Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Christ spoke these words at His last public teaching as He looked forward to His betrayal, sacrifice and death for the salvation of the world and the drawing of all nations to Himself. By being lifted up He meant His suffering and death on the cross, and by now He declared that still-future judgment and defeat already accomplished and certain, an hour of victory. The judgment of this world is the crisis at the cross when He becomes the propitiation for sin, lighting up the world and vindicating God's justice and mercy before the universe so rebellion will never arise again. The prince of this world is Satan, who seized the world by overcoming Adam and Eve and ruled it as his dominion, and at the cross his hold on humanity is broken, his character unveiled to angels and unfallen worlds, and his empire receives its deathblow. Through that victory the cross becomes the center of a redeemed world, opening the way of life to all, restoring God's image in man, recovering the lost dominion, and giving believers power to resist Satan and win the world back to God.
Setting and Wording
These words were spoken at Christ's last teaching and final public visit to the temple. They were uttered just before His betrayal and death as He looked forward to His approaching sacrifice. That moment came after Israel's rejection of Him was followed by the withdrawal of God's presence from the temple.
Their setting is the approach to His death, through which the world would be saved and His kingdom extended among the nations. The Greeks who came to see Jesus foreshadowed people from every nation who would be drawn to Him through His sacrifice. Being lifted up from the earth means His suffering and death lifted on the cross, which bring judgment on the world and defeat to its ruler. His use of now speaks of that still-future judgment and defeat as already accomplished and certain, even while He faced death and spoke of final deliverance as sure.
The hour of His lifting up on the cross is an hour of victory. As He faced the cross He saw His death leading to glorious victory.
Identity and Usurped Rule
The prince of this world is Satan, the great apostate fallen angel expelled from the heavenly courts with his sympathizers, the central power of all evil and general of a vast rebellion. He is the adversary of God and the leader in the controversy against the Redeemer, a logical and philosophical being of powerful intellect whose deceptive powers have been sharpened by constant practice. The world has no just conception of him, either denying his existence or making him so hideous as to encourage doubt of his existence. He became prince because by overcoming Adam and Eve he claimed possession of the world as his own, gained the human race as his subjects and made the world his dominion with Eden as his headquarters and throne. In this he renewed on earth the controversy begun in heaven, broken off by his expulsion, and as soon as Christ came in humanity he commenced his work to subvert or destroy and even tried to bribe Christ to acknowledge his supremacy. The world chose him as its ruler when humanity accepted his principle of living for self and broke from God as its center, and people became captives to the ruler they had chosen.
From his earthly seat he assumed God's power and throne, eclipsed God from man's view, established his power where God should reign, and from there ruled men to ruin. His rule came through self-seeking, temptation and ambition, beginning in heaven and continued on earth, making him the world's central power by leading men to live for self apart from God as center. When God's standard of righteousness is set aside and truth is rejected he gains increasing control over men. He works against Christ and His people through Spiritualism, using deceptive signs and wonders and claiming divine authority. The atheistic rule of the French Revolution illustrates the result, showing the lawlessness and cruel tyranny that follow when God's restraints are rejected.
His attempt to hold the earth and bring the world under his dominion is carried out through the man of sin, who seeks to replace God's seventh-day Sabbath with a false sabbath and uses human laws and fear to turn people against obedience to God. His attack on the Sabbath is an effort to oppose God and turn people from obedience to God's law. As father of lies and prince of darkness he rules those engrossed with worldly holidays, games, horse races, gambling, smoking and drunkenness, showing by their standing that they do not stand under the banner of the Prince of life but that he rules and controls them. He has taken possession of many lines of business and manipulates many matters in harmony with his own attributes, claiming great riches and worldly wealth to outbid the gospel and outbid those offering inducements for service, while the world serves as his agent in doing his work. He fosters lies through worldly business and schemes and silences conscience, and can delude even those who think they are serving God, until passion after passion and project after project sway the heart, conscience strives in vain to be heard, the Holy Spirit is expelled, and love of the world comes in to possess and rule the heart.
