1. To die and bear much fruit (verses 20-26)
2. To die and be glorified (verses 27-34)
3. So believe in the light (verses 35-36)

Throughout our lives, there are always some events in the future that we are anticipating. We anticipate holidays, like Memorial Day or Fourth of July or Thanksgiving. We anticipate family milestones, like a graduation ceremony or marriage or children. We anticipate vacation travel, to the Wisconsin Dells or to Washington D. C. or to London. We anticipate entertainment events, like a Cubs game or Rockford Symphony Orchestra concert. Not all future events are particularly enjoyable, like a dental appointment or jury duty, or some difficult conversation that you need to have with a friend.

Do you have some events like that in your life? They might be this evening? They might be this week? They might be this summer? What’s on your calendar?

Well, as we have been working our way through the gospel of John, we have seen that Jesus had an event on his calendar. We first saw this at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Mary, the mother of Jesus, told him that they had run out of wine at the wedding. Jesus responded to her: “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). Jesus was telling her that it wasn’t time for him to reveal himself.

We see Jesus aware of his time that’s coming in chapter 7. His brothers are urging him to go to Judea for the Feast of Booths to show himself to the people. But Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come” (John 7:6). When Jesus did go to the feast, we see that the authorities were seeking to arrest him, “but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come” (John 7:30). Again, in chapter 8, we see that Jesus was speaking in the treasury, "but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come" (John 8:20).
 
But now as we come to our text this morning, we see that his hour has come. The title of my message this morning is “The Hour Has Come.”

If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to open in your Bibles to John 12:20-36. I want to read the text for you now. And as I do, listen for the title of my message, “The Hour Has Come.”

John 12:20-36
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “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. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

Did you hear it? Did you hear Jesus speaking about “the hour”? It comes in verse 23, “The hour has come.” It is also alluded to in verse 27, when Jesus says, “I have come to this hour.”

Now, “hour” that Jesus is talking about is the hour of his death (as we shall see in our text this morning). But if you know where we are in the gospel of John, you know that we are in the last week of his life, not the last technical “hour,” meaning 60 minutes. Last week, we looked at the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Psalm Sunday. Jesus still has five more days until he is crucified upon the cross. Yet, he says that his “hour” has come.

So Jesus isn’t using this word, “hour” to describe his last 60 minutes of life, rather it’s a reference to the shortness of his time left. a time that’s coming soon. So, let’s pick up our narrative in verse 20,

John 12:20-21
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

What a great request! “We wish to see Jesus.” Do you wish to see Jesus?

Now, the important point here comes not from this question, but from who asks this question. This question isn’t coming from the Jews it’s coming from some Greek people. The Jews wanted to see Jesus, so that they could arrest him. "Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him" (John 11:57).
 
The Jews were threatened with the success of the ministry of Jesus saying (in verse 19), right before verse 20 of our text), that “The world has gone after him” (John 12:19). Indeed, the world had gone after Jesus. But verse 19 refers mostly to Jews. But here in verse 20, we see a change in audience. It is now the Greeks who are seeking Jesus.

But note how different the tenor of these Greeks is than that of the Jews. They had come up to the feast, not to judge and condemn, but to worship. This is what John says of them in verse 20, "Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks."

Our only assumption is that they were seeking Jesus out of devotion to God. Surely they had heard of the great signs that Jesus had done. Turning water into wine (chapter 2). Healing the Royal Official’s son (chapter 4). Healing the lame man at Bethesda (chapter 5). Feeding the 5,000 and walking on water (chapter 6). Giving sight to the man born blind (chapter 9). Raising Lazarus from the dead (chapter 11). And they were seeking Jesus! presumably to inquire into this great man.

So, in seeking Jesus, the speak to Philip (verse 21). Why talk to Philip? Some have pointed out that “Philip” is a Greek name. Further, John tells us that he is from Bethsaida in Galilee, a region where there were many Gentiles. Perhaps these Greek men had some connection with Philip, either from Bethsaida themselves, or from the Greek culture in Galilee. However, this is not so distinctive, as most all of the disciples were from Galilee. It may be that they talked with Philip simply because he was one of the disciples most accessible to this group of Gentiles who came to worship.

Anyway, we read in verse 22,

John 12:22
Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

So they came to Jesus as a team, telling him that there were some Greeks who wanted to see him. The account continues in verse 23,

John 12:23-26
And Jesus answered them, “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. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

That’s a very strange response. It doesn’t seem like the first thing that Jesus would tell his disciples when they said that some Greeks were looking for him. Furthermore, the audience is difficult to understand. From the context, it seems in verse 23 that he was speaking only to these two disciples. Yet, his language seems more appropriate to be spoken to a crowd Indeed, when Jesus finishes speaking in verse 28, a voice comes from heaven which is heard by the crowds, some of whom may have been the Greeks who were seeking to see Jesus.

Let's dig into these words a bit. To these disciples/crowds, Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (verse 23). Then, he speaks about dying, "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" (verse 24).

This is the key to what Jesus says. “The hour has come to be glorified, I will be glorified as I die, as then, I will bring forth much fruit.” Indeed, this is my first point: “The Hour Has Come."

