John 12: Passion Week— Meal at Bethany
1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son,who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denari and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.
7 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”
This scene contrast with that of the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem for purification (11:55). Purification, according to their own law occurred after the passover, by the enabling power of eating the pascal lamb and subsequently unleavened bread, while internalizing the intended meaning.
During this man-made season, they schemed to crucify Yahweh of glory.
Meanwhile the triumphal entry drew nigh. They supposed that He was not coming to the feast. (11:56) “Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been raised from the dead." (1) “We see that they judged too rashly who thought that Christ would not come to the feast, and this, reminds us that we ought not to be so hasty as not to wait patiently and quietly, till the season arrive, which is unknown to us.” (John Calvin) We do not read of it in John’s Gospel, but “Jesus came from Jericho, where He had left Zacchaeus rejoicing in the salvation that had come to his house, and whence Bartimaeus, rejoicing in His new power of vision, seems to have followed Him… Our Lord had withdrawn to Ephraim so immediately after the miracle that the opportunity of honouring Him had not occurred..” (Alexander MacLaren)
So at the beginning of the Passion week: “We read of a supper at Bethany, where Lazarus ‘sat at the table’ among the guests--Lazarus, who had been publicly raised from the dead, after lying four days in the grave. No one could pretend to say that his resurrection was a mere optical delusion, and that the eyes of the bystanders must have been deceived by a spirit or vision. Here was the very same Lazarus, after several weeks, sitting among his fellow-men with a real material body, and eating and drinking real material food. It is hard to understand what stronger evidence of a fact could be supplied. He that is not convinced by such evidence as this may as well say that he is determined to believe nothing at all.
It is a comfortable thought, that the very same proofs which exist about the resurrection of Lazarus are the proofs which surround that still mightier fact, the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Was Lazarus seen for several weeks by the people of Bethany, going in and coming out among them? So was the Lord Jesus seen by His disciples. Did Lazarus take material food before the eyes of his friends? So did the Lord Jesus eat and drink before His ascension. No one, in his sober senses, who saw Jesus take 'broiled fish,' and eat it before several witnesses, would doubt that He had a real body. (Luke 24:42.)” (J. C. Ryle)
“As might have been expected, the friends of Jesus and of Lazarus made them a supper, defying the order of the Sanhedrin that they should be informed of Jesus' whereabouts (11:57).” (Burton Coffman)
“What could be more exquisitely blessed than its opening scene: Love preparing a feast for its Beloved; Martha serving, now in His presence; Lazarus seated with perfect composure and in joyous fellowship with the One who had called him out of the grave; Mary freely pouring out her affection by anointing with costly spikenard Him at whose feet she had learned so much…” (A. W. Pink) and to whom she owed so much.
Mary “anointed the feet of Jesus with precious ointment, and wiped them with the hair of her head. Nor was this ointment poured on with a niggardly hand. She did it so liberally and profusely that ‘the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.’ (3b) She did it under the influence of a heart full of love and gratitude. She thought nothing too great and good to bestow on such a Savior. Sitting at His feet in days gone by, and hearing His words, she had found peace for her conscience, and pardon for her sins. At this very moment she saw Lazarus, alive and well, sitting by her Master's side— her own brother Lazarus, whom He had brought back to her from the grave. Greatly loved, she thought she could not show too much love in return. Having freely received, she freely gave.
But there were some present who found fault with Mary's conduct, and blamed her as guilty of wasteful extravagance. One especially, an apostle, a man of whom better things might have been expected, declared openly that the ointment would have been better employed if it had been sold, and the price ‘given to the poor.’ The heart which could conceive such thoughts must have had low views of the dignity of Christ's person, and still lower views of our obligations to Him. A cold heart and a stingy hand will generally go together. There are only too many professing Christians of a like spirit in the present day. Myriads of baptized people cannot understand zeal of any sort, for the honor of Christ...” (J. C. Ryle)
Some call me a fanatic. And certainly there is lots of room for improvement, but what shall I give to Him who gave so much for me. I look forward to eating with you at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
John 12: American Politics As Usual
9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.
