Yeah, I think one of the odd things about our present time in history is with the ubiquitous nature of poles. I think in some ways it can be discouraging of us to go out and vote. It might give us the impression that things are over and done. But I would just encourage us all as Christians to take those responsibilities seriously and to let your voices be heard in the political process that we have been given a privilege to be a part of. Okay, is there someone back there who can... You just did it. So that's on tape. Oh no, I know I'm going to get out and kick that now. Let's pray. Oh Lord, our triumphant God, we thank You. That once again you have called us to come together to meet with each other for mutual upbuilding and fellowship. We thank You that You have granted us the grace of Your Word. We thank You that You work with Your Word by Your Spirit to teach us. We pray that we might feel in our souls again the effect of Your truth that our hearts might confess once again that we are Your children, You are our God. We thank You, Lord Jesus, for being the bread of life, for giving life to this dead world, for being the light of the world that we might not have to walk in darkness. We thank You that You have taken our sins upon Yourself, You have become sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God. Now be among us, forgive our sins, for we know that there are many. Bless your presence in Christ's name, Amen. All right, at lightning fast speed, we're now to chapter 11 in John's Gospel. Chapter 11, which records one great miracle of Jesus, JB Lightfoot, who was an interpreter of the last century, said that this particular miracle, recorded in chapter 11, is the most stupendous one, in the history of our Lord, short of the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus themselves. That great miracle, of course, is the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, raising of Lazarus. A man dead, and in the two dead for four days, and Jesus calls him out, calls him back to life, to join the land of the living, we have seen in chapters past when we looked at miracles of Jesus, that miracles that Jesus performs were not, their meaning was not completely satisfied, by the mere event themselves, as if the whole bottle of wax, the whole meaning, that Jesus simply came to heal someone, came to feed someone, and that was it. Remember, we've come in on that before, that his miracles are also what? In fact, the word that John uses over and over again is signs, right? We've seen that Jesus feeding of the 5,000, and that one in particular, feeding of the 5,000 was not just so that they might have their bellies filled, right? But that one taught that Jesus is the bread of life, Jesus is the bread of life. That's the ultimate significance. Jesus is the bread of heaven that comes down to give life to the world, and we must feed upon him in order to have life, and we must drink of his blood. We see with the wedding at Cana, even, there are hints, there are overtones, Old Testament overtones, that Jesus is the one who comes to bring God's great wedding feast, His banquet, that we might be fed at His hand, and the celebration, the joy of a wedding feast, is brought by the Messiah, the true Messiah, who restores that which was barren, and the old water pots of Judaism are replaced with the good wine of the kingdom, so forth. Therefore, having come to this great, this stupendous miracle of the raising of Lazarus, what do you think is the ultimate meaning that Jesus grants us from this great miracle? I'll give you a hint, I think it's stated in the text. Go ahead, please, all right, all right, I knew that was way too easy for you guys. Well, actually, it's a row, it's not an r, but... That's right, that's right, actually, it's an alpha, in fact, Jesus is the resurrection and the life. You remember that he speaks with Martha to this effect on his way to the tomb of Lazarus. Remember that Jesus, when told that Lazarus was dying, was ill, Jesus remained where he was for two days, and Lazarus died, and then Jesus went, and his conversation with Martha, Martha, who came out to see Jesus, and to say that if you had been here, my brother would not have died, in verse 21, but even now I know whatever you ask of God, God will give you, Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. She still has, in mind, the Jewish understanding of resurrection, as well as she might. Most of the Jews at this time, certainly the ferrezeical party, the Sadducees did not, but the Pharisees, and probably the majority of Jews, believed in a resurrection, and they believe that the dead would be raised at the last day, and Martha is voicing her confidence in that teaching. But Jesus has more to say, doesn't he? It's not simply that Lazarus will rise in the last day, but Jesus says to her verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? Jesus not only has the power to restore physical life, but he is the resurrection and the life. That puts things in a whole different context, doesn't it? Jesus is the resurrection of life, just as he has said before that he is the light of the world, that he is the good shepherd, that he is the gate of the sheep. He is the resurrection. It has the effect of focusing, resurrection exclusively upon him. He will be the agent, he will be the one who engineers, the resurrection of the dead, and in him is resurrection and not only the resurrection at