice echoed.
That’s what the message was, that the Father was affirming
His affirming reply to Christ’s prayer was really an affirmation
that God’s glory was on full display. The astounding thing
is the people’s befuddled reaction to this voice. Look at verse
29. So the crowd of people who stood
by and heard it were saying that it thundered. Others were saying
an angel has spoken to him. They didn’t know what it was.
As I’ve already pointed out, John clearly wants us to understand
that this sound wasn’t just noise, it was an audible voice. That’s
what he calls it. But to those who are less than
spiritually discerning, To those who are dull, to those who have
ears but do not hear as the scripture so often paints them. They had a complete inability
to discern this sound, to recognize it for what it was. Some thought it was mere thunder.
Others thought it was just the voice of an angel. The whole
multitude, it says, heard some kind of sound. They knew that
it was audible, but they couldn’t decipher, they couldn’t discern
the significance of it. And that’s because it varied
according to their own ability and their own spiritual perceptiveness. As one described it, the voice
was heard, more or less distinctly or heard not at all as a voice
in proportion as the hearts of the hearers were or were not
receptive to the voice of God. In other words, as I said a moment
ago, they didn’t have ears to hear. Now, thunder. Thunder is a reasonable explanation
In fact, in many cases in the Old Testament, the mere mention
of God’s voice was characterized as thunder, Exodus 9.28. make supplication to the Lord,
for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail.” In other
words, enough of hearing from God, let’s pray to Him. 2 Samuel
22, the Lord thundered from the heavens. Psalm 29.3, the Lord’s
voice upon the waters, the God of glory thunders. The Lord is
over many waters. It was only reasonable for those
who heard what was perceived to be some kind of response to
Jesus’ prayer, to refer to it as mere thunder. But here’s an amazing proof.
How much people’s ears can be stopped up We know that in this
life, many of us have already begun to experience this, our
hearing begins to fade over time, doesn’t it? Men have, you know,
the selective hearing thing going, but there is a real phenomenon
where our hearing, the mechanism in our ear that enables us to
hear audible sounds, begins to be muted over time, but there’s
also a very real companion to that, spiritually speaking. There
is a spiritual dullness. There is a spiritual hard of hearing. There is spiritual
deafness where one either is or grows dull to the crystal
clear voice of God. And if that is true, If it’s
true that even here where an audible voice of God was heard,
sound was heard by all, if that’s true, how much more can men’s
hearts be dulled to the more subtle testimonies of God? The
testimony of God, you know, a baby being born, a baby crying. testimony
that there is a God, the beauty of a sunset. God’s principles
at work in this world, if we would only stand back, we would
hear and see and perceive. His dealings in the world, even
the weather patterns, to stand back and see the mighty power
of God, His dealings, His influences, His divine providence. We used
to refer to everything, the Puritans referred to everything that fell
out was according to divine providence. But if we’re dull, if we can
be dulled to an audible voice of Almighty God, mankind can
be dulled certainly to the more subtle influences of God. Remember the Peanuts comic strip? That’s the image that I get here.
All the kids are sitting in class and the teacher is up there speaking.
She has something to say. And what do the kids hear? Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah,
wah, wah, wah. That’s kind of what I like in
this too. They heard this noise and it just, you know, it was
a short message in it. I have both glorified it and
will glorify it again. And all they heard was noise,
a rumbling. What great proof this is, how
incapable we are in our natural condition of even desiring, or longing,
or leaning into, or being open to spiritual things. There were some that likened
it just to thunder. And then there’s the other crowd
This other crowd is a much more spiritual crowd. Now, this is
an angel speaking. Some of these people thought
that an angel had spoken to Christ. Now, you might say that they’re more spiritual. They say that
Jesus had received some kind of special message. Remember, even Paul on the road
to Damascus had a similar incident. The voice came, he fell to the
ground, he heard a voice, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me? Later on in that same passage, Acts 9.7, the men who were traveling
with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no… They
heard an audible voice. They heard words. But later on
in Acts 22, when Paul is recounting this whole scene, He says, those
who were with me saw the light to be sure, but did not understand
the voice of the one who was speaking to me. Paul only could
figure out these words. And all these bystanders likewise,
maybe they heard something in the nature of words, but they
could not, they could not discern. I mean, if you look at it, When
it says, I have both glorified it, I has to refer only to God
the Father. That’s who Jesus had prayed to. I have done as you asked and
I will do it again. They were dull. The people were befuddled in
their reaction to this clear sign. And so Jesus, as so often
the case in these accounts, Jesus takes the opportunity to declare
the father’s affirmation. He takes the opportunity to point
out exactly what this was, what took place, what was said. And he tells us three things about
the significance of the father’s voice on this occasion. Three things. Verse 30, number
one, The Father’s affirmation was a mercy. Do you understand
that? The Father’s affirmation of Christ
was a mercy. He wanted them to understand. He wanted them to know. He wanted
them to see Christ for who He was. He wanted to be believed. He wanted Christ to be received. He wanted sinners to repent.
