Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 12:37
But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
37. so many miracles ] The Jews admitted His miracles, Joh 7:31; Joh 11:47. They are assumed by S. John as notorious, although he himself records only seven of them. Comp. Joh 2:23, Joh 4:45, Joh 7:31, Joh 11:47.
before them ] i.e. before their very eyes.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
37 43. The Judgment of the Evangelist
S. John here sums up the results of the ministry which has just come to a close. Their comparative poverty is such that he can explain it in no other way than as an illustration of that judicial blindness which had been foretold and denounced by Isaiah. The tragic tone returns again: see on Joh 1:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
So many miracles – This does not refer to any miracles performed on this occasion, but to all his miracles performed in view of the nation, in healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, raising the dead, etc. John here gives the summary or the result of all his work undeniable proof of his being the Messiah, yet the nation did not believe on him.
Before them – Before the Jewish nation. Not in the presence of the people whom he was then addressing, but before the Jewish people.
They believed not – The Jewish nation did not believe as a nation, but rejected him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 12:37-50
But though He had done so many miracles yet they believed not on Him
Our Lords ministry
I.
ITS DETAILS.
1. The doctrines He taught (Joh 12:44-50). These words are an abridged statement of our Lords words uttered at different times. In Joh 12:36 we have, the formal close of our Lords mission, and this summary appropriately follows. It teaches
(1) The Divinity of His mission (Joh 12:49). There is nothing that our Lord stated more frequently or plainly than this His name for God is often He who sent Me. This claim leaves no alternative between receiving Him as a Divine Messenger or rejecting Him as fanatic or impostor.
(2) The Divinity of His doctrine (Joh 12:44; Joh 12:49-50). He did not bring it forward as an opinion of the man Jesus, but as the truth He had heard of the Father.
(3) The Divinity of His Person. His authority here is clearly co-ordinate with that of the Father.
(4) The design of His mission. To be a light to the world; not to judge the world but to save it. The two declarations are synonymous. Men are in a state of darkness, i.e., of ignorance, error, guilt and depravity; at a distance from God who is light. Jesus is the light as He is the author and bestower of that salvation which dispels our moral darkness.
(5) The manner of being interested in His salvation. He that believeth on Me.
(6) The doom of those who refuse to believe (Joh 12:48).
2. The manner of His teaching (Joh 12:44).
(1) Public. He did not confine His teaching to a few, and like Mohammed and other impostors conceal His doctrines, till by private exertions He had secured a considerable body of followers.
(2) Earnest. Sometimes He quietly talked with the people, but at other times He cried aloud and spared not. The conviction He had of the truth and importance of His message produced a holy excitement.
(3) Fearless. He well knew how unpalatable His doctrines were and how great the dangers to which He exposed Himself. But He set His face as a flint, and refused to be ashamed. In all this Christ is a Model to His own ministers.
3. The evidence He produced.
(1) He did miracles, i.e., signs, tokens or signals of the truth of His doctrines. These miracles were
(2) Great, as the words so many may be rendered–far and obviously exceeding human power.
(3) Many.
(a) More than those of Old Testament prophets.
(b) Many in kind, remarkable for variety.
(4) Before His countrymen; not like pretended miracles of later ages for the most part in the presence of those interested in supporting His system.
(5) These miracles were also
(a) Beneficient.
(b) Unostentatious.
(c) At a time and in circumstances where imposture could be detected.
(d) In conformity with Messianic predictions.
II. ITS RESULTS.
1. The body of the Jewish nation did not believe.
(1) This disbelief fulfilled prophecy (Joh 12:38-41).
(2) In this prophecy we have the true cause of their rejecting Him. They had blinded eyes and hardened hearts, and therefore they could not perceive and understand.
(3) This blindness was first voluntary and self-imposed, then judicial, a punishment of God.
2. A minority who did believe from worldly motives suppressed their convictions (Joh 12:42-43). (J. Brown, D. D.)
The rejected messenger
I. THE CLOSED MINISTRY (Joh 12:36). It had been a ministry of –
1. Manifested glory. Glory one of the keynotes of the Gospel. The Divine Being looked upon by Israel in the first temple had been rejected by Israel in the second. This glory
(1) Was of a higher order than that seen by the prophet. That was symbolical, this real.
(2) Of more frequent exhibition. He had only one glimpse, they repeated manifestations.