“Now a great many of the Jews knew that He [Jesus] was there…” -- "the common people (ο οχλος πολυς — ho ochlos polus). This is the right reading with the article ο, ho literally, 'the people much or in large numbers.'" (Robertson's Word Studies)— “and they came…” (9a) even though the Pharisees and Sadducees tried to suppress the truth .
“Truth may be oppressed, not suppressed, Impii sunt piorum εργοδιωκται. This people (like those branches of palm-trees borne by them, John 12:13) spread and sprang up the more they were held under by the high priests. (βαια, παρα το βαινειν, a scandendo.)” (John Trapp)
"And they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead." (9b) John Trapp believed that they came to “fish somewhat out of him concerning the future estate of the dead." This is not vital to the text, but it is noted that it was unprecedented in Israel for the dead to remember anything of death "for the dead know nothing." (Eccl 9:5) In fact , God had commanded them: “‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them’: I am Yahweh your God.” (Lev 19:31) So, going to someone who has been raised from the dead for information breaks the spirit of this law. Thus Trapp concluded: "But here they lost their labour."
"But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus." (10-11) Many believed. Yet these chief priests had a "diabolical determination to shut out the light from themselves, and quench it from the earth!" (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) "Suppose that Christ had broken the sabbath, or had spoken blasphemy, yet what had Lazarus done?" (Matthew Poole)
It is evident today—“Innocence is, in this world, no certain security against suffering. The greater a person’s influence for good, the greater may be his exposure, even from professed friends of God, to persecution and death." (Justin Edward) Attacks against every jot and tittle of words spoken are the game of the day in American politics, as well as religion. People do not care whether a fact is true or not, but only whether propagating it supports their own agenda.
Character assassination is the way of business today. Let it not be named among us. Let us resolve to lift up Jesus and His doctrine only. Let us have peace in a peaceful proclamation of His truth.
The Sadducees among them had double motive for quenching the fire. Jesus threatened their hedge and the miracle threatened their doctrine. “First,… Broadly speaking, under a Roman governor, they allowed them to govern themselves, but at the slightest outbreak of civil disorder Rome's hand came down heavily, and those who were responsible for good government and had failed to produce it were summarily dismissed. The Sadducees saw Jesus as the possible leader of a rebellion. He was stealing away the hearts of the people. The atmosphere was electric; and the Sadducees were determined to get rid of him in case there should be an uprising of the people and their own case and comfort and authority be threatened. Second, they regarded it as theologically intolerable. Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead; and, here they were confronted with Lazarus who had been raised from the grave. Unless they could do something about it, the foundations of their power, their influence and their teaching, were slipping from beneath their feet." (William Barclay)
John 12: Passion Week— The Triumphal Entry
12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of Yahweh!’ [Psalm 118:26]-- the King of Israel!”
The next day- the day following the feast in Bethany, the 10th of Nisan, "the day on which the typical Paschal lamb was selected and set apart for sacrifice (Exo 12:3)” (Schaff's Popular Commentary)-- a great multitude took and waived palm branches, which are remembered from the fall feast of Tabernacle. It had meaning for their time of visitation, as well. Jesus tabernacled among them for three and a half years. Yet, according to Daniel's prophecy, this was the middle of the last week of years when Messiah would be cut off (Daniel 9:26) for the sins of the people. “This was a sign of joy, a festival token. In connection with the feast of tabernacles God instructed Moses to tell Israel, ‘And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees... and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God’ (Leviticus 23:40). In Revelation 7:9 , where we behold the ‘innumerable multitude before the throne and before the Lamb,’ they have ‘palms in their hands.’” (A. W. Pink)
And they cried "Hosanna! [Save us!] Blessed is He who comes in the name of Yahweh." [Psalm 118:26]- the King of Israel. From the beginning Yahweh only was supposed to be Israel's God. (1 Samuel 8) Blessed is Yeshua who comes in the name of Yahweh. This is one verse from Psalm 118- a part of "Hallel"-- a group of Hebrew praise psalms 113-118 which were known as the Egyptian Hallel, "and first-century AD Jewish tradition assigned them to Moses... This Hallel was also used for the feasts of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Tabernacles, and Dedication." (Tyndale Bible Dictionary)
