And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die. The multitude answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever. How do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?’ Who is this Son of Man?”
Show the surrounding paragraph
John 12:32-34 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Jesus answered, “This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die. The multitude answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever. How do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?’ Who is this Son of Man?”
Parallel Translations
-
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die.
The multitude answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever. How do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?’ Who is this Son of Man?”
-
And I yf I were lifte vp from the erthe will drawe all men vnto me.
This sayde Iesus signifyinge what deeth he shuld dye.
The people answered him: We have hearde of the lawe that Christ bydeth ever: and how sayest thou then that the sonne of man must be lifte vp? who is that sonne of man?
Show all 3 translations
-
And I, if I were lift vp from the earth, will drawe all men vnto me.
Nowe this sayd he, signifying what death he should die.
The people answered him, We haue heard out of the Law, that that Christ bideth for euer: and howe sayest thou, that that Sonne of man must be lift vp? Who is that Sonne of man?
Cross-references (46)
- John 3:14 (v32) As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
- John 8:28 (v32) Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as…
- Ezekiel 37:24-25 (v34) “ ‘ “My servant David will be king over them. They all will have one shepherd. They will also walk in my ordinances, and observe my…
- Isaiah 9:7 (v34) Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold…
- 1 Peter 2:24 (v32) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.
Show all 46 cross-references
- Daniel 7:14 (v34) Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an…
- 1 John 2:2 (v32) And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
- John 1:7 (v32) The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him.
- 1 Timothy 2:6 (v32) who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony in its own times,
- Psalms 110:4 (v34) Yahweh has sworn, and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
- Daniel 2:44 (v34) “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to…
- Daniel 7:27 (v34) The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, will be given to the people of the saints of the Most…
- John 6:44 (v32) No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
- Galatians 3:13 (v32) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”
- Hebrews 2:9 (v32) But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor,…
- 2 Samuel 7:13 (v34) He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
- John 3:14-16 (v34) 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,…
- Romans 5:17-19 (v32) For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the…
- Psalms 89:36-37 (v34) His offspring will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me. It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in…
- Hosea 11:4 (v32) I drew them with cords of a man, with ties of love; and I was to them like those who lift up the yoke on their necks; and I bent down to…
- John 5:25-27 (v34) Most certainly I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live. For as…
- John 18:32 (v33) that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die.
- 1 Peter 3:18 (v32) Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the…
- Revelation 5:9 (v32) They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your…
- Deuteronomy 21:22-23 (v32) If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on…
- Psalms 22:16-18 (v32) For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all of my bones.…
- Psalms 72:17-19 (v34) His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed. Praise be…
- Isaiah 49:6 (v32) Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of…
- Micah 4:7 (v34) and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and Yahweh will reign over them on Mount…
- Matthew 22:42-45 (v34) saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.” He said to them, “How then does David in the…
- John 19:17 (v32) He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”,
- Psalms 72:7 (v34) In his days, the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
- John 21:19 (v33) Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
- Romans 5:18 (v34) So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.
- Isaiah 53:8 (v34) He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and…
- John 8:53-58 (v34) Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify…
- John 10:34 (v34) Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’
- John 12:32 (v34) And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
- John 15:25 (v34) But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
- Romans 3:19 (v34) Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world…
- Matthew 8:20 (v34) Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
- Matthew 16:13 (v34) Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
- Matthew 21:10 (v34) When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”
- John 12:34 (v32) The multitude answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever. How do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted…
- 2 Samuel 18:9 (v32) Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his…
- Song of Solomon 1:4 (v32) Take me away with you. Let’s hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv32, 34 32. If I be lifted up. Next follows the…
32. If I be lifted up. Next follows the method by which the judgment shall be conducted; namely, Christ, being lifted up on the cross, shall gather all men to himself, in order that he may raise them from earth to heaven. The Evangelist says, that Christ pointed out the manner of his death; and, therefore, the meaning undoubtedly is, that the cross will be, as it were, a chariot, by which he shall raise all men, along with himself, to his Father. It might have been thought, that at that time he was carried away from the earth, so as no longer to have any interests in common with men; but he declares, that he will go in a very different manner, so as to draw upwards to himself those who were fixed on the earth. Now, though he alludes to the form of his death, yet he means generally, that his death will not be a division to separate him from men, but that it will be an additional means of drawing earth upwards towards heaven.
I will draw all men to myself. The word all, which he employs, must be understood to refer to the children of God, who belong to his flock. Yet I agree with Chrysostom, who says that Christ used the universal term, all, because the Church was to be gathered equally from among Gentiles and Jews, according to that saying,
Read full note →
There shall be one shepherd, and one sheepfold, (John 10:16.)
The old Latin translation has, I will draw all things to me; and Augustine maintains that we ought to read it in that manner; but the agreement of all the Greek manuscripts ought to have greater weight with us.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v32 Chrysostom and Theophylact refer this word, All, to all…
Chrysostom and Theophylact refer this word, All, to all nations: that is, not to the Jews only.
Christ used a word, which hath a double meaning: for it signifieth either to lift up, or to rid out of the way, for his meaning was to put them in mind of his death, but the Jews seem to take it another way.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv32–34 32 And I, if I be lifted up from…
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Ver. 32. And if I be lifted up, &c.] Pope Urban VI said that these words, "Give unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s," were abolished when Christ was lifted up from the earth, and drew all things to him; that is (as he expounds it), when Christ ascended, he drew to the pope’s empire all kings and their kingdoms, making him King of kings and Lord of lords. (Jacob. Rev. de vit. Pen.) Is not this a sweet interpreter?
Read full note →
I will draw all men unto me] As the wind called Caecias, being a north-east wind, contrary to the nature of the north wind, drives not away clouds, but draws them to him.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv32, 34 However this term of lifting up Christ is taken…
However this term of lifting up Christ is taken in some other scriptures, it is by the evangelist himself in this text expounded concerning his death, so as there is no room for any other interpretation of it in this text. The word that is used, is hardly to be found in any place (except where in Scripture it relates to Christ) signifying to die, or put to death; but is very proper, both to express the kind of his death, which was a lifting up upon the cross, from the earth into the air; and to let us know that his death was a lifting up of his name: as it was the lowest degree of his humiliation, so it was nearest to his exaltation. It was his highest act of obedience to the will of his Father, that for which his Father highly exalted him, giving him a name which is above every name, Phi 2:9; and also that which made his name famous over all the world, by the preaching of the gospel; for as the apostles, so all the ministers of the gospel since their times, preach a Christ crucified. Saith our Saviour, If, or although, I be put to death by the hands of the Jews, lifted up upon the cross between heaven and earth, yet this shall not hinder my Father’s glorifying of himself in and by me; for instead of obscuring or hindering my Father’s glory, by this I shall further promote it. For by the preaching of my cross, and publication of my gospel to all nations, and by the efficacious concurrence of my Holy Spirit, together with the preaching of the gospel, I shall draw (though not all, and every man, yet) multitudes of men and women after me, so as they shall embrace and believe in me, having died and risen up again from the dead, and being by my apostles, and other ministers of the gospel, held forth as the object of people’s faith, to be by them laid hold upon in order to their eternal life and salvation. He used the term of lifting up, (saith the evangelist), to signify the particular death he should die, by being crucified; in which death the bodies of the crucified abode not upon the earth, as when they were at any time stoned, or strangled, or beheaded, &c., but were lifted up from the earth to be nailed to the cross, and hung in the air until they died.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v34 Observe here, 1. The objection which the Jews make…
Observe here, 1. The objection which the Jews make against our Saviour’s being the true Messias. Their argument runs thus: " It was foretold under the law, that Christ or the Messias abideth for ever; but thou sayest, the Son of man must be lifted up and die. How then canst thou be the promised Messias?" The answer is, " In his state of humiliation unto death, he was lifted up: but, in his state of exaltation, he abideth for ever."
Learn hence, that Christ’s lifting up by death, and his abiding for ever, do very well consist together; for both are true of him, the one in his state of humiliation, the other in his state of exaltation.
Read full note →
Observe, 2. Our Saviour returns no answer to their cavilling objection, nor doth he undertake to demonstrate how his sufferings and his abiding for ever, are consistent: but gives them intimations that he was the light of the world, and advises them, whilst they had, the light with them, to prize it highly, and improve it faithfully. Yet a little while is the light with you, walk whilst ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.
Note here, 1. A choice and singular privilege enjoyed; the light is with you, a personal light, Christ; a doctrinal light, the gospel: both these brought with them a light of knowledge, answering our darkness of ignorance; a light of grace and holiness, answering our darkness of sin, which we had brought upon ourselves; and a light of joy and comfort, answering the darkness of misery and horror, which we lay under by reason of our guilt.
Note, 2. The time of enjoying this privilege limited: yet a little while is the light with you. The time of a people’s enjoying the light and liberty of the gospel, it is a limited time, it is a short time.
