As God is My Witness

 

For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.  And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.  --Philippians 1:8-11

Imagine it is the year 2450.  NASA has established a colony on Mars.  It is the highlight of human scientific achievement.  But as the years go by there are economic depressions, wars, and protests against "sending money into space while children starve here on Earth."  Communication with the Red Planet stops, and the space shuttle missions taking supplies start to become less frequent until they finally stop.

The people in the Martian outpost become discouraged.  Their existence becomes more and more hopeless.  Over time they adapt to find ways to survive the darkness, the cold, and the isolation.  After several generations, the stories of life on Earth seem less real and more like a fable or myth.

Suddenly, a gleaming metallic orb is seen in the sky.  As it approaches, its light shines brighter than the sun.  As its orbit descends and the craft achieves touchdown on the surface, a loudspeaker proclaims their mission.  "Good people of Mars, the people of Earth send greetings.  We bring good news, for we come with food, clothing, medicines, and building supplies.  Come and see.  For those who want to leave, we will take you back to Earth with us."

What do you think the reaction of the colonists might be?  Some might be afraid and run away.  Others may stand at a distance and watch with guarded curiosity.  Others might come close, grab a morsel, and run away like a scared rabbit, telling others to watch out.  There might only be a few who believe the message and approach the vessel.  These few have faith in the space travelers, and only they will receive the gifts offered to them.

This story shows us how our human nature sometimes leads people to not act in their own self-interest.

Many who study the New Testament will wonder how those people in the past could hear the words of Jesus and see His mighty works and not believe.  In the 12th chapter of John's Gospel, we are reminded that God had prophesied that most people would not believe.  The God who made us knows us intimately.

But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the words of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"  Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, les they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.  These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.  --John 12:37-41

John's narrative has several themes:  Signs.  Glory.  Faith.  All of these are emphasized here in the summary of the Gospel to this point.  Some Bible scholars divide John's Gospel into two unequal parts: the Book of Signs (1:1-12:50) and the Book of Glory (13:1-21:25).  NT Wright in his commentary John for Everyone writes

John has been telling us the story of a new creation.  The 'signs' have been building up: water into wine in chapter 2, the nobleman's son in chapter 4, the healing of the cripple in chapter 5, the bread in the desert in chapter 6, the man born blind in chapter 9, and most recently the raising of Lazarus in chapter 11.  And John has hinted, and will say again later (20:30), that Jesus did many, many other 'signs' as well.  These six are just the tip of the iceberg, selected to make their individual points about new creation, new dimensions to God's work, new Exodus, new life, new light.  And yet...

And yet they did not believe, just like God had predicted in Isaiah 53:1 and Isaiah 6:9-10.  Does God know human nature, or what?  He also knew about those who would hang out around the edges, believing but not committing.

Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.  --John 12:42-43

Scottish theologian William Barclay said that secret discipleship is a contradiction in terms, for "either the secrecy kills the discipleship, or the discipleship kills the secrecy.”  Jesus had just explained in verse 26 that if anyone served Him, they would receive honor from God.  Yet there were many who loved the honor that comes from other men more than the praise that comes from God.

Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.  --John 12:44-50

I am not a Greek scholar, but I am told that the verb tense in verse 44, when John says that Jesus cried out, indicates that He kept on crying out.  In other words, this was a recurrent theme.  This passage echoes Christ's conversation with Nicodemus in John 3.  Here where John writes about light and darkness, we are reminded of John 3:19, "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light."  And when John writes about judgement, we hear John 3:17 where it says, "God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him."  And when John says that Jesus is speaking the words given to Him by the Father, we hear John 3:34, "He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure."

Again from NT Wright

We do well to ponder all this, to reflect on our own response to John's portrait of the Word made flesh.  This is the point in the story when Jesus speaks to the crowds in Jerusalem for the last time.  The next time they see Him it will be as a prisoner, standing before Pilate.  He will be on trial, and His words will be sifted as evidence against Him.  But the real trial is already under way, here in chapter 12.  Jesus is staring into darkness, and the darkness is staring back.  And everyone who reads this chapter must, sooner or later, make up their minds which side they're on.

As God is my witness, I could not have said it any better myself. 

To God Be the Glory

Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.  --Isaiah 43:7

Frances Jane Crosby was born in southeast New York in 1820.  At six weeks old she contracted an eye infection that resulted in blindness.  She attended the New York Institute for the Blind from 1835 to 1843.  In 1858 she married Alexander van Alstyne, a blind teacher.  Very soon after they were married, this blind couple had a child.  Unfortunately, the child died in infancy.  The child's death upset them terribly, and the couple ended up divorcing.

