Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But on account of this have I come to this hour.
Some Greeks had just asked to see Jesus, and He answered by speaking of a grain of wheat that must fall into the ground and die. His trouble follows at once, and it raises a hard question: is "Father, save me from this hour" a prayer He makes, or one He refuses?
The arrival of these Gentiles — non-Jewish visitors — opened up before Him glory as Son of Man, reached only by way of death.
The coming of the Gentiles had opened out before Him a scene: the rejected Christ passing into the wider glory of the Son of Man. But that meant the grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die. This brings before His soul the true and necessary path of His glory — death, and all that death meant to His soul. And He looks for deliverance. He could not wish for the forsaking of God and the cup of death He had to drink. Nor could He fail to fear them. He was heard because of His godly fear. That was truth, and true devotion to God, as He faced what His soul had to pass through.
The weight was not simply dying. It was death as God's judgment, and the forsaking that came with it.
The Lord has urged us to take the path of death to this world, leading to life and honour. But before the believer can take this path, Christ had to face death as the judgment of God against sin. He knows the solemn weight of being forsaken by God at the cross. So He has to say, "Now is my soul troubled." Even so, will He say, "Father, save Me from this hour"? Was it not for this very cause — to be forsaken so that His people might never be forsaken — that He had come to this hour?
Some fear that a troubled soul makes Him less. The opposite is true: this is exactly what a perfect man would feel here, and both halves of the verse belong together.
The reality of His manhood, and the glory of His Godhead, in no way hindered His sorrow. His being Who and what He was, and perfect in everything, only gave Him infinite capacity to feel and fathom what He endured. He would not have been perfect man if His soul had not been troubled, so that He felt, "What am I to say?" He would not have been Son of God as man if He had not prayed, in that trouble of soul, "Father, save Me from this hour." He would just as surely not have been, if He had not gone on to say, "But for this purpose I have come to this hour," crowned with, "Father, glorify Your name."
Commentators differ here. Darby and Kelly read the words as a real prayer that was heard. Another writer reads them as a plea He raises only to set aside.
Yet His rejection by man was not even a shadow of the sorrow none could share — His being forsaken by God. No, He would not say, "Father, save me from this hour," while still letting us know that His soul was troubled. "Father, glorify Your name," spoken in the shadow of the cross, is simply the completion of the thought formed in the brightness of the eternal glory — "I come… I delight to do Your will, O my God."
What He says here He would face again in the garden, and then endure in fact.
It is worth remembering that Gethsemane still lay ahead of the Lord at this time… Death, as the judgment of God, the thing that lay upon us, was before Him there. He went through it in anticipation in Gethsemane. He went through it in fact, in all its dread reality, in the dark hour of Calvary.
The trouble does not have the last word. Even here, one thing mattered to Him more than the cost.
He knew full well what the dreadful hour of the cross would mean to His holy soul. It meant sufferings beyond all creature knowledge. It meant all that the evil heart of man, driven by the power of Satan, could devise, and all that the powers of darkness could gather to attack Him. It meant the wrath and judgment of a holy God against sin, when He would be made sin and bear our sins. Looking ahead to all this was awful, and the drinking of the cup of wrath would be awful too. Yet one thing mattered to Him above everything else: the glory of the Father's Name.
- The hour — the Greeks' arrival opened up glory as Son of Man. The way there ran through the grain of wheat falling into the ground to die.
- The trouble — not dying as such, but death as God's judgment, and the forsaking that came with it.
- The manhood — a troubled soul does not make Him less. Only a real man would feel it, and only He could fathom it.
- The choice — commentators differ: is the plea prayed, or raised only to be set aside? Either way the verse turns on one hinge: He came for this hour.
- The end — the trouble ends not in escape but in "Father, glorify Your name." That was the one thing worth more to Him than the cost.
Father, glorify thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, I both have glorified and will glorify [it] again.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
The crowd therefore, which stood [there] and heard [it], said that it had thundered. Others said, An angel has spoken to him.
The Father has just answered His Son's prayer out loud from heaven. Everyone hears the sound, but it splits the crowd into two parties, and neither guess comes near the truth.
This was the Father's public answer. It came at the close of the Son's public ministry, matching the voice that had opened it.
The closing testimony of the Son begins with the words, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine." When the Son was about to begin His public testimony, the Father's voice had proclaimed His pleasure in Him. Now, as that testimony is about to close, the Father speaks again. But the Jews had no ear to hear or understand the Father's voice. They had refused the Son's testimony to the Father, and they could not discern the Father's testimony to the Son.