The world under his deceptive, law-rebelling influence lies in darkness and persecutes those who serve God and obey Him. Serving Christ therefore brings enmity with those who serve this prince, seen especially in persecution of the obedient near the close of time. Through human transgression people became his captives and the human kingdom came under his power, but his apparent rule is not final. A better day will come when righteousness prevails and truth and light bring people out of darkness, for both humanity and the earth will finally be freed from the wicked one when evil is destroyed.
Judgment at the Cross
Now is the judgment of this world means the crucifixion of Christ is the crisis and judgment of the world. That crisis and judgment take place when Christ becomes the propitiation for the sins of men and of the world. When He becomes that propitiation the world is lighted up.
The judgment means God's dealing with Satan's rebellion is justified before the universe. In it His justice and mercy are fully vindicated. That vindication is complete so that rebellion will never again arise.
Defeat and Expulsion of Satan
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out means that in His final conflict culminating in death Christ would bring judgment upon the world's ruler. That death struck Satan's death knell and gave his empire its deathblow. When Christ declared His work finished, heaven celebrated and triumphed, and His victory was proclaimed throughout the universe.
Through the cross Satan's hold on human beings is broken and his claim over human souls is removed. Jesus' suffering and death as being lifted up from the earth brings this judgment and defeat. By it people are made able to leave Satan's side and follow Christ.
The cross, though an instrument of humiliation and suffering, is set where Satan has his seat and where his throne had stood. There it stands as God's means of atonement. There it stands as the center of a redeemed world brought back to loyalty to God.
Christ met this conflict in humanity without violating human nature, clothing His divinity with humanity. He remained loyal, resisted temptation without sin, and carried through the plan of salvation. Thereby He showed that Satan had not gained complete control of humanity. The judgment of the world and the casting out of its prince turned on whether Satan could overcome Christ and keep the race and the earth in his power.
Christ came in human nature to expose Satan's false claim to rule and world sovereignty as false and to reassert God's original ownership and supreme authority. He looked on the fallen corrupted world in love, saw Satan's purpose, and paid the ransom to end the enemy's reign, vindicate God's justice, and restore the divine image in man. Lifted up on the cross He redeemed the world from sin's curse and penalty and made forgiveness and reconciliation with God possible. By bearing sin's penalty and overcoming the powers of darkness through the cross He secured Satan's defeat, made his destruction certain, delivered people from darkness into His kingdom, and made the kingdoms of the world Christ's.
There is hope for humanity under the prince of darkness, who is the prince of this world, because there is power in the divine nature to contend successfully with evil agencies. Jesus spoke this judgment and casting out with glad assurance while looking on humanity under that power. The breaking of his dominion is accomplished in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the highest good heaven could bestow. That gift sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin, and belongs together with Christ being lifted up from the earth to draw all people to Him.
Vindication of God's Government
Through death on the cross the judgment of the world is carried out and the prince of the world is cast out, and by that death God and His Son stand vindicated before heaven and the universe in their judgment against Satan and rebellion. That vindication removes the stain Satan placed on heaven and lifts heaven's reproach, cleansing heaven so that sin will never enter there again. The casting out is the open revelation of Satan's character to angels and unfallen worlds, exposing his falsehood, deception and self-exalting scheme. His deceptions are unveiled and his claims and accusations against God are refuted, uprooting the last affection for fallen angels and demonstrating God's authority, justice, mercy and love. In the same act God's justice in banishing Satan from heaven and in his future destruction is demonstrated and secured.
By the cross God's law is shown to be enduring, and its immutability is established in the minds of all inhabitants of the heavenly universe. Every unfallen being condemns the rebellion and unites in support of God's government, while the nature and results of sin are revealed. By the efficacy of the cross the inhabitants of unfallen worlds are guarded from apostasy, and even holy angels are made secure. They are drawn to Christ by His giving His life for the sins of the world, so the drawing includes not only earth but heaven, drawing angels and the redeemed to Him. Through eternal ages what it cost the Father and the Son in Christ's humiliation, suffering and death stands as living testimony to the offensive character and malignity of sin, with Christ bearing the marks of the curse in His divine form.
