The resurrection certified the victory on the cross
Daily Scripture
John 12:28-33, 16:33, 19:28-30
John 12
23 Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Human One [or Son of Man] to be glorified…. 28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
29 The crowd standing there heard and said, “It’s thunder.” Others said, “An angel spoke to him.”
30 Jesus replied, “This voice wasn’t for my benefit but for yours. 31 Now is the time for judgment of this world. Now this world’s ruler will be thrown out. 32 When I am lifted up [or exalted] from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.” (33 He said this to show how he was going to die.)
John 16
33 I’ve said these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have distress. But be encouraged! I have conquered the world.
John 19
28 After this, knowing that everything was already completed, in order to fulfill the scripture, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was nearby, so the soldiers soaked a sponge in it, placed it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed.” Bowing his head, he gave up his life.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Jesus did not go to the cross discouraged, defeated by the rejection of his nation’s religious leaders. In that final week before the cross, he spoke about glory (from what Romans saw as the most humiliating death they could invent). Scholar William Barclay said, “Jesus did not mean by glorified what they understood. They meant that the subjected kingdoms of the earth would grovel before the conqueror’s feet; by glorified he meant crucified.” * Jesus also said, “I have conquered the world.”
- About John 19:30, Pastor Hamilton wrote, “I had often interpreted those words to mean that Christ was exhausted and defeated. But then I learned that in Greek the phrase is expressed in just one word: tetelestai. That word is a shout of victory announcing that a battle has been won, a mission accomplished…. God’s saving mission was finished.” ** Jesus’ self-giving love had defeated evil, hatred, and (in two more days) death. How does Jesus’ victory offer you hope for living?
- Long before Jesus’ cross, Moses asked God, “Please show me your glorious presence” (Exodus 33:18), and God “passed in front of him and proclaimed: ‘The LORD! The LORD! A God who is compassionate and merciful, very patient, full of great loyalty and faithfulness’” (Exodus 34:6). In human thought, “glory” usually means power or wealth. In what ways is God’s mercy, love, patience, and loyalty, which Jesus embodied, a superior kind of “glory”?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you said that from the cross, you would draw all people to you. You have drawn me. Now use me to shine YOUR glory to all in my world. Amen.
GPS Insights
Randy Meyer
Randy Meyer, now happily retired, served as Resurrection's Executive Director of Education in 2013 when he wrote the Insight blog post we're using for today. (And yes, he's Kersee Meyer's father-in-law, so his family legacy lives on in our superb video ministry.)
Reading through John 16, two verses stood out to me. The first was verse 12, “I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now.” I find it to be a great comfort and a releasing thought that I’m not meant to understand everything there is to know about God while I’m here on earth. It gives me permission to throw my hands up at times and say, “I don’t know the answer to that and that’s OK!”
The second verse that stood out to me in this passage was the final verse in Chapter 16. Jesus says, “I’ve said these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have distress. But be encouraged! I have conquered the world.” Jesus telling me He has overcome the world gives me great comfort! Even though I may not understand everything this side of heaven, I have faith that He will sort it all out for me in the end. That, one day, I will be at His side with the sure knowledge that He has overcome everything in this world.
When I turn on a light switch in my home, I have a limited understanding of exactly how electricity works. Yet I have great confidence that each time I flip on a light switch, the lights will come on. It’s okay that I don’t know how it works completely, only that I am sure the lights will come on. And so it is with my faith in Christ. I may not have a complete understanding of what exactly Jesus is teaching me at all times, but I do have faith that He has overcome the world and by putting my trust and faith in Him, His glory will be revealed to me at the proper time and I will then have a complete understanding of God and His kingdom.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of John—Volume 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, revised edition 1976, p. 123.)
** Hamilton, Adam. John (p. 136). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.
