John 12:31 Commentary and Bible Study

We now come to Christ’s final public message and he begins with the judgment of this world. What did he mean? Of course, he did not mean that the judgement day had arrived, that the world was to about to be judged. Indeed, only a little later he says in verse 47 – ‘And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.’ What Christ meant was that judgement will be based on Calvary. Everyone deserves to be judged and condemned. Everyone will go everlastingly away from the presence of God and be punished for all eternity, unless they are atoned for on Calvary’s cross, unless they come under the benefit of the atoning death of Christ, unless he died for them. That is made evident because there has been a great work of salvation in their heart, and they believe in him, and trust in him, and embrace him, and depend upon him. Those and those alone will not be judged and condemned. So, although the judgement of the world was not yet, what was about to take place would determine the judgement of each individual, whether lost and condemned. But there is another sense also. Do not forget he was the Son of God. When he speaks, his statements are very profound. When he speaks, there is most often one single plain meaning, but sometimes there is an utterance which most clearly has a number of layers of meaning. Another meaning of this statement is that the world in general, the unbelieving, world would be judged for what they did – the people who would clamour for his death; Pontius Pilate who was instrumental in ordering it; the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees who led the demands for it. And they were judged for it, and the nation of Israel in general was judged not long afterwards in AD70, with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Pontius Pilate had a most desperately unhappy end, and the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees lost their office and position in due course and their entire ministry. ‘Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out’, that is Satan, the prince of the power of the air. We might ask, ‘Cast out of what?’, because he was still to be alive and active for at least 2,000 years. But he was cast out of his dominion, particularly over the Gentile, the non-Jewish nations. Now the Gospel would go everywhere, and people would be saved and delivered from every land and nation under heaven. Satan would lose so much of his power. And because of Calvary he will be cast out ultimately when Christ comes again and judges him as well as all the world and his hosts. He will no longer have unfettered dominion over the countries of the world - the capacity to keep people in darkness. He is going to be punished himself, he is now a fugitive, doing the worst he can, but his doom is already written.