Redemption and Restoration for Humanity
The casting out of the prince of this world is the breaking of his claim over human beings and human souls, and with that judgment carried out the way of life is opened to all peoples, both Jews and Gentiles. Lifted up on the cross set where Satan had his seat, Christ stands at the head of humanity as the great center to draw all men to God, drawing angels and the redeemed to Himself through self-sacrifice for the sins of the world. In human nature He came to defeat Satan's deceptions, rescue people from his power, and make the cross the center of a redeemed world brought back to loyalty.
The crucifixion is the crisis and judgment of the world, taking place when Christ becomes the propitiation for the sins of men and of the world. When He becomes that propitiation the world is lighted up, His death as propitiation makes God's love known to the universe, refutes Satan's accusations against God, and removes heaven's reproach. Through that same death Satan's hold on human beings is broken and the defaced image of God in man is reproduced and restored, so that a family of believing saints will finally inhabit the heavenly home and inherit it.
Christ came to expose Satan's false claim to rule and world sovereignty as false and to reassert God's original ownership and supreme authority, showing by remaining loyal that Satan had not gained complete control of humanity though dominion had been gained through human sin and people claimed as subjects. By giving His life for sinners, clothing divinity with humanity to pay the ransom, and overcoming the powers of darkness through the cross, He redeemed the world from sin's curse and penalty, delivered people from darkness and brought them into His kingdom. The cross is the complete offering that satisfies the Father, and those who repent and accept His propitiation may be forgiven and reconciled to God. By that plan of salvation those who desire freedom from Satan's power can be set free, recover the dominion Adam lost through sin, return to harmony with God in obedience to His law, with both humanity and the earth finally freed from the wicked one.
While Satan claims rule over the world and triumphs while humanity is corrupted by sin, Christ's coming provides a ransom and a way of escape offering freedom to all who believe in Him. The purchased title is sound and salvation is freely offered, yet people remain lost when unbelief and love of sin keep them from coming to Christ for life.
Victory in Christian Life
Now is the judgment and casting out accomplished through Christ's approaching sacrifice, and through that victory those who believe in Him receive power against Satan and the fallen angels, regaining by God's grace what sin caused them to lose. His coming sacrifice brings judgment upon the world and casts out its ruler. He saw His approaching death as the means by which that ruler would be expelled.
At the cross the apostate prince who had usurped God's place and led the world into rebellion would be cast out. The cross, though an instrument of humiliation and suffering, would stand where Satan's throne had stood and serve as God's means of atonement and of winning people back to Him. Christ would meet temptation in humanity without violating human nature, and people united with His Spirit and aided by heaven could resist Satan as Christ did. The defeat of Satan and the bringing in of righteousness involve divine and human cooperation.
Satan is the central power of all evil, the great apostate fallen angel expelled from the heavenly courts, who assumed God's power and throne upon the earth, eclipsed God from the view of man, and from his earthly seat ruled men to ruin. When guilty sinners stood condemned as deserving condemnation, Christ in all the fullness of the Godhead looked on the fallen corrupted world in love, saw Satan's purpose, and clothed His divinity with humanity to pay the ransom, end the enemy's reign, vindicate God's justice, and restore the divine image in man. Lifted up on the cross set in the place where Satan has his seat, Christ stands at the head of humanity as the great center to draw all men to God, puts man on vantage-ground through His merits, and under His rule gives every human being who receives and believes in Him a work and power with that work to win souls and win the world back to God against the legions of hell combined with the prince of darkness to oppose the laws of Christ's kingdom. The hour of His lifting up is an hour of victory, and as God's people carry the truth to the world they may conquer through faith because He has overcome the world and gives them aid in their work.
The whole universe watches this conflict on earth between Christ the Prince of life and Satan the prince of this world, and Christ's disciples carry it forward after He leaves the world, following His example. In the home that conflict concerns who will shape children's characters, for a mother chooses whom to work with in their training, and when Christ is admitted He presides in the home and fills it with heavenly influence.