Note, 3. A duty enjoined by Christ answerable to the privilege enjoyed by us; Walk whilst ye have the light. An uniform and constant course of holy walking, according to the rule of the gospel, is the indispensible duty and obligation of all those that enjoy the light and liberty of the gospel; namely, to walk according to the precepts and commands of the gospel, answerable to the privileges and prerogatives of the gospel, answerable to the helps and supplies of grace which the gospel affords, and answerable to the glorious hope and expectation which the gospel raises us unto.
Note, 4. A danger threatened to the neglecters of this duty; lest darkness come upon you; namely, a darkness of ignorance and judicial blindness, a darkness of error and seduction, a darkness of horror and despair, and the fatal and final darkness of death and hell; for all contemners of gospel-light, there is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Where sin and torment run parallel, their torment makes them sin, and their sin feeds their torment.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv32–34 This he said,.... These are the words of the…
This he said,.... These are the words of the evangelist, interpreting the design of Christ in the above words, thereby
signifying what death he should die; the phrase of being lifted up from the earth, not only signified his death, but the kind, or manner of it, that it should be by crucifixion; a person crucified being stretched forth upon a cross, and that erected, was lifted up between earth and heaven.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv32, 34 Lifted up from the earth - This is a…
Lifted up from the earth - This is a Hebraism which signifies dying. Death in general is all that is usually imported. But our Lord made use of this phrase, rather than others that were equivalent, because it so well suited the particular manner of his death. I will draw all men - Gentiles as well as Jews. And those who follow my drawings, Satan shall not be able to keep.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv32, 34 Verse 32. I - will draw all men unto…
Verse 32. I - will draw all men unto me.] After I shall have died and risen again, by the preaching of my word and the influence of my Spirit, I shall attract and illuminate both Jews and Gentiles. It was one of the peculiar characteristics of the Messiah, that unto him should the gathering of the people be, Ge 49:10. And probably our Lord refers to the prophecy, Isa 11:10, which peculiarly belonged to the Gentiles: "There shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ENSIGN of the people, to it shall the GENTILES seek, and his rest shall be glorious." There is an allusion here to the ensigns or colours of commanders of regiments, elevated on high places, on long poles, that the people might see where the pavilion of their general was, and so flock to his standard.
Instead of παντας, the Codex Bezae, another, several versions, and many of the fathers, read παντα, all men, or all things: so the Anglo-Saxon, [A.S.], I will draw all things to myself. But παντα may be here the accusative singular, and signify all men.
Read full note →
The ancients fabled that Jupiter had a chain of gold, which he could at any time let down from heaven, and by it draw the earth and all its inhabitants to himself. See a fine passage to this effect in Homer, Iliad viii. ver. 18-27.
Ειδ' αγε, πειρησασθε θεοι, ἱνα ειδετε παντες,
Σειρην χρυσειην εξ ουρανοθεν κρεμασαντες·
Παντες δ' εξαπτεσθε θεοι, πασαι τε θεαιναι. κ. τ. λ.
"Now prove me: let ye down the golden chain
From heaven, and pull at its inferior links,
Both goddesses and gods: but me your king,
Supreme in wisdom, ye shall never draw
To earth from heaven, strive with me as ye may.
But I, if willing to exert my power,
The earth itself, itself the sea, and you,
Will lift with ease together, and will wind
The chain around the spiry summit sharp
Of the Olympian, that all things upheaved
Shall hang in the mid heaven. So much am I,
Alone, superior both to gods and men.
COWPER.
By this chain the poets pointed out the union between heaven and earth; or, in other words, the government of the universe by the extensive chain of causes and effects. It was termed golden, to point out, not only the beneficence of the Divine Providence, but also that infinite philanthropy of God by which he influences and by which he attracts all mankind to himself. It was possibly in allusion to this that our Lord spoke the above words. Should it be objected that it is inconsistent with the gravity of the subject, and the dignity of our Lord, to allude to the fable of a heathen poet, I answer:
1. The moral is excellent, and, applied to this purpose, expresses beautifully our Lord's gracious design in dying for the world, viz. That men might be united to himself, and drawn up into heaven.
2. It is no more inconsistent with the gravity of the subject, and his dignity, for our blessed Lord to allude to Homer, than it was for St. Paul to quote Aratus and Cleanthes, Ac 17:28, and Epimenides, Tit 1:12; for he spoke by the same Spirit.
So justice was sometimes represented under the emblem of a golden chain, and in some cases such a chain was constructed, one end attached to the emperor's apartment, and the other hanging within reach; that if any person were oppressed he might come and lay hold on the chain, and by shaking it give the king notice that he was oppressed, and thus claim protection from the fountain of justice and power. In the Jehangeer Nameh, a curious account of this kind is given, which is as follows. The first order which Jehangeer issued on his accession to the throne (which was A.H. 1014, answering to A.D. 1605) was for the construction of the GOLDEN CHAIN of Justice. It was made of pure gold, and measured thirty yards in length, consisting of sixty links, and weighing, in the whole, four Hindostany maunds (about four hundred pounds avoirdupois.) One end of the chain was suspended from the royal bastion of the fortress of Agra, and the other fastened in the ground near the side of the river. The intention of this was, that if the officers of the courts of law were partial in their decisions, or dilatory in the administration of justice, the injured parties might come themselves to this chain, and, making a noise by shaking the links of it, give notice that they were waiting to represent their grievances to his majesty. Hist. of Hindostan, p. 96, Calcutta, 1788. Such a communication, prayer and faith establish between the most just and most merciful GOD, and the wretched and oppressed children of men. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come! Ps 65:2.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v34 Joh 12:34-36. The people answered — Understanding the phrase…
Joh 12:34-36. The people answered — Understanding the phrase as implying some violent death shortly to come upon him; We have heard out of the law, that Christ abideth for ever — On hearing Jesus affirm that he was to be lifted up, or taken off by a violent death, they told him that it was inconsistent with the character of the Messiah, who, according to the law, (so they named the whole of their sacred writings,) was never to die. And how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? — How can these things be reconciled? Who is this Son of man? — Is he a different person from the Messiah, whom we have been taught to expect under the title of the Son of man? If not, what sort of a Messiah must he be that is to die? Then Jesus said — Not answering them directly, but exhorting them to improve what they had heard already; Yet a little while is the light with you — As if he had said, Do not cavil at what I now say; but remember how short this opportunity is, which through the divine goodness you now enjoy; and improve by my instructions, who am the light of the world. See on Joh 8:12. Lest darkness — That is, spiritual blindness; come upon you — By the just judgment of God. Rom 11:25. If that should happen to you, ye will be in a miserable condition indeed: For he that walketh in darkness, knoweth not whither he goeth — Knoweth neither the way he is walking in, nor the end he is walking toward: he knows not into what danger and misery he may fall the very next step he takes: and much more dreadful will it be for you to be deserted of God, and left to the darkness and folly of your own hearts. Observe, reader, he that is destitute of the light of the gospel, that is unacquainted with its discoveries and directions, wanders endlessly in mistakes and errors, in a thousand crooked paths, and is not aware of it: he is probably going to destruction, and knows not his danger: he is sleeping, or sporting, on the brink of the pit. While you have the light, therefore, believe in the light — While you enjoy the benefit of my doctrine, example, and miracles, which clearly prove my mission from God, believe on me; for it is thus alone you can become children of light — Children of God, wise, holy, and happy. These things spake Jesus — When the Greeks applied themselves to him; and as the unbelieving Jews were greatly irritated by the actions and discourses of the day, and would not be awakened to conviction, he left them and departed thence to a retired place. Greek, απελθων εκρυβη απ’ αυτων, which Dr. Campbell renders, He withdrew himself privately from them: observing, that he thinks our translation, he departed and did hide himself from them, “conveys a sense different from that of the original, which denotes simply, that in retiring he took care not to be observed by them.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv32, 34 Be lifted up - See Joh 3:14; Joh 8:28.
Be lifted up - See Joh 3:14; Joh 8:28.
Will draw - Joh 6:44. The same word is used in both places.
Read full note →
All men - I will incline all kinds of men; or will make the way open by the cross, so that all men may come. I will provide a way which shall present a strong motive or inducement - the strongest that can be presented to all men to come to me.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv32, 34 And I, if I be lifted up from the…
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth: that is, on the cross. See the same expression, John iii. 14. and viii. 28. --- I will draw all things, all nations, to myself by faith. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv32–34 And I, if I be lifted up from the…
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me--The "I" here is emphatic--I, taking the place of the world's ejected prince. "If lifted up," means not only after that I have been lifted up, but, through the virtue of that uplifting. And truly, the death of the Cross, in all its significance, revealed in the light, and borne in upon the heart, by the power of the Holy Ghost, possesses an attraction over the wide world--to civilized and savage, learned and illiterate, alike--which breaks down all opposition, assimilates all to itself, and forms out of the most heterogeneous and discordant materials a kingdom of surpassing glory, whose uniting principle is adoring subjection "to Him that loved them." "Will draw all men 'UNTO ME,'" says He. What lips could venture to utter such a word but His, which "dropt as an honeycomb," whose manner of speaking was evermore in the same spirit of conscious equality with the Father?
