This morning's text is going to give us another opportunity
to take a look at the big picture. And doing that is important. You will
misunderstand the details if you don't place them correctly in the bigger
scheme of things. So, the goal for today is to take another look at that bigger
scheme and to see a bit more clearly what that has to say about how we are to
live. Listen to Jesus.
Now is the judgment of this world;
now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from
the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind
of death he was going to die. (John 12.31-33)
Let's start where Jesus does, 'Now is the judgment of this
world'. The world has hit a crisis point. That's what that word 'judgment' is
about. We've arrived at a climax. Jesus was telling His disciples that
something big was about to happen. And we don't have to guess what that is.
Jesus is quite clear. '… now will the ruler of this world be cast out.' Who is
this 'ruler of this world'? You'd think that Jesus would apply that kind of
title only to the Father. But He surely isn't. He's talking about Satan. Jesus
is saying that up to that point, Satan ruled this world, but there was going to
be a big change.
To understand this we need to go back to the beginning of
Creation. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a mandate.
And God blessed them. And God said
to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over
every living thing that moves on the earth.”
It's the word 'dominion' that I'm interested in. Adam and
Eve were to rule the world, to have dominion over it. But when they rebelled
against God they forfeited that role. There was a coup d'etat, a violent
overturning of the ruling government. Adam and Eve no longer ruled. Now,
another creature ruled instead. And that creature was Satan. He became the
ruler of this world. And from that point on everyone was under Satan's dominion
- everyone except that tiny minority of people who were in covenant with God.
They were the little point of light in a dark world. They were the only place
where Satan did not dominate. He was plenty busy among these folk and often too
successful, but there was always at least a little remnant holding out. And
they were holding out in the hope that someone would come to wrest dominion
from Satan and restore it to the rightful children of Adam and Eve. So, the era
that we call the Old Testament is a time of conflict between king Satan - and
those with him - and the faithful few who resisted his attempts to complete his
dominion over all the earth. So, think Job being oppressed by Satan, David
standing up to Goliath, Elijah confronting the prophets of
Baal. It was a time of conflict where Satan's complete dominion over the world
was at stake.
And then, Jesus shows up. Satan knows what's going on. Here,
finally, is the one who that minority had been waiting for. The restoration of
the dominion originally given to Adam and Eve was tied to Jesus. So, what does
Satan do? He makes Jesus an offer.
And the devil took him up and
showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him,
“To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been
delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me,
it will all be yours.”
Satan rules all the kingdoms of the world. He has dominion.
He offers Jesus this dominion, the rule over everything and everyone. It would
all go to Jesus. All He has to do is worship Satan, to bow before Satan as the
ultimate lord. And if Jesus had done that then the conflict would have been over.
The hope of the restoration of dominion would have perished. Satan would have
the rule over all.
Fortunately, Jesus didn't do that. Instead, Jesus chose the
more difficult route. And that brings us to what Jesus says in our text. The
world has reached a climax. This is the crisis point. There will be another
coup. There will be another dramatic change in the government of this world.
The ruler of this world, Satan, is going to be cast out. He is going to be
taken from his place of authority. Jesus is going to replace him and rule
instead. The history of the world has hit a major turning point.
This will help you to understand a theme that runs
throughout Jesus' teaching in the Gospels. It shows up in His first sermon.
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.
Jesus has come to be the ruler in God's kingdom. So, the
Gospel can be summarized by simply saying, 'Jesus is Lord.' At one point, you
could have said that Satan is lord; he rules. But no longer. Now, Jesus is Lord
over everything. And here is one big difference that that makes. The kingdom of
God is no longer limited to this little group of people huddled in a corner of
the globe while the rest of the world is enslaved to that tyrant, Satan. Now,
the kingdom is free to spread to the ends of the earth. And the reason that
this can happen is not only that Satan no longer rules. Unseating him is not
enough. He's also on a leash. His power to deceive and enslave is severely
limited. So, now, the message of the kingdom can spread and spread and spread
until it includes the whole world. And we see the beginnings of that in the
book of Acts. What could not have happened before begins to happen. Jesus, as
Lord, commands that the world hear the Good News so that all might be rescued
from the slavery of the devil. And many are rescued through Peter and Paul and
the others as they preach the Gospel.
And Jesus refers to that in our text.
And I, when I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all people to myself.