Christ spoke these words at His last public teaching as He looked forward to His betrayal, sacrifice and death for the salvation of the world and the drawing of all nations to Himself.
By being lifted up He meant His suffering and death on the cross, and by now He declared that still-future judgment and defeat already accomplished and certain, an hour of victory.
The judgment of this world is the crisis at the cross when He becomes the propitiation for sin, lighting up the world and vindicating God's justice and mercy before the universe so rebellion will never arise again.
The prince of this world is Satan, who seized the world by overcoming Adam and Eve and ruled it as his dominion, and at the cross his hold on humanity is broken, his character unveiled to angels and unfallen worlds, and his empire receives its deathblow.
Through that victory the cross becomes the center of a redeemed world, opening the way of life to all, restoring God's image in man, recovering the lost dominion, and giving believers power to resist Satan and win the world back to God.
Setting and Wording
These words were spoken at Christ's last teaching and final public visit to the temple. They were uttered just before His betrayal and death as He looked forward to His approaching sacrifice. That moment came after Israel's rejection of Him was followed by the withdrawal of God's presence from the temple.
Their setting is the approach to His death, through which the world would be saved and His kingdom extended among the nations. The Greeks who came to see Jesus foreshadowed people from every nation who would be drawn to Him through His sacrifice. Being lifted up from the earth means His suffering and death lifted on the cross, which bring judgment on the world and defeat to its ruler. His use of now speaks of that still-future judgment and defeat as already accomplished and certain, even while He faced death and spoke of final deliverance as sure.
The hour of His lifting up on the cross is an hour of victory. As He faced the cross He saw His death leading to glorious victory.
Identity and Usurped Rule
The prince of this world is Satan, the great apostate fallen angel expelled from the heavenly courts with his sympathizers, the central power of all evil and general of a vast rebellion. He is the adversary of God and the leader in the controversy against the Redeemer, a logical and philosophical being of powerful intellect whose deceptive powers have been sharpened by constant practice. The world has no just conception of him, either denying his existence or making him so hideous as to encourage doubt of his existence. He became prince because by overcoming Adam and Eve he claimed possession of the world as his own, gained the human race as his subjects and made the world his dominion with Eden as his headquarters and throne. In this he renewed on earth the controversy begun in heaven, broken off by his expulsion, and as soon as Christ came in humanity he commenced his work to subvert or destroy and even tried to bribe Christ to acknowledge his supremacy. The world chose him as its ruler when humanity accepted his principle of living for self and broke from God as its center, and people became captives to the ruler they had chosen.
From his earthly seat he assumed God's power and throne, eclipsed God from man's view, established his power where God should reign, and from there ruled men to ruin. His rule came through self-seeking, temptation and ambition, beginning in heaven and continued on earth, making him the world's central power by leading men to live for self apart from God as center. When God's standard of righteousness is set aside and truth is rejected he gains increasing control over men. He works against Christ and His people through Spiritualism, using deceptive signs and wonders and claiming divine authority. The atheistic rule of the French Revolution illustrates the result, showing the lawlessness and cruel tyranny that follow when God's restraints are rejected.
His attempt to hold the earth and bring the world under his dominion is carried out through the man of sin, who seeks to replace God's seventh-day Sabbath with a false sabbath and uses human laws and fear to turn people against obedience to God. His attack on the Sabbath is an effort to oppose God and turn people from obedience to God's law. As father of lies and prince of darkness he rules those engrossed with worldly holidays, games, horse races, gambling, smoking and drunkenness, showing by their standing that they do not stand under the banner of the Prince of life but that he rules and controls them. He has taken possession of many lines of business and manipulates many matters in harmony with his own attributes, claiming great riches and worldly wealth to outbid the gospel and outbid those offering inducements for service, while the world serves as his agent in doing his work. He fosters lies through worldly business and schemes and silences conscience, and can delude even those who think they are serving God, until passion after passion and project after project sway the heart, conscience strives in vain to be heard, the Holy Spirit is expelled, and love of the world comes in to possess and rule the heart.
