Glory Through Death
Notes
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27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the 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.”
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Setting the Stage
Setting the Stage
Christ has looked death in the face, in all its horror as the wages of sin…
And, He has bowed to it that the Father may be glorified.
And, then we read…
28 …Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
In response to the request of the Son, that the Father use Him for His glory…
The Father responds from heaven that He has (past tense) glorified His own name in the incarnational ministry of the Son…
And, He will glorify His name again.
Last Sunday, one of the truths we looked at was how the cross glorified the Father and the Son.
This morning, one of the truths that I want us to look at is…
The timing of this glory revealed.
The Father answers His Son by saying…
“I have glorified it (his Name)
Glory Already, When?
Glory Already, When?
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Here we see John teaching us that the entirety of the incarnational ministry of Christ was glory.
Everything the Son did.
Every moment of His incarnational ministry was glory:
In His willingness & execution of His incarnational ministry.
In His exposing the truth of God in His behavior and His teaching.
In His miracles that attested to the glory of God.
Jesus tells us in…
50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.
The Father is doing all things for the glory of the Son.
And, that reciprocates.
Now, as I stated, everything Christ does glorifies God.
Christ’s entire incarnational ministry on earth was glorifying the name of God.
God the Father was glorifying His Son.
But, in the context, I believe we can narrow down what the Father means by I have glorified it (past tense)
By looking at the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
There we have a similar situation as here.
You’ll recall that Jesus said these words…
4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Upon hearing of Lazarus’ death and knowing that He would raise Lazarus from the dead…
He told those with Him that this happened for the glory of Christ.
Lazarus’ death occured so that the Father could point to the glory of the Son through the miracle of resurrection.
Jesus told Martha that if one believed that He was the source of life that they would see the glory of God…
And, Jesus prayed aloud for the benefit of the crowd…
And, then Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb by the power of God.
And, the glory of Christ was on display as the giver of life…
The conqueror of the grave.
The life giving Son of God.
God the Father glorifying the Son by manifesting that He, the Son, has life-giving, death-conquering power.
Jesus stated in…
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Christ states the purpose of His prayer being aloud so that those around can hear as…
that they may believe that you sent me.”
Now, in…
30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
Again, Christ is saying that the audible prayer between the Father and the Son is for their benefit…
So, they may know that He is the Messiah, the anointed of God.
This voice, which they seem to have not understood…
Is not only attesting to the glory of the Son as the One who raises the dead from life…
But, the glory of the Son will also be manifested in His conquering of the grave Himself…
A conquering of the grave that will benefit, not only Lazarus…
But, all of Christ’s sheep.
And, we see the next question…
“I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
Glory Coming, When?
Glory Coming, When?
Now, the Father is pointing to the future glory of the Son.
He is proclaiming in a voice that others can hear…
That the glory of the Son is not over.
—> There’s future glory.
Why is this significant?
Because the people should be looking for some glorious event happening to Christ, in the near future.
And, that glory is the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Consummation.
But, to the Jew the Cross is a stumbling block and to the Gentile it is foolishness.
Why?
Because the world sees death as a defeat.
The world sees death in battle as a loss, not a gain.
The world sees the cross as weakness.
The world sees the cross as a death for criminals.
And, the Jews do not want to understand the OT foretelling of a suffering servant that would become King through suffering unto death.
Although, the OT foretells this clearly.
The world cannot fathom a Savior suffering a criminal’s in death…
Because the world cannot fathom that they are in fact criminals to God’s Law in the sight of God.
But, the gospel proclaims that we have a Savior who was treated as a criminal in His death…
So that we would never have to be treated as the criminals we truly are towards God’s Law.
But, the glory of the Cross is not only expressed in the willingness of the Son to take the mission of redemption upon Himself.
But, the glory of the Cross is in the love that was displayed to carry it out.
The glory of God culminates in the Cross.
Divine Love meets Divine Justice at the Cross.
Humanity’s need is met perfectly by Divine sacrifice at the Cross.
So, the cross is the glory of the Son and the Father.
Let’s think about this...
Let’s think about this...
Before we move on to the next truth, I want to look at this truth of the glory of God as it pertains to our life.
41 I do not receive glory from people.
So, when we say we glorify God…
We don’t mean that we are increasing His glory.
We don’t mean that we are somehow giving Him something He lacks or can attain more of.
We mean that we are point out His glory in word and deed.
Our lives, what we say and what we do, are meant to be telescopes in which others can look through and se the glory of God.
Telescopes take huge things and make them visible to our eyes.
Microscopes take little things and make them look bigger.
So, we live a life to the glory of God
So that it offers a telescope to the world to view the enormous, magnificent, majestic glory of God…
And, displays it in a way that they can see the positive, practical impact it makes on people they know and can relate.
But, our life does not make God more glorious…
It does not enlarge His glory.
God does not have needs.