He wanted those, even these untaught Greeks, He wanted them to come
to Christ and to know Him. Look at verse 30. Jesus answered
and said, this voice has not come for my sake. I didn’t need
affirmation. I didn’t need a voice of encouragement. I didn’t need the Father to encourage
me to press on with this plan of redemption. This voice has
not come for my sake, but for your sakes. He tells them about what some
considered mere thunder, sound, noise. And he does so by calling
it what the Apostle John has already called it, a voice. Jesus
answered and said, this voice, if you only recognized it for
what it was, first and foremost, you have to acknowledge that
it’s a voice, not just noise, not just sound, certainly not
just thunder. First thing you have to recognize
that this was a voice. This was a voice with a message. Those who even began to recognize
it as a voice. Even those were falling short
because they want to attribute it to an angel. But Jesus says,
this was God’s mercy. It was for your sakes. It was
so that you might come to faith and believe that you might see
Christ for who He is. This is a divine affirmation. Jesus Christ had just affirmed
the Father’s plan of redemption, and God is putting a hearty amen
to what Jesus said. This isn’t the first time this
happened. In fact, it happened at the end of chapter 11. Since
you’re nearby, just turn back a page to 1141. Remember the
raising of Lazarus. They removed the stone, then
Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you’ve
heard me. I knew that you always hear me. It’s not like Jesus
had to thank you God for hearing my prayer on this, you know,
really unique and profound occasion. I knew that you always hear me,
but because of the people standing around I said it. So that they
may believe that you sent me. This too was a prayer of mercy. This was an appeal to those who
did not know Christ. Listen to Him. This is my beloved
Son. That was always God’s message
as He echoed forth from the heavens. There’s an interesting question
here. If the multitude, if this great
crowd of people wasn’t even able to make heads or tails of the
message here You know, some couldn’t discern it even from thunder,
and even those that discerned it didn’t know quite what was
said and attributed it to the voice of an angel. How on earth
is this for them? One faithful pastor answered
it. He said, the sound coming from above, even though it was
not understood, and coming immediately after Jesus prayed was a clear
indication that the Father had heard the Son’s request, that
the Father’s name might be glorified. If anyone refused to admit this,
it was his own fault. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ
mulling over in front of this crowd Whether he should back
away from God’s plan of redemption, perish the thought, he says.
Father, should I say, save me from this hour? No way. Father, glorify thy name. And
to that, there was an immediate affirmation. Whatever this sound
was, whatever somebody wanted to characterize it as, they knew
They knew that it was a response to Jesus’ prayer. Even if it
was a loud thunderclap, there should have been great humility,
awe. There should have been repentance
on the spot because of what Jesus Christ just prayed. It was affirmed
by God Himself. This voice, even if they were
imperceptive of the specific message, would have been a great
help. It would have been a great help
to those who are still searching for salvation, still in need
of repentance, still looking for a landing place for their
feeble faith. The reason they didn’t understand
it is because they lacked all spiritual perception to even
understand and embrace this as the voice of God himself. That doesn’t take away God’s
mercy. God spoke out of an abundant heart of mercy for all of those
who were standing about. But Christ tells us something
else. Christ tells us something else about the significance of
the father’s voice. Not only was it the father’s
affirmation was a sign of mercy, but the father’s affirmation
here initiates It’s like flipping a switch, it initiates a transition. Where do you see this one? Verse
31. Now, and that’s exactly how I
take it, I take it that at that exact moment, everything began
to change. Now judgment is upon this world. There were those that moment,
that very day, that in their heart of hearts completely rejected
Christ as a lunatic. You say that that noise that
we just heard was your father talking to you? And at that moment
they brushed their hands forever to Christ. Now, now judgment. is upon the world. Now, this very moment, the ruler
of the world will be cast out. I love the way one described
this scene. When Jesus died on the cross,
it seemed as if the world was victorious. Probably quite a
celebration that day. To get rid of Christ, this troublemaker,
This person who had claimed these things so boldly, arrogantly. The world celebrated. When you
think of the world, the heathen who did not know Christ, they
never gave him any kind of indication. They were disregarding Christ
from the very beginning. The Jews, some of which entertained
him initially. Certainly there were those that
disregarded him initially and came to faith. We think of Nicodemus. But by and large, the Jewish
