John 12:20-26 - The Glory And Power of the Cross
Introduction:
*The presence of Greeks at the Passover was not unusual. The original text indicates that these Greeks “were accustomed to come and worship at the feast.” They were not curious visitors or one-time investigators. They feared God, they were Gentiles who attended the Jewish synagogue and sought the truth because Greeks characteristically were seekers of truth "For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;" (1 Corinthians 1:22). The force of the Greek language behind “we wish to see Jesus” is continuous” (v.21). The idea is they kept repeating their request. They really wanted to hear Jesus.
A. The King Is Pursued.
1. Some Greeks Representing the World Sought Jesus (v.20-22)
a) Jesus was accepted as king, 12:12f (v.20).
b) Some Greeks requested to see the King (v.21).
(1) Jesus had just been hailed as the coming King and Messiah by thousands of people: “The world is gone after Him” (John 12:19). Some Greek pilgrims who had come to attend the Passover Feast wished to see this Jesus who was being proclaimed King. In the author’s mind, these Greeks represented the Gentile world, all the God-fearing people of the world who would see Jesus.
(2) Some Facts About the Greeks
(a) A great number of Greeks accepted Christ In Corinth ( Acts 18:4); Iconium ( Acts 14:1) Thessalonica ( Acts 17:1-4).
(b) The Greeks were considered unclean by the Jews ( Acts 21:28)
(c) Paul felt that he was in debt to preach the gospel to the Greeks ( Romans 1:14-16)
(d) Paul preached the gospel to the Greeks throughout all Asia ( Acts 19:10)
(e) Paul preached the message of repentance to the Greeks ( Acts 20:18-21)
(f) In Matthews Gospel we read that wise men from the East came to see Jesus at His birth, and here in John’s gospel shortly before the cross, we see wise men from the West coming to Jesus
(3) One Of John’s Major Themes Is That Jesus Is The Savior Of The World, Not Simply The Redeemer Of Israel.
(a) He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
(b) “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16).
(c) The Samaritans rightly identified Him as “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42).
(d) He gave His life for the world and He gives life to the world (John 6:33).
(e) He is the Light of the world (John 8:12).
(f) The universal emphasis of John’s Gospel is too obvious to miss. Jesus will bring the “other sheep” who are outside the Jewish fold (John 10:16; 11:51–52).
“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd." (John 10:16, NASB95)
"Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad." (John 11:51-52, NASB95)
"For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;" (Romans 10:12, NASB95)
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)
c) Philip and Andrew tell Jesus (v.22).
(1) Whenever you find Andrew in John’s Gospel, he is bringing somebody to Jesus: (1:40–42, 6:8–9, 12:22). What an example as a soul-winner!)
(2) Christ Had Taught His Disciples To Avoid The Gentiles (Matt.10:5; 15:24).
(a) He taught not to proclaim the kingdom message of salvations to non-Jewish people. But we read that He had already ministered to both Gentiles and Samaritans. He had healed the Gentile centurion’s servant (Matt. 8:5–13) and had first revealed Himself publicly as the Messiah to the Samaritan woman of Sychar, who believed in Him herself and led other Samarians to saving faith (John 4:7–42).
(b) In Christ’s last words to the apostles before His ascension, He specifically names Samaria as a field of ministry (Acts 1:8).
(3) Why Did Jesus Restrict The Apostles’ Ministry (Matthew 10:5-6)?
(a) Jew’s Were God’s Chosen People, Through Whom He Ordained Salvation To Come.
(i) As Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman, “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22); that is, it came to the Jews first and, through them, comes to the rest of the world, just as God had promised Abraham.
(ii) The Messiah came to the lost house of the sheep of Israel (Matt.15:24).
(iii) Even Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, always began a new ministry in the local synagogue whenever he was able (see Acts 9:20; 13:5; 18:4; 19:8). Jews were the first to hear the gospel and the first to preach the gospel.
(iv) Had the apostles gone first to the Samaritans and Gentiles, the Jews would have been very reluctant to listen to them, because they would have perceived the apostles as bearers of a pagan religion. Although they had greatly distorted and disobeyed God’s revelation, the Jews were right in their belief that His revelation to them was unique and that they had a unique role in His plan of redemption.
(b) They Were Barely Up To The Task Of Witnessing Effectively To Their Own People-much less of witnessing to Gentiles and Samaritans, whose cultures and ways they little understood and greatly despised.
(i) After Pentecost, Peter was not convinced the gospel was for Gentiles. The Lord had to persuade him through a special vision and by firsthand witness of the Spirit’s work in Cornelius and his household (Acts 10).
