John 12.1-50
The events of John 12 mark the end of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus to the nation of Israel. He is presented in ch.1 as the eternal Word who came into the world in order to express, in Himself, the clearest and most detailed declaration of God to His people. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds" (Heb 1.1-2). The fullest and most eloquent statement of divine truth was encapsulated in one Word, and that Word was the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth. In the signs He gave by the outworking of His wonderful power, by the words He spoke, and in every part of His life the Lord Jesus declared who He was and why He had come. Divine claims upon a chosen but rebellious nation were expressed with a clarity that left no room for ignorance. Such was the fullness of the Word that any subsequent refusal to repent on the part of Israel and its leaders must come from outright rebellion, not misunderstanding or lack of comprehension.
The blindness of Israel
If ignorance be the ground of mercy (Num 15.25; Acts 17.30; 1 Tim 1.13) then the nation, and its rulers in particular, were consigning themselves to inevitable judgment because the Word had spoken with undeniable clarity and truth. Even uncertainty in those who were not in themselves antagonistic to Christ could not be claimed as an excuse. Was it really possible that the carpenter of Nazareth, the son of Mary, was the Messiah of the Scriptures? The Lord had to say to His own, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" (Jn 14.7-9). The blindness of the nation was deep indeed, but there was no darkness that the Light of the world could not penetrate.
The completed public declaration
The public declaration of the Word was completed by the Saviour when He said, "He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak" (12.44-50). A word is used to convey thought, and it has to be clearly expressed in order to do so. The eternal Word, the Truth, had spoken, and the closing words of the Lord's public ministry were, "even as the Father said unto me, so I speak".
The final "Verily, verily" of the Lord's public ministry was pronounced after He had said, "The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified" (12.23). But the time when the Son of man will be glorified is still future, the time when He returns to establish His millennial Kingdom upon the earth. "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed" (Dan 7.13-14). "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory" (Mt 25.31).
The home at Bethany
In what sense, therefore, did the Lord mean that "The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified"? The answer may be found in the three events that are recorded by John in the earlier verses of the chapter. The first is in vv.1-3 where we find the Lord at Bethany. What must the quiet, loving fellowship of that home have meant to Him? It was perhaps the one place where He could refresh Himself among those who loved Him for Himself, where no one was looking to accuse Him or trip Him in His words. Often so weary and in need of rest, the Saviour could always repair to Bethany where those dear saints would delight to make Him welcome and show their devotion to Him. Ought not every believer strive to reproduce a home like this? Do our homes have an open door to those of the Lord's people who are lonely and weary? Do young believers away from home as students need an appointment to visit us, or can they turn aside at any time from a world of ungodly ways and awful conversation to come and rest in the sanctuary of our Christian homes? Can we not apply the words that the Lord will speak in the day of His glory, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Mt 25.40)?
The scene at Bethany is a lovely one. Mark tells us that the house was that of "Simon the leper" (Mk 14.3), and we can assume that Simon was there and no longer afflicted with that dread disease. Lazarus was also there and, with those lovely sisters Martha and Mary, there they made Him a supper. Is not this a delightful cameo of the church in glory? Simon (the living changed) and Lazarus (the dead raised) are seated with others in precious fellowship with Christ.
The cry of the multitude
The second event in John 12 is recorded in vv.12-15. The Galilean multitude "Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt" (vv.13-15). This momentous day is shown by Sir Robert Anderson in his book The Coming Prince to be the very one on which the first 69 weeks of Daniel's prophecy came to an end. Now it was time for Messiah to "be cut off" (Dan 9.26). On this day a light shone upon the prophecies of Daniel (9.26), Isaiah (62.11), Zechariah (9.9) and David (Ps 118.25-26) but, within a week, the same people would be crying, "Crucify Him"!
The seeking Greeks
If we have a glimpse of the raptured Church in the events at Bethany, and a sight of the restored nation of Israel receiving their Messiah in vv.12-15, the millennial picture is completed in vv.20-23 when the Greeks said, "Sir, we would see Jesus". The separate divine programmes for the Church, the Jew, and the Gentile will all dovetail together when "The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified". The foregleams were all there so the Lord said, "The hour is come", but the reality could not be known until the Saviour had suffered at Calvary. So He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit". All future blessing for the Church, for Israel, and for the nations of men would be contingent upon the mighty work at Calvary. What a harvest will yet result from the falling into the ground of that corn of wheat! We see Him desperately alone and forsaken in Psalm 22.1-2 but, as a result of that suffering, we read, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren" (v.22), "all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee" (v.27), and "A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation" (v.30). "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" (Is 53.11).
To be continued.