The world under his deceptive, law-rebelling influence lies in darkness and persecutes those who serve God and obey Him. Serving Christ therefore brings enmity with those who serve this prince, seen especially in persecution of the obedient near the close of time. Through human transgression people became his captives and the human kingdom came under his power, but his apparent rule is not final. A better day will come when righteousness prevails and truth and light bring people out of darkness, for both humanity and the earth will finally be freed from the wicked one when evil is destroyed.
Judgment at the Cross
Now is the judgment of this world means the crucifixion of Christ is the crisis and judgment of the world. That crisis and judgment take place when Christ becomes the propitiation for the sins of men and of the world. When He becomes that propitiation the world is lighted up.
The judgment means God's dealing with Satan's rebellion is justified before the universe. In it His justice and mercy are fully vindicated. That vindication is complete so that rebellion will never again arise.
Defeat and Expulsion of Satan
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out means that in His final conflict culminating in death Christ would bring judgment upon the world's ruler. That death struck Satan's death knell and gave his empire its deathblow. When Christ declared His work finished, heaven celebrated and triumphed, and His victory was proclaimed throughout the universe.
Through the cross Satan's hold on human beings is broken and his claim over human souls is removed. Jesus' suffering and death as being lifted up from the earth brings this judgment and defeat. By it people are made able to leave Satan's side and follow Christ.
The cross, though an instrument of humiliation and suffering, is set where Satan has his seat and where his throne had stood. There it stands as God's means of atonement. There it stands as the center of a redeemed world brought back to loyalty to God.
Christ met this conflict in humanity without violating human nature, clothing His divinity with humanity. He remained loyal, resisted temptation without sin, and carried through the plan of salvation. Thereby He showed that Satan had not gained complete control of humanity. The judgment of the world and the casting out of its prince turned on whether Satan could overcome Christ and keep the race and the earth in his power.
Christ came in human nature to expose Satan's false claim to rule and world sovereignty as false and to reassert God's original ownership and supreme authority. He looked on the fallen corrupted world in love, saw Satan's purpose, and paid the ransom to end the enemy's reign, vindicate God's justice, and restore the divine image in man. Lifted up on the cross He redeemed the world from sin's curse and penalty and made forgiveness and reconciliation with God possible. By bearing sin's penalty and overcoming the powers of darkness through the cross He secured Satan's defeat, made his destruction certain, delivered people from darkness into His kingdom, and made the kingdoms of the world Christ's.
There is hope for humanity under the prince of darkness, who is the prince of this world, because there is power in the divine nature to contend successfully with evil agencies. Jesus spoke this judgment and casting out with glad assurance while looking on humanity under that power. The breaking of his dominion is accomplished in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the highest good heaven could bestow. That gift sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin, and belongs together with Christ being lifted up from the earth to draw all people to Him.
Vindication of God's Government
Through death on the cross the judgment of the world is carried out and the prince of the world is cast out, and by that death God and His Son stand vindicated before heaven and the universe in their judgment against Satan and rebellion. That vindication removes the stain Satan placed on heaven and lifts heaven's reproach, cleansing heaven so that sin will never enter there again. The casting out is the open revelation of Satan's character to angels and unfallen worlds, exposing his falsehood, deception and self-exalting scheme. His deceptions are unveiled and his claims and accusations against God are refuted, uprooting the last affection for fallen angels and demonstrating God's authority, justice, mercy and love. In the same act God's justice in banishing Satan from heaven and in his future destruction is demonstrated and secured.
By the cross God's law is shown to be enduring, and its immutability is established in the minds of all inhabitants of the heavenly universe. Every unfallen being condemns the rebellion and unites in support of God's government, while the nature and results of sin are revealed. By the efficacy of the cross the inhabitants of unfallen worlds are guarded from apostasy, and even holy angels are made secure. They are drawn to Christ by His giving His life for the sins of the world, so the drawing includes not only earth but heaven, drawing angels and the redeemed to Him. Through eternal ages what it cost the Father and the Son in Christ's humiliation, suffering and death stands as living testimony to the offensive character and malignity of sin, with Christ bearing the marks of the curse in His divine form.
