Jesus was the greatest magnet

JESUS WAS THE GREATEST MAGNET
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 12:32 32And I, when I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all people to myself."
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Divine Attraction
John 12:32
J.R. Thomson
The shadow of the cross lay athwart the path of Jesus. His soul was troubled,
for the hour was come. The grain of wheatwas about to fall into the soil, and
there to die. Yet our Saviorlookedbeyond the near to the distant future. He
knew that, though the hour was come, it was the hour in which God should be
glorified; that though the seedshould die, it should bear much fruit; that
though he himself was about to be lifted up from the earth, he should draw all
men unto himself.
I. WHO WAS HE WHO LOOKED FORWARD TO A PROSPECT SO
GLORIOUS? This must be asked, becausethe words used are such as from
ordinary lips might naturally be deemed but vain boasting. How often have
conquerors hoped to subdue the world, thinkers to convert all mankind to
their opinions, preachers and promulgators of religious systems to win the
empire over the hearts of the race!Experience has dispelled many such
illusions; and we are slow to acceptclaims to universal dominion. Who, then,

was he who uttered this confident expectation - that all men should be drawn
to him? To all outward appearance a peasant, a teacher, a healer, a reformer,
a benefactorof his fellow men. What prospectwas there of one in such a
position realizing a hope so vast? And how, if he was about to be crucified,
could he find the cross a means to such an end? The thing seemedincredible,
even to his own adherents and friends. If Jesus had been a mere man,
although a saint or a prophet, such language would have been egotism. But
Jesus knew the purpose of the Father, and felt within him the consciousnessof
powerto achieve a work so great. And the events which followed - the
Resurrectionand Ascension, and especiallythe Pentecostaloutpouring -
opened the eyes of his disciples to the glory of their Master's Person, the
powerof his Spirit, the certainty of the prospecthe beheld,
II. WHAT WAS THE CONDITION OF THE EXERCISE OF THIS
SUPERHUMAN' POWER? The expression, "lifting up," as applied by Jesus
to himself, is interpreted for us by the evangelist. Used three times, it denotes,
in eachinstance, the manner of Christ's death, the lifting up upon the cross.
This was, indeed, to be followedby the lifting up to the Throne of empire and
of glory. As a Savior, Jesus was crucified;as a Divine Savior, he was exalted.
The wisdom of God, the power of God, were to be displayed in this triumph of
humiliation, suffering, and death.
III. WHAT WAS THE NATURE, THE ACTION, OF THIS ATTRACTIVE
POWER? It is very significantthat the "drawing" which Jesus exercised
displayed itself even whilst he hung upon the tree. The multitude gathered
around; and if the soldiers viewed the scene with indifference, there were
women who watchedand wept, and there were among the people those who
smote their breasts in sorrow and in fear. But we have to notice, not the
curiosity or the natural emotions excited by the spectacleofone suffering
crucifixion, but the spiritual attractionof Calvary. The incomparable love and
pity manifested by the Crucified possessa mysterious charm. It is the
Shepherd smitten for the flock he came to save, it is the Friend laying down
his life for his friends, who exercises this Divine magnetism. They who discern
in the Lord's sufferings and death the appointed means of man's redemption,
who know that "with his stripes we are healed," can understand how a
spiritual force emanates from the cross as gravitationfrom a centralsun.

Man's nature is such as to be affectedby the exhibition on Christ's part of
love strongerthan death, of compassionworthy of a God. That the sacrifice of
our Redeemerhad its bearing upon the government of God - this is clearly
taught in Scripture. But here our Lord lays stress upon its bearing upon the
heart of man, upon human societyand human prospects.
IV. WHITHER DOES THE CRUCIFIED ONE DRAW THOSE WHOM HIS
INFLUENCE AFFECTS?The suffering, the glorified Redeemerdraws men
awayfrom sinful affections and sinful courses;he draws them unto safety,
peace, and life. But it is observable that Christ declares his purpose to draw
them "unto himself," i.e. to enjoy his fellowship, to participate in his
character. A personalpower draws men to a personal Savior, Friend, and
Lord. Men are drawn by the cross, notto Christianity, but to Christ.
V. WHAT IS THE RANGE OF THIS ATTRACTION? Jesusis a universal
Savior. He proposes and promises to draw all men unto himself. The
firstfruits of this harvest were yielded whilst he still hung upon the tree. The
conversionof the dying malefactor, the enlightenment of the centurion, were
an earnestof greatervictories. It was the intention of Christ to save friends
and foes, Jews andGentiles. And the facts of history are a proof of the extent
to which this intention has already been fulfilled. The idolaterhas forsakenhis
"gods many;" the Jewishrabbi has abandoned confidence in the "letter," and
has learnedto rejoice in "the Spirit;" the philosopher has found the wisdom
of God better than the wisdom of this world. Human beings of all grades have
felt and yielded to the Divine attraction of the cress. The young and the old,
the profligate and the ascetic, the tempted, the aged, and the dying, are day by
day being drawn unto the heart of Immanuel. The marvels of Pentecostwere
an omen of a new life for all nations of mankind. The apostles themselves
witnessedenoughto convince them of the truth of their Master's words, the
depth of their Master's insight, the vastness oftheir Master's prophetic view.
Looking back, and looking around, we learn to look forward with an inspiring
confidence to the realizationof a promise so benevolent and so glorious as this
from the lips of him who was about to die. - T.

Biblical Illustrator
Now is the Judgment of this world.
John 12:31-33
The world's hour of deepestrevolution
F. Godet, D. D.
It was the signal —
I. OF ITS JUDGMENT. To judge is to verify the moral condition. The
judgment of the world is basedupon the Cross, inasmuchas this discloses the
moral condition of man in his natural state. Man, by raising this throne for
Jesus, judged himself, and manifested the enmity to God which is in his heart.
Having erectedit, he judges himself still more decidedly by his relation
thereto; for either by faith he finds therein his salvation, or by unbelief his
condemnation. Of this choice the final judgment will be only the ratification.
Thus the judgment of the world dates from GoodFriday. Its first external
manifestation was the destruction of Jerusalem;its secondwill be the

judgment of the Church; its third the last judgment predicted (Matthew 24.;
25) on the very day on which these words were uttered.
II. OF THE EXPULSION OF ITS ANCIENT MASTER. The Cross filled up
the measure of tolerance grantedto the perversity of the Prince of this world.
The Crucifixion was the most odious and unpardonable transgressionof
Satan; this crime put an end to the long suffering of Godconcerning him, and,
consequently, to his dominion over mankind. The Rabbis habitually designate
Satan"the prince of this world," but place the Jews outside his kingdom,
while Jesus includes them as well as the heathen therein (chap. John 8) "Out"
signifies not only out of his office and power, but chiefly out of the world —
his ancientrealm — as is shown by the connectionof these words with the
preceding, and the oppositionbetweenvers. 31 and 32.
III. THE ACCESSION OF ITS NEW SOVEREIGN.The overthrow coincides
with the accession. Jesus declaresHimself appointed to fill this part. But,
strange to say, it is not upon this earth, whence Satanis castout, that He will
establishHis kingdom. He will not become, as the Jews expected, the successor
of His adversary, and, consequently, another prince of this world; He, as well
as His rival, will leave the earth; He will be raisedfrom it and above it, and in
a higher sphere He will draw to Himself His subjects and realize His kingdom.
"Lifted up" must be understood here in the same amphibiologicalsense as at
John 3:14 and John 8:28. His lifting up on the cross, that throne of love,
appears to Him as the gloriously ironicalemblem of His elevationto the
throne of glory. And this comparisonis based on a deep truth. For was it not
the Cross whichcreatedthe abyss betweenChrist and the world (Galatians
6:14), and rendered the purely heavenly form of the kingdom of Godfor the
present necessary? "From" or"out of the earth" designates anignominious
expulsion from earthly existence by any capitalpunishment, and cannotrefer
to the small distance betweenthe ground and the feetof the crucified. It is
"lifted up," which refers to the Cross. The Cross and the Ascensionunited
freed Jesus from all earthly ties and national obligations, and placed Him in a
position to extend His agencyto the whole world (Romans 10:12). Once raised
to heaven, Jesus will draw around Him a new people, strangers to earth, and,
like Himself, of a heavenly nature. He will be both the Author and End of this
Divine attraction.

(F. Godet, D. D.)
The Cross
B. W. Noel, M. A.
In the Cross Christ saw a provision for three greatobjects. Byit —
I. THE WORLD SHOULD BE JUDGED. Godjudged our sins in the person
of Jesus, visited our guilt upon Him condemned in our place. That is the true
measure, as it is the most awful punishment of our guilt. If men sin on they
may see, as clearlyas if it were come already, their eternal doom. How cana
sinner be so deluded as to think he will escape whenhe sees the Son of God
hanging there. Let him look and realize who He was, and then feel, "I am
condemned." Thus Christ knew that the Cross would convince men of sin.
What the law could not do, what no mercies or judgments of God could do,
this would effect, and His heart exulted in the thought that men at last would
see that there was no hope for them save in turning to God through Him.
II. THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD REJECTED. Thatbeing whose empire
none else could shake, whose dominion over men's minds and habits none else
could destroy, Jesus saw dethroned. God had predicted this. "The seedof the
woman," etc. To accomplishthis was the end of His coming. "Forthis purpose
is the Sonof God manifested," etc. This end is gained when Satan is banished
from the human heart. The Cross avails for this —
1. By having procured the gift of the Spirit who turns men "from the power of
Satanunto God."
2. By furnishing the most powerful motives to turn from sin, inasmuch as it
reveals the guilt and danger of sin, and endears believers to the Saviour who
died to reconcile them to God, and therefore weans them from sin.
3. By securing powerful help in such a view of the love of God as inspires faith
and hope.
III. HUMAN SOULS DRAWN TO CHRIST.

1. The means — wondrous, the last, apparently, calculatedto serve this
purpose.
2. The method — "draw," not compel, by the attraction of love.
3. The object — "all men." Gentiles as well as Jews.
4. The result — "to Me."
(B. W. Noel, M. A.)
The death of Christ and its results
J. Brown, D. D.
I. THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
1. The fact of His death predicted. It was a wonderful thing that He should
die, for death is the penalty of sin. and He was sinless, and can only take effect
on humanity, whereas He was Divine.
2. The manner of His death described — crucifixion. The mystery thickens. If
He must die, surely it should be naturally and peacefully, or if not, gloriously,
as a hero, and amidst the blessings ofHis race. No, He must die as a felon, a
death —
(1)profoundly humiliating;
(2)excruciatingly painful.
3. The nature of His death unfolded. Its manner partly indicates its nature.
(1)It was penal. He suffered under Romanand Divine law, but how
differently.
(2)It was vicarious, since He was innocent.
(3)It was expiatory (Isaiah 53:5, 6).
II. ITS RESULTS.

