The Gospel of John

The Rejection

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 41- 70

Genre:

Track: 041

Dictation Name: RR197X43

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Seeing that we have a great high priest which has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Let us pray.

We praise Thee Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we give thanks unto Thee for all our yesterdays, todays and tomorrows knowing that all things are of Thy ordination and that Thy will shall be done and we shall be prepared by Thy providential dealings and care for Thine eternal service. Make us joyful in Thy kingdom, faithful in Thy service and triumphant in our faith and confidence that Thou who art king of kings shall indeed destroy the power of the enemy and establish Thy reign over all things. Our God we thank Thee, in Christ’s name, Amen.

Our scripture is in John 12:20-36. Our subject: The Rejection. John 12:20-36, The Rejection.

“And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:

21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.

23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.

34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?

35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.”

There were in Jerusalem some Greeks, converts to Judaism who had come for the Passover. These proselytes were faithful worshippers who took seriously the need to go to Jerusalem for the feast. They had also heard about Jesus. They went therefore to the disciple, Philip, saying Sir we would see Jesus. Now they did not go directly because as proselytes they felt somewhat as outsiders. They were limited to a particular court in the temple and therefore they were hesitant about going directly to Jesus. Philip was himself hesitant also so he went to Andrew who had brought Nathaniel to Jesus and whose practical nature we see in John 1:8-9. Both Phillip and Andrew had Greek names. We are not told of what the Greeks asked only the substance of what Jesus said to them. Plumber’s comment is very much the pointe He said and I quote:

“These men from the west at the close of Christ’s life set forth the same truth as the men from the east at the beginning of it, that the Gentiles are to be gathered in. the wise men came to the cradle, these to the cross, of which their coming reminds Him for only by His death could the nations be saved.” End of quote.

This was a very momentous event. For the Gospel to go into all the world required our Lord’s death and also our Lord’s rejection by His own people. Israel’s rejection of Christ as a people and as a church, that is, as its established faith, prevented the church from becoming dominated by a nationality or by narrow loyalties. The church had to be Christian rather than Jewish. Not a few countries so identified their church with their nation that they are very near to the error of Israel.

In fact, this kind of identification is extremely common. Our Lord’s answer to Andrew, Philip and the Greeks is simple and direct. The hour is come that the son of man should be glorified. His death and His resurrection were His glorification, by His atonement He would become the world’s savior. The coming of the Greeks was for Him the sign of His world mission and this He tells them to remember. Death, he said, is the way to world conquest, a grain of wheat cannot bear fruit until it falls into the ground and dies. But if it dieth it bringeth forth much fruit. We grow as we die to the old man and develop in the new. Verse twenty five tells us very plainly that self-centeredness is death whereas to be God-centered is life. To hate one’s life in this world means to reject a humanistic man-centered life in favor of one in obedience to the Lord and in faith in His purposes. In verse twenty six Jesus said if any man serve me let him follow me. This is a very important statement made at the time that the Greeks were there because the reference is to any man, Jew, Greek or otherwise. With the atonement the faith is fully internationalized. In too many cases churches are too nationalistic and are identified with a state or nation rather than the kingdom of God. Any man means that the kingdom of God is above and beyond any nation or people. Then as our Lord says all this He recognizes also that the way to the kingdom of God requires the cross. Therefore, now is my soul troubled and what should I say? Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Jesus knows what agony and torture the cross means. It was so devised by the Romans that it would create the maximum of torture before death. Who would want it? Yet our Lord cannot ask to be spared the cross because it is the purpose of His incarnation and the only hope of this world. Jesus then asks boldly, Father glorify Thy name, reveal Thyself in what I am about to undergo. Then we are told came there a voice from heaven saying I have both glorified it and I will glorify it again. In everything from the incarnation until now and in Christ’s death, the resurrection and ascension God had revealed His glory in the Son. Now He revealed it again to all in an audible voice from heaven. But the people were not prepared to hear God. They heard a sound, some thought it was thunder, others the voice of an angel. Jesus told them the voice was for their sakes, it seemed to be addressed to Jesus but it was for them, to make plain that the heart of all history was to be revealed in the atonement and the resurrection, in the creation of a new human race culminating in a new creation and the general resurrection. Jesus says also, now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out. There are many judgments in history, certainly the fall was one, the flood another, and also many, many partial judgments. The two great judgments are the cross and the last judgment. Satan has ruled the unbelieving world of the fall but now his power is broken. It continues but it is in essence crushed.