2. Offered grace. The ministry was one persistent effort to secure their personal and social redemption.
3. Attesting power (Joh 12:37).
II. THE FORSAKEN PEOPLE. Did hide Himself (Joh 12:36).
1. The unbelieving majority (Joh 12:37). The completest evidence had been laid before them. Yet they voluntarily closed their eyes to the light. One would have expected the opposite from Joh 12:13. But Christ was not deceived by popular applause.
2. The believing minority.
(1) Considerable, embracing many of the rulers.
(2) Sincere, though defective.
(3) Timid, afraid of excommunication.
(4) Reprehensible, preferring human approbation to Divine.
III. THE FULFILLED PREDICTION (Joh 12:38).
1. The prediction.
(1) That the report of Jehovahs suffering Servant would not be believed.
(2) That the signs would not be understood.
2. The fulfilment. This came to pass when the nation misinterpreted the signs, disbelieved the message, and rejected the person of Christ.
3. The connection: the fulfilment necessary because of the prediction.
(1) Not that compulsion was laid upon the Jews to reject Christ to save the credit of a prophet. But
(2) that the foreordained programme of human history should come to pass. That, however, did not exempt the Jews from guilt.
IV. THE ACCOMPLISHED DESIGN (verse 89).
1. The law of moral hardening. The truth rejected always results in a diminution of the souls susceptibility for receiving it.
2. The Author of this law, God. It being part of the moral order of the universe (Eph 4:19), God does not shrink from the responsibility.
3. The working out of this law. They could do no other than reject the Saviour, because they hated the light. Lessons
1. The day of grace may terminate before the day of life.
2. Unbelief seldom springs from lack of evidence.
3. No prediction of God will ever fail.
4. The Divine foreknowledge exempts no man from responsibility.
5. It is perilous to shut ones eyes against the light of truth.
6. Unbelief is a disease for which Christ is the only Physician.
7. Christ the healer of souls is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
8. It is not enough to believe on Christ; we must also confess Him.
9. They who follow Christ must expect persecution.
10. Who love the praise of men more than the glory of God cannot be saved. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Jesus and the Jews
I. A GUILTY UNBELIEF (Joh 12:37). Why did they not believe?
1. Not for want of evidence. For many miracles had been wrought amongst them.
2. Not for want of warning (Joh 12:38). The ministry that was fitted by God to bring them to spiritual knowledge and repentance they turned to opposite results (Joh 12:40). When a man has not three things
(1) Evidence;
(2) The capacity for examining evidence, and
(3) The opportunity for doing so–his unbelief is not guilty; but this is not the unbelief of England today.
II. A COWARDLY FAITH (Joh 12:42-43) arising from
1. Fear of men.
2. Love of popularity. Glory would be a better word than praise. It is implied
(1) That between the glory of men and the glory of God there is an essential difference. Glory in the estimation of men is wealth, fame, titles, etc. In the eyes of God these are worthless. The glory of God is holiness.
(2) That a higher appreciation of the glory of man than of God is inimical to a courageous faith. The faith of Peter before the Sanhedrim; we cannot but speak, etc., is the true type.
III. REDEMPTIVE TRUSTFULNESS (Joh 12:44).
1. It is faith in Christs identity with the Father. Christ claimed no position independent of the Father.
2. It is faith, the absence of which tends to a terrible doom–Darkness, i.e., ignorance, remorse, despair. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
No welcome for Christ
Perhaps there is no episode recorded in history more interesting than that of Charles V when he landed at Tunis. Ten thousand men and women who were slaves within the city, when they heard of the approach of their deliverer, rose and broke their chains, and rushed toward the gate as the emperor was entering the town; and this mighty procession knelt down, hailed him as their deliverer, and prayed God to bless him. But when Christ the worlds deliverer comes to His own His own, alas, receive Him not.
That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled
The Gospel report
I. THE GOSPEL REPORT IS TRUE AND DIVINELY MIGHTY.
1. It is true because it is implied that it ought to be believed. What is genuinely believable must be true.
2. It is mighty because called The arm of the Lord. Redemptive truth is the power of God unto salvation.
II. THOUGH TRUE, ITS TRUTH IS OFTEN UNRELIEVED AND UNFELT. It was so in the days of the prophets, of Christ, of the apostles, and of all subsequent times. Therefore they could not believe–not because of the prediction, or of any Divine decree, but because of the state of their minds. As long as men are in the depths of moral corruption they can neither see nor feel Divine things. A malignant nature cannot see love, nor an avaricious generosity and disinterestedness.
