John 12:27-36 | Father, Glorify Your Name

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[efstoggle active=”” title=”Click here for today’s text”]²⁷ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. ³⁴ So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵ So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:27-36)[/efstoggle]
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Glory

Our topic today is the glory of God. What is glory?

glo·ry
ˈɡlôrē/
noun
1. high renown or honor won by notable achievements.
“to fight and die for the glory of one’s nation”
synonyms: renown, fame, prestige, honor, distinction, kudos, eminence, acclaim, praise
2. magnificence; great beauty.
“the train has been restored to all its former glory”
synonyms: magnificence, splendor, resplendence, grandeur, majesty, greatness, nobility
verb
1. take great pride or pleasure in.
“they were individuals who gloried in their independence”
synonyms: take pleasure in, revel in, rejoice in, delight in;

May we seek the glory of God and the glory that comes from God rather than that which comes from man or is given to man.

Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³ for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. (John 12:42-43)

The glory of God is full of grace and truth

John’s gospel begins with a focus on the glory of God as beheld in Christ Jesus. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

John says they saw the glory, the magnificence, the the honor, the splendor, the greatness, the majesty, the eminence of God in Christ and it was full of grace and truth.

In order to grasp the nature of God’s glory we have to realize that is is full of grace   and truth .

• Grace = the favor of God that transcends our unworthiness.
• Truth = the facts of God that transcend our perception.

The glory of God is seen in the grace and truth of Jesus.

²⁷ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. (John 12:27-29)

We should be passionate about the glory of God because God is passionate about His own glory. Jesus said, “Father, glorify your name.” The Father replied, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 

God’s name is glorified by:

1. God is glorified by the judgement of the world through the cross.

John 12:31a – “Now is the judgment of this world”

Three passages about judgement:

1. John 5.27, “And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” Judgement is coming through Jesus.

2. John 5:28-29,  “…an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”  There is a future judgment that’s coming after the resurrection of all people — the good and the evil.

3. John 5:24. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” Those who trust Christ to reconcile them to God will not come into judgment. Why? Because they have already passed from the condemned state of death into the justified state of eternal life. Their judgment already happened. The death of Jesus becomes the decisive dividing line between the condemned and the vindicated.

Like we talked about in our message last week, our judgement came through the cross of Christ, the just for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous. We have been considered crucified.  Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

So, God is glorified by Jesus bearing the judgment and condemnation of the world through the cross.

2. God is glorified in casting out Satan by way of the cross. 

John 12:31b, “now will the ruler of this world be cast out”

Is Satan gone? No, he’s still on the prowl. Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”

Satan is a deceiver and an accuser. His objective has been to deceive us into sinning then accuse us before God. In other words, he has made it his mission to make accusations against all of us in order that we will all be condemned before God. He thinks he’s a prosecuting attorney.

Satan attempted to thwart the mission of Christ, but failed. By the cross, Jesus stripped Satan of the one weapon that he had that could damn us – the valid accusation of our unforgiven sin. Satan was disarmed and cast out of the courtroom, because his accusations against us are no longer valid as Christ stood in our place in judgement.

Satan is disarmed. We no longer have unforgiven sin. The blood of Jesus covers our sin — all of it. Therefore the cross was the decisive defeat of the condemning designs of the devil. He cannot succeed. The victory is ours though faith in Christ. Revelation 11:12, “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

For those who trust in Christ alone, the accuser no longer has a record of sin against. It was nailed to the cross and he’s been kicked out of the courtroom and God is glorified.

3. God is glorified by drawing people to Christ by the cross.

John 12:32,  “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Remember John 3:14? “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up”

Moses and the bronze snake…

What does it mean to draw all people to himself? It is apparent that the cross was such a significant event that it literally changed time (BC/AD). I think there is significance in that and that there is a sort of ‘drawing’ of all people to Christ in that way. However, I think Jesus is more likely talking about drawing in all of his lost sheep. He is the shepherd and his sheep know his voice.

John 10:16, “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” John 11:52, “and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”

So, the cross has not only become the way by which those who believe in him are saved, it is also the signpost and the gate in which his children from all over the world are gathered.

God is glorified as his children from across the world are gathered, drawn, to him by the cross.