Who Has Believed?

“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. John 12:27

After 33 years of life as a human on the earth; after 3 years of public ministry among His people Israel, Jesus stated in verse 23 “the hour has come.” Now, having arrived at this appointed time, His humanity (soul) was troubled. He knew exactly what He would endure, physically, in the fulfillment of the Father’s plan to save the human race from our sins. As God, He couldn’t be injured, humiliated or killed. As true humanity, His body was mortal and His soul was troubled. What could He do? Beg to be spared this torment? This was the whole purpose in His becoming man. This was our Savior at the threshold of His human destiny, reminding Himself of His voluntary intervention on our behalf, as the only one qualified to redeem us from the slave market of sin. He was here because of this. He also knew that the death He would die would not be only physical. That was His greatest dread.

Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”  Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. John 12:28-30

Jesus knew the source of the voice like thunder. He knew it was not to get His attention, but the people’s. The Father was always with Him, always encouraging Him, always assuring Him of His mission to bring salvation to man. The Father is glorified in this demonstration of grace toward mankind. The Son was willing to be the means of this demonstration of the Father’s boundless love.

Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 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?” John 12:31-34

“Lifted up!?” Whattaya mean, “lifted up?” They knew what He meant. It was the term generally used for crucifixion.  The reality was becoming clearer, but still, they couldn’t  comprehend  the death of God’s own Son. In their theology, the Messiah was their conquering  hero; sovereign and immortal. They only knew of the Second Advent Messiah. They were not prepared for a mortal who would die as they watched. As He tried to prepare them for it, He made it clear that it would mean the defeat of Satan (ruler of this world) and that all of humanity would benefit from it. Salvation would be available not just to Jews, but also Gentiles. The whole human race.

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.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” John 12:35-35

Repeating a statement from John 7:33, Jesus told them they should pay close attention to His words and actions, for His time among them was limited. Listen carefully. Think about what He said. Remember what you have seen Him do. Discern the truth you are being given. This is your opportunity to believe in the One Who is your only hope of eternal life. If you don’t believe Him, you will not know whom to believe. You will continue to wander in darkness.

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.  Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes,
 and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” Isaiah 53:1, 6:10

Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 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; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. John 12:36-43

Most of the people were skeptical, even having seen and heard the Lord’s powerful works and words. By this time, even some Pharisees believed He was Who He claimed to be, but dared not openly admit it, because they would lose position in the synagogue. Some things never change. Political power is difficult to relinquish, especially when the alternative means persecution.

And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. John 12:44-47

If one perceives the Son, one also perceives the Father. The Son is the representative of the Father. Belief in the Son equates to belief in the Father. There is no relationship with the Father if one denies the Son. The Son brought truth into the world from the Father, to enlighten mankind, who were wandering in darkness. The world was already under judgment. The Son came in His first advent to save the condemned world.

The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life.” John 12:48-50

He has spoken. The word He has spoken is the gospel message and it will stand as judgment against those who reject Him. That word came directly from the Father. John 12:50…..

“What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

There are those who say they believe in God, but can’t accept that Jesus is His Son and the only Savior.

There are those who say they “believe in,” “love,” and/or “follow” Jesus, but can’t accept the God of the Old Testament.  Both statements are lies. Jesus covered this quite thoroughly in His public statements about Himself and His Father. Especially in John 10:30….

“I and the Father are one.”

Hosanna!

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. John 12:12

The day after the dinner at Lazarus’ house with his close, personal friends, word started to circulate among the common people. Jesus’ reputation was being talked about in the countryside. He was gaining star status as His works were being told. Many had personally witnessed those works.

Jesus of Nazareth is coming! He’s coming into Jerusalem! He who turned water into fine wine, who fed thousands with a boy’s lunch; He who brought back life to a man who’d been dead four days! We will see Him! We can greet Him with praise. We can show Him our support. Surely such a man can overthrow Rome and be our king!

Their enthusiasm was entirely political. They had false expectations of this powerful man. They did not understand that His mission at this time was spiritual atonement for mankind, not national leadership.

So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out,“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”  And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

“Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt!”

