John 12:30-32

“ Jesus answered and said: Not for my sake has this voice made itself heard, but for your sakes. 31. Now is the judgment of this world;now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32. And I, when I shall have been lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. ”

In declaring that this voice does not make itself heard for His sake, Jesus does not mean to say that He has no need to be strengthened; but only that He had not needed to be strengthened in this way, that is, by a sensible manifestation. What the procedure of the Greeks has been for Him, in awakening vividly within Him the feeling of the gravity of the present hour, this heavenly phenomenon should be for them, by revealing to them the decisive importance of the crisis which is accomplished in this moment. And first, as to the world, this hour is that of the most radical revolution (John 12:31-32). It is that of its judgment (John 12:31 a), of the expulsion of its former master (John 12:31 b), and of the advent of its new monarch (John 12:32). The word νῦν, now, at the beginning of the first two clauses, sets forth expressly this decisive character of the present moment for humanity.

To judge is to declare the moral state, not only as evil but also as good. I cannot accept, therefore, the meaning which Weiss gives here to the word κρίσις, judgment, in applying it only to the condemnation of the world as the consequence of the rejection and the death of Christ. No doubt, the cross is the basis of the condemnation of the world, as it reveals completely the moral state of natural humanity. This throne, erected for Jesus by man, shows the depth of hostility to God which is in his heart. But this is not the only side of the judgment of the world by the work of Christ; comp. John 3:21 following John 3:18-20. Passing before the cross, one part of mankind find in it their salvation through faith, while the other part through unbelief complete their condemnation. Here is the judgment of the world which is the consequence of Holy Friday. It will begin inwardly on this very day. Its first great outward manifestation will be Pentecost; the second will be the fall of Jerusalem. The final universal judgment will be the solemn ratification of it (John 12:48).

But, at the same time that the cross will manifest the moral state of the world, it will exhaust the measure of toleration accorded to its prince. The crucifixion of the Son of God is the most odious, the most unpardonable crime of Satan: this crime puts an end to the long-suffering of God towards him, and, consequently, to his dominion over mankind. The Rabbis habitually designate Satan as the prince of the worl (Sar haholam). But they place the Jews outside of his empire, which includes only the Gentiles. Jesus, on the contrary, counts this rebellious people as belonging to it (chap. 8), which He even especially calls the world (John 15:18). Out signifies not only; out of his office and power, but above all: out of his former domain, the world, mankind in the natural state. This meaning appears from the relation of these words to those which precede. “With the consummation of the redemptive work,” says Weiss, “the expulsion of the devil begins.” One soul after another is taken away from him, and the progress goes on advancing even to the final day. Thus this saying does not contradict those which still ascribe to Satan an activity in the world.

To the deposition of the former ruler answers the advent of the new sovereign. Jesus expressly designates Himself as the one who is called to fill this office: κἀγώ, and I. But, a strange fact, as He substitutes Himself for Satan, it is not on the earth, from which Satan is driven out, that He establishes His kingdom. The Jews imagined that the Messiah would become here on earth the successor of His adversary, that He would be another prince of this world. But no, He will leave the world, as does also His rival; He will be obliged to leave it that He may be elevated above it, and it is from this higher sphere that He will draw His subjects to Him, and will realize His kingdom. However little familiar we may be with the language of Jesus, we may understand that the expression be lifted up must be taken here in the same amphibological sense as in John 3:14 and John 8:28. His suspension on the cross is identified with the elevation to the throne to which it is for Him the way. Meyer objects against this double sense of the word be lifted up the limiting phrase ἐκ τῆς γῆς, out of the earth, which proves, according to him, that Jesus is thinking not of His death, but of the ascension. It is no doubt very evident that the expression out of the earth does not refer only to the small distance of two or three cubits between the ground and the feet of the crucified one. But it is this very expression: out of the earth, which forces us to see in the word be lifted up, an allusion to the punishment of the cross. If Jesus had thought only of the ascension, the natural limiting phrase would have been into heaven or to the Father. By saying from the earth, He indicates the violent manner in which He will be expelled from this domain over which He is to reign. There will be made for a time an abyss between the earth and Himself. This will render necessary for a time the heavenly and invisible form of His kingdom. Now it is to the cross that this temporary separation between the earth and Him will be due; comp. Galatians 6:14.

The cross and the ascension taken together therefore freed Jesus from all earthly bonds and especially from all His national obligations towards Israel. They thus put Him in a position to extend His activity over the whole world, to become the Lord of all (Romans 10:12). This is what enables Him to say “ I will draw them all unto me; ” all, not only the Jews, but all men, and consequently the Greeks. From this word all and from this future I will draw, His response to the request which had called forth this discourse clearly appears. The hour of the call of the Greeks draws near; but, before it strikes, another hour is to strike! Some limit the all to the elect; others give it this sense: men of every nation; Meyer seems to find in it the idea of final universal salvation. But ἑλκύειν, to draw, does not necessarily denote an effectual drawing. This word may refer only to the preaching of the cross throughout the whole world and the action of the Holy Spirit which accompanies it. This heavenly drawing is not irresistible. The last word: to me, literally, to myself, makes prominent the personal position of Jesus as the supra-terrestrial centre of the kingdom of God. Once exalted to heaven, He becomes at the same time the author and the end of the divine drawing, and gathers around Himself His new people, heavenly like Himself.

These two verses sum up the whole history of the Church; both from a negative and polemical point of view: the gradual destruction of the kingdom of Satan, and from a positive point of view: the progressive establishment of the kingdom of God.