Redemption and Restoration for Humanity
The casting out of the prince of this world is the breaking of his claim over human beings and human souls, and with that judgment carried out the way of life is opened to all peoples, both Jews and Gentiles. Lifted up on the cross set where Satan had his seat, Christ stands at the head of humanity as the great center to draw all men to God, drawing angels and the redeemed to Himself through self-sacrifice for the sins of the world. In human nature He came to defeat Satan's deceptions, rescue people from his power, and make the cross the center of a redeemed world brought back to loyalty.
The crucifixion is the crisis and judgment of the world, taking place when Christ becomes the propitiation for the sins of men and of the world. When He becomes that propitiation the world is lighted up, His death as propitiation makes God's love known to the universe, refutes Satan's accusations against God, and removes heaven's reproach. Through that same death Satan's hold on human beings is broken and the defaced image of God in man is reproduced and restored, so that a family of believing saints will finally inhabit the heavenly home and inherit it.
Christ came to expose Satan's false claim to rule and world sovereignty as false and to reassert God's original ownership and supreme authority, showing by remaining loyal that Satan had not gained complete control of humanity though dominion had been gained through human sin and people claimed as subjects. By giving His life for sinners, clothing divinity with humanity to pay the ransom, and overcoming the powers of darkness through the cross, He redeemed the world from sin's curse and penalty, delivered people from darkness and brought them into His kingdom. The cross is the complete offering that satisfies the Father, and those who repent and accept His propitiation may be forgiven and reconciled to God. By that plan of salvation those who desire freedom from Satan's power can be set free, recover the dominion Adam lost through sin, return to harmony with God in obedience to His law, with both humanity and the earth finally freed from the wicked one.
While Satan claims rule over the world and triumphs while humanity is corrupted by sin, Christ's coming provides a ransom and a way of escape offering freedom to all who believe in Him. The purchased title is sound and salvation is freely offered, yet people remain lost when unbelief and love of sin keep them from coming to Christ for life.
Victory in Christian Life
Now is the judgment and casting out accomplished through Christ's approaching sacrifice, and through that victory those who believe in Him receive power against Satan and the fallen angels, regaining by God's grace what sin caused them to lose. His coming sacrifice brings judgment upon the world and casts out its ruler. He saw His approaching death as the means by which that ruler would be expelled.
At the cross the apostate prince who had usurped God's place and led the world into rebellion would be cast out. The cross, though an instrument of humiliation and suffering, would stand where Satan's throne had stood and serve as God's means of atonement and of winning people back to Him. Christ would meet temptation in humanity without violating human nature, and people united with His Spirit and aided by heaven could resist Satan as Christ did. The defeat of Satan and the bringing in of righteousness involve divine and human cooperation.
Satan is the central power of all evil, the great apostate fallen angel expelled from the heavenly courts, who assumed God's power and throne upon the earth, eclipsed God from the view of man, and from his earthly seat ruled men to ruin. When guilty sinners stood condemned as deserving condemnation, Christ in all the fullness of the Godhead looked on the fallen corrupted world in love, saw Satan's purpose, and clothed His divinity with humanity to pay the ransom, end the enemy's reign, vindicate God's justice, and restore the divine image in man. Lifted up on the cross set in the place where Satan has his seat, Christ stands at the head of humanity as the great center to draw all men to God, puts man on vantage-ground through His merits, and under His rule gives every human being who receives and believes in Him a work and power with that work to win souls and win the world back to God against the legions of hell combined with the prince of darkness to oppose the laws of Christ's kingdom. The hour of His lifting up is an hour of victory, and as God's people carry the truth to the world they may conquer through faith because He has overcome the world and gives them aid in their work.
The whole universe watches this conflict on earth between Christ the Prince of life and Satan the prince of this world, and Christ's disciples carry it forward after He leaves the world, following His example. In the home that conflict concerns who will shape children's characters, for a mother chooses whom to work with in their training, and when Christ is admitted He presides in the home and fills it with heavenly influence.