The crowd was not used to hearing heaven speak, so they reached for a natural explanation. One writer notes that a few came nearer the mark than the rest, and still missed it.
Meanwhile this voice came as His witness to the crowd. He did not need it Himself, since He walked in a communion with God that was never broken. Sadly, for them a voice from heaven was a strange and, for most, an unintelligible sound. The crowd said, "It thundered." A few, who still did not clearly recognise it, said, "An angel has spoken to Him."
Commentators differ over the two answers. One refuses to explain the split at all, and treats both guesses as wide of the mark:
As to the question why some said the voice from heaven was thunder, others the speaking of an angel to the Lord, it seems pointless to look for an answer. It was merely guesswork on the part of the crowd, who all fell short of the truth. Unbelief of Him can weaken or get rid of all testimony until He comes in judgment.
Their problem was not their hearing but their ignorance of God. The Son had just prayed, and heaven had just answered. The link should have been obvious.
There was no knowledge of the Father, no real recognition of God. Otherwise they would have seen the hand of God in such an answer to such a prayer. They saw the wonder in answer to "Father, glorify Your name," and they said, "An angel spoke," or, "It thundered." If God gave His thunder, then it was God, the Highest, who answered the words "Father, glorify Your name."
The next verse gives the reason for the voice, and it is not the reason the crowd assumed. Jesus needed no sound from heaven; they did.
The crowd did not know what to think of the voice they had heard. Some said it was a clap of thunder, others that an angel had spoken to Him. Jesus answers, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine." The Father's voice was in His heart. The people needed something their senses could take in, and grace gave it to them.
The contrast between the Son and the crowd is the point. He lived in unbroken fellowship with the Father, so a public sign added nothing to Him.
The Father had given a public witness that the Son was the One through Whom He was glorifying His Name. The people, unused to voices from heaven, speculated about this public witness. Some said it was thunder, others the voice of an angel. The Lord plainly tells them that it was for their sakes: He Himself, always walking in communion with the Father, needed no such public witness.
Scripture records three times when people on earth heard the Father's voice. The hearers did not all gain the same from it.
On three distinct occasions others heard the Father's voice: at His baptism by John (Matthew 3:17); at His transfiguration (Matthew 17:5); and in answer to His prayer, "Father, glorify Your name" (John 12:28). On the first occasion John the Baptist heard it. On the second, Peter, James and John had the privilege of listening to it. On the third, the crowd heard a sound, but it was clear they did not understand what was said.
The same gap between sound and meaning shows up elsewhere. One commentator explains it from the men who travelled with Saul of Tarsus at his conversion:
Comparing this with Acts 9:7, we gather that the men heard the voice. Yet it could also be said that they did not hear the voice, because it conveyed nothing they could understand.
- Prayer. The Son prayed, "Father, glorify Your name." The Father answered out loud at the close of His ministry — the third time people on earth heard that voice.
- Grace. The voice came for the crowd, not for Jesus. He lived in unbroken communion with the Father and needed no sign, so the sound was pure kindness to them.
- Guesswork. Most said thunder and a few said an angel. Both guesses fell short of the truth.
- Deafness. The failure lay in their hearts, not their ears. They had refused the Son's witness to the Father, so they missed the Father's witness to the Son.
- Warning. Unbelief can weaken or get rid of any testimony, however clear, until Christ comes in judgment.
Jesus answered and said, Not on my account has this voice come, but on yours.
Jesus had just prayed, "Father, glorify your name," and a voice answered out of heaven. The crowd standing there could only argue about what they had heard. His reply sorts out the scene. The voice was never for Him. It came for the very people who could not tell what it was.
The Father answered out loud, in front of everyone, and the crowd could not agree on what it was:
The Father had given a public witness that the Son was the One through Whom He was glorifying His Name. The people, unused to voices from heaven, speculated about this public witness. Some said it was thunder, others the voice of an angel. The Lord plainly tells them that it was for their sakes: He Himself, walking always in communion with the Father, needed no such public witness.
Both explanations missed what had happened. Jesus had prayed, heaven had answered, and that link alone should have told them who spoke:
They did not know the Father. They did not truly recognise God. Otherwise they would have seen the hand of God in such an answer to such a prayer. They saw the wonder in answer to "Father, glorify your name," and they said, "An angel spoke," or, "It thundered." If God gave His thunder, then it was God, even the Highest, who answered the words, "Father, glorify your name." So the Lord, the Son of Man, could well say that this voice had not come for His sake. He needed no such evidence. It came "for your sake." They thought it was for His own.
