Highlights From Sunday: Passover Lamb - The Proclamation

John 12:27-50 “Passover Lamb Pt. 3”

Proclamation

Introduction

Jesus continues speaking to the folks gathered around Him.
At this time, Jesus clearly proclaims His role as the Lamb of God, who God sent to take away the sins of the world.

The Purpose of the Lamb (:27-36)

27 “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

The hour of which Jesus speaks is his hour of suffering and glorification.
Isaiah 53 is an OT passage written by the prophet Isaiah about the Messiah whom God would send for His people.
This passage perfectly describes the sacrifice that Jesus, the Lamb of God, would make in the next few days.
Read Is 53.
When Jesus considered this tremendous sacrifice and the things that He would endure on our behalf, it troubled Him.
This is the kind of gut-wrenching, emotionally disturbing feeling that makes us sick to our stomach.
Jesus’ statement reminds us that He is both God and man.
He was happy and sad…He responded to various circumstances just like us.
Borchert writes, “To sense his kinship with humanity one needs to reflect on his need for a drink at the well (4:7), his weeping in the Lazarus story (11:35), his zealous attack in the Temple (2:17), his distress with the disciples’ failure to understand who he was and the necessity of his departure (14:1–11), his care for his mother at the cross (19:26), and his deep distress over Judas (13:21). Besides being God’s own Son, Jesus was also truly human.
Yet, Jesus’ response to this feeling is, “What shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour.”
He knows His purpose as the Lamb of God.
Jesus knew that God sent Him to endure the cross of Calvary, to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and to save us.
Therefore, His response to this unimaginable sacrifice is amazingly simple:
He says:
Why would I ask God to save me from doing it? That’s why I came!
Jesus was born and lived to die for us!
Next, Jesus prays to the Father, His source of strength and the one who sent Him on the mission.

28 “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

Instead of searching for a way out, Jesus embraced His identity as the Messiah, the Lamb of God, whom God sent to die for the sins of the world.
Jesus sought to bring God glory in everything that He did and through His sinless life and obedient march to the cross, Jesus glorified the name of God.
The gospels mention God’s voice from heaven or a cloud three times:
1) At Jesus’ baptism “11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” (Mk 1:11) - Recognizes Jesus’ pleasing God
2) During the transfiguration event: "5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matt 17:5) - Recognizes Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.
3) Here in :28, He recognizes the way that Jesus brought God the Father glory throughout His life and ultimately through His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead.

29 So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes.

The crowd surrounding Jesus didn’t really know what they just experienced.
Some folks dismissed the event as thunder.
I think this means that they dismissed the words from heaven as nothing…Just thunder!
Others in the crowd thought that an angel spoke to Jesus.
At least they recognized that words were spoken from Heaven.
They didn’t have a theological box in which to place this event.
Before Jesus’ birth, the people of Israel lived in a time characterized by God’s silence.
It was a time similar to the beginning of Samuel’s ministry when a “word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.” - 1 Sam 3:1
It had been around 400 hundred years since they received revelation from God, which was recorded in the last book of the OT: Malachi.
So, they didn’t know how to categorize this event.
God spoke, not for Jesus’ sake, but theirs.
It was yet another chance for the people to believe in Jesus.
God the Father immediately responds to Jesus’ prayer so that everyone can hear it.
Now that’s a testimony in favor of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God and the Messiah sent by God!
While the crowd argues about what they just heard, Jesus continues teaching…

31 “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.