1. The judgment of the world.(1) What this means. In the Scriptures to judge
means to govern. Hence the "Judges."As King and Ruler the Messiahis
frequently predicted as Judge. This interpretation agrees with the context.
The Son of Man is glorified by being made King of the world; how, therefore,
is the world to be judged by being ruled by Him? A new order of Divine
administration has been commenced, having for its objectthe subjectionof
the world to God.(2) How is this judgment the result of Christ's death?
(a)It was the promised and richly-merited reward of His death (Isaiah 53:10-
12; Philippians 2:5-11).
(b)It is the necessarymeans of His carrying into accomplishment the great
design of His death, the salvationof His chosenpeople (John 17:2).
2. The expulsion of the prince of this world (John 14:30;John 16:8-11;
Ephesians 2:2).(1) Who is he?
(a)A real personalexistence.
(b)A potentate.
(c)Exercising dominion over this world.
(d)But not independently and uncontrolled, but largely as the executionerof
Divine justice, and limited in power by the duration of "this world."(2) What
is his expulsion? His being castout —
(a)From the human heart.
(b)From the religious and civil institutions he had controlled.(3) How is he
castout?
(a)Christ bore the penalty of that for which he held men in bondage, and men
paid their debt and suffered their punishment in Christ their substitute.
(b)By the powerof the Spirit, by which men canresist the devil and make him
flee.
3. This drawing of all men to Christ.(1) What this drawing is.

(a)All men, without exception, become the subjects of His mediatorial
government.
(b)All men, without distinction, become the objects of the invitations of His
gospel.
(c)All whom the Father has given Him, an innumerable company out of every
kindred, etc., are put in possessionofthe blessings of His salvation.(2)How it
is connectedwith His lifting up. Had not atonement been made there could
have been no salvation to offer, or give or receive. Christ's death removed all
obstacles to this, and securedthe effectualagencyof the Spirit.
(J. Brown, D. D.)
I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.
The uplifted Saviour
J. Graham.
Nothing is more wonderful about Christ than His unfaltering confidence in
the boundlessness andperpetuity of His power, especiallywhenwe consider
the circumstances in which it was expressedand the grounds on which it was
based. The assertionbefore us is that of a fanatic or of a God.
I. THE EXTENT OF THE SAVIOUR'S DRAWING. "All men."
1. The meaning of universal terms in Scripture must be determined —(1) By
its greatacknowledgedprinciples. One of these is the freedom of the will. So
the text signifies merely that there is sufficient power in Christ to draw all
men; but the melancholy fact is that many "will not come unto Him that they
may have life."(2)By the context. Spokenas it was in connectionwith the visit
of the Greeks, the text means that the benefits of Christ's redemption were not
restrictedto the Jews, but were thrown open to the world.
2. While, however, some shall reachdestruction because they will choose the
broad way, there is a vastly preponderating aggregatewho shall he brought to
Christ. The drawing commencedwith the dying thief. Sevenweeks afterwards

three thousand were drawn. Then the whole of the Acts furnishes illustrations.
Then eighteencenturies of Church history, particularly greatmovements like
Methodism and missions. Finally, the Apocalyptic visions shall be realized.
II. WHAT IS THERE IN THE UPLIFTED SAVIOUR SO CALCULATED
TO ATTRACT. In Him is disclosed —
1. The ground of full and free pardon for the very chief of sinners. This gives
hope to the most despairing, who can getrest nowhere else.
2. Ample provision for the purification of sinful hearts.
3. All those qualities calculatedto draw the sympathies and aspirations of the
renewedheart.
(1)The love of truth is satisfiedin Him, who is the Truth.
(2)The yearning for fellowship is satisfiedin His Brotherhood.
(3)The sense ofright binds us to Him as our RedeemerSovereign.
(4)The desire for spiritual beauty is gratified in Him, who is the altogether
lovely.
(5)Impulses to serve our brethren are sanctifiedand empoweredby the
constraint of His self-sacrificing love.
III. THE AGENCY EMPLOYED.
1. The power of Providence or government of the world is committed to the
Redeemerfor the ingathering and completion of the Church.
2. The Holy Spirit draws hearts to the Saviour. He is Christ's Witness and
Glorifier. "No man cansay that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost."
For this purpose He abides with the Church forever. Hence —
3. The Church is Christ's visible agencyfor this greatwork, which is
discharged—
(1)By private testimony.
(2)Public proclamation.

(J. Graham.)
Christ lifted up
C. H. Spurgeon.
Christ crucified. —
I. CHRIST'S GLORY. Because —
1. The manifestation of glorious love.
2. The demonstration of glorious fortitude.
3. The completion of glorious work.
4. The achievement of glorious triumph.
II. THE MINISTER'S THEME. Christlifted up, and not —
1. Hell and damnation.
2. Mere doctrine.
3. Inoperative morality.
4. Sacredor secularlearning.
III. THE HEART'S ATTRACTION. Christdraws —
1. Like a trumpet attracting men to hear the proclamation.
2. Like a net drawing men out of the sea ofsin.
3. With the bands of love.
4. As a standard in the centre of gathering.
5. As a chariot in which souls are drawn to heaven.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Why Christ was lifted up
A. J. Gordon.
Expressionof text used three times to teach that the Son of Man must be lifted
up in order —
I. TO GIVE A DEMONSTRATION OF HIS DIVINE MANHOOD (chap.
John 7:28).
1. Christ proved Himself to be true man by dying as every man dies.
2. He proved Himself to be Divine by dying as no other man ever died.
(1)His death unique in its supernatural accompaniment.
(2)In its voluntariness.
II. TO BRING TO BEAR THE MOST POWERFULDIVINE
ATTRACTION UPON MAN (John 12:32).
1. The strongestbonds of attraction betweenman and man are love and
sympathy. These two are braided togetherin a two-fold cord in Christ
crucified.
2. He was lifted up to draw men out of and keepthem awayfrom the sins that
had kept them from Him.
III. TO ACCOMPLISHA DIVINE REDEMPTIONFOR MAN (chap. John
3:14). Salvationis absolutely fastenedto Christ crucified.
1. Without the shedding of blood is no remission.
2. The Divine imperative "must.
(A. J. Gordon.)
The greatattraction
C. H. Spurgeon.

1. Christ's death must have seemedto His apostles anunmitigated misfortune;
but He showedthem that it was really the most hopeful of all points in His
history.
2. The text must be illustrated by doctrines that are concealedin it, and facts
with which it is connected. The prince of darkness enticedpoor foolish man to
his destructionas fish are takenby the bait, birds lured by decoys, barques
wreckedby false lights or suckedinto the whirlpool. Christ came to produce a
counter attraction. But men stoodat a distance from their best Friend; but
since man does not come of himself, even when he perceives the gracious
errand of Jesus, He condescends to attracthim, and that by means of the
Cross.
I. WHAT IS THE ATTRACTION OF JESUS CRUCIFIED? Itlies in that
which some count its weaknessandreproach. Certain preachers have missed
all in forgetting this. Socinians have fondly dreamed that His holy life will
provide the attraction. Such has not proved to be the case. Norhas the
millennial glory of Christ proved attractive; but men have been drawn to the
Cross —
1. By the disinterestedlove there manifested. "Scarcelyfora righteous man,"
etc.
2. By the satisfactionthere rendered to justice, through which pardon is
provided, and may be acceptedhonourably.
3. By its exact suitability to man's necessities — thirsty, here is living water;
naked, here is a robe of righteousness;vile, here it a fountain; lost, here is
salvation.
4. By its agonies, the culmination of all previous sorrows.
II. IN WHAT DIRECTION DOES THE CROSS ATTRACT.
1. From despair to hope.
2. From fear to faith.
3. From dread to love.

4. From sin to obedience.
5. From self to Jesus.
6. From earth to heaven.
III. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES OF THIS
POWER.
1. Gentle.
2. Gracious.
3. Wide.
4. Effectual.
5. Present.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Wondrous attraction
H. O. Mackey.
In the Paris Salonsome few years ago there was a bust of the painter Baudry,
by Paul Dubois. Mr. E. Gosse wassitting contemplating the bust, when an
American gentleman passed, caughtsight of it, and, hovering round it for
some time, came and satdown by his side and watchedit. Presentlyhe turned
to Mr. Gosse, inquiring if he could tell him whose it was, and whether it was
thought much of, adding, with a charming modesty, "I don't know anything
about art; but I found I could not getpast that head." Would we could so set
forth Christ that His word might be fulfilled! "I, if I be lifted up," etc.
(H. O. Mackey.)
Invisible attraction

T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.
A little boy was flying a kite, which had soaredso high as to be almost out of
sight. Seeing him looking so intensely upward, a gentleman askedhim what he
had there. "A kite, sir," was the boy's reply. "A kite!" said the gentleman;
"how can that be, I don't see it?" "Ah! I feel it pulling, sir," was the boy's
unanswerable reply. This should be our evidence that our Saviour is above —
we should feel Him pulling.
(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
The attractiveness ofChrist
F. Ferguson, D. D.
This subject ought to be attractive. There is the attractionof one dew drop for
another, as they hang togetheron the same blade, and, running together, fall
from their momentary glory into a common grave. There is the attraction of
the flame for the moth, as it flutters and darts around the fatal glow, until at
last it falls, wingless and scorched, upon the floor. There is the attractionof
the magnetfor the particles of matter through which it is passed, in virtue of
which it draws some of them to itself, and has no influence upon others. There
is the attractionof the moon for the sea, its pale light shining in tremulous
bars on the bosomof the melancholy deep, as it rises and falls, like a dark and
guilty conscienceheaving and sobbing under the ghostlymemories of its past
misdeeds. And there is the attractionof the sun for all createdthings within
the circle of the worlds that sweeparound him as their centre, finding life and
gladness in his beams. The latter is the highest and most glorious form in
which the principle of attraction displays itself, and it is that which is exerted
by the Sun of Righteousness. Christis the luminous centre and the effulgent
source of all vitality and blessing in the universe of souls.
(F. Ferguson, D. D.)
The attractiveness ofthe cross

G. Matheson, B. D.
There is a moral powerin beauty; it elevates the heart of the man who sees it.
It is not enough that a man should display the law of holiness; he must display
the beauty of holiness. There are some whose religionhas every quality but
one — attractive. ness. They are animated by the sincerestmotives;they are
ruled by the tenderestconscience;they are influenced by the purest desires;
yet their religionis withal a weaponin the hand, not a magnet in the heart; it
drives, but it does not draw. They are impressed above all things with the
power" of the Lord, and they would like to display His power; but they do not
see that the uppermost garment of the religious life must be the beauty of the
Lord. They have not measuredthe force of the words of the text. The highest
powerof the Cross is ability to allure — its beauty. The glory of religion lies in
the number of things it can attract.
(G. Matheson, B. D.)
The attractive power of Christ
J. Rawlinson.
I. THE IMPORTANT EVENT THE TEXT ANTICIPATES.
1. Primarily the Crucifixion (John 3:14-15).
2. Christ's exaltationto the mediatorial throne.
3. The preaching of the gospel, whichdisplays both the Cross and the throne.
This comprehends —
(1)The recitalof the manner of the Redeemer's death.
(2)The declarationof the greatdesign of His death.
(3)The proclamationof His powerto save, with the terms on which He saves.
II. THE GRAND PURPOSE THE TEXT REVEALS.