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv32–34 32. If I be lifted up—This lifted up is…
32. If I be lifted up—This lifted up is beautifully ambiguous. It is at once the humiliation and the exaltation. It is the shame and the glory. For, lifted on the cross, he is the central object, the divine magnet, attracting by its secret power the spirits of all men unto him. He draws, not drags. He exhibits an element of affinity for all his brethren of the human race. To him they all experience a secret gravitation, which, would they but obey, would make them one with him. Yet they are not pieces of iron but living agents. The magnetic attraction is divinely natural, but not physically necessitating. Its strongest attractions may be rejected; its gentlest drawings may be obeyed. All, of every age and every land, have sufficient to enable them to come, and to render them responsible for the great rejection. “I will draw them unto me; and this means ultimately, away from the earth into heavenly places; yet only through the cross, and, therefore, first of all, to Me on the cross. This is the sense of where I am, Joh_12:26.”—Stier.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv32–34 32. And I] ‘I’ is very emphatic in opposition…
32. And I] ‘I’ is very emphatic in opposition to ‘the ruler of this world.’ The glorified Christ will rule men’s hearts in place of the devil.
be lifted up] Raised up to heaven by means of the Cross: we need not, as in Joh_3:14 and Joh_8:28, confine the meaning to the Crucifixion, although the lifting up on the Cross may be specially indicated. The words ‘from the earth’ (literally, out of the earth) seem to point to the Ascension; yet the Cross itself, apparently so repulsive, has through Christ’s Death become an attraction; and this may be the meaning here. For the hypothetical form ‘if I be lifted up,’ comp. ‘if I go,’ Joh_14:3. In both cases Christ is concerned not with the time of the act, but with the consequences of it; hence He does not say ‘when,’ but ‘if.’
Read full note →
will draw] There are two Greek words for ‘draw’ in the N.T., one of which necessarily implies violence, the other does not: it is the latter that is used here and in Joh_6:44; the former is used Act_14:19; Act_17:6. Man’s will is free; he can refuse to be drawn: and there is no violence; the attraction is moral. We see from Joh_6:44 that before the ‘lifting up’ it is the Father who draws men to the Son.
all men] Not only the Jews represented by the Twelve, but the Gentiles represented by these Greeks.
unto me] Better, unto Myself, up from the earth.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv32–34 (32) And I, if I be lifted up from…
(32) And I, if I be lifted up from the earth.—The pronoun is strongly emphatic. “And I,” in opposition to the prince of this world; the conqueror in opposition to the vanquished foe. The conditional form, “If I be lifted up,” answers to the “troubled soul” of Joh_12:27. He knows that it will be so, but He leaves the future to declare its own truths. Comp. the phrases, “If it be possible,” “If this may not pass away from Me” (Mat_26:39; Mat_26:42), and Note on Joh_14:3. The words “lifted up” have occurred before in Joh_3:14; Joh_8:28; but the context here shows that they include the thought of the ascension into heaven. It is from the heavenly throne that the Messiah will rule over His spiritual kingdom.
Will draw all men unto me.—Better, . . . unto Myself. The words “all men” are not to be limited by interpretations which refer them to nations, or to elect persons within nations; but are to be taken in all the fulness of their width as meaning simply what they say—“all.” The drawing unto Himself is the assertion of His reign over the world, from which the prince of evil shall be cast out. He will Himself be the centre of the new kingdom, from which none shall be shut out. These Greeks who are drawn to Him now are the first-fruits of the harvest of which the whole world is the field, and of which the last day is to be the great ingathering. The word “draw” occurs once in the New Testament, besides this passage, in a moral sense (Joh_6:44; comp. Note on it there). It is accomplished in the work of the Holy Spirit, whose mission to the Church was dependent on the ascension of our Lord (Joh_7:39; Joh_16:7); and the promise is fulfilled even in the case of those who resist the Holy Spirit’s influence. They are drawn by the moral power of the life and death and resurrection of Christ brought home to them by the Holy Ghost; but no moral power can compel a will which is free. (Comp. Note on Joh_6:37.) The whole mission-work of the Church and every effort which Christianity brings to bear upon the evil of the world implies this moral drawing; and implies, too, the power of man to reject it. But we may not say this moral power is not leading men to Christ, where we can least trace it, and we may not say that there is any limit where its influence ends. (Comp. Note on 1Pe_3:19.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv32, 34 Vers. 32, 33. And I, if I be lifted…
Vers. 32, 33. And I, if I be lifted out of (or, from) the earth, will draw all (men) to myself. Now this he spake, signifying by what death he was about to die. Uqwyw has been by Meyer, as well as many of the Fathers, referred to the Lord"s resurrection and ascension. The ek thv ghv would certainly be in favor of it, and be a possible rendering if we hold (with Westcott and others) that resurrection and uplifting from the earth involve and presuppose a previous death, or that John always speaks of Christ"s death as itself a glorious thing, as itself the commencement of the supreme glory of the Son of man. On the other hand though this idea is reiterated by the opponents of the Fourth Gospel there is nothing in the New Testament which makes the cross of Christ in itself a symbol of the exaltation of Jesus. Moreover, the next verse compels a closer reference to "the way in which he was about to die a mode of departure admirably expressed by the term "uplifting." The language of Jesus to Nicodemus, in which the same word occurs in describing the lifting up of the Son of man after the fashion in which the serpent was uplifted in the wilderness, confirms this interpretation of the evangelist, which we have no claim to traverse. (cf. also Joh_18:32 Joh_21:19) Christ declared that the attraction of the cross would be mightier than all the fascination of the prince of this world. The word elkusw , "I will draw," is applied elsewhere (Joh_6:44) to the Father"s work of grace, which preveniently prepares men to come to Christ. In these words we learn that the attraction of the cross of Christ will prove to be the mightiest and most sovereign motive ever brought to bear on the human will, and, when wielded by the Holy Spirit as a revelation of the matchless love of God, will involve the most sweeping judicial sentence that can be pronounced upon the world and its prince. In Joh_16:11 the belief or the conviction that the prince of this world has been already condemned (kekritai) is one of the great results of the mission of the Comforter.
Divine attraction.
Read full note →
The shadow of the cross lay athwart the path of Jesus. His soul was troubled, for the hour was come. The grain of wheat was about to fall into the soil, and there to die. Yet our Savior looked beyond the near to the distant future. He knew that, though the hour was come, it was the hour in which God should be glorified; that though the seed should die, it should bear much fruit; that though he himself was about to be lifted up from the earth, he should draw all men unto himself.
I WHO WAS HE WHO LOOKED FORWARD TO A PROSPECT SO GLORIOUS? This must be asked, because the words used are such as from ordinary lips might naturally be deemed but vain boasting. How often have conquerors hoped to subdue the world, thinkers to convert all mankind to their opinions, preachers and promulgators of religious systems to win the empire over the hearts of the race! Experience has dispelled many such illusions; and we are slow to accept claims to universal dominion. Who, then, was he who uttered this confident expectation that all men should be drawn to him? To all outward appearance a peasant, a teacher, a healer, a reformer, a benefactor of his fellow men. What prospect was there of one in such a position realizing a hope so vast? And how, if he was about to be crucified, could he find the cross a means to such an end? The thing seemed incredible, even to his own adherents and friends. If Jesus had been a mere man, although a saint or a prophet, such language would have been egotism. But Jesus knew the purpose of the Father, and felt within him the consciousness of power to achieve a work so great. And the events which followed the Resurrection and Ascension, and especially the Pentecostal outpouring opened the eyes of his disciples to the glory of their Master"s Person, the power of his Spirit, the certainty of the prospect he beheld,
II WHAT WAS THE CONDITION OF THE EXERCISE OF THIS SUPERHUMAN" POWER? The expression, "lifting up," as applied by Jesus to himself, is interpreted for us by the evangelist. Used three times, it denotes, in each instance, the manner of Christ"s death, the lifting up upon the cross. This was, indeed, to be followed by the lifting up to the Throne of empire and of glory. As a Savior, Jesus was crucified; as a Divine Savior, he was exalted. The wisdom of God, the power of God, were to be displayed in this triumph of humiliation, suffering, and death.