All the common people along the processional path were in the Spirit. In this particular psalm, the redeemed are crying out: "I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation." (Ps 118:21) Then the psalmist states what was actually happening in Jerusalem at this time: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:22-24) Then comes the cry of this crowd with prophetic overture: "Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, and He has given us light; bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You." (Psalm 118:25–28)
14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.” [Zechariah 9:9]
The King comes riding on a donkey. This was fulfillment of prophesy, which dying Jacob made pertaining to Judah— “the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine.” (Genesis 49:9-11)
“The word ‘scepter’ here signifies tribal rod. Judah was to preserve the separate independency of his tribe until the Messiah came. The fulfillment of this is seen in the Gospels. Though the ten tribes had long before been carried into captivity, from which they never returned, Judah (the ‘Jews’), were still in Palestine when the Son of God became incarnate and tabernacled among men. Continuing his prophecy, Jacob announced, ‘And unto Him [Shiloh—the Peacemaker—cf. ‘thy peace' in Luke 19:42], shall the gathering of the people be.’ This received its first fulfillment at Christ's official entry into Jerusalem. But mark the next words, ‘Binding His foal unto the vine, and His ass's colt unto the Choice Vine.’ The ‘vine’ was Israel ( Isaiah 5 , etc); the ‘Choice Vine’ was Christ Himself ( John 15:1). Here, then, was the fact itself prophetically announced.” (A. W. Pink)
Zachariah also spoke of this day by the Spirit of prophecy, in accordance with the dying Jacob, he said, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.’[Psalm 72:8]” (Zachariah 9:9-10)
“God had commanded the kings of Israel not to multiply horses. The kings who broke this command were miserable themselves, and scourgers to their people. Jesus came to fulfill the law. Had he in his title of king rode upon a horse, it would have been a breach of a positive command of God; therefore, he rode upon an ass, and thus fulfilled the prophecy, and kept the precept unbroken. Hence it is immediately added: -I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim [the remnant- the church], and the horse from Jerusalem - No wars shall be employed to spread the kingdom of the Messiah; for it shall be founded and established, ‘not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts,’ Zechariah 4:6.” (Clarke)
“We are told in another gospel that the Lord was seated on a colt on which man had never ridden, an unbroken colt. It is not the easiest thing ordinarily to ride an unbroken colt, but this colt seemed instinctively to recognize its Master. Jesus was the Creator of all things, who had stooped in grace to become Man. So He took control of the colt and rode triumphantly into the city as the people spread their garments before Him and shouted their welcome.” (H. A. Ironside)
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
Pentecost needed to come before they could understand the intended meaning. So must the Spirit come before you can know that Jesus is God- who was bound as the Sacrifice on the altar for your sins.
John: 12 Jesus— the Cause of Joy and Madness
17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”
The raising of Lazarus from the dead caused the believing Jews to bear witness. (17) “We should set forth God’s noble acts, and not be sated. David never tires talking of what God had done for his soul. Those in heaven have no rest (and yet no unrest either) crying, ‘Holy, holy, holy,’ etc., Revelation 4:8.” (John Trapp) This mini resurrection was also the cause of the greeting that Jesus received on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. (18)
Similarly, the resurrection of the just will be the cause for many testimonies, as well as the joyful receiving of the King of Israel into the New Jerusalem at the end of this age. We will be the subjects of it. In contrast, the unbelieving Pharisees- though they believed in the resurrection of the dead, they did not believe in Jesus is power over the grave – therefore they said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!” (19) Nothing they had thus far done had stopped His increasing influence among the people. "Thus they stir up one another to more madness, as if hitherto they had been overly mild, and used too much gentleness” (John Trapp) Similarly, after the resurrection of the unjust, the unbelieving populace will see the Holy City which has come down from heaven and try to take it by force, only to consumed by God’s judgment fire.
“Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” (Revelation 20:7-9)
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)
John 12: Jesus— The Fruitful Grain of Wheat
20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. 23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
“It need not seem strange to find Greeks in Jerusalem at the Passover time. They need not even have been proselytes. The Greek was an inveterate wanderer, driven by wanderlust and by the desire to find out new things. ‘You Athenians,’ said one of the ancients, ‘will never rest yourselves, nor will you ever let anyone else rest.’ ‘You Greeks,’ said another, ‘are like children, always young in your souls.’ More than five hundred years before this Herodotus had travelled the world, as he said himself, to find things out. Far up the Nile to this day there stands a great Egyptian statue on which a Greek tourist, even as modern tourists do, had scratched his name. The Greek voyaged for trade and for commerce of course; but he was the first man to wander for the sake of wandering in the ancient world. There is no need to be surprised to find a detachment of sightseeing Greeks even in Jerusalem. But the Greek was more than that. He was characteristically a seeker after truth. It was no unusual thing to find a Greek who had passed through philosophy after philosophy, and religion after religion, and gone from teacher to teacher in the search for truth. The Greek was the man with the seeking mind.” (William Barclay)
Others give them more credit, saying that these were converts to the Jewish faith- that the words “imply that they were in the habit of going up to Jerusalem at the feasts, i.e., that though Greeks by birth, they had been admitted to the privileges of Judaism. They belonged to the class known as 'proselytes of the gate.' [of the earthly temple]" (Ellicott)... "Such were Cornelius, and the treasurer of queen Candace; for these persons used to worship God in the court of the Gentiles, and also to offer sacrifice to Him. That such did come in Solomon’s time, and would come afterwards, we learn from his petition, that their prayers might be heard which they made in his temple. 1 Kings 8:41.” (Joseph Sutcliffe) But then in my understanding they would longer be considered Greek- but rather Jewish.
"Then they"— these Syrophenicians, whose "country was so near to Bethsaida of Galilee, which was Philip’s town" (Poole)— "came to Philip,..", likely because they knew him or knew of him—“and asked him, saying, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’” (21) Then: "Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus..." (22) ”Therefore we may desire the saints departed to mediate for us to Christ, say the Papists. 'A pitiful poor argument.' (Augustine.)" (John Trapp) There is no hierarchy here implied nor saintly intervention- just the facts.
Now these Greeks were coming— not to the gate of the earthly, but to the Gate of the Heavenly temple. And it seems as if the Master turns them away… but something else was now going on that these must observe and understand for this new hour in the dispensation of grace.
“‘The hour then had come when He, the Son of Man, should be glorified…’ (23) He meant the Cross and that which follows the suffering, His resurrection and ascension. By His death as Son of Man He acquired Glory and receives ultimately the Kingdoms of this world, the nations and the uttermost parts of the earth for His inheritance.” (Arno Gaebelein)
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone..." (24a) "Look as you see in your ordinary husbandry, the grains of wheat are first buried in the earth, and lose their form, before they spring and shoot up again, and bring forth fruit; so it must be with Me..." (Poole's Annotations)— “but if it dies, it produces much grain..." (24b) “Its death is essential to its future life and increase: so the death of Christ was essential to the future increase and prosperity of His kingdom.." (Justin Edwards)
Jesus is the first fruit from the dead. His body— not Lazarus' body— was the first to be sown in corruption and raised in incorruption. "It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.“ (1 Corinthians 15:42-44) So will our bodies— those who are Christ’s at His coming— be sown and raised. But Jesus was more. “And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians:15:45) .
Jesus in a unique role also became a life giving Spirit.
“So if Christ had not died, He had remained what He was, the eternal Son of God, but He had had no church in the world; whereas His death and sufferings made him fructify and produce a plentiful increase, both of exaltation to Himself and of salvation to His people." (William Burkitt)
So, these potential proselytes are about to have two vital lessons afforded to them by example. Firstly, ”He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. " (25) "They must not think their temporal life too dear to lay down for His sake, when He calls them to it, this being the surest way to secure to themselves life everlasting…. Learn hence, that the surest way to attain eternal life is cheerfully to lay down our temporal life, when the glory of Christ, and the honour of religion, requires it at our hand.” (William Burkitt) Secondly: ”If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor." (26) They must not only be willing to die for Jesus. They must be willing to live for Him. The would-be convert “must be with Me first in suffering, and then he shall be with Me also in glory. 2 Timothy 2:11-12." (Justin Edwards)
The life giving Spirit of the risen Jesus has opened the flood gates for Jews, as well as these Greeks, and any others who want to come to Him.
