John 12 presents Bethany under quite another aspect after the triumphant resurrection of Lazarus. It is no longer the house of weeping, for "There they made Him [Jesus] a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus [whom the grave and corruption had given back out of the tomb of death] was one of them that sat at the table with Him." Only one crowning act remains to be done for "the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby," in order that the counsels of the Father and our eternal blessing may be established beyond the reach of Satan's power, and outside the range of sin and the judgment of God. Who could take up this work, and by what new paths in life or death, incarnation or ascension, could such an end be reached, but by the Son of God come down from above, in the mystery of "the Word... made flesh"? Only He might accomplish it. In this spirit, Mary took "a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment."
Elias and Moses, the two men who appeared in glory on the top of the exceeding high mountain, spoke with Jesus of "His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." He carried this secret down with Him into the house of Bethany, that He might declare it to those whom He loved, and in connection with this anointing.
To the natural thoughts of Judas this use of the ointment is only waste, and it should have been sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor. Mary is in the current of her Lord's thoughts, however, and He said, "Let her alone: against the day of My burying hath she kept this." The act of Mary had this significance to the heart of Jesus, and He prepares Himself for the path by which the causes of human misery, and God's dishonor, and the world's bondage, should be met and overcome. Long ago the Spirit of prophecy had cried, "0 death, I will be thy plagues; 0 grave, I will be thy destruction," and now He is come, to whom that finger pointed. Jesus, knowing that His hour was come, speaks to His Father about it, and says about Himself, 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." He who proved Himself as "the resurrection and the life" at the grave of Lazarus, has in view His last and greatest work—expiation for the guilty. He is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
God the Father of Glory may then take His new place, and raise up Jesus out of His grave on the third day, as the proof of His own glory over sin by death, and of our redemption, for "God... hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:20,2120Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:20‑21). A deeper path than all these groans and tears at the grave of Lazarus opened itself to our Lord, and Jesus said, "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."
It is no longer merely Adam's sin that is in question, or the transgressions of his posterity, multiplied as they may be, for "God manifest in flesh" has come into the midst of the family as a man, and has defeated every adverse power in His own Person at the cross. Satan's usurped rights over man were challenged and set aside by the perfect obedience in life and death of the last Adam. The Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, and when the temptations were ended, He said, "Get thee hence, Satan." So again, in Gethsemane, when "His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground," in the knowledge that this was Satan's hour and the power of darkness, still He accepted it in the confidence that it was the path of the pre-determinate counsel that led to the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby in life and in death, and at the right hand of the Father!
Obedience unto death was the only measure of His perfection as the faithful servant who loved his master, his wife, and his children, and would not go out free. The sin and the iniquity of His own people, the flesh, the world, and Satan, the majesty and righteousness of God in their own nature, as well as in holy judgment against all evil, were gathered up by Christ at that hour, and made His own care at the cross. He not only vindicated the rights of God in His ways with men in government, but glorified the Father according to His own essential being and Godhead; in doing this, He proved at the same time who this Son of man must be, who did it. He who in grace to us and in infinite love to the Father made all these His own care, wrought them out in His atoning sufferings and death when "He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost."
In the righteous judgment which He bore, as the Just One for the unjust, it follows that the prince of this world must be cast out. In the same judgment which He took, and because of it, He further said, "Now is the judgment of this world." Unrighteousness must in due time be publicly judged by God from heaven, because righteousness in the suffering victim was cast out by the world and its prince, and Jesus was with the Father. As to Himself, in grace to us, Jesus said, "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."
How much His people owe to that blessed Savior! He has broken through every yoke—borne the curse—put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself—annulled him that had the power of death (that is, the devil)—brought life and incorruptibility to light—and set us in relationship with Himself, and with His Father as our Father, and with His God as our God!
Chapter 12 closes, however, "in darkness" as regards those in whose midst He was thus shining forth as the light of life. He had lit up the darkest places of the earth by taking possession of them in His own glory, and so drawing out "the sting of death" itself, if they would only let Him, because He could not be holden of it. But they listened to the law instead of beholding the glory of the Son, and said, "We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest Thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?" and they too are offended at Him. Nevertheless, Jesus presents Himself once more to them in this group of chapters as the light of life, saying, "While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light," lest darkness come upon you.
Like the accusers of chapter 8, who went out one by one, and left Jesus alone with the woman, or like the scribes and Pharisees who cast out of the synagogue the man blind from his birth, who confessed Jesus and worshiped Him, so these in their turn compel Jesus to take an action for Himself (a last and final one), but in judgment against them. "These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide Himself from them"! The sun which had risen in such brightness upon them, and shed its beams across their path, has gone down in obscurity—and set, till another day, because of their unbelief. They have lost Jesus, and the light of the world has left it!
The first seven chapters of this Gospel ended by every man going to his own house, "and Jesus... unto the mount of Olives"; they then parted company till His feet shall stand thereon another day. These five chapters finish, as we have seen, by Jesus' hiding Himself from them and from the world. Chapters 13 and onward open the new and blessed subject of the Father's house, and of our union there by grace in all the counsels of the Father, to the glory of the departed One who is the Son of His own love.