"The Hour Has Come"

Verse 20 is the fulfillment of the Pharisees remarks in verse 19. The Greeks were God-fearers, probably from Decapolis or Syria, coming to worship at the temple and observing the feast of Passover.

They came to Philip (whose name was Greek) from Bethsaida, in proximity to the Decapolis, a predominantly Greek area. The Greeks respectfully ask Philip to see Jesus. At the beginning of Jesus ministry, He invited Andrew and John to John 1:39

John 1:39 NASB95

He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

Now at the end of His public ministry, the world (represented by the Greeks) seek Him.

The presence and request of the Greeks has reached the ears of Jesus. Jesus now has one thing left to do as He addresses the “world.”

“The hour has come ...” — This usage of ‘hour’ looks to the very nearness of Jesus’ death, The purpose for this hour is for the Son of Man “to be glorified.” Son of Man, Daniel 7:13-14

Daniel 7:13–14 NASB95

“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

All power, glory, and rule of God in one Person, manifested through one life and ministry. The glorification of the Son of Man is made manifest on the cross.

Verses 24-26 explain verse 23. Note verse 24. A seed must die, if it is to do what it is intended to do; otherwise it remains a seed. The natural function of a seed is to produce “much fruit.” To do so, it must do what seems unnatural—it must die. The Paradox: Jesus must die, so that life through Him springs forth. This is the mission of God. Think of a farmer: he does not lose a seed, but he gains fruit. Just so, The Father through the Son gains many children, John 1:12

John 1:12 NASB95

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

Verse 25 gives us the natural purpose for the “fruit” (children of God). To “hate [our] life” is is to love it rightly—to live according to the sequence of death—life—obedience. We have been given life through faith in Jesus Christ; the value of our life is now rightly owed to the Son. We are not our own; we are bought with a price (1 cor. 6:19-20). It is life eternal that is ours through Christ.

verse 26: “the christian is one who knows his or her true value and purpose and lives accordingly by following and serving beside the Son.” — Hoskyns, Fourth Gospel, 424.

Christian living “cannot be acts of mere self-abnegation. Self must be displaced by another, the endless shameless focus on self must be displaced by focus on Jesus Christ.” (Carson, John, 439).

We must follow Jesus to serve Him. The one who serve Jesus will be where He is. The one who serves Jesus will be honored by the Father.

The Mission of The Son, 12:27-36.

Verse 27 begins with a prayer-like address to God the Father from the “seed that must die.” Jesus is the royal Son of Man in the flesh.

John 1:14 NASB95

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.

He is capable of the full range of human fear and suffering, so the temptation is for Jesus to love His life and not hate it. That is why He poses the question, and then answers it Himself.

Verse 28 demonstrates Jesus perfect depiction of hating your life in this world and loving your life in eternity. Jesus uses an imperative of request, highlighting the sovereign control and purposes of the Father. This glorification is connected to the “hour” of verse 23 and now is connected to the “name” (verse 28).

The work of the Son is a direct reflection on the Father; the work of the “fruit” (that’s us) gives glory to the Seed, just as the Son gives glory to the Father.

The response from heaven is an affirmation that the Father is so confident in the service of the Son that He predicts He will be glorified—and His predictions never fail! The cross and the resurrection is how the Father will be glorified.

The crowd heard the voice: it was audible but uncomprehending, they could not make sense of it. To some it had thundered; to others it was an angel that spoke to Jesus.

The Father spoke so all to hear to make clear to the world that the one He addressed was His Son, the Son of God.

Verses 31-32 explains verse 23. The “hour” of Jesus’ glorification is also the time for the judgment of this world. This is directly connected to the cross, which is the place of salvation or the place of judgment. The cross will be a decisive victory over Satan, who will be replaced by the rightful King.

Lifted up — speaks of death, suffering, and defeat, yet cosmologically speaks of exaltation, majesty and glorification. Positively, Jesus, the agent of salvation, will “draw” all to Himself.

The cross is still in the near future, still needed to be accomplished.