Tragic, right?

Through all this pain and suffering, however, Frances (or Fanny to her friends) remained a committed Christian.  Throughout her life, she wrote over 8000 hymns of faith.  One of the hymns she wrote was To God Be the Glory.

In our Bible study today, we continue with a theme of Glory that was begun last time.  To recap, in John 12:23, Jesus said, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified."  Then He spoke of a grain of wheat being buried and dying, so that it would produce much grain.  We can see, then, that when Jesus spoke of Himself being glorified, He did not mean that He would achieve fame or fortune.  He was not talking about His picture being on the cover of The Rolling Stone.  He wasn't speaking of being Time magazine's "Man of The Year," or being listed as one of People magazine's "Ten Sexiest Men Alive."

Not even close.

When Jesus spoke of being glorified, He was referring to His own death.  As we will read in our passage today, Jesus humbling Himself to the point of death was to bring glory to God.

"Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."  This He said, signifying by what death He would die.  The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'?  Who is this Son of Man?"  Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.  --John 12:27-36

We see that Jesus's only purpose was to glorify the Father.  In the Synoptic Gospels, we read of Jesus's prayer in Gethsemane, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not as I will, but as You will."  John's account here sheds some light on that prayer.  Jesus was not praying, "Father, save Me from this hour," because His whole purpose for coming to Earth was to die a sacrificial death.  In doing the Father's will, Jesus was glorifying God.

Next, a voice from heaven spoke:  "I have glorified My name and will continue to glorify it."  Jesus and the Father are of the same mind here.  This is the third time God's voice was audibly heard by those who followed Jesus.  The first was at His baptism, when God said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."  The second was at the Transfiguration, when He said, "This is My Son; hear Him."

When I read about the peoples' reception to this audible voice of God, I am reminded of Jesus's parable of the sower.  Some seed fell on hardened ground--in this case, this refers to those who thought God's voice was merely thunder.  Some seed fell on rocky or weedy ground, corresponding to those who acknowledged the audible voice, but attributed it to an angel.  Only the faithful ones, whose hearts were ready to receive it like the good ground in the parable, heard and acknowledged the voice of God.

Jesus says the voice of God was not for His benefit, but for the people who heard it.  If you hear the voice of God and respond to it by faith, you will have authority over Satan by the power of God through Jesus.  In this way the "ruler of this world" will be cast out.

Next, we see that Jesus uses a figure of speech that, in this case, has a double meaning.  Today in American English, we refer to death as "passing away."  When we hear someone speak of a loved one "passing away" we know that they have died.  In the same way, when Jesus spoke of being "lifted up", everyone there would have understood it not only as dying, but of a public execution.  In history we have read of public executions by hanging, where criminals were "lifted up", or decapitations, where heads were "lifted off" of people.  Therefore, when Jesus said that He would be "lifted up," the people knew what He meant.

This caused the people to question Jesus.  Their reading of the Torah indicated that Messiah would live forever.  So how was He claiming to be the Messiah but predicting His own death?  It didn't make sense to them.  Jesus had already taught His disciples what would happen.  Mark 9:31 says, "For He taught His disciples and said to them, 'The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.  And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.'"

In our passage here in John 12, Jesus only warns them to walk in the light while the light is still with them.  Walking in darkness increases the risk of them losing their way.  

When we think of Jesus being lifted up, we think of Him as being glorified, exalted, and praised.  We know now that Jesus was raised from the dead, and His resurrection is why we lift up His name in praise.  It is why we give Him glory.  It is why we sing with Fanny J. Crosby

To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.

When it's time, it's time....and it's time.

 

Time is a created thing.  To say, "I don't have time" is to say, "I don't want to."  --Lao Tzu

When an expectant mother says, "I think it's time," there is a paradigm shift.  Everything stops.  Everyone around drops whatever they are doing.  Nothing is more important than bringing the woman to the hospital or else bringing the midwife to the soon-to-be mother.

There are times in our lives when the status quo comes to an abrupt halt, when a single event alters our trajectory in such a way that we look back on that event as pivotal.  Before that singular event, we were one way; but after, we were forever changed.

There was a time in the life of Jesus and His disciples that was pivotal.  The meaning of "bringing people to Jesus" changed.  The meaning of ministry changed.  The meaning of discipleship changed.  And it all happened when Jesus said, "The time has come that the Son of Man should be glorified."

Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.  Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.  But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.  Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.  If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.  --John 12:20-26

 Jesus was spending His time teaching in Jerusalem, near the Temple.  Some men approached who spoke Greek, the predominate world language at the time.  Commentator David Guzik writes, "These Greeks had heard of Jesus, perhaps of His reputation as a teacher and worker of miracles. What they did know of Jesus made them want to know more about Him, so they came to Philip (the one disciple with a Greek name) asking to see Jesus."

Philip wants to check with the other disciples, perhaps to see if there is any conflict in Jesus's schedule.  Maybe it was someone that Peter knew, and not finding him Philip seeks out Andrew, Peter's brother.  We are not told of the details, but we do know that this was an established form of evangelism.  The New Cambridge Bible Commentary called it "social networking."  We have seen it before:  In the beginning of Jesus's ministry, Andrew brought Simon to Jesus and Philip brought Nathaniel.  Later in John's Gospel we see that the Samaritan woman brought the men of her village to "come and see."  We know that Martha brough Mary to Jesus.

Today, sadly, most of our evangelistic efforts stop at inviting people we know to church.  By contrast, effective evangelism is people going outside the church walls and giving testimony of Jesus to other people.  In the Great Commission, Jesus did not tell us to "go into all the world and invite all men to church."  He said instead that we should make disciples of all men.  We should bring them to faith in Jesus first, then help them find a local Bible-believing church to be involved in.

We see next in our passage that when the disciples try to introduce these Greek seekers to Jesus, He says, "My time has come."  We are reminded of the first sign miracle in John 2, when Jesus's mother tells the servants, "Do whatever He tells you."  Jesus said to Mary, "My time has not yet come."  In another passage in John 7 when the Jews tried to arrest Jesus, John said "no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. (verse 30)"  

Here we see a dramatic shift in priorities.  Like an expectant mom who says, "It is time!" Jesus expresses the same sentiment.  The difference is that instead of saying it is time to add one more convert, one more disciple, one more new life in the kingdom of God, Jesus says the time has come for Him to be glorified.

The Miriam-Webster dictionary says "glorify" has four distinct meanings: to make glorious by bestowing honor, praise, or admiration; to light up brilliantly; to represent as glorious, i.e. extol; to give glory to, as in worship.  Here, Jesus says the time has come for the process to start, the end result of which will be His glorification.  However, the process is not yet complete; it is just starting.  

Jesus's words here can be seen as poetic.    In Jewish poetry, there is not so much rhyming words as rhyming ideas.  It begins with a statement, which we will call A, followed by another statement, called B.  Then the second statement is restated; let's call this "B prime" or B'.  The final line is a restatement of the first, called "A prime" or A'.  Let's look at Jesus's words in this context.

A.  The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

B.  Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

B'.  Those who love their life, lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves Me must follow Me, and where I am there will My servant be also.

A'.  Whoever serves Me, the Father will honor.

Assuming that "glory" and "honor" refer to the same value in antiquity, the two brackets (A and A') speak of divine honor shown, first to Jesus ("glorified") and then to His servants ("honor").  Why?  For walking the way described in B and B'.  The talk there is of dying and bearing fruit, hating and keeping, or becoming a servant and being honored.  All recognize this as the type of radical discipleship demanded by Jesus (see Mark 8:34-38).   --The New Cambridge Bible Commentary.

In short, in order for Him to be glorified, He must die.  Only then will He bear much fruit.

The same goes for us.  We must die to self in order to be like Him.  Romans 6 makes this clear.

What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised form the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.  For he who died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  --Romans 6:1-11

Jesus foretold of His death when He spoke of a seed being planted and dying in order to produce much fruit.  It would not happen immediately; He must first go through the "labor pains" of a mock trial, of being whipped and beaten, of having a crown of thorns thrust upon His head and His being nailed to a cross.  The entire process would produce a paradigm shift.  No longer would God's mercy be limited to a particular nation, but grace would be available to the whole world.  No longer would we be bound by the Law, but by faith in Him we can find salvation.

The crucifixion and resurrection marked the beginning of a sea-change in history, a shift in cosmic order and religious freedom.  Even though secular humanists want to do away with historical designations like BC and AD, the truth is that even what they call BCE or "before common era" refers to history before Jesus, and what they call CE or "common era" refers to history after Jesus.  

Oh, and if you are still wondering about the riddle posed in the graphic above, the answer is it's time to get a new clock.