Judgment Drawn To Christ Part 1

Today I want to read from John chapter 12, beginning in verse 27. I’m reading from N. T. Wright’s The New Testament for Everyone. My desire is simply that you hear the Word of God and reflect on it with me.

Sometimes we don’t realize just how astonishing it is what happened when Jesus walked among humanity—when the God of heaven entered into our world.

“The Hour Has Come” (John 12:27–28)

Jesus says:

“Now my heart is troubled. What shall I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No. It was for this very reason that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

We are stepping into the middle of a conversation. This is the night leading up to Jesus’ betrayal. He knows the suffering, the cross, and the death that lie ahead, death He will endure on behalf of humanity.

Jesus asks the question plainly: Should I ask the Father to save me from this hour? And then He answers it just as plainly: No. This is why I came.

The cross is not an interruption of God’s plan. It is the plan.

Just before this passage, Jesus spoke of a seed that must fall into the ground and die in order to bear much fruit. Jesus Himself is that seed—the Logos, the Word of God—planted into the earth. And when a seed dies, it never produces just one. It multiplies.

“I Will Glorify It Again” (John 12:28–30)

Jesus prays, “Father, glorify your name.” And a voice comes from heaven:

“I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Some in the crowd hear it as thunder. Others think an angel has spoken. The sound is real, but not everyone discerns it in the same way.

Then Jesus says something remarkable:

“That voice came for your sake, not for mine.”

What follows reveals why this moment—the cross—is so central.

The Judgment of This World (John 12:31)

Jesus continues:

“Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out.”

The word translated judgment here is the Greek word krisis—the root of our word crisis. It means a decisive moment, a separation, a discerning. Judgment here is not merely punitive; it is revelatory.

Imagine a dark room. When you turn on the light, everything in the room is revealed. That illumination itself is a form of judgment. Earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus spoke of light coming into the world, and how people loved darkness rather than light.

This is the kind of judgment Jesus is describing: a great unveiling. Truth exposed. Deception undone. The ruler of this world—the accuser and deceiver—cast out.

“I Will Draw All to Myself” (John 12:32)

Jesus then says:

“And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”

The word all is pantas=everyone. And the word draw is strong. It can mean to attract, to pull, even to drag. There is power in this drawing. It is used of dragging a net.

At the cross, Jesus gathers everything to Himself. He draws all judgment into Himself. He draws all humanity into Himself.

Scripture tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. Heaven and earth. Things above, things below, and everything in between.

New Creation Through the Cross

“In the beginning was the Word.” Through the Word, God created the world—“God said, and it was.”

That same Word became flesh.

And through the cross, God did not merely repair creation—He re-created it.

Jesus took upon Himself the old Adamic humanity: the laws, the ordinances, everything that stood against us, and nailed it to the cross. There was judgment there: “the wages of sin is death.” He who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf.

But that judgment was gathered into Christ Himself.

At the cross, Jesus was judged. Our judgment was judged. Death itself was dealt with. And in being lifted up, He drew all things—all people—into Himself.

This is not judgment as rejection. It is judgment as revelation, reconciliation, and restoration.

The light was turned on.

And everything was drawn into Christ.