(John 12)

What precious anticipations of coming glories, of which our blessed Lord will be the center, are given to us in the main features of this chapter. Deeply touching in the love expressed, and surely very full of refreshment for the heart of Him who is chief among those at the table, is the feast presented to us in the house at Bethany-"the house of response." It follows that glorious manifestation of resurrection power in the raising of Lazarus. This cannot fail to speak to our hearts of that rapturous moment when we too shall hear His voice and be gathered to Him, both the dead and the living companies(1 Thess. 4). It is after this that we also shall be called to feast with Him at the nuptial table of the Lamb, when all the sweetness and fragrance of His own infinitely precious Person shall fill the house -the Father's house (Rev. 19:7-10).

There follows now, in our chapter, the manifest opposition and hatred of heart toward the blessed One who had filled yonder house with all its gladness and blessing. Even so, in the time of which we have spoken, there will be the counterpart enacted. For it is the spirit of Judas and the chief priests come to full fruition, which will animate the kings of the earth and their armies as gathered together to make war (Rev. 19:17-21).

Then in the hour of their dark mutterings of evil purpose, the shout of a mighty multitude is heard, and the coming of the King of Israel is heralded on every side (John 12:12-19). The glory has dawned upon Mount Zion; her time of fear and trembling is over. What is this but the picture of the coming of the "Faithful and True," whose name is called "The Word of God"-"King of kings and Lord of lords"?(Rev. 19:11-16).

Now the Greeks come and desire to see Jesus, and this opens up to the eye of the Lord that glorious vista of universal fruitfulness which the coming day shall bring in; result, however, of the grain of wheat which fell into the ground and died-Himself. For it is ever "the Lamb as it had been slain" who shall occupy the throne. It is the hour when the Son of Man will be glorified, all peoples, nations, and languages bowing in service before Him, the world judged, and the prince of this world cast out. And so the judgment of living men, and of Satan, their prince, is the accompaniment of this day of manifest glory (Rev. 19:19; 20:1-3).

As this train of glorious events is about to be unfolded, well may the outburst of repeated "Hallelujah" be heard in heaven, and the salvation, and glory, and power of our God be announced (Rev. 19:1-6).

How marvelous to think that we are called to have part and lot in all this glory as heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ! What grace unspeakable has raised us from the dunghill of our sinnership to the place of princes with God! May our hearts be occupied with it, filled with it, and controlled by it.

It is in the light of these glories that the Lord speaks of service-service characterized by hating one's life in this world, by which He means that we are to turn away from what this world is in its wisdom, power and principles, in all of which the Father and the Son have no place. This we see in Paul, counting all that was great according to the flesh, all that would have made him ·great in the eyes of the world, as of no account, that he might have Christ as his gain. His glory eclipsed all else. This, of course, involves present loss, for it is the one who loves his life who bends his efforts to make the most of this present world; this only brings loss in the end, while he who hates such a form of living gains in the end-the coming glory for him is life eternal, life realized in all its perfection and blessing amid the coming glories of Christ. Thus only can we serve Him who laid down His life that He might take it again, to thus enter with much fruit into the full realization of God's eternal purpose. His servant is to follow Him. That means a path of testing, of present loss, of self-sacrifice in a world which still rejects and hates the truth as this is found in the Person and work of the Son of God. But in the end-blessed end-it is to be where He is. This is surely coming glory too, and with it the Father's honor for the servant (John 12:25,26). Is there not power in this to command our hearts, to call forth full allegiance to Him, to make us take joyfully all present loss as the world may judge, while we look at the things not seen as yet but eternal, knowing that our momentary and light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory? "For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us" (Rom. 8:18, New Trans.). John Bloore