John 12:27-33
The Word
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.
Exegesis
Jesus had one mission on this earth and throughout the gospels we see that His focus never wavered. Eleven times in the 4 gospels Jesus spoke of himself having to die on the Cross and resurrect on the 3rd day. There was no doubt in Jesus’ mind what His mission to this Earth was all about. He came with a purpose and fulfilled this on Easter morning.
As the time came near, we see Jesus’ human side. He refused to disobey His Father in Heaven and yet, He knew the pain and hurt that He would have to suffer. His purpose was to glorify His Father in Heaven. A perfect example of how we should live our own lives as Christians.
In short order Judas would betray Him, Peter deny Him, and His disciples run away. Jesus would be sold for 30 pieces of silver and die alone. His soul was troubled, His burden heavy. For us, He refused to be saved in order that we would be saved. Jesus had no intention to give up on His mission for us. Think about this and ponder how loving and selfless the Father was to allow for Jesus to take the burden of our sins upon Himself.
This is the third time that God the Father spoke from Heaven during Jesus’ time on Earth. The first is the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. We see in Matthew 3:16-17 that the Spirit of God descended on Jesus in the form of a dove and the Father stating, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
The second time is during the transfiguration of Jesus. We read in Matthew 17:5 as the Father speaks, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
Now we see the Father speaking, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
The mission of the Son of God and the covenantal promise to Abraham from God the Father would be fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is how the Father would glorify His name. This is the time when the prince of this world would be driven out. Sin would no longer hold us down because of the cleansing through the body and blood of our Savior. We will be able to live freely through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Andrew Murray explains this relationship of the Trinity in a great way.
The Trinity teaches us that God has revealed Himself in two ways. The Son is the Form of God, His manifestation as He shows Himself to man, the Image in which His unseen glory is embodied, and to which man is to be conformed. The Spirit is the Power of God, working in man, and leading him up to that Image. In Jesus, He who had been in the form of God took the form of man; and the Divine Holiness was literally manifested in the form of a human life and the members of a human body. A new holy human nature was formed in Christ, to be communicated to us. In His death His own personal holiness was perfected as human obedience, and so the power of sin conquered and broken. Therefore in the resurrection, through the Spirit of Holiness, He was declared to be the Son of God with power to impart His life to us. There the Spirit of Holiness was set free from the veil of the flesh, the trammels that hindered it, and obtained power to enter and dwell in man. The Holy Spirit was poured out as the fruit of Resurrection and Ascension.Holy in Christ
Application
Let us understand that Jesus had every intention to die for our sins and resurrect on the 3rd day. This does not mean that it was pain free. He bled for us, He experienced every kind of sorrow and pain for us, and He ultimately died for us. His mission was for us, not for Himself. He died to set us free.
Ultimately, we should take from this that our mission on Earth has to be set on following Christ, to tell people the good news and to make disciples from all people, nations, and cultures. We may experience pain and sorrow as we walk this life on Earth, but if Christ suffered more than we ever could, any pain we bear is nothing in comparison. As Hebrews 12:3 says, “Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Prayer
Thank you, Father, for sending Jesus to this earth to accomplish the mission of the covenantal promise that You spoke to Abraham so long ago. You always planned to redeem us, ever since the creation of this earth. Jesus came with a mission to save us, to love on us, and to give us the ability to experience the love of the Trinity through the Holy Spirit. How amazing, how selfless this act of love truly was. May we praise You and glorify Your name above the Heavens themselves.