John 12:23-26
The Son of Man to be Glorified
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
Acts 4:8-12
Salvation for His Death
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
I love to look out the windows of our house in the spring and see all the the green, fullness of the trees, the new grass, and everything in blossom...I see new growth and new life...Just a few short months ago, the grass was brown, the trees were barren of leaves, and the ground and the things out the windows looked dead, bleak, and dreary...Now we see new growth, and new life on almost everything we see...As I look out and see the all the greens, the blue (skies), the purple (maple trees) and the beautiful contrasting of colors -now coming and almost popping out, I wonder how does all this happen?...Who is responsible for all this growth and life -it certainly is not me?...Things seemed so dead in the middle of winter, and now literally -things have sprung to life...How does all this just happen in the spring?...
In Jesus' teaching of the Parable of the Wheat or the Parable of the Grain, He tells us that the kernel of wheat must fall to the ground and die...Before the kernel of wheat dies, it cannot produce many seeds...So unless the individual kernel can die and is allowed to die, it will not produce anything...All the seed is, is well, an individual seed...It has not produced any fruit, let alone many other seeds...The seed has not been fruitful...The individual seed, unless it can fall to the ground and die, nothing good has or will become of it...There is purpose in death for the seed and this individual kernel of wheat...In this parable, Jesus is telling His disciples that He must die...He is telling us that much good will come out of His death...His life has served its purpose, and now His death will serve another great purpose...
His death will be the atonement for our sins...His death would prove to be our salvation...His death would have a great purpose, the greatest purpose...What great things would happen at His death, and yet, as His disciples are listening (and learning)...What strange things they are hearing -as they are listening to Him as He speaks...When He says that the hour has come...No doubt the disciples would know that something "big" is going to happen...And in this hour He, the Son of Man, would be glorified...So the disciples knew and would soon learn about this glory...But this glory and atonement for our sins, is another odd thing (He says)...His death would be on a cross...And as one has read about the cross and His great suffering -the words, mocked, flogged, and beaten come to (my) mind...His death would happen on a cross...He would soon be beaten till bloodied and be in extreme and tremendous pain...His suffering would be intense from His floggings, and then He would be crucified... Crucifixion was for criminals...
Jesus, the Son of God, and our Savior would be treated like a common criminal...Crucifixion of a criminal was a very tortuous and a painful way to die...A crucifixion is the deliberate and painful execution in which the criminal is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead....A crucifixion takes time for the criminal to die...It is a long and painful death...How could there be glory in this?...
The night of His arrest, He is beaten by the Roman officials...His hanging on the cross, and His death is the Great Paradox...In fact, He is right (but since He is the Truth -He is always right) in saying that He would be glorified (on the cross)...And although there were thousands of crucifixions in the past, before Jesus is crucified -the cross and crucifixion would become the symbol for Him...One does not think of many, when they hear the word cross...We think of Jesus, and that is glory...The cross is one of the most worldwide symbols that I can even think of...
Jesus gives us new life and new growth in our lives...In fact, He makes all things new (Revelation 21:5)...His death give us His great glory...His death was for a purpose...His death is for our sins...When I think of Jesus' suffering and being beaten and dying on the cross, I think this is what my sins did to Him...But His great and glorious death, He gives me great hope...Because salvation is found in no One else...There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we can and must be saved...Now that is glory...