João 12

João 12

Phillips comments "The cross of Christ was God's chosen instrument to sound the eternal death knell of Satan, his kingdom, and his power. By instigating the Jews to pass sentence on Christ, he set in motion the flow of events that would guarantee his own destruction. (BORROW Exploring the Gospels. John) (He) will be cast out (ekbállō - all uses in John Jn 2:15, 6:37, 9:34-35, 10:4, 12:31) - The great paradox of the Cross was that it seemed to be a victory for Satan and evil men, but in truth it marked the defeat of Satan, for in His "defeat," at the moment of death, Christ triumphed over sin and Satan and death. Clearly Satan is still active and powerful today in the world (1Pe 5:8-10+, Eph 6:10-20+) so that the words he will be cast out is a prophecy to be fulfilled in the future and will be progressive or in stages (see note below). It reminds me of the term "prophetic aorist" (although I realize cast out is future tense in this verse), which describes a future, unfulfilled event in the past tense, because it is so sure to be fulfilled. By analogy, the future casting out of Satan is as we sometimes say "a done deal!" Why? Because at the cross Jesus defeated the ruler and sealed his future doom forever. Satan now operates as a defeated foe with a finite amount of time left to operate. William