It's Time!

Introduction

It is a dichotomy that in the kingdom of God, so many things that are valued by man are ignored by God.

It is just as true that so many things that are valued by God are ignored by man.

This is the way it is.

1 Corinthians 1:20-31 “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of bthe world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen…”

The reality of what man considers real and the reality of what God considers real are infinitely different.

Guess which one is accurate.

God’s is accurate.

This is the way it is with suffering, trials, and persecutions.

Our reality of suffering works this way.

I am suffering.

Let me see what the cause is.

Let me fix the cause.

Suffering will exit the scene.

Life will return to normal and we have it all under control again.

God’s reality of suffering works this way:

I have ordained suffering before the world began.

You experience the pressures and sufferings.

God has determined the boundaries of time of your suffering depending upon your reaction of faith or faithLessens.

God relieves your suffering regardless of inconvenience, problems, hardship, or even death, when He chooses.

Ultimately, God is seeking His own glory and the display of His power.

What am I trying to say?

What I am trying to say is that trials, suffering, and pressures of life and persecution are not meant to stop for the life of the believer.

Rather, the life of the believer is actually a crucible of suffering.

Consider this:

Psalm 34:17–22 NAS

The righteous cry, and the Lord hears And delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, Not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

Think about the way that the apostles were treated:

Acts 4:1–3 NAS

As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.

Acts 5:16–18 NAS

Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed. But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail.

Acts 5:38–42 NAS

“So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.” They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Jesus even warned us about the lack of suffering and trials:

Matthew 10:16–22 NAS

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. “But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.

Luke 6:22–30 NAS

“Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way. “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. “Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. “Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.

John 15:18–25 NAS

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. “He who hates Me hates My Father also. “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

I would also like to refer to what Paul wrote as well as few suffered as much as he did, except the Lord:

1 Corinthians 4:8–14 NAS

You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

2 Corinthians 11:21–30 NAS

To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold—I speak in foolishness—I am just as bold myself. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? cSo am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in 1far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

So, what is all of this about?

It is about how we interpret our sufferings when there is almost no real reason for the suffering.

Jesus is our ultimate example.

Today’s example in our Lord is the source of all of what we have just learned.

V.31

John 13:31 NAS

Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus *said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God 1is glorified in Him;

John 13:31 UBS5

Ὅτε οὖν ἐξῆλθεν, λέγει Ἰησοῦς, Νῦν ἐδοξάσθη ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ

Judas has left.

He went into the night.

It is at this point that Jesus releases the reality of His life and ministry.

The real reason for His existence is to be glorifiied with the Father by means of the betrayal of a friend unto crucifixion.

This point of time is the key here.

The verb tenses tell us, because these are the verbs Jesus used, according to the Holy Spirit, that it is this very act that launches Jesus into His final sermon, teaching event, in His ministry.

It is all coming down to this brief time; this one event.

The exit of Judas is the point in time at which the Son and Father are glorified.

How are Jesus and the Father glorified in this event?

“John 12:28 (John 12–21 (NAC)): Excursus 12: A Note on Glorification

There is no question that the Gospel speaks of the glorification of the Son (cf. 1:14; 16:14; 17:4) and also indicates that Jesus would be glorified in and through the disciples (17:10). But in John the glorification of the Son is said to be derived from the glory of the Father (5:40–44; 8:54; 17:5). Moreover, the glorification of the Son is consistently directed to the glorification of the Father (7:18; 8:50; 11:4; 13:31; 14:13; 17:1). Because the glorification of the Son has been focused on the glorification of the Father, it has therein removed any sense of selfishness or self-centered ambition from the picture of Jesus.