the last day. He is the resurrection of the life, he who believes in me, though he dies, shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. What sounds like a contradiction there at first. He who dies, but then he will never die. We know, because of course we've, most of us, been brought up on this, but notice again that it is that sort of language that at first sight would seem to be a contradiction, but we know it isn't, right? What is he getting at? What is he getting at by saying that the one that believes in him would never die, that eternal life begins in the present, right? Eternal life begins in the present. I think even we, I know what you, I do, I slip into this way of thinking, we think of our eternal life really beginning at death, but it is not so. In Christ the life that is given, there is a continuum, and so the one who believes in Christ never dies, never undergoes an annihilation of existence, but death is a transition from life to life. Death is still and can be a horrible ordeal, but it is sweetened ordeal because it is a transition from life to life in the case of those who believe. Jesus then approaches the tomb of Lazarus, he knows of course what he is going to do, and yet we have this very poignant scene versus 28 through 37 or so, even leading up to the miracle, where Jesus' compassion is very visible, right? To remember more than once, we have an indication of Jesus' great compassion, the sympathy, the empathy that he felt with those who were grieving, verse 33, therefore when Jesus saw her weeping and then Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled and said where have you lane him? They said to him, Lord come and see, and then that verse it is often pointed to as the shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, see how he loved him, and some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying? And Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb, okay? We see his compassion for our human well, as Calvin said by the groaning of his spirit by a strong feeling of grief and by tears. He shows that he is as much affected by our distresses as if he had endured them in his own person. He groans along with those who are groaning. Now it has been pointed out by some warfield made at a point of this, and I think I remember a kelly in his class a while ago pointing to this fact too, that the word translated groaned in spirit in verses 33 and 38, elsewhere in the New Testament it is translated a little bit differently than you might expect, something like sternly warned or sternly rebuked. The idea there is not so much a sadness, a grieving, teary sadness, but an anger, a feeling of rage, a feeling of sternness. And I think that is what is going on here, it is not just that Jesus is feeling this grief, this human grief, empathizing with the loss experienced by those who are left behind in a death, that he is angry as if at an enemy. In Warfield's words, I don't know if anybody happened to have taskers commentary here with him by any chance. I was going to, there is a longer passage in here. I wrote some of it down, but the whole thing is so good that he quotes Warfield. And somebody had some, oh, I see, now I never buy him, I just borrow him, don't ask my wife for confirmation on that, yeah, this is now a used book, so probably get it at this camp. Okay, sorry for the delay here, while I look for this, but I thought this was so good, I should have written it all down. Tasker quotes Warfield, says, Warfield's coming on this passage may therefore well be right, this is quote from Warfield, it is death, that is the object of his wrath. And behind death, him who has the power of death and whom he has come into this world to destroy, tears of sympathy may fill his eyes, but this is incidental. His soul is held by rage, and he advances to the tomb in Calvin's words as a champion who prepares for conflict. The raising of Lazarus thus becomes not an isolated marvel, but a decisive instance and open symbol of Jesus' conquest of death and hell, not in cold and concerned, but in flaming wrath against the foe, Jesus smights in our behalf. He has not only saved us from the evils which oppress us, he has felt for and with us in our oppression. And under the impulse of these feelings has wrought out our redemption. Well, I think that probably does capture a bit of what's going on here, of course it's hard to get to the situation, but with Jesus obviously moved by the grief, but also I think with a sense of rage, a sense of anger against the foe, when he brings Lazarus back from the dead, back from the grasp of the enemy. Jesus, though, has been victorious. God has been glorified, remember he told Martha, don't you remember I said that God would be glorified with this. The grave has lost one of its captives. Death and Hades are now put on notice that they will one day have to deliver all who have been entrusted to their care. They have met their Lord who shows by this miracle that he has the keys of death and Hades. And we are given a token, a token of assurance of the outcome of that great battle. Death will not win. We are given a token of the battle that is about to ensue when the Son of God himself will take the place of Lazarus and walk into the very jaws of the grave itself. Following upon this stupendous miracle, it says in verse 45 that many of the Jews believed in Jesus because of this miracle. The report naturally went