And I if I am lifted up, our Lord says, will draw all men unto me. This He said signifying what death He should die, that is by crucifixion. In Crucifixion the cross was laid on the ground and the nails driven and then only was the cross lifted up and dropped into the prepared hole. There were others present besides the disciples and the Greeks and they asked how then can you say that the son of man must die when we are taught that the Christ, the Messiah, lives forever. Who is this son of man of whom you speak? Jesus’ idea of the Messiah is repulsive to them. Jesus then warned them: I as the light of the world am still with you, use my light or else you shall walk in darkness. Become children of the light les t you perish walking in the darkness of sin. With that Jesus left them to remain in hiding prepetory to the Passover. The multitude objected because the Messiah set forth by Jesus was not to their taste. This should not surprise us. Despite the plain statements of scripture very many church men refuse to believe that God can send anyone to hell or predestine anyone or reject a prayer for healing by a good person and son and on. In all cases it is held that God cannot do what man believes is wrong. In this view man is the judge and determiner of both good and evil which is precisely the argument of the tempter in Genesis 3:5. How ironic it is that the tempters program is now that which church men want to hoist onto God.

A flagrant example of this was reported in the San [unknown] record on Sunday, August the 13th, 1995. Steven Kindle, pastor of the First Christian Church in [unknown] held that neither the old nor the new testament, quote:

“Offers a definitive position on the morality of homosexuality.” Unquote.

He said he once believed that homosexuality was a sin but to quote him:

“Now I say if that’s true shame on God, that’s not the God I know.” Unquote.

But there is no other God and the gods of our imagination are idols all. The people recognize the supernatural power of Jesus Christ but they rejected Him because He did not conform to what they believed the Messiah should be. The same kind of rejection continues. We have men in the pulpit now who are determined that what God says will jive with what they say. I knew a pastor once who was quite intense in his condemnation of all who did not believe the bible from cover to cover and yet he rejected predestination, he said I cannot believe that God meant what it seems to say there, someday we’ll find what the real meaning is. That attitude is very common, if it doesn’t suit me then it is not what it says it is and so we have increasingly more and more commonplace within the church people foisting their word on the word of God. And one has to say just as the people then rejected Him because He was not the Messiah they wanted so too, too many people who call themselves Christians reject the Lord because He is not what they want Him to be. Let us pray

Our Lord and our God we come to Thee and grant that always we come with all our heart, mind and being. To hear Thee, to obey Thee, to believe every jot and title of Thy law word, to be totally faithful. We thank Thee our Father for Thy grace, for Thy mercy unto us. We thank Thee that Thy purpose for us is all together righteous, all together holy. Guide us in the way that we should go, make us strong in Thy spirit and ever obedient to Thy word. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Yes. Verse thirty seven which we’ll go into next time:

“But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:”

He couldn’t do enough miracles to please them, they hated Him for the miracles in some instances and as I’ve said before the miracle is not belief but unbelief, that people can look at a world of such order and magnificence and not believe that God is the creator. They could read the bible and not know it to be the word of God or come face to face with the Christ of scripture and reject Him. That is the miracle of unbelief. Yes?

[Question] Perhaps Jesus didn’t want them to know.

[Rushdoony] Oh true in His sovereign grace He doesn’t, but that’s the miracle of predestination, it’s both that God is totally ordained things and yet that we are responsible and that’s a mystery we cannot understand it but we must believe it.

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] You don’t.

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] This side of heaven you don’t, because if we can’t really explain as someone said when I was a child, a book was written on it by a scientist who was a Christian, could not explain electricity, we use it, we don’t understand it. Well we cannot understand the things of God, we’d have to be God to understand them but we believe and we obey. We don’t wait until we understand electricity to use the electric light switch.

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Yes. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] There are different persons on different occasions. Here those who raised the question apparently Judeans did not believe and this has reference to them. They are the ones who were challenging Him.

Any other questions or comments? Well if not let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we give thanks unto Thee that Thou hast given us the gift of faith. Thou hast taken us into Thy household and family and the promises unto us are yea and amen. How great Thou art and we thank Thee. We pray our Father that we may see the ever increasing triumph of Thy kingdom; that we may see the tents of Shem extended to include all peoples, tribes, tongues and nations. How great Thou art oh Lord and we praise Thee. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.