1. To die and bear much fruit (verses 20-26)

Jesus speaks about the fate of a grain of wheat. I have in my hand a kernel of wheat. As it sits on the shelf, it will do nothing. But if you place it in the ground, (a death, if you will to the kernel of wheat), something mysterious will happen. the outer shell will break open and decay, from which roots will form and grow downward, from which a shoot will rise upward, eventually becoming a mature wheat plant, which will produce many new kernels of wheat.

Jesus is saying this about his life. Jesus is saying this about his hour. For him to bring forth much fruit, he needs to die, like a kernel of wheat. Some of that fruit may come from the Greeks, as the message of Jesus expands beyond the Jews to the Greeks.

In hindsight, we have seen this work out in the history of the Christian church. Jesus, an obscure Jewish man from Nazareth, died upon the cross, and rose from the dead, which brought his disciples to faith in him. These disciples, then, multiplied by dying to themselves, creating many more disciples, who multiplied, who multiplied, who multiplied, so that now, some 2,000 years later, followers of Jesus span the globe. And all because Jesus, a single grain of wheat, was put in the ground, and his fruit has been multiplied.

This is my first point. “The Hour Has Come” for Jesus "to die and bear much fruit (verses 20-26)." But Jesus transitions from himself, to the crowd with the word that begins verse 25, “Whoever.” He says, "Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:25). Have you heard words like this out of the mouth of Jesus? Right after Peter said, "You are the Christ," Jesus responds by saying, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26).

Jim Elliot famously said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."^[1] This is the call of Jesus, to lay down your life, as he laid down his life, thereby gaining the fruit of eternal life! But if you love your life, and want to remain a kernel of wheat, you will lose your life. You will simply rot away on the shelf. It is a wise thing to lay down your life.

Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus has used metaphors to describe what it means to believe in him. We look to Jesus, as those in the wilderness looked the serpent raised up on a pole for their healing (John 3:14-15). We enter through the door of Jesus, that we would be saved, like the sheep who enter the door of the sheepfold and are led to safety (John 10:9). He is the bread that we eat (John 6:35). He is the living water that we drink (John 4:10). And by coming to him, we hunger and thirst no more (John 6:35). We follow the light, that we might not walk in darkness, but have the light of life (John 8:12).

All of these are metaphors describing faith. Here (in verse 25) is another one: To believe in Jesus is to die to yourself like a seed placed in the ground. And in dying to yourself, you will bring forth eternal life as fruit of your life.

So, my first point says it this way, “The Hour Has Come” for Jesus "o die and bear much fruit (verses 20-26)." Yet, the call upon the life of Jesus is for us as well. We are called to die to ourselves, and bear much fruit in our lives as well.

Jesus further explains this in verse 26, "If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." All to say, this is what belief in Jesus is. It is serving him. It is following him. It is being with him. The promise to all of this is that “the Father will honor” such a servant, by bringing forth fruit in his life.

Have you died to yourself? Have you turned from your sin? Have you sought the Lord? Are you like those Greeks, who said, “We wish to see Jesus”? Do you want to see him? Do you want to know him? Then believe in Jesus.

OK, we need to go on to my second point. And it is similar to my first point, where we saw that the hour had come for Jesus "to die and bear much fruit (verses 20-26). Now we see that the hour had come for Jesus

And now, “The Hour Has Come” for Jesus 

2. To die and be glorified (verses 27-34)

John 12:27-28
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

This is the emotional and spiritual struggle that Jesus experienced as his hour approached. It’s an echo of what he expressed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Do you remember the scene? Jesus is with the disciples in the Garden. He is soon to be betrayed, arrested, taken to trial, condemned to death upon a cross. And Jesus was in agony as he wrestled with God in prayer. His agony was so great that Luke tells us that he sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44).

Jesus knew that the hour had come for his to drink the cup of the wrath of God. He knew the torment that this would be. He sought escape. “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39). Yet, he had resolve to go through it, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). And the will of the Father is that Jesus would be crucified upon the cross for our sins.

There is a similar struggle within Jesus in our text. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name” (verses 27-28).

You see the troubled soul of Jesus. You see him weighing the possibility of being delivered out of the hour of his death. You see his resolve to follow in the resolve to walk the path that the Father has set before him. So he prays, “Your will be done.” “Father, glorify your name.”

At that moment, his prayer was answered in a dramatic way. Look at verse 28,

John 12:28
Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Here is a divine promise coming from the divine throne, that the Father will be glorified in the life of Jesus. If you know your other gospel accounts, you know that this is the third time that the Father’s voice of affirmation has come from heaven upon Jesus.

The first time was at his baptism, when Jesus was baptized by John, dunked in the Jordan River, Matthew 3:16 [Jesus] went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; Matthew 3:17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The second time that the Father’s voice of affirmation came from heaven was on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the deity of Jesus was revealed, and his skin began to shine. Jesus was on the mountain with Peter, James and John. Joining them were Moses and Elijah, who were talking with Jesus. We read in Matthew 17:5, "Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.'"

