John 12:31-33 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.… In the Cross Christ saw a provision for three great objects. By it — I. THE WORLD SHOULD BE JUDGED. God judged our sins in the person of Jesus, visited our guilt upon Him condemned in our place. That is the true measure, as it is the most awful punishment of our guilt. If men sin on they may see, as clearly as if it were come already, their eternal doom. How can a sinner be so deluded as to think he will escape when he sees the Son of God hanging there. Let him look and realize who He was, and then feel, "I am condemned." Thus Christ knew that the Cross would convince men of sin. What the law could not do, what no mercies or judgments of God could do, this would effect, and His heart exulted in the thought that men at last would see that there was no hope for them save in turning to God through Him. II. THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD REJECTED. That being whose empire none else could shake, whose dominion over men's minds and habits none else could destroy, Jesus saw dethroned. God had predicted this. "The seed of the woman," etc. To accomplish this was the end of His coming. "For this purpose is the Son of God manifested," etc. This end is gained when Satan is banished from the human heart. The Cross avails for this — 1. By having procured the gift of the Spirit who turns men "from the power of Satan unto God." 2. By furnishing the most powerful motives to turn from sin, inasmuch as it reveals the guilt and danger of sin, and endears believers to the Saviour who died to reconcile them to God, and therefore weans them from sin. 3. By securing powerful help in such a view of the love of God as inspires faith and hope. III. HUMAN SOULS DRAWN TO CHRIST. 1. The means — wondrous, the last, apparently, calculated to serve this purpose. 2. The method — "draw," not compel, by the attraction of love. 3. The object — "all men." Gentiles as well as Jews. 4. The result — "to Me." (B. W. Noel, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.WEB: Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out. |
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