Jn. 12:20-29, Glorious Son: Faithful in Life and Death

God is faithful, by which we mean He is always true to His word.  He who calls you is faithful who also will do it (1 Thess. 5:24).  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9).  First, in today’s post, let us see three ways Jesus manifested the faithfulness of God.

·       Jesus was absolutely clear in His claim that He came to do the will of His Father.  My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me (Jn. 4:34).  I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me (5:30).  I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me (6:38).  This is truly a faithful Son, who will not venture outside the will of His Father.

·       We read in several passages that Jesus was true to the Father’s timetable.  At the wedding of Cana He told His mother, My hour has not yet come (2:4).  He said these same words to His brothers: My time has not yet come (7:6).  The crowd could not take Him because His hour had not yet come (7:30).  Again, no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come (8:20).  These kinds of words can be used as an excuse by people, sometimes.  But not with Jesus.  Because the day did come when Jesus said, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified (12:23).  There was no hesitation, even though there was trouble in His soul.  He was the faithful Son.

·       Shepherds in the Church these days are often moved by the size of the crowds.  If they diminish, they take it as an indication something in the ministry must change.  This could never be said of Christ.  John 6 is a perfect example.  He had been aware of the fickleness of the crowd early on (John 2:23-25).  What Jesus believed was that He would have the followers His Father intended to give Him (6:37).  Men were incapable of coming to Him without the Father’s drawing them (6:44).  Thus, when many departed (6:60-71) He did not change His ministry.  He was, as always, the faithful Son.

Thus, there is no surprise, that even on the cross Jesus manifested His deity in the time of greatest “weakness.”  He manifested the love that characterizes God.  His first words were, Father forgive them.  He even cared for His mother from the cross.  He bore our sins on the tree.  From the cross He manifested the faithfulness that characterizes God.  He did not acknowledge the thirst until the bearing of sin was complete.  With the sour wine at His lips, He said It is finished, and gave up His spirit.  It was dark at the cross, for three hours.  Yet, the light of fulfilled prophecy shone, even after His death.  Not one of His bones shall be broken (19:36; Ps. 34:20).  They shall look on Him whom they pierced (19:37; Zech. 12:10).  And, of course, three days later, the light of glory burst at an empty tomb in a garden. 

The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him!