III. THESE MORAL STATES OF MIND INIMICAL TO FAITH ARE OFTEN INTENSIFIED BY LISTENING TO THE REPORT. He hath blinded, etc. Mat 13:14; Act 28:26). It is a fact proved by the nature of things, and patent to the observation of all, that the hearer of the gospel who believes not is made more blind and hard by listening. Then as free agents have the power of counteracting the moral tendencies of things, turning blessings into curses and vice versa. The unbeliever is ever doing the former and the believer the latter.
IV. THE AWFUL RESULTS OF THE GOSPEL UPON MEN POSSESSING THESE STATES OF MIND ARE ALL FOREKNOWN OF GOD. The prophet was told what would be the fate of his report. But Gods foreknowledge did not render the result necessary, nor interfere with freedom of action, nor lessen guilt.
V. ALTHOUGH GOD FOREKNOWS THE TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF THE GOSPEL ON THE UNBELIEVING HEARER, HE STILL COMMANDS IT TO BE PREACHED. The proclamation of Gospel truth is a good in itself, and a good to the universe, though it may enhance the misery of millions. Though God knows that storms will spread fearful devastation, yet He sends them forth. Man is not the only creature to be served. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The Gospel not believed
I. THE GOSPEL IS A MESSAGE OR REPORT TO MAN UPON MATTERS OF SUPREME IMPORTANCE. A system introduced by such agency as that of the Son of God could not be insignificant. The gospel is a message
1. As to the character and claims of God–the Majesty of His nature, the harmony of His attributes, the import of all His relations to the universe as Creator, Governor, Benefactor and Judge.
2. As to the character and condition of mankind; our depravity consequent on the fall, our alienation from God, our exposure to the curse. Beyond the gospel announcements on these subjects we want nothing. Here are the principles of true philosophy and untiring observation. Outside them all is delusion.
3. As to the method of salvation by the intervention of a Mediator–the counsels of eternity respecting it, the Author of it, the nature of His office, the value of His sacrifice, and the effects on earth and in heaven are all clearly and fully set forth.
II. THE GOSPEL IS COMMUNICATED TO MAN FOR THE EXPRESS PURPOSE OF BEING BELIEVED.
1. The report of the gospel is worthy of faith on account of the evidence by which it is confirmed. We are not called upon to believe it without evidence. The historic testimony to its authenticity, the fulfilment of prophecy, the performing of miracles, its wonderful adaptation to the circumstances of all men and its wonderful achievements constitute a conclusive claim to the embrace of every enlightened mind.
2. Faith in the report of the gospel is the only medium by which it can be rendered available to our safety and final happiness. Observe the statement of Scripture respecting the connection between
(1) Faith and justification.
(2) Faith and sanctification.
(3) Faith and the salvation which is the glorious consummation of justification and sanctification.
3. Faith in the gospel results from the operation of Divine power on the soul. The arm of the Lord signifies His power, and the manifestation of that arm consists in the implantation of the principle of faith. It is an affecting thought that nothing can overcome the depraved incredulity of the human heart but an agency omnipotent and Divine. This agency is the Holy Spirit secured by the death, resurrection, etc., of Christ.
III. IT BECOMES A MATTER OF SOLEMN INQUIRY AS TO THE NUMBER BY WHOM THE GOSPEL HAS BEEN EMBRACED. Who hath believed?
1. The implication which this inquiry involves, viz. that the number is comparatively small. It was so in the days of the prophet, in those of our Lord and the apostles, and in subsequent Christian history. And now, while we must not overlook the revived interest in religion and the success of missions, how few are the saved in comparison with the unsaved.
2. The results which from that implication must be produced.
(1) Compassion for sinners.
(2) Exertion for their salvation.
(3) Prayer that our efforts may be blessed. (J. Parsons.)
