Now is My Soul Troubled

John 12:27-33 ESV

“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. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

Jesus, although he was God in the flesh, was still human, and he was getting ready to go through a horrendous time of suffering unlike most of us have ever had to suffer. For in Jesus’ death, he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. Although he was perfect, he took upon himself the sins of the entire world so that he could put our sins to death with him so that we can now die to sin and live to God.

I love Jesus’ words here when he said, “And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

How many times do we immediately want to be relieved of suffering when we begin to suffer? It is human nature to not want to suffer, for it hurts. So, we automatically look for a way to relieve the pain. And there is nothing wrong with that, as long as we are not relieving the pain by doing something sinful or by taking matters into our own hands and not even praying and asking the Lord for healing or for wisdom in knowing what to do.

But we are called to suffer for the sake of Christ and for his gospel and for the sake of righteousness. First we are called to die daily to sin and to deny self and to follow Jesus in obedience. And then we are called to obey the Lord and to live for him and to do his will and to speak his messages, etc., which should then get us hated, rejected, and persecuted like they hated and persecuted and put to death Jesus Christ.

But, like Jesus, we should have the attitude that if it is God’s will that we should suffer, and that his purposes will be served through our suffering, that we should accept that as from the Lord, and submit to the Lord and to his will. For if we are in the will of God, our Lord will see us through it, he will strengthen us through it, and he will accomplish his purposes and his will that he had planned for us even before the beginning of time.

For Jesus had to die that horrible death on that cross so that we could be delivered from our slavery (addiction) to sin and so that we can now walk in holiness and in righteousness in obedience to our Lord, in his power and strength and wisdom. And sometimes we must suffer unjustly as a testimony for Jesus and for his gospel and for the salvation of human lives, such as Paul and the other apostles and prophets before them suffered.

In Jesus’ death he was judging the sins of the entire world. And in his death he conquered our enemy Satan and sin and death and hell on our behalf so that by God-persuaded faith in Christ we can be delivered from our bondage to sin and now walk in freedom from sin in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord, in the power of God. And via our Lord’s bodily resurrection from the dead he provided the way for us now to live to him and to his righteousness and to have new and abundant life in him.

And by God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, now all who would come to Christ and would die with him to sin and live to his righteousness in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) can have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. But we must continue in these walks of faith until the very end and not go back to living in sin. For if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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