Meditation on the Text of the Week

Messiah's Mission

Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.
John 12: 31,32

Our Lord uttered these fateful and glorious words after His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. The whole chapter swirls with the conflict between belief and unbelief. The Jewish nation was being divided; hearts were being hardened in unbelief, others were being converted and were following Messiah.

In the middle of the chapter we are introduced to some Greeks—Gentiles—who had come up to the Passover. No doubt they were God-fearers. No doubt they would celebrate Passover as outsiders, in the Court of the Gentiles. They asked to see Jesus. Jesus responds by making one of His emphatic declarations. If a grain of wheat were to fall into the ground and die, it will bear much fruit. These Gentile Greeks are just the first fruits of what is to come.

But how much fruit? What is to be the level of success of Messiah's mission? Would He snatch just a remnant from the burning flames? Even as Israel was now being divided into Believers and Unbelievers, would a few Gentiles be snatched from the great masses in darkness—symbolized by these “certain Greeks”? Would the mission of Messiah resemble little more than a daring raid behind enemy lines, capturing a few “civilians”? Would it be a symbolic, token victory? Would the whole earth go to hell in a hand-basket, with Messiah managing to snatch out the odd fruit? Would the days of Messiah be as Noah, when the whole human race, apart from the remnant of Noah and his family, perished?

Many would answer yes, yes, and yes to these questions. There are perilously few Christians today in the Western world who dare to believe otherwise. Messiah of remnants is their experience, and lamentably, their hope.

But faith is the substance of things hoped for, the essence of things not seen. We in Jerusalem today are called once again to stand where our father, Abraham stood—to stand upon the promises of God, and know for certain that these promises will inevitably and irrevocably bend universal human history to conform. Even as our father has done before us, we must stand as though our experience is nothing, for we believe God, Who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

Consider carefully the following declaration concerning our father in faith:

In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become the father of nations, according to that which was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform.
Romans 4: 18—21

So, just what are the prospects for Messiah's mission? Firstly, His mission brings judgment upon the world—but judgment of a particular kind: the ruler of this world (Satan) is to be cast out. (John 12: 31). The casting out of Satan from the world indicates the complete and total restoration of the entire earth and all its peoples. For if Satan (and all his followers, by necessary implication) be cast out, then the unfolded perfection of Paradise, before the Fall, awaits.

But, will it be a perfected world, populated with a handful? No. Jesus declares, “But I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to Myself.” All mankind—not in the sense of every individual—but in the sense of every tribe, nation, people, language, culture, race and class. A universal representation of the human race.

But again, we must press the point? Is this a kind of statistical sample, the kind of representation which we see in opinion poll methodology (where one thousand might “represent” millions)? Again Scripture leaves us in no doubt upon this point: the harvest of Messiah will be so vast and so extensive, that it will represent a multitude that no man can number. Myriads upon myriads is the quantum. (Revelation 7:9). In other places, the Scripture, when describing the extent and number of God's people uses similes such as God's people being as numerous as the grains of sand upon the seashore, or as numerous as the stars in the heavens.

What will be the extent and breadth of the success of Messiah's mission? Too vast to describe, except by metaphor and simile. As for the seed of the serpent, the world of Unbelief which will be cast out—they will be a small remnant, a mere handful, in comparison.

Messiah of remnants, or Lord of Hosts? Which is it? As we stand in the West, with our bodies "as good as dead", let us stand as Abraham stood. Our Lord is not the Messiah of remnants, but the Lord Messiah of Hosts. Let us live and act and work accordingly.