1. The point to which He attracts. "Me." The centre of humanity, toward
which all should gravitate.
2. The manner in which He attracts. By Himself, the Father, and the Holy
Spirit. But the uplifting is adapted to the end.
(1)What is more calculatedto arrest attention than the spectacle ofsuch a
Sufferer dying for the sake of a sinful world.
(2)The view of the Divine characterpresentedis eminently attractive.
(3)The felt wants of our nature are here supplied.
3. The scale on which He attracts. "All men." Some resist. Objects are
interposed betweenthe magnet and the substance. But Christ attracts men
from every race.
(J. Rawlinson.)
The attractive power of Christ
J. G. Lowrie, M. A.
I. Observe HOW UNIVERSALLY OPERATIVE IS THAT MYSTERIOUS
LAW BY WHICH MEN ARE DRAWN TO CHRIST. Explain it how we may,
Christ is today the central figure in the thoughts of the civilized world, and is
becoming more and more so. Forthe past 1800 years interestin Him has been
Steadily growing. How many volumes it would take, e.g., to presenta faithful
accountof "Christ in Song" since Luke penned the "Overture of the Angels"
down to the time when Keble wrote "Sun of my Soul"!Is the world tired of
singing about Christ because He has occupiedthe central field so long? It is a
fact of no little interest that Christ is the only Personall nations of the world
have ever united to praise in the same forms of speech. Again, it might be
shown that Christ occupies the same position through the ages in art and
generalliterature. No one has ever receivedsuch tributes from men of genius
as Christ, and about no one is the printing-press so busy.

II. WHAT IS IT IN MAN THAT IS THUS DRAWN OUT TO CHRIST. With
some it is admiration for His characterand teachings;with others it is the
interest that a reformer awakens;with others a sense ofHis Divinity. But if we
stop here we shall lose sight of the true reason, so wellstatedby Napoleon.
"Jesus alone founded His empire on love, and to this very day millions would
die for Him." It is the human heart that is drawn out towards Christ. As we
test the power of the magnet by the weight we attach to it, so Satan
experiments with the heart of man. Take a typical case — that of Paul. He
weightedPaul's heart with worldly allurements; but Paul cried, "What things
were gain to me," etc. (Philippians 3:71): then with persecutions;but Paul
said, "I take pleasure in infirmities," etc. (2 Corinthians 12:10): finally with
death; but Paul exulted, "Who shall separate me" (Romans 8:35-39). When a
bar of soft iron is brought into contactwith a powerful magnet it becomes
magnetic, and continues so while in contact;but remove it, and its virtue is
gone. So the believer, to be attractive, must live near to Christ (chap. John
13:35).
III. WHAT IS IT IN CHRIST THAT HAS SUCH POWER TO KINDLE
NEW AFFECTIONS AND SET UP NEW RELATIONS AMONG MEN? Not
merely the influence of His life or doctrines, or of the mysterious union of the
Divine with the human, but supremely His Cross. And why His Cross we
cannot exactlyanalyze. We cannot explain the mysterious principle that we
see operating in the galvanic battery; but there is clearly something, and we
call it Magnetism. And the mysterious something in the Cross we callLove (2
Corinthians 5:15; Jeremiah 31:3). Here is a love that has at its command the
resources ofthe Godhead. "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead,"
and a perfectsympathy with all human weaknesses(Hebrews 4:15). What
wonder that sinners are drawn to such a Saviour.
IV. THE MANNER IN WHICH THAT POWER IS BROUGHT TO BEAR
UPON MEN. By drawing (Psalm 110:3;Song of Solomon 1:4; Psalm 73:28).
(J. G. Lowrie, M. A.)
The attractive power of the crucified Saviour

C. H. Spurgeon.
1. When a man is leading a greatreligious movement, the worstthing that
could usually happen is that he should die. The death of a pastor is often a
hindrance to a goodwork. But here is one greatreligious Leader who,
through death, draws all men to Himself.
2. But if the death of a religious leaderis a disgracefulone, what damage his
influence suffers — e.g., Dr. Dodd, who was hung for forgery. But behold a
wonder I The death of Jesus on a malefactor's crossis the secretofHis highest
influence.
I. THE ATTRACTIVE POWER OF THE CRUCIFIED SAVIOUR. Himself.
1. Some suppose that Christ was lifted up to draw men unto the priests.
2. To draw men to a church might satisfy a religious bigotry.
3. But Christ alone can satisfytheir souls.
II. HOW THAT POWER IS EXERCISED TODAY. There are degrees of
drawing. Those who have never heard of Christ are drawn in a sense, forthe
world is pervaded with His influence.
1. Some say that the force that draws man is light; but men are sometimes
driven awayby light. They rebel againstit, and use the truth to their own
detriment.
2. Men are won to Christ by the force of love. Even earthly love is powerful.
Swayedby love, what have not mothers done. Jesus'powerlay in His
irresistible love.
3. By His sufferings. In the old martyr days, what made England Protestant
was the death of martyrs.
4. By the instrumentality of other men. Not by ministers only, but by holy life
and loving words.
III. WHAT IT EVIDENTLY IMPLIES.

1. That men were far off from Christ. The older philosophers taught that men
started like a sheet of white paper, and decried original sin. But the newer
philosophers tell us that we have inherited all the desires and vices of our
animal ancestors.
2. That men would not come to Christ unless He drew them.
3. That if we feel ourselves drawn, the wisestthing for us to do is to yield.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The attractive power of Christ crucified
Canon Liddon.
1. Standing alone, these words might be understood to refer to the Ascension.
St. Petertwice applies the expressionto that event. But St. John explains the
text according to our Lord's own meaning in John 3:14, and John 13:28.
2. The Apostle has preservedthe text for the purpose of enforcing his main
theme — the Divinity of Christ — whereas the stress in the other Gospels is on
the manhood, although neither side of our Lord's Personis overlookedby
either. This generaldifference culminates in the picture of the Crucifixion. To
the Three that is the lowestdepth of Christ's humiliation, and their task is to
train our sympathies with the perfect Man. But to St. John the cross is not a
scaffoldbut a throne; not defeatbut victory; not a repulsion but a world-wide
attraction.
3. If Christianity had come from man its chief attraction would not have been
placed here, but to Christ on the Mount or beyond the stars. The wisdom of
the Teacher, the prowess ofthe Conqueror, the majesty of the King would
have been put forward, and a veil drawn over these dark hours. Insteadof
this, Christianity boasts ofthat which to human eyes must have appeared a
failure. Twenty years after this prediction St. Paul echoesit, "We preach
Christ crucified," and implies that that is the compendium of all Christian
doctrine and morality, "I determined," etc. Wherein consists this attraction?
In —

I. THE MORAL BEAUTY AND STRENGTHOF SELF-SACRIFICE. This
fascinates because —
1. It requires a moral effort of the highest kind, and commands admiration
exactly proportioned to its intensity.
2. It is rare. The mass of men follow self. The majestic power of keeping well
in hand the forces that belong to the life of nature is as rare as it is beautiful.
As we admire gems and flowers for their rarity as well as for their beauty, so
we are drawn to greatexamples of self-sacrifice.
3. It is fertilizing. It is not unproductive moral beauty or energyrun to waste.
All the gooddone among men is proportioned to the amount of sacrifice
employed. To witness sacrifice is to breathe a bracing atmosphere, and to be
capable of it is already to be strong. All intense labour, and particularly that
which is at the same time unrecognized or discouraged, is sacrifice ofa high
order. Such has been that of discoverers whosediscoverieshave been made
public after death. Faraday's life was one example of disinterestedness and
vast results of sacrificiallabour. There are also lives in which sacrifice is pure
suffering, undergone for a greatcause or truth. The old pagans knew how to
appreciate, e.g., the deaths of the three hundred at Thermopylae. And who
that has ever witnessedthe welcome a man receives who saves a fellow
creature from a watery grave, or a burning house, can doubt the empire of
sacrifice overevery class in society. Our Lord said, "It is more blessedto give
than to receive." Thateachgift of what is dear to self adds immeasurably to
moral capital is a matter of experience. Wealthconsists not in the abundance
of things external to ourself but in internal possession, in the force and
freedom of the will to do good. That is God-like and Christ-like. Christ
surrendered long before all that man cares formost, but on the cross He gave
His life. Had He come amongst us without this mark, not doctrine, prowess or
majesty would have drawn us to Him.
II. THE SUFFERINGSENDURED.
1. Life is made up largely of pain of body or mind. Some have not begun to
feel it, but all do before life closes.Whataccountcan be given of this empire of
pain.

(1)It is a punishment — the advertisement that a deeperevil lies beneath.
(2)A purification.
(3)A preventative.
2. Still, an abstractdoctrine in justification of pain is not sufficient to support
us. We need the sympathy of a fellow sufferer. Now, if Christ had come fenced
in among all the comforts of life by a superhuman power, and, after teaching
the true theory of pain, had died on a soft bed, He might have been honoured
as a greatteacher, but would not have drawn all men unto Him. As it is, He is
the Universal Sympathizer. "It behoved Him in all things to be made like unto
His brethren." Therefore, aftera life of varied suffering, He enforces His
teaching by a supreme example of an excruciating death.
III. THE ATONEMENT HE OFFERED.
1. The prevalence of sacrifice expresses a truth recognizeduniversally by the
conscience, viz., that man carries about him that which is offensive to the
purity of heaven. The depth of the sense ofsin is proportioned to the soul's
vision of moral truth, which becomes cleareras the law of God is more clearly
revealed. The law affords a standard of duty, but gives no means of realizing
it. Would, then, Christ have drawn all men unto Him had He only left the
Sermon on the Mount? Nay, they who have felt the reproaches ofthe
Decalogue wouldhave felt more keenlythe reproaches ofthe Beatitudes.
2. Christ draws all men because He alone offers relief to this our deepestneed.
The Bible describes three forms which a sense of sin takes, and how Christ
crucified relieves us from each.(1)It tells man that sin is like a tyrant who
keeps him fettered, and then points to Christ as paying down a ransom by His
death.(2) It tells us that since God is holy, sin makes God and man at enmity;
and that Jesus removes this by an atonement.(3) It insists that sin once
committed is not like a vapour which melts awayinto the sky, but that it
leaves a positive load of guilt behind it, and then it points to Jesus as taking
this load and offering for it as a propitiation His supreme act of obedience.
3. Faith unites us with the all-sacrificing Christ. Conclusion:

1. The Cross is the one real principle of unity to the human family.
2. To this common centre we are drawn one by one.
(Canon Liddon.)
The attractionof the Cross
DeanVaughan.
This is one of God's paradoxes. Christendom gathers once a year to
commemorate and contemplate a brutal public execution. How is this? The
Cross is —
I. AN ATTRACTION OF ADMIRATION.
1. Who has not felt his heart burn within him as he reads or sees a life given
for another? If a man saves his wife or child from a burning house and
perishes we have a natural admiration for the sacrifice. If the sacrifice be one
all of duty; if the captain remains with the wreck and dies at his post, or still
more, if a man die as a martyr the self-devotiondemands higher praise. Yet
once more, if the life be thus given not in heat and emotion, but with calm
reflectionwhen it might have been avoided, the considerationis heightened.
2. Christ attracts in part with the help of admiration. This is the first feeling a
man has who contemplates the Cross. We see there. even before reaching the
higher ground of the Divinity and Incarnation, an innocent person, the victim
of an old-world formalism, the best of men enduring voluntarily the worstof
deaths as a condition of giving life to the world. The observerof the
Crucifixion desires to penetrate the heart of the Sufferer, and as he passes in
review the prayer for the murderers, the gentle answerto the penitent, the
tender consignmentof His mother to John, what heart canfind no affinity of
admiration? For here in its highest form is what men most admire —
strength, courage, presenceofmind, tenacity of purpose, might of will, and all
combined with perfect tenderness, love and sympathy.

