If I Be Lifted Up

Jesus said in John 12:27-33: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all (men) unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.”

Many think John 12:32 means that if God is properly glorified in our preaching or singing, then He will draw all people to Himself. But that is not what this scripture is saying. If that is the case why then would He have us go and compel men to come? If you look in the King James Version, notice that the word “men” in verse 32 is italicized. That means it wasn’t in the original language. The translators put this word in italics to let people know this was their addition, but it wasn’t a part of the text. If you take this verse in context, I believe the Lord was saying that He would draw all JUDGMENT, PENALTIES, and PAYMENTS to Himself. Jesus attracted all of God’s judgment for all of mankind’s sins for all time unto Himself. Let’s look at the word …DRAW. There are at least 6 different Greek words for the English word draw. John 4:7 (draw) “antleo” meaning to bale or pump out as in water. In Acts 20:30 (draw) “apospao” meaning to tear away causing separation James 4:8 and Hebrews 7:19 (draw) “eggizo” meaning to bring near in place or position. Hebrews 10:22 (draw) “proserchomai” meaning to come to, approach Hebrews 10:38 (draw) “hypostello” meaning to shrink away, conceal THE FINAL WORD IS “helko” found in John 6:44, James 2:6 and John 12:32 meaning to lead, drag off, choose or elect, and also meaning. …to take by force from another what is his or committed to him. Which definition of “helko” would most fit John 12:32? And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all (men) unto me. All “pas”, the whole, everything.

The original text in Greek reads like this “and I if might be elevated from the earth, all I will haul to myself”. John 3:12 – And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.

God the Father forsook Jesus so that you and I would never be forsaken. All that we would have suffered through billions of years in eternity—the grief, the pain, and worst of all, the complete separation from the presence of God—Jesus experienced. And He experienced all of this for us. The judgment was made and the sentence carried out. The price was paid in full, once for all. He did not pay the price because of His sins, because He was sinless but He took the penalty, the sentence, the punishment, the separation that should have been mankind, all mankind upon Himself.

We could never pay for our sins. We could never become our own sacrifice. That goes against the very plan of God from the beginning. Christ is the lamb slain before the foundation and His plan is seen in the Old Testament. In it we see animal sacrifice for sins, even for the sins of the nation Israel. Why the animal and not the person? Go back to even when Adam sinned. His remedy (fig leaves) was not good enough, an animal had to be slain, why not Adam? In typology IT COULD NEVER BE YOU TO PAY THE PRICE. Yet we still in the church feel there is SOME price we must pay, some penance.

When we say God is still judging us for our sins as individuals or corporately as a nation, we are saying that the price Jesus paid wasn’t enough. Therefore, a judgment must again be made and a sentence passed. That would be “double jeopardy,” and that is not what the Bible teaches. The “noun” and more importantly the penalty of sin have been removed. Jesus paid it all. If Jesus did not pay it all and we still must pay, what is left to pay? How much? “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. John 3:16, “For God loved the world in this way: so much that he would give up his Son, The Only One, so that everyone who trusts in him shall not be lost, but he shall have eternal life.”