23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 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. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 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. 27 “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. 28 Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” 29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die. 34 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?” 35 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. 36 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. 37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word 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?” 39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” 41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. 42 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; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. 44 Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. 46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. 47 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. 48 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. 49 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. 50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
Commentary
Vs. 23-24 23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 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.
In responding to the Greeks request to see Him, Jesus does not make casual conversation with them, instead He gets right to the point of His being In Jerusalem at this time, saying: “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 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. Vs. 23-24 In Jesus’ Words then is first the declaration of His coming Crucifixion death, that through it the Son of Man will be glorified, glorified not at the Cross, but glorified through what He will accomplish through it! Having then foretold His suffering death and the glories that will follow, Jesus now uses an analogy of a grain of wheat to describe how through death not only Jesus, but also all of us as well as His disciples can only bear fruit to God. For unless a grain of wheat dies and is placed in the ground it remains alone, and thus no fruit or harvest comes through it. Similarly, then unless Jesus submitted Himself to Will of God by suffering death on the Cross then no fruit would be born to God through Him, He would’ve returned to heaven empty handed and alone. Therefore, just as Jesus must die in order to bear fruit to God, we too must also die to all our own dreams, desires, ambitions, pursuits and goals in order to bear fruit to God, otherwise we will just remain alone, and our lives purposes will go unfulfilled. Death then for a disciple of Christ is a way of life, for only in dying to self can one live for God, and thus bear fruit to Him. Otherwise we will just remain alone and never fulfill (that is be an active participant in) the Will of God for us, which is where our lives and purposes and significance is truly found.
Vs. 25 “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
The Lord Jesus Christ’s Words here need no commentary, they are self-explanatory! And yet how many when given the opportunity to turn away from their Godless lives, or temporal and or meaningless lives pursuits decided that these were more valuable to them their own soul’s eternal salvation. For the Lord Jesus Christ is clear, it is Him and His Gospel that must always be first and foremost, directing both our persons and our lives. For the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel is not something we add to our lives, but rather He is what we freely give our persons and lives too! For that is what it means to be in a relationship with God, to put Him and doing His Will first and foremost in our lives, thus way above all of our deepest interests and desires! For only when God is God in our lives can we be said to be in a true relationship with Him! For again how many have started off in the faith and yet turned their backs on Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel and gone back to what God had first called them out of because they were unwilling to lose their lives for Him!
Vs. 26 “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.”
Serving then the Lord Jesus Christ must be done while following Him in discipleship, which means keeping His commandments, and thus living out the Gospel in all holiness, righteousness, and truth! For we are being put on display before the world as not only His servants, but examples of the love and grace of God, which not only saves our souls through the Gospel, but also transforms our persons and lives here and now as we are all being conformed into the image of Christ! For we who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are all partakers and ministers of the New Covenant by which we are all to relate to God through (2 Cor. 3:5-6, 9; Heb. 4:14-16). Therefore, let us all who love the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in Him serve Him wherever we are with whatever we have, for as Jesus says and Promises, “If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”
Vs. 27-29 27 “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. 28 Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” 29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”
The Lord Jesus Christ then having foretold the true cost of discipleship knows He must now set Himself to leading the way in this, and in this we get and glimpse into how He is conflicted, because on one hand the flesh wants to save itself, while the Spirit knows that this can never be! Therefore, Jesus says, “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. 28 Father, glorify Your name.” Jesus then in this wrestling moment puts His Father’s Will above His own, for instead of asking to be spared from His upcoming humiliation and suffering death on the Cross, Jesus only asks that the Father glorify His Name, for only that would make it worth it, would make Jesus willingly go forward in faith and endure it! And so just as soon as Jesus spoke those Words His Father in heaven knowing His Son’s heart immediately replied from heaven saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Vs. 28 Thus reassuring Jesus that just as He glorified it when He brought Jesus into the World, so He would glorify it again when He would take Jesus out of the Word after Jesus had suffered Crucifixion death, for Jesus would Rise from the dead before Ascending back to God in heaven! Now the people who were standing by who heard God’s Voice did not understand it as God’s Voice! For they only thought it had just thundered! While others who were not so hardened, only perceived that an angel had just spoken to Jesus. Neither then truly understood the significance of that moment!
