Let the Word Do Its Work

The crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

Good Friday
John 12:27-36

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I.

My text for this evening is from John 12:27-36.

²⁷ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify thy name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; ³² and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” ³³ He said this to show by what death he was to die. ³⁴ The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?” ³⁵ Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them.

Who is the “ruler of this world” Jesus refers to in John 12:31?

There are four things to notice about this verse.

First, judgment. In the next verse, John 12:32, refers to His looming death. He says:

“I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

And John clarifies in verse 33:

“He said this to show by what death he was to die.”

Judgment is therefore connected to Jesus’ death.

But who is being judged? That is the second thing to notice. The judgment-death of Jesus Christ is of and for the world. It’s a judgment upon the unbelieving world for rejecting and killing Him.

The third thing to notice is that, like all judgments, this judgment pronounces a sentence, a penalty. A sentence is passed on the “ruler of this world.” A penalty is assessed.

And that is fourth thing to notice. The sentence is about to be executed. The ruler of this world is about to be cast out.

But again, who is this ruler?

II.

This passage from John is talking about Jesus’ death and the key point that John wants his readers to grasp is that Jesus’ death will bring redemption for some and judgment on others.

The passage from John 12 marks the end of Jesus’ public ministry of preaching and teaching. The last part of verse 36 is rather poignant:

“When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them.”

Earlier in John 12 we saw Mary anoint Jesus with expensive oil, an act which foreshadows His burial.

We saw Jesus hailed as a king as He entered Jerusalem to great acclaim. That acclaim was well-deserved because news that Jesus had raised a man named Lazarus from the dead had already spread. You can read about that in John 11.

And right before the passage we are looking at tonight, Jesus has been sought out by some God-fearing Gentiles, men who were in Jerusalem for the Passover feast.

They were not Jews by birth, but they sought to know and follow God. Like many other Gentiles and Jews in those days, they found God in Jesus.

Jesus affirmed their faith in Him in John 12:26 saying:

“If any one serves me, the Father will honor him.”

So, that is the context. Jesus’ public preaching, teaching, and healing ministry is at an end. The climax is the dramatic sign of raising a man from the dead and the unequivocal declaration that faith in God — not race or blood or Jewish identity — is what will save a man.

It’s no wonder that, after raising Lazarus from the dead, the chief priests and Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus. In John 11:48, they say:

“If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”

There is prophetic note in this verse because the Romans did come and destroy both the temple and the nation, only it happened a generation later — and not because everyone came to have faith in Jesus — but because the Jewish nation had hardened its mind towards God.

Paul talks about this closing of the Jewish mind in 2 Corinthians 3:14. He writes:

“But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.”

In the years 66-70, when the Roman armies laid siege to Jerusalem, I imagine that both Jew and Christian alike remembered the words of John 12:31, “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out” as the judgment of Jerusalem befell them.

Jesus says these words in response to a final, audible sign from God. The gospels record two other times when a voice is heard from heaven in Jesus’ ministry attesting to Jesus’ identity.

The first is at His baptism and the second is at His transfiguration. You can read about those in Matt. 3:17 and 17:5.

In both cases we hear the Father from heaven say:

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The voice is proof — empirical evidence if you will — that Jesus is who He says He is.

This time the voice is in response to Jesus’ prayer. In John 12:28, Jesus says:

“‘Father, glorify thy name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’”

Now, the voice causes dispute and controversy. The word of God usually does. Hebrews 4:12 says:

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

It’s not surprising, then, that there is division in the crowd. John 12:29 tell us that some in the crowd think they heard thunder.

But, clearly, it’s not thunder.

It is a voice, otherwise Jesus would not say it was a voice in verse 30:

“This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.”

It’s not thunder, and yet that’s all some people can hear. Why? I will come back to that.

The important point to note for now is that there is division between those who can hear the voice and those who cannot.

Remember, I said that the whole point John is making in this passage is that Jesus’ death will bring redemption for some and judgment upon others.

We’re seeing how that plays out now in the crowd’s response to the voice from heaven.

Those who can hear the voice understand that it has come for their sake. Like everything else about Jesus’ life, ministry, and death it is for their sake — the sake of the elect. (See Matthew 24:22-24.)

Throughout John’s Gospel we are privileged to “listen in” on the internal conversations of the Holy Trinity.

Jesus is speaking to His Father in prayer. There is absolutely no reason we should be able to hear this conversation, but, nevertheless, that is what John allows us to do.

Hence the voice is for our sake too.

Now, the implication is that if we can hear this voice, then we are also in the position to heed the warning that comes from Jesus’ lips a few verses later.

But the opposite is also true. If all we hear is thunder, then we are not going to heed the warning.

We might be afraid of the thunder. It will fill us with an ominous sense of fear and of something bad about to happen.

III.

Friends, isn’t that the plight of the whole unbelieving world? They can hear the thunder but they can’t heed the warning?

They’ll try to comfort themselves as the signs of the judgment approach saying, “It’s just natural causes, or maybe it’s global warming. We just need to recycle harder.”

Fallen man is always trying to save himself.

