The question seems to be based on the idea that "If Verse 32 is read in isolation it could be interpreted as...". Actually, the words quoted are only half of a sentence that began in verse 31. The conjunction "and" at the start of verse 32 indicates this. It is therefore necessary to quote the full sentence Jesus spoke if the depth of the interpretation sought be discovered.
"Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world
be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all
unto me." John 12:31-32 KJV
Please note that the Greek text of the KJV does not have the word for 'men' in it. Jesus said what John records. By his being crucified, he "would draw all unto him" - those whom the Father gave to him. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" - John 6:44. The question being asked here, however, dwells on how to interpret the meaning of "lifted up from the earth".
This is where the word "hour" comes in, stated by Jesus in verses 23 and 27:
"The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified."
"What shall I say? Father save me from this hour; but for this cause
came I unto this hour."
The "hour" involved was not a 60-minute hour. It signified a relatively short span of time (when compared to other biblical phrases involving length of time, such as 1,260 days, 'a little season', and three and a half times as in several prophecies; yet longer than the silence in heaven for about half an hour, Rev.8:1.)
Jesus spoke of his hour not yet having come prior to him changing water into wine at Cana. Then he said his hour had come when going to Jerusalem for the last time. When did that symbolic hour start and end? John informs us:
"Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the
end." John 13:1 KJV
It follows, then, that everything that happened from the time (just before the feast of the passover) until he departed the world to return to the Father gives the full meaning to being "lifted up from the earth". It incorporates both the cross he was nailed to being literally lifted upright for all who passed by to see, and his being resurrected, seen by hundreds of his disciples, finally rising bodily up into the sky, till clouds hid him from their sight (Acts 1:9-11).
Picking up again from verse 33, this commentary highlights the significance of 'this hour' (which is crucial to get the full depth of meaning sought.)
"The Son had glorified the Father, by the works which the Father had
given him to do, and by the words which he had given him to speak.
Till 'now'. But now in and through the Son the Father would glorify
his name again, and that in a manner without precedent, and in a way
that would be unique.
Unique, that is, to 'this hour', this coming hour, even as Jesus had
said 'For this cause' - so as to glorify the Father - 'came I unto
this hour.' This was the 'hour' which commenced at the approaching
crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of the Son. 'This he said,
signifying what death he should die', John 12:33.
Thus the Father would be glorified again. How? By his then and
there judging the world, and hence casting out the prince of this world in consequence, John 12:31.
Judging the world? But of that we read at the last judgment at the end
of the age in the terrible conflagration, II Peter 3:7-12. That is
true of the Day of Judgment. But it is also true of the transferred
equivalent of that same judgment which was then to fall upon Jesus
at Golgotha. Hence, 'now is the judgment of this world', John 12:21.
Then, Jesus is speaking of the judgment of the world falling upon the
crucified Saviour... To this end 'he was made sin for us, who knew no
sin', II Corinthians 5:21. It is a question of sin, not sins. As to
sin, it is common to all mankind, to the world. Whereas sins are
individual. But to save sinners - apart from bearing their sins -
the sin of mankind, of humanity, of the world, must also be
judged...
Every issue of the judgment of the sin of man fell upon the Saviour:
'Now is the judgment of this world.' This saved the world from its
immediate deserved destruction and dissolution. This caused God to
suffer time to run on, till the judgment that was transferred, and
thus deferred, should be consummated at the end of the world.
But if the sin of the world was judged, it must follow, the prince of
this world was dispossessed. That on which he relied, his whole armour
wherein he trusted, the very gates and walls of his citadel, the power
of his kingdom, were utterly taken from him.
If so, he fell. As it is written, 'Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out', John 12:31. Whence it is obvious that when Jesus
was 'made sin' in that 'hour', and 'took away the sin of the world',
then all that gave the prince of this world his legitimate power and
authority was lawfully answered and legally dismissed. 'And I, if I
be lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself. But this he
said, signifying by what death he was about to die, John 12:32,33."
John chapters 1 to 12 - The first six signs, John Metcalfe, 2006,
pp.479-480, http://johnmetcalfepublishingtrust.co.uk/contact_us.htm
