Preached on Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010
from
John 12:32-33
Theme: This passage tells us of three glorious things that began to be true when Jesus made His ‘triumphant entry’ into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday,
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
[podcast]http://www.bethanybible.org/audio/032810.mp3[/podcast]
Palm Sunday is an important day. It’s a vital part of our church’s celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It’s the day we commemorate our Lord’s ‘triumphant entry’ into the city of Jerusalem near the end of His earthly ministry. It’s a day we should remember with solemn gratitude; because He entered the city of Jerusalem to die as our Redeemer. But it’s also a day that we should commemorate with great joy—a far greater, in fact, than even people of Jerusalem did on that first Palm Sunday long ago; because He was raised from the dead in great victory just a week later.
To turn our thoughts to Him on this Palm Sunday, I ask you open your Bibles to the twelfth chapter of John’s Gospel, and to what the apostle John has recorded for us of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
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The other Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark and Luke—all tell us the story of the first Palm Sunday. But John’s way of telling the story is unique.
I often think of how John described himself in his Gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”; and of how, at the last supper, he sat so close to the Lord that he was “leaning on Jesus’ bosom” (John 13:23). He would have had the rare privilege of literally hearing our Lord’s own heartbeat. And I believe this is reflected in the way that John was then led to write his Gospel. He doesn’t tell us about all the events that the other Gospel writers tell us concerning Jesus’ life and ministry; but of those events that he does tell us, he goes very deeply into what was going on within our Savior. John’s Gospel truly reveals the ‘heartbeat’ of Jesus to us.
This makes John’s report of our Lord’s triumphant entry very significant. It isn’t as detailed as the other Gospels are in terms of the actual event itself; but it is very detailed in terms of what was on our Savior’s heart on that day. I’d like to call your attention to just a portion of what John tells us in the twelfth chapter of his Gospel—and specifically, to three things that our Lord said happened as a result of His entry into the city.
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Jesus had just entered the city. The crowds were shouting, and celebrating, and waving palm branches in honor of His coming. The Pharisees were grumbling to one another that they were accomplishing nothing against Him, and that it seemed as if the whole world had gone after Him. And then, a remarkable thing happened—something that only John tell us about. Certain Greeks who were among the crowd asked one of the disciples if they may come and see Him. It truly seemed as if the whole world actually was turning to Him; because now, even the Gentiles were expressly seeking Him!
Now; it was in that context—amidst all the shouting and celebrating; and even as Gentile people were seeking Him—that our Lord spoke the sober words that are recorded for us in John 12:27-33;
“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 (John 12:27-33).
Amazing how those sober words at the beginning gave way to those stirring words at the end! And I have felt drawn to this ‘Palm Sunday’ passage because, in it, I believe something very important to our Lord is being revealed in it. At the end of it, Jesus victoriously affirms three great things that were set into motion on the day that He entered Jerusalem to die for us—what we might call “three triumphs” of His “triumphant entry”.
We need to know about those three things in order to celebrate Palm Sunday as the Lord would have us. I ask that we take a closer look at them this morning. But there are so many wonderful truths in this passage that, before we get to those three things at the end, I ask that we first take the time to look at some of the things sober that precede them.
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Look at verse 27. Our Lord said, “Now My soul is troubled . . .” That’s an amazing thing for our Lord to say. And to understand what He meant by those words, we need to view them in the light of verses 23-26.
After the Greek men had inquired to the apostles about Him, and after the apostles told the Lord that those Gentile men were asking to see Him, Jesus answered them and said;
“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” (vv. 23-26).
Jesus says here that His time had at last come—that now, He would be glorified by the events that began by His entering into Jerusalem that final time. As He entered the city, He knew what it was that would would happen to Him. And yet, He went willingly; and testified that as a grain of wheat must die in order to produce fruit, so He would not cling to His own life but would willingly lay it down in accordance with the Father’s will.
But as He faced what lay ahead for Him, He testified, “Now My soul is troubled . . .” The prospect of the cross was something that, in His humanity, caused consternation in His inner being. And it wasn’t only because of the intense pain and physical anguish that the cross would involve. It wasn’t only because of the prospect of dying a horrible and shameful death. Obviously, He wouldn’t have been fully human if He didn’t recoil from such a thing. But it was much more than that alone that troubled His soul. What troubled Him most was the prospect of bearing the guilt of the sin of all mankind on Himself, and having the Father turn away from Him as He became cursed before God in our place.
As our Lord hung on the cross, we’re told that He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). The sinless Son of God bore the guilt of all human sin before God—His most holy Father; and for the first and only time in all eternity, the Father turned away from the Son. None of us could possibly understand the anguish that the bearing of our sin must have involved for God’s righteous Son. But He suffered separation from His Father for a short while, so that we would not have to suffer it throughout eternity.
