“Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. … Now my soul is deeply troubled. 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 again.” When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him.”
John 12:23, 27-29 NLT
Why did Jesus come to this earth? Why did God’s Son, who had been present in Heaven since the creation of the world, put on human flesh and become a human being? To fully answer that question would require many words, enough to fill a book. And even then the question would not be completely answered. But in the context of our verses from John today, Jesus came to complete God’s plan for the salvation of the human race.
God created human beings in His image so that they would be with Him forever. In the Garden, God used to spend time with Adam – Genesis 3:8-9, “When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”” And ever since, God has poignantly been calling out to His creation “Where are you?” Jesus came to bring an answer to that question, so that once again human beings can respond by saying “Here I am” and not by hiding away from His call.
Because God is eternal He could see world events pan out before Him, and He chose the most effective time for His plan for restoring mankind back to relationship with Him. Romans 5:6, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” God’s plan involved His Son Jesus and was to be the final solution to the devil’s hold over human beings. After the plan had been executed, humans were no longer obliged to be in servitude and enslaved to the devil and his minions. Ever since, mankind has had a get out clause where they can say to the devil that because of Jesus they are now free from his clutches.
Jesus was clear about His rescue mission to Planet Earth. We have Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost“. And of course we have John 3:16-17, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” But in our verses today from John 12, Jesus declared that His time had come. Of course He was “deeply troubled“. He was about to face into a painful death, but more than that, He knew that he would be taking upon Himself the sins of the world, past, present and future. A heavy, almost impossible load, even for God’s Son. No wonder that he asked that He be spared such a load. But such a thought was quickly replaced by His ultimate desire to please His Father in Heaven and bring glory to His name. From John’s account, we read that a voice was heard from Heaven, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.”
This was a point when Heaven touched earth, and the people there at the time heard the voice of God Himself. Jesus did indeed bring glory to His Father, and aren’t we glad that he did!
Dear Father God. We give You all the praise, all the worship and all the glory today and every day. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 