Triumphant Entry

Triumphant Entry
John 12:28-30

28 Father [pater] , glorify [doxazo] thy [sou] name [onoma] . Then [oun] came there [erchomai] a voice [phone] from [ek] heaven [ouranos] , saying, I have [doxazo] both [kai] glorified [doxazo] it, and [kai] will glorify [doxazo] it again [palin] .
29 The people [ochlos] therefore [oun] , that stood by [histemi] , and [kai] heard [akouo] it, said [lego] that it thundered [ginomai] [bronte] : others [allos] said [lego] , An angel [aggelos] spake [laleo] to him [autos] .
30 Jesus [Iesous] answered [apokrinomai] and [kai] said [epo] , This [houtos] voice [phone] came [ginomai] not [ou] because of [dia] me [eme] , but [alla] for [dia] your sakes [humas] [dia] . KJV-Interlinear

28 'Father, glorify Thy name.' There came therefore a voice out of heaven: 'I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.' 29 The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, 'An angel has spoken to Him.' 30 Jesus answered and said, 'This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. NASB

A voice came out of heaven like thunder in response to Jesus request. All heard it, but to many it was just the noise of thunder. To others is was a distinguishing voice, but they concluded it was an angel who had spoken to Jesus. How can they conclude that? Do you suppose that they have heard angels before, and know what their voices sound like? Have angels thundered in the past?

This just further confirms the confusion and lack of understanding, and even the lack of motivation in the people around Jesus and in people in general.

Jesus has already stated that He will not be with the apostles for very much longer. So do they understand this? Do they take advantage of their time with Jesus to learn and to grow up spiritually and perhaps even gain more from their time with Him? No. They do none of these things.

What would you have done had you lived in that time and had an opportunity to see, hear, and meet Jesus in person? And you say, 'Oh, well I would have done this and that and this and that.' And now you have that opportunity to meet Him through the scriptures, but do you? And you say, 'Well, that's different.'

And I say, 'No. It isn't. That is just an excuse.'

Whether Jesus is here in person or only in writing is irrelevant. Remember the story of the rich man who went to Torments and there saw Abraham across a great gulf deep? The rich man pleaded with Abraham to send someone back from the grave to save and to convince his relatives so they would not go to Torments and be lost for all of eternity. And what was Abraham's answer?

'They have the prophets, and if they will not listen to them, then they will listen to no one.'

So it is with us all. We are either interested in our Bible study or we aren't. We are either looking for an excuse to not study - 'I just don't agree with what he says,' or we are just no interested period. It is much easier to come up with some disagreement to justify our position of indifference, than to feel guilty about our laziness in Bible study. So we can argue up a storm, and simultaneously 'look' for the truth, which we never seem to find. 'Well we'll look next month. Kind of busy right now.' And the days and weeks and years roll by and you go nowhere spiritually.

So Jesus says to you and everyone who might not be really interested in spiritual growth, 'So what do we do about all of this? Just call it all off?'

Then the thunderous voice of God speaks. 'I have glorified my name.'

'I have prepared a plan and have advanced through that plan to this point in history, accomplishing all I desired along the away.'

'I will glorify it again.' Jesus will succeed in going to the Cross, receive the penalty of all of mans sins, will be buried, raised and seated at the right hand of the Father. Jesus will raise a Royal Family, will call them all home in an instant, will return to destroy the nations and all evil, and will terminate history on behalf of all those who have trusted in Him.

Did all of this, the prayer and the response, come for Jesus sake? No. It is all for our sake. So how do we respond?

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