All Who Live to See Such Times (John 12:27-36)
===
jeremy_1_01-28-2026_142737: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Rebuilding Faith.
These are 10 minute Bible messages for people with questions and doubts. Now, last week we saw a big transition. We've had about 12 chapters of John building tension that the time has not yet come. And then last week we saw the tipping point that suddenly things had shifted, and then today we see.
What happens next after this big shift in the ministry of Jesus? And it's gonna be both shocking and encouraging when we see what it means for us in our time today. This is John chapter 12, verse 27. Now, my soul is deeply troubled. This is Jesus talking. Should I pray? Father, save me from this hour, but this is the very reason I came.
Father bring glory to your name. Then a voice spoke from heaven saying, I have already brought glory to my name and I will do so [00:01:00] again. When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder while others declared an angel had spoken to him, and then Jesus told them the voice was for your benefit, not mine.
The time for judging this world has come when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself. Now, he said this to indicate how he was going to die. So things have shifted and there's a heaviness here. Now notice the confusion. They hear this audible voice, but they can't figure out what it is that they're hearing.
Some people think it's thunder. Other people think it's an angel. You can imagine them trying to make sense of this afterward having a debrief going, what on earth was it that we actually heard?
But it seems like John is trying to make a parallel to an Old Testament [00:02:00] passage that would've been famous for the Israelites, the idea of how God interacted with Moses in the people of God in Exodus 19 verses 16 and 19. Say this. On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flash and a dense cloud came down on the mountain.
There was a long, loud blast from a Ram's horn and all the people trembled. As the blast of the ram's horn grew Louder and louder. Moses spoke and God thundered his reply. So here we have God's voice compared to thunder, using thunder as the imagery here, and it seems like this is what John is bringing a parallel to.
So the God who spoke to Moses is now the same God speaking over Jesus as well. Now, not only does Jesus introduce the idea of the cross in this passage, but he also points out [00:03:00] his opposition to the powers of evil that he's going to put a stop to what Satan is doing. And then you have this voice of God booming in thunder over all of this as a confirmation of all that's being revealed.
So everyone's trying to keep up with, wait, what's going on? What's about to happen? And then this voice of God's like, yes, this is all legitimate. Now, the way this is playing out must have been very strange to them. We talked about last week how the Greeks coming seemed to be the tipping point for Jesus.
That seemed to be the thing. Once the reach of Jesus was getting beyond just the immediate area, Jesus is like, all right, now we we're ready to talk about the cross. The expansion of his influence and his reach seems to be what Jesus was waiting for. I want you to notice then what Jesus says about his death in John chapter 12, verse 32.
We just read this, and when I am lifted up from the earth, [00:04:00] I will draw everyone to myself. This is Jesus talking about obviously what we know is gonna be the cross. They might not have understood that, but notice what he says. I will draw everyone to myself. Do we believe that today? Jesus will draw all people to himself or just, just the right ones.
Just the ones that believe like we believe, just the ones who sign on the dotted line. Just the ones who are good enough, right? We have a lot of of stipulations for this idea, but the way Jesus describes it, I will draw everyone to myself. And I dared to believe that Jesus is this good, that it could literally be what we hear him talk about.
Now we have this idea that we're seeing played out here in Jesus, that we assume obedience often correlates with emotional certainty. And it could be either way starting first, that, that [00:05:00] maybe once you are obedient to something, then afterward, after you obey God, you will suddenly feel this overwhelming wave of emotional clarity and certainty wash over you.
Or perhaps you think it's the other way around that once you feel that, you know, once I feel that emotional certainty, then I'll be able to obey God. And so we often pair these together. One always is gonna go with the other. I want you to notice that as Jesus is going to obey what he has come to do this very hard assignment.
He's doing it and his soul is deeply troubled. He does not have this overwhelming, certainly this is gonna be awesome. This is gonna be great, you know. No, he's saying my soul is deeply troubled. It's someone in agony, in anguish, wishing that there was some other option, wishing there was some other way, but yet, but sitting in that moment and pondering what will this mean?[00:06:00]
And we see this same sense of anguish, this heaviness starts with Jesus, and then it extends out to the other people who are there. Who are watching this, and as John describes, you can just kind of imagine this, almost like a fog spreading in over all of them as they begin to understand, oh, this guy that we're following, this Messiah that we're putting our hopes in, is now talking about his death.
Like what? What does this mean? What is going on here? John 12, verse 34. The crowd responded. We understood from scripture that the Messiah would live forever. Like, like that's our idea. Uh, that's how we understood it. How can you say the son of man will die? Just who is this son of man anyway? And Jesus replied, my light will shine for you just a little longer.
Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they're going. [00:07:00] Put your trust in the light. While there is still time, then you'll become children of the light. After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them again.
The chapter even ends on an ominous node that Jesus no longer able to be found. They can't see him. He's hidden from them. Once Jesus has acknowledged that he's going to the cross, acknowledge he's gonna be lifted up, he's gonna draw all people to himself. He, he expresses the anguish of this 'cause.
He knows what it means, and we can feel the heaviness of this reality begin to sink in for everyone else as well. It reminds me of a famous scene from the Lord of the Rings, and if you've read the books or you've seen the movies, you no doubt remember this scene, but there's this quote where Frodo is talking to Gandalf
I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened, so do all who lived [00:08:00] to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is given.
jeremy_1_01-28-2026_142737: I wish the ring had never come to me.
I wish none of this had happened. And Gandalf says, so do all who live to see such times. That is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
it's easy for us to feel this same reality when we look at what we are facing in our country and in our world today.
I think there's many Christians right now who wish that we didn't have to face what we are seeing happening around us as we are watching numerous camera angles each and every week of. Ice agents, governmental agents, murdering people on the streets in broad daylight. And then as we listen to our governmental officials explain that what we see with our eyes is not actually what is [00:09:00] happening and lie to us about it, and we're left wrestle with what do we do with that?
And then we watch more and more people begin to normalize that and justify that and say, don't speak up against it. But if you do speak up against it, if you do challenge it, you will likely have to pay something for that. It will cost you something. And I want you to consider that Jesus also dealt with that moment.
He also felt deeply troubled in his soul when he looked at what was before him to do. And so I want to encourage you today, we all have to decide what to do with the moments given to us. And we can follow in the example of Jesus who realize this is going to be heavy. This is going to cost me something.
But ultimately, we get to decide how do we move forward with the time that we actually have. I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