Why some heard thunder and others an angel is not explained. Even so, the Lord turned the moment toward them:
Why did some say the voice from heaven was thunder, while others said an angel had spoken to the Lord? It seems pointless to look for an answer. It was only guesswork by the crowd, and all of them fell short of the truth. Unbelief of Him can weaken or get rid of all testimony until He comes in judgment. Yet it was truly in grace toward them, for Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine."
The grace is sharper still when you look at what these same hearers did next:
The voice was plain and the proof was clear. The Lord says that this voice did not come for His sake, since He knew the truth of these words perfectly. It came for the people. Yet in only a few brief days they joined in crying out for His crucifixion!
This was not the first time heaven had spoken over Jesus:
The closing testimony of the Son begins with the words, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine." When the Son was about to begin His public testimony, the Father's voice declared His pleasure in Him. Now, as that testimony is about to close, the Father speaks again. But the Jews had no ear to hear the Father's voice or to understand it. They had refused the Son's testimony to the Father, and they could not discern the Father's testimony to the Son.
From heaven's answer the Lord moves straight to the cross and what it would settle:
The Lord then declared, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine." Then He looked ahead: "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 (31-33). Soon the crowd would be shouting for His death. They wanted Him crucified as a blasphemer against God and a traitor to Caesar. The ruler of this world led men to crucify Him. Once that crime was done, he might seem to have won a total victory. Could that really be the case? Quite the reverse. Leading the world to crucify Christ would bring down certain and final judgment on the world. He led the world at the cross as its prince, yet he will be cast out all the same.
- Not for Him. The Son lived in unbroken communion with His Father and needed no audible proof. Heaven aimed the voice past Him, at the crowd.
- Not received. Thunder or an angel — every guess fell short. Unbelief can explain away any testimony.
- Still grace. The Lord's correction was kindness to people who would shout for His crucifixion within days.
- Twice spoken. Heaven's voice opened His public testimony, and now it closes it. The same ears that refused the Son missed the Father.
- Pointing to the cross. The voice led straight to the cross. There the world is judged, its ruler cast out, and the lifted-up Christ draws all to Himself.
Now is [the] judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out
Days before the cross, Jesus announced what His death would settle: the world's judgment, and the fall of its ruler. Two questions follow: what did that judgment mean, and why does its ruler still seem so active?
Nothing dramatic happened in the sky when Jesus died. One writer points to what the moment put on display:
When Christ died, no lightning flashed and nothing was destroyed. Yet the full truth about the world came out then. Its judgment was proved, though not carried out. The world showed what it really was by putting the Lord out of it.
The gap between a sentence and its carrying out explains the delay we now live in:
A court passes sentence on a murderer days or weeks before it is carried out. So in this verse you see the judgment was a present thing: the casting out was a future thing. Between the verdict and its carrying out stands this present day of grace. The word "now" covers it, as in 2 Corinthians 6:2. In His patience God delays carrying out the judgment.
The word "world" here points to something people built:
John uses the word "world" for the moral condition of the vast organisation that man built for himself after he was driven out of the Garden of Eden. With his skill and his learning, man slowly formed a great system to run all the affairs of this life without God's help and without recognising Him. Sinful indulgence and selfish ease became the main parts of man's world. When the Son of God came into it, men despised Him, hated Him, and crucified Him.
Older translations call this ruler "the prince of this world." Many assume the cross ended his rule; one writer argues the opposite:
It is strange how many people imagine that the cross put an end to Satan's rule. The opposite is true. The cross was the one great proof, and there never was such a proof before, that Satan is the prince and god of this world. Until Christ had been rejected, Satan was never called the prince of this world. Before that, the LORD was on the earth, and His glory was in the temple. When the Lord comes again, He will be the Prince of the world; but till He comes again, Satan is that prince.
The same writer explains why the Lord could speak of it as settled while using a future tense:
By death He has destroyed the one who has the power of death — that is, annulled his power. Though the verse says "will be," his power is now destroyed. The sentence is passed, but not carried out. It is the cross that is referred to. The world is a judged world. I fully admit that he is not cast into the bottomless pit until Christ comes again. But through Christ's death Satan's power is annulled. To faith his power is annulled now.
