A Different Kind of King

John 12:12-36

Main Idea: Jesus is the victorious King, but his victory is not what the crowds anticipated.

1. His Victory Is Not Political.
2. His Victory Comes through Death.
3. His Victory Honors Another.

What image do you have in your mind of a good leader? What does Prince Charming look like? He’s tall, dark, handsome, and comes riding in on a majestic white stallion. I’ve never heard a version of the story where a short, pudgy, balding, middle-aged prince comes panting and wheezing to the rescue. We’ve fashioned a picture of what the quintessential hero looks like. Anything else just doesn’t work.

The Jews living in the time of Jesus had fashioned a picture of the Messiah that would rival any Disney hero: a tall, dark, and handsome king riding into Jerusalem on a white stallion, ready to lead the forces of Israel in overthrowing the tyranny of Rome. That’s what they wanted; that’s what they were hoping and longing for. When Jesus appears on the scene and people begin to wonder if he’s the Messiah, they expect him to raise an army to lead them to a great military victory. They are waiting for him to fulfill the promise of a victorious king. Earlier in the Gospel of John, after Jesus fed the five thousand, they wanted to take him by force and make him king. They had been waiting and watching and hoping for this powerful and victorious king to swoop in and rescue them; now he’s here. What’s he waiting for?

Jesus is the Messiah and has come as the victorious King, but not in the way they expect. They selectively read the promises of the Old Testament. All they saw was a political savior for Israel, but the promise of a victorious king was far greater and far more comprehensive than they understood. The Messiah came to bring spiritual salvation from sin’s tyranny, not political salvation from the tyranny of Rome. The problem was the Jews’ vision: they were shortsighted. They thought the big enemy was Rome (11:48). Jesus wasn’t concerned with the Romans. He was focused on enemies far greater and far more powerful: he came to defeat sin and death. Jesus is the victorious King prophesied in the Old Testament, but his victory takes a form the Jews never anticipated. As Jesus enters the city, the people see him as their king (vv. 12-13). They call him “the King of Israel,” but their desire for a king and the King’s actual purpose are worlds apart. Jesus is the victorious King, but his victory is not what the crowds expected.

His Victory Is Not Political

Everything the crowd says is correct. It’s biblical and accurate. They quote from Psalm 118:25-26. They cry, “Hosanna,” which means “Save us, Lord.” Then they take the next verse and apply it to Jesus: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Everything they say has messianic overtones. They recognize Jesus for who he is. He’s the anointed King. However, their understanding of his kingship is too narrow. John has shown us on two different occasions they wanted a political savior (chs. 6 and 11), but Jesus’s coming supersedes any political concerns.

When political figures came to Jerusalem, every aspect of their entrance was choreographed to demonstrate power and authority. Their entrance was announced by trumpets. They were preceded by soldiers in full military regalia. Finally, they made their entrance riding on a brilliant white stallion or in a gleaming gold chariot pulled by magnificent horses.

Jesus comes with no soldiers. He doesn’t choose a warhorse but a young donkey. He shows what kind of King he really is. In verse 15 John quotes Zechariah 9:9-10 about the promise of a coming King. This prophecy says a lot about the kind of King who was coming. He is different from the average political ruler. The choice of the donkey reveals this King will achieve his victory through humility. The salvation he secures will come through meekness. He doesn’t come to destroy other nations but to “proclaim peace to the nations.” The Jews expect the Messiah to liberate them, crushing the nations in the process, but the King comes to bring peace to all nations.

God’s plan has always been for all the nations, not just Israel, to bow in worship before him. In the book of Acts, the gospel spreads to both Jew and Gentile and brings them into this new, unique community of faith called the church. But the seeds had been sown throughout the Old Testament. In Genesis 12:3, God promised Abraham that “all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Isaiah prepares the people for the coming king and calls him “a light to the nations” (42:6). Through him God’s salvation will reach the end of the earth (49:6). The Messiah was never only a king for Israel. He was coming to call worshipers from every nation and every tribe and every people to the true God. Though Israel was hoping for a nationalistic, political savior, God sent Jesus to be a light to all men—to call both Jew and Gentile to saving faith through his work.