II. AN ATTRACTION OF FAITH, growing, in due course, outof admiration.
The objectof the lifting up was no mere exhibition of a superhuman
excellence, but the bearing awayof sin. The moment you rob the Cross ofthis,
you take out of it the magnetic virtue. As a mere display of heroic courage
other deaths have rivalled it; other martyrs have yielded their life: we admire
the sacrifice, but it would be a misnomer to saythat it draws us to them.
Though admiration may draw us towards Him, faith alone can draw us to
Him. Put thy trust in that death: it has in it the balm of all sorrow, the
satisfactionofall want, the healing of all disease, andthe quickening of all
death.
(DeanVaughan.)
The powerof the Cross
T. Davies, Ph. D.
The gospel, with the Cross as its centre, is destined to exert an influence over
the whole race.
I. WHEREVER IT IS PROCLAIMED IT CREATES A GENERAL
INTERESTAND EXERTS A UNIVERSAL INFLUENCE. The factis as
startling as the assertion. Millions of sympathetic hearts clusterround the
Cross, ofall orders of intellect, all nationalities, etc. Even infidels, in spite of
their antipathies, are drawn to the Cross to write lives of Christ. How canwe
accountfor this greatinfluence?
1. The life and sufferings of Jesus are in the highest degree expressions ofthe
Divine mind and heart. Nature is full of attractions. It is uphill work to scale
the mountain, but the tourist is drawn up by an irresistible influence. We are
always ready for another country walk. Man soongets tired of human
productions, but never of the works ofGod. The Divine alone can capture the
spirit of man, and the Cross is the sublimest exhibition of the Divine.
2. Christ's life and sufferings supply a particular craving in the human breast.
What an attractiona fountain has for a crowd of thirsty people, and the Cross

attracts because there is that in it which alone canquench the thirst of the
spirit. The greatquestions, "How shall a man be just with God?" "How shall
consciencebe satisfied?" are only answeredthere.
3. The same life and sufferings have conferred inestimable blessings on
mankind. The influence radiating from the Cross has banished superstitions,
liberated slaves, promoted peace, goodgovernment, etc., and therefore forces
the most reluctant to give it a silent tribute of respect.
II. THE SPECIAL INFLUENCE OF THE CROSS IS THE SALVATION OF
OUR SOULS. Some lives are more effective at a distance;but the nearer we
come to Christ the better. Thousands are near enough to the Cross to be
touched by its influence, but not its transforming power. There is here —
1. A sacrifice forsin. The Cross is the power which draws us to God for
reconciliation.
2. Sanctificationfrom sin — "Whereby the World is crucified unto Me."
3. Elevationabove sin "Unto Me."
(T. Davies, Ph. D.)
J. Angell James.
(MissionarySermon): — The text presents us with —
I. THE GREAT OBJECT OF MISSIONARYZEAL. Such an object
associatesourcause with —
1. The design of the Son of God in redemption, the salvationof the human
soul.
2. The ultimate end of all Providential arrangements. Providence is the
direction of all human events with reference to the kingdom of Christ.

3. The best interests of the human race. If we succeedin drawing men to
Christ we save their souls from death, and provide them with a blissful
eternity; besides which religion is a civilizing process,and has the promise of
the life that now is.
II. THE GRAND INSTRUMENT OF MISSIONARYEXERTIONS— the
doctrine of the Cross. We see something resembling the splendid fable of
Constantine's conversion — "By this conquer." We preach a true crusade
whose objectis not the recoveryof the holy sepulchre, but the setting forth of
Him who is the Resurrectionand the Life, and whose weaponsare not carnal
but spiritual.
1. What is included in the doctrine of the Cross.(1)The manner of Christ's
death — agonizing, ignominious.(2)The design of Christ's death, "Whom God
hath setforth to be a propitiation."(3) The Divinity of Christ's Personas
constituting the value of His satisfaction. While the hope of a guilty world can
rest nowhere but on an atonement, that in its turn can be supported by
nothing short of the Rock ofAges.(4)The gratuitous manner in which its
blessings are bestowed:"by faith that it might be by grace."(5)Its moral
tendency and design as respects the heart and conduct of those by whom it is
received. "I am crucified with Christ."
2. The various powers of attraction which the doctrine of the Cross exerts.(1)
The stupendous fact arrests and fixes the attention. The whole fabric of
Christianity, both as to doctrines and duties, is founded on a fact; and that
fact, drawn out into details more touching and tender than canbe found in
any history or romance. Conceive the effect upon pagans, conversantwith
nothing but the puerilities of a barbarous state, who heard for the first time of
the death of the Sonof God.(2)As an exhibition of unparalleled love, it melts
and captivates the heart. John calls it the manifestation of love, as if nothing
more now remained to be known of love in any age or world; St. Paul speaks
of it as the commendation of love, as if nothing more could now ever be said
upon the subject; and Christ uses the remarkable emphasis, "God so loved,"
etc. There is a mighty power in love, and the heart which wraps itself up in the
covering of a stubborn and reckless despairagainstthe attacks ofseverity,
like the flower which closes atthe approach of the angry blast, will put forth

all the better parts of its nature to the smiles of love, like the tendrils of the sea
anemone when it feels the first wave of the returning tide upon its native
rock.(3)As a systemof mediation, it allays the fears of a guilty conscience,and
draws the soul into confidence in God. The idea of retributive justice seems
far more easilydeducible by the sinner from the light of nature, than that of
mercy. What is the meaning of all those bloody sacrifices? Butthe Cross puts
an authorized and perfect satisfactionto justice in the sinner's hand.(4) By
admitting an individual appropriation of its benefits, it appeals to all the
feelings of self-regardand personalinterest. It is the glory of the gospelthat,
while it makes ample provision for the world, it lays its blessings atthe feet of
every individual.(5) By the suitableness and certainty of its blessings, it
awakenshope and establishes faith. Are we guilty, here is pardon; "rebels,
here is reconciliation;unholy, here is sanctification;agitated, here is peace for
a wounded spirit; without knowledge ofor hope for the future, here is life and
immortality.
3. The effects which the doctrine of the Cross has produced.(1) In Judaism, at
the metropolis, and in heathen lands.(2) In heathenism at Antioch, Corinth,
Athens, and more recently in India, etc.
III. THE FIRST CONSUMMATION OF MISSIONARYSUCCESS.
1. Review the present results of missionaryzeal.
2. Forecastits future triumph.
(J. Angell James.)
R. Fuller, D. D.
The Crucifixion furnished a significant type of the influence which the Cross
would exert. Witnessing that spectaclewere all classesofmen. In the Roman
centurion behold a representative of the intellectualand scepticalconvinced,
saying, "This is the Son of God." In the multitude remark the carelessand
thoughtless roused and agitated, "smiting heavily on their breasts." In the

thief see the power of the Cross to stir and still the guilty clamour within.
Whateverthe intellect of man there is an argument in the Cross to convince
him; whateverhis heedlessnessthere is an energyin the Cross to rouse him;
whateverhis guilt there is a magnetism to draw, a magic to change, and a
mystery to save him.
(R. Fuller, D. D.)
Christ the GreatMagnet
T. L. Cuyler.
When I was a student at Princeton, ProfessorHenry had so constructeda
huge bar of iron, bent into the form of a horseshoe, thatit used to hang
suspended from another iron bar above it. Not only did it hang there, but it
upheld four thousand pounds weightattached to it! That horseshoe magnet
was not welded or glued to the metal above it; but through the iron wire coiled
round it there ran a subtle current of electricityfrom a galvanic battery. Stop
the flow of the current one instant, and the huge horseshoedropped. So does
all the lifting power of a Christian come from the currents of spiritual
influence which flow into his heart from the living Jesus. The strength of the
Almighty One enters into the believer. If his connectionwith Christ is cut off,
in an instant he becomes as weak as anyother man.
(T. L. Cuyler.)
The greatattraction
C. H. Spurgeon.
Our world has two forces:it has one tendency to run off at a tangent from its
orbit; but the sun draws it by a centripetal power, and attracts it to itself, and
so betweenthe two forces it is kept in a perpetual circle. Oh, Christian! thou
wilt never walk aright, and keepin the orbit of truth, if it be not for the
influence of Christ perpetually attracting thee to the centre. Thou feelest(and

if thou dost not feelalways, it is still there) — thou feelestan attraction
betweenthine heart and Christ; and Christ is perpetually drawing thee to
Himself, to His likeness, to His character, to His love, to His bosom, and in
that way thou art kept from thy natural tendency to fly off, and to be lost in
the wide fields of sin.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The moral attraction and separationof the Cross
A. T. Gordon.
He was lifted up, that He might draw all men unto Him by drawing them out
of, and awayfrom, the sins that had put them so far off from Him. The sun,
lifted into the meridian heavens, draws through its far-reaching beams from
ten thousand lakes, and rivers, and oceans. Butthere is separationas wellas
attraction. Here a crystal drop is lifted from a muddy pool, but with no trace
of impurity remaining in it; and there anotherdrop is drawn from the Dead
Sea waters, but with no taint of the acrid salts left in it. There is attractionand
separationin one process.So, the beams of love from Christ's Cross fall upon
this sinful world, and draw men to Him. Notalone to win you to Himself did
Jesus die; but also to win you awayforever from the sins that have held you in
the bondage of corruption. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus;for He shall save
His people from their sins."
(A. T. Gordon.)
The universality of Christ
H. Melvill, B. D.
The image, which most naturally suggestsitselfto the mind on reading the
declaration, is that of the loadstone attracting on all sides the iron to itself. But
this is a defective image; the loadstone draws only one kind of substance;
Christ declares thatHe will draw all men, howeverdiverse their character.