Therefore they could not believe
The loss of faith
I. THE TEMPERAMENT WHICH RENDERS FAITH IMPOSSIBLE. The statement is a strong one and is derived from Isa 6:9; ?Isa 6:10. This refers to no arbitrary act of Divine sovereignty. The Hebrews never conceived of a mere mechanical law, but regarded all sequence as a mode of Gods power. And as overlooking intermediate cause they spoke of Him as making day and night, so they spoke of Him as making spiritual day and night. In the stolidity inevitable when the soul refuses the report of Gods messengers, and closes itself against the light, they beheld law, and beholding law they discerned God. St. John dwells much upon cans and cannots (Joh 5:19; Joh 5:30; Joh 6:44; Joh 3:3), which refer to impossibilities which have their root in the presence or absence of certain dispositions; and the could not here implies the operation of a spirit incompatible with trust in Christ. The difficulty of verse 34 arose out of a state of mind impervious to Christs manifest Divine life. Intellectual cavillings were allowed to intercept spiritual light, and so they could not believe. For the same reason many do not believe now. There is a type of mind which is often praised as a sign of intellectual smartness–disputatious, so constantly posing as debater or critic that the light which would illumine doubts cannot get into the heart. Such should deeply ponder the text.
II. THE SPIRITUAL INACTION WHICH INVOLVES THE LOSS OF FAITH (verses 42, 43). Compare this with Joh 8:45-52. Only one then protested, now we learn that there was a considerable party in favour of Jesus although prudential considerations prevented them from confessing Him. What was the consequence of their timidity? A few days after the hiding of Jesus, they were all with two exceptions implicated in the plottings which issued in the crucifixion. It is dangerous to delay the expression of conviction in appropriate action. Christ requires confession, and no peculiarity of disposition should hinder it. So-called reserved people run the risk of weakening their own faith and love as well as hiding Gods righteousness (Psa 40:10). He who is not for Me is against Me Rom 10:8-10).
III. THE ACTION IN WHICH FAITH IS PRESERVED AND PERFECTED (verses 35, 36, 46, cf. Eph 4:15; Eph 5:13).
1. Believe and walk. The error of the people is that they stand still, putting their scruples between them and Christ. His command is, Use what light you have; set yourselves in the path which faith in the light shall indicate Hos 6:3).
2. Believe that you may be the children of light. Not to believe is to pass into darkness. (J. M. Lang, D. D.)
Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on Him
The conduct of the rulers
There were rulers, chief rulers, and many of them believed. What a pleasing circumstance. God grant that it may be the same with our rulers up to the sovereign; but may their faith go further; for the Jewish potentates did not confess Christ because they feared men and were anxious to secure their praise.
I. THERE ARE DIFFERENT WAYS OF BELIEVING IN CHRIST. Faith is made a great matter of in Scripture. Salvation hangs altogether on it, He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life. Are we then to infer that everyone who is convinced that Christ is the Saviour shall be saved? No, for the rulers were thus convinced, and there are many who believe all the truths of the Bible and yet are not believers. We read that the devils believe and tremble, but never that the devils believe and live. The text helps us to discriminate between a true and a false faith. The faith of the rulers was one which could lie in their bosoms and could be smothered by fear of man and love of his praise. But a true faith cannot be stifled. It must speak out Rom 10:9). And not only will the lips speak out, but the life in all the graces of the Christian character. We live in days when it is no disgrace to say that we are Christians, but to show it.
II. THERE ALSO TWO GREAT OBSTACLES TO FAITH.
1. The fear of man as withering now as then. What will the world say? often casts a damp on godly resolutions. Men cannot bear the thought of ridicule, and so lower the standard of religious conduct and conform to the world. But grace enables the true believer to say, I will not be afraid, and he rejoices that he is counted worthy to suffer shame.
2. The love of mans praise in preference to that of God. How many a mans faith is nipped by no other cause? To live agreeably to the gospel is not the way to gain mans praise. Man does not praise the poor in spirit, the meek, etc., but the proud, etc. He therefore who seeks to please the world puts on such qualities as these. But the true believer acts differently. He is not indeed indifferent to the good opinion of his fellow creatures, yet he values Gods esteem above this, and to secure that is the great film of his life. (A. Roberts, M. A.)