This vision fuels the Christian commitment to global missions. We have a passion to see people from every nation turn in faith to Jesus Christ and worship him with their lives. Too often we view missions as an event—I go on a missions trip—or an occupation—we support missionaries—when the Bible calls us to view missions as an adjective to describe each believer’s life. Every day we are called to missional living, spending every moment on a mission to share the gospel. Cross-cultural, worldwide missions should be an overflow of our daily mission in the neighborhoods, offices, and relationships God has given us. Our mantra should be, “I will go where I can, send others to go where I can’t, and pray diligently for the gospel to be fruitful in both places.”

We shouldn’t expect our vocational missionaries to be faithful in missions overseas if we aren’t faithful in missions in our communities. As we faithfully share the gospel, we have confidence that men and women will respond in faith because Jesus sets before us the vision of a kingdom filled with worshipers from every tribe, tongue, and nation. The fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy is also seen in the account that immediately follows Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. The King who comes to proclaim peace to men and women from every nation is sought out by Greek-speaking Gentiles (John 12:20-21). Jesus fulfills the promise that the Messiah will be a light to the Gentiles. His kingdom isn’t one nation but is worldwide and includes both Jew and Gentile.

The religious leaders couldn’t see past their own situation. They missed the massive promise of God to bring together a people from all nations to worship and serve him. Jesus didn’t come to overthrow political leaders. God has been and continues to be sovereign over kings and nations. Jesus is building a global nation: Jew and Gentile, slave and free—all released from the shackles of sin and brought into the people of God by the work of the promised King.

In verse 32 Jesus again affirms that his kingdom will include “all people,” not just Jews. As we read his promise in the larger context of this passage, we understand he’s not suggesting all men will be saved or all men will be drawn to him in some way. He’s clearly saying that, just as God promised in the Old Testament, his death will effectively draw all men—that is, not just Jews but men and women from all nations—to him for salvation.

His victory is not political, and neither is our hope. Be a good steward of your vote. Be wise in selecting leaders. But do so without fear. Jesus isn’t on the ballot. We don’t vote on the King of kings. Our hope has never been and will never be in Washington, DC. Our hope is sitting on a throne in heaven.

His Victory Comes through Death

Charles Ross Weed wrote a thought-provoking poem contrasting Jesus and Alexander the Great:

Jesus and Alexander died at thirty-three,

One died in Babylon and one on Calvary.

One gained all for self, and one Himself He gave.

One conquered every throne, the other every grave.

When died the Greek, forever fell his throne of swords,

But Jesus died to live forever Lord of lords.

Jesus and Alexander died at thirty-three.

The Greek made all men slaves, the Jew made all men free.

One built a throne on blood, the other built on love.

The one was born of earth, the other from above.

One won all this earth to lose all earth and Heaven.

The other gave up all that all to Him be given.

The Greek forever died, the Jew forever lives.

He loses all who gets and wins all things who gives. (Quoted in Hughes, John, 303)

What a unique King is this King of Israel. His kingdom and reign are unlike any earthly kingdom. Not only is it not political, but it was secured when the King died. Most kings enter the city to the cheers of their subjects on their way to take a seat on the throne and to reign. Jesus entered the city to the cheers of the crowd so that he could take his place on a cross and die. The coming of the Greeks to see him signals that the time for Jesus to die is coming soon. The hour appointed for Jesus’s death on the cross is here. Jesus lived to die. His midnight birth in Bethlehem was the first step on the road to Calvary.

