John 12:33

33. What death he should die The words lifted up signified the exaltation upon the cross. But the Evangelist also means that our Lord’s wonderful words signify the stupendous import contained in the very nature of his death.

Here clearly terminates the address of our Lord before the Greeks. At its beginning they are evidently included in the them of John 12:23, with the disciples; in John 12:29, when the people speak, they fall into the background; and at the present verse all reference to them in the topic disappears, and the people are all. What impression was made upon these Greeks by the solemn language and manner of the mysterious being before them, we are vainly curious to know. But it is a remarkable point of contact between the Jew and the Greek, being the offer of salvation from one to the other. Japhet is here invited into the tents of Shem. Perhaps he comes not now, but our Lord’s very discourse predicts that he yet will come, in fulfilment of ancient prophecy, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in.