John 12:27
Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
His soul was stirred to its depths as He stood on the edge of betrayal and death, facing the hour when He would be lifted up on the cross. His trouble was the real distress and dread of His human heart as He contemplated the humiliation and strain His humanity was about to bear. He was weighed down because He had chosen to take the guilt of fallen humanity and the Father's wrath against sin upon Himself, and His humanity shrank with horror from a shameful death as a criminal under apparent abandonment even by God. Though He felt the pull to ask to be rescued from that hour, He did not ask to be spared, but yielded in submission to His Father's will for the very purpose He had come into the world. Only by that willing death could a perishing world be saved and gathered to God, bringing His triumph over Satan, the redemption of humanity, and glory out of humiliation with life for man.
The Hour He Faced
These words belong to the hour when the Son would be lifted up on the cross, spoken just before betrayal and death, after the inquiry of the Greeks. They were spoken in connection with the promise that where He is His servant will be and the Father will honor whoever serves Him by following Him. They were spoken in connection with His prayer for the Father to glorify His name and to glorify Him so He may glorify the Father, which was answered by a voice from heaven.
Now is His soul troubled is the cry of His humanity stirred to its very depths as He contemplated the future and was about to enter the hour of humiliation. It expresses conflicting emotions and the real distress of His human heart. He felt dread and fear at the strain His humanity would have to bear as He thought of what that hour would bring.
He had borne the crisis in anticipation throughout His life, with suffering beginning in the change from heaven to a world ruined by sin. The words were spoken in anticipation while already drinking the cup of bitterness. They gave only a faint glimpse and foretaste of the anguish of Gethsemane, where the burden would bring agony and drops of blood.
He looked ahead to His approaching death and the coming conflict with the powers of darkness. He was troubled because He had chosen to bear the guilt and transgression of fallen humanity and take upon Himself the Father's wrath against sin. Sin is the breaking of God's holy law.
To His human nature, death on the cross could only be clothed with horror. His humanity shrank from apparent abandonment even by God, when to all appearances He would be deserted and all would see Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He shrank from public exposure as the worst of criminals and from a shameful and dishonored death. He grieved over facing rejection, hatred, humiliation, and crucifixion by the people He came to save, culminating in being rejected by them.
His soul was also troubled with grief as He foresaw Jerusalem's destruction and the suffering and dispersion that rebellion would bring. The burden of guilt and horror at sin's work was beyond what human nature could bear and beyond finite endurance. His suffering surpassed that of martyrs in flame and pain, with whom God was present, while the Father's presence and light were withdrawn and His face hidden from His Son.
The awful moment was decisive for whether the world would be saved or lost, when He might still refuse the bitter cup of humiliation and agony and leave men to perish. Beholding the power of sin, the utter helplessness of man to save himself, the woes of a lost world, and the day of doom, He decided to save all who will come to Him at any cost. He accepted His baptism of blood and fell as though dying under the weight of the world's sin. The severity of the coming conflict was veiled to the disciples, who could not yet bear full light on His suffering and death or have their views of His mission corrected, so He must bear humiliation alone.
Why He Accepted It
He weighed the prayer to be rescued from that hour, turning the question over in conflicting emotion and dread at the strain His humanity must bear, yet He did not ask to be spared from it. He answered His own question by affirming that for this very cause He had come unto this hour and into the world, to face the suffering and death appointed for Him in divine submission to His Father's will. He felt the pull of anguish over bearing the guilt of fallen humanity and the Father's wrath against sin, but His words show acceptance of the mission that brought Him to the conflict with the powers of darkness. He faced the cross knowing it would bring victory.
He held to His pledge to bear sin's penalty and to His covenant to offer a sacrifice that would make salvation possible for every repentant sinner. That hour is the sacrifice through which He saves a perishing world and gives repentant believers eternal life, and His request for the Father to glorify Him so He may glorify the Father shows He accepted the sacrifice to fulfill His saving work. Only through His death could the world be saved and people from all nations be gathered to God. His willing, voluntary death bore the sinner's penalty and gave His life for the whole world, bringing His triumph over Satan, overthrowing Satan's kingdom, opening salvation from the power of evil to humanity, redeeming humanity, bringing victory through the cross, and glorifying God.
Glory was to come out of humiliation, life was to be given to man through His death, and life and immortality were to be brought to light through His soul-anguish and death. That great sacrifice was made to reveal the hearts of humanity. His life from the manger to that hour had glorified God, and His future human and divine sufferings would glorify His Father's name, according to the plan laid before the world was created that the Majesty of heaven should come to earth as the sin-bearer. His submission to the Father's will stands in contrast to Satan's rebellion, and divinity again shone through humanity as heaven answered.
Because He came into the world for that very hour of suffering and death, He would not use His divine power to free Himself from His enemies even when Judas begged Him to do so. He knew the hour had come and that facing it was the purpose for which He had come into the world. He met Judas's remorse and unrepentant confession with pity and compassion and no words of condemnation or reproach.