Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him…
Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
Jesus Predicts His Death
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
The Jews Continue in Their Unbelief
Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
“Lord, who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
“He has blinded their eyes
and deadened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor turn—and I would heal them.”
Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
“As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
I also woke in the morning out of A DREAM: Someone (no name or face) was going around killing people. I don’t remember much of the dream other than these individuals being killed were specifically targeted for extinction, like there was a contract out on their lives. There were markers of some kind that signified who was to be killed. One person (no name or face) managed to avoid being killed the first attempt, but death followed the person, and it was coming after him or her (no name or face) again. END
My Understanding: In the previous chapter we learn there was a plot afoot to kill Jesus. Many Jews were turning to faith in Jesus Christ. Others reported to the Pharisees what Jesus was doing and the things he was saying. So, the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin (a religious and political council). They realized that if they let Jesus keep going on as he was that many more Jews would believe and would put their faith in him. They were also concerned that they would lose their own political positions of power and authority, and at the hand of the Romans. Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” “So from that day on they” (the religious leaders) “plotted to take his” (Jesus’) “life.”
Then, in the next chapter (chapter 12) we learn of another plot, and that of a plot to take the life of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. The reason they wanted to kill Lazarus was because of his testimony for Jesus Christ. Because of him, many Jews were going over to Jesus (leaving the Jewish faith) and were putting their faith in Christ. So, this served as a threat to the Jewish leaders, because they feared the people under them leaving from the Jewish faith and becoming followers of the Way, which in turn threatened their own positions of power and rule and authority. They did not want to lose the human kingdoms they had built for themselves.
The Pharisees and leaders of the people were getting more and more frustrated with Jesus and with his miracles and teachings that were leading the Jewish people to follow after him. The religious leaders could see that their previous plans were not working, so they had to devise a better and more sure-proof plan to get rid of him. Yet, Jesus had to die. This is why he had come into the world. So, even though evil people with evil thoughts and desires were plotting Jesus’ demise, this was in God’s plan for his life.
The Kernel
Then, Jesus gave us an illustration that had both literal and figurative meaning. He said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
Jesus recognized that his physical death meant the salvation of the world. Unless he (the kernel of wheat) died, he would remain only a single seed. But if he died, he would produce many seeds. In other words, Jesus Christ had to die on the cross for our sins, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world, because his death to our sins means life everlasting for those who put their hope and faith in him. Following that same literal meaning, we, as his followers, may also be called upon to die a literal death for our faith in Jesus Christ, thus becoming martyrs for the faith. Throughout the New Testament we have recorded for us several examples of such deaths, which thus resulted in the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ, i.e. the death of the martyred saints resulting in the Lord Jesus producing many more seeds for his harvest of righteousness in people’s lives, i.e. the salvation of souls.
On a more figurative level, this is speaking of our need to die to our old way of living in selfishness, pride, and sinful lifestyles and of our need to come to the cross of Jesus Christ so that from our lives is produced the salvation of other lives. If we are living to please ourselves, we will reap what we sow, and all our lives will have to show is a collection of worldly things, attitudes and behaviors that do not bring glory to God. That is because we are holding on to the lives we have so that we can live them for our own pleasures. If we want to reap a spiritual harvest in both our own lives and in the lives of others, we must be willing to die to our sins and selfish desires and we must be willing to give up our own lives (maybe literally) and reputations and our own selfish desires in order to please our master, Jesus Christ, and in order to make a difference for Jesus Christ in other people’s lives.
Then, Jesus told them the kind of death he would die. They would lift him up to die on a cross as though he were a common criminal. Jesus was falsely accused of crimes he did not commit, because of the hatred of people toward him, and because of who he was/is, and because of what he stood for, what he did, and what he taught. Jesus is the light. He told them that the light would be with them only a while longer, and that they should walk in the light while they have it before darkness overtakes them. If they walk in darkness, they have no light to guide them into all truth and thus do not know where they are going. But, if they put their trust in the light (Jesus Christ), they would become sons of light (sons of God). We, as Christ’s followers, are to also be that light (the light of Christ) to the world, and they will hate us, too. Jesus said they would. And his words are true!
Jesus also said that it was now time for judgment on the world and that the prince of this world would be driven out. He was speaking of his death, I believe, and how he would conquer death, hell, Satan and sin via his death and resurrection. Because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, via faith in him, we can be set free, not only from the ultimate penalty of sin at the judgment of God, but we can be free from the control of sin over our lives on a day-to-day basis. We don’t have to give into Satan and his temptations to sin, and we don’t have to sin of our own accord, because Jesus came to set us free.
Yet, although Satan was conquered at Calvary and he has no authority or power over the life of the believer in Jesus Christ, he was allowed to continue his evil work for a time. As well, a time is fast approaching when he will rule and reign over the entire earth for a time, times and half a time. He will be allowed to conquer the saints of God and to put them to death (martyred for their faith). We have not seen much of this in the USA so far, but a time is soon coming when we, even in the USA, will be put to death for our faith in Jesus. Some of this may be literal death (the taking of human life), while there is also the possibility of other means of silencing the saints of God and destroying their testimony for Jesus Christ, one of which is to bring false charges against them and to put them in prison, and another is to stage false protests and to accuse Christians of being the instigators (false flag operations), and still another may be to put them in mental hospitals and to silence them through the use of drugs (a modern way of beheading the saints of God).
Unbelief
Even after Jesus performed miraculous sign after miraculous sign in the presence of the people, and even after he spent all the time he did caring and loving, giving, showing compassion and mercy, kindness, and even after he had preached to them the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ over and over again and had offered to them the way of salvation, still many, many refused to listen, refused to repent, and refused to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. So, God blinded their eyes for a time, and he deadened their hearts, and made dull their understanding, so that they did not turn to Christ, and he could not heal them. God merely just gave them over to their own selfish wills and desires until the time when the Lord was ready for them to have their eyes opened and their ears unstopped.
We are living in a time in the USA and in the world where this is the case now. Many are blinded to spiritual truths because they have stopped up their ears and they have refused to listen and/or to repent of their evil ways. They don’t understand what God has for them, because they don’t want to understand. They want to keep living their lives the way they want to live them and they don’t want anyone telling them they have to change. So, they hate the messengers of God who try to tell them the truth, just like they hated Jesus. Yet, a time is coming when judgment of God will come upon the earth, and there is much evidence that we are on the threshold of that time. All hell will literally break loose when Satan rules the earth and truth will be hard to find. Yet, I believe it is at this time when the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, and many of the people will see and hear the truths of God’s word and will put their faith and hope in Jesus Christ, even knowing that they may be killed for their faith. Yet, we must willingly lay our lives down for the sake of the name of Jesus and for the sake of his gospel.
May Christ Be Seen in Me / Percy Crawford
O Lord, I give myself to Thee, and all that I possess;
I lay aside my sinful pride and claim Thy righteousness,
My will lies shattered at Thy feet, I pray Thy will be done,
My only plea to live for Thee and magnify Thy Son.
O may I count all gain but loss, save as to Thee 'tis gain;
Let me not shun the promised cross, nor shirk to suffer pain,
Then lead me, Lord, up Calv'ry's hill, forth to the cross with Thee,
And there pour out my life with God, As Thou didst Lord for me.
O humbly may I serve Thee, Lord, as in Thy will I tread;
And may I live anew in Christ, as risen from the dead.
Then closely walking by Thy side, may love flow out thro' me,
That those whom Thou shalt lead my way may, too, find life in Thee.
Chorus
May Christ be seen in me, O Lord,
Hear Thou my earnest plea;
O take me, fill me, use me, Lord,
Till Christ be seen in me.
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