John 12:32-33 "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (33) This he said, signifying what death he should die."
According to God's Word, we understand Jesus to be speaking of His death on the
cross. This is not the first time we have seen Jesus speak of His death. Let's
do a quick review this morning so we can place this in context.
(John 3:14-15) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (15) That
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
(John 6:38-40) "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. (39) And this is the
Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. (40)
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son,
and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the
last day."
(John 6:44) "No man can come to me, except the Father which
hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."
(John 6:47) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on me hath everlasting life."
I have used quite a bit of Scripture this morning becasuse the best way to
interpret Scripture is by Scripture. In our text, Jesus said, "If I be
liefted up... I will draw all men unto me." We know that not all men
universally are drawn unto Him. There were those in His day and also in our day
who will have nothing to do with the truth of Jesus. That is why I went back to
previous statements of Jesus in order to see what was under consideration.
It was God's determinate counsel for Jesus to die on the cross. We know the
shedding of His blood paid for our sins. We praise Him for that. What I would
like for us to see this morning is that the "drawing unto Christ" is
done solely by the work of the Holy Spirit of God. He makes us alive in Christ
Jesus, changing us from being dead in trespasses and sins to being alive in
Christ Jesus.
When you look at the verses back in John chapter 6, we see the word
"all" being used. The will of the Father is that all who are given to
Christ will be raised unto eternal life. We also see that the Father does the
drawing by way of the Holy Spirit. The one last thing that I want us to see is
that when we are given the ability to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we
already have everlasting life.
Our being in Christ is all because of the work of God the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. I am so thankful for this because I could not have done it on my
own. Neither could you have done it on your own. I praise my Lord for His
drawing power upon me.