III WHAT WAS THE NATURE, THE ACTION, OF THIS ATTRACTIVE POWER? It is very significant that the "drawing" which Jesus exercised displayed itself even whilst he hung upon the tree. The multitude gathered around; and if the soldiers viewed the scene with indifference, there were women who watched and wept, and there were among the people those who smote their breasts in sorrow and in fear. But we have to notice, not the curiosity or the natural emotions excited by the spectacle of one suffering crucifixion, but the spiritual attraction of Calvary. The incomparable love and pity manifested by the Crucified possess a mysterious charm. It is the Shepherd smitten for the flock he came to save, it is the Friend laying down his life for his friends, who exercises this Divine magnetism. They who discern in the Lord"s sufferings and death the appointed means of man"s redemption, who know that "with his stripes we are healed," can understand how a spiritual force emanates from the cross as gravitation from a central sun. Man"s nature is such as to be affected by the exhibition on Christ"s part of love stronger than death, of compassion worthy of a God. That the sacrifice of our Redeemer had its bearing upon the government of God this is clearly taught in Scripture. But here our Lord lays stress upon its bearing upon the heart of man, upon human society and human prospects.
IV WHITHER DOES THE CRUCIFIED ONE DRAW THOSE WHOM HIS INFLUENCE AFFECTS? The suffering, the glorified Redeemer draws men away from sinful affections and sinful courses; he draws them unto safety, peace, and life. But it is observable that Christ declares his purpose to draw them "unto himself, i.e. to enjoy his fellowship, to participate in his character. A personal power draws men to a personal Savior, Friend, and Lord. Men are drawn by the cross, not to Christianity, but to Christ.
V WHAT IS THE RANGE OF THIS ATTRACTION? Jesus is a universal Savior. He proposes and promises to draw all men unto himself. The firstfruits of this harvest were yielded whilst he still hung upon the tree. The conversion of the dying malefactor, the enlightenment of the centurion, were an earnest of greater victories. It was the intention of Christ to save friends and foes, Jews and Gentiles. And the facts of history are a proof of the extent to which this intention has already been fulfilled. The idolater has forsaken his "gods many;" the Jewish rabbi has abandoned confidence in the "letter," and has learned to rejoice in "the Spirit;" the philosopher has found the wisdom of God better than the wisdom of this world. Human beings of all grades have felt and yielded to the Divine attraction of the cress. The young and the old, the profligate and the ascetic, the tempted, the aged, and the dying, are day by day being drawn unto the heart of Immanuel. The marvels of Pentecost were an omen of a new life for all nations of mankind. The apostles themselves witnessed enough to convince them of the truth of their Master"s words, the depth of their Master"s insight, the vastness of their Master"s prophetic view. Looking back, and looking around, we learn to look forward with an inspiring confidence to the realization of a promise so benevolent and so glorious as this from the lips of him who was about to die. T.
The saving influence of Christ.
Notice it
I IN SOME OF ITS CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES.
1. It is the influence of the greatest Person. "And I," etc. To know something about influence, let us ask who influences?
(1) The Son of God. The eternal Word, who was in the beginning with God, and is God. Thus the source of the influence is Divine, infinite, and exhaustless.
(2) The Son of God in human nature. The eternal Word manifested in the flesh, assumed the nature he came to save, and in that nature taught men by precept and example, and manifested before them the most powerful and fascinating attributes of the Divine and human, in a beautiful combination, and led them on to their highest destiny.
(3) The Son of God in personal contact with the human race, with a full knowledge of, and an intense sympathy with their spiritual wants, inspired with the purpose of salvation, and a passionate desire to advance their spiritual welfare. Thus the fallen human nature is brought again within the moral attraction of the Divine.
2. The influence of the greatest Person, having made the greatest sacrifice. "And I, if I be lifted up." The incarnate Word laid down his life as a sacrifice for sin. This sacrifice is infinite, perfect, and matchless.
(1) It is the manifestation of the greatest love. Divine love for the salvation and happiness of the fallen human family. The tongues of men and angels together could not set forth the greatness of the Divine love so eloquently as the Divine sacrifice offered on Calvary. If it be asked how great is God"s love towards fallen man, the most expressive answer is in the words of the evangelist, "God so loved," etc.
(2) It removes all difficulties to reconciliation with God. In it all Divine claims are satisfied, and human enmity slain, and the mightiest hindrances to Divine attraction are removed.
(3) It furnishes the most powerful motives to reconciliation. In the light of this sacrifice sin appears most hateful, its consequences moat disastrous, while virtue appears most charming, and God most attractive. As an instrument it is calculated in the highest degree to arouse the conscience in condemnation of sin, to melt the heart, to bend the will, and to attract the whole nature from sin to holiness, from the kingdom of darkness to that of light. The supreme and all-conquering motive furnished by it is God"s love.
(4) It procures the most powerful helps to reconciliation. The
Holy Spirit, with all his influences, gifts, and blessings. All that man requires in order to return to God is furnished through Christ and the sacrifice of his blood.
3. The influence of the greatest person in the most advantageous position. The lifting up from the earth refers to the consequent exaltation as well as to the crucifixion.
(1) A position of the most complete triumph, a triumph achieved under the most disadvantageous circumstances, on a cross, achieved over the mightiest foes of God and man, and achieved on behalf of God and man. Man now has only a conquered foe to encounter.
(2) A position of the highest honor and glory. Glory won through shame, life procured by death, the glory of victory and self-sacrifice. If he achieved so much on a cross, what can he not do under a crown?
(3) A position of the greatest authority and power. Authority and power native and acquired. "All power is given me," etc. All the realm of spiritual forces, good and bad, is under his control.
4. The influence of the greatest Person exercised in the most efficient way. "I will draw," etc. Man is to be drawn, not driven. The saving influence of Christ is voluntary, not compulsory; it is moral and spiritual, influences man through his mental and spiritual nature, and binds the heart and will with the cords of love, and gently draws them Godwards.
II IN ITS GLORIOUS TRIUMPH. This we see if we consider:
1. The objects of its attraction. In order to estimate the drawing power of any influence, let us consider who are drawn, and from what.
(1) The greatest sinners sunk in the deepest sin.
(2) Inspired with the deadliest enmity against God and virtue.
(3) Backed up by the mightiest spiritual opponents of God and virtue. But in spite of all, "I will draw," etc.
2. The c ompleteness of the drawing. "Unto me," etc.
(1) Unto faith in him.
(2) Unto his character and likeness.
(3) Unto his position and society. The drawing will be most complete; hence the glory of the influence his triumph.
3. The extensiveness of the attraction. "All men," etc. Jews and Gentiles? More than these. We shall not, in the presence of the cross of our Lord, venture to limit this phrase, but let it tell its simple but grand tale of the glorious triumph of saving grace through Christ.
(1) This extensive idea is in perfect harmony with human need. All have gone astray from God, and require to be drawn to him. The greater the want, the greater the mercy.
(2) It is in perfect harmony with the Divine will. "Who willeth that no man should perish, but that all should turn," etc.
(3) It is in perfect harmony with the infinitude of the sacrifice. Is it not naturally adapted to draw, and does it not deserve to be universally successful?
(4) It is in perfect harmony with our highest notion of the supreme Being as a God of infinite love.
(5) It is in perfect harmony with many other expressions of Gods revealed will.
(6) It is in perfect harmony with our highest motions of the ultimate glory of God.
4. The certainty of the attraction. This lies:
(1) In the Divine purpose.
(2) In the Divine provision.
(3) In the Divine promise. Jesus has not promised to do more than he has purposed, is willing, and fully able to do.
LESSONS.
1. What the foes of Jesus thought would punish him, was the very thing to advance his interests. They said, Crucify him, and his influence will be at an end." He said, "Crucify me, and I will draw," etc.
2. Time and eternity are on the side of Christ, and also the superior power of Divine principles. Truth is more powerful than error, good than evil, and the attractions of Jesus mightier than the evil one. Let Christ have time, and his promise will be fulfilled, and Divine love triumphant.
3. It is better for the sinner to yield now than to battle with Divine love. It would be far better for the prodigal to return soon after leaving his father"s house, than after experiencing the keenest pangs of hunger. Return he did at last. B.T.
The all-attracting Jesus.
I THE AIMS AND HOPES OF JESUS DIFFERENT FROM THOSE TO WHOM HE SPOKE. Those who questioned and criticized him cared for no country but their own. Not that they were ignorant of other Countries, for they went to live in them, but they still kept communion and close touch with Jerusalem. The Jew liked to make money out of the Gentile, and so he would go and live in the Gentile city, but it never seemed to strike him that the God of the Jew was God also of the Gentile, and that the Christ for whom the Jew waited was needed by the Gentile just as much. But Jesus, being himself the Christ, longed inexpressibly for the hour when he should begin to draw all men to himself. Even in the days of his flesh he began to draw the Gentiles. For even as Jews went to dwell in Gentile lands, so Gentiles came to dwell in the Jewish land; and when Jesus went about doing good, humanity in all its pressing need overleaped the bounds of nationality, and came to him for help.