Every dog I’ve owned cowers when it thunders. He goes to his bed and looks forlorn. Next week, there will be a near-total eclipse. If you have pets, see how they react.

The point I’m making here is that the unbelieving crowd is no different than the brute beasts which have no understanding.

Except they are different. They are men and so they have no excuse. In Romans 1:18 Paul tell us:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth.”

For the unbeliever the thunder is a harbinger of God’s wrath. For the believer it is a voice of warning.

The next thing that happens is that the unbelievers go and do what unbelievers always do: they quibble over chapter and verse. They say:

“We have heard from the law that the Christ remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?”

Who is this Son of man? Who is this Son of man?

You’ve just welcomed this Son of man into your city in triumph. He’s healed blind men so that they can see. He’s even raised the dead.

You know who He is, so, by even asking this question you’re putting your doubt on display. You are professing your unbelief. You are suppressing the truth.

This is the difference between men and beasts. Animals don’t suppress the truth. There was not a man in that crowd who actually heard thunder.

They all heard the voice of God, but many of them willfully and sinfully denied what they heard.

God’s name was glorified in their midst, and yet they it called it thunder, nothing more than a naturally-occurring event.

The reprobate mind does this all the time.

Man is created in the image of God, but the wicked man says he’s descended from a monkey. (I feel bad for the monkey! Can you imagine Mrs. Monkey saying to Mr. Monkey, “He takes after you, dear.”)

God reveals Himself as trustworthy and faithful in every page of the Bible, but the wicked man says the Bible can’t be trusted because its contents are sexist and homophobic, and its authors were dead, white men.

Who is this Son of man?

Jesus Christ is, you foolish sinner!

IV.

That’s the direct answer. Jesus’ answer in John 12:35 is more subtle and indirect. He says:

“The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you.”

Now, back in John 8:12 Jesus said:

“I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

So, Jesus is being explicit. He is the light. He commands us to walk in His light. But the time is growing short.

You know, sometimes I wonder how much longer we’ll be allowed to meet freely and openly like this. You take it for granted that you can own a Bible and that they are readily available, cheap, and easy to come by.

But imagine only being allowed to own an “approved” Bible with all of the offending texts removed. You know, those texts that thunder judgment in the sinful world’s ears.

Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, just signed an executive order banning antisemitic rhetoric.

Now, I am not sure what the definition of antisemitic is according to the governor, but it occurs to me that he may have just inadvertently banned the New Testament.

Why?

Because the New Testament is a polemic against the Judaism of the Pharisees and the Jerusalem Temple cult.

Later, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.

I think that Satan (so far, at least) has been content to leave the Bible in plain sight because he knows a closed book won’t hurt him.

And that’s the truth. All those Gideon Bibles in hotels, who ever read them? I remember when airplanes even had Bibles on them, but I haven’t seen that in decades. Increasingly, I’m not even finding Bibles in the hotels I stay at.

(Incidentally, those of you who are actors or have performance experience, you might consider committing parts of the Bible to memory so you can be of comfort and use to the Church in times to come.)

Satan is jealous of God and of the Church and he hates the word of God. From the beginning Satan has been sowing confusion about what the word of God says and means.

His first question to Eve in the Garden was:

“Did God [really] say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”

But God is not the God of confusion. His word is clear. It is sinful to say otherwise. It is sinful to deny what the text says and says plainly.

What we as believers need to do is to challenge sinful unbelief wherever we find it and in whomever we meet it.

If we don’t, what are we saying about our own faith? Worse, what are we saying about God?

If we allow confusion to stand we are saying is that God is confusing.

If we allow confusion to stand we are lying about who God is. We are misrepresenting our relationship to God. We do not stand with God if we allow the unbelievers’ lies about God and His creation to go unchallenged.

We are saying, like those in the crowd, that we did not hear His voice, that we only heard thunder.

We are saying to the unbeliever: “Maybe you’ve got a point. I can see why it would sound like thunder to you. Truth be told, I first thought that’s what it was myself. And oh yes, I can see why you think abortion is healthcare. I understand what you mean when you say ‘love is love’. I can see why you think pope is infallible or the tradition of the church is equal to scripture or why you put the COEXIST bumper sticker on your car. Of course, I don’t think all religions teach basically the same thing, but I’ll grant you that yours is a reasonable position to take.”

Do you see how you compromise your witness when you allow confusion to stand?

God is not confusing. His word is not confusing. The world He created is not confusing. He made a good world, not a confusing one.

Where there’s confusion, there’s sin, and no sin is worse than the sin of unbelief.

Unbelief is the willful denial of what you have seen and heard and plainly been told is true from the pages of Scripture.

We need to summon the courage that the others in that crowd had that day to challenge the unbelieving world. Let me read John 12:29 again for you and amplify it bit:

“The [unbelieving] crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered. [But] Others [challenged their unbelief and] said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

We need to be like those others in the crowd and challenge the expert consensus when it contradicts the Bible, even going so far to challenge, as Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, the principalities, the powers, and the world rulers of this present darkness.

That will take some courage, right? Especially since we are, and remain, limited human beings. Some of us are smarter than others. Some of us have more time for study than others. Some of us have more time to write letters and go to Albany or Washington than others.

