Raising Lazarus For Glory (part 9)

Jesus’ response to the desire to see Him on the part of this group of Greeks in Jerusalem is fascinating, especially in light of this ongoing attempt to determine how the raising of Lazarus was going to reveal the Creator God’s glory.  When the inquiry from the Greeks is presented to Him, as they seem to stand in the place of peoples from all Gentile nations that will be brought into a desire to see the Creator God’s messiah, “Jesus replied, ‘The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified’.” (12:23)  The Son of Man, of course, is one of the titles of the messiah, Israel’s king.  Many held to the belief that when the messiah appeared, He was going to be the physical embodiment of their covenant God.  So the glorification of the Son of Man would, by extension, be the glorification of Israel’s God.  This response by the one who they believed may very well be that long-awaited messiah must have been quite an encouragement to these answer-seeking Greeks.    

It seems possible that the whole of the Lazarus scenario has fed into and led up to this point.  By all appearances, it can be reasoned that these Gentiles have been induced to come to Jesus because of the events and situation that have occurred because of Lazarus’ raising.  Having spoken of the glorification of the Son of Man, Jesus then goes on to speak about the kernel of wheat falling into the ground and dying, and its provision of grain (12:24).  At this point, in the context of His God’s glory, it seems that Jesus has His pending ordeal in mind, as He says, “Now My soul is greatly distressed.  And what should I say?  ‘Father, deliver Me from this hour’?  No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour” (12:27). 

To what had He come?  As the story goes, He had come to the time of His death.  He had come to the time that He was referring to as His glorification.  He had come to the time that would show forth the covenant faithfulness of Israel’s God, thus bringing that God the glory that Israel had been raised up and separated out to bring to Him, but had failed in that task.  It is in this context that Jesus says “Father, glorify Your Name” (12:28a).  What follows that statement?  The author reports that “a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’.” (12:28b)      

The story goes on to report that upon the hearing of this thundering sound from heaven, “Jesus said, ‘This voice has not come for My benefit but for yours.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out’.” (12:30-31)  When one reads about “judgment,” many are naturally prone to think of God’s wrath, having been conditioned to do so.  However, that need not always necessarily be the case.  In this case, and in relation to the glorification of the Creator God, “judgment” is accompanied by the driving out of the ruler of the world.  Judgment marks the beginning of the renewed creation and the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven.  Because of this, there is both a positive and a negative aspect of judgment. 

Indeed, the positive aspect of judgment is that of “liberation.”  Taking the positive sense then, the ruler of the world that is being driven out is death, as death has been understood to have reigned since Adam.  Through His comprehension of His now pending and rapidly approaching crucifixion and Resurrection, Jesus insists that death will be defeated.  With that defeat, the world will be liberated from its bondage to and fear of death, as the power of the Resurrection (the same power that raised up Jesus from the dead) will reign in this world through those that are in a believing union with Jesus, calling Him Lord, doing so in a trusting allegiance in Him as King, and interacting with this world accordingly.  This Resurrection power, presumably and mysteriously in operation by the Spirit of the Creator God, in and through the people of the covenant, who are those people because of their confession of Jesus as Lord, will be the tool that the Creator God uses to deal with evil in the world and to push back darkness, as He makes His people to be reflectors of His light and glory.