Some of the ancient philosophers, observing the attractive power of the earth,
by which various bodies are made to fall towards its surface, inclined to the
opinion that the earth itself was one huge loadstone. Sir Isaac Newtonfairly
argued that the earth attracts a feather as much as a piece of iron; whereas
the loadstone attracts only iron, and he therefore contendedthere could be
nothing analogous betweenthe loadstone and the earth. Now it will follow
from this, that Christ must be thought of as having the properties of the earth
rather than of the loadstone. Some bodies indeed are so light that they float in
the air, but this is not because the earth attracts them not, but simply because
the air resists their descent. If there were no air, the tiniest leaf would fall as
rapidly as a mass of lead. And here we cannot but observe a beautiful analogy.
Only a few are actually drawn to Christ, the greatmass of men continue at a
distance. But Christ, like the earth, attracts all — though, as with the earth,
all come not to Him. Why, then, are not all literally drawn unto Him? Oh! just
because there is a carnal atmosphere round them, which neutralizes, as it
were, the attractive power;and thousands float in it, who, if it were destroyed,
would rush eagerlyto Jesus as their centre. So that in these respects the earth,
though not the lodestone, is the exactemblem of Christ; there is attractive
virtue enough in eachcase to draw all; but in eachcase there is also a resisting
medium which prevents the lighter bodies from descending. And it is possible,
that this is something more than imagery, and ought to be receivedas
interpretation. It is clearthat the fact of one substance drawing another does
not depend on the two being actually brought into contact. The earth draws
the featheras much as it draws the lead; yet the feather falls not, and the lead
rushes. Thus with Christ: it is not that He did not die for all; it is not that He
does not love all; it is not that He does not invite all; and therefore we cannot
be warranted in saying that He does not draw all — just as the earth draws
all. But the feather of the unstable and worldly mind descends not, whilst the
lead of the wearyand heavy-laden spirit approaches Him rapidly. All are
drawn; but one is inflated with vanity, and therefore floats; another is
burdened with sin, and therefore falls. So that by illustration, at least, if not
by argument, we make out that Christ might sayof Himself that He would
draw all, and yet know that all would not come to Him for life.
(H. Melvill, B. D.)

The mighty magnet
Homiletic Review.
The attractionof gravitationis an invisible force, whose centre is the sun. This
natural force illustrates the attractive power of the Cross. The Cross attracts
—
I. BY ITS EXHIBITION OF JUSTICE (Romans 3:25).
1. Violated law demands the punishment of the guilty. This principle is
inherent in man's conscience.There is a distinction betweenchastisementand
punishment. The one originates in love, and its end is the goodof the offender;
the other originates in justice, and its end is the maintenance of the majesty of
law.
2. The Cross of Christ satisfies the demand of conscienceforjustice. Christ is
"the propitiation for our sins" (2 John 2:2).(1) The sufferings of Christ were
penal. He bore our sins (Isaiah 53:4-6). He was "made a curse for us"
(Galatians 3:13). "God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2
Corinthians 5:21).(2) The sufferings of Christ were vicarious (1 Corinthians
15:3).(3) All the difficulties of this truth find their practical solution in the
union of the believer with Christ (Hebrews 10:22).
II. BY ITS EXHIBITION OF LOVE.
1. It has its origin in love (1 John 3:16).
2. It reconciles the attributes of God. The substitution of Christ for sinners is
not a mere arbitrary interference (Psalm 85:10).
3. The sacrifice of the Cross was voluntary, and in accordancewitha covenant
arrangementbetweenthe Father and the Son (John 10:17, 18).
III. THIS EXHIBITION OF LOVE AND JUSTICE IN THE CROSS OF
CHRIST IS THE MIGHTY MAGNET OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.

1. The power which draws near to the Cross is the work of the Holy Spirit
(John 16:8-11).
2. There is no passion, affection, ordesire of the human heart which the Holy
Spirit cannot subdue by the Cross.
3. The attractive powerof the Cross, through the influences of the Holy Spirit,
is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
(Homiletic Review.)
Christ drawing all
J. G. Greenhough, M. A.
Note:
I. CHRIST'S SUBLIME CONFIDENCE.He knew that the triumphal
processionto Jerusalemwas but a funeral march. The Church has had many
moments of despairsince then, but never one like that. There is much to
wearyand depress in the slow progress ofthe Church, yet how much brighter
is our outlook than His. Yet He never faltered. And He is standing in the midst
of His waiting Church today, sure of Himself, and of His truth and His
destiny.
II. THE CONDITION OF VICTORY"lifted up." Eighteenhundred years
were needed to explain this — lifted up out of the passions ofmen, their
prejudices, errors, misconceptions, sins — He was so far above His age that it
has takeneighteencenturies of moral growth to enable men to partially
understand Him. By and by the world will see the King in His beauty, and
then this promise will be fulfilled.
III. THE TRUE CHARACTER OF CHRIST'S POWER — "draw." It is the
magic attraction of Divine beauty, and not the compulsion of Divine terrors.
He would have no slaves, but free men. He disdained to entice men by the
bribes of this world or the next. He had faith in human nature, and laid hold
of its aspirations with His love.

IV. THE VAST KINGDOM OVER WHICH CHRIST WILL REIGN — "all
men." The text lies parallel to Christ's prophecy of one fold and one shepherd,
and the apostles'anticipation of the complete victory Christ will win when He
shall put all things under His feet.
(J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)
Christ drawing, not dragging
Abp. Trench.
The words σύρω and ἐλκύω differ. In σύρειν, as in our "drag," there lies
always the notion of force, e.g., the headlong course of a river; and it will
follow, that where persons, and not merely things, are in question, σύρειν, will
involve the notion of violence (Acts 8:3; Acts 14:19;Acts 17:6). But in ἐλκύειν
this notion does not of necessitylie. It may be there (Acts 16:19;Acts 21:30;
James 2:6), but not of necessity, any more than in our "draw," which we use
of a mental and moral attraction, or in the Latin traho. Only by keeping in
mind this difference can we vindicate from erroneous interpretation this
doctrinally important passage.The word here is ἐλκύσω. But how does a
crucified, and thus an exalted, Saviour draw all men unto Him? Not by force,
for the will is incapable of force, but by the Divine attractionof His love.
Again (John 6:44) "Fatherwhich hath sent Me draw him" (ἐλκύση ἀυτόν).
Now, as many as feel bound to deny any gratia irresistibilis, which turns man
into a mere machine, and by which, willing or unwilling, he is draggedto God,
must at once assertthat this ἐλκύση can mean no more than the potent
allurements, the allective force of love, the attracting of men by the Father to
the Son; compare Jeremiah31:3 (ἔλκυσα σε), and Song of Solomon 1:3,
4. Did we find σύρειν on either of these occasions (not that I can conceive this
possible), the assertors ofa gratia irresistibilis, might then urge the
declarations ofour Lord as leaving no room for any other meaning but theirs;
but not as they now stand. In agreementwith all this, in ἐλκύειν, is
predominantly the sense ofa drawing to a certain point, in σύριεν merely of
dragging after one. Thus Lucian likens a man to a fish already hookedand

draggedthrough the water. Notseldom there will lie in συριεν the notion of
this dragging being on the ground, inasmuch as that will trail upon the
ground (Isaiah3:16), which is forcibly draggedalong with no will of its own:
as for example, a dead body. We may compare John 21:6, 11, with ver. 8 of
the same chapter, in proof of what has just been asserted. At ver. 6 and 11
ἐλκύειν is used: for there a drawing of the net to a certainpoint is intended:
by the disciples to themselves in the ship, by Peterto himself upon the shore.
But at ver. 8, ἐλκύειν gives place to συριεν, for nothing is there intended but
the dragging of the net, which had been fastenedto the ship, after it through
the water.
(Abp. Trench.)
The powerof Christ's death
F. Carter.
I. THE MANIFESTATION OF THE POWER OF CHRIST'S DEATH.
1. Evidences ofthis power are to be found in the national and sociallife of
countries wherever His death has been proclaimed. Is it not marvellous that
an obscure teacher, who spent but a few years in making known His doctrines
to a despisedpeople, and was so despised by them that they put Him to death,
should draw to Him the steadfastgaze ofall who have heard His name?
2. Within the broad circle of popular homage to Christ, there is the narrower
one containing those who are personally attachedto Him. He who was
despisedand crucified is loved by millions with an ardour that death cannot
quench.
3. Whatevermay now be the powerof Christ's death, it will be greaterstill.
"Every knee shall bow" to Him. The fulness of the promise is not yet realized;
but because the stream of homage has daily risen higher, the hope is kindled
that the whole family of man will be gathered into the household of God.
4. But if this hope be not realized, in yet another sense allmen will be drawn
to Christ. "When He comethwith clouds every eye shall see Him."

II. WHENCE COMES THIS ATTRACTIVE POWER?
1. Christ's death is significant, because in it He triumphed over the prince of
this world (ver. 31). He shook the kingdom of evil to its foundation, and gave
to all the power to become the sons of God. So men are drawn to Him as their
Deliverer.
2. Christ's death exemplifies the highest form of self-sacrifice, anddeclares
with greatestemphasis the love of God. The world knows ofno greaterforces
than love and self-sacrifice.
3. Christ's death is the ground of the impartation of spiritual life (ver. 24).
(F. Carter.)
The centripetal powerof Christ overcoming the centrifugal attraction of sin
Homiletic Review.
I. MAN THE WANDERER. The centrifugalinfluence of sin has been felt not
only by devils, but by men. It has so separatedman from Godthat he has
neither the disposition nor the ability to return.
1. Cain-like he has gone out from the presence of God.
2. Prodigal-like he has gone into a far country.
3. Pharaoh-like he has asked, "Who is the Lord that I should serve Him?"
4. Eve-like he has been seducedfrom his allegiance.
II. CHRIST THE RESTORER. A Divine Person, one representative and a
substitute.
1. He has provided for our restorationby the Cross. He was lifted up in the
very heart of Satan's kingdom. In the midst of fiery flying serpents He heals
our diseasesandrestores us to our place of duty in His kingdom.