Vs. 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.
With the people mostly bewildered as to what had just happened, Jesus now reassures them that this was His fathers voice from heaven. That, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.” Vs. 30 For Jesus didn’t need to audibly hear His Fathers Voice, but the people around Him did, so that they could believe that He is from the Father in heaven!
Vs. 31 “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”
With the Lord Jesus Christ set on going forward in faith the judgment of the world has come, because if there were no sin in it then there would be no need for His Crucifixion death. However, because sin is in it, is the guiding and corrupting force of it, its judgment is to be thoroughly manifest at the Crucifixion of Christ. Similarly then the ruler of this world, Satan, will be cast out, cast out of people’s lives as they come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus the Holy Spirit dwells in them, but also cast of this world and into the lake of fire at the finial Judgment which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will preside over!
Vs. 32-33 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
Jesus then says that, “…if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” Thus, through His own Crucifixion death, Jesus will draw all peoples to Himself. Everyone then will be given an opportunity to repent and believe in Him! The importance then of preaching Jesus Christ Crucified as the Atoning Sacrifice for all our sins of everyone who believes in Him should be the primary message of all Gospel preaching (John 3:16).
Vs. 34 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?”
Sadly, once again the Jews bias’s keep them from not only understanding what Jesus was saying to them, but also seeing His Person for who He is. For they did not understand that through His Crucifixion death Jesus was going to provide the Atoning sacrifice for them, and for all who believe in Him. For they only understood that the Christ (or Messiah) remains forever, which is true (Isaiah 9:6-7; Dan. 7:13-14; Micah 4:7; Luke 1:33 etc.) but His eternal reign only comes after He is first made God’s Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53). And so, they did not want to hear about their Christ (i.e. Messiah, King) being Crucified, which for them was the height of humiliation, to be put to death on a cross by their Gentiles rulers. Therefore, whenever Jesus Christ spoke of His Crucifixion death, here as the Son of Man who must be lifted up, they did not want to listen to Him, and so that became a stumbling block to their believing in Him.
Vs. 35-36 35 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. 36 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.
Knowing that the hour is late, and that His time is at hand, the Lord Jesus Christ now makes a most direct and urgent appeal to them all, and us all saying, “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. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” In appealing to them to forsake their misguided beliefs and believe Him the Lord Jesus once again refers to Himself as the light, as the only One who can and will illuminate the pathway home to heaven for us. Therefore, He urges them and us all while we have the light to walk in the light lest the darkness overtake us! Because there is no other buffer against the darkness, then believing in and obeying the Lord Jesus Christ through His Word! For sin and Satan’s darkness incessant, it does not cease, or simply go away on its own, but it encompasses the world and all things in it! Therefore while we have the light, Jesus urges us all to walk in the light, that is walk in step with Him, and thus not in step with the world and its degenerating morals and values, or even our own beliefs and values when these are outside of the Word of God, because as Jesus warns us all when we don’t have the light (to guide and illuminate the way home for us) then all we have is the darkness, and no one can self guide themselves through this worlds, or even their own souls darkness! For without the Light one only ends up stumbling around from one pitfall to another. Again, while you have the light, the Lord Jesus Christ, believe in the Light that you maybe come sons of Light! Having then urged them to believe in Him, Jesus once again departed from them and was hidden from them (vs. 36), which sadly is itself a testimony about what they truly thought and believed about Him. For Jesus does not stick around in anyone’s life who does not want Him around, instead He leaves them to their own darkness when they refuse to hear Him, or worse outright reject Him. And when that happens then He is hidden from them!
Vs. 37-38 37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word 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?”