And He did this willingly. He said that His heart was troubled over it; and yet, He willingly suffered it for us. And by the way; we should remember that the next time we are called upon to suffer for Him. He understands what it feels like to be troubled by the prospect of suffering; and so we can be encouraged by His sympathy for us. But He also faithfully endured the suffering of the cross for us; and so we can also be emboldened by His example of sacrificial love.
But there’s more. Notice that He said, “Now”—that is, as He faced the immediate prospect of the cross—”My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour” (v. 27). I believe that when He asked, “and what shall I say?”, He was speaking rhetorically. He was saying that His soul was genuinely troubled about what was ahead of Him; and that, in His humanness, He could have very easily pray at such a time, “Father save Me from this hour”.
And in His case, He had the assurance that such a prayer would have been immediately answered. When He was arrested in the garden, didn’t He tell Peter, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you not think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” (Matthew 26:52-54)? All that our Savior had to do was ask, and the Father would have saved His beloved Son from that dreadful hour. But even as He waited in the garden for His betrayer to come, Jesus prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39).
And so, as He entered the city, He refused to pray what human frailty would have inclined Him to pray. Even though His spirit was troubled at the dreadful prospect that lay before Him, He affirmed instead that it was for that very purpose that He had come to that hour. It was why He had set His heavenly glory aside, had taken our own human nature to Himself, and had been born into the human family in the first place.
Oh how He loves you and me!
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Now; after our Lord told us what it was that He would not pray—that is, that He might be saved from this dreadful hour—He turned instead to the Father and said, “Father, glorify Your name” (v. 28). That first prayer to the Father was hypothetical; but this second one was genuine. He settled the matter by praying that the Father glorify His own name.
And did you know that one very wonderful way the Bible tells us that the Father is glorified by the Son is through the Son’s obedience in laying down His life for us? During the last supper, when the Lord Jesus released Judas to go out and betray Him, Jesus then turned to His disciples and said,
“Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him” (John 13:31).
Just before He was betrayed, Jesus prayed,
“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).
And because the Father was glorified in the Son’s obedience in laying down His life, the Father is further glorified by the results of Jesus’ obedience. For example, the Father is glorified in the Son’s resurrection—and in it’s ongoing impact upon us. As Paul says,
“Therefore we are buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” Romans 6:4).
And now that we have been purchased to the Father by the blood of Jesus, and now that we have been formed together into one body in Him, the Father is even further glorified through Jesus’ work in us; because as Peter writes,
“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11).
Our beloved Savior had a vision of what lay ahead of Him that went far beyond the cross—and that extended on to the glory would be brought about in us because of it. It was for the joy that was set before Him—that is, the Father’s glory through our redemption—that He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). And so, He didn’t pray to be saved from the hour that was upon Him; but instead willingly prayed, “Father, glorify Your name.”
What a Savior!
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And look further at how the Father responded. We’re told, “Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again'” (v. 28).
How was it that the Father had glorified His name in the past? I believe that it was in the ways that the Father had made Jesus known to the world in earlier times of His ministry. Do you remember how the Father spoke from heaven once before, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist out in the wilderness of the Jordan? We’re told,
When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17).
Surely, the Father was glorified then—in His Son’s willingness to become identified with us in our need by being baptized.
And do you remember how the Father spoke from heaven once again, when Jesus was with His disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration? We’re told that Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him up to a mountain;
. . . and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew 17:2-5).
Surely, the Father was glorified then as well—in the revealing of His Son’s own glory up on the mountain. And now, the Father affirms once more with a third utterance from heaven that He had not only glorified His name in the past through Jesus, but will glorify it again—through His Son’s death on the cross, through His resurrection, and through all that His atoning sacrifice would bring about in us.
As verse twenty-nine tells us, not everyone heard the Father’s voice in the same way. John tells us that some who heard it said that it had thundered—although the fact alone that the Lord Jesus spoke, and a thunderous noise from heaven answered, must certainly have been startling. Others, John tells us, recognized it as a voice; but not as the voice of the Father. They thought that an angel had spoken to Him. And even today, people still don’t always know what to make of the Father’s testimony of His Son. But apparently the apostle John had a clearer understanding of that voice; because he was able to tell us not only that it was indeed a voice, but also what it was that the voice said.
And note that Jesus Himself didn’t need to hear that voice. He didn’t need for the Father to answer Him and tell Him that He had not only glorified His own name in the past, but would glorify it again. Jesus said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake” (v. 30). It was to prove to all that the death He was about to die was the will of the Father, and that the Father would be glorified in it.