Now, here in our passage, we read of a third time that a voice came from heaven in affirmation of Jesus. 28 Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” Jesus prayed for the glory of God’s name. And the Father responds to Jesus, “I will glorify my name.”

Look then, how the crowd responded:

John 12:29
The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

This is unbelief! The voice of God comes from heaven! and those who heard his voice said, “It thundered!” Others recognized that it wasn’t merely an indistinct rumble, but that it was a voice. But they didn’t attribute it to the voice of the Father. They attributed it to an angel, not to God, himself.

Think about the crowd, they had about a close of an experience with God that anyone might have. God the Son, Jesus, was before them in the flesh. They heard the very voice of God from heaven. And they said, “It thundered.”

How many people have looked to the heavens, and considered the glories of all the stars and galaxies so far away, which all declare the glory of God, and say, “It all came from a big explosion” billions of years ago.

How people have learned about the intricacies of how DNA uses Amino Acids to encode the key to life in all creatures, and say, “It all evolved from a one-celled organism that happened to come together in the primordial sea.”

And how many people see the saving work of God in the life of their friends, and say, “I’m glad you are happy.” This is what happened here when people heard the voice of God and said, “It thundered!”

Jesus tells us why the voice came from heaven.

John 12:30-32
Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Jesus said, “I didn’t need to hear that voice. You needed to hear that voice. You needed to see how hard your heart is, that you will even reject me, and put me on a cross. But when I do, I will draw all people to myself. Jews and Greeks alike!” John adds his interpretation in verse 33.

John 12:33
He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

John refers to Jesus talking about being “lifted up from the earth.” We may not see this as death, but the original audience understood.

John 12:34
So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”

Though the crowd understood what Jesus said, they didn’t believe what he said. In their minds, the Messiah would live forever. They had Biblical justification for this. God's promise to David is that the throne of Messiah’s kingdom would remain forever (2 Samuel 7:16). Isaiah spoke of how thegovernment of the Messiah would experience an everlasting rule (Isaiah 9:6-7). Daniel speaks of the coming of the Messiah, bringing a kingdom that will not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14). So, when the Jews thought of the Messiah coming, they had no category of his death. So, they couldn’t understand Jesus being “lifted up” to die.

But they had missed the imagery of the Passover Lamb and of the sacrifices of Leviticus. They has not understood Isaiah 53, which prophesied of a suffering Messiah. They missed Daniel 9:26 which speaks of how the anointed one will be cut off. They missed Zechariah 12:10 which speaks of the how the Messiah will be pierced by the Jews. They had not embraced Psalm 22, which prophesied of cross.

What a scathing indictment at the end, “Who is this Son of Man?” Consider Daniel 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." This is the Son of Man who will come in judgment upon all who don’t believe in Jesus.

So, Jesus calls the crowds to faith in verses 35-36,

John 12:35-36
So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

These verses form the basis of my last point this morning:

3. So believe in the light (verses 35-36)

This is the concluding application that Jesus gives to the crowds: “Believe in the light.”

It seems as if there is a bit of urgency here. Because Jesus says, "The light is among you for a little while longer" (verse 35). To be specific, it will be only a few more days until Jesus will die on the cross. His life will be finished. Then, the light will go out.

Then Jesus presents yet another exposé on light and darkness (in verse 36). He has spoken many times about light and darkness. This was one of the themes in the Overture (verses 1-18). "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4-5). And many times Jesus talks about this.

John 3:19-21
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 11:9-10
Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

And this is not the last time that Jesus will use this imagery. Before the chapter is over, Jesus will say, "I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness" (John 12:46).

The question for all of you is simple. Are you walking in the light? Are you allowing the word of God, to be its light along the path for you? Are you waking in the light, following the right ways? Are you trusting in the light, believing what is true?

I said that there seems to be some sort of urgency with these words. I said that from verse 35, when Jesus said, “The light is among you for a little while longer." But I also get it from the context of the book of John. I don’t think it’s an accident that John mentions in verse 20 that there were some Greeks who came saying “we wish to see Jesus.” Because, after the Triumphal Entry in the book of John (John 12:12-19), we don’t see Jesus publicly teaching the Jews anymore. It seems as if the Jews missed their opportunity.

Chapters 13-17 will be some private discussions that Jesus has with his disciples. Chapters 18-20 will deal with the betrayal, arrest, trial, and death of Jesus. It’s as if the time for reaching out to the Jews has run out. It’s as if it is time for the Gentiles now. The gospel going to the world.

Throughout the book of Acts, you see the pattern of the apostle Paul entering cities and going first to the Jews. Then, we they rejected his message, he turned to the Gentiles. That’s why Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16).

In the gospel of John, the time has run out on the Jews. The time for the Greeks is just beginning. What about you? Is the time passing you by?

The Hour Has Come! The Hour Has Come for you to believe! Believe in the light while there is hope.

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on May 18, 2025 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.

[1] I had not planned on quoting Jim Elliot in my message. I tried quoting it from memory, but I just couldn't recall it just right. It led to a very humorous laughter. You can listen here at the 18:40 minute mark: https://sermons.rvbc.cc/sermons/2025-021.