The meanness of not confessing Christ
I believe there are many in this congregation who wake every morning to pray, and who never let the evening shadows go without perfuming them with their grateful thanks for the mercies of the day; who study their Bibles more than many professing Christians; and who believe that the life they now live is by faith in the Son of God, but who yet do not wish to have it known, and shrink from joining the Church, and making a public acknowledgment of the debt they owe to Christ. They mean to be Christians, but not to avow themselves such. Thus they will leave the world to suppose that their manifest virtues are self-cultured, and that Christian lives may be led without Christ. If I were a pupil of Titian, and he should design my picture, and sketch it for me, and look over my work every day and make suggestions, and then, when I had exhausted my skill, he should take the brush and give the finishing touches, bringing out a part here and there, and making the whole glow with beauty, and then I should hang it upon the wall and call it mine, what a meanness it would be! (H. W. Beecher.)
For they loved the praise of man more than the praise of God
The uses of praise
I. PRAISE IS ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE AND IMPORTANT OF ALL THE INFLUENCES THAT AFFECT HUMAN LIFE. A man without a sense of pleasure in other mens approbation is not well fitted to live among men. Its operation tends continually to restrain men from offence. It incites to doing of a thousand things which are agreeable and which we should not have thought of doing if it had not been for the desire to produce pleasure in others, and so reflexively to win their favour. In these directions it cooperates easily with benevolence. When it works upward, and is in alliance with reason, duty, and religion, then it becomes a glorious incitement, a stimulus to industry and to chivalry. If those from whom we desire praise are praiseworthy, then to desire their praise is to set in operation within ourselves the machinery by which we lift ourselves toward their level. Where it includes the approval of great spirits generically, and of God, then the highest form of motive power is reached.
II. THE VALUE OF THIS FUNCTION IN LIFE DEPENDS ON ITS ASSOCIATIONS AND EDUCATION. Of all the faculties it is the most illusive. When not rightly trained it is deceiving, and when improperly exercised it is weakening. Associated with conscience it should reject all undeserved praise. Men ought to be ashamed to be praised for what they know is not true, and when they lay traps for it how beggarly is the degradation to which they have come. How many array themselves on the side of right to be praised! Who accepts truth which is unpopular, and love that which their conscience tells them is just when it will bring down upon them the discredit of the whole community? How easy is it to bring men on the side that is popular. As long as slavery was an accredited fact and not to be disturbed, it was a very ungracious thing to stand up for human liberty; but no sooner was the public sentiment changed than men sprang up thicker than asparagus and cried, Oh, the preciousness of emancipation. So men think they are following the truth when they are simply lusting for praise. As an auxiliary there can be no objection to it. If a man in the performance of duty afterwards finds himself the subject of praise, all well and good; but it is necessary that it should be the second or the third, and not the primary or dominant motive. Those surrounded by a low-toned public sentiment are apt to have an indiscriminate hankering after praise and to be so demoralized that they even become vain of sinful courses. There are men whose foul tongue is their strength and they glory in it. There are men proud of their rudeness. They think it praiseworthy to be singular in this respect. Men enter into competition with each other as to which can eat or drink the most. Yea, crimes become virtues in the sight of many.
III. ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. As an incitement to artistic work, the love of praise should always wait on and follow achievement, and never precede it. No man who works for praise can ever become a leading artist.
2. This is true also of literary work. No author will live whose paper is a looking glass. No man will write thoughts but he who is utterly unconscious and lost in his subject.
3. In politics everything is made to turn on the popular vote, and our public men grow up questioning not, What will be the influence of this or that as to the right or wrong? but, How will it strike my constituents and affect my chances? And the inspirations of God in the lines of truth are sacrificed to this miserable and mercenary regard for praise which men want and do not deserve.
4. Of all places there is none where self-consciousness and the love of praise are so fatal as in the pulpit. There is a wide range for the selection of themes by the preacher, but how many are chosen that jar on the nerves of the lovers of pleasure, wealth, etc.? In the treatment especially of great public questions, what conservatism and fear of mens opinions there is? No man can effectually preach the truths of the Christian life who is not willing to throw himself instantly into anything that is needful and be lost to popularity so that it is with truth and God that he stands.
IV. IN THIS SUBJECT WE HAVE MATTER FOR VERY PROFOUND SELFEXAMINATION.
1. It is a question for many how much of your religion is other than conformity to public custom, and how much is simple conformity to what is respectable.
2. Is the praise you receive beneficial in its effect upon you? Is it preparing you for higher association in the kingdom above? The day hastens. Soon we shall stand before Him who has declared that if in this evil generation we are ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of us. (H. W. Beecher.)