And so even though Jesus Christ did so many signs before the Jews, they did not believe in Him, for their unbelief was clearly foretold by Isaiah the prophet. Thus, their unbelief here was a fulfillment of the Word of God, which say’s, “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Now that Scriptural quote is itself the very first verse from the prophecy of the Christ suffering death for every believing sinners’ souls’ redemption (see Isaiah 53:1). And so, because they did not want to believe in their Messiah or Christ being Crucified, of dying with and for sinners, therefore the arm of the Lord; that is His power demonstrated time and again though the Lord Jesus Christ’s mighty acts and deeds was completely hidden from them. For God will not reveal His Son, or His works to those who do not want to believe in Him as the Scripture has said!
Vs. 39-41 39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” 41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
And so, because they wanted to keep to their own ideas and ideals about the Christ, and thus did not want to repent and believe in Him as the Scripture has said, therefore Isaiah also foretold of God’s Judgment on them, when He said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” Isaiah 6:9-10 Therefore God’s blinding their eyes and hardening their hearts came only after they refused the light and revelation of His Word given to them about the Christ! Isaiah though was not so hardened, because as God’s faithful prophet he faithfully told what God had shown him and told him when he saw Christ’s glory!
Vs. 42-43 42 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; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Here it is revealed to us that Isaiah’s prophecy was not encompassing every Jew, for there were some who did truly repent and believe, and here amongst their rulers there were those who believed Jesus. But sadly, they were unwilling to take a stand publicly with Him, or for Him, because they feared being put of the synagogue by the Pharisees, therefore they did not publicly confess Jesus as the Christ, “for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” Vs. 43 And so, for the love of mans praise they doomed their own souls. Instead they should’ve been like the blind man whom Jesus healed, who made his public confession and defense of the Lord Jesus Christ before the Pharisees (John 9). For neither the cowardly (nor the lovers of this world) will inherit the Kingdom of God (1 John 2:15-17; Rev. 21:8). True faith then cannot and will not silent about the Lord Jesus Christ!
Vs. 44-45 44 Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
Jesus now makes another appeal for all people to believe in Him, by linking faith in Himself with faith in God in heaven! For to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is to believe in God in heaven, for the Son and the Father are inseparably linked. Therefore, Jesus also says that He who sees Him, sees the Father who sent Him!
Vs. 46 “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”
Again, Jesus says that His being in the world is to illuminates the world to God, so that people, all the people who believe in Him should not abide in darkness, in that terrible state of spiritual darkness and alienation from God, but rather have the light of life (John 8:12).
Vs. 47 “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.”
When Jesus came, He came as the Savior of the world, not as the Judge of the world. Therefore, when He spoke if anyone did not believe He did not then Judge them, for He first came to save the world by Declaring the Word of God, the Gospel to them, and then Fulfilling it for them, for us all! However, this does not mean that Jesus will not judge the world, (for all Judgment has been appointed to Him, John 5:22), it just means that when He came, He came as Savior, and so He had one focus and that was to bring eternal salvation to everyone who believes in Him. His Judgment then as we will see then comes by His Word which He has spoken.
Vs. 48 “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.”
To then reject the Lord Jesus Christ and the Words which He has spoken is what will lead to one’s eternal condemnation! For it will be His Words which He has spoken that will judge everyone who does not receive Him and His Words on the last day, that is the Day of Judgment, which again is not now but then.
Vs. 49 “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.”
Here the Lord Jesus Christ makes it clear that to reject His Words is to reject the very Word of God! For Jesus did not speak on His own Authority, but He spoke according to the commandment of God! Of God His Father who told Him what He should say and what He should speak! To reject then Him or His Word which He has spoken then is to reject God Himself!
Vs. 50 “And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
Again, Jesus’ Purpose and Mission was not to bring Judgment to the World, though that will come because of their rejecting Him and His Word, but rather to bring everlasting life! For this is the commandment of God the Father that everyone who believes in His Son, who receives Him and His Word, should have everlasting life! Therefore, whatever Jesus speaks He speaks just as the Father told Him, adding nothing to His Word or leaving nothing out! The onus then is on each and every one of us then to repent and believe in the Gospel as the Lord Jesus Christ has declared it to us all!
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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