Living with Christ in the Shadow of the Cross (John 12:31-36)

Living with Christ in the Shadow of the Cross
John 12:31-36

INTRODUCTION:
A young convert in Congo stated in a prayer: “Lord Jesus, You are the needle, and I am the cotton.”

The missionary thought that was strange language so he asked the man about this unusual expression. What had happened was that the young convert had been at the school that day and seen the girls sewing. He noted that the thread always followed the needle.

In the same way, he wanted to follow Jesus where He led.

Jesus says “Follow Me” in the Gospel accounts twenty-one times. Six of those are duplicated in Matthew, Mark, and Luke with another eight unique occasions found in the Gospel of John. Jesus wants us to follow Him so closely at all times, so completely yielded to Him - with no hint of daylight between our lives and our teachings and His life and His teachings - that we follow Him as directly and dependently as the thread follows the needle.

We finished one series last Sunday - The Art of Loving - and we finish another series today: “Living with Christ in the Shadow of the Cross.” This was also a monthly series which we began in January and we have looked at different events and teachings from the last week of the life of Jesus before His death, burial and resurrection. Actually, I think we never got past Wednesday of His last week. That is, I believe all the events we have studied have happened the Sunday before His resurrection and that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Maybe we’ll come back again some time in the future and look at the events of that fateful Thursday and Friday.

The event I want us to examine today relates to that idea that we need to be so closely attached to Jesus that we walk in His light without being influenced by the darkness around us.

Let us feed our spirits this morning on John 12:31-36 and notice the contrasts Jesus gives. First, let’s get come background…

John 12:1 tells us that this chapter begins six days before Passover. Mary has anointed Jesus. In contrast to her loving generosity, in verses 9-11 we see the Jews wanting to kill Lazarus because people are believing in Jesus because of the resurrection of Lazarus. Next in the chapter is the “triumphal entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem on the next day - Monday. Jesus created quite a stir on that occasion and in verse 20, we have a turning point in the Gospel of John when “Greeks” (Gentiles) come to Jesus.

Once these Gentiles come to Jesus, in John’s Gospel, then the time has come for Jesus to move toward the cross. Remember everything is under the watchful care and eye of Jehovah God. So in verse 23, Jesus said: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” In verse 24, Jesus states that before He could give life to the world, He would have to die: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This willingness to die in order to live applies to His disciples as well, verse 25: “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” To follow Jesus necessarily involves serving Him supremely, verse 26: “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”

You recall that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed three times that He would not have to go through the crucifixion. But, He always said to the Father, “Your will be done.” John 12:27 is John’s version of that same prayer; Jesus prayed, “Father, save Me from this hour?” Yet, it was God’s purpose to bring Jesus to this hour. So, Jesus utters (verse 28) the statement that summarized His whole life and teaching: “Father, glorify Your name.” Jesus’ heart and prayer was that in all He did and taught, He would glorify the Father in heaven.

At that point, the Father spoke from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (ver. 28). The Father had glorified His name, His identity in Jesus Christ, through all the miracles the Father had performed through Him, beginning in Cana of Galilee in John 2:11. The Father will glorify His name in Jesus Christ once again when He raises Jesus from the dead. That was the Father’s answer to Jesus to “let this cup pass from Me.”

The Jews standing around heard the voice but could not understand what was said. They thought it had been a clap of thunder. Others thought an angel had spoken to Jesus. Jesus told them in verse 30 that this voice was given for their sakes. To help them know that just like God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, so He has spoken to this Son, Jesus Christ.

And that sets up the three contrasts that Jesus gives in the next six verses…

CONTRAST #1 - SATAN VERSUS JESUS - 12:31-32:
First, Jesus says “judgment is upon this world.” Earlier in John, at 3:19, Jesus had said that judgment “is” that the Light - referring to Himself - has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. The coming of Jesus was judgment on the Jewish nation - and all of us truly - in showing them just how wicked they really were and how far short they had fallen in glorifying Jehovah God.

“Judgment” is used a lot in chapter 5 of John: 5:22, 24, 27, 29-30. God has given all judgment to His Son (5:22, 27). Those who trust Jesus and obey Him will not come into judgment (ver. 24). Jesus’ judgment is just (ver. 30), it’s righteous (7:24) and it’s true (8:16).

The judgment of Satan, the hater of God, the deceiver of humans, and the enemy of all that is holy and righteous and good was about to happen. The death of Christ on the cross - unknown to Satan - was the nail in Satan’s coffin! Jesus states: “Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” That is future tense. But Jesus says a similar thing in 16:11 but He uses a different tense: “the ruler of this world has been judged.” That tense refers to a settled, unchanging, state of things. In other words, once Jesus died and rose again, Satan was and is forever in a state of having been judged - and condemned by Jehovah God. His fate is sealed and His power over human beings is now broken as long as we are in Christ Jesus.