The praise of men
I. THE FOLLY OF AN OVER-VALUATION OF THE OPINION OF MEN. The condemnation was not that the rulers loved the praise of men, but they loved it more than the praise of God. This overweening regard to human opinion is
1. Very common. Not that the esteem of others is sinful, because deference to the opinion of the wise and good is wisely implanted in our nature. The perversion of an instinctive tendency does not convert a good principle into a bad one. The love of praise is not to be condemned if limited to the praise of good men for right sentiments and good actions. It must, however, be an insufficient principle of conduct, because it may be extended to the praise of bad men for bad actions. We must not then say that the love of praise or fear of blame is necessarily sinful. Opinion is the prop and stay of all social intercourse. Reputation for honour, etc., is essential, while man is man. No man liveth to himself. Jacob said of Judah, Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; and to stand well in the opinion of good men is a means of blessing to the Church and the world. St. Paul says, If there be any praise, think on these things. Only remember that this love of praise should be followed by a love of praiseworthiness, and a fear of blame of blameworthiness; otherwise it will be only vanity in disguise. The man who is above or below the good opinion of ethers, must be more or less than man. He who sets no value upon the just estimation of society is often careless of the actions which tend to produce it.
2. It may be abused, and become implicit idolatry like that of the heathen who served the creature more than the Creator. It was the same with the young ruler, Pilate and Felix. This is the victory that overcometh our faith–even the world.
3. This sinful preference of man to God is dangerous in its issue. It hazards the less of the soul, and draws down the displeasure of God (see following verses).
II. CONSIDERATIONS WHICH MAY CORRECT THIS EVIL.
1. The worthlessness of the men for whose commendation we are ready to renounce Christ. Let us know why and for whom we are prepared to make shipwreck of faith and good conscience. For what did Judas betray Christ? The favour of worthless Pharisees and thirty pieces of silver. For what did Esau renounce his birthright? And for what do we give up the hope of acceptance with Christ? For the wretched smile of triflers, for the ribaldry of Paine and the dont know of Spencer–a mess of pottage indeed. An atheists laugh is a poor exchange for a Deity offended.
2. The study of the best models. The men of whom this world was not worthy, were not the men who bowed to ruling opinions. Paul conferred not with flesh and blood; Columbus turned a deaf ear to worldly wisdom, or he would never have discovered a new world. Had Milton been swayed by popular opinion he would never have left a name immortal. Defoe was offered wealth and preferment to support government measures by a venal pen, but he sternly refused, and borrowed a guinea to supply his wants for the day. Study the answer of the Three Hebrew Children and the example of Christ. We talk of the public opinion of earth, but forget that there is a public opinion in heaven (Heb 12:10).
3. Estimate of the value of the Divine opinion. God is the standard of all excellence. His approbation is the seal of honour.
4. Anticipate the decisions of the great day. (T. H. Day.)
The supreme value of that honour which cometh from God
I. THERE IS NOTHING IN THE NATURE OF PRAISE THAT IS ABSOLUTELY SINFUL. It is nowhere condemned except in the form of flattery, which is not praise but simply lying. It is needful to bear this in mind, because, through erroneous notions, many receive what is done for them or for Gods cause with chilling indifference, which has a detrimental effect particularly on the young. To see that praise is not sinful, we have but to study the generous commendations of our Lord and of St. Paul. Then how frequently has it animated the faint and discouraged, as in the case of St. Paul at Appii Forum.
II. THE PRAISE OF MEN AND THE PRAISE OF GOD ARE FREQUENTLY OPPOSED. For man often condemns what God approves, and vice versa. God cannot look upon any form of sin with allowance, but man condones and sometimes applauds the grossest vices.
III. BOTH IN BESTOWING AND ACCEPTING PRAISE WE SHOULD BE GUIDED ENTIRELY BY THE MIND OF GOD. He knows what is praiseworthy, and has revealed His mind on the subject. Never receive or give flattery for what the Bible condemns.
IV. TO THIS UNHAPPY PREFERENCE FOR THE PRAISE OF MAN BEFORE THAT OF GOD MAY BE TRACED THE MISERY AND RUIN OF MANKIND. (Congregational Remembrancer.)
