27 "Right now I am storm-tossed. And what am I going to say? 'Father, get me out of this'? No, this is why I came in the first place. 28 I'll say, 'Father, put your glory on display.'" A voice came out of the sky: "I have glorified it, and I'll glorify it again." 29 The listening crowd said, "Thunder!" Others said, "An angel spoke to him!" 30 Jesus said, "The voice didn't come for me but for you. 31 At this moment the world is in crisis. Now Satan, the ruler of this world, will be thrown out. 32 And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me." 33 He put it this way to show how he was going to be put to death. 34 Voices from the crowd answered, "We heard from God's Law that the Messiah lasts forever. How can it be necessary, as you put it, that the Son of Man 'be lifted up'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?" 35 Jesus said, "For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have so darkness doesn't destroy you. If you walk in darkness, you don't know where you're going. 36 As you have the light, believe in the light. Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You'll be children of light."
37 All these God-signs he had given them and they still didn't get it, still wouldn't trust him. 38 This proved that the prophet Isaiah was right: God, who believed what we preached? Who recognized God's arm, outstretched and ready to act? 39 First they wouldn't believe, then they couldn't - again, just as Isaiah said: 40 Their eyes are blinded, their hearts are hardened, So that they wouldn't see with their eyes and perceive with their hearts, And turn to me, God, so I could heal them. 41 Isaiah said these things after he got a glimpse of God's cascading brightness that would pour through the Messiah.
42 On the other hand, a considerable number from the ranks of the leaders did believe. But because of the Pharisees, they didn't come out in the open with it. They were afraid of getting kicked out of the meeting place. 43 When push came to shove they cared more for human approval than for God's glory.
44 Jesus summed it all up when he cried out, "Whoever believes in me, believes not just in me but in the One who sent me. 45 Whoever looks at me is looking, in fact, at the One who sent me. 46 I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in me won't have to stay any longer in the dark. 47 "If anyone hears what I am saying and doesn't take it seriously, I don't reject him. I didn't come to reject the world; 48 I came to save the world. But you need to know that whoever puts me off, refusing to take in what I'm saying, is willfully choosing rejection. The Word, the Word-made-flesh that I have spoken and that I am, that Word and no other is the last word. 49 I'm not making any of this up on my own. The Father who sent me gave me orders, told me what to say and how to say it. 50 And I know exactly what his command produces: real and eternal life. That's all I have to say. What the Father told me, I tell you."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on John 12:27-50
Commentary on John 12:27-33
(Read John 12:27-33)
The sin of our souls was the troubled of Christ's soul, when he undertook to redeem and save us, and to make his soul an offering for our sin. Christ was willing to suffer, yet prayed to be saved from suffering. Prayer against trouble may well agree with patience under it, and submission to the will of God in it. Our Lord Jesus undertook to satisfy God's injured honour, and he did it by humbling himself. The voice of the Father from heaven, which had declared him to be his beloved Son, at his baptism, and when he was transfigured, was heard proclaiming that He had both glorified his name, and would glorify it. Christ, reconciling the world to God by the merit of his death, broke the power of death, and cast out Satan as a destroyer. Christ, bringing the world to God by the doctrine of his cross, broke the power of sin, and cast out Satan as a deceiver. The soul that was at a distance from Christ, is brought to love him and trust him. Jesus was now going to heaven, and he would draw men's hearts to him thither. There is power in the death of Christ to draw souls to him. We have heard from the gospel that which exalts free grace, and we have heard also that which enjoins duty; we must from the heart embrace both, and not separate them.
Commentary on John 12:34-36
(Read John 12:34-36)
The people drew false notions from the Scriptures, because they overlooked the prophecies that spoke of Christ's sufferings and death. Our Lord warned them that the light would not long continue with them, and exhorted them to walk in it, before the darkness overtook them. Those who would walk in the light must believe in it, and follow Christ's directions. But those who have not faith, cannot behold what is set forth in Jesus, lifted up on the cross, and must be strangers to its influence as made known by the Holy Spirit; they find a thousand objections to excuse their unbelief.
Commentary on John 12:37-43
(Read John 12:37-43)
Observe the method of conversion implied here. Sinners are brought to see the reality of Divine things, and to have some knowledge of them. To be converted, and truly turned from sin to Christ, as their Happiness and Portion. God will heal them, will justify and sanctify them; will pardon their sins, which are as bleeding wounds, and mortify their corruptions, which are as lurking diseases. See the power of the world in smothering convictions, from regard to the applause or censure of men. Love of the praise of men, as a by-end in that which is good, will make a man a hypocrite when religion is in fashion, and credit is to be got by it; and love of the praise of men, as a base principle in that which is evil, will make a man an apostate, when religion is in disgrace, and credit is to be lost for it.
Commentary on John 12:44-50
(Read John 12:44-50)
Our Lord publicly proclaimed, that every one who believed on him, as his true disciple, did not believe on him only, but on the Father who sent him. Beholding in Jesus the glory of the Father, we learn to obey, love, and trust in him. By daily looking to Him, who came a Light into the world, we are more and more freed from the darkness of ignorance, error, sin, and misery; we learn that the command of God our Saviour is everlasting life. But the same word will seal the condemnation of all who despise it, or neglect it.