God did not send Jesus for the primary purpose of judging the world, although Jesus will judge the world.
God sent Jesus to save us from the penalty of our sins.
Now that the hour has come for Jesus to be “lifted up from the earth,” which was Jesus’ way of describing his death on the cross, the end of the world is drawing near.
Paul describes this pivotal point in the world’s history writing:

Acts 17:30–31
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

That’s what Jesus is talking about here.
2 glorious things will happen as a result of Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection:
1) “the ruler of this world will be cast out.” - or the ruler of this world will be thrown out.
Who is the ruler of this world?
Satan, the evil angel of light who rebelled against God and was thrown out of Heaven.
The Bible describes him using several names and phrases (Borchert):
the ruler (prince) of the kingdom (authority) of the air (Eph 2:2);
the god of this age (2 Cor 4:4);
the dragon, the ancient serpent, the Devil, the deceiver, and the accuser (Rev 12:7; 20:2);
he is likened to a roaring and devouring lion (1 Pet 5:8)
In the Gospel of John he is designated as:
the prince (archōn) of this world (12:31; 14:30; 16:11)
the devil (diabolos, 8:44; 13:2; cf. Judas in 6:70)
the evil one (17:15)
a murderer (8:44).
Satan isn’t your buddy, the cool ruler of hell, or a likable bad-boy…HE’S THE ENEMY!
Jesus’ sacrificial death will pave the way for Satan to be judged and thrown into hell!
John actually describes this future event in Rev 20:10:

10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

2) Jesus said that his sacrificial death will “draw all men to Myself”
All people, regardless of their past mistakes, ethnicity, or location in the world may be saved.
Romans 10:13
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The fulfillment of that promise is described in Rev 5:9

9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

34 The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

First, notice that the crowd understood Jesus’ teaching.
They recognized His point that the Messiah would die.
The crowd points out to Jesus that the OT teaches that the Messiah would remain forever.

Daniel 7:13–14 13 “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. 14 “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.

The Jews are once again laying their preconceived notions about the Messiah over the text, instead of interpreting it in light of Jesus’ teaching.
Jesus’ death (when He is lifted up) established His everlasting kingdom, which will have no end.

35 So Jesus said to them, “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. 36 “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.”

Earlier in His ministry, Jesus said:

“I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (Jn 8:12)

He issues a warning here to this crowd who resists His teaching.
Jesus is the Light and offers truth to the people.
They have heard the gospel, which is a gift from God, but if they will not believe Jesus and harden their hearts toward the gospel, they will remain in darkness and that means they will remain separated from God and enslaved to their sin.
36 These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them.

Application:

Jesus was deeply troubled and endured the cross so that we do not have to be troubled.
John 16:33

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Through His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus overcame the world and offers us peace.
We have peace with God - Forgiveness of sin and relationship restoration
We have peace in ourselves - Freedom from guilt and purpose
We have peace with others - Unification of people and genuine relationships
This crowd represents a microcosm of the world…Some belief and many do not believe.

Dealing with Unbelief (:37-43)

37 But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.

This is a sad truth and I wonder if the gospel writer, John, shed tears as he wrote this down.
Jesus had performed miracle after miracle.
He cured diseases, deafness, blindness, and even raised Lazarus from the dead.
He fulfilled hundreds of OT prophecies written to confirm His identity as the Messiah.
Yet, many of the Jews rejected Him.
Why did this happen?

38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.” 41 These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. 42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

John refers us to Isaiah 6 and 53, which he quotes here.
Notice the perpetual unbelief here:
:37 - they were not believing
:39 - they could not believe
:42 - they would not confess
The perpetual rejection of Jesus by many of the Jewish people had consequences: God hardened their hearts and eventually they could not believe in Him.
It was not God’s desire for them to be lost, because God desires for everyone to believe in Jesus and to be saved.
After experiencing miracle after miracle and hearing Jesus clearly explain the Word of God to them, God allowed them to have what they wanted: a total rejection of Jesus’ free gift of salvation.
(I will be discussing the relationship between unbelief and God’s hardening of hearts tonight at 6pm).

Application:

Be careful with unbelief and perpetual toleration of sin.
The devastating effects of a lifestyle of sin compounded over decades of life demonstrate the need for a robust children’s ministry.
Believers must take seriously…It will lead us away from God and cause our hearts to harden toward Him and His Word.
We need to encourage one another to live a biblical lifestyle and we must be willing to confront one-another when sin creeps into our lives.