The desire for admiration
The human eye of admiration I seek is like the scorching ray that destroys all the delicate colours in the most costly material. Every action that is done only to be seen of others, loses its freshness in the sight of God, like the flower that, passing through many hands, is at last hardly presentable to anyone, much less to a dear friend. (T. H.Leary, D. C. L.)
The peril of the love of praise
A clergyman once had a dream, in which another popular clergyman appeared to him in his garden and asked the time of the day. Twenty-five minutes past four, said the other. It is then exactly an hour since I died, and I am damned; Damned for what? said the other. Not for not preaching the gospel, for I have many seals to my ministry; but I have sought the praise of men more than the praise of God. The first clergyman on going to the service in the evening (Sunday) was asked if he had heard of the loss of such a church whose minister had died. When? said the clergyman. Twenty-five minutes past three this afternoon!
Love of fame rebuked
There was one Michael Fenwick that travelled with Wesley as a sort of groom, nurse, and occasional exhorter. The good man was vain enough to complain, one day, that his name was never inserted in Wesleys published Journals. In the next number of the Journals he found his name in a connection that probably did not serve to increase his vanity. I left Epworth, wrote Wesley, with great satisfaction, and about one, preached at Clayworth. I think none were unmoved but Michael Fenwick, who fell fast asleep under an adjoining hayrick. (Dr. Haven.)
Jesus cried and said.
The rejected message
A message of
I. LOVE FROM THE FATHER (Joh 12:49).
1. The substance of the message–a revelation of the Father (Joh 12:45).
(1) Of His name, Father.
(2) Of His character, love.
(3) Of His gift, the Son.
(4) Of His purpose, salvation (Joh 12:47).
2. The medium of its transmission–through Christ, Gods
(1) Son (Joh 12:50);
(2) Representative (Joh 12:44);
(3) Commissioner (Joh 12:44; Joh 12:49).
3. The heinousness of its rejection–to reject Christ and His message the same thing as to reject the Father and His message (Joh 12:44).
II. SALVATION FOR THE WORLD (Joh 12:46-47).
1. Of Salvation from the darkness of
(1) Intellectual error.
(2) Moral unholiness.
(3) Legal condemnation.
(4) Eternal death.
2. Of salvation through faith–through hearing, believing, keeping Christs words.
3. Of salvation forever–through escaping the final judgment and entering at the last day upon eternal life.
III. JUDGMENT FOR THE UNBELIEVING (Joh 12:48).
1. Its time–the last day.
2. Its author–the Word of Christ.
3. Its ground–unbelief and disobedience.
IV. ETERNAL LIFE FOR THE FAITHFUL (Joh 12:50).
1. The object of the Fathers commission.
2. The burden of the Sons commission.
3. The issue of the individuals faith. Lessons
1. Thankfulness for the gospel message.
2. Watchfulness against the sin of unbelief.
3. Prayerfulness that the news of salvation may be propagated through the earth.
4. Trustfulness that we may escape the judgment of the last day.
5. Earnestness to lay hold of eternal life. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
I am come a Light into the world.
Light for the worlds darkness
I. OUR WORLD IS DARK. God did not make it so, but man has darkened it, and Satan and sin have darkened it. It is a darkness of
1. Sleep. The sleeper sees not the light. He may dream that he does so, but that is all.
2. Death. With life, light flees.
3. The tomb. Buried, the darkness is double.
4. Satan. He is the ruler of the darkness of this world.
5. Hell. Our world is an earnest of the blackness of darkness forever. The shadow of hell is over it.
II. THERE IS LIGHT FOR IT. Deep as is the darkness, it is not hopeless. There is enough of light in God and heaven yet. Light has not been quenched throughout the universe, though driven from our world.
III. THIS LIGHT HAS COME. It is not in heaven merely; it has come down to earth. The gospel is an announcement of the arrival of the light.
IV. CHRIST IS THE LIGHT. The brightness of Jehovahs glory; the true Light; the Sun of Righteousness; the Day Star; the bright and morning Star. All the light of the Godhead, of heaven, of the universe, is centred in Him. He is the Light of the World because
1. Of what He shows us of the Father. He that hath seen Him hath seen the Father.
2. Of what He does to us–pardons, heals, comforts, blesses, saves.
3. Of what He is yet to do for our world. His reign shall be the reign of light, and the earth shall rejoice in His light.
