We Would See Jesus

John 12:20-30

 

INTRO: “Sir, we would see Jesus.”  This is the request made by certain Greeks who came to worship at Passover.  The request of the Greek was not one of idle curiosity.  They were not saying, “We want to see how He looks and shake hands with Him so we can tell our friends back home that we saw and shook hands with a celebrity.”  When these Greeks said, “Sir, we would see Jesus,” they were speaking out of a desire to know about salvation, a desire for peace with God and the peace of God.

 

I.        VSS 20-22, THE REQUEST: “SIR, WE WOULD SEE JESUS.”

A.       Vs 20, Greeks spoken of here are not Hellenists, Greek speaking Jews but Hellenes, natives of Greece.

1. These Greeks were proselytes.  They came up to Jerusalem to worship because they had turned away from idols and had embraced the Jewish worship of one God.  They turned from pantheism to monotheism.

2. These proselytes were allowed to go into the Court of the Gentiles but no further.

B.       Vs 21, Only two of the twelve disciples had Greek names: Philip and Andrew.  Could this be why the Greeks came to Philip with their request?  We do not know.

1. Note that the Greeks address Philip very politely: they say, “Sir.”

2.         “We would see Jesus,” or “we wish to see Jesus.”

a. They did not say, “We wish to heart Him,” or “we want to witness His miracles.”  They said, “We would see Jesus.”  Pink says: “It is so today.  He is no longer here in the flesh.  He can no longer be handled or heard.  But He can be seen, seen by the eye of faith!” (266).

b. These Greeks wanted a personal relationship with Jesus.  Their Greek gods and philosophers had left them confused and empty.  On, that you would see Jesus.

3. In His infancy, wise men from the east came to worship Jesus.  Now as His life on earth comes to a close, inquiring Greeks from the west seek to see Jesus.

a. At just the time the leaders of Israel sought to kill Jesus, the Gentiles sought to know Him.

b. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (Jn 1:11).  Rejected by His own, the Gentiles now begin to seek Jesus (Jn 1:12).

C.      Vs 22, Philip, not knowing what to do concerning this request because of what Jesus had said in the past, for example Matt 10:5: “God not into the way of the Gentiles...” and Matt 15:24: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” turns to Andrew for help.  Philip and Andrew bring the request to Jesus.

 

II.       VSS 23-25, THE CORN OF WHEAT FORESHADOWING THE DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION

A.       Vs 23, The answer that Jesus gives to Philip and Andrew can be taken to the Greeks.  The answer given is a Gospel message.  Jesus must die, be buried, and rise again.

1. Jesus said, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.”

a. For the first time Jesus says, “Mine hour is come.”  At Cana of Galilee, He had said to His mother, “Mine hour is not yet come.”

b. John 7:30 says: “They sought to take Him: but no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come.”  Now His hour has come.  The hour of His suffering and death had arrived.

2. “Glorified”– What is meant by this?

a. Jesus saw in the request of the Greeks spiritual seed, His seed.  The seed promised to the Messiah as the fruit of His voluntary death (Isa 53:10).  Jesus would be glorified in the salvation and worship of the Gentiles.

b. Only through the death of Jesus could glory come.  Without the death of Jesus, without the atonement, there would be no salvation.  The death of Christ brought glory to the Father and to the Son.

B.       Vs 24, Without the cross, there is no spiritual harvest; without the cross, there is no need for missions, no need to preach to the regions beyond.

1. The corn of wheat is no good stored in the granary.  In order for it to be a blessing, to reproduce itself, to bestow life, it must be put into the ground.  It must die.

a. Out of death, springs forth life and much fruit.

b. Christ had to die for only through His death could salvation be procured.

c. “Like the corn of wheat in the granary, if our Lord had done nothing but live and teach and do deeds of mercy, He would have remained alone.  Like the corn of wheat put into the ground to die, He died and from His death, His life given vicariously, alone comes the harvest of salvation, life and glory” (Gaebelein 228).

2. The seed that is not sown remains alone and produces no fruit.

a. If Jesus had not died, been buried, and resurrected, He would have remained alone with no spiritual fruit.

b. Jesus did die; and through the Gospel message, there is a rich harvest of spiritual fruit: souls saved for eternity.

C.      Vs 25, Here we have the principle of self-sacrifice.

1. “He that loveth his life shall lose it.”

a. You can’t win by being self-centered and worldly.

b. Too many folks love their house, their boa, their money more than they love God; and they are losers not winners.

c. We live in the generation that Paul spoke about in II Tim 3:4: “...lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.”

2. “He that hateth his life....”

a. The way of life is death.  We must die to self; self-centeredness must go (Phil 3:7-10).

b. We must die to the world, and all it has to offer (Col 3:1-4).

c. When we die to self, we live the Christ life (Gal 2:20).

 

III.      VSS 26-30, TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

A.       Vs 26, This verse puts forth to the disciples the principle of obedience.