John 12:13-15 Hosanna! Is from the Hebrew and it means “oh, save!” or “save now!” The branches referred to the Messiah, prophesied in Isaiah 11:1, Zechariah 3:8 and Jeremiah 3:5-6:

 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

Their emphasis was on verse 5 (glorious king). Verse 6 (spiritual salvation and righteousness) was not their objective.

The people understood He came from God, and they were ready to inaugurate Him as king. Straight to the crown, bypassing the cross. This was not the correct order in God’s plan for His Son. They were chanting second advent doctrine, which anticipates the coming of Christ in glory to set up His millennial kingdom upon the earth. In that event, our Lord will be riding a powerful steed; a war-horse. Arriving as conqueror.  This mount was a submissive donkey, the symbol of humility.

John reports that he and the other disciples didn’t get the symbolism in the moment, but later they put it all together, remembering the messianic prophecies.

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. John 12:16

The desire to make Jesus the political ruler of Israel was quickly gaining momentum. The Pharisees’ murderous hatred of Him was becoming more intense. They clearly needed to do something to stop this man’s rise. They couldn’t deny what the people had seen Jesus do.

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” John 12:17-19

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. John 12:20-23

The Gentiles who had gathered to join the celebration were aroused to curiosity about this king the Jews were extolling. They wanted a closer look. Jesus didn’t accommodate them. He really was and is the legal heir to David’s throne. He really was and is Israel’s king. His “hour” had come. This was Israel’s time to acknowledge Him as Savior and receive their rightful inheritance as Abraham’s offspring. He would be glorified in the things which were about to occur. They would be left, mostly bewildered by their own misunderstanding of Who this man was and What He came to do.

To the Gentiles, though, Jesus gave an agricultural analogy which they would understand:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24

The grain of wheat represents Jesus Christ. If He did not die, spiritually, for the human race, there could be no multiplication of the Spirit of God in humanity. As the grain must die to reproduce itself, God the Son must die to bring many sons to glory. This statement by Jesus made perfect sense to me, as a 20 year old on the brink of salvation, studying the Bible alone. This was where my spiritual eyes began to see the need for a sacrificed Savior. This was when I knew He HAD to die. Not because evil men were determined to murder Him, but because it was the plan of the Father to give eternal life to fallen mankind. The evil men simply facilitated the execution of the plan.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

If one clings to the pleasures of the physical life (in this world), he can never know the eternal life Jesus offers. To prefer the eternal and spiritual over the physical and soulish guarantees the preservation of eternal life in the one who has believed in the Son of God. The awakened soul realizes there is much more to life than the physical, worldly existence into which we were physically born. The way to experience that abundant life is through faith in the giver of life, the Lord Jesus Christ.

To know and love Jesus, one must keep on following closely His teachings. The true servant of Christ will be found closely associated with Him at all times. Those who faithfully serve the Lord Jesus will be honored by the Father.

We’ll see in the following verses that the pressure was beginning to build on Jesus as He moved through these preliminary steps toward the cross. The time was growing short. There was much for Him to endure. 

He knew.

Meanwhile, at Bethany

While the Pharisees stood around the temple in all their pre-Passover personally purified glory, discussing how to go about killing the Son of God, He was visiting dear friends in Bethany.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.  For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” John 12:1-8

It was fitting that Lazarus’ family would honor the Lord with a dinner. As the men reclined at table and Martha served, Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with precious perfume (spikenard). This was a special offering of worship. Her love and devotion was expressed by this submissive act. The monetary value of the spikenard was 300 denarii. That’s a year’s wages for a rural worker at the time. This was estimated by Judas, as quoted by John. John didn’t know at that time, but later learned the treasonous motive of Judas. At the time of this event, Judas was a disciple in good standing and apparently the treasurer of the group. Nobody suspected him of anything sinister. John’s retrospective comments indicate how much more the disciples learned about Judas in the days that would soon reveal Jesus’ reason for becoming man. Perhaps the others believed that night that Judas was really concerned about helping the poor and saw Mary’s gift as a waste. Phony do-goodism often camouflages evil intent. Sometimes, even from the phony do-gooder. Self-deception comes into play when we are indulging our old sin natures.

