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. (John 12:27)
There is a suffering that is connected with the cross of Christ that you and I cannot comprehend. He didn't suffer at the hands of men only. That was bad enough, but He suffered beyond that. Our sins were put upon Him. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4). He was made sin for us — not in some academic manner — He actually was made sin for us. "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief...[He made] his soul an offering for sin" (Isaiah 53:10). Although He was holy and undefiled and separate from sinners, He was made sin for us. This involved a suffering that you and I cannot comprehend.
His soul stood in horror; He was aghast before that cross. Yet He had come into the world for the purpose of going to the cross and enduring the shame of it. Also there was glory in the cross, friend. We ought to think more about it and thank Him more. Paul says, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14).
Our Lord is facing the supreme sacrifice — shortly He will give His life as a ransom for the human family. And He has put this challenge to those who are following Him: "He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me" (John 12:25,26). You can tell where a person is going by the way that person is living. Someone may say, "I thought we are saved by faith — you always emphasize faith rather than works." That's right. I surely do. If you are going to be saved, you will have to put your trust in Him — "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). But I want to say that if you truly trust Him, it is going to change your life. If it doesn't change your life, then you aren't really trusting Him.
Notice also how this ties in with His saying, "Where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour" (John 12:26). It is not a question of the Lord going with us, but of our being where the Lord is. One man said to me, "Well, you know, I'm a member of a liberal church, but I take the Lord with me." My friend, I have news for you. The Lord is not going to go your way. You are to go where the Lord is.
Our salvation is not cheap. This "hour" is repulsive to our Lord. If it were possible, He would want the Father to spare Him from the horror of being made sin, although He knows this is the reason He came into the world. Then He says,
Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. (John 12:28)
His supreme desire is the glory of God. What a lesson that is for us! We tend to whimper and cry and complain and ask God why He lets unpleasant things happen to us. With Christ, we should learn to say, "Father, through this suffering and through this pain, glorify Thyself."
—From Edited Messages on John by J. Vernon McGee