The Jews missed this when they read the Old Testament. In Isaiah 52, Isaiah is prophesying about the one who would come to bring salvation to God’s people. He refers to him as the Servant. The Jews read about this Servant and focused on verses like 13. They thought, Great! A king to rule over Israel. A king who is high and exalted. They could picture him, greater than David and Solomon, sitting and ruling from the throne in Jerusalem, all other kings bowing before him and bringing him gifts. What they missed was how this King would achieve victory (Isa 52:14; 53:2-3). They were looking for the highly exalted King to bring salvation from pagan nations, but God promised them a King who would suffer to bring salvation from sin’s penalty. Victory would cost the King his life.

Jesus taught his death in a parable after the Greeks came to him (John 12:24). Jesus’s death will reap a great harvest. Jesus is going to die so that others can live. His death makes it possible for others to experience life. He will achieve victory over the grave by going to the grave himself and then vanquishing its hold through his resurrection. We are the great recipients of Jesus’s death. He died so each one of us could have life. He died in your place. Don’t ever get over that. Don’t let his death become routine to you. We must not minimize the horror of Jesus’s death (v. 27). Though he came into the world to die in our place on the cross, his death was not simple or easy. He took upon himself the curse that our sin demanded. He refers to his death in verse 32 as being “lifted up from the earth,” that is, death by crucifixion. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (Gal 3:13). When Jesus hung on that cross, he was cursed in our place. The full fury of God’s wrath toward sin was poured out on him. For the first and only time, the perfect fellowship that existed between Father and Son was torn apart, so that Jesus in deep anguish would cry, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matt 27:46). R. C. Sproul describes the cry of Jesus:

This cry represents the most agonizing protest ever uttered on this planet. It burst forth in a moment of unparalleled pain. It is the scream of the damned—for us. (Quoted in Mahaney, Living, 89)

This is the kind of King God promised—a King who would lay down his life so we could be rescued. He is a King who would take the punishment we deserve so we could enjoy a life we do not deserve. Like a grain of wheat falling into the dirt and producing a harvest, Jesus refuses to stay in the ground. He crushes death by rising from the grave. He wins. Death is defeated and Jesus reigns over everything.

Jesus then turns and applies the principle of the seed to his disciples. He calls every disciple to follow his example (John 12:25-26). Listen to John Piper’s helpful explanation:

Here the destination is eternal life. And you can miss it by loving your life—that is, by making your goal in life to be safe and secure and comfortable and surrounded only by pleasant things. That is the pathway to perishing. Or, Jesus says, you can take another path and arrive at eternal life. That path is called hating your life in this world. Notice that he adds “in this world.” Hating your life in this world means that you will choose to do things that look foolish to the world. You will deny yourself things, and take risks, and embrace the path of suffering for the sake of love. This, Jesus says, will lead to eternal life, not death. (“Where I Am”)

How is it possible to hate our life in this world? The answer is in verse 26: we follow Jesus. We don’t focus on ourselves and our situations. We pursue Jesus with every fiber of our beings. The way to love your life is to focus exclusively on yourself, and the way to hate your life is to focus exclusively on Christ. Seek him and you will deny yourself. Jesus holds out a great motivation to seek him and hate yourself: we will be where he is, and we will be honored by the Father. Great joy and reward come from moving our attention from our own comfort and well-being and instead living lives of radical commitment to the only one who is worthy of it.

My goal in life is to help people find joy in Jesus; it’s the only kind of joy that lasts. Here’s how you find joy: die to yourself. Die to little dreams. Die to empty routines. Die to playing life safe. Die to protecting your reputation. Die to selfish, small living. Die to stingy self-centeredness. Die. Only then can you live, and only living brings joy.

His Victory Honors Another

Jesus is a King who glorifies someone else (v. 28). As Jesus walked the earth, he focused on doing what glorified his Father. In chapter 8 Jesus said he always does the things pleasing to his Father (v. 29) and that he did not come to seek his own glory (v. 50). The ultimate reason Jesus came to earth was for the Father’s glory. Everything that was, is, and will be is working to glorify God. He is worthy of all the praise, honor, and glory that can ever be offered. The universe and every creature in it is designed for the glory of God. That doesn’t change at the cross. The cross is not first about us. We are glad recipients of what was accomplished, but we are not the focus.