2. From earth to heaven. "Led captivity captive." "A highway shall be there."
"I am the Way." Thus only is the wandering star brought back to its orbit by
the attractionof the Sun of Righteousness.
III. THE BLESSINGS THUS SECURED.
1. Man is freed from sin; its guilt, pollution, love, power, alienation, and curse.
2. Mammon is no longerHis Master. As the greaterfire extinguishes the less,
so the love of Christ puts out the love of Mammon.
3. He is drawn to Christ. This first; to Church and ordinances after. Union is
followedby communion. Being like Him, we shall spend eternity with Him.
IV. APPLICATION. Men by nature are drawn by sin to hell; they must by
grace be drawn from sin to heaven. Which powercontrols you, the centrifugal
or the centripetal? The one will land you in the zenith of glory; the other sink
you in the nadir of despair.
(Homiletic Review.)
Christ's kingdom
Marcus Dods, D. D.
I. THE OBJECTOF CHRIST WAS TO DRAW ALL MEN UNTO HIM. The
opposition in which He sets Himself to the prince of this world (ver. 31)shows
us that by drawing He means attracting as a king attracts to his name, claims,
standard, person. Note some of the characteristicsofthis kingdom.
1. It is a kingdom; a community of men under one Head. Those who are
attractedto Christ are formed into one solid body or community. Being
drawn to Christ, we enter into fellowship with all the goodwho are labouring
in the cause ofhumanity. Every man out of Christ is an isolatedindividual.
2. It is a universal kingdom — "all men." The idea of universal monarchy has
visited the greatminds of our race. But an effectualinstrument has ever been
wanting. Christ turns this grandestdream into a rational hope. He appeals to

what is universally present in human nature, and there is that in Him which
every man needs. He does not say that His kingdom will be quickly formed. If
it has takena million ages forthe rocks to knit and form for us a standing
ground and a dwelling place, we must not expectthat this kingdom, which is
to be the one enduring result of this world's history, and which canbe built up
only of thoroughly convinced men, and of generations slowlyweededof
traditional prejudices and customs, can be completedin a few years.
3. Being universal it is necessarilyinward. What is common to all men lies
deepestin each. Christ knew what was in man, and knew also that He could
swayall that was in man. This He would do by the simple moral process of
drawing. It is by inward conviction, not outward compulsion, men are to
become His subjects. And because Christ's rule is inward, it is therefore of
universal application. The inmost choice being governedby Christ, all
conduct is governedby Christ. The kingdom of Christ claims all human life as
its own. If the statesmanis a Christian, it will be seenin his policy; if the poet,
his song will betray it, etc. Christianity does not mean churches, creeds,
Bibles, but the Spirit of Christ. It is the most portable and flexible of all
religions, and therefore the most persuasive and dominant in the life of its
adherent.
II. THE CONDITION OF HIS ATTAINING IT. NotHis remarkable life, but
His shameful death. Wherein then consists the superiority of the latter as a
constraining force?
1. Becauseit presents in a dramatic and compactmanner the devotedness
which is diffused through every part of the life, and was the culmination and
sealof the life.
2. BecauseChristwas the representative of God, and His death the last
syllable of the utterance of God's greatlove for man. It draws us because the
very heart of God is laid bare to us. It is this which is specialto the death of
Christ, and separates itfrom all other deaths. Nothing could be more noble or
pathetic than the wayin which Roman after Roman met His death. But
beyond respectfuladmiration they win from us no further sentiment; they
have no connectionwith us. But Christ's death concerns all men, and the

result of our contemplation of it is not that we admire, but are drawn into new
relations with Him whom that death reveals.
(Marcus Dods, D. D.)
A lessonfor preachers and churches
J. Brown, D. D.
"You have," said the Hon. and Rev. W.B. Cadogan, to a young clergyman,
"but one thing to do; exalt Jesus, andthe promise is, 'I will draw all men unto
Him.'" The Moravians laboured in Greenland for a number of years with no
apparent fruit. When they spoke to the savages ofthe being and attributes of
God — of the sin of man — of the necessityofan atonement — of the evil of
sin — of the excellenceofholiness — of the glories of heaven, or of the horrors
of hell — their hearers talked of soul catching, and said they did not
understand these things. But, on one of the missionaries one day describing to
them, with unusual minuteness, the sufferings and death of Christ, one of the
savagessuddenly stepped forward, and said, "How was that? Tell me it once
more. I also would fain be saved." This amazed and delighted the
missionaries, and led them to adopt a new method with their pagandisciples.
They preachedthe Cross. Theyheld up Jesus, lifted up from the earth, and
virtue came forth from Him. The poor brutalized Greenlanders were
interested; their dark understandings were enlightened; their stubborn hearts
melted; in a word, they were drawn to Christ; the Spirit wielded resistlessly
His favourite instrument — the Cross.
(J. Brown, D. D.)
Nothing but the Cross draws for any length of time
J. C. Jones, D. D.
Take Unitarianism, for instance, Christianity with the Cross left out, the
Gospelwith the Atonement struck off. What is the result? It does not "draw."

One of the leaders of EnglishUnitarianism declaredpublicly in Birmingham
the other day that Unitarianism failed to "draw." The English public will not
attend their chapels. Thatis just what Christ fore. saw. He knew that nought
save His Cross wouldserve to draw men. "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw."
It is not His character, thoughspotlesslywhite, not His teaching, though
sublimely pure, not His person, though mysteriously Divine, but His Cross
that is the centre of the world's attraction. The popularity as wellas the
efficacyof Christianity is mainly dependent on the Cross.
(J. C. Jones, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(32) And I, if I be lifted up from the earth.—The pronoun is strongly
emphatic. “And I,” in opposition to the prince of this world; the conquerorin
opposition to the vanquished foe. The conditional form, “If I be lifted up,”
answers to the “troubled soul” of John 12:27. He knows that it will be so, but
He leaves the future to declare its own truths. Comp. the phrases, “If it be
possible,” “Ifthis may not pass awayfrom Me” (Matthew 26:39; Matthew
26:42), and Note on John 14:3. The words “lifted up” have occurredbefore in
John 3:14; John 8:28; but the contexthere shows that they include the
thought of the ascensioninto heaven. It is from the heavenly throne that the
Messiahwill rule over His spiritual kingdom.
Will draw all men unto me.—Better, . . . unto Myself. The words “all men”
are not to be limited by interpretations which refer them to nations, or to elect
persons within nations; but are to be taken in all the fulness of their width as
meaning simply what they say—“all.”The drawing unto Himself is the
assertionofHis reign over the world, from which the prince of evil shall be
castout. He will Himself be the centre of the new kingdom, from which none

shall be shut out. These Greekswho are drawn to Him now are the first-fruits
of the harvest of which the whole world is the field, and of which the lastday
is to be the greatingathering. The word “draw” occurs once in the New
Testament, besides this passage, in a moral sense (John 6:44; comp. Note on it
there). It is accomplishedin the work of the Holy Spirit, whose missionto the
Church was dependent on the ascensionofour Lord (John 7:39; John 16:7);
and the promise is fulfilled even in the case ofthose who resistthe Holy
Spirit’s influence. They are drawn by the moral power of the life and death
and resurrectionof Christ brought home to them by the Holy Ghost; but no
moral power can compela will which is free. (Comp. Note on John 6:37.) The
whole mission-work of the Church and every effort which Christianity brings
to bear upon the evil of the world implies this moral drawing; and implies,
too, the powerof man to rejectit. But we may not say this moral power is not
leading men to Christ, where we can leasttrace it, and we may not say that
there is any limit where its influence ends. (Comp. Note on 1Peter3:19.)
MacLaren's Expositions
John
THE UNIVERSAL MAGNET
John 12:32.
‘Never man spake like this Man,’ said the wondering Temple officials who
were sent to apprehend Jesus. There are many aspects ofour Lord’s teaching
in which it strikes one as unique; but perhaps none is more singular than the
boundless boldness of His assertionsofHis importance to the world. Just
think of such sayings as these:‘I am the Light of the world’; ‘I am the Bread
of Life’; ‘I am the Door’;‘A greaterthan Solomon is here’; ‘In this place is
One greaterthan the Temple.’ We do not usually attach much importance to

men’s estimate of themselves;and gigantic claims such as these are generally
met by incredulity or scorn. But the strange thing about Christ’s loftiest
assertions ofHis world-wide worth and personal sinlessness is that they
provoke no contradiction, and that the world takes Him at His own valuation.
So profound is the impression that He has made, that men assentwhen He
says, ‘I am meek and lowly in heart,’ and do not answeras they would to
anybody else, ‘If you were, you would never have said so.’
Now there is no more startling utterance of this extraordinary self-
consciousnessofJesus Christ than the words that I have used for my text.
They go deep down into the secretof His power. They open a glimpse into His
inmost thoughts about Himself which He very seldom shows us. And they
come to eachof us with a very touching and strong personalappeal as to what
we are doing with, and how we individually are responding to, that universal
appeal on which He says that He is exercising.
I. So I wish to dwell on these words now, and ask you first to notice here our
Lord’s forecasting ofthe Cross.
A handful of Greeks had come up to Jerusalemto the Passover, and they
desired to see Jesus, perhaps only because they had heard about Him, and to
gratify some fleeting curiosity; perhaps for some deeperand more sacred
reason. But in that tiny incident our Lord sees the first greenblade coming up
above the ground which was the prophet of an abundant harvest; the first
drop of a greatabundance of rain. He recognisesthat He is beginning to pass
out from Israelinto the world. But the thought of His world-wide influence
thus indicated and prophesied immediately brings along with it the thought of
what must be gone through before that influence can be established. And he
discerns that, like the corn of wheatthat falls into the ground, the condition of
fruitfulness for Him is death.

Now we are to remember that our Lord here is within a few hours of
Gethsemane, and a few days of the Cross, and that events had so unfolded
themselves that it neededno prophet to see that there could only be one end to
the duel which he had deliberately brought about betweenHimself and the
rulers of Israel. So that I build nothing upon the anticipation of the Cross,
which comes out at this stage in our Lord’s history, for any man in His
position might have seen, as clearly as He did, that His path was blocked, and
that very near at hand, by the grim instrument of death. But then remember
that this same expressionof my text occurs at a very much earlierperiod of
our Lord’s career, and that if we acceptthis Gospelof John, at the very
beginning of it He said, ‘As Moseslifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up’; and that that was no mere passing
thought is obvious from the factthat midway in His career, if we acceptthe
testimony of the same Gospel, He used the same expressionto cavilling
opponents when He said: ‘When ye have lifted up the Sonof Man, then shall
ye know that I am He.’ And so at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end
of His careerthe same idea is castinto the same words, a witness of the hold
that it had upon Him, and the continual presence of it to His consciousness.
I do not need to refer here to other illustrations and proofs of the same thing,
only I desire to say, as plainly and strongly as I can, that modern ideas that
Jesus Christ only recognisedthe necessityofHis death at a late stage of His
work, and that like other reformers, He beganwith buoyant hope, and
thought that He had but to speak and the world would hear, and, like other
reformers, was disenchantedby degrees, are, in my poor judgment, utterly
baseless, andbluntly contradictedby the Gospelnarratives. And so, dear
brethren, this is the image that rises before us, and that ought to appeal to us
all very plainly; a Christ who, from the first moment of His consciousness of
Messiahship-andhow early that consciousnesswas I am not here to inquire-
was conscious likewiseofthe death that was to close it. ‘He came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister,’ and likewise forthis end, ‘to give His life a
ransom for the many.’ That gracious, gentle life, full of all charities, and long-
suffering, and sweetgoodness,and patience, was not the life of a Man whose
heart was at leisure from all anxiety about Himself, but the life of a Man