The kingdom of God is no longer limited to one people, Israel.
Now it spreads to all people. The coup, the casting out of Satan, has been
successful. Nations are entering the kingdom. A faithful Son of Adam and Eve
has regained dominion over creation.
Now, there is something else going on when Jesus says, '… when
I am lifted up from the earth…' What is this? Well, Jesus is talking about His
plan for unseating Satan. This is about how He is going to cast Satan out.
Jesus is talking about the Cross. Jesus' plan is to die. This is not what we
would expect. Usually, when someone is planning to get rid of a ruler the goal
is to kill that ruler and then take his place as the new authority. This isn't
how Jesus does it. Quite the opposite. And yet, it worked. Jesus is lifted up
on a Cross to die and as a result He is lifted up to rule. Jesus' plan
succeeded.
The world is not yet fully reclaimed under Jesus' rule. That
is a work in process. The kingdom of God has not yet included all the peoples
of the world. But it is something that Jesus has been working on and continues
to pursue. He is Lord, and He will not rest until 'every knee bows and
every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.'
Every knee and every tongue.
That's the big picture that is reflected in our text.
This is where I need to ask some questions. The first
question is a simple one, but I hope it gets you thinking. Do you know how
weird all this sounds? That thought struck me as I was writing the sermon. If
it doesn't sound weird to you here's some homework I want you to do this week.
I want you to go to a co-worker or a neighbor, and I want you to describe to
that person what I've just told you.
There is this guy, Satan. He was
the ruler of the world for the longest time. Then this other guy, Jesus, shows
up and kicks him off that throne. This Jesus has now taken over as the new
ruler of the world, and He has set up a new kingdom. (He accomplished all of
this by dying.) But Satan hasn't given up. He's still fighting back but in ways
that you probably won't be able to see. In the end, however, Jesus is going to
destroy him and the whole world will be included in this new kingdom, the
kingdom of God. And that's the key to understanding what's going on in the
world.
Go and say those words, or words to that effect, and then
report back what response you get. You've got to admit that what I've explained
to you this morning sounds so weird. How many of you heard this in your world
history class? It just sounds weird.
That leads to the second question. Are the things that I've
explained to you this morning true? Is what I've told you this morning the
unseen reality behind all the stuff that you can easily see when you read the
news? Is it true? Yes, it's odd. It's not the kind of thing that people
commonly talk about. But it's in the Bible. It's true. This is the other half
of reality, the part that people don't see.
Now, if it's true, then that affects all sorts of things. It
affects the answers to questions like, 'Who am I?', 'Where am I?', 'What is
going on in my life?', 'How do I deal with these sorts of things?'
So, instead of identifying yourself only in terms of sex,
age, interests and the like, you also have to add, 'I am a subject of King
Jesus'. And while it's true that your street address says a lot about where you
live, you also need to add that you live in the kingdom of God. Life around you
certainly includes job, kids, schedules and such. But life around you also
includes ongoing battles between these two adversaries, Jesus and Satan,
battles that you play an important role in. That means that as important as all
the other things in your life are, none is more important than Jesus' call for
you to pursue the final victory of His kingdom. So, you are not only to pray,
'Thy kingdom come', you are also called to act and choose in ways that will
result in the kingdom actually coming about. And as you pursue that goal, you
do so very much aware that Satan is so very subtle and crafty, and that the
Spirit is so very powerful. The battles will be difficult and costly, but victory
is assured to the faithful subjects of King Jesus. The weirdness of Gospel
truth affects all sorts of aspects of your life.
There's another way that what I've told you today will
affect you. As you learn how to live according to this truth you will make
decisions based on the part of reality that most people in our culture cannot
see. In fact, it will be that part of reality that they will say cannot exist. As
a result, they will think that you are foolish, 'out there', even crazy. The
desire for social acceptance is strong. And there is nothing necessarily wrong
with that - until it conflicts with the Lordship of Jesus. Are you prepared for
how other people might think about you? And 'other people' includes good
friends and family.
So, you see, the sermon isn't about certain things that you
are supposed to do, though there are certain things that you are supposed to
do. The sermon is about what happens before you do all those things that you
are supposed to do. The sermon is about what you are to think. It's about
understanding who Jesus really is and what He’s up to. The sermon is about
living according to the whole picture, including the half of reality that most
people don't know about. Are you up for that?