John 12: Jesus’ Soul Was Troubled
27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”
"Now My soul is troubled…” (27a) “The presence and petition of the Greeks foreshadowed the judgment of the chosen people, and brought forward the means by which it would be accomplished...'” (Westcot)— His death. And the priesthood would be given to babes in Christ.
“And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’?”— certainly not— “but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” (27b-28) “The Father’s response was that His name had already been glorified in the whole pathway of Jesus down here, and more particularly in the raising of Lazarus; and He would glorify it again in the death and resurrection of His Son. This then is another great result of the dying of the single ‘corn of wheat.’” (F. B. Hole)
29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”
The Father spoke, as He did to Moses on Mount Sinai in the giving of the torah of old to Israel; and Moses both heard and received the law of God. But the children of Israel only heard thunderings from afar. Perhaps those who hear thundering only are those whose hearts were far off from the things of God. "It is one of the mysteries of life that some see and hear the things of God, and others do not see nor hear. Daniel was by the river Hiddekel when he saw the holy vision, but his companions were not aware of it; and Paul's companions on the Damascus road heard the noise but not the words of the Lord out of heaven.” (Coffman) There were now three voices from heaven for Christ’s generation. “At the Baptism the heavenly voice was understood by Christ and the Baptist, at the Transfiguration by Christ and the chosen three, here by Christ and the apostles…” (Dummelow) or perhaps by all of those who believed in Him.
30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”
According to Jesus, the Voice of the Father didn’t speak to encourage Jesus in His hour of suffering, but to aid those who would believed in His name. (30) They would soon need the remembrance of that Voice from heaven— for now was the hour of Christ’s death and the persecution of the church of the firstborn.
“Now is the judgment of this world…” (31a) Now is approaching the decisive scene in the conflict of the ages, “the eventful period - the crisis - when it shall be determined who shall rule this world. There has been a long conflict between the powers of light and darkness between God and the devil.” (Barnes) “Now the ruler of this world will be cast out...” (31b) of the seat of power over the earth. “Satan had earned for himself ‘prince of this world’, and it was no empty title (Matt 4:8,9 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 6:12); but by His approaching death Jesus would break down the power of Satan, and cast him out, not suddenly, but by the advancing power of a superior kingdom. The kingdom of darkness recedes before the kingdom of light as the night withdraws before the rising sun.” (The Fourfold Gospel) Satan only bruised the heel of the Seed of the woman, but Jesus would come again in glory to crush the head of the serpent. (Gen 3:15; Rom 16:20)
32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die. 34 The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?
The torah of Israel testified oft that Christ would remain forever, but Jesus spoke of being lifted up again from the earth which they interpreted as meaning that He would return to heaven. But He was not talking about leaving them, but rather being lifted up on the cross. He fulfilled the required perfection of the pascal lamb (Lev 23:5), and therefore the substance of the firstfruits offering that the priest waived before Yahweh on the third day to be accepted on their behalf (Lev 23:9-14).
Thus by knowledge of the significance of His atoning death, Jesus draws all people to Himself as that life giving Spirit. The prophecy is true--> "Whenever Christ crucified has been preached, and the story of the cross fully told, souls have been converted and drawn to Christ, in every part of the world, just as iron-filings are drawn to a magnet. No truth so exactly suits the needs of all children of Adam, of every color, climate, and language, as the truth about Christ crucified." (J. C. Ryle)
Yet: “He draws, not drags. He exhibits an element of affinity for all His brethren of the human race. To Him they all experience a secret gravitation, which, would they but obey, would make them one with Him. Yet they are not pieces of iron but living agents.” (Whedon's Commentary)
35 Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.