people rejected Christ. That’s what this gospel is about. The Jewish people rejected Christ,
the leaders ultimately. They were contrary to Christ
from the very start. Judas betrays him. The soldiers
mock Him. Pilate sentences Him. The Roman
soldiers ultimately crucify Him. The world wins. Or did it? This whole world now has alienated
itself from God. They have the devil as their
prince. But Jesus Christ says, the Father
just initiated something rather remarkable, a complete transition. We saw even this year, they call it in America, the
peaceful transfer of power. It wasn’t so peaceful this year. But here you have a transition
that will grow and grow and grow to ultimate peace. It was subtle at first. And at
first, the world really did believe that they won, but in their winning,
in their crucifixion of Christ, there was judgment. And essentially,
their crucifixion of Christ was their own judgment. The world
condemned itself in the crucifixion of Christ. This divine decision with reference
to the world was a condemnation. We’ve seen this before. We have a moment turned to John
chapter three. In John chapter three, look at
verse 16 and most of you are already echoing in your head.
You know what the verse says. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life. There’s no more blessed
truth than that. But that’s not the end of it.
Look at verse 17. For God did not send the world,
the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world
might be saved through him. That too is good and great news. Kind of a concomitant to verse
16, isn’t it? Verse 18 he who believes in him
is not judged That too is good news. He who does not believe
has been judged already If you are not in faith in Christ, you
are already Standing in judgment. You don’t have to wait until
you die. You don’t have to wait, you know
until The Lord returns. You’ve already been judged if
you have not placed your faith in Christ. Because He has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. See, the world was judged already. Back to John 12, if you would.
They had faced Christ. They had rejected Him. They had
sealed their fate in crucifying the Savior. And when Jesus looks
forward, and He basically says this prophetically, He’s speaking
of victory as already won. Judgment is upon the world. The ruler of this world is cast
out. He’s looking forward. He’s looking
down into the annals of history. He sees the victory. He says the ruler of this world
is going to be cast out. That’s essentially what the Jews
referred to the devil, the ruler of this world. Ever since the fall, they saw
the devil kind of as ruling this world, especially the Gentile
world. The devil was the ruler of the
Gentile world and only the theocracy, only Israel had God as its king. This title is used of the devil
three times in John’s gospel, John 14, John 16, and here, the
ruler of this world pointing to the devil himself. But the
devil is seen throughout Scripture 2 Corinthians 4, Paul refers
to him as the God of this world who has blinded the minds of
the unbelieving. Ephesians 2 talks about those
who formally walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the prince
of this world. Paul at the end of that gospel,
or end of that epistle, Ephesians says our struggle is not against
flesh and blood but against rulers, against powers, against the world
forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness
in the heavenly places. He points to the prince of this
world. He’s the ruler of this world
because he’s the ruler of men’s hearts. It’s not just that He wields
this force, but men, people, sinners, willingly, eagerly obey
Him. But His time is finished. His
time is coming to an end. Even as those who are celebrating
the crucifixion of Christ, His burial, they thought that they
were done with Christ. forever. The devil believed that
he had won a great victory, an ultimate victory, the triumph
of evil. But it’s not the case. The prince
has been dethroned. The prince has already been removed
from his position and his influence is fading by the day. Hebrews 2.14 speaks of Christ,
through death he might render powerless him who had the power
of death, that is the devil. It’s fading, his influence. There
will come a day when this gradual process is complete where the
devil has no influence at all, where he’s cast ultimately into
the lake of fire. Jesus says, there’s significance in the Father’s
words. You might call it thunder, you
might say that it’s the voice of an angel, but there’s powerful
significance in the Father’s words. Not only was the Father’s
affirmation of mercy, the Father’s affirmation initiated a transition,
but thirdly, note that the Father’s affirmation confirms His plan
of redemption. If there was ever a time for
Almighty God to adjust the plan, to fix the plan, to say, you
know what, maybe crucifixion isn’t the best course. Let’s
take this thing right now and let’s go with a different program. That’s not what happened. Verse
32, If I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men to myself. That word I is in a very prominent
position. It’s emphatic what we say. In
other words, this was work that only Christ could accomplish.