II OUR AIMS AND HOPES ARE ALSO DIFFERENT. Most part of men certainly do not care to be drawn to Jesus. Jesus is interested in everybody, while our deep, underlying desire is to get as many people as possible interested in us. We are mightily grieved if other people do not think almost as much about us as we do about ourselves. But it is not quite so much a matter of course to be interested in other people. And to be interested in Jesus, to set ourselves in real sober earnest to find out all we can about him, may strike us as an eminently unpractical thing.
III Look AT THIS DRAWING POWER IN THE EXERCISE OF IT.
1. The purpose of Jesus is clear. He made that abundantly plain while he lived under the conditions of ordinary humanity. The times of retirement and avoidance of men were only exceptional. The miracles of Jesus were advertisements in the best sense of the word. His wondrous works were things that people talked about, and were meant to have this effect.
2. The motive also is clear. All were to be drawn, because of the need of all. We all need Jesus, just as every growing plant in the field needs the sunshine and the rain. As none can live the natural life without air and food, so none can live the higher life without Jesus. We can never be what we were meant to be, until Jesus the Christ is using us for himself. We are like unlighted candies, and Jesus alone can light us. The glory of a candle is in its burning, and the glory of a human being is in his shining Christianity. We ourselves feel the paramount claim of need upon us, and shall Jesus not feel it?
3. The means must be noticed. Drawing, not driving. The only effectual compulsion is that of love. We must be drawn because we cannot help it. So long as we prefer self-indulgence, ease, mere drifting, we shall not be drawn. We must come within the circle of which Jesus is the Center. Then shall we ever tend more and more toward that Center. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v34 We have heard out of the law that Christ…
Joh_12:34-36
We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever.
Read full note →
Misunderstandings and explanations
I. MISUNDERSTANDINGS (Joh_12:34). They considered perhaps that Ps Isa_9:7; Dan_7:13 referred to Christ. Their question would be, therefore, If Thou art to die, how canst Thou be the Messiah? We know who the Son of Man in the Old Testament is; but who is this Son of Man? Men have always misunderstood the Cross. It is foolishness to the Greek, etc.
1. Some now speak of the Cross as a means of appeasing the wrath of the Almighty.
2. Some as a transaction that will purchase souls.
3. Some as the procuring cause of Gods love.
4. Whereas it is the effect, demonstration, channel of Gods love for man.
II. EXPLANATIONS. Christ does not explain the difficulty by logical disquisition, but by exhorting them to practice holiness (verse 35). It is the pure heart, not the logical understanding, that solves the problems of Christianity. Christ urges the spirit of holiness on three considerations.
1. Their possession a special advantage. They had the light with them. From Christs presence, words, deeds, holiness beamed brightly on them. They were moving in the rays of the highest moral excellence.
2. Their special advantage was only temporary--Yet a little while. A few days more and their moral sun would be set. Mans opportunities for spiritual improvement are very transient.
3. The departure of their special advantage would expose them to danger--He that walketh in darkness, etc. To walk on in moral darkness to the great eternity, how dismal and dangerous!
4. The right use of their advantage would fill them with light (verse 36). Trust in Christ will fill the soul with Divine illumination. The entrance of Thy Word giveth light. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Who is this Son of Man?
The Son of Man
This question of utter bewilderment negatives the supposition that it was equivalent to the Messiah. The two names do not cover the same ground; for our Lord avoided the one and habitually used the other. The name is found on no other lips, and no man applied it to Christ but Stephen. The two apparent instances in which it occurs--in Revelation--probably read a, not the Son of Man. It has been supposed to be taken from Daniel. No doubt there is a connection, but the Prophet speaks of one like a Son of Man, in contradistinction to the bestial forms. What, then, is the force of the name?
I. CHRIST THEREBY IDENTIFIES HIMSELF WITH US.
1. The name declares the fact of the Incarnation and the reality and fulness of His humanity. It is employed where special emphasis is to be placed on our Lords manhood.
(1) As, e.g., when He would bring into view the depth of His humiliation--Foxes have holes, etc. Not merely am I individually homeless, but Iam so because I am truly a Man, the only creature who builds houses, and the only creature that has not a home. Foxes can rest any where; any bough will do for birds; I, as the representative of humanity, wander a pilgrim. We are all restless and homeless: the creatures correspond to their environment. We have desires and needs that wander through eternity; our Representative hath not where to lay His head.
(2) When He would emphasize the completeness of His participation in our conditions. The Son of Man came eating and drinking--having ordinary dependence on external things: nor unwilling to taste whatever gladnesses may be found in mans path through the supply of natural appetites.
(3) When He would emphasize this manhood as having truly taken upon itself the whole weight and weariness of mans sin. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, etc.
2. All these instances suggest to us
(1) How truly and blessedly He is bone of our bone etc. All our joys, sorrows, wants were His. The Son of Man is our Brother and Example.
(2) Is it not beautiful that this name, which emphasizes humiliation, and weakness, and likeness to ourselves, should be always on His lips. Just as if some teacher who went away into savage life might adopt some barbarous designation and say, That is my name now.
II. CHRIST THEREBY DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF FROM US, and plainly claims an unique relationship to the whole world. How absurd it would be for one of us to perpetually insist on the fact that He was a man, and the very frequency and emphasis with which the name comes from our Lords lips lead one to suspect that there is something behind it. The impression is confirmed by the article the.
1. Appropriately, then, the name is used with suggestions of authority and dignity, contrasting with those of humiliation. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, hath power on earth to forgive sins, etc. And it is significant that the designation occurs more frequently in the first three Gospels than in the fourth, which is alleged to present higher notions of Jesus. In substance Christ claims, what Paul claimed for Him, to be the Second Adam. Aristotle is but the rubbish of an Adam, and Adam is but the dim outline sketch of a Jesus. The one man as God meant him, the perfect humanity, is He who claimed that for Himself, and as He did so said, I am meek and lowly of heart. Who is this Son of Man? A perfect Son of Man must be more than a Son of man--the Christ the Son of the living God.
2. The name is employed in connections in which He desires to set Himself forth as the solitary medium of all blessing to mankind--The Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many, the angels of God ascending and descending, etc.,--the Medium of all communication between earth and heaven. He who is perfect manhood touches all men, and all men touch Him, and the Son of Man whom God hath sealed will give to every one of us bread from heaven.
III. THE PREDICTIVE CHARACTER OF THIS DESIGNATION. If not a quotation from it is an allusion to the prophecy of Daniel. Hence we find the name occurring in passages which refer to Christs second coming--Hereafter ye shall see, etc. He hath given Him authority, etc. Standing at the right hand of God.
1. The name carries with it a blessed message of the present activity and perpetual manhood of the risen Lord. Stephen does not see Him sitting, but standing, as if He had sprung to His feet on response to the cry of faith from the first of a long train of sufferers. He is the ever-present Helper.
2. That perfect manhood will be our Judge. It could not end its relationship on the cross or at the Ascension. That He should come again is the only possible completion of His work. That Judge is our Brother. So in the deepest sense we are tried by our Peer. With the omniscience of Divinity will be blended the sympathy of humanity. Conclusion: Let us lay hold by true faith on the mighty work which He has done on the cross, then we shall rejoice to see our Brother on the throne. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Yet a little while is the light with you
Light and its little while
I. THE LIGHT. Light is that which reveals, as darkness hides. Christ is the Light: He reveals the Father, the Fathers love and righteousness, and all the riches of His grace; and we, opening our eyes to take in this light, are thereby enlightened.
II. THE SIGHT WITH US. The first gleam came in the first promise. After that the rays multiplied. Then the Light came and remained here for thirty-three years. It is still, though impersonally, with us; and it will be yet more gloriously so when Christ comes again. We may withdraw from it, but it never withdraws from us. We may shut our eyes and our windows, but the light still shineth--not starlight or moonlight, but sunlight. The darkness comprehendeth it not. Oh dark world, child of darkness, when wilt thou let in the light.
III. THE LITTLE WHILE OF THE LIGHT. Our Lords personal presence. There are other little whiles. Israel had hers; the Churches have had or are having theirs; so with nations, congregations, souls. A little while of Sabbaths, sermons, sacraments, providences, and all is done. Then the light departs, and its little while for thee may be near. Improve it. Jesus is coming, but with darkness to the despisers of the light.
IV. THE USING OF THE LIGHT. Walking is equivalent to the whole of a mans life. Our Lords meaning is Use this light for whatever you do.
1. Believe in the light, and in no other. The light of reason, literature, science will do nothing for the soul. At best they are but starlight, clear but cold, distinct but distant. God proclaims His testimony concerning this light, and it wants admission.
2. Become children of the light. He into whom it enters becomes a child of light, and a light to others.
V. THE REFUSAL TO USE THE LIGHT--by neglect, delay, hatred, rejection. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Too late
A man who would enjoy the pleasures of this world said it was too soon for him to think of another world. He journeyed, and was taken ill very suddenly, and in the middle of the night, at an inn. The people there sent for a clergyman. He came; and the dying man, looking him in the face, before he could speak, said to him, Sir, it is too late! The minister said, Christ is able to save to the uttermost, and explained the gospel to him. He replied, Sir, it is too late! The clergyman asked, Will you allow me to pray with you? His only reply was, Sir, it is too late! He died, saying, It is too late! (Arvine.)