before whom there stood, ever grim and distinct away on the horizon, the
Cross and Himself upon it. You all remember a well-knownpicture that
suggeststhe ‘Shadow of Death,’the shadow of the Cross falling, unseen by
Him, but seenwith open eyes of horror by His mother. But the reality is a far
more pathetic one than that; it is this, that He came on purpose to die.
But now there is another point suggestedby these remarkable words, and that
is that our Lord regardedthe Cross ofshame as exaltationor ‘lifting up.’ I do
not believe that the use of this remarkable phrase in our text finds its
explanation in the few inches of elevationabove the surface of the ground to
which the crucified victims were usually raised. That is there, of course, but
there is something far deeper and more wonderful than that in the
background, and it is this in part, that that Cross, to Christ’s eyes, bore a
double aspect. So far as the inflicters or the externals of it were concerned, it
was ignominy, shame, agony, the very lowestpoint of humiliation. But there
was another side to it. What in one aspectis the nadir, the lowestpoint
beneath men’s feet, is in another aspectthe zenith, the very highestpoint in
the bending heavenabove us. So throughout this Gospel, and very
emphatically in the text, we find that we have the complement of the Pauline
view of the Cross, whichis, that it was shame and agony. For our Lord says,
‘Now the hour is come when the Son of Man shall be glorified.’ Whether it is
glory or shame depends on what it was that bound Him there. The reasonfor
His enduring it makes it the very climax and flaming summit of His flaming
love. And, therefore, He is lifted up not merely because the Cross is elevated
above the ground on the little elevationof Calvary, but that Cross is His
throne, because there, in highest and sovereignfashion, are set forth His
glories, the glories of His love, and of the ‘grace and truth’ of which He was
‘full.’
So let us not forgetthis double aspect, and whilst we bow before Him who
‘endured the Cross, despising the shame,’let us also try to understand and to
feel what He means when, in the vision of it, He said, ‘the hour is come that

the Sonof Man shall be glorified.’ It was meant for mockery, but mockery
veiled unsuspected truth when they twined round His pale brows the crown of
thorns, thereby setting forth unconsciouslythe everlasting truth that
sovereigntyis won by suffering; and placedin His unresisting hand the
sceptre of reed, thereby setting forth the deep truth of His kingdom, that
dominion is exercisedin gentleness. Mightierthan all rods of iron, or sharp
swords which conquerors wield, and more lustrous and splendid than tiaras of
gold glistening with diamonds, are the sceptre of reed in the hands, and the
crownof thorns on the head, of the exalted, because crucified, Man of
Sorrows.
But there is still another aspectofChrist’s vision of His Cross, forthe ‘lifting
up’ on it necessarilydraws after it the lifting up to the dominion of the
heavens. And so the Apostle, using a word kindred with that of my text, but
intensifying it by addition, says, ‘He became obedient even unto the death of
the Cross, whereforeGodalso hath highly lifted Him up.’
So here we have Christ’s own conceptionof His death, that it was inevitable,
that it was exaltationeven in the actof dying, and that it drew after it, of
inevitable necessity, dominion exercisedfrom the heavens over all the earth.
He was lifted up on Calvary, and because He was lifted up He has carriedour
manhood into the place of glory, and sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty
on high. So much for the first point to which I would desire to turn your
attention.
II. Now we have here our Lord disclosing the secretof His attractive power.
‘I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.’ That ‘if’
expresses no doubt, it only sets forth the condition. The Christ lifted up on the
Cross is the Christ that draws men. Now I would have you notice the fact that

our Lord thus unveils, as it were, where His power to influence individuals
and humanity chiefly resides. He speaks aboutHis death in altogethera
different fashion from that of other men, for He does not merely say, ‘If I be
lifted up from the earth, this story of the Cross will draw men,’ but He says, ‘I
will’ do it; and thus contemplates, as I shall have to say in a moment,
continuous personalinfluence all through the ages.
Now that is not how other people have to speak about their deaths, for all
other men who have influenced the world for goodor for evil, thinkers and
benefactors, andreformers, socialand religious, all of them come under the
one law that their death is no part of their activity, but terminates their work,
and that thereafter, with few exceptions, and for brief periods, their influence
is a diminishing quantity. So one Apostle had to say, ‘To abide in the flesh is
more needful for you,’ and another had to say, ‘I will endeavour that after my
deceaseye may keepin mind the things that I have told you’; and all thinkers
and teachers and helpers glide away further and further, and are wrapped
about with thicker and thicker mists of oblivion, and their influence becomes
less and less.
The best that history can sayabout any of them is, ‘This man, having served
his generationby the will of God, fell on sleep.’But that other Man who was
lifted on the Cross saw no corruption, and the death which puts a period to all
other men’s work was planted right in the centre of His, and was itself part of
that work, and was followedby a new form of it which is to endure for ever.
The Cross is the magnet of Christianity. Jesus Christdraws men, but it is by
His Cross mainly, and that He felt this profoundly is plain enough, not only
from such utterances as this of my text, but, to go no further, from the fact
that He has askedus to remember only one thing about Him, and has
establishedthat ordinance of the Communion or the Lord’s Supper, which is
to remind us always, and to bear witness to the world, of where is the centre of

His work, and the fact which He most desires that men should keepin mind,
not the graciousnessofHis words, not their wisdom, not the gooddeeds that
He did, but ‘This is My body brokenfor you . . . this cup is the New Testament
in My blood.’ A religion which has for its chief rite the symbol of a death,
must enshrine that death in the very heart of the forces to which it trusts to
renew the world, and to bless individual souls.
If, then, that is true, if Jesus Christ was not all wrong when He spoke as He
did in my text, then the question arises, what is it about His death that makes
it the magnetthat will draw all men? Men are drawn by cords of love. They
may be driven by other means, but they are drawn only by love. And what is
it that makes Christ’s death the highest and noblest and most wonderful and
transcendentmanifestation of love that the world has ever seen, or ever can
see? No doubt you will think me very narrow and old-fashioned when I
answerthe question, with the profoundest convictionof my own mind, and, I
hope, the trust of my own heart. The one thing that entitles men to interpret
Christ’s death as the supreme manifestation of love is that it was a death
voluntarily undertaken for a world’s sins.
If you do not believe that, will you tell me what claim on your heart Christ has
because He died? Has Socrates anyclaim on your heart? And are there not
hundreds and thousands of martyrs who have just as much right to be
regardedwith reverence and affection as this Galileancarpenter’s Sonhas,
unless, when He died, He died as the Sacrifice forthe sins of the whole world,
and for yours and mine? I know all the pathetic beauty of the story. I know
how many men’s hearts are moved in some degree by the life and death of our
Lord, who yet would hesitate to adopt the full-toned utterance which I have
now been giving. But I would beseechyou, dear friends, to lay this question
seriouslyto heart, whether there is any legitimate reasonfor the reverence,
the love, the worship, which the world is giving to this Galileanyoung man, if
you strike out the thought that it was because He loved the world that He
chose to die to loose it from the bands of its sin. It may be, it is, a most pathetic

and lovely story, but it has not powerto draw all men, unless it deals with that
which all men need, and unless it is the self-surrender of the Son of God for
the whole world.
III. And now, lastly, we have here our Lord anticipating continuous and
universal influence.
I have already drawn attention to the peculiar fullness of the form of
expressionin my text, which, fairly interpreted, does certainly imply that our
Lord at that supreme moment lookedforward, as I have already said, to His
death, not as putting a period to His work, but as being the transition from
one form of influence operating upon a very narrow circle, to another form of
influence which would one day flood the world. I do not need to dwell upon
that thought, beyond seeking to emphasise this truth, that one ought to feel
that Jesus Christ has a living connectionnow with eachof us. It is not merely
that the story of the Cross is left to work its results, but, as I for my part
believe, that the dear Lord, who, before He became Man, was the Light of the
World, and enlightened every man that came into it, after His death is yet
more the Light of the World, and is exercising influence all over the earth, not
only by conscienceand the light that is within us, nor only through the effects
of the recordof His past, but by the continuous operations of His Spirit. I do
not dwell upon that thought further than to saythat I beseechyou to think of
Jesus Christ, not as One who died for our sins only, but as one who lives to-
day, and to-day, in no rhetoricalexaggerationbut in simple and profound
truth, is ready to help and to bless and to be with every one of us. ‘It is Christ
that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercessionforus.’
But, beyond that, mark His confidence of universal influence: ‘I will draw all
men.’ I need not dwell upon the distinct adaptation of Christian truth, and of
that sacrifice onthe Cross, to the needs of all men. It is the universal remedy,

for it goes directto the universal epidemic. The thing that men and women
want most, the thing that you want most, is that your relation with God shall
be set right, and that you shall be delivered from the guilt of past sin, from the
exposure to its powerin the present and in the future. Whateverdiversities of
climate, civilisation, culture, characterthe world holds, every man is like
every other man in this, that he has ‘sinned and come short of the glory of
God.’ And it is because Christ’s Cross goesdirectto dealwith that condition
of things that the preaching of it is a gospel, not for this phase of societyor
that type of men or the other stage ofculture, but that it is meant for, and is
able to deliver and to bless, every man.
So, brethren, a universal attraction is raying out from Christ’s Cross, and
from Himself to eachof us. But that universal attraction canbe resisted. If a
man plants his feet firmly and wide apart, and holds on with both hands to
some staple or holdfast, then the drawing cannot draw. There is the
attraction, but he is not attracted. You demagnetise Christianity, as all history
shows, if you strike out the death on the Cross fora world’s sin. What is left is
not a magnet, but a bit of scrap iron. And you can take yourselfaway from
the influence of the attractionif you will, some of us by active resistance,some
of us by mere negligence, as a cord castoversome slippery body with the
purpose of drawing it, may slip off, and the thing lie there unmoved.
And so I come to you now, dear friends, with the plain question, What are you
doing in response to Christ’s drawing of you? He has died for you on the
Cross;does that not draw? He lives to bless you; does that not draw? He loves
you with love changeless as a God, with love warm and emotionalas a man;
does that not draw? He speaks to you, I venture to say, through my poor
words, and says, ‘Come unto Me, and I will give you rest’; does that not
draw? We are all in the bog. He stands on firm ground, and puts out a hand.
If you like to clutch it, by the pledge of the nail-prints on the palm, He will lift
you from ‘the horrible pit and the miry clay, and setyour feet upon a rock.’
God grant that all of us may say, ‘Draw us, and we will run after Thee’!

