Articles
What He Did For Us
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." (John 12:32)
What did Jesus mean by this statement to His disciples, and what does it mean for us today?
Part of the answer is in the very next verse (John 12:33), "He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die." For one thing, this would be a fulfillment of OT prophesy, prophesy that His listeners knew very well. It too was even additional proof (as if any more were needed) that He was Messiah.
But Jesus teaching was and is that He would die for all mankind, as part of God's plan (2 Cor 5:14-15). We read in Titus 2:14, that Jesus would be our Redeemer, to purify us so that we could be His own people. Jesus also, in His death, proved that He was indeed the Christ and that He has spoken God's message to man during His teachings (John 8:28).
Furthermore, Jesus' crucifixion was evidence that He was obeying the will of God, by completing the plan for which He was sent, and that in accordance with God's commands He willingly gave Himself (John 14:31, John 10:17-18). And finally, in keeping with God's plan and Christ's execution of that plan, we are drawn to Him, and because of that, we are to follow in His footsteps, in full submission to God (1 Peter 2:21).
Jesus death offered the cure to the illness of sin, He bought us back from the consequences of sin, He paid a price for us. That makes us very valuable, and we belong to Him now. The words of a song sum this all up, "Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, His child and forever I am".