to the Pharisees and they are concerned. They and the chief priests called together the Sanhedrin. You remember what the Sanhedrin was? I think we have mentioned the Sanhedrin before. The ruling council of the Jews at that time, there were 70 elders, chief priests, many of whom were Pharisees. And they were the religious leaders, made decisions concerning religious matters. And the members of the Sanhedrin perceive the military dangers that are afoot. If Jesus is allowed to continue and if he continues stirring up the crowds as he is done and many begin to follow him, what is going to happen? They believe they can see the handwriting on the wall. The Romans are going to do what? I think the Romans will come and take away their nation, right? Destroy this place, meaning I think the temple, verse 48. If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. So they have got a problem, don't they? Or they think they do. Here we come to another one of those great mysterious occurrences in the Gospel of John. And that is the prophecy of Caiaphas. Caiaphas, you remember, is high priest that year. He is the son-in-law of Anas or Ananias, sometimes appears differently. And Anas, who was high priest some years ago, five sons or sons-in-law of this man and Anas, thereafter became high priest. Caiaphas is his son-in-law. Caiaphas is now high priest and he spoke, verse 49, you know nothing at all. Nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish. Many people have called this a great example of Johanine irony, what is ironic about this? It is ironic, right? Why Angela? Exactly what it is all about. And the ironic thing is did Caiaphas understand this? No, absolutely not. He is oblivious to the true meaning of his words. But yet it was a true prophecy. It is like unbeknownst to him unwittingly he gave a true prophecy. It was expedient that one man should die for the people of the whole nation, not perish. True words, though he didn't understand it. Bob? I find it interesting that he can introduce him what he has to say to you, so you know nothing at all. That is right. Good point. Good point. You know nothing at all. That almost turns it from ironic to the comic if it were not such a serious situation, right? Good. John, you notice what John adds there, verse 51, of course he says, this he did not say in his own authority but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. Verse 52 then is John's own editorializing and not for that nation only but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. That is John's inspired interpretation, you might say, of that prophecy. Yes, it was for the nation, but it was for more than the nation, not only the nation, not only Israel, but that he would gather into one the scattered people of God. That ring of bell back to chapter 10, right? It is the good shepherd passage and Jesus saying that he has other sheep who are not of this fold, he must bring them as well so there will be one flock, one shepherd and here John says to gather not only the nation but those who have been scattered, the sheep imagery I think is there with the word scattered, gather those scattered into one. Again, the one flock imagery that Jesus spoke of in chapter 10, it also looks ahead to chapter 12, but I am not going to go into that right now because that is still ahead of us. So Caiaphas oblivious to the real divine meaning of his words, issues the order and the Sanhedrin oblivious to the real purpose of their actions set out to kill him. But Jesus withdraws to a town called Ephraim. The tension mounts then as we, as we near the end of chapter 11, once again, it is Passover time and people are naturally asking whether Jesus would come up to the feast, it had been his practice to do so, you know that it was an obligation laid upon Jewish males at least to come to Jerusalem for Passover. Would Jesus come? He did in fact come, but there was tension because your memory of the authorities had said that if anyone sees Jesus they must report it so that they could arrest him. Before coming to Jerusalem, however, at Bethany, the town of Lazarus, Martha, Mary, a feast is given for Jesus and here is where Mary anoints Jesus' feet with costly ointment, wipes his feet with her hair. This is the incident where we hear Judas complaining of the extravagance and unlike the other evangelists, John adds some personal reflection, some personal details here. It is from John really that we know a little bit more about the personal character of Judas, something maybe we are left to guess at in the other accounts. We sometimes I think wonder about who this man Judas was, was he, what was he like? Was it just a bad day for him, the day when he betrayed Jesus? He was with Jesus all that time, he was one of his disciples. Here John gives us some insight that no it was not just one off the cuff, one uncharacteristic act of Judas, that he betrayed Jesus, but he was a thief. John knew it. John one of the disciples knew that Judas was not honest with his dealings and had been misusing the funds that were entrusted to him. Well, it is interesting of course what Jesus says about Mary's act. We are at verse 7, let her alone, verse 7 of chapter 12, she has kept this for the day of my burial, for the poor you have with you always, but me you do not always have the two parts of that each one interesting about the poor being with you always, but Jesus not being, and what seems to some like extravagance is utterly fitting because it is spent upon Jesus,
