Trust and Obey

(John 12:27-30)

There is an old hymn that many Christians will know or at least have heard of called Trust and Obey. It gave a great message about the need to show both of these attitudes as a Christian for if we are to enter God’s kingdom we must do both.

In this section of scripture we see that the Lord too exhibited how he trusted and obeyed the Father. And we also see that the Father showed the people who were with Jesus a sign that recognised the trust and obedience shown by Jesus.

Jesus’ Emotions

At this time the Lord was preparing himself for His death. He knew the time was near for He said as much in this section of scripture. He says in verse 27,

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour.”

You can feel the emotion and the turmoil that Jesus was going through in these words. Here was the place where the human part of the Lord could have taken over, but the Spirit prevented it doing so.

He says, “Now is my soul troubled.” Jesus was troubled about the events that were soon to come. We know that later He even asked if there were a way that God could accomplish His will in some other way so that Jesus would not have to be nailed and hung up to die a gruesome death.

Trust and Obey

In spite of the natural fear He must have suffered, we also see that Jesus knew this was the reason why He had come. He was pragmatic enough not to ask the Father to save him from the events to come and to know that this was His purpose. His death was pre-ordained and it had to happen.

In those words He spoke we see that He first trusted God, knowing that He would carry Jesus through and all would occur according to His will. And secondly Jesus obeyed God and did not put his own will or desires ahead of the plan and purpose of God. He humbled himself under the mighty hand of God as we are instructed to do in 1 Peter 5:6-7, which says,

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you.
7 Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.

We see from Peter’s words that the act of obedience and trusting God by humbling ourselves under His mighty hand and under His will leads to our exaltation. We receive the rewards and blessing of God when we live in accordance to His will.

Jesus Exalted

In the same way we see that Jesus was exalted by the Father when He expressed that he would trust and obey the Father. God spoke to Jesus out of heaven and those about heard the words that exalted Him. In verse 28 we see these words,

28 Father, glorify thy name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

The Father spoke audibly to Jesus and the people around Him to show that Jesus was greatly beloved of the Father and that He would be greatly glorified.

These words show that this was also not the first nor the last time the Father showed His pleasure in glorifying the name of His Son. The Father was greatly pleased and proud of His Son for the work that He was doing for the sake of mankind. You can see the respect that Jesus and the Father had for each other and the love that they shared.

Jesus trusted, honoured and obeyed His Father and the Father glorified the Son for this. We too will be in that same place when we put our total trust, honour and obedience in the name of the Lord. Jesus is the object of our worship, the One whom the Father has put forward for us to believe and have faith in to set us free. When we do this, as it showed in the scripture in Peter above, we shall be exalted just as Jesus was exalted by the Father.

For Our Sake

Finally in verses 29-30 we see the Lord make this interesting statement.

29 The crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.

Jesus did not need to hear the voice of the Father to know that He was with Him. He did not need great signs and miracles, including the voice like thunder from the heavens to strengthen Him. He knew where He stood with God and He knew that God would not fail nor forsake Him.

But these words were spoken for our benefit and the benefit of the people standing with Jesus. They were spoken to show that the Son glorified the Father in all that He said and did and that He would be glorified even more so in the upcoming events.

Jesus died for our sake. It was planned by God and Jesus trusted and obeyed the Father to carry out that plan. It was in His death that victory over sin was achieved and that the power of sin was removed. This is the plan of God for us. To be free from sin, set free from law and brought into a place where we can stand righteous before God in Christ Jesus. It is then His will to transform us by the power of the Holy Spirit and the working of the New Covenant so that we will be made perfect as He is perfect.

That is the will of God and our part is to join with Him, to trust and obey so that His will is accomplished.

(Photo sourced from stock.xchng taken by Jeremy Brown)

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John

Hi! I’m John, the owner, author, and editor of this site. Over the past 50+ years as a Christian I have been teaching, preaching and writing about the Bible to help Christians gain a deeper insight into the scriptures that are easily understood. I also answer specific Bible related questions, so feel free to contact me.