It is here that the crowd begins to challenge Jesus. Their concept of Messiah and what Jesus has said have collided. They ask, “Why must Messiah die? What kind of messianic figure is the Son of Man? A crucified Messiah?” This reveals the scandal of the cross---for them it is meaningless, so they are now rejecting the One they have hailed as Messiah

In Verses 35-36 their is one final invitation to the world. Jesus is the Light, shining in the world. He is the One who can see their condition (lost in sin) and the one who can save them from their condition (as their Savior). To reject Him is to reject the Light and all that is left is the darkness. Believe in the Light while you still can so that you may become sons of Light. Then Jesus shows by His actions what he had just said through His words: He (the Light of life) went away and hid Himself from them.

What would the crowd do? How are the people responding?

The Witness of The Son, 12:37-50.

This is John’s commentary on what is taking place as Jesus finishes His public ministry. He reflects both on what he had seen, contrasting that with the overall response of the people. Some of “them” had seen the signs Jesus had performed yet “they”responded to Jesus’ ministry with unbelief. Term “signs” is a technical term in John’s gospel. Each sign pointed beyond itself to the future, revealing the reality of who Jesus is and the reality of God’s present work in the world. To not believe in the signs is tantamount to not believing in God Himself.

The divine commentary on the public ministry of Jesus begins with the quote from Isaiah 40:3

Isaiah 40:3 NASB95

A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

This was John the Baptist, the forerunner (see John 1:23). The end of Jesus ministry is seen here in a quote from Isaiah 53:1

Isaiah 53:1 NASB95

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Israel has heard the message, but has refused to believe.

God has promised a restoration that Israel could not bring about by herself; it is accomplished in a shocking, unexpected way

What John emphasizes is that at the end of Jesus’ ministry, He fulfills Isaiah 52-53. The John shares another fulfilled prophecy, quoting from Isaiah 6:10, to explain why The people could not believe.

There is a fundamental problem with humanity — dead in sin, spiritually dead. On their own they cannot comprehend the Light John 1 5

John 1:5 NASB95

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

They do not know the Light, John 1:10

John 1:10 NASB95

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

They did not receive the Light, John 1:11

John 1:11 NASB95

He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

This response to Jesus is a judgment from God, allowing the darkness to which they belong to impose itself upon them. Note also that, without denying their failure to believe, their response can be described as an action of God. SO by rejecting the Light, they face certain judgment. God “blinded” and “hardened” but this was not fully manifested until Jesus revealed it.

Isaiah had seen God’s glory revealed in Christ and he spoke of Him. So how did they miss it? One tool used to to procure “blinding and hardening” was the fear of man (verse 42); the approval of men was “loved” over the approval of God. These are drawn to their own perverse and disfigured state of being rather than the healing and restorative power of God.

Jesus makes a final appeal to believe. He cries out; this has the sense of inspired, prophetic speech. It is the cry of a merciful, gracious God calling the world to repentance.

Jesus has said and done everything as the perfect representative of the Father. Every word and act of Jesus is God-centered. The true object of our faith is God the Father; the mode of our faith is Jesus Christ; the empowerment of our faith is the Holy Spirit.

Verse 45: Jesus is the ultimate expression of God. He is our access point to God, but is also the visible manifestation of God. All who believes in Him will not remain in darkness. But the one who hears Jesus but does not keep His words is not judged by Jesus; The Son came into the world because of God’s love for mankind, not for judgment even if judgment is the inevitable result of darkness.

Verse 48: Here it is stated that the one who rejects Jesus’ words, that is, His message will be judged—it is inevitable. And it is the words of Jesus which will render judgment. He is the prophet whom Moses foretold:

Deuteronomy 18:18–19 NASB95

‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.

The intimate relationship between God the Father and the Son is made manifest in the mission, message and judgment they share.

Verse 49: Jesus’ words are rooted in God Himself; the faith Jesus intended to produce has God as its object (verse 44). Jesus simply obeyed the Father’s command. This act of obedience required of the Son to the Father connects with the obedience required of the believer.

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