Triumphant Entry

Triumphant Entry
John 12:31-33

31 Now [nun] is [esti] the judgment [krisis] of this [toutou] world [kosmos] : now [nun] shall [ekballo] the prince [archon] of this [toutou] world [kosmos] be cast [ekballo] out [exo] .
32 And I [kago] , if [ean] I be lifted up [hupsoo] from [ek] the earth [ge] , will draw [helkuo] all [pas] men unto [pros] me [emautou] .
33 [de] This [touto] he said [lego] , signifying [semaino] what [poios] death [thanatos] he should [mello] die [apothnesko] . KJV-Interlinear

31 'Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. 32 'And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.' 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. NASB

'Judgment is here,' Jesus says. Not that the world was going to be judged in itself, but He was here and now, to receive the judgment of the world upon Himself as a substitute for the world.

He said these words signifying the method of His death, and this confused the people. They expected the Messiah to come and then to remain their forever. After all they were expecting the Kingdom of God on earth to be established at any moment now. You will recall that the apostles were admiring the walls of the Temple, from our study in Matthew. They expected to be moving into their new quarters any day.

But here is Jesus speaking of His being nailed to a Cross, being lifted up for all to see, for all to ridicule, in full public view and humiliated from His nakedness as His clothes were striped from Him, with lots drawn for them.

He states this event as a potential. 'If I be lifted up.' But this is stated also as a certainty. 'If I be lifted up (and I will).' Then the ruler of this world, Satan will be defeated in the first of two defeats. The Cross will give Christ the strategic victory in the angelic conflict. Christ came into this world for this purpose and this purpose only. To go to the Cross and provide a means for saving mankind from sin and death to which mankind is enslaved.

Upon winning the battle between good and evil, then and only after He has won the battle (this will occur at the second advent mostly), then there will be a last brief battle at the end of the millennium, then Christ will draw all men and nations to Himself. Those who will be drawn will be those who accept His work. Those who will believe in Him.

Those who reject Christ, but still profess to look to God, will be left out. There is no access to God except through the Son as we have already studied in detail. This prevents people from making up their own path to God as mankind has done so often throughout the ages with all the various religions, cults and various philosophies and theories man has invented.

But for now, Jesus makes it very clear that He was going to die. This is clear to those standing around Him, as they mention it in the next verse.

Somewhere along the way, folks got the idea that they need do nothing about their sinful ways in life. The state of man just doesn't seem to be a part of mans orientation in life. But as Paul states in Rom. 7:15, there is a struggle within each one of us, a struggle for control of the soul. This struggle is between our sin nature (the corruption of the body) and the Holy Spirit (for believers).

For unbelievers the struggle is between their sin natures and the gospel as presented by the Holy Spirit. By the way the Holy Spirit is the only communicator of Gods Word to mankind. You might think of Him as the conduit through which all spiritual truth flows. When you are in fellowship, then that pipeline is open and spiritual information flows through it through your human spirit and into your soul. When you are out of fellowship, then that pipeline is shut down and the spiritual content of the Word of God does not become available to you.

In fellowship you are under the control of the Holy Spirit. You cannot feel this control. You cannot sense it in any way. There are no symptoms which may be measured or observed by man. When you are out of fellowship, then your sin nature is in control of your soul.

Without the Cross, then we would all be trapped by our slavery to our sin natures, and our destiny would be hopelessly lost to oblivion. Man sinned, and thus needs to pay for that sin. Man cannot pay the price needed to get himself out of slavery, so man needs someone else to buy his freedom, a redeemer (the book of Ruth).

For this reason, Jesus Christ has come, and will go to the Cross, be laid down, nailed to it, raised up and while yet alive, will receive the punishment of sin and death for all of mankind. Then He will he laid down once again into the grave, blasted apart body, soul and spirit, for three days and three nights, during which time He will announce to the underworld His victory on the Cross.

Then He will be brought back together in a resurrection body, raised from the dead never to die ever again, the first fruits, the first of many, and then He will ascend into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father, where He remains even to this day.

There waiting for the next major event in history, the Rapture of the church. And during which time, the preparation of the Royal Family, the nations will be shaped into their places in preparation for the last seven years of the Age of Israel, which we call the Tribulation.

So Christ will be lifted up. He must be lifted up. Mans future does not depend on technology or the exploration of outer space. Apart from the Cross, mankind would have no future. Apart from your daily study of the Word of God, you will have no future as designed by God for you.

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