The day of visitation of Jesus in the flesh was closing. Seek Me now and take hold of Me in the green. Believe in Me for the time is short- “opportunities headlong, and once past, irrecoverable. He is the wise man that prefers opportunity before time, in laying hold upon eternal life… Amend before the draw bridge be taken up… Manna must be gathered in the morning, or not at all; and not kept till the morrow, lest it stink.” (Trapp)
John 12: The Priesthood Change Foretold
37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” [Isaiah 53:1]
39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: 40 "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” [Isaiah 6:10] 41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
They were to be nation of priests. (Exo 19:6) This was the original plan. In the death of Jesus, the Levitical priesthood would change to a new order. And Jesus invited all to participate. “That our blessed Lord, in the immediate precedent verses, passionately exhorts these very persons to believe, and walk according to the light, a certain evidence that our Lord well knew His Father had not, by any of his actions or predictions, made it impossible for them to believe on Him, or walk according to His direction. For if God had so blinded their eyes that they could not see the light, or so hardened their hearts that they could not embrace it, Christ would not seriously have exhorted them to believe, or walk according to it.” (Sutcliffe)
Though Jesus “had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him…” “We err greatly if we suppose that seeing wonderful miraculous things will ever convert souls. Thousands live and die in this delusion. They fancy if they saw some miraculous sight, or witnessed some supernatural exercise of Divine grace, they would lay aside their doubts, and at once become decided Christians. It is a total mistake. " (J. C. Ryle)
That the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled… “These unbelievers were not such, because the prophet had so foretold it; but the prophet therefore foretold it, because they should be such. Like as Joseph’s foretelling the famine was no cause of it, but an antecedent only.” (John Trapp)
We also err if we suppose that God keeps a willing heart from believing. Yet: “These must be converted. Nothing short of a new heart and a new nature implanted in us by the Holy Spirit, will ever make us real disciples of Christ. Without this, a miracle might raise within us a little temporary excitement; but, the novelty once gone, we would find ourselves just as cold and unbelieving as the Jews.” (J. C. Ryle)
“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Yahweh revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1)
They wanted the conquering King of the end-time, but: “He grows up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and d the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:2-7)
The head-strong could not believe in such a Messiah because Isaiah said again… “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” (Isaiah 6:10)
In Isaiah’s day, King Uzziah had been on the throne of Judah for 52 years. The beginning of his reign was a great era in Judah’s history, but the second part of it was marked by unfaithfulness (2 Chron. 26:16-23). This was a precursor of the state of the chosen people in their day of visitation. Isaiah was no better than the rest of the people. Yet, he went to church and in the temple saw Yahweh sitting on His throne, high and lifted up. See Isaiah 6:1-4. And God touched Isaiah’s lips with a coal from the altar and cleansed him. Only then did Isaiah offered to deliver a message for God with the famous "Here am I! Send me." And: “God sends Isaiah to foretell the ruin of His people.” (Matthew Henry)… in the latter days.
“And He [Yahweh] said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed. Then I said, ‘Lord, how long?’ And He answered: ‘Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate, Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet a tenth will be in it, and will return and be for consuming, as a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump." (Isaiah 6:8-13)
The generation in Jesus's day was worse them that of Isaiah's day. The obstinate nation of Israel at large saw Yahweh high and lifted up in the Person of Jesus. But these would not allow Him to heal them. So, He removed men "far away" and the holy places were now forsaken places in Judah. (Isaiah 6:12) They did not want the Holy One of Israel there and so He withdrew from their midst. For these obstinate men and women, “the harder He pushed the tighter the door was pressed. They had made their choice; and the more he would persuade, the more firmly they braced themselves against him. They fitted their eyes to the darkness; and, like owls, the clearer the light the more total their blindness. So that although God, according to the prophet, was the unwilling cause of their blindness, yet it was their wicked will that gave to the cause its effect.” (Whedon's Commentary)
“But” says Isaiah “yet a tenth will be in it, and will return…” of their own wills. Jesus offered admittance into the new priesthood and they accepted- turning to Him of whom the prophets wrote. In allegory, these believers are now the stump and the root of the terebinth or oak, built on the foundation of the he apostles and the prophets.