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
12:27-33 The sin of our souls was the troubled of Christ's soul, when he
undertook to redeem and save us, and to make his soul an offering for our sin.
Christ was willing to suffer, yet prayed to be savedfrom suffering. Prayer
againsttrouble may well agree with patience under it, and submission to the
will of God in it. Our Lord Jesus undertook to satisfy God's injured honour,
and he did it by humbling himself. The voice of the Fatherfrom heaven,
which had declaredhim to be his beloved Son, at his baptism, and when he
was transfigured, was heard proclaiming that He had both glorified his name,
and would glorify it. Christ, reconciling the world to God by the merit of his
death, broke the powerof death, and castout Satanas a destroyer. Christ,
bringing the world to God by the doctrine of his cross, broke the powerof sin,
and castout Satan as a deceiver. The soul that was at a distance from Christ,
is brought to love him and trust him. Jesus was now going to heaven, and he
would draw men's hearts to him thither. There is power in the death of Christ
to draw souls to him. We have heard from the gospelthat which exalts free
grace, and we have heard also that which enjoins duty; we must from the
heart embrace both, and not separate them.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Be lifted up - See John 3:14; John 8:28.
Will draw - John 6:44. The same word is used in both places.
All men - I will incline all kinds of men; or will make the way open by the
cross, so that all men may come. I will provide a way which shall present a
strong motive or inducement - the strongestthat can be presented to all men
to come to me.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
32. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me—The "I"
here is emphatic—I, taking the place of the world's ejectedprince. "If lifted
up," means not only after that I have been lifted up, but, through the virtue of
that uplifting. And truly, the death of the Cross, in all its significance, revealed
in the light, and borne in upon the heart, by the power of the Holy Ghost,

possesses anattractionover the wide world—to civilized and savage, learned
and illiterate, alike—whichbreaks downall opposition, assimilates allto itself,
and forms out of the most heterogeneous anddiscordant materials a kingdom
of surpassing glory, whose uniting principle is adoring subjection "to Him
that loved them." "Will draw all men 'UNTO ME,'" says He. What lips could
venture to utter such a word but His, which "dropt as an honeycomb," whose
manner of speaking was evermore in the same spirit of conscious equality
with the Father?
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Ver. 32,33. Howeverthis term of lifting up Christ is taken in some other
scriptures, it is by the evangelisthimself in this text expounded concerning his
death, so as there is no room for any other interpretation of it in this text. The
word that is used, is hardly to be found in any place (exceptwhere in
Scripture it relates to Christ) signifying to die, or put to death; but is very
proper, both to express the kind of his death, which was a lifting up upon the
cross, from the earth into the air; and to let us know that his death was a
lifting up of his name: as it was the lowestdegree ofhis humiliation, so it was
nearestto his exaltation. It was his highest actof obedience to the will of his
Father, that for which his Fatherhighly exaltedhim, giving him a name which
is above every name, Philippians 2:9; and also that which made his name
famous over all the world, by the preaching of the gospel;for as the apostles,
so all the ministers of the gospelsince their times, preacha Christ crucified.
Saith our Saviour, If, or although, I be put to death by the hands of the Jews,
lifted up upon the cross betweenheavenand earth, yet this shall not hinder
my Father’s glorifying of himself in and by me; for instead of obscuring or
hindering my Father’s glory, by this I shall further promote it. Forby the
preaching of my cross, and publication of my gospelto all nations, and by the
efficacious concurrenceofmy Holy Spirit, togetherwith the preaching of the
gospel, I shall draw (though not all, and every man, yet) multitudes of men
and women after me, so as they shall embrace and believe in me, having died
and risen up again from the dead, and being by my apostles, andother
ministers of the gospel, held forth as the object of people’s faith, to be by them
laid hold upon in order to their eternallife and salvation. He used the term of
lifting up, (saith the evangelist), to signify the particular death he should die,

by being crucified; in which death the bodies of the crucified abode not upon
the earth, as when they were at any time stoned, or strangled, or beheaded,
&c., but were lifted up from the earth to be nailed to the cross, andhung in
the air until they died.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,.... The death of Christ is here signified
by his being "lifted up from the earth", in allusion to the lifting up of the
brazen serpenton the pole; and shows, that his death would not be natural,
but violent, and would be public, and not private; and fitly expresseshis
mediation betweenGod, and men, being lifted up betweenthe heavens and the
earth; and points out the death of the cross, as is intimated in the next verse:
and the "if" here does not suppose that his death, and the manner of it, were
uncertain, for it was determined by God, agreedto by himself, predicted in
the Scriptures, signified by types, and foretold by himself, and was necessary
for the salvationof his people; but it designs the time of his drawing persons
to himself, which is afterwards expressed, and may be rendered, "when I am
lifted up", as it is by the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions:now when this
will be, Christ says,
I will draw all men to me; which is not to be understood of the concourseof
people about him, when on the cross, some forhim, and others againsthim,
some to bewail him, and others to reproachhim; but rather of the gathering
of the electto him, and in him, as their head and representative, when he was
crucified for them; or of the collectionof them, through the ministry of the
apostles, andof their being brought to believe on him for eternallife and
salvation:and this drawing of them to him, in consequence ofhis death,
supposes distance from him, want of power, and will, to came to him, and the
efficacious graceofGod to bring them, though without any force and
compulsion; and this is to be understood not of every individual of human
nature; for all are not drawn to Christ, or enabled to come to him, and believe
in him. There were many of the Jews who would not, and did not come to him
for life; and who instead of being drawn to him in this sense, whenlifted up on
the cross, vilified and reproachedhim; moreover, in the preceding verse, "a
world" is spokenof, whose judgment, or condemnation, was now come; and

besides, there was at this time a multitude of souls in hell, who could not, nor
never will be, drawn to Christ; and a greaternumber still there will be at the
last day, who, insteadof drawing to him in this gracious wayand manner, will
be bid to depart from him, as having been workers of iniquity. Christ died
indeed for all men who are drawn unto him; but this is not true of all men,
that are, were, or shall be in the world. Add to this, that the word "men" is
not in the text, it is only "all":Beza's most ancient copy, and some others, and
the Vulgate Latin version read"all things"; and by "all" are meant, all the
electof God, all the children of God, "that were scatteredabroad";the Persic
version reads, "I will draw my friends to me"; it designs some of all sorts of
men, of every state, condition, age, sex, and nation, Gentiles as wellas Jews,
and especiallythe former; which agrees withthe ancient prophecy, Genesis
49:10, and with the context, and the occasionofthe words, which was the
desire of the Greeks, thatwere come to the feast, to see Jesus;and which was
a specimenof the large numbers of them, that should be drawn to Christ,
through the preaching of the Gospel, afterhis death: the Jews say, that in the
time to come, or in the days of the Messiah, allthe proselytes shallbe
"drawn", shall freely become proselytes (e). The allusionhere, is to the setting
up of a standard or ensign, to gatherpersons together. Christ's cross is the
standard, his love is the banner, and he himself is the ensign, which draw souls
to himself, and engage them to enlist themselves under him, and become his
volunteers in the day his power;see Isaiah11:10.
(e) T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 24. 1. & Gloss. in ib.
Geneva Study Bible
And I, if I be {e} lifted up from the earth, will draw {f} all men unto me.
(e) Christ used a word which has a double meaning, for it signifies either to
lift up or to get out of the way: for he intended them to think of his death, but
the Jews seemedto take it anotherway.
(f) Chrysostomand Theophylact saythat this word all refers to all nations:
that is, not only to the Jews.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary
John 12:32-33. And I shall establishmy owndominion in room of the devil’s
rule.
κἀγώ]with victorious emphasis, in opposition to the devil.
ἐὰν ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τ. γῆς] so that I shall be no more upon the earth. Comp. on
ὑψόω ἐκ, Psalm9:14. Probably Jesus (differently in John 3:14) used the verb
ot nevaeh otni htrae morf noitatlaxe sihT .‫הארץ‬ ‫מן‬ ‫הרמתי‬ ‫אם‬ :(.ryS .pmoc)‫רום‬
the Father(John 7:33; Acts 2:33; Acts 6:31) was to be brought about by the
death of the cross;and this manner of His death, Jesus, in the opinion of John,
indicated (John 18:32, John 21:19)by the word ὑψωθῶ (comp. John 3:14,
John 8:28). According to John, it is then the designationof the return from
earth to heaven, which Jesus gives by ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τ. γ., not merely a
representationof His death, so far as the latter exalts him to the Father, but
an announcement of the manner of the death (comp. John 18:32, John 21:19),
through which He will end His earthly life, because He was to die exalted on
the cross. Butthis interpretation of John’s does not justify us in straightway
understanding ὑψ. ἐκ τ. γ. of the crucifixion (so the Fathers, and most older
commentators, including Kling, Frommann, Hengstenberg), which is
forbidden by ἐκ τῆς γῆς, nor in finding therein[115]a “sermo anceps” (Beza
and severalothers, including Luthardt, Ebrard, Godet, comp. Engelhardt),
since by the very force of ἐκ τ. γ. the double sense is excluded. It belongs to the
freedom of mystic expositionlinking itself to a single word (comp. John 9:7),
as it was sufficiently suggested, especiallyhere, by the recollectionofthe
ὑψωθῆναι already employed in John 3:14, and is therewith just as justifiable
in itself in the sense ofits time as it is wanting in authority for the historical
understanding. To this mystical interpretation is opposed, indeed, the
expressionἐκ τῆς γῆς (comp. Isaiah53:8); but John was sufficiently faithful in
his accountnot to omit this ἐκ τ. γῆς for the sake ofhis interpretation of
ὑψωθῶ, and simply adhered to this ὑψ., and disregardedthe context.[116]

On ἐάν, comp. on John 14:3.
πάντας ἑλκ. πρὸς ἐμαυτ.]all, i.e. not merely adherents of all nations, or all
electedones and the like, but all men, so that thus none remain belonging to
the ἄρχωντοῦ κόσμου τούτου. Butto the latter, to the devil, stands opposed,
not the mere πρὸς ἐμέ, but to myself, to my own community. Comp. John
14:3; ἐμαυτόνnever stands for the simple ἐμέ, not even in John 14:21 (against
Tholuck). The ἑλκύειν takes place by means of the Holy Spirit, who, given by
the exaltedLord (John 7:39, John 16:7), and representing Himself (John
14:18-19), wins men for Christ in virtue of faith, and, by means of internal
moral compulsion, places them in the fellowship of love, of obedience, and of
the true and everlasting ζωή with Him. Comp. John 6:44, where this is said of
the Father. The fulfilment of this promise is world-historical, and continually
in process ofrealization (Romans 10:18), until finally the great goalwill be
reached, when all will be drawn to the Son, and form one flock under one
shepherd (John 10:16). In this sense πάντας is to be left without any arbitrary
limitation (Luthardt’s limitation is baseless:all, namely, those whom He
draws to Himself). For the manner in which Paul recognisedthe wayand
manner of the lastconsummation of the promise thus made, see Romans
11:25-26.
[115]“His suspensionon the cross appears to Him the magnificently ironical
emblem of His elevationon the throne,” Godet. An ironical touch would here
be very strange.
[116]Scholtensets aside the whole comment as an interpolation.
Expositor's Greek Testament
John 12:32. ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς is explained as indicating or hinting, σημαίνων,
“by what death He was to die,” i.e., that He was to be raisedon the cross. Cf.

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