God does not lack in anything.
God is perfect in all ways.
We glorify God just pointing people to His glory.
His worthiness of worship.
His worthiness of being followed.
His worthiness of being ruler of our hearts.
We’re just pointing people to Him and saying…
—>See!
—> Look!
—> Behold!
God is so worthy of our everything!
He is majestic in all His ways.
Jesus continues…
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
Glory Progressing in Victory
Glory Progressing in Victory
There are three glorious truths that are victorious consequences to the death of Christ.
#1 – The world was judged.
#1 – The world was judged.
At the cross the probation was over.
The doom of the world was sealed.
There’s a crisis the world is facing and it is the coming judgment of the Lamb.
At the cross, we see the Christ forcing a division between mankind:
those whose evil deeds are exposed by the brilliance of His righteousness, yet reject Him.
those whose deeds prompt them to embrace Christ as their only hope from judgment.
At the cross, the Devil and the world that is under his sway thought they were passing judgment on Christ.
But, in reality Christ was passing judgment on them.
His righteousness condemns all unrighteousness.
The world’s rejection of Christ is the world’s rejection of God.
At the Cross, judgment is sealed.
There can be no hope for those who reject the one Person whose death was actually God’s gracious, saving provision for mankind.
Not only is a sentence declared for all who reject Christ, but we also read…
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
#2 – The Ruler of this World receives His Sentence.
#2 – The Ruler of this World receives His Sentence.
This word ruler can also be translated prince.
The ruler of this world also carries the title…the prince of the power of the air and ruler (god) of this world by Paul in Corinthians and Ephesians.
Jesus is proclaiming His victory over Satan…
And, that victory will come through the Cross.
Which, by the way, Satan is doing all in his power to make the Cross take place.
Ironically, and in the wisdom of God, to the devil’s own demise.
The tense of the verb here tells us that the casting out of the ruler of this world will be gradual.
The fulfillment is guaranteed in the Cross.
But the execution of the sentence will be gradual, but will eventually be concluded.
We are now, post-Cross, marching towards the completion of this sentence.
In the Cross, we see that what the world would never conceive of…
Triumph over the enemy will come through pain, suffering, and death.
The Savior crucified, is in reality, the Savior glorified.
At the Cross, Satan’s hold on this world is broken.
Paul tells us such in…
15 He (Christ) disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (specifically at the cross)
Satan’s has been bound.
Satan has been dethroned.
Satan will eventually be put away forever.
But, while Christ is executing His guaranteed victory over Satan…
He is, also, as a part of His victory over Satan, we read…
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth (the cross), (Christ) will draw all people to myself.”
#3 – Christ will draw all of His sheep into His fold.
#3 – Christ will draw all of His sheep into His fold.
The plundering of Satan’s goods…
What is that?
What are those goods?
Jesus has sheep that are not of this fold.
—> Meaning —> The sheep that are of the Gentile fold.
An interesting ironic truth, in the same death that passed judgment on the world…
—> A sacrifice was made for the people of God.
The Lamb of God secured the life of many seeds.
So the judgment that condemns, also pardons.
Christ procured pardon for every single one of His sheep.
The tense of the verb will draw is the same as cast out, again a gradual process until completion.
Inherent in this statement is a promise of His resurrection.
He will die, but a dead Savior can do nothing.
After His death, He will work to apply the benefits of His death to every single one of His sheep.
He will bring all His sheep into His fold, where they will thrive, forevermore.
We see here that it is not simply Christ that is the magnet that draws…
It is Christ crucified that is the magnet that draws.
So, the Apostle Paul states…
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
The Cross by itself is a horror.
But, Christ and the Cross together is the attraction.
And, it is because of the love that Christ on the Cross embodies that we are attracted to Christ.
And, the love that is displayed in Christ on the Cross…
We behold Righteous Love standing in the place for sinners…
And, representing us perfectly before Law and Judgment.
And, because of the representation of Christ on the Cross for His sheep…
We have reconciliation with God.
Oh, the beauty of the gospel.
Oh, the righteousness and love displayed by Christ on the Cross.
Oh, how His sheep are drawn to His voice.
The voice of our Savior.
Let’s think about this...
Let’s think about this...
Since Jesus has bound the strong man.
Since Jesus has dethroned Satan at the Cross.
Since Jesus’ death broke the power of Satan over the Nations, specifically His sheep.
Since Jesus is drawing His sheep out from among the Nations.
Since Jesus is delivering His sheep out of the fold of the Domain of Darkness.
Since Jesus is delivering every one of His sheep into the Kingdom of Christ.
Since all of Satan’s plans are the hopeless attempts of a dethroned ruler.
Why do we live, so often, as people who have been conquered?
Rather than people who are Sons and Daughters of the King who has conquered all?
Let us live in the light of our Savior who has conquered all for His glory…
And, the eternal good of His flock.
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