Here is an essential difference between genuine Christianity and the empty religion Jesus condemns: genuine Christianity has as its overarching goal the glory of God. Christianity is God centered. Religion is man centered. Religion revolves around man’s position, man’s influence, man’s perspective, and man’s work. Religion is all about me, what I feel I need, and what I do. Christianity is all about God, who he is, and what he says. We learn about true Christianity from Jesus Christ. He shows us what it means to live for the glory of God. What would your life look like if you demonstrated complete commitment to the glory of God like Jesus did? Complete commitment—every single motive, thought, and action of every single minute, hour, and day. The life of Jesus shows the world that God is worthy of our praise and affection. What does your life show?

Jesus glorifies God, especially in the cross (12:31-32). In the cross God demonstrates his justice. God would be a wicked Judge if he excused our wickedness. How could his love for sinners be reconciled with his justice? The answer is the cross. At the cross justice and mercy met in the body of Jesus Christ. In that act God judged our sins by executing justice on Jesus. This is good news for those who will be saved, but it’s bad news for those who reject Jesus. If you reject Jesus, the cross has sealed your fate; your rejection of God’s perfect sacrifice means you’ll have to bear sin’s penalty yourself. Since you have sinned against an infinitely holy God, your penalty will be infinitely terrible.

Jesus’s death glorifies God by demonstrating his holiness and by defeating Satan. Though it appeared to be the opposite, Satan’s ultimate defeat was accomplished on the cross. The cross was his moment of bruising Jesus’s heel, but just as God promised Adam and Eve, the King crushed the serpent’s head. When Jesus rose from the grave, he liberated us from the grip of sin. Sin and condemnation no longer have power over us who have been rescued. The cross assured the victory of Jesus and sealed the defeat of Satan (Col 2:15).

Jesus’s death also brings glory to God by reconciling sinners to God. When Jesus is lifted up, he will draw people to himself. God’s mercy and compassion are seen in saving those who do not deserve it. Sinclair Ferguson writes,

The cross is at the heart of the gospel; it makes the gospel good news. Christ died for us; He has stood in our place before God’s judgment seat; He has borne our sins. God has done something on the cross which we could never do for ourselves. But God does something to us as well as for us through the cross. He persuades us that He loves us. (Grow in Grace, 58; emphasis original)

Are you persuaded God loves you? What more could he do to demonstrate his love for you than offer his Son in your place?

Jesus, our victorious King, offered his life to bring his Father glory, yet in giving his life on the cross, the Father glorified him as well. In verses 16 and 23 we read that in the cross Jesus would be glorified. In the cross God would reveal to the world the matchless worth of his Son.

This section ends with an invitation from King Jesus (vv. 35-36). Our King is not barricaded in the castle, cold and distant from his lowly subjects. He’s not your typical king. As Jesus heads to the cross, on his way to die he turns to invite us to come to him and receive the blessings his death will bring. He begs us to believe in the light, to become sons of the light. Listen to the words of Jesus. He invites you to come out of the darkness of sin and death and come to the light. Jesus offers you a home and an inheritance, a seat at God’s royal table, and entrance into a kingdom of love and grace.

Reflect and Discuss

1. When you think of a hero, what image comes to mind?
2. Who do the crowds believe Jesus is? What were they expecting Jesus to do?
3. Why were the Jews so wrong in their understanding of what the Messiah would be and do?
4. How is Jesus better than any king the Israelites could have hoped for or imagined?
5. Why does Jesus ride in on a donkey rather than a warhorse?
6. What Old Testament texts show the Messiah would come for all nations?
7. How does Galatians 3:13 give us further understanding of the words of Jesus in verses 31-32?
8. What does it mean to hate your life in this world? Why would anyone do this?
9. What is the overarching goal of Christianity?
10. What would your life look like if you demonstrated complete commitment to the glory of God as Jesus did? Would anything be different?