-October 17, 2022-
Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,
“‘Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself.’ This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”
(John 12:31-33).
As the cross drew closer and closer, Jesus felt it in His spirit. He told His disciples in John 12:27, “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour.” Jesus knew everything that would happen to Him before the cross with mocking, scourging, beating, and rejection. He also was aware that dying on the cross He would suffer tremendous pain and especially bearing the sins of the whole world. He was conscious and confident of His victory over sin, Satan, this world, and death.
• The judgment of this world and the ruler of this world will be cast out – Jesus’ death conquered the world and the devil. Way back in the Garden of Eden, God said to the devil, “And I will put enmity between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you will bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus fulfilled this scripture when He died and rose again. Not only that, but God cast out the devil and all those angels who joined him. They became demons. Before he had access to heaven and came before God as the accuser of the brethren.
• And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself – Jesus is speaking of the manner of death He would experience in being crucified. When one was nailed to a cross, he was hoisted up high off the ground. It was a very public, painful, and shameful death. It was a long and agonizing death. Jesus was applying the scripture from the OT, when God sent a plague on the Israelites in the wilderness and people were bitten by serpents and were dying because of their sin. Moses put a serpent on a pole and held it up. Whoever looked at it was healed and spared from death. Everyone who gets saved must look to Jesus for salvation from sin.
Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Praise be to God for our Savior and for the gift of eternal life!
Have a blessed day thanking, praising, worshipping the Lord Jesus! Stay safe and healthy.
Thanking the Lord for the results of the cross,
Dean
Dean Allen's Daily Devotional 