John 12:27-50 "THE WORD THAT I HAVE SPOKEN" When the Lord Jesus Christ announced that "The hour had come that the Son of Man should be glorified," His soul was troubled. There are three parts to our humanity - body, soul and spirit, and in these three areas Jesus was troubled. He was truly a man and as He looked ahead, He knew what would happen when He would be lifted up on the cross. Emotions, the senses, every part of the human personality would be affected as He became "sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." There was a price to be paid by the soul-suffering of the Lord Jesus. We are given some glimpses of what that means in Psalm 22, Psalm 69 and other passages of scripture that refer to the inner sufferings of Christ. He was also troubled in His spirit when He was being betrayed by Judas. The future of a lost soul separated from God forever, affected the Lord as He looked at the result of one who deliberated rejected Him. He was troubled in His body when He endured the physical pains of every wounds inflicted upon Him. Yet in His grace, He said to His own disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled..."
Jesus asked for nothing to save Him from that hour of suffering because that was His purpose in coming. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He came to die in our place and in that way would glorify the name of the Father. The voice from heaven was that of the Father as He spoke again declaring His satisfaction with the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and His assurance of a still greater glory as a result of the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ. We may not always know the reason behind the actions of God in our lives, but when we are in fellowship with Him, we know He has reasons that may be to bless others through what happens to us. That is a wonderful privilege when another is able to glorify God through us. It is important that we do not get impatient, but wait for the fulfillment of God's purposes.
As the final hour of the Lord Jesus' service on earth was unfolding, He clarified how He would die and why. Condemnation would fall on the world because of the rejection of the Savior. The world condemned itself and Satan was defeated and will be cast into eternal perdition in hell and the lake of fire because of the victory over sin the great cross-work of Jesus would accomplish. When He was lifted up on the cross, the way was opened for all cultures, nations and people of the earth to come to Him by faith. Not everyone will come but everyone is able to come to Christ by virtue of what He has done on behalf of all.
Today, as at that time, people resist coming to the Lord Jesus because they think the sacrifice of Him on the cross is not the way they perceive forgiveness of sins should come. Many think they can add to the value of His sacrificial death by the works they do, the penance they suffer or the personal ideas they have. The result of such ideas follows the arrogant way of the prince of this world, Satan, and the self-centered opinions of people themselves. People who choose to walk in darkness rather than light, will never understand the value and effects of grace. Therefore, they will stumble about in unbelief and ignorance because they reject The Light. Unbelief is a decision people make in spite of all the evidence The Light has shown. In Jesus' day there were unmistakable miracles and teachings to prove who He was. In our day evidence is seen in the many ways God speaks without words as well as what the Bible teaches us.
We have to live with the consequences of our choices today. Those people would not believe the report they had heard and seen. When people refuse to repent and accept Christ, the arm of the Lord is not revealed to them. Even though there was an intellectual acceptance of the facts that were right before the eyes of those who were there, some of the chief rulers would not actually trust Jesus as their own Savior - their Messiah. The evidence was there and they believed the evidence regarding the Lord Jesus, but the praise and acceptance of men was more important to them. The maintenance of their position was important to them and it came first. God does not take second place to men. "The fear of man bringeth a snare." To not accept Jesus as Lord, is to reject Him. To reject Him is to reject God because He is God. To see Jesus is to see God. There is no other way to see the Father.
The first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world was to save people who were in darkness from the eternal consequences of sin. He came as The Light that lighteth every man. But to reject the light of truth as presented in the Gospel is to reject the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When His words were ignored and His teaching rejected, that is the basis of future condemnation forever. People will recall the words of truth they heard and refused. They will not have an excuse of any kind because what He said was understood. The degree of understanding of every individual may differ according to the light that person has received. The words of truth are in the Bible, but they are also written on the conscience of every person. Evidence is seen around us in creation, in the good things that happen to us and in the lives of those who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
As John, the writer of this Gospel, concludes writing about the ministry of Jesus as proofs of His deity, He uses the words He spoke as testimony to the oneness of the Father and the Son. The teaching He gave testified to His deity. The seven signs John records testify to His deity. Joy comes to us by the power of the Son of God. Spiritual healing comes to us by the power of the Son of God. Strength for living comes to us by the power of the Son of God. Food for the soul comes to us by the power of the Son of God. Freedom from fear and danger comes to us by the power of the Son of God. Spiritual understanding comes to us by the power of the Son of God. Spiritual life in spite of being dead in trespasses and sins comes to us by the power of the Son of God. These seven signs of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ assure us of who He is in whom our whole life is hid and accepted by God. Our Savior is real, personal and always active on our behalf.