Experiencing God's Glory

Last week, we spoke about “Following the King” from John 12:12-26. We spoke about Christ’s triumphal entry into our hearts, but then we spoke about going beyond simply thanking and worshiping Him for all He has done to taking steps of faith to follow Him. Following Jesus means no longer following the things that were formerly king in our lives. Unfortunately, many Christians and non-Christians alike worship the spirit of our age which is the god of human freedom. Freedom from all the traditions, values, judgments, and relationships that burden us. No duties, responsibilities, debts, commitments, or relationships must define me. I must be free to define myself and my commitment is to myself. I can determine my own definition of freedom but then I need to consider where my “freedom” actually leads to. Jesus, on the other hand, tells us if we truly want to experience genuine life and freedom, we need to die to ourselves.

Jesus made a promise that the Father will honor those who follow and serve Him. The word for honor means there is a future reward that will not fade nor grow old. In other words, there is a reward in time and also for all of eternity. When we follow Jesus, He will prune us, continually cutting away the things in our lives that keep us far from Him and hinder us from being fruitful. There will be times of testing so we can become more faithful and steadfast, times of heartbreak so we can become empathetic. There will be times when we have to face our own frailty and failures, so we become more humble, forgiving, and gracious towards others.

There will be times of inner and outer conflict because our biblical convictions are at odds with the current cultural Zeitgeist. These are the times when the Lord is teaching us to trust Him, to persevere, and follow Him through very difficult seasons. Let’s turn to John chapter 12.

John 12:27-36

Now My soul has become troubled; and what am I to say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” So the crowd who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him!” Jesus responded and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for yours. Now judgment is upon 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 people to Myself.” Now He was saying this to indicate what kind of death He was going to die. The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how is it that You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; also, the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus proclaimed, and He went away and hid Himself from them.

Jesus wants people to:

? Witness God’s Glory

? Experience His glory

? Respond to His glory

Let’s look at the first point - Jesus wants us to:

Witness God’s Glory

When Jesus said, “Now my soul is in turmoil,” in verse 27, He was responding to what He knew He would be facing within a few short days. Turmoil signifies the revulsion, horror, agitation of what He would be facing on the cross. He understood the darkness and devastation of sin and evil. He knew that to face the deep and furious wrath of an infinite God even for an instant would cause the most profound fear. Jesus was well aware that His suffering would not be over in a minute or two or even ten.

Jesus then poses a rhetorical question within His prayer:

“Should I ask You, Father to save Me from this hour - from what You have sent Me to do?” He immediately answers His own question - “No, for this is the very reason I came.”

This "hour" must be faced and passed through. The "hour" in this passage has about it the air of inevitability.

It represents the fulfillment of the Father's will and Jesus affirms that the reason for His coming was for this very hour. The purpose for Him coming to this earth was not just to preach the Kingdom, teach, do miracles, show Himself as the Messiah. Ultimately the purpose for His coming culminated on the cross when the weight of the world's sin and guilt was fully laid on Him. We cannot even fathom how He felt, we would get upset if someone blamed us for something we did not do, now Jesus took the blame for the entire human race.