John 12:20-36

THE GREEKS COME TO SEE JESUS

John 12:20-36. “And there were certain Greeks of those having come up that they may worship during the festival; then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip comes and speaks to Andrew; Andrew and Philip come and speak to Jesus.” When Jesus was born, the Magi came from the East to pay Him homage at the manger, and offer valuable gifts, which proved so opportune in the defrayal of the traveling expenses into Egypt. Now, we see men coming from the West, to witness to His Messiahship, and pay Him homage at the cross. Thus the East and the West, representing the whole world, unite their testimony to the Christhood of Jesus, the former testifying at the manger, and the latter at the cross.

“And Jesus responds to them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of man must be glorified.” As the Gentiles were not allowed to enter the Temple Campus, these Greeks awaited Jesus at the gate, where He is now preaching to them, having bidden adieu to the Temple, and left it to return no more till He rides down on a cloud, accompanied by the mighty angels and the trump of God. Jesus was glorified when He died, as you and I will be if faithful to redeeming grace, and in case that our wonderful Savior should not honor us by the translation, which is a nigh-cut to glory, without passing through the portals of death.

“Truly, truly, I say unto you, Unless the grain of wheat, having fallen into the ground, may die, it remaineth alone; but if it may die, it produceth much fruit.” It seems that the presence of these Gentiles, who had come from the far-off land of Greece, to see Jesus and hear Him preach, reminds Him of the speedy call of the whole Gentile world to the gospel feast. As bloody Calvary was then looking Him in the face, the; glorious ascension and victorious Pentecost coming on speedily, consequently our Lord at once moves out into the deep truths of the atonement and experimental salvation. When the grain of wheat is sown in the ground, if it remains solid i. e., does not soften, germinate, die, and rot it will produce no crop. If Jesus had not died, His great spiritual posterity would never have existed. So if you do not die i. e., old Adam die in your heart you'll never amount to anything as a soul-saver. That explains the woeful failure of the ministry, only one now and then succeeding as a soul-saver. The germination of your wheat symbolizes the regeneration of the heart. When the wheat sprouts, the old grain must die and rot, in order to give nutriment to the young sprout, which otherwise will die, superinducing a failure in the crop. Now, follow the analogy: When you get converted, old Adam must die, in order to feed the young convert on honey. N.B. When Sampson slew the lion, he soon found the carcass full of honey, as the bees in that dry climate had utilized it for a hive, and filled it with honey. So if you have the courage to slay the man of sin, you will soon have plenty of honey to eat, which is the only edible on which the new-born soul can subsist. The reason why the Churches abound with backsliders is because the old body did not die, and consequently, as in the case of the wheat, the germ i. e., the babe in Christ died. What a deplorable condition! The Church ought to be an embattled army of stalwarts, making it awfully hot for the devil, and running, him out of the community. But what does the devil care for a morgue, filled up with dead babies?

“He that loveth his soul, loseth it. He that hateth his soul in this world, shall preserve it unto eternal life.” It is strange that the E. V. has “life” in every instance in this verse, when the Greek has psyche, “soul,” in the first two, and zoe, “life,” only in the last. The man who. so loves his hereditary, Adamic soul which is fallen and destined to perdition if not crucified here as to cling to it with pertinacity to the end of probation, is going to lose his soul eternally; while the man who courageously comes to the cross, and has that old, fallen, depraved, hereditary, Adamic soul crucified, will “preserve his soul unto eternal life.” The solution of the mystery is, Adam the Second gives him a new soul, which, surviving its predecessor, lives on forever.

“If any one may minister unto Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My minister will be also. If any one may minister unto Me, him will the Father honor.” Our Savior, in His preaching to these Greeks, who represent the whole Gentile world, delivered the plan of salvation and discipleship with remarkable clearness.

“My soul is now troubled; and what must I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But on account of this I came to this hour.” This is Wednesday, and, I trow, about 2 P.M. He has spent the entire morning preaching in the Temple Campus. The following day is the last, as at midnight the bloody mob is coming, cruelly and demonically to lacerate and abuse His body.

