Read John 12:20-50
"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." John 12:32
Vindication – Jesus’ death will not be a defeat but victory. Colossians 2:14-15 perhaps says it best:
“having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Before this event ever happens Jesus shows us it is the fulfilment of God’s plans. He predicts it (vs23-24). He tells how the Old Testament spoke of it (vs37-41). He gets divine approval publicly (vs28).
Here in John 12 we have it said clearly and repeatedly. Jesus’ death will not be an unexpected outcome, or a mission failed. It is the culmination, and the victory. Like the kernel of wheat which must die before it gives life.
Invitation – The way is open for Jews and Gentiles to come to God. This is stated most clearly in vs 32:
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
We have seen this happen throughout the life of Jesus, as he interacts and heals and draws people from everywhere to himself. We see it in his last words to his disciples as told in Luke ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’. We see it in scripture, as the church grows in the book of Acts, and as the New Testament writers continuously affirm.
We pray as chapter 12 exhorts, that we will love the praise of God more than the praise of man, that we will desire that God gets the glory he deserves as more and more come to worship him.
Mitch
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