HE knew beforehand. The cross came to our blessed Saviour as no surprise; He foresaw the thorny crown and purple robe, the mock trial, the soldiers’ ribaldry, the people’s scoff, and the priests’ blasphemy. He laid His account calmly to the immolation and anguish, the desertion of man and the forsaking of God, the curse, the wrath, and the atoning death. For “the death that he should die” involved all that. His sufferings were physical, moral, and spiritual. His cup was infinitely deep and awfully bitter. He drank the dregs of it. Gracious Redeemer! “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,” were His words in view of that death. He stated how it should occur, little as they may have understood who heard the words, “lifted up from the earth.” Weigh these five wonderful words. In John 3:14,15,14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14‑15) he said, “The Son of man must be lifted up that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life.” There it is clearly the fact of His “being made sin for us” as the antitype of the serpent on the pole.
In John 8:2828Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. (John 8:28) He said, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then ye shall know that I am he.” There He views His death as martyrdom ai the hand of man. “When ye have lifted up... ye shall know,” and that, alas, to their utter confusion. They should die in their sins.
But here in John 12:3232And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (John 12:32) He says, “If I be lifted up... I will draw.” It is the voluntary surrender of Himself to the full results of “the death that he should die.” It presents, in its most attractive form, His crucifixion, and that in richest grace; because “cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree,” and the curse was his who deserved it not. Hence His cry, “My God, my God, why halt thou forsaken me?”
Yes, reader, “why?”
“He did no sin.”
“He knew no sin.”
“No guile was found in his mouth.”
But what of you? of me? of all? Stay, can you not see the reason “why?” Pause, I pray you, until you do.
Substitution lies in the discovery!
“He took the guilty culprit’s place
And suffered in his stead.
For man, O miracle of grace!
For man, the Saviour bled.”
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:3232And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (John 12:32)). Mark, “will draw,” that is, attract and win, because the cross, when divinely understood, is the most powerful attraction in the universe. There is no compulsion, nor force, nor-driving, but there is that which draws in the power of infinite love. It is irresistible to the willing heart.
“All men,” not a nation or people, class or community, but “all.” Sinners they must be, but sin is, by itself, no hindrance for the reason that His death was on account of sin. The “all” is not the all of the universalist, but the every one of sovereign grace and mercy — like the, whosoever of John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). No one is repelled nor rejected, but the cross throws salvation open to all.
“Unto me,” not merely to salvation, but to the Saviour — the lifted-up Redeemer, the Christ, the Son of God, who is now alive in glory.
Blessed result, for what would Christianity be but for such a Christ? One who loves eternally, and is to be loved likewise, and to be known, now and ever, in near and holy intimacy as an Object outside the heart, yet on which all its affections may rest, in blest and intelligent and realized enjoyment forever.
Attraction for “all” is thus found in the lifted-up Jesus — in “the death which he should die” on the cross. Christ on earth was for Israel; Christ on the tree, by “the death he should die,” is God’s center of attraction for all.
“Why ‘neath the load of your sins do ye toil?
Christ giveth rest, giveth rest.
Why be in slavery, why Satan’s spoil?
You may be blest, may be blest,
Christ now invites you sweet rest to receive;
Heavy’s your burden, but He can relieve;
If but this moment in Him you believe,
You shall have rest, shall have rest.”
J. W. S.