How do I convert a string to a UTC date?

I have the following text on my page:

<span class="UTCDate">Date.UTC(2011, 8, 7, 7, 9, 20)</span>

I'd like to do something like 开发者_运维百科this:

 $(function () {

     $('.UTCDate').each(function () {
         var server_time_utc = $(this).html();
         var subbed = new Date(server_time_utc - 12 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
         var d = new Date(subbed + new Date().getTimezoneOffset());
         var localTime = $.format.date(d, "ddd, MMMM dd GG hh:mma");
         localTime = localTime.replace("GG", "at");
         $(this).html(localTime);
     });

 });

I'm taking the UTC Date, changing it to the local browsers time and formatting it.

My problem is I get a string instead of a date object in this line:

 var server_time_utc = $(this).html();

If I type:

var server_time_utc = Date.UTC(2011, 8, 7, 7, 9, 20);

I get a date object.

How can I make the text from $(this).html() return a date object instead of a string?

EDIT The string I get is

server_time_utc: "Date.UTC(2011, 8, 7, 7, 9, 20)"

Accept a wider range of inputs

var matches = $(this).html().match(/\d+/g);
var date = new Date(Date.UTC.apply(this, matches));

This function will pull each number out of that string in order, then call Date.UTC with each number and return your Date object.

var server_time_utc = Date.parse($(this).html());