John 12:27-36
Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” Continuing in John 12… Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. (v. 27) Jesus is still a day or two away from His crucifixion, but He is essentially saying the same thing He will say at Gethsemane, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) It’s striking to me that He could see His future and still soldier on! Even to know that crucifixion awaited Him… Why not negotiate with His Father for a more “tolerable” death, like stoning or beheading? Would not the same outcome have prevailed – His redemption of the world? My soul is troubled, along with His.
In today’s Daily Devotional Archbishop Beach reminds us that “The enemy is always at work, and he never sleeps.” So Satan was watching Jesus speaking to the people and predicting His death. What was Satan thinking? That he could see his victory approaching, that Jesus would be an innocent lamb, willingly led off to His slaughter…? Or did Satan sense in any way that Jesus would achieve His victory through His death? Jesus had predicted that He would rise on the third day, so Satan must have known of the Father’s plan. He had even heard Jesus’ confident assertion that …now will the ruler of this world be cast out. (v. 31b) My guess is that Satan was powerless to stop it, even though he knew what was coming.
What does all that say to us in this life? We have the same Holy Spirit living within us that Jesus had. We can also be overcomers if we are as confident of the outcome as Jesus was. Lord, increase our faith!
Slava Bohu!