28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. 34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” 35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them. ~ John 12:28-36
The Lord Jesus understood very clearly what awaited Him and He struggled with it. As recorded here in our text, for the third time the voice of God spoke from heaven. Upon hearing His Father's voice, He continued on the right path, the path the Father had mapped for Him.
This voice had first been heard at the baptism of Jesus when the Father said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17). The second time the Father spoke happened at the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus, a few weeks before the final week in Jerusalem. During that experience on that mountain, Moses and Elijah talked with the Lord Jesus. And now, for the third time, as He faced the cross, the voice of the Father expresses His pleasure at the willingness of His Son to be the Passover Lamb.
In v.31, we read, "Now is the time for judgment on this world." The sins of the world were judged as the Lord Jesus hung on the cross. The Greek word used for the word "judgement" is krisis, which is a decision point, where a choice must be made.
The remainder of v.31 reads, "now the prince of this world will be driven out." Since his rebellion in heaven, the devil has been the god of this world. According to 2 Corinthians 4:4, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
This means God has given to the devil a certain measure of authority in the earth. This makes sense of the fact that often people blindly follow demonic delusions that Satan sends into the world without even knowing it. The people of this world are manipulated by Satanic values and have no idea of how helpless they are to change, apart from Christ. Given these facts, at the cross the fangs of death were wrestled from this protector of death, the devil himself.
In v.32, the Lord Jesus says, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." When Christ was lifted up on the cross, He purchased and guaranteed the homecoming of His sheep, the ingathering of His followers.
The word “draw” is the same word used in John 6:44, where the Lord Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” We drew near to Him because He drew us to Himself. Could we have rejected His draw? We had to have had that option, otherwise we would be robots.
According to v.33, "He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die." These words are clearly a reference to the cross. By means of the cross the Lord Jesus would draw all kinds of people home.
In v.34-36 we learn of the crowd's reaction which constitutes a remarkable study in unbelief.
Unbelief is selective faith, a faith that believes some, but not all, of the words of God. The people said, "We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever.'" In other words, "Messiah will not die on a cross." This is to ignore such passages as Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 where the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus was predicted and described.
In addition, unbelief caused these people to miss their opportunity to believe. In v.35-36, the Lord Jesus said to them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light."
This was the crowd's last opportunity to hear the words of Jesus. He never spoke to the multitudes again. At the end of v.36, we read, "When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them." The point? When God is speaking, while His word is illuminating your mind, when you begin to see reality from God's perspective, that is a critical hour. Seize it! Don't let it pass. Act on it. Yet these people let their opportunity pass.
