27 ¶ Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I
say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came
there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify
it again. 29 The people therefore, that
stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to
him. 30 Jesus answered and said, This
voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. 31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall
the prince of this world be cast out. 32
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
33 This he said, signifying what death
he should die. 34 The people answered
him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest
thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? 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. 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.
Being fully man and fully God Jesus had a human body, of
course, and soul, the seat of self-identity and will, and spirit, that part of
a person that can know God if it is made alive by Him (Luke 23:46), by which
the man Jesus had constant connection with His Godhood. Jesus had all the
unseen, spiritual parts of a man; a human soul and a human spirit, while also
being God.
Our flesh does not want to die although it will do
everything it can to cause that death by excess if permitted. Jesus, being fully
man and fully God, understood our fear of and dread of death.
Matthew 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his
face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
He was referring to the cup of God the Father’s wrath as expressed
in Isaiah 51:17, 22; Jeremiah 25:15, and Revelation 14:10; 16:19.
Hebrews 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had
offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that
was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
And He quoted the opening line of Psalm 22 on the cross for
us to reference and understand the entire Psalm’s meaning. See Matthew 27:46
and Mark 15:34. Christ was cut off from God the Father in that moment on the
cross to suffer the punishment for our sin.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between
you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not
hear.
He bore our sins for us. See 1Corinthians 15:3; Galatians
1:4; and Revelation 1:5.
This is extremely important to know the suffering that Jesus
underwent on the cross, suffering in being cut off completely at that point for
our sin, cut off from God the Father, to receive what should be every man’s
punishment for rejecting their Creator’s demands on them. Although it was temporary,
for the God-man it must have been excruciating soul pain, cutting to the very essence
of not only His humanity but His deity. It is more than I can possibly
understand. It is by this that Jesus was the propitiation, to appease or
placate God’s wrath, for our sins.
Romans 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of
sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
1John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world…4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
God the Father spoke in response to Jesus. To the unsaved
the voice of God sounds like thunder but to those who know Him it is a voice of
an appearance or angel of God (Isaiah 63:9).
2Samuel 22:14 The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most
High uttered his voice.
Psalm 18:13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and
the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Job 37:5 God thundereth marvellously with his voice;
great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
Job 40:9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou
thunder with a voice like him?
Is this what the trump
of God sounds like? This gives us an indication what the translation of the
church will sound like to the unsaved left
behind.
1Thessalonians
4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
In verse 31 Jesus says that now is the time for the judgment of this world of men and that now is the time for the prince of that
world to be cast out. Now has an obvious meaning, meaning at that time as in, “this minute,” or conditions are ready as
in, “I just graduated from high school, now I can go to college.”
It is drawing near time for Jesus to be glorified, executed and resurrected
from the dead, by which belief in and trust in all men and women can be saved.
Now there is no more peace with the world. The world is condemned. Judgment is
synonymous with the justice the world deserves. See Genesis 18:19 for judgment
and justice linked. There is no more peace between the people of God and the
world; its systems, its philosophies, and the things it holds valuable.
1John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. 16 For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not
of the Father, but is of the world. 17
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the
will of God abideth for ever.
Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which
justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is
highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
This is a subversive and revolutionary viewpoint. Far too many times the Christian faith was
used to uphold and support worldly systems and governments and attitudes like
the right of so-called nobility to keep their booted foot on the throats of the
common man in Europe. It was used to justify slavery in America. In fact, every
group of people who claimed Christ and linked His authority with their own
desire to do evil denied these statements by Jesus and made their pact with the
Devil himself.
The world is condemned and all of its humanistic drivel is
condemned with it; the educated elite, the world of entertainment, the economic
system, and, yes, even religion. God has no more regard for a fundamentalist
Christian’s self-congratulating pats on his or her own back for being on “God’s
team” than He does for any pope’s speaking ex
cathedra. But, you still participate in it anyway.
Who is the prince of this world that is cast out?
Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as
lightning fall from heaven.
Satan, the adversary, is the god of this world.
2Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
He is the prince of this world.
John 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for
the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me….16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world
is judged.
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Full of anger, pride, and vengeance he works in this world.
Read Revelation, chapter 12, and then;
1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Speaking of His impending death on the cross and the
resurrection, Jesus says that His being lifted up He will draw all men to Him.
The world is judged, Satan is cast down, Christ is lifted up and glorified, and
all men have the chance to be saved.
Titus 2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us
that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of
good works.
1Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to
come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Jesus doesn’t answer their question directly but warns them
that now is the time to believe and to stop walking in darkness. See the comments on chapter 9, verses 1-7, for
information on the day of Jesus’ physical presence on earth and the night which
came after. They ask, “Who is this Son of man?”
In the Old Testament son
of man with a lowercase s refers to a human being, born of a woman and
destined to die. When Ezekiel is sent to speak to the children of Israel the
Bible uses Son of man with an
uppercase S although many times the lowercase s is used for him as well. This
title is used for Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, in all four gospels,
God coming in the flesh as the Son of God
and man sent by God as Son of man, to
be that Messiah, that Christ, through whom salvation is offered and the only
way to Heaven.
John 1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of man
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