The similitude of the light
I. A GRACIOUS PRIVILEGE. While, or as ye have, etc.
1. Great. A day without light, a world without the sun, expressive but faint emblems of a soul without spiritual illumination, of humanity without Christ.
2. Present. The world was never without it, but only since the Incarnation has it attained to meridian splendour.
3. Temporary. It is not permanent to us any more than it was to the Jews, or than the natural light is to any.
II. A SOLEMN DUTY. Believe in the light.
1. Plain. Christs language neither vague nor ambiguous.
2. Easy. It is not work or suffer for, but only believe, trust, walk in the light.
3. Continuous. It is not one act of faith and then all is done. Walk implies continuance and progress.
III. A GLORIOUS RESULT--That ye may become, etc.
1. Magnificent. The light, for man, can illuminate his understanding, purify his heart, quicken his conscience, vitalize his spirit, direct his conduct, beautify and dignify His whole life. It can put Him in direct contact with and assimilate him to Him who is the Light.
2. Designed. This it does not unexpectedly or accidentally, but purposely and necessarily.
3. Certain. He who walks in the light will as certainly be transfigured by it as the flower is transformed into a spectacle of beauty by the beams of the sun. Lessons
1. Thankfulness to Him who hath furnished the light.
2. Watchfulness lest the light should pass away unimproved.
3. Hopefulness with respect to the future of those who believe on the Saviour.
4. Pitifulness for the fate of those who still walk in darkness. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
The gospel of light
The gospel is light. This marks its origin from heaven. It is no human device, but comes from God Himself. It is light. This denotes its truth. It is fitting that what is truth, without mixture of error, should be compared to the most simple substance in nature. It is called light because of its penetrating and subtle nature. Kindle it up, and no shade is so gross that it cannot penetrate it; there is no imposture so well devised which it will not expose; there are no works of darkness which it will not drag to light and shame; there is no conscience so callous but this light will search it. It is called light, because of the discoveries which it makes. It is a great light. It makes manifest the invisible God, in His awful and mild glories. It shows Him in His works, His providence, and His grace; it opens to view the path of peace which has been so long lost; it presents the model and the promises of holiness; displays the connection between the present state of probation and eternity; it plays round the darkness of the tomb, and illuminates the mansion of the grave with hope of a resurrection; it makes the future start to sight, and is both the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. But it is called light for another reason. It is life and health to the world; it shows us the Sun of Righteousness, rising with healing in His wings. The comparison is made to the parent bird, warming her young to life, and giving health and strength by brooding over them. Such is the sun to nature. It warms to life, purges the atmosphere of its vapours, and renews the health of the world. Such is the light of the gospel. Where it prevails, spiritual life is inspired, and the moral disorders of the soul give place to health and vigour. (R. Watson.)
Children of light
I. LIGHT is the symbol of
1. God the Father (1Jn_1:5). He is the Medium through which all spiritual things are discerned. It is only in God, as light, that we can see God or have any notion of Him. The old pervasiveness of light, too, is an apt emblem of omnipresence.
2. Christ Himself (Joh_1:4). He is the Light of God to man in a state of darkness. Without Him we cannot know God, ourselves, or the relations between the two.
3. The written Word (Psa_119:105). The fact of our receiving the light in any of these senses throws upon us a vast amount of responsibility.
II. BELIEVE IN THE LIGHT. Not believe it, or about it, or reason about it, but believe so as to participate in it. Of what use is it for man to believe in the fact of the sun, or in some theory about it, or to reason about its effects, especially if he is charged with some mission which requires its light, if he persists in keeping his shutters closed. Yet how many there are who, requiring the Light of the World to illuminate their path to heaven, content themselves with mere orthodox views about Him. Numbers are more ready to argue about the Divinity of Christ than to say with adoring trust, My Lord and my God. Numbers more are content with acknowledging Gods claims and the reasonableness of Bible precepts who never think of fulfilling the one or walking by the other.
III. CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT means more than being enlightened. Children implies parentage, propagating power. Light produces light, and by believing in Him who is the Light we become light in the Lord. And if light as applied to God sets forth His perfections, the enjoyment of that light means the perpetration in us of holiness, truthfulness, etc. (G. Fisk, LL. B.)
Gospel light
I. THERE ARE SEVERAL KINDS OF LIGHT WHICH YET FALL SHORT OF THE GOSPEL, and leave a man in fatal obscurity. As
1. The light of nature.
2. There is the light of infidel philosophy. This is full of self-importance and swelling pride.
3. There is the light of enthusiasm. This is a sort of wild-fire, it blazes as straw, bewilders the mind, and produces an obstinacy not easily eradicated.
4. But Christ is the Light of Life. That which is pure, unadulterated, and unchangeable. This blessed light centres in Christ, and emanates from Him. Jesus Christ neglected--disregarded--undervalued, must give the death-wound to a mans brightest hopes, and his best felicity (see 1Co_16:22).
II. THE DARKNESS OF THE HEART IS MADE EVIDENT BY SOME CERTAIN SYMPTOMS.
1. Gross ignorance; a mind perfectly uninformed. The Sadducees did not know the Scriptures nor the power of God.
2. A heart inflated with vanity, and puffed up with its own consequence. Some of the Corinthians were thus puffed up. If they had a little light, they had much darkness.
3. Self-righteousness and self-sufficiency are evidences of positive darkness dwelling within (see Rom_10:3-4; Mat_23:1-39). Affected royalty in a lunatic provokes a smile, but self-righteousness in a sinner ought to produce astonishment and grief.
III. THE WAY TO BE SECURE IS TO TAKE HEED. To look well within and wisely around. We must guard against pride, the operations of which preclude the entrance of truth, as the gay colouring of cathedral windows excludes the common light of day. We must guard against prepossessions and prejudice. These often operate upon the mind greatly to a mans disadvantage. Prejudice will turn that which is beautiful into deformity, and then reject it. Beware of two great evils, negligence and unbelief.
Negligence (see Heb_6:12; Pro_19:15). Unbelief (see Heb_3:12-19). Do not resist conviction, do not shut out the light.
1. Let the infidel take heed lest his boasted light terminate in a worse than Egyptian darkness.
2. Let the proud, self-righteous Pharisee come down from the pinnacle of his elevation, and seek both light and life in Jesus Christ.
3. Let the profane sinner, venturesome as he now is, look out in time; go to Jesus Christ the Sun of righteousness, in time.
IV. MENTAL DARKNESS, THAT OF THE UNDERSTANDING, IS THE WORST KIND OF DARKNESS. It produces enmity to the truth of God, and neglect of His ways. Permit me to give you a word of friendly counsel in reference to this light.
1. Set a just value on it. Buy it at any expense, sell it not on any account.
2. Labour to gain more of it.
3. Communicate it to others, and that to the extent of your abilities.
4. Remove obstacles to its shining whenever you can.
5. Triumph in the happy victories which the light and truth of God may at any time gain, in any one family, at any one place.
6. Look forward to its final and complete triumphs, its unfading and eternal splendour! (The Evangelist.)
Believing in the light and its effects
In certain parts of Asia there is a curious plant which grows in the forests. These forests are very dense and gloomy, for the trees grow thick together, and twine their branches into one another at the top, till the forest almost seems to have a great roof over it keeping out the sunlight. This plant at first is a very slim and feeble-looking plant--just a straight stalk, with only a thin leaf here and there upon it. But it shoots up and up, and gathers strength as it grows, till it becomes like a tall bamboo rod. And now it reaches up to the first branches of the trees, then up to the middle ones, then up to the topmost boughs, and pierces its way through the thick roof of leaves at the top; then, for the first time, it lifts its head unto the sunshine. And now, it does what it never did and never could have done before. It puts out beautiful blossoms and flowers; and, by and by, out of these it brings fruits and seeds. Once it has become a child of the light it begins to blossom and be fruitful. This explains the text in this way: at first the plant had a little light, and that little made it glad. It loved the light, and believed it was good for it. It believed in the light, and it found that the more it loved the light the more light it got, because it was growing more up to it, and from being a sickly, pale plant it became strong and beautiful. Now Jesus is the Light of the soul. We know a little about Him, that He loved us and died to save us, and wants to make us good. We have a little light, and what we have now to do is to love that light and believe that light, that our souls may be changed by the light from day to day, till we also become children of light. Suppose that plant, when it had only a little light, had said to itself, Ah, I dont want the light, I dont want the light; I am tired of always trying to grow higher into the light. I think it would be much nicer if I could become a creeper and grow on the dark ground! Well, if the plant said that and did that, it would bend down and down and away from the light, and it would receive less light and less light, and it would never have any flowers or any kind of fruit, just because when it had the light it would not believe in the light, or try to get more of it, or love it. It is the same with you. If you do not want that light, if you do not believe in it, if you prefer to do this thing and that which is sinful, then you will be growing away from the light, and receive less and less light still, and you will forget the light you once had, and your life will be lost. (J. R. Howat.)