and the other part about Mary doing this with a view towards his burial as if this might be the anointing in preparation for his burial. Once again, we are given a hint of Jesus approaching death, a few hints that he is given before this. Now, the Jews learn interestingly that Jesus is there, and now they sought to kill him, not only him, but Lazarus too, as you like to have been Lazarus brought back from the dead, and then you are thrust right into the face of it, thereafter him. Again, what an insight into people's hearts, this stupendous miracle, and instead of praising God for it, they are out to kill, not only Jesus, but the man that he rose, he raised from the dead, incidentally, I will mention this because you might run across this theory at some point, particularly seminarians, but any of you, the rest of you as well, there is a theory that Lazarus is the author of John's Gospel. He is the beloved disciple, and
it is a very interesting theory, I think it is wrong. It is very interesting because you remember right at the last part of the Gospel where Peter points back, he is walking with Jesus after the resurrection. Peter points back to the beloved disciple and says, Lord, what about this man? And Jesus says, what? Well, if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Then that would be a natural question and answer, I think, for one who had been raised from the dead. You know, what is going to happen to this fellow? So it is very intriguing, and Lazarus is called in chapter 12, the one whom Jesus loved, excuse me,
not in chapter 12 and chapter 11. Verse 2, the sister sent to him saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. Could this be the beloved disciple? Well, I think not, for a number of reasons, one of them is right here, really. Notice the authorities are now out to get Lazarus. The chief priests want him dead. But later on, when Jesus is brought to trial before the high priest, it is the beloved disciple who follows him in and who is let in because he is known to the high priest. Now, that to me, that shoots the Lazarus theory, because if he was on their hit list, he wouldn't have been let in because he was known to the high priest. Okay, there are other problems with it. But I do mention it because it is out there, you might hear it, and yes, it sounds like the sort of thing that a journalist at the Orlando Central might want to write. Is there, I don't know, I mean, I agree with you. I think you could see it as a sort of civil disobedience if that was certainly the will of the Sanhedrin and the disciples were certainly not cooperating. Yeah, I don't know if anybody, perhaps Kyle does, nobody who's written on that, yeah. Dragress away. I don't know that there's a good explanation, I think you can theorize, perhaps John, one thing John may have known the family quite well, and the other disciples not. To him, it was not only a, you know, a stupendous miracle, but he may have been within, more within their circle. Other than that, I really don't know. I mean, you look at the other gospel counts and they're very, this, the holy week is very full of a lot of incidents, and this is one that is not there and that's in here. And John, likewise, leaves out a lot of incidents that are in the synoptics. So, I probably don't have a real good explanation for that. That's a point. Why such a glorious miracle is not recorded in the other gospels. I really don't know, yes, normal. No, I don't. If anybody can enlighten me on that, I assume he died a natural death. There are a couple of references in the early church too. There's one person who says that he knew some of the people that Jesus has raised from the dead, that they survived until his time. And this was a person who must have lived, you know, end of the first century, beginning of the second century. He doesn't mention any names, who they might have been, whether it was a Lazarus, you know, the son of the widow at name or at some of those who rose when Jesus rose from the dead, doesn't say. But evidently, it would mean no reasonably of anything other than that they died a natural death later on. There's a, well, there's a great story. I might read it sometime. There's an ancient, I don't know what you call it, a romance sort of a thing, a novel about the descent of Jesus into Hades. And it's great fun. I mean, it's great literature, I think. Oh, we don't know. We don't know who wrote it. No, it's not historical. I mean, it's a sort of reflection on what might have happened in Hades when Jesus came to break the bars of hell and let the prisoners go free. And Lazarus is mentioned there as one who had escaped in probably 4th or 5th century. Roy? Yeah, I don't, of course, nobody knows, but I think that one reason John wrote, I think, probably, is in a sense to bring to the historical record some things that had been omitted by the other gospel writers. I think John writes last of the gospel writers. Most people take that, not everybody, take that view. So I don't, I don't suppose, well, who can say, what else is missing? That's right. So we're going to postpone that. Hopefully by the end of the class, who knows? Many things. That's right, many things. Okay, let's go on to the triumphant entry and the final rejection, chapter 12, beginning with verse 12. Here, Jesus comes into Jerusalem and is greeted by Paul branches and the