Commentators differ over how much has already changed in fact. Some press that a later title given to Satan settles the question:
Does He not also say, when predicting the effect of His cross, "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out"? Has he not, then, been cast out of his kingdom? The Lord only predicts the certain effect of the cross, and the "now" simply declares it to be the effect. , going beyond even that which the Lord uses, is decisive: he calls the devil — long after the cross — "the god of this world."
If the verdict is already in, the world is not waiting for a better outcome:
That solemn event of the cross is the judgment of this world. The world is therefore no longer under probation, but under sentence of judgment. The cross has ended the world's trial. There the world was shown to be guilty of a crime. By the cross of Christ the strong man, Satan, has been bound. The blessed Lord triumphed over him in the very thing by which Satan meant to destroy Christ.
For those who face the world's hatred, He leaves a plain assurance:
He tells us that the world which will hate and persecute us stands judged. The great prince who governs and guides its affairs is deposed. His power is already broken and made useless, and he himself is doomed to everlasting punishment.
- Verdict. The cross exposed what the world is; its judgment was proved there, though not carried out.
- Reprieve. Between the verdict and the execution stands this present day of grace, in which God delays.
- Ruler. Satan was never called prince of this world until Christ was rejected; the title dates from that hour.
- Deposed. Christ's death annulled his power. Faith counts that real now, though his final removal waits for Christ's return.
- Choice. The world is no longer on trial but under sentence, so safety lies only with the One it condemned.
and I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me.
Some Greeks had just asked to see Jesus. His answer speaks of a death, a magnet, and a reach far wider than Israel — and it raises a question commentators still weigh: when is "all" drawn?
The phrase points to how He would die. It rules out other kinds of execution:
The Lord described the way He would die as being lifted up out of the earth. Death by stoning would not have matched this. John 3:14; John 8:28; John 12:32. We also read that He was made a curse for us; for "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23. So the blessed Lord, in saving rebellious man, went down to the very lowest form of death.
The words "from the earth" matter. One writer ties them to rejection, and to the foundation of Christianity itself:
In His dying for us the foundation of Christianity was laid. He was "lifted up," not crucified on the earth, as He says, "Lifted up from the earth." He had to be a completely rejected Christ, rejected even to death. Otherwise there could be no point of attraction for men.
Verse 31 condemns the world and casts out its prince. Verse 32 opens the way to all. Both meet at the cross:
Note the completeness of verses 31 and 32 of John 12. The death of Christ judges the world, and Satan (shown to be its prince) is cast out. But then, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." See how the cross shows both things at once! It shows the complete condemnation of the world, and with it the overthrow of Satan. It also shows grace — grace in the attractive object, and in its own effective work towards all.
The word "all" covers two groups, and one of them stood outside Israel:
His death opened up the way to glory "above," in the Father's house. It opened it not to Jews only, but to Gentiles. The words "all" and "whoever" include both. The "other sheep" were Gentiles (John 10:14-16).
Here commentators differ. Some read "all" (older translations: "all men") as every kind of person, drawn now:
How blessed to know that He is God's centre of attraction, at the present time, for all men, as we read in verse 32... This means "all men without distinction," but not "all men without exception." Not all men have been drawn to Him. It is in keeping with the character of John's Gospel, which takes in the whole world in its scope, and not just the Jews.
Others hold that the sentence looks past this age to a public, worldwide submission:
The key to this lies in the incident of the Greeks who wanted to see Jesus. They can be taken as representatives of all the families, peoples, and languages that will one day bow the knee to Jesus. So when the Lord speaks of drawing all men to Him after being lifted up, we cannot doubt what He means. He points to what will happen in this world, in the world to come, the thousand years, when everyone will confess His supremacy and authority... in virtue of His death and exaltation, all will be drawn, either by His attractions or His power, in subjection to His feet.
So what does the drawing? A death — and a force nothing can resist:
The cross of Christ is the divine necessity of divine light and love. Jesus crucified will always attract people to God. As long as the world lasts, this marvel will stand: the story of the sufferings and the death of Jesus draws men from the glory and the glitter of the world. It draws them from its fame and its shame, right to God Himself... Jesus crucified is the sacrifice for sin and the friend of sinners. He is the mighty magnet God uses to draw us to His heart of love. Christ crucified is the irresistible force that no power of Satan or of the world can withstand.