Light limited in duration
Alexander the Great, when he besieged a certain city, kindled a torch, and offered pardon and peace to the besieged citizens if they would surrender themselves so long as the torch continued to burn, but threatened them with destruction and death if they did not surrender during the blazing light of the torch. So will it be with God and ourselves. Let us therefore work while we can enjoy the light that shines from heaven and leads us to heaven, for when this light is quenched, if we have not before surrendered ourselves to God, we must certainly, as He has warned us, meet with eternal death and destruction at His hands. (T. H.Leary, D. C. L.)
Delay leads to the winter of the soul
How dangerous to defer those momentous reformations which conscience is solemnly preaching to the heart! If they are neglected, the difficulty and indisposition are increasing every month. The mind is receding, degree after degree, from the warm and hopeful zone; till at last it will enter the arctic circle, and become fixed in relentless and eternal ice. (J. Foster.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv32, 34 32. If I shall be lifted up from the…
32. If I shall be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Lifted up, first, to the cross; second, from the grave; third, to heaven and the eternal throne.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv32, 34
John
THE UNIVERSAL MAGNET
Read full note →
Joh 12:32.
‘Never man spake like this Man,’ said the wondering Temple officials who were sent to apprehend Jesus. There are many aspects of our Lord’s teaching in which it strikes one as unique; but perhaps none is more singular than the boundless boldness of His assertions of His importance to the world. Just think of such sayings as these: ‘I am the Light of the world’; ‘I am the Bread of Life’; ‘I am the Door’; ‘A greater than Solomon is here’; ‘In this place is One greater than the Temple.’ We do not usually attach much importance to men’s estimate of themselves; and gigantic claims such as these are generally met by incredulity or scorn. But the strange thing about Christ’s loftiest assertions of His world-wide worth and personal sinlessness is that they provoke no contradiction, and that the world takes Him at His own valuation. So profound is the impression that He has made, that men assent when He says, ‘I am meek and lowly in heart,’ and do not answer as they would to anybody else, ‘If you were, you would never have said so.’
Now there is no more startling utterance of this extraordinary self-consciousness of Jesus Christ than the words that I have used for my text. They go deep down into the secret of His power. They open a glimpse into His inmost thoughts about Himself which He very seldom shows us. And they come to each of us with a very touching and strong personal appeal as to what we are doing with, and how we individually are responding to, that universal appeal on which He says that He is exercising.
I. So I wish to dwell on these words now, and ask you first to notice here our Lord’s forecasting of the Cross.
A handful of Greeks had come up to Jerusalem to the Passover, and they desired to see Jesus, perhaps only because they had heard about Him, and to gratify some fleeting curiosity; perhaps for some deeper and more sacred reason. But in that tiny incident our Lord sees the first green blade coming up above the ground which was the prophet of an abundant harvest; the first drop of a great abundance of rain. He recognises that He is beginning to pass out from Israel into the world. But the thought of His world-wide influence thus indicated and prophesied immediately brings along with it the thought of what must be gone through before that influence can be established. And he discerns that, like the corn of wheat that falls into the ground, the condition of fruitfulness for Him is death.
Now we are to remember that our Lord here is within a few hours of Gethsemane, and a few days of the Cross, and that events had so unfolded themselves that it needed no prophet to see that there could only be one end to the duel which he had deliberately brought about between Himself and the rulers of Israel. So that I build nothing upon the anticipation of the Cross, which comes out at this stage in our Lord’s history, for any man in His position might have seen, as clearly as He did, that His path was blocked, and that very near at hand, by the grim instrument of death. But then remember that this same expression of my text occurs at a very much earlier period of our Lord’s career, and that if we accept this Gospel of John, at the very beginning of it He said, ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up’; and that that was no mere passing thought is obvious from the fact that midway in His career, if we accept the testimony of the same Gospel, He used the same expression to cavilling opponents when He said: ‘When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He.’ And so at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of His career the same idea is cast into the same words, a witness of the hold that it had upon Him, and the continual presence of it to His consciousness.
I do not need to refer here to other illustrations and proofs of the same thing, only I desire to say, as plainly and strongly as I can, that modern ideas that Jesus Christ only recognised the necessity of His death at a late stage of His work, and that like other reformers, He began with buoyant hope, and thought that He had but to speak and the world would hear, and, like other reformers, was disenchanted by degrees, are, in my poor judgment, utterly baseless, and bluntly contradicted by the Gospel narratives. And so, dear brethren, this is the image that rises before us, and that ought to appeal to us all very plainly; a Christ who, from the first moment of His consciousness of Messiahship-and how early that consciousness was I am not here to inquire-was conscious likewise of the death that was to close it. ‘He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,’ and likewise for this end, ‘to give His life a ransom for the many.’ That gracious, gentle life, full of all charities, and long-suffering, and sweet goodness, and patience, was not the life of a Man whose heart was at leisure from all anxiety about Himself, but the life of a Man before whom there stood, ever grim and distinct away on the horizon, the Cross and Himself upon it. You all remember a well-known picture that suggests the ‘Shadow of Death,’ the shadow of the Cross falling, unseen by Him, but seen with open eyes of horror by His mother. But the reality is a far more pathetic one than that; it is this, that He came on purpose to die.
But now there is another point suggested by these remarkable words, and that is that our Lord regarded the Cross of shame as exaltation or ‘lifting up.’ I do not believe that the use of this remarkable phrase in our text finds its explanation in the few inches of elevation above the surface of the ground to which the crucified victims were usually raised. That is there, of course, but there is something far deeper and more wonderful than that in the background, and it is this in part, that that Cross, to Christ’s eyes, bore a double aspect. So far as the inflicters or the externals of it were concerned, it was ignominy, shame, agony, the very lowest point of humiliation. But there was another side to it. What in one aspect is the nadir, the lowest point beneath men’s feet, is in another aspect the zenith, the very highest point in the bending heaven above us. So throughout this Gospel, and very emphatically in the text, we find that we have the complement of the Pauline view of the Cross, which is, that it was shame and agony. For our Lord says, ‘Now the hour is come when the Son of Man shall be glorified.’ Whether it is glory or shame depends on what it was that bound Him there. The reason for His enduring it makes it the very climax and flaming summit of His flaming love. And, therefore, He is lifted up not merely because the Cross is elevated above the ground on the little elevation of Calvary, but that Cross is His throne, because there, in highest and sovereign fashion, are set forth His glories, the glories of His love, and of the ‘grace and truth’ of which He was ‘full.’
So let us not forget this double aspect, and whilst we bow before Him who ‘endured the Cross, despising the shame,’ let us also try to understand and to feel what He means when, in the vision of it, He said, ‘the hour is come that the Son of Man shall be glorified.’ It was meant for mockery, but mockery veiled unsuspected truth when they twined round His pale brows the crown of thorns, thereby setting forth unconsciously the everlasting truth that sovereignty is won by suffering; and placed in His unresisting hand the sceptre of reed, thereby setting forth the deep truth of His kingdom, that dominion is exercised in gentleness. Mightier than all rods of iron, or sharp swords which conquerors wield, and more lustrous and splendid than tiaras of gold glistening with diamonds, are the sceptre of reed in the hands, and the crown of thorns on the head, of the exalted, because crucified, Man of Sorrows.
But there is still another aspect of Christ’s vision of His Cross, for the ‘lifting up’ on it necessarily draws after it the lifting up to the dominion of the heavens. And so the Apostle, using a word kindred with that of my text, but intensifying it by addition, says, ‘He became obedient even unto the death of the Cross, wherefore God also hath highly lifted Him up.’
So here we have Christ’s own conception of His death, that it was inevitable, that it was exaltation even in the act of dying, and that it drew after it, of inevitable necessity, dominion exercised from the heavens over all the earth. He was lifted up on Calvary, and because He was lifted up He has carried our manhood into the place of glory, and sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So much for the first point to which I would desire to turn your attention.
II. Now we have here our Lord disclosing the secret of His attractive power.
‘I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.’ That ‘if’ expresses no doubt, it only sets forth the condition. The Christ lifted up on the Cross is the Christ that draws men. Now I would have you notice the fact that our Lord thus unveils, as it were, where His power to influence individuals and humanity chiefly resides. He speaks about His death in altogether a different fashion from that of other men, for He does not merely say, ‘If I be lifted up from the earth, this story of the Cross will draw men,’ but He says, ‘I will’ do it; and thus contemplates, as I shall have to say in a moment, continuous personal influence all through the ages.