refrain from Psalm 118 on the part of the people, Psalm 118. Remember, Hosanna blessed is he who comes to the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. The first part of that is from Psalm 118, which was often recited at the festivals by Jews, by the Jews, but this last phrase, the King of Israel is not in the text of Psalm 118. It's the implication of what Jesus was doing. And John then says that he found a young donkey and sat on it as his written fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's cold. And this goes back to Zechariah, prophet Zechariah chapter 9. You might recall that David had had Solomon sit on a donkey and ride into Jerusalem when he was anointed king and then processed into Jerusalem. We might think of a war horse, but back then it was the donkey that was considered the royal beast, the royal beast of burden. And so, Jesus knows what Jesus is doing. He is making an undeniable claim about himself, not by words, but by actions. And we know prophets often taught by actions as well as by words. By his action of riding in on a donkey and accepting the welcome of the palm branches that he can ride upon, just like we would sort of the modern equivalent would be like rolling out the red carpet, why the red carpet was so the person who's so important, their feet shouldn't have to touch the ground. So that you lay palm branches or clothes, garments, whatever down, to pave the way for the important one who's coming in. Yes, Bob? That's true, like the middle age is going to be like a horse or a steve, you know, the bigger the stronger, that was more of the physical reality and power and nobility. Nobility would ride that, you know, the best horse or the best bloodline. I'm just wondering where that ship from, a donkey made of something that brought you to a horse. I'm not sure, but even in Zechariah, you want to come in? Angela. Angela is pointing out that the donkey could well be a symbol of peace. Certainly, it's said in Zechariah that the donkey is, let me see, I think at a part not quoted here, I think if you go back to Zechariah, we'll say humble, mentioned the king's humility, humble as he riding on a donkey, the full of a donkey's cold, so forth. So I think it emphasized the peace, the humility of the king. And that's a very good point. In Revelation, he is pictured as coming on a white horse. Revelation 19. Yes.
30 songs all right. Yeah. Nobility. Yeah. Nobility. I don't know. That would be a good one to research. I don't know. What? Could be in the rugged terrain around Jerusalem, the Judean hills. Donkey is more reliable. Have another modern paraphrase here, the four-wheel drive, royal coach. Okay. Well, from here on out, I think this theme of Jesus' kingship becomes the grand theme, if you will, of the rest of the gospel. And just keep your eyes open as we read on the rest of the gospel. How many times Jesus' royalty or kingship is mentioned or alluded to, hinted at. Okay. Well, now in chapter 12, starting about verse 20, we finally arrive at a turning point in the ministry of Jesus, a turning point. In the synoptic gospels, you know, we've talked about the point. The synoptic gospels, there's a turning point somewhat similar, but it takes place at a different time. You remember at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus turns to disciples and says, who do men say that I am? And then to disciples, who do you say I am? And you remember Peter's great confession. You were the Christ, the Son of the living God. And from that point, it's then that Jesus begins to tell his disciples that he is going to die and rise again on the third day. It's not until that point in the synoptic gospels. But here, that turning point in Jesus' ministry is not recorded in John. We have another turning point in his ministry that's recorded here and what is that? Okay. His hour has come. His hour has finally come. Verse 23, 12, 20, the hour has come that the Son of man should be glorified. You will remember, of course, the build up to this. Chapter 2, already, with his mother, telling him about the that they've run out of wine and Jesus' gentle rebuke is my hour has not yet come. Something's not right about what you seem to be suggesting. Chapter 7, his brothers sort of prompt him or prod him to go up to the feast and show himself publicly. Jesus says, my hour has not yet come. In chapter 8, then, one of the times when people are about to lay their hands upon him, it says that they couldn't because his hour had not yet come. Now, finally, Jesus says that his hour has come. And what is the setting for this proclamation? Can you say what the situation is? Why would he say it at this point? It's in other words, what I'm asking. I mean, yes, it's holy week. He knows the time is coming. Is there anything specific in the context that is significant for why he might say that here? What has just happened? What has just happened? John? That could be significant. He's been anointed for burial. There's something that happened immediately before this. Right, that what was your name? Alicia says, the Greeks who had come to the feast had asked to see him, right? They had asked, can we see Jesus? We would see Jesus. And Andrew tells Philip, or is it Philip tells Andrew? They came to Philip. Philip tells Andrew and enter Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And it's at that point. That he says my hour has come. Do you think that that's significant? Okay, up until now his ministry has been with the people of Israel. There have been certainly hints that his ministry will one day extend beyond the borders of Israel. And he has other sheep who are not of this fold, who he must call him as well. But now we have Greeks actually coming to see Jesus. And it is as if he is saying, yes, the time has now come. The time has now come. You notice he never were never told that he actually met with these Greeks. We don't know if you did or not. But what he says is, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat, he tells a little parable here. What's the point? Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Do you think there's a connection with what's been going on? How is the work of Jesus going to bear fruit, bear fruit, multiply, bear the fruit of the Gentiles only if that grain of wheat dies and is planted in the ground? I think that's the meaning of his little parable here. As if to say, yes, the time has now come for the gospel to go to the Greeks, to the Jews. But first I must die. I must die. And then like a seed that is dead and planted, then I will call all to myself. And that in fact is what he goes on to say a little bit later that when he is lifted up, he will draw all to himself. But in the meantime, verse 25, immediately his words, I believe, become more general and not specifically on him, but he says, he who, he who or whoever, whoever, verse 25, loves his life, will lose it. And he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am there, my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, my father will honor him. Then he, see, he turns it to the focus of his disciples in a sense saying, are you then willing to do what I'm about to do? Are you willing to die and be planted and that your, that the fruit may may be manyfold? You remember there was a time when Jesus told the Jews around him, where I am going, you cannot come. And they were saying, well, where is he going to go? That we can't follow him. And the good news is that here he says that some will follow him, where he is going to go. He states here, the conditions for following him, we must hate our life in this world. We must serve Christ and follow him if necessary, even unto death. And the good news is that death is not the termination of that journey, of that following of Jesus, because in the book of Revelation, chapter 7, there's a vision of the saints in heaven where it says that the Lamb will lead them to living mountains of water. And in Revelation 14, it says that 144,000 follow the Lamb wherever he goes. That's in the next life. So the good news is that following of Jesus doesn't end when we die, he continues. And we're given the picture, even in eternity of Jesus' sheep following him. He has been leading them like a good shepherd, leading them to restful waters and following him wherever he goes.
Well, the hour has come and this hour, in this hour, the Father's name and the Son's name will be glorified. Jesus says in verses 27 through 29, I remember that at this point Jesus says, glorify the name Father and there's a voice from heaven. I have glorified it and I will glorify it. Just in passing, even a voice from heaven, did the bystanders realize what it was. Some said it was thunder. Some said it might have been a voice of an angel, but even a wonderful miracle like that. They did not necessarily understand what it was. Well, another thing that happens with this hour, the coming of this hour, in verse 31, this hour will also be the hour of judgment on the world. Now is the judgment of this world, now is the ruler of this world cast out and I, if I am listed up from the earth, will draw all peoples or all men to myself. He said this, signifying by what death he would die, that is, the lifting up. Now John says that first the death of being lifted up on a cross. But this hour, then it's hour, which will also bring his death upon the cross, also means the judgment of this world and the casting out of the ruler of this world. Casting out of the ruler of this world. This is represented in pictorial fashion in Revelation chapter 12. It's when the woman clothed with the sun brings forth her man-child and that child is caught up to heaven and war arises in heaven and Satan the deceiver is cast down. He's thrown down from heaven. I think that's a pictorial representation of what Jesus is talking about here. The power of Satan is stultified and the power of Satan is diminished. It is destroyed. The destruction is being worked out ever since then, but the decisive act, the decisive defeat of Satan, occurred with the event of the cross, the death of Christ and in the resurrection of Christ. And notice how what Jesus also links with this event of the casting out of the ruler of this world. Verse 32, if I am listed up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. Again, it seems that there is a connection there between Jesus drawing of all kinds of people, not Jews only, but Greeks, Samaritans, and all others. And the casting out of the ruler of this world seems to be a connection. His calling of all men to come to him depends upon his victory over Satan. And that victory has been won. And in a sense, you can say that the presence of you and I here today, any physical Jews here today, Jewish folks, people. The presence of all of us here today is witness that Jesus has overcome Satan, that he has thrown out the