But here’s the contrast… Verse 32: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” When Satan put Jesus on the cross, it was the “death” of Satan’s power over humankind. I have a sermon, I have not yet preached here, called the “Suicide of Satan” in which I show that point.

But, the death of Jesus on the cross is not the death of His power. Jesus says that if He is “lifted up from the earth,” He will “draw all men unto Me.”

There is surely in Jesus’ mind the account of the venomous snakes recorded in Numbers 21. It all began with Israel’s impatience with God and so they spoke against God and Moses and they, in fact, state that they “loathe” the manna which God was graciously giving them. So, God sent venomous snakes among them which bit them and they died. Israel repented and confessed their sin to God so God commanded Moses to build a fiery serpent - an image like one of the venomous snakes - out of bronze and set it on a pole. So, any Israelite who had been bitten could look at that bronze serpent and be healed. Jesus used this same verb “to be lifted up” in John 3:14 where He made an explicit reference to the serpent in the wilderness.

Here, Jesus points out that if anyone will “look to Him” - that is to trust Him and obey His commandments - then He will be healed from the sting of death.

Satan is doomed to judgment; Jesus came to save us from judgment. That’s the contrast.

CONTRAST #2 - DEATH VERSUS LIFE - 12:33-34:
The apostle John, of course, was guided by the Holy Spirit when he commented in verse 33 that Jesus “was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die” (ver. 33). In other words, Jesus would be killed by the Romans - not the Jews. He would be killed by crucifixion, not be stoning.

The “glorification” of Jesus and the Father’s name would certainly include the resurrection from the dead, but the resurrection could not happen until the death took place. And Jesus would die for theological reasons - to experience the separation from God that had to happen because of sin.

The crowd, however, was confused at this prediction of His death. They understood from the “Law,” by which they could easily mean anything written in the OT (“Law” in the gospel of John can even refer to the book of Psalms) - that the “Messiah / Christ” was to “remain forever.” How could Jesus say “the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man.”

So here is contrast #2 - Would the Messiah live forever or would He die?

A number of verses from the OT might be in the Jews’ mind relative to the prediction that the Messiah would live forever:

Psalm 110:4 - “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

Isaiah 9:7 - “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”

Ezekiel 37:25 - “They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever.”

Daniel 7:14 - “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.”

Psalm 72:17 - “May his name endure forever; May his name increase as long as the sun shines; And let men bless themselves by him; Let all nations call him blessed.”

Psalm 89:35-37 - “Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. “His descendants shall endure forever And his throne as the sun before Me. “It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful.”

To understand that the Messiah would live forever was a correct interpretation of these Messianic prophecies. So now the Jews are confused about Jesus’ statement that the “Son of Man” must die…

Here is the second contrast - How is it possible that the Messiah could both “die” and “live forever”? What was missing in the Jews’ understanding? Of course, it is the resurrection!

CONTRAST #3 - LIGHT VERSUS DARKNESS - 12:35-36:
But Jesus does not enter into a discussion with the Jews about their misunderstanding of the nature of the Messiah. Notice in verse 35 He brings up the third contrast:

“For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.”

First, Jesus notes that the “Light” is among them just a little while longer. “Light,” of course, is one of John’s favorite metaphors. In 1:4-5, John wrote that in Christ “was life, and the life was the Light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” That latter verb “to comprehend” is also translated “to overcome.” In English, sometimes we say, “I can’t get my mind around that.” That’s what John is saying - the Jews could not grasp the divine nature of Jesus of Nazareth - but there is also a subtle message that the Jews could not overpower Him either.

That light was among the Jews but the time would come when that light would no longer be among them. Therefore, they were to “walk while they had the light so that darkness would not overtake them.” That word “overtake” is the same verb we just saw in John 1:4-5. Darkness will not “overtake” or “overwhelm” the Jews if they were to walk in the Light who was Jesus Christ. If one walks in darkness, he does not know where he is going. That is common experience. This is now, at least, the fifth contrast in John’s gospel between “light” and “darkness:” 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:1ff.

So Jesus says, “While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” In other words, Jesus did not engage in a debate about their misunderstanding of the nature of the Messiah. He simply says, “I am the needle. You are the thread. Align yourself with Me while you can, so you can have the nature, the qualities of “light.” Without going into any further study, Christians are “sons of light” (1 Thess. 5:5; Eph. 5:8). We have the characteristics of walking in the light; we are identified with Christ who is “the” light.

The third contrast… We live in a dark world, but we don’t have to follow the darkness!

CONCLUSION:
Three contrasts:

Satan versus Jesus - Satan loses; Jesus wins.
Death versus life - Death loses; Life wins.
Light versus darkness - Darkness loses; light wins.

Take home message: Jesus is life and light. Identify yourself with Him so closely that there is no hint of daylight between you. In that way, you will avoid darkness, death, and Satan.

Start an evangelism conversation: “How would you define materialism, and how do you deal with it in your life?”