This was work that only Christ could finish. This was a sacrifice
even as we’ve already heard today. This was a sacrifice that only
Jesus Christ could make. A million other sacrifices would
mean absolutely nothing but one sacrifice of Christ. It’s Jesus’ declaration about
His death and resurrection. It’s Jesus’ affirmation and declaration
that His willing sacrifice on the cross, His crucifixion, His
resurrection ultimately is for our great benefit. It’s God’s plan of redemption.
And it’s precisely the view of God’s mercy and God’s righteousness
that we spoke of at the outset That’s what we see in Christ’s
sacrifice. We see God sending His Son, His
only Son, to the cross, and that’s what makes Christ so appealing,
so attractive to the sinner. That Jesus Christ would do this
for me? I tell people this all the time. When I’m talking to one-on-one,
somebody who doesn’t know Christ, I say, If you were the only one
that would ever come to Christ, Jesus Christ would have willingly
come and died only for you. By the way, when you read that
passage, if I am lifted up, Jesus wasn’t saying that there’s another
alternative, that this might not happen, but if it does, it’s
gonna be a good thing. It doesn’t cast any kind of doubt
on what is about to take place. He basically says when, when
I am lifted up, when I am crucified. Let me take you back
to one other passage. John chapter three, very quickly. And look at verses 14 and 15
here on this particular occasion. They’re criticizing Jesus and
Jesus basically says, 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. And so we
asked the question when we looked at this passage, in what sense
did Moses lift up the serpent? Jesus’ words in John 3 basically
point to five parallels to Numbers 21, which is where that whole
serpent incident took place. We saw there that it was an obedience
to God’s command. God told him to do it, and God
told them to crucify Christ. That’s what Acts 2 tells us. It was representative of the
curse, that that snake on a pole was representative of sin just
as Christ when Christ was lifted up on the cross he too took on
all of our sin and was representative of it that snake on a stick lifted
up was elevated visually before the people that was lifted up
high so that all the people could look on it just as was Christ That snake lifted up on the pole
for all to see was lifted up as a remedy for sin. They were
supposed to look on it. And because of that, it necessitated
a response. They were to look on the snake.
They were to look on this snake on a pole high and lifted up And that’s exactly what Jesus
says, it must happen. If I be lifted up, I will draw
all men to myself. It’s an absolute necessity. Jesus Christ says, this isn’t
an option. I know that I must go to the
cross, that if I Do not go to the cross. No one is saved. But if I go to the cross, God
himself will draw all men. And don’t be mistaken. When he says, I will draw all
men to myself, that doesn’t mean that every person ever born gets
saved. We’ve already seen that. It points to the fact that Christ
will save people from all walks of life. all nationalities, all
different ages, not just Jews, all men. J.C. Ryle, one of my favorites, said,
this is no doubt a very humbling truth, and one in which every
age has called forth the hatred and opposition of man. The favorite
notion of man is that he can do what he likes, repent or not
repent, believe or not believe, come to Christ or not come, entirely
at his own discretion. His salvation is entirely in
his own power. Such notions are flatly contradictory
to the text before us. The natural man has neither knowledge
nor faith nor inclination towards Christ Unless grace comes into
his heart, there is something to be done in every heart which
neither preaching, or teaching, or arguing, or exerting, or exhorting
can do. When all has been done, God must
draw. Or there is no result. What Jesus Christ here is echoing
is exactly what He told them back in John chapter 6. Do not
grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless
the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up
on that last day. Here Jesus says, I. If I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all men to Myself.” The Father’s words were indeed
significant. Would you humble yourselves before
Him? Our merciful King, we do humble
ourselves before a glorious God who so
mercifully saw fit to declare and proclaim the beauty of Christ’s sacrifice
on our behalf. Lord God, we see your mercy in
this. We see your promise in this,
that the devil has already lost his place and will lose it completely
one day. Father, we thank you for the
affirmation, the absolute proof that your plan of redemption
is already underway. That Jesus Christ has been lifted
up. We thank you, Father, that one
by one you are drawing sinners to repentance through Christ. Continue your work even this
day. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.