(ii) Peter’s prejudice was so strong that many years later he, along with Barnabas and other Jewish Christians, broke fellowship with their Gentile brothers in Christ, “fearing the party of the circumcision” (Gal. 2:12–13), who taught that Gentiles had to be become Jewish proselytes before they could become Christians.
2. Misunderstanding 1: His glory (v.23-26)
The Greeks had just seen Jesus glorified as Messiah by thousands. They wanted to be part of the movement, so they requested an interview with Him. What Jesus did was try to correct the misunderstood idea of the Messiah held by the world. He wanted to prepare both the Greeks and those standing around (the whole world) for His death. He wanted to teach that the way to glory is not through triumph and glory, not through domination and subjection. The way to glory is through death to self and through service to God and man. Jesus did two things.
a) His hour had come (v.23-24).
The Son of Man was now to be glorified. His hour, of course, referred to His death (as the next verse clearly states and this whole passage shows. Jesus was always focused upon His purpose for coming to the earth: to face His hour, to die for mans salvation.
(1) He Had To Die First (v.24a).
(a) The Illustration: “a grain of wheat”. When you hold a kernel of wheat in your hand, you cannot see what is in it. Literally each grain contains, a million similar offspring. In planting season, a grain is cast forth into the ground as if in a tomb. Then it dies, is set forth from its encasement, and becomes a resurrection plant, and its many grains are resurrection fruit!
(b) When a grain of wheat produces a mature wheat plant with a head full of grain, the original seed no longer exists. The seed must cease to exist in its original form before it can come to life in its final form as a plant. Before Christ could bear the fruit of salvation for us, He had to die (Isaiah 53:10-12; Heb.2:9-10). Likewise, before we can participate in the fruit of His resurrection, or bear fruit in His service, we too must die. “He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal” (v. 25).
(2) Then He could bear fruit (v.24b).
(a) Jesus was telling the crowd he would fulfill his kingly role by dying and thereby reproducing his life in others!
(b) Before fruit can be born—death is a necessity. Jesus must die before He can be enthroned as King and bear the fruit of subjects and a kingdom.
b) The Glory Of Christ Is the Glory of the Cross-Jesus was now ready to:
(1) make the final sacrifice for man, and to pay the supreme price, His life (Phil.2:5-8).
(2) secure an eternal righteousness for man by dying as God willed (Romans 5:1).
(3) perfectly satisfy God’s justice, to be a propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:24)
(4) triumph over Satan by breaking Satan’s power over death and over the souls of men.
(a) Jesus spoiled principalities and power, triumphing over them in the cross (Col.2:13-15)
(b) Jesus destroyed the works of the devil (1 John 3:8)
(c) Jesus broke the power and fear of Satan over lives and death (Heb.2:14-15)
(5) glorify God through His Obedience (John 13:31-32). God was glorified by the supreme obedience of Jesus dying on the cross
“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”" (John 10:17-18, NASB95)
"Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2, NASB95)
"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered." (Hebrews 5:8, NASB95)
(6) to demonstrate God’s love toward sinful man (Romans 5:8).
(a) This should cause us to love Him (2Cor.5:14-15; 1Cor.6:20)
B. Death To Sin and Denial of Self (v.25-26)
a) Man’s hour is come—The cross demands mans death to self (v.25-26)
(1) Man Must Lose His Life To Bear Eternal Life (v.25)
(a) He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30; Rom.12:3; Phil.2:3)
(b) Lazarus’ sickness was not for death (John 11:4; 15, 44; 12:1-29-11).
(c) Dying to ourselves brings glory to God (Luke 9:23-26).
(i) What does it profit if we gain the whole world (Alexander the Great)?
(d) Not Dying To Self Causes Us To Remove His Presence From Us (1 Samuel 5:1-4, 8).
(i) Dagon Could Not Stand In The Presence Of God. What Dagon’s are in your life, what idols seem to be pulling at you wanting to take over? What sins seem to snare you?
(ii) The Dagon’s will be brought down and overcome by placing them before the Lord & spending time in His presence (2 Corinthians 3:18).
(iii) The Lord brought His people out of Egypt with His presence and His mighty power (Deut.4:37). God brought us out of Egypt by His presence and to stay out we must continue to be in His presence. When you bring the ark in watch the Dagon’s go down in my heart.
(iv) Fix your eyes on Jesus (Heb.12:1ff).
(v) Don’t look back (Luke 17:32-33; 2 Peter 2:18-22).
