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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - John 12:27 - 12:33
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The manner of Christ's glorification:
v. 27. Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour.
v. 28. Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
v. 29. The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered; others said, An angel spake to Him.
v. 30. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes.
v. 31. Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
v. 32. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.
v. 33. This He said, signifying what death He should die.
The thought of the coming ordeal, in a way, filled the soul of Christ with dread, He was deeply moved and agitated at the prospect. He felt something of the dread and fear of death. For Jesus was true man, whose flesh and blood shrank from the idea of death. Death is a judgment of God upon sins and sinners. To die in the stead of all men, as their substitute, and thus as the greatest sinner of all times, was a thought which filled the soul of Jesus with dread. He hardly knows what to say in this emergency. As though seeking counsel from His disciples, He asks: Shall I say, Father, deliver Me out of this hour? Should He plead to be saved the ordeal which His human nature dreaded? Every Christian may say a similar prayer when the hour of tribulation comes upon him; only he must never set his own will above the will of his heavenly Father. But even the thought of becoming unfaithful to His Father's trust Jesus repudiates, since it is for this reason that He came into this hour. It is the goal and culmination of His life's work. He cannot disappoint His Father at this time. Without His death His life would be fruitless. And so He corrects His prayer by asking that the work for which He came into the world continue: Father, glorify Thy name Jesus had fully regained His assurance, the spiritual balance necessary for the carrying out of the plan for the salvation of men. His death would redound to the glory of the Father, as would the whole work of salvation. And so Christ was ready, even at the cost of the greatest agony. And no sooner had He finished His prayer than a voice from heaven came in answer that God both had glorified, and would again glorify, His name. His name had been glorified in countless instances, but especially at the incarnation of the Son, and it would be glorified in a still more wonderful manner by the great Passion. So the answer of the Father was both an assurance and a promise. But it was made principally for the sake of the people. They should understand that it was God giving testimony of His Son, on account of the essential intimacy that obtained between them. The ignorant Jews had heard the sound, but had not understood the words. And so they expressed their opinion, some thinking that there had been a clap of thunder, others, that an angel had spoken with Jesus. The Lord therefore explains to them that the voice came for their sakes, in order that, if possible, they might accept Him as their Savior even now yet, in the eleventh hour, and thus be saved. For in the events that were beginning now, and that would transpire in the next few days, they should know that a great judgment was taking place, that the universe was on trial. The time of Christ's suffering and death was the hour of decision for the whole world, and especially in this, that the prince of the world, the devil, would be cast out, conquered, and subdued. Through His Passion and death Christ took from the devil the right which he had assumed on account of the sins of mankind, namely, of keeping all men in subjection to him. By bearing the sins of the world and by effecting a complete reconciliation for them all, Jesus has taken away from the devil the power to keep men in his service. In this. way the hour of the world's redemption is also the hour of decision, the hour of trial. In the end, the question will be whether men will stand by Christ, the Redeemer, or by Satan, the destroyer of their souls. To gain this great victory and eject the devil from his dominion, it was necessary that Jesus be lifted up from the earth, that He be elevated on the cross. But the accursed tree in this case was transformed into a throne of victory and grace. Through His death on the cross He would make it possible for all men to be drawn to Him; the redemption would be complete; the reconciliation would be assured to all men without exception. The cross of Christ is the ladder between earth and heaven. Here is glorious comfort for every person in all the great wide world.