Cross Purposes (John 12:30-32)

30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Jesus shares with his disciples that his death upon the cross will achieve four things for the world, especially for all the Father will bring to him. First, the cross will judge the world, exposing the sin of the human race. God’s representative, the Messiah is sent into the world and is rejected by the world, for those he came to serve. This is a rejection of God himself and the ultimate act of rebellion, which has been the state of humanity since Adam and Eve rebelled against God, partaking of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Now the fruit of another tree will bring pardon and peace to the rebels through God’s judgment of their race. Without judgment there can be no pardon. Without pardon there can be no peace.

Second, the cross will cast out the ruler of this world, Satan himself. God will use Satan to destroy Satan. What appears as a victory of the evil one is exactly the opposite. In Eden, Satan enticed humanity into disobedience. Now Jesus, as the new representative of humanity who replaces the first man, obeys the Father perfectly, aligning with his will for all who believe in him. Where the first man failed, the perfect man will prevail. He does for us in obedience what we cannot achieve because of our inborn disobedience, which is the power Satan holds over us. The cross will break this power, setting us free to be reconciled to the Father. G. R. Beasley-Murry writes, “The Holiness of Christ is the one thing damnable to the devil’s power, and that holiness is consummated in the cross, hence the cross is the destruction of the evil one.”

Third, the cross lifts up or exalts Jesus. It is like a coronation throne upon which Jesus is made the true King and Redeemer of mankind. His exaltation serves to give us notice that God has acted on our behalf in the midst of humanity’s greatest act of rebellion. And fourth, upon that throne he will draw the world to himself. We have seen this idea when the Samaritan woman brings her friends to Jesus and they believe, when Jesus speaks of other sheep he will bring to his sheepfold, and when the Greeks approach him. The cross is going to bring in a world-wide harvest for the glory of God.

Consider what Jesus does for you at the cross that you cannot do for yourself. You may want to write up a list of those things, and then thank him in your prayers.