His case was infinitely different from ours, as we would not have known with certainty what was coming. But in His case, Omniscient Scrutiny contemplated the bloody panorama, even then making haste.

“Father, glorify Thy name. Then a voice came from heaven, I glorified Thee, and I will again glorify Thee. Then the multitude, standing, hearing, said that it had thundered; others continued to say that an angel has spoken to Him. Jesus responded and said, This voice did not come on My account, but on yours.” While Jesus perfectly understood the inaudible voice of His Father from heaven, the multitude, upon hearing the audible voice ringing down from the skies, should have been convinced, confirmed, and established in their faith, appropriative of His Christhood, by all these appeals to their bodily senses. Hence the articulated voice was a signal mercy to the audience. There is no doubt but John, the Writer, along with the spiritual people present, actually understood what was said; while the unspiritual multitude only heard the sound, afraid thought it was thunder; some taking the more intelligent view and concluding that an angel spoke to Him.

“Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out. And if I may be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people unto Myself.” This is a direct allusion to His crucifixion, elevated high up in a conspicuous place, as Mount Calvary stands in the angle at the intersection of the two most important roads entering Jerusalem i. e. to Damascus and Jericho. Here, we see, Satan is recognized as the ruler of this world, from the fall possessing it for four thousand years, and very largely having his way with it, the people mistaking him for God and worshipping him as God. While the devil stirred up the preachers, and through them the people, to kill Him, thinking His death would consummate His victory, he made the greatest mistake of his history, not understanding the vicarious atonement; as he is utterly destitute of spiritual light, though possessing wonderful intellectual power and sagacity. The death of Jesus redeemed the world and broke the devil's power forever, thus in that very crisis bringing him down under the crushing verdict of the law which he, and man through him, had violated; but now, through the vicarious atonement, that law is satisfied and magnified, humanity is redeemed, and the devil dethroned and signally defeated. That was the grand culmination of the conflict which had been running four thousand years, Satan now receiving the great and signal defeat of his campaign against humanity, then and there beginning to fall under the crushing wheels of King Immanuel's triumphant chariot, and destined to suffer defeat after defeat preliminary to his final and eternal discomfiture, ejectment, and imprisonment.

“Then the multitude responded to Him, We have heard from the law that Christ abideth forever; and how do You say, It behooveth the Son of man to be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?” Daniel 7:14, describes Christ as coming at the end of the tribulation, and receiving from the Ancient of Days a kingdom “which shall never pass away,” and over which He shall “reign for ever and ever.” You see that this quotation, with many others, applies to Him in His second advent, the Jews having the misfortune to mix the prophecies relative to His two advents, applying them all in one, and consequently settling down in the conclusion that when Christ came lie would abide forever. Even all of His disciples so believed, and were consequently utterly disconcerted and disappointed when they crucified Him.

“Then Jesus said to them, Yet a little while the light is among you. Walk about as you have the light, in order that darkness may not overtake you. He that walketh in darkness does not know whither he goes. As you have the light, believe in the light, in order that you may be the sons of light.” Our Savior in this Scripture alludes to Himself as the Light. He is the glorious Sun of righteousness. As all the light in this world emanates from our sun, the moon and every object on the earth shining by light reflected by the sun, so Christ is the only spiritual Light in all this world, the saints His satellites, shining by light reflected from Him.

“Jesus spoke these things, and having gone away, was hidden from them.” This is Wednesday. Only day before yesterday He entered the city in triumph, amid the grand ovation of the multitude, hailing Him as the royal Son of David. These two days have flown; meanwhile He has been very busy, preaching to the vast multitudes on the Temple Campus, all eyes centered on Him, somehow anticipating His royal coronation during the Passover. They are eager and anxious to expedite the matter, and crown Him King without further delay. How they are foiled when, rendering Himself invisible, He suddenly disappears, and no one can find Him! This He had often done on former occasions in order to prevent them from crowning Him King. Now that Jesus has disappeared, John, the writer, proceeds with his narrative.