Jesus’ reply cut short Judas’ criticism. Judas had not the first clue of Mary’s devotion to Jesus, but our Lord knew exactly what it was about. Mary, more than all the disciples, realized Jesus’ time on earth was coming to an end. She had been listening when Jesus would tell them He had much to accomplish in a limited time. It was all about to become intense and accelerated. She knew this might be the last opportunity to honor Him in such a way. They (we) will always have needy people to help. Some of us may always be materially needy. Jesus was not being cynical, but stating a fact of life. Frankly, in this fallen world, there will never be enough money and resources to take care of all the physical needs of the poor. Mary had enough precious perfume that night, though, to pay worshipful respect to the Savior of the world. That’s what she chose to do with it.

What she didn’t lavish on Him that night, she could keep for His burial. Jesus said that quite matter-of-factly. That prophecy would become reality very soon.

When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,  because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. John 12:9-11

The Jewish leaders were driven in their determination to kill Jesus. They were also incurable sensation-seekers. They were curious to see Lazarus in his normal habitat, living as usual, though he had been dead. But there was now more to their motivation: the chief priests also intended to kill Lazarus! Think about it. Those religionists made it their mission to kill the Creator of all life, and also to kill one to whom He had just restored life. What breathtaking arrogance. What illogical objectives. Surely only Satan himself could inspire such a futile plan. Their reason for wanting Lazarus dead: his resuscitation had caused many of the people to believe in the power and authority of Jesus.

Clearly, the Jewish leadership was losing its grip on the common folk. The common folk were beginning to separate themselves from religion. Their religion was a system of empty ritual. Jesus was the giver of life, truth and freedom. Who wouldn’t want what He had to give? Religious tyrants, that’s who.

The devil’s children. (John 8:44)

The Plot to Kill

After Lazarus died, and as his sisters were mourning, there were many Jews gathered at Bethany to share in their grief. Some were real friends of Lazarus and his sisters, and as usual, many of them were phony friends; curious onlookers, waiting to see how Jesus would deal with this sorrowful event in this family he loved. What they witnessed was truly spectacular. No one expected to see an unmistakably dead man walk out of the tomb, as Lazarus did, on Jesus’ command. Only the Lord of Life could do such a thing, and they all knew it. Others could move the stone (v. 39) and remove the bindings (v. 44). No one but the Creator of life could return life to a dead body.

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. John 11:45-46

The miracle of raising a dead man thoroughly impressed everyone who saw it. Those who were positive to God’s plan of grace realized immediately that the Person Who performed this miracle was the Messiah they’d been expecting. Therefore they believed in Him. Those who were negative to God’s plan, the religionists, simply saw it as an affront to their legalism and further proof that this man was dangerous and should be killed. Before, they despised Him and His grace teaching. Now, they were afraid of One with such undeniable power. Since He could do these things, He was a threat to them and their system of religious control over their people.

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” John 11:47-48

“Our place” – The Holy Place. The temple. “Our nation” – Israel. The Jewish people. The priests and Pharisees enjoyed great authority over the Jewish people, through their man-made distortions of the Law of Moses, and their rulership of the temple rituals. This powerful Man, Jesus, claiming to be God, was not impressed with their authority. They didn’t know what to do with such a person. What they wanted was to be rid of Him. Since His appearance, nothing would ever be the same.

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. John 11:49-52

Expediency. That is often the rationale for the evil deeds of people in authority. We must do this for the good of the nation. If we allow Him to continue, everything we work for will be lost. One life sacrificed is better than seeing the nation perish. Caiaphas spoke pure truth, but his intention was entirely worldly; political in nature. He spoke God’s plan exactly, but he had no idea of the spiritual meaning behind those words. Caiaphas was planning a drastic solution to what he saw as a threat to the status quo, and he could justify it by saying it would be best for Israel to eliminate this distracting miracle-worker before He became even more attractive to the masses.

So from that day on they made plans to put him to death. John 11:53

Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples. John 11:54

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him. John 11:55-57

Passover was drawing nigh. Many of the priests and Pharisees went into Jerusalem to prepare themselves for that celebration. In the temple, as they were undergoing the purification rites to qualify for Passover, they were plotting to arrest and kill the Lamb of God. Finding Him became job 1.

Finding Him would not be a problem when God’s time became right. He was in charge of this plan. Not the Jews. And no detail in God’s plan will be determined by religion or politics.