Now that is not how other people have to speak about their deaths, for all other men who have influenced the world for good or for evil, thinkers and benefactors, and reformers, social and religious, all of them come under the one law that their death is no part of their activity, but terminates their work, and that thereafter, with few exceptions, and for brief periods, their influence is a diminishing quantity. So one Apostle had to say, ‘To abide in the flesh is more needful for you,’ and another had to say, ‘I will endeavour that after my decease ye may keep in mind the things that I have told you’; and all thinkers and teachers and helpers glide away further and further, and are wrapped about with thicker and thicker mists of oblivion, and their influence becomes less and less.
The best that history can say about any of them is, ‘This man, having served his generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.’ But that other Man who was lifted on the Cross saw no corruption, and the death which puts a period to all other men’s work was planted right in the centre of His, and was itself part of that work, and was followed by a new form of it which is to endure for ever.
The Cross is the magnet of Christianity. Jesus Christ draws men, but it is by His Cross mainly, and that He felt this profoundly is plain enough, not only from such utterances as this of my text, but, to go no further, from the fact that He has asked us to remember only one thing about Him, and has established that ordinance of the Communion or the Lord’s Supper, which is to remind us always, and to bear witness to the world, of where is the centre of His work, and the fact which He most desires that men should keep in mind, not the graciousness of His words, not their wisdom, not the good deeds that He did, but ‘This is My body broken for you . . . this cup is the New Testament in My blood.’ A religion which has for its chief rite the symbol of a death, must enshrine that death in the very heart of the forces to which it trusts to renew the world, and to bless individual souls.
If, then, that is true, if Jesus Christ was not all wrong when He spoke as He did in my text, then the question arises, what is it about His death that makes it the magnet that will draw all men? Men are drawn by cords of love. They may be driven by other means, but they are drawn only by love. And what is it that makes Christ’s death the highest and noblest and most wonderful and transcendent manifestation of love that the world has ever seen, or ever can see? No doubt you will think me very narrow and old-fashioned when I answer the question, with the profoundest conviction of my own mind, and, I hope, the trust of my own heart. The one thing that entitles men to interpret Christ’s death as the supreme manifestation of love is that it was a death voluntarily undertaken for a world’s sins.
If you do not believe that, will you tell me what claim on your heart Christ has because He died? Has Socrates any claim on your heart? And are there not hundreds and thousands of martyrs who have just as much right to be regarded with reverence and affection as this Galilean carpenter’s Son has, unless, when He died, He died as the Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and for yours and mine? I know all the pathetic beauty of the story. I know how many men’s hearts are moved in some degree by the life and death of our Lord, who yet would hesitate to adopt the full-toned utterance which I have now been giving. But I would beseech you, dear friends, to lay this question seriously to heart, whether there is any legitimate reason for the reverence, the love, the worship, which the world is giving to this Galilean young man, if you strike out the thought that it was because He loved the world that He chose to die to loose it from the bands of its sin. It may be, it is, a most pathetic and lovely story, but it has not power to draw all men, unless it deals with that which all men need, and unless it is the self-surrender of the Son of God for the whole world.
III. And now, lastly, we have here our Lord anticipating continuous and universal influence.
I have already drawn attention to the peculiar fullness of the form of expression in my text, which, fairly interpreted, does certainly imply that our Lord at that supreme moment looked forward, as I have already said, to His death, not as putting a period to His work, but as being the transition from one form of influence operating upon a very narrow circle, to another form of influence which would one day flood the world. I do not need to dwell upon that thought, beyond seeking to emphasise this truth, that one ought to feel that Jesus Christ has a living connection now with each of us. It is not merely that the story of the Cross is left to work its results, but, as I for my part believe, that the dear Lord, who, before He became Man, was the Light of the World, and enlightened every man that came into it, after His death is yet more the Light of the World, and is exercising influence all over the earth, not only by conscience and the light that is within us, nor only through the effects of the record of His past, but by the continuous operations of His Spirit. I do not dwell upon that thought further than to say that I beseech you to think of Jesus Christ, not as One who died for our sins only, but as one who lives to-day, and to-day, in no rhetorical exaggeration but in simple and profound truth, is ready to help and to bless and to be with every one of us. ‘It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.’
But, beyond that, mark His confidence of universal influence: ‘I will draw all men.’ I need not dwell upon the distinct adaptation of Christian truth, and of that sacrifice on the Cross, to the needs of all men. It is the universal remedy, for it goes direct to the universal epidemic. The thing that men and women want most, the thing that you want most, is that your relation with God shall be set right, and that you shall be delivered from the guilt of past sin, from the exposure to its power in the present and in the future. Whatever diversities of climate, civilisation, culture, character the world holds, every man is like every other man in this, that he has ‘sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ And it is because Christ’s Cross goes direct to deal with that condition of things that the preaching of it is a gospel, not for this phase of society or that type of men or the other stage of culture, but that it is meant for, and is able to deliver and to bless, every man.
So, brethren, a universal attraction is raying out from Christ’s Cross, and from Himself to each of us. But that universal attraction can be resisted. If a man plants his feet firmly and wide apart, and holds on with both hands to some staple or holdfast, then the drawing cannot draw. There is the attraction, but he is not attracted. You demagnetise Christianity, as all history shows, if you strike out the death on the Cross for a world’s sin. What is left is not a magnet, but a bit of scrap iron. And you can take yourself away from the influence of the attraction if you will, some of us by active resistance, some of us by mere negligence, as a cord cast over some slippery body with the purpose of drawing it, may slip off, and the thing lie there unmoved.
And so I come to you now, dear friends, with the plain question, What are you doing in response to Christ’s drawing of you? He has died for you on the Cross; does that not draw? He lives to bless you; does that not draw? He loves you with love changeless as a God, with love warm and emotional as a man; does that not draw? He speaks to you, I venture to say, through my poor words, and says, ‘Come unto Me, and I will give you rest’; does that not draw? We are all in the bog. He stands on firm ground, and puts out a hand. If you like to clutch it, by the pledge of the nail-prints on the palm, He will lift you from ‘the horrible pit and the miry clay, and set your feet upon a rock.’ God grant that all of us may say, ‘Draw us, and we will run after Thee’!
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v34 Walking in the Light. Joh 12:34-41
Walking in the Light. Joh 12:34-41
The necessity of believing in the Light:
Read full note →
v. 34. The people answered Him, We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth forever; and how sayest Thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?
v. 35. Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
v. 36. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide Himself from them.
For once the people understood at least a part of the message which Jesus tried to convey to them; they comprehended that He was referring to His death. But now the Law, the Old Testament Scripture, contained some prophecies, Psa 110:4; Isa 9:5; Dan 7:13-14, which spoke of an eternal kingdom of the Messiah. The Jews could not make these statements agree with the words of Christ. And so they impatiently asked who this Son of Man was to whom He was always referring. It was true enough: Christ should abide forever, but not in an earthly, visible kingdom. Through His death He was to enter into this new life, in which He was to live and reign forever. Jesus did not answer their question directly, but gave them such instructions as would enable them to find out the truth for themselves. It would now be only a very short time that He, the Light of the World, would be with them. And therefore they should make the best use of this time. They should walk in this Light; they should give the rays from this wonderful Light an opportunity of shining into their hearts. If they would not receive light from this Light, then the darkness of their own heart and the destruction which follows it would remain for them. The man that travels in darkness is always in danger of losing his way and of landing in pitfalls. He that is without Christ, the true and only Light, is helpless in the midst of the thousands of spiritual dangers in these latter days. Therefore Jesus urges that the Jews believe in the Light, put their faith and trust in Him, their Savior. This faith would make them children of light, would give them the manner, the attributes of the true Light. They would then be filled with love toward God, with truth and righteousness, with all the virtues that characterize the true believer. This was the climax of Christ’s sermon; He had again sent forth His call of grace; He had again invited them to partake of the blessings which He offered to them all. He now went away from them, He hid Himself after He had given the people the explanation recorded at the end of the Chapter.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv32, 34 General Information:
General Information:
In verse 33 John tells us background information about what Jesus said about being "lifted up" (See: Background Information)
Read full note →
When I am lifted up from the earth
Here Jesus refers to his crucifixion. You can translate this in an active form. AT: "When people raise me high on a cross" (See: Active or Passive)
will draw everyone to myself
Through his crucifixion, Jesus will provide a way for everyone to trust in him.
He said this to indicate what kind of death he would die
John interprets Jesus' words to mean that people will crucify him. AT: "He said this to let the people know how he would die" (See: Background Information)
translationWords
earth
die
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv32, 34 12:32-34 when I am lifted up from the earth…
12:32-34 when I am lifted up from the earth (see 3:14; 8:28): The crowd did not understand what Jesus meant. The Greek verb refers to being exalted (Matt 23:12) or honored (Luke 10:15). In John, the cross was not a place of shame and disgrace for Jesus, but the place where Jesus’ true glory was shown.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.