It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.

John 12:20-50 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Greeks Seek Jesus

Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; ²¹ these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²² Philip came and *told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. ²³ And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵ He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

Jesus Foretells His Death

²⁷ “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” ³⁰ Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. ³¹ Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. ³² And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” ³³ But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. ³⁴ The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵ So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. ³⁶ While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.”

These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them. ³⁷ But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. ³⁸ This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” ³⁹ For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ⁴⁰ “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.” ⁴¹ These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. ⁴² Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³ for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

⁴⁴ And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. ⁴⁵ He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. ⁴⁶ I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷ If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. ⁴⁹ For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰ I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”

In today’s text Jesus says:  “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.  If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”   Jesus was glorified in death. It was the ultimate submission to the Father’s will. If we too would look at death as the ultimate glorification of life; if we would so submit to the will of the Father in this life; if rather than loving our own lives we would die to bear fruit, then death would be nothing to fear. It would hold no power over us.  Psalm 23:4 says:  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.  Death is merely a shadow if we live for the Lord. Additionally, even death, if we have lived for and served the Lord, is not the end of the fruit of our lives, but rather in truth, it begins the revelation of the true fruit our lives have produced. Our legacy begins when our life ends. So, we must choose now, what we want the legacy of our lives to be. Do we want to pass down material wealth and things of this world to those who come behind us? There is nothing wrong with providing for future generations, but no amount of worldly wealth will fully provide for them. In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus says:  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”   The true legacy we leave for future generations should be a legacy which is based on the treasures of heaven.

The text says:  Many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.  Many today who believe in Him, are mot confessing Him because of fear. It is not fear of the religious leaders of the church that people fear today, but they do seek the approval of men; the approval of society and pc culture, rather than the approval of God. Jesus says:  “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.  He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”   The truth is we will be judged for what we believe and confess. We will either be judged by the world for believing in and confessing Jesus; for keeping His commandments, or we will be judged for rejecting Jesus and His commandments. The judgment of rejecting the commandments of Christ is also the rejection of eternal life.  Hebrews 9:27 says:  It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.  We will all die once. All that we can choose is when we will die once. Whether we will die to this life now and have eternal life, or we will die once and for all at the end of this life.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. Jesus You died for us so that we could live forever with You, and so that we could be the fruit born from Your death. Thank You for the privilege of being part of Your legacy. May I too, choose to die now so that both I and those who come after me may live with You and for You.  Amen.