Joh 12:28-29 | KingComments | STEP | After this teaching in response to the question of the Greeks, the Lord speaks about the things that await Him. Where He will be, with His Father, is not His direct goal. He is fully aware of what will first happen to Him in the suffering that will come on Him. When He thinks about it, His soul becomes troubled, it moves Him. He does not think about the suffering that will be done to Him from the side of people, but what He will have to suffer from the side of God because of sin. Will He therefore rather ask the Father to be saved from that hour? No, because He has the honor and glorification of the Father in mind and he knows that the love of the Father leads Him. After all, He has become the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world ( ), because sin has dishonored His Father so immensely. His love for the Father brings Him to that hour of unprecedented need, so that God may be glorified in a sinful world by taking away sin and that sinners may be saved in a righteous way. The Son addresses Himself to His Father and asks Him to glorify His Name as Father. For that purpose He came to earth in the first place. The answer comes immediately. The voice of the Father sounds from heaven. The Father has glorified His own Name in the raising of Lazarus – and also throughout the life of His Son. He will once again glorify His Father’s wonderful Name in the raising of His beloved Son ( ) – and also through the work of His Son on the cross. The voice of the Father is unrecognizable to unbelief. When the voice of the Father is heard by unbelievers, unbelief speculates about the sound. The crowd thinks they have heard the sound of thunder. By those who have no connection with God, the speaking of the Father is experienced as a thunderclap. Others go a step further and suppose that an angel has spoken to Him. In any case, they have heard a voice and even concluded that that voice addressed Him, without having understood anything of the words. Still, they too are far away from the truth. The Lord declares that the voice was not meant for Him, but for them. It has been an additional testimony to the multitude of His connection with the Father if only they would have had ears to understand it.

‏ John 12:28-29

Glorification of the Name of the Father

After this teaching in response to the question of the Greeks, the Lord speaks about the things that await Him. Where He will be, with His Father, is not His direct goal. He is fully aware of what will first happen to Him in the suffering that will come on Him. When He thinks about it, His soul becomes troubled, it moves Him. He does not think about the suffering that will be done to Him from the side of people, but what He will have to suffer from the side of God because of sin.

Will He therefore rather ask the Father to be saved from that hour? No, because He has the honor and glorification of the Father in mind and he knows that the love of the Father leads Him. After all, He has become the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29), because sin has dishonored His Father so immensely. His love for the Father brings Him to that hour of unprecedented need, so that God may be glorified in a sinful world by taking away sin and that sinners may be saved in a righteous way.

The Son addresses Himself to His Father and asks Him to glorify His Name as Father. For that purpose He came to earth in the first place. The answer comes immediately. The voice of the Father sounds from heaven. The Father has glorified His own Name in the raising of Lazarus – and also throughout the life of His Son. He will once again glorify His Father’s wonderful Name in the raising of His beloved Son (Rom 6:4) – and also through the work of His Son on the cross.

The voice of the Father is unrecognizable to unbelief. When the voice of the Father is heard by unbelievers, unbelief speculates about the sound. The crowd thinks they have heard the sound of thunder. By those who have no connection with God, the speaking of the Father is experienced as a thunderclap. Others go a step further and suppose that an angel has spoken to Him. In any case, they have heard a voice and even concluded that that voice addressed Him, without having understood anything of the words. Still, they too are far away from the truth.

The Lord declares that the voice was not meant for Him, but for them. It has been an additional testimony to the multitude of His connection with the Father if only they would have had ears to understand it.