ruler of this world and that his kingdom reigns. The going of the gospel to the Gentiles, and it's being effective by the Holy Spirit's power, is a proof, is a result of Jesus' victory and his kingship. Now, he sits upon his father's throne in heaven. Well, the crowd doesn't understand what Jesus means by indicating that he will die on a cross being lifted up. Jesus tells them to simply walk in the light while they have the light, less the darkness overtake them. And in the next few verses, chapter 12, 37 through 41, John then comments on the persistent unbeliefs of the Jews and delivers a stinging indictment. This is, again, a place where we have John's editorializing, John's summarizing and bringing a conclusion to this matter. But although he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him. That the word of Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled. He has an explanation for this course of events that the words of Isaiah might be fulfilled. Lord, who has believed a report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. Therefore, they could not believe because Isaiah said again, 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. And then a real blockbuster in his next few words, a very short verse, verse 41, but a blockbuster. These things, Isaiah said, when or because, you have an margin, he saw his glory and spoke of him. He said these things because he saw his glory, Jesus glory, and spoke of him. The last verse, preceding, verse 40, comes from Isaiah 6, that great passage where Isaiah is called. And he's taken into the throne room of God and seized the train of the Lord, filling the temple. And he hears the angels crying, holy, holy, holy, art thou, Lord God Almighty. I, it is that great vision and I suspect that that is what John has in mind when he says that Isaiah saw him, saw his glory, that is, and spoke of him. And that is a stupendous claim to say that Isaiah the prophet, when brought into the throne room of God, in the old covenant, saw the glory of Jesus. It's a stupendous claim about the deity of Christ, his pre-existence, his full deity, that he would have been there, and it is Christ's glory that Isaiah witnessed at that very striking. In the remainder of chapter 12 then, oops, I'm going to sneak this in, but this is, you might say, the last public discourse of Jesus in the gospel of John. The remaining verses, I'm not going to read them all, but when you read them, I think you'll see the major theme of them, what does he want to stress to the Jews in this last public discourse? From here on out, he's going to be talking mainly with his disciples, and we have what are known as the farewell discourses of Jesus to his disciples. So here, his last public discourse, and the stress I believe is on the unity, Jesus has with the Father. He who believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. He who sees me sees him who sent me. I've come as a light into this world, and so on. Verse 48, for I've not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command. In his last public proclamation to the Jews then, there is one more claim of unity with the Father, and that in a sense is where he leaves them in the gospel of John. Any final questions or comments before we go is we've just come to the end. The last family chapters? That's right, from the anointing, the triumphant entry on Palm Sunday. That's right, that's the beginning of chapter 12, and we go to 21. It's a very large, about half of John's gospel concentrated on that last week. This is not true unlike the synoptic gospels, actually. You'll find that there's a heavy concentration on the last week in them as well. Anyone else? Okay, let's just have a short prayer and closing. Lord, we thank You once again for all You have done for us. We thank You that You did not shrink back from that hour when it came, though it meant untold suffering and pain and anguish as You bore the sins of Your people. We thank You for all that it has meant to us. Grant us, Lord, faithful endurance until You come again in Jesus' name. Amen. Being counted, there were done in the miracle calendar, the things with John recounts, the others had it, and the synoptics, the vice versa, to try to get at that idea of when the John really was trying to include a lot of things that the others have amidst them. Is that, I'm sure somebody's done that. Yeah, people have done that. I'm trying to think of where you can go, where you can go. Well, I think you can find some significant things. For one thing, some people point out, and early in the church history, this has pointed out that John, in his search chapters, records a lot of things that happened between the baptism of Jesus by John and the end of John's ministry. In the synoptic gospels, those two events come pretty close. John being baptized, and then shortly thereafter, John is arrested. But in John's gospel, you have several events put in that space of time, and that's where we get the impression, because in the synoptics, you could almost get the impression that Jesus' ministry lasted about one year, because it's really that, the focus is on that last year, evidently. But John gives us, he talks about the three Passover's, and he has all these events, the wedding at Cana, and the first temple cleansing, and so forth, that happened before John was put in prison. So there's one thing, is there's a longer period recorded in John's gospel.