John 12: A Word for Private Believers
42 Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
“The murmuring and fierceness of the Jews, in rejecting Christ, having risen to such a height of insolence, it might have been thought that all the people, without exception, conspired against him. But the Evangelist says that, amidst the general madness of the nation, there were many who were of a sound mind.” (John Calvin)
But these “were not willing to part with their great places in the magistracy, which brought them respect, honour, and applause from men; they valued this more than God’s honouring and praising them. How hard it is for great men to enter into the kingdom of God!” (Matthew Poole)
“These two verses are among the most important in Scripture in regard to their bearing upon the question of whether or not one is justified by faith only, making it impossible logically to believe that faith alone can justify….
It is astoundingly clear that many of the rulers had a completeness of faith, Westcott leaving no doubt whatever that the Greek New Testament teaches this. Therefore, the deduction must stand stark and mandatory that something beyond faith (even if one has a complete faith) is required for salvation.” (Burton Coffman)
Don't leave off a vital part! "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ [Isaiah 28:16] or there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ [Joel 2:32] (Romans 10:10-13)
These didn't want to lose their seat in the synagogue. "In the issue however they lost their families, and all that was dear to them, by being burned up root and branch in the destruction of the city. Whereas, had they trusted God’s word, they would have inherited the promise made to the Rechabites. Jeremiah 35:19. Mark 8:34. They would also have been honoured as confessors in the christian church.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
44 Then Jesus cried out and said,
“He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. 46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. 47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
“Let it suffice us to know that our Savior was not like the prophets and patriarchs, a man sent by God the Father, a friend of God, and a witness for God. He was something far higher and greater than this. He was in His Divine nature essentially one with the Father--and in seeing Him, men saw the Father who sent Him. This is a great mystery; but a truth of vast importance to our souls. He that casts His sins on Jesus Christ by faith is building on a rock. Believing on Christ, he believes not merely on Him, but on Him that sent Him.
… There can be little doubt that in this place He compares Himself to the sun. Like the sun, He has risen on this sin-darkened world with healing on His wings, and shines for the common benefit of all mankind. Like the sun, He is the great source and center of all spiritual life, comfort, and fertility. Like the sun, He illuminates the whole earth, and no one need miss the way to heaven, if he will only use the light offered for his acceptance.
Forever let us make much of Christ in all our religion. We can never trust Him too much, follow Him too closely, or commune with Him too unreservedly. He has all power in heaven and earth. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. None can pluck us out of the hand of Him who is one with the Father. He can make all our way to heaven bright and plain and cheerful; like the morning sun cheering the traveler. Looking unto Him, we shall find light in our understandings, see light on the path of life we have to travel, feel light in our hearts, and find the days of darkness, which will come sometimes, stripped of half their gloom. Only let us abide in Him, and look to Him with a single eye. There is a mine of meaning in His words, ‘If your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light.’ (Matthew 6:22.)
Another thing shown in these verses is, the certainty of a judgment to come. We find our Lord saying, ‘He that rejects Me, and receives not my words, has One that judges him--the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." (J. C. Ryle)
Confess Jesus as your Yahweh and Savior. Jesus said: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)
“There are many in this congregation who wake every morning to pray, and who never let the evening shadows go without perfuming them with their grateful thanks for the mercies of the day; who study their Bibles more than many professing Christians; and who believe that the life they now live is by faith in the Son of God, but who yet do not wish to have it known, and shrink from joining the Church, and making a public acknowledgment of the debt they owe to Christ. They mean to be Christians, but not to avow themselves such. Thus they will leave the world to suppose that their manifest virtues are self-cultured, and that Christian lives may be led without Christ. If I were a pupil of Titian, and he should design my picture, and sketch it for me, and look over my work every day and make suggestions, and then, when I had exhausted my skill, he should take the brush and give the finishing touches, bringing out a part here and there, and making the whole glow with beauty, and then I should hang it upon the wall and call it mine, what a meanness it would be!” (H. W. Beecher)