Glory to His name!
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Now; all of this is important to see as we come to those three “triumphs” that Jesus speaks of at the end of this passage. That which Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem to accomplish on that first Palm Sunday was something that caused Him to be troubled in His spirit. The agony of the cross—and the separation He would experience from His Father there because of the guilt of our sin—was a dreadful prospect. But it was one that He willingly endured in obedience to the Father’s will; saying “Father, glorify Your name.” And even the Father Himself affirmed that He would be glorified by the sacrifice of His beloved Son on the cross, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”
And that leads us to those three glorious things that Jesus said would now happen as a result of His entry into the city to die for us.
The first glorious triumph that Jesus mentions is . . .
1. THE JUDGMENT OF THIS WORLD.
“Now”, Jesus said, “is the judgment of this world” (v. 31a). Jesus didn’t mean, of course, that the Judgment Day had right then come. Rather, He meant that His entry into Jerusalem set into motion the events that would now put the whole world at the crossroads; so that Judgment Day is now as sure as if it had right then come! Now, the whole world must deal with Him. Now, every human being must decide what to do with the fact that the Son of God died on the cross, and rose three days later. And on that coming Judgment Day, what they will have done with that fact will be the basis of their standing before a holy God.
Back in John 3:18-21, we read that
“. . . God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (John 3:18-21).
The fact that Jesus has come into the world, has obeyed the Father, has died on the cross for sin, and has been raised from the dead, now strikes a dividing line across all mankind. As far as the Father is concerned, there are now only two types of people in this world: those who believe on His Son, and those who will not; those who are in Christ by faith, and those who keep themselves outside of Christ through unbelief; those who have come into the light, and those who have hidden themselves from it. When men stand before God, the question will be, “What have you done with Jesus Christ?”; and it’s on the basis of the answer that each man and woman in this world will be judged.
So; this is the first great “triumph” that has come about because Jesus willingly came into Jerusalem on that great day long ago—”Now is the judgment of this world.”
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There’s a second triumph that Jesus mentions; one that makes the first even more triumphant for those who have believed on Him . . .
2. THE CASTING OUT OF THE DEVIL.
“Now,” He goes on to say, “the ruler of this world will be cast out” (v. 31b). The devil has been the deceiver of mankind from the beginning. He is the enemy of our souls. But he became a defeated enemy when Jesus went to Jerusalem to die on the cross for us. The Bible calls him “the accuser of our brethren” (Revelation 12:10). He points the finger at us before God, accuses of how our sins make us worthy of eternal death, and insists that we condemned in judgment to the full. But the ground of the devil’s accusation against us was taken from him when the Son of God gave Himself to die in our place. As the writer of Hebrews tells us;
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself [that is, Jesus] likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:14-15).
The devil may be the ruler of this world for a time; but his ‘casting out’ began decisively on the day that Jesus submitted Himself to pay the debt of death on our behalf. During the Last Supper, our Lord told the disciples, “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30). He was not able to tempt our Savior away from the cross; nor will he able to make an accusation stand against us before God because of it. And now, though he may still be active in this world for a season—as Martin Luther’s victorious hymn puts it—”lo, his doom is sure”!
So; this is the second great “triumph” we celebrate today—”Now the ruler of this world is cast out.”
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And there’s one more thing to note. Jesus goes on tell us of the third great “triumph” He set into motion on that day . . .
3. THE DRAWING OF ‘ALL MEN’ TO HIMSELF.
Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (v. 32). And just so that we will properly understand His meaning, John adds, “”This He said, signifying by what death H e would die” (v. 32).
Perhaps the best commentary we could have on this is the one that’s found back in John 3. He eluded to the story from the Old Testament of how the children of Israel sinned greatly by complaining against Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” they said. “For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread” [that is, the Manna God had provided for them]. And in punishment, God sent “fiery serpents” among them to bit them; and many of the people who were bitten died. But God commanded Moses to make a bronze replica of one of the serpents, put it up on a pole, and raise it high for everyone to see. And whoever was bitten by a serpent, if they looked at the bronze serpent, they lived (Numbers 21:4-9). John 3:14-17 says,
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:14-17).
There’s almost a double meaning to Jesus being “lifted up”, isn’t there? He was literally lifted up on the cross to die for our sins. But He has also been figuratively “lifted up” for all to see; so that whoever believes on Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
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So; as we commemorate the entry of our Lord Jesus into the city of Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday—as we reflect on the sober fact that He came to die for us—let’s be sure that we also celebrate the three great “triumphs” that He affirmed were brought about by His “triumphant entry”:
“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.”
And let us, with Him, triumphantly say, “Father, glorify Your name!”