The attraction is a Man lifted off the earth. That changes where your heart lives:
Three times in the Gospel of John the Lord speaks of being lifted up. Only in John 12 do those significant words follow: "will draw all people to myself." It is lifted up "from the earth." He has left the earth, and we are to leave the earth in our affections as He attracts us.
- Lifted — the phrase names crucifixion. Stoning could not fit it, and hanging on a tree placed Him under the curse.
- Rejected — "from the earth" means a Christ cast out. Only a Christ rejected to death is a point of attraction.
- Judged — one cross condemns the world and casts out its prince. The same cross draws all people.
- All — the word reaches past Israel. "All" and "whoever" cover Jew and Gentile alike. Commentators differ on the timing: drawing now, or full submission when He reigns.
- Drawn — the crucified Christ is the magnet no power can resist. He has left the earth, so hearts drawn to Him leave it too.
But this he said signifying by what death he was about to die.
John stops to explain what the Lord had just said. "Lifted up" could sound like a promise of glory. John says it meant a cross. So why did the manner of His death matter so much?
Other men of God died in other ways. The manner of the Lord's death was fixed, and it took both Jewish and Gentile hands.
The Jews might stone Stephen in an outburst of religious fury. Herod might kill James with the sword. But the Son of man had to be condemned by the Jewish chief priests and scribes, and crucified by the Gentiles. All mankind had to prove its guilt to the last degree.
Crucifixion was the Roman penalty, yet the hatred behind it was Jewish. The method was meant to end Him. It did the opposite.
In mentioning this He signified crucifixion as the manner of His death. Now this was the Roman way of executing the death sentence, but seeing that all the animosity against Him was in the breast of the Jew, it signified that He would die a death of utmost shame, repudiated by both Jew and Gentile. He was lifted up from the earth in order that He might be contemptuously dismissed — the extinguisher dropped, so to speak, upon His cause and His Name. And the result to be attained is precisely the opposite. He who once was crucified is to be the universal and everlasting Object of attraction!
The Lord said He would be lifted up from the earth. One writer draws out the strange position that puts Him in.
He is no longer of this world at all, nor in heaven either. Here is a Saviour rejected, suffering, dying, who has left the world for ever — a Saviour shamefully rejected, driven away, cast out by the world. He is no longer on the earth, and not yet in heaven. He is exposed to the gaze of men, lifted up from the earth, alone between the two with God, like the altar that was neither in the camp nor in the tabernacle. He is the refuge that draws those who would flee the world that has rejected Him. He opens for them the way into heaven.
Men raised Him from the earth to be rid of Him. God answered with a lifting up of His own.
Our attention is therefore called to the fact that He was cast out of this world, lifted up from the earth, and crucified on that shameful cross. But we behold in this God's triumph over man's sin, and the Lord's own victory over death, the grave, and Satan's power. Man lifted Him up from the earth, as unworthy to live on it any longer. To add to the shame of His death, they crucified Him between two thieves. But God stepped in. After His burial, God lifted Him up higher still — to the highest place in the universe, to His own right hand.
Commentators differ on how far the phrase reaches. John ties it to His death. But the word for lifting up is also the word for being exalted, and one writer asks whether both were meant.
The word for lifting up and being exalted is the same. We are plainly told that the Lord used it to show by what kind of death He was going to die. It is still true that His exaltation comes by His death and follows from it, and that it is the exalted Christ who will draw all men to Himself. So may it be that we are meant to include His exaltation in His being lifted up?
The crowd could not fit a dying Messiah into what they had been taught. Their difficulty came from a partial reading of their own Scriptures.
"We have heard," they said, "out of the law, that the Christ abides for ever: and how do You say, The Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" It was a difficulty they had no answer to. True, the Christ will abide for ever (Ps. 72:15-17; Isa. 9:7; Ezek. 37:25; Dan. 7:14). But that would be in resurrection, when He reigns in power. His humiliation and death were foretold just as clearly, and they had not grasped that.
- Signified — John fixes the meaning. The "lifting up" was not honour but a cross, the death that threw Him out of the world.
- Shame — the death itself was shame by design. Jew and Gentile joined to throw Him out.
- Between — off the earth, not yet in heaven, He hung alone with God. There He became the refuge for all who flee the world that cast Him out.
- Reversed — man raised Him up as unfit to live; God raised Him higher still, to His own right hand.
- Attraction — the cross meant to blot out His Name made Him the One who draws all men. The crowd missed it. They held the promises of His reign and left out the prophecies of His death.