The Son was consciously said to have chosen the way of obedience—the way that led through the traumatic death on the cross. Thus John identified the way of the cross with the way of glorification. Accordingly, prior to that event he directed the reader’s attention forward to that event not only through reference to the coming hour (e.g., 2:4; 7:30; 12:27) but also by reference here to Jesus’ glorification. That glorification would, of course, also open the horizon to the post-resurrection period of the era of the Spirit (7:39) and the Son’s enthronement in glory alongside the Father, a position which he had “before the world came to be” (17:6). Yet in spite of the victory aspect of glorification, the reader must not submerge the death perspective into the idea of glorification for John. Indeed, the linkage between death and glorification is vividly presented in the Epilogue when the prediction of the death of Peter is described as the way he “would glorify [doxasei] God” (21:19).” - Borchert

“Glory” through John:

John 1:14 NAS

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John remembers that he and the other disciples saw His glory, as a son of the Father-grace and truth.

John 2:11 NAS

This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

Jesus showed His glory (i.e. “power”) by starting His signs and miracles ministry.

John 8:50 NAS

“But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges.

Jesus did not seek His own glory.

That is, He completely gave Himself to displaying the great glory of the Father.

John 12:41 NAS

These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.

Jesus’s glory was the Shekinah, temple glory, that Isaiah saw in chapter 6.

This is Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

John 17:22–26 NAS

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

In the same way that the Father and the Son are unified with the intent to glorify the other, so also does Jesus pray that the church would also operate this way.

Jesus wants His disciples to glorify Him, Who glorifies the Father, Who glorifies the Son, Who glorifies the saint.

All of this is produced by the loving unity that is maintained in the church.

Luke 18:9–14 NAS

And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The saint who lives to glorify Jesus Christ is humble.

The saint who lives to glorify Jesus Christ will be exalted.

The example that we have in Jesus is that this humble exaltation of the Father in the Son comes through suffering most often, even deep, deep suffering.

James 1:2–4 NAS

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The perfecting work of the trial is that of causing us, as believers, to elevate Jesus Christ through the trial instead of elevating ourselves.

Is there something that all of this comes down to, tangibly, that we can understand HOW Jesus will glorify the Father?

John 14:31 NAS

but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

V.32

John 13:32 NAS

if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.

John 13:32 UBS5

[εἰ ὁ θεὸς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ,]7 καὶ ὁ θεὸς δοξάσει αὐτὸν ἐν αὐτῷ8, καὶ εὐθὺς δοξάσει αὐτόν.

“…if God is glorified in Him…” = not in better manuscripts.

John 13:31 NAS

Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus *said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God 1is glorified in Him;

“…God will glorify Him in Himself…”

What does this mean?

Glory = display of attributes, character, Person.

The Father will glorify the Son and will glorify the Son “in Himself.”

This statement means that the Father desires to exalt the Son by means of what the Son is going to endure and accomplish.

“In Himself“ refers to the Son.

The Father will display the Son and that display will glorify the Son, Who, in turn, desires no glory for Himself but only for the Father.

This is “unity.”

Church

Family

Nation

Business

“John 13:31–32 (John 12–21 (NAC)): Not only is God glorified in the process but the Son is glorified in the Father’s glorification, and that glorification is an immediate one.” -Borchert

To glorify “immediately” is to glorify, the process of the display of the Son and the Father, “soon.”

Judas‘s leaving “immediately” means that what Judas meant for evil, God means for good.

Genesis 50:20 NAS

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

V.33

John 13:33 NAS

“Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

John 13:33 UBS5

τεκνία, ἔτι μικρὸν μεθʼ ὑμῶν εἰμι· ζητήσετέ με, καὶ καθὼς εἶπον τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὅτι Ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν, καὶ ὑμῖν λέγω ἄρτι.

“Little children” =

1 John 2:1 NAS

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

1 John 2:28 NAS

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

1 John 3:7 NAS

Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;

1 John 3:18 NAS

Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

1 John 4:4 NAS

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

1 John 5:21 NAS

Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

Jesus is going away.

Where?

How?

Why?

John 7:32–36 NAS

The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. “You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” The Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He? “What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?”

Jesus tells them who wanted to seize Him that He is going away, not by their seizing Him, but by the Father’s will.

The statement that Jesus is going away sent a shockwave throughout the disciples after Judas left.

John 13:36 NAS

Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.”

John 14:1–6 NAS

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. “And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

John 14:19 NAS

“After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.

John 14:27–28 NAS

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

Conclusion

1 Corinthians 15:23–28 NAS

But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.