The Cross-of Jesus Christ Effectively Crucified the Old Man
The cross is central to the gospel precisely because of its graphic message, including the awfulness of sin, the intensity of God’s wrath against sin, and the efficacy of Jesus’ work in crucifying the old man (Rom. 6:6). A. W. Tozer wrote, The cross is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men.
The cross of Roman times knew no compromise; it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good. It spared not Christ, but slew Him the same as the rest. He was alive when they hung Him on that cross and completely dead when they took Him down six hours later. That was the cross the first time it appeared in Christian history…
The cross affects its ends by destroying one established pattern, the victim’s, and creating another pattern, its own. Thus it always has its way. It wins by defeating its opponent and imposing its will upon him. It always dominates. It never compromises, never dickers nor confers, never surrenders a point for the sake of peace. It cares not for peace; it cares only to end its opposition as fast as possible. With perfect knowledge of all this, Christ said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” So the cross not only brings Christ’s life to an end, it ends also the first life, the old life, of every one of His true followers.
It destroys the old pattern, the Adam pattern, in the believer’s life, and brings it to an end. Then the God who raised Christ from the dead raises the believer and a new life begins. This, and nothing less, is true Christianity…
We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do—flee it or die upon it. “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:35–37).
There Are Several Ways The Believer Dies To Self. Romans 6:11-13 spells out the ways clearly.
(1) The Believer Reckons Or Counts Himself Crucified With Christ.
"Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin" (Romans 6:11a, NKJV)
"Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." (Romans 6:6, NKJV)
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20, NKJV)
(2) The Believer Reckons Or Counts Himself Dead To Sin, But Alive To God.
"Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:11, NKJV)
"Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." (1 Peter 4:1-2, NKJV)
(3) The Believer Does Not Let Sin Reign In His Body.
"Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts." (Romans 6:12, NKJV)
"Put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Colossians 3:5, NKJV)
(4) The Believer Does Not Yield His Bodily Members As Instruments Of Sin.
"And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin (Romans 6:13a)
"For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13, NKJV)
(5) The Believer Yields Himself To God—As Much As Those Who Are Alive From The Dead.
"Present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead." (Romans 6:13b, NKJV)
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12:1, NKJV)
(a) The word “present” is the same word used in the following passages:
"But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear." (Mark 14:47, NASB95)
"When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”" (Mark 15:39, NASB95)
"To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering (Acts 1:3, NASB95)
"yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—" (Colossians 1:22, NASB95)
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15, NASB95)
"But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth." (2 Timothy 4:17, NASB95)
(6) The Believer Yields His Bodily Members As Instruments Of Righteousness.
"And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." (Romans 6:13, NKJV)
"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16, NKJV)
b) Man’s hour is come—The cross demands mans death to self-continued (v.25-26).
If your life is stagnant, if your spiritual potential is going unrealized, it may well be that you need to die, to lay down your life and be released. This is the key to the royalty in Jesus’ life, and ours as well.
(1) Man Must Serve And Follow Jesus (v.26).
Þ Must serve either God or the world. Cannot serve two masters Matt.6:24; Luke 16:13)
Þ To be faithful until Christ returns ( Luke 12:41-48)
Þ To occupy till Christ returns ( Luke 19:13)
Þ To serve God and not sin ( Romans 6:16-23)
Þ To serve in humility and brokenness ( Acts 20:18-19)
Þ To serve others in love ( Galatians 5:13)
Þ To serve the Lord diligently not slothfully ( Romans 12:11)
Þ To serve while opportunity exists ( Matthew 26:10-11)
Þ To serve with good will ( Ephes. 6:7)
Þ To serve with reverence and godly fear ( Hebrews 12:28)
(a) The royal life does not begin with glory, but with crucifixion.
(b) On that Palm Sunday when our Lord marched into Jerusalem, the crowds acclaimed him as king. Gentiles came and said, “We want to see Jesus.” but how did they see Jesus? Through His death for our sins. How did they understand Him as King? Through His death. How will those around us see Jesus? Only as we die to ourselves and live for Christ. May God lead us into a royal life, a life of sacrifice, a life that bears much fruit.
(2) “The hour” refers to all the events of the cross and all the trouble and sufferings surrounding the cross, His death and resurrection. Note two facts.
(a) “The hour” is a set, fixed time in the purpose of God. Jesus said, “The hour is come” (John 12:23-24, 27; John 13:1; John 17:1; Matthew 26:18, 45; Mark 14:41).
He had said some times before, “My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4; cp. John 7:6, 8, 30; John 8:20).