Commentary on John 12 (5)

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Commentary on John 12 (5)

The last part of John 12:36 says, These things spake, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

The Gospel of John continues from John 1:1 to John 1:18, and then from John 1:19 to the first half of John 12:36, and from the second half of John 12:36, a new phase begins.

Here, the Gospel of John has another partition.

There are measure marks between verses 36 and 37.

Between verses 36 and 37, after saying, “You may be the children of light,” it says, “These things spake, and departed, and did hide himself from them.”

At the moment of these words, Jesus Christ reveals his presence as the light of the world, then hides himself from the world and now becomes a light visible only to his disciples.

We must be able to see the identity of the Lord who moved momentarily between verses 36.

And “Jesus cried ans said, He that believes on me, believe not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that sees me sees him that sent me. I am come  a light into the world, that whoever believes on  me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, wthe same shall judge him in the last day."(John 12:44-48)

Now the Lord is hiding and what only appears?

Finally, only his word are revealed.

Then, “For I have not spoken of my self, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.” (John 12:49)

And in John 12:50, “I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”

God's command is eternal life.

Eternal life is God’s will for us.

Deviating from this is a delusion, a lie, and a sin leading to death.

Eternal life is God's will, but we must not view eternal life only two-dimensionally.

This is because all the attributes of Jesus Christ are contained in that eternal life.

It contains the secret of being sanctified by the truth in eternal life, reaching glory through sanctification, becoming one with the Lord through that glory, achieving perfection, and advancing into love (see John 17).

Inside an apple seed is an apple tree.

Eternal life came to us as a seed, Jesus Christ.

When an apple seed falls to the ground and rots, it becomes an apple tree.

Just as there is an apple tree in an apple seed, all the elements of the kingdom of God are contained in Christ.

Christ, who is eternal life, contains all of God's genes and all of the portions that God will give us.

Therefore, David sings that the Lord is the foundation of my life; the Lord is my inheritance; the Lord is the total income of my life; and Lord maintains my eternal portion. (Psalm 16:5)

We now know that David is singing about this eternal life.

The Lord alone is life’s total assets. Only the Lord and the Holy Spirit are my foundation. Jesus Christ is my pride, and he is my retirement pension, security for old age, and eternal future inheritance. This is my song, my confession, and my praise. Only Christ, who is eternal life, is the total income of my ministry.

The Lord does not give his servants a lot of earthly things because they have done his work.

That's just the person's knack for accumulating wealth.

Look at Apostle Paul.

It is not , after suffering to the point of death, being beaten, starving, being imprisoned, and serving in ministry, in his old age he built a villa in a beautiful place on the Mediterranean coast, ate well, and lived well.

Even though his public ministry was over and he was only about to stand before the Roman court, he lived in a rented house for two years, welcoming those who came to him and boldly testifying about the kingdom of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 28:30). And he disappeared,  leaving behind only words of epistles.

This is Paul’s historic retirement ceremony.

What did Apostle Paul gain?

He gained Jesus Christ.

After doing the Lord's work, the Lord's servants gain only the Lord.

That's lifetime income.

When Jesus Christ becomes our only asset, we have finally become God's people.

If Jesus Christ alone is his gain in life, he has nothing better to do.

This is because the attributes in Jesus Christ continue to be given as a reward for my work.

If we do the Lord's work and receive the infinite glory and riches in Jesus Christ as a reward, it will be an absolute blessing.

If we do the Lord’s work, do we want to become his servants perfected with love?

Or do you want to be rich in the world?

If we have greater gains in life than following the Lord and becoming the embodiment of love, we are deceived.

That means you are either serving God as an idol who only says things that are beneficial to you, or you are escaping eternal life and living a life of faith that is like a joke played by false prophets.

However, in the past, a pastor's wife once said in a funny way, "I wish I could trade you for money the size of you." Of course, there are people like this.

But that's absolutely not the case.

David never said that.

The total reward of David's life, which included ruling the people as the king of Israel, bowing down in prayer before the Lord, enduring countless hardships, and experiencing unspeakable humiliation from others, was only the Lord.

We all should be like that.

As we have become a pragmatic society, people do the Lord's work in the hope of substitutes and receive wages in exchange for it, so the customs of this capitalist society have become deeply ingrained in the minds of Christians.

Because I did the Lord's work, I was treated like this, and because I did the Lord's work, I became rich.

Now, this kind of thinking has become embedded in the bones of Christians.

However, I am sorry, but the more a person God uses faithfully, the more he does not give him  substitutes.

He never gives a substitute.

He asks us to seek only the Lord thoroughly.

If I say this, some people will ask if you were born that way, right?

no. I still have the leaven of capitalism.

I still have a desire to be recognized after doing something for the Lord.

I bow my head knowing that I still have a desire to receive glory.

The Lord alone is my inheritance. You are the income of my cup. You are my portion.

Even if you write it like this and paste it, it doesn’t work.

That's how scary the leaven of capitalism is.

However, after receiving a lot of refinement, intervention, and guidance from God, I realize that the Lord was asking for this and that the Lord was always asking me to exchange me for himself. This means that we should barter.

I was astonished by the love of the Lord who wanted to exchange me, a rag, for Him.

The Lord always invites us to barter by message of cross of Christ.

‘I will give myself to you, so give yourself to me.’

Still, my ugly self wants to stay alive and not give it away.

Just like a single grain…

However, the Lord says, ‘Won’t you change it even if it means making us a lump of meju that fell from the third floor?’

What is the filling of the Holy Spirit?

Am I not completely exchanging me for the Lord?

What is baptism?

It means that we will exchange ourselves with the Lord.

However, we humans try not to exchange us if we can.

If you exchange, you will be the filling of the Holy Spirit.

If you exchange, you will be filled with Christ, but you insist on not exchanging.

This is because you still have a desire to receive the rewards in life that you need.

You are still determined to make up for the past day's sorrow.

Then, if you are caught by a false prophet, you will end up walking the path of an adulteress, the path of betrayal, and the path of apostasy, leaving the path to eternal life.

Then, like Gomer, they return to their original places, completely devastated and crying.

We must be willing to exchange ourselves through  the Word and baptism.

The Lord also exchanged.

The Lord also wept until his sweat became drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane in order to exchange him into the glory of the Son of Man.

“Do I really have to bear the death of the cross, that cross of insult, shame, and pain, in order to return to that glory? Only then will the glory that was before the creation of the world come to me?" 

The father did not say anything. The answer was that only then would he exchange himself to the glory that was before the creation of the world.

The same goes for us.

Please do not remain as a single grain, but always be good at bartering yourself with the Lord in front of the cross.

Please sell yourself through the message of the cross and barter to buy the Holy Spirit.

This is the meaning of 'Blessed are the meek... (Matthew 5:5), the meaning of bearing the cross, and the true meaning of Paul's words, 'I die every day.'

If we do this, the Holy Spirit will always fill our hearts and hold us strong.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

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