When Christ was Lifted Up
4/18/25 Bible Thought (John 12)
Today marks the day that Christ gave His life for our sin. Conveniently, we find ourselves in John 12 where Jesus pointed out that His hour had come:
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (Jn. 12:27).
To say the least, the cross wasn’t appealing. Jesus’ soul was troubled. He knew what was coming. He knew better than anyone. People living in that day and age were familiar with crucifixion, and certainly He knew from the very beginning this was the purpose for which He’d come into the world. He couldn’t be spared from it.
However, in the midst of the horrors of Golgotha, Jesus points out, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (Jn. 12:32). Now, this is a verse that I’ve heard taken out of context more than many. Jesus isn’t talking about being lifted up in praise. Rather, He’s talking about being lifted up from the ground, and suspended between heaven and earth on a cross (see Jn. 12:33).
Through His death on a cross, satan would be defeated (Jn. 12:31) and Jesus would draw all people to Himself because of the wonderful grace of God that was manifested at Calvary. As Paul would once conclude,
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).
The cross makes no sense to the natural man. Why would the Father crush the Son? The One who had existed from all eternity, even before the worlds were made would die? On the surface, this doesn’t make sense.
One theologian has said at the cross the love and justice of God intersect. God manifested His love for us, because Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8). Yet, God’s justice was upheld, for He punished sin (see Rom. 3:25-26). Instead of the sinner bearing their own sin, He bore it upon the cross (see 1 Pet. 2:24). He took the punishment that we deserved so that we could be given the credit for His perfect life. The imputation of His righteousness to our account is the grandest thing that has ever been known in the history of creation.
At the cross, the love and justice of God intersect.
This message of wonderful grace, of a Savior lifted up on our behalf, and a just and holy God’s wrath being satisfied is now used to draw sinners to repentance and faith in Christ. Christ was lifted up, and as such, He is drawing people to Himself.
Now, if He was willing to unashamedly give His life, being brutalized before a watching world, are we at the least willing to live for Him?
There’s an interesting contrast in today’s passage that is found on each side of Jesus’ comments on His coming hour. The chapter begins with Mary, the sister of Lazarus’, public devotion to Jesus. She was willing to anoint Jesus’ feet in front of everyone and was afterwards ridiculed for it because the worth of the offering should’ve been given to the poor (Jn. 12:4-5).
Later, it’s revealed that many of the authorities believed in Jesus, and yet because of their fear of the Pharisees they kept their faith private (Jn. 12:42).
I doubt there could be a starker contrast: Lavish public devotion, versus an ashamed, utterly private, and lackluster faith.
If Christ was willing to go through the public suffering and torture of crucifixion on my behalf, then surely, I ought to be able to bear some reproach for His name in my own life too.
For all He’s done for me, nothing I do in return even begins to compare. Jesus paid it all, now all to Him I owe.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your wonderful, gracious sacrifice on our behalf, on my behalf, today.
Mercy there was great, and grace was free.
Pardon there was multiplied to me.
There my burdened soul found liberty.
At Calvary.
Amen.