“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.” He said this to indicate how he was going to die.“
John 12:30-33 NLT
The coming of the Greeks seemed to be a trigger starting the sequence of events that culminated in Jesus’ death and resurrection and finally, the return to His Heavenly home. In John 12:23 we read, “Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory.” It was almost as though His ministry to His people, the Jews, had gone as far as it needed, and the demands from the Gentiles, the “Greeks”, exposed the ultimate reason as to why Jesus came, which was the salvation of the world. Jesus was clear about the limits of His mission, as we read in the account of the Syro-Phoenician Gentile woman in Matthew 15:24, “Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.”” The mission of salvation for the Gentiles happened through the Apostles later, as we read in Acts 13:46-47, “Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’””
In our verses from John 12 today, Jesus said, “The time for judging this world has come”. We know, with the benefit of hindsight, that the final judgement won’t happen until after the End Times events described in John’s Revelation (see Revelation 20:11-15). And Jesus said in John 3:17, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” But Jesus was speaking about His upcoming death on the cross at Calvary, at which point there will be judgement of sin, and evil will forever be defeated. From this point, the devil’s hold over mankind was to be forever broken, and no longer would he have a hold over God’s children.
Before Calvary, the remedy for sin was the shedding of the blood of animals. Hebrews 9:12-14, “With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.” Praise God! We are now set free of evil and sin, and are in bondage to the devil no more.
So, two thousand years ago, the time had come for the judgement of sin and evil, and that time is still with us today. We pilgrims have the opportunity to set free all those around us as we declare the Good News to those in bondage to sin. The blood of Christ has set us free forever.
Dear Father God. Your master plan for the salvation of all on this planet has opened the door for everyone to respond to Your invitation. We pray for opportunities to reach those who are ready and waiting to hear about You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 