Everything that happens, every thing no matter how small it may seem, is allowed to happen for a reason. The earth is God’s and nothing happens that He is not aware of. Bad things can be used for teaching us the godly things of life. Good things give us hope in the midst of the ungodly things of life.
We can do the right thing for the wrong reason.
The wrong thing for the right reasons.
Or the right thing for the right reasons….those come from God!
Jesus was glorified in His death and because of His sacrifice…we share in His glory in our death to this life and the precept by precept change that He brings to us by faith in Him. Jesus is God!
Now the time had come for Christ to die and be raised from the dead. When a seed dies, it produces fruit. Life comes by death. This principle is true not only in nature, but it is also true spiritually. Jesus was speaking first and foremost of Himself. He is the grain of wheat. His death would produce much fruit and would result in many living for God. The people understood that lifted up meant removal from the earth by death. They argued that Scripture teaches that the Messiah would abide forever. To them, the Messiah would not have to die. They did not understand that He would be raised. Their unbelief is startling. However Jesus’ predicted suffering and death did not fit the people’s idea of the Messiah.
The consequence of repeated rejection is loss of the capacity to believe. Isaiah taught that some could not believe because God hardened their hearts after they repeatedly rejected the truth.
John uses the words His glory to speak of the manifestation of God Himself. John quotes Isaiah 6:9 as a prophecy of the people’s unbelief and their rejection of Christ. In that verse, Isaiah was talking about God Himself. Therefore in this passage John is teaching that Jesus is God. Because the rulers did not confess Him, some claim that their faith was not genuine. The text, however, says that they believed in Him, a construction in Greek that typically indicates saving faith. Moreover, the word nevertheless marks a stark contrast between these believers and the unbelief spoken of in verses 37–41. These men were genuine believers. Their problem was that they feared the opinions of their fellow leaders. Such believers will be ashamed at Christ’s return.
Although the Greeks were not Jewish by heritage, these people believed in Yahweh. They did not always abide by all Jewish practices, but they followed enough to be allowed into one of the courts of the temple. A grain of wheat is not valuable unless it becomes something else. Jesus is willing to suffer for the cause God has set before Him. He suggests that His value is substantially less if He is unwilling to follow through on God’s will. If people decide that their lives are more important than God’s will, then they will forfeit the type of life God wants to give them—a life of relationship with Him now and in eternity. Those who choose to believe in Jesus will receive life forever, in communion with God the Father, because of their relationship with Jesus. If God’s people serve Christ, then His greatness will show through them. Jesus insisted that anyone who believed in Him was at the same time exercising belief in God the Father. Jesus explained that He was the personal manifestation of God. Christ will judge, but at His first coming He did not come to judge but to save. NKJ Bible.
Jesus wishes that He could forego suffering, but He knows that His death is necessary in order for Him to fulfill the will of the Father and save people from their sins.
The opposition between light and darkness is a prominent motif in John. People who follow evil desires and powers are usually not aware they are being led away from God and toward death. Belief in Jesus is belief in God the Father. Jesus equates Himself with God the Father; they are one. A believer in Jesus chooses to follow Jesus’ will. The intellectual decision begins a relationship with Jesus, but entering into a relationship with Him through that initial belief is only the beginning of the faith journey. The commandment Jesus requires His disciples to keep is to believe in His ability to grant eternal life. Faithlife Bible.
John 12
20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”
29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”
30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
34 The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”
35 Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.
37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
“Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”
41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
42 Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
44 Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. 46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. 47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
Deuteronomy 18:18 | I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
Isaiah 6:1 | In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
Jeremiah 13:16 | Give glory to the LORD your God Before He causes darkness, And before your feet stumble On the dark mountains, And while you are looking for light,He turns it into the shadow of death And makes it dense darkness.
Luke 22:53 | When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
John 8:12 | Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
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