But it doesn’t take much to say, “No, that wasn’t thunder we all heard — and you know it. It was the voice of God — and you heard it just as plain and clear as I did.”

V.

The hardest thing about evangelism is that we’re called to show people things they say they can’t see and to tell them things they say they can’t hear. “You hear thunder, I hear an angel.”

This is where a lot of witness breaks down. It devolves into an argument, just like the argument in John 12:34 when the unbelieving crowd argues over whether or not the Christ can die.

How do we overcome this?

First, we have to understand what our proper place is.

Go back to John 12:32:

“I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

Who is speaking? Jesus.

Who will be doing the drawing? Jesus.

That ought to give you some relief and comfort when you witness.

It’s not up to you when you witness to determine whether the person you are speaking to is under judgment or being called to redemption. That’s not your job and it’s not your place to make that determination.

If you want to know why your witness only sounds likes thunder in some people’s ears (but to others you have “the voice of an angel”) this is why. It’s because only God determines who is redeemed and who is under judgment.

Second, we should get out of the way and let the word of God do its work.

If you try to save someone, chances are you’ll sound like thunder.

But if you challenge someone in his unbelief, using the very words God gives you in His holy word, you may see a mountain of unbelief pick itself up and hurl itself into the sea.

If you’re doing the challenging, Christ will do the convincing.

As Christians, you and I may sound like thunder to the unbelieving world, but the voice of Jesus is crystal clear — even to sinners. Especially to sinners.

All men know this voice by heart, because His is the same voice that created them.

“I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

Jesus is staring the cross in the face when He says these words, and His power to draw all men is the same power He used to create all men.

In John 1:3 we read:

“All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”

God can never lose contact with His creation, even those creatures who persist in rebellion against Him.

They may be damned for eternity, but God will not forget them, nor can they forget God. That is part of the punishment. They will forever hold the truth in contempt before the face of God.

No man thinks — even the man who is not born again — no man thinks that he does not make sense to himself.

He may think the world misunderstands him, rejects him, hates him, but he clings to the idea that he himself makes perfect sense. To the rest of us he may be full of huff and puff (thunder) but makes perfect sense to himself.

Until he finds himself at the foot of the cross.

Remember, Jesus is drawing all men to Him on the cross. Do you come to the cross for redemption or judgment?

That depends.

What do you hear? Whom do you see hanging there?

Do you see some fool who said the wrong things and who got Himself cancelled? Or do you see the one who died for your sins and even now is commanding you to walk in the light and to become sons of light?

Answer that question honestly and you’ll either experience comfort or fear.

The good news is that both are good reactions to have.

If comfort, then you are walking in the light. Now, you need to challenge others to do the same. The very fact they are walking at all must mean they have some light to walk by.

Yet they deny, with every breath they take, that the light by which they see is — and can can only be — the light of Christ.

Get them to admit that Jesus is the light by which they see and you may help save them from the darkness to come.

If you experience fear, then take heart, because it is not too late to become a son of light.

But you will need to challenge yourself.

You’ll need to stop rationalizing the sins you commit and start repenting of them.

No man escapes the cross, for the cross is death.

Do you remember the question I asked at the beginning of this sermon?

I asked: who is the “ruler of this world” Jesus refers to in John 12:31?

The answer is not Satan, or Caesar, or the Antichrist.

The answer is death.

Satan, Caesar, and the Antichrist are all ruled by death.

Death is the ruling principle of this age. Paul says in Romans 5:12 that:

“Death spread to all men because all men sinned.”

Until now.

Now is the moment death stops spreading. The ruler of this world is cast down. Death himself is sentenced to die. Amen.

Preached on March 29, 2024 at Grace Bible Church, Wappingers Falls, New York.

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Questions for reflection and discussion:

1. The judgment of the world is connected to Jesus’ ____________.

2. Jesus says the ruler of this world is to be ____________.

3. Jesus’ death will bring ____________ for some and ____________ on others.

4. Faith in God, not ____________ or ____________ or ____________ identity, is what saves a man.

5. Name the two other times a voice from heaven attests to Jesus’ identity.

6. How does this voice from heaven cause dispute and controversy?

7. The unbelieving crowd is no different than the brute beasts which have no ____________.

8. But men are different than animals because they have no ____________ for their unbelief.

9. For the unbeliever the thunder is a harbinger of God’s ____________. For the believer it is a voice of ____________.

10. God is not the God of ____________.

11. Christians need to challenge the ____________ world.

12. Who is the “ruler of this world” Jesus refers to in John 12:31?

Parents and Grandparents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help. Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents or the minister after church. Older Children – Do one or both of the following: 1) Count how many times the word challenge is mentioned. 2) Discuss with your parents what it’s like to have to tell someone he or she is wrong.

(1) death; (2) “cast out”; (3) redemption/judgment; (4) race/blood/Jewish; (5) baptism/transfiguration; (6) some say they hear thunder, others hear the voice of an angel; (7) understanding; (8) excuse; (9) wrath/warning; (10) confusion; (11) unbelieving; (12) death