seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 12:20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
Verses 23-25 are not fun to read at all. I had to go find out how a seed becomes a plant... ugh. Anyway... there was an interesting thought. The seed is the casing for the new plant. In order for the new plant to grow roots in the soil, the plant has to take off the seed casing. The seed casing dies and becomes dirt itself. hhhhmmmm.... In other words, it's natural.
Check out verse 20. The commentaries don't say whether the Greeks were believers or if they were just curious. At any rate, Jesus knew the word of the raising of Lazarus had gone far and wide. Now it was time to be "lifted up".
"Lifted Up" means it's time to be nailed to the cross. The cross is "lifted up".
Then.... GOD SPOKE!
In verse 28 Jesus said "Father, glorify your name" and then God said, "I have glorified it and will glorify it again". Preachers could make a month of really thrilling sermons and a years' worth of "ok fine" sermons out of this one verse. Jesus called God to answer, and GOD SPOKE!
Not everyone understood God. Some said it thundered. Some said it was an angelic voice.
Here's the thing.... if someone stood up and said, "God show yourself" and a huge, loud, long roll of thunder came out a blue cloudless sky, would the thunderous answer be enough? What if Jesus had said "Glorify yourself" and instead of thunder, lightning came down, would the people have been less shocked? When someone stands in the middle of the room and dares God to "put up your dukes" don't the others move away? Jesus could read minds and He could call on God to Speak!
Most of the people, however, didn't understand the whole "gotta die to live forever" stuff. They were expecting a Messiah. They were expecting someone who would run Rome out of Israel and take the throne. They lived their daily life "occupied" by Roman guards. They didn't want a healer, they wanted a warrior. If Jesus had a sword in one hand and a nuke in the other, they would have flocked to His throne. Instead, His biggest crime was healing people on the Sabbath!
Some heard thunder when God Spoke. Others heard an angelic voice. Fact is, none of them understood the thunder or the message. All they knew was Jesus was talking about dying and living forever in the same sentence, and that just did not compute. The earth was flat, there was no place to go once you die. Most believed dead bodies were kept in dark stone tombs. There was no escaping death. Jesus wasn't going to be "lifted up" in song... He was going to be on the Cross when it is "lifted up" and there is no way that was going to run Rome out of town.
Don't miss the major miracle here.
GOD SPOKE!