V. THE WAY IN WHICH THE LIGHT ENTERS. Not in working or waiting, but believing. Faith ends the darkness, and lets in the glorious light.
VI. THE FREENESS AND UNIVERSALITY OF THE LIGHT. Whosoever. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Believers shall not abide in darkness
Perhaps the worst feature of darkness is, that it is so bewildering. You have to walk, and yet your way is hidden from your eyes. This is hard work. God will help His children, will He not? Ay, that He will, but we cannot see how I We look upward, and see no twinkling star; downward and do not even find a glow worm. Surely we shall see a candle in some window! But no! we are lost in a dark wood. Have we not somewhere about us a match that we could strike? We fumble for it; we find it, it is damp, we have no light. The question that now chills the heart is–How can God deliver me? We do not see how He can make a way of escape. What simpletons we are to fancy that if we do not see a way of deliverance God does not see one either! If you have ever steamed up the Rhine, you have looked before you, and it has looked as if you could go no further; the river seemed to be a lake; great mountains and vast rocks blocked up all further advance. Suddenly there has been a turn in the stream, and at once a broad highway has been before you, inviting you to enter the heart of the country. Perhaps in Providence you are in one of those parts of the river of life where no progress appears possible. You are quite blocked up, and this causes you darkness of mind. Cease from this unbelieving bewilderment. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him, and He shall give thee thy hearts desire. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 37. Yet they believed not on him] Though the miracles were wrought for this very purpose, that they might believe in Christ, and escape the coming wrath, and every evidence given that Jesus was the Messiah, yet they did not believe; but they were blinded by their passions, and obstinately hardened their hearts against the truth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The miracles of Christ did not work faith in any, yet they had a tendency both to prepare souls for an assent to the proposition of the gospel, and also for receiving Christ as the true Messiah and Saviour of the world, as they evidenced a Divine power in him by which he wrought those mighty works; but yet they had not this effect upon the generality of the Jews.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
37-41. It is the manner of thisEvangelist alone to record his own reflections on the scenes hedescribes; but here, having arrived at what was virtually the closeof our Lord’s public ministry, he casts an affecting glance over thefruitlessness of His whole ministry on the bulk of the now doomedpeople.
though he had done so manymiraclesThe word used suggests their nature as well asnumber.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But though he had done so many miracles before them,…. Openly, and in the presence of them; meaning those miracles which were done at Jerusalem, as those which brought Nicodemus to him, and to an acknowledgment of him as a teacher sent from God; and particularly the cure of the lame man at Bethesda’s pool, the giving sight to the man that was born blind, by anointing his eyes with clay, and sending him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, and the raising Lazarus from the dead at Bethany, which was within two miles of Jerusalem, in the presence of many of them who were come there to comfort Martha and Mary. Yet
they believed not on him; the miracles done by Christ before their eyes, which they could not deny, nor disprove, and were so many, and so great, were aggravations of their unbelief; and such indeed is the nature of that sin, and so deeply rooted is it, that the most powerful means, and mighty works, will not bring a person to believe in Christ, without the powerful and efficacious grace of God.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Unbelief of the People. |
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37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 41 These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
We have here the honour done to our Lord Jesus by the Old-Testament prophets, who foretold and lamented the infidelity of the many that believed not on him. It was indeed a dishonour and grief to Christ that his doctrine met with so little acceptance and so much opposition; but this takes off the wonder and reproach, makes the offence of it to cease, and made it no disappointment to Christ, that herein the scriptures were fulfilled. Two things are here said concerning this untractable people, and both were foretold by the evangelical prophet Isaiah, that they did not believe, and that they could not believe.
I. They did not believe (v. 37): Though he had done so many miracles before them, which, one would think, should have convinced them, yet they believed not, but opposed him. Observe,
1. The abundance of the means of conviction which Christ afforded them: He did miracles, so many miracles; tosauta semeia signifying both so many and so great. This refers to all the miracles he had wrought formerly; nay, the blind and lame now came to him into the temple, and he healed them, Matt. xxi. 14. His miracles were the great proof of his mission, and on the evidence of them he relied. Two things concerning them he here insists upon:– (1.) The number of them; they were many,–various and of divers kinds; numerous and often repeated; and every new miracle confirmed the reality of all that went before. The multitude of his miracles was not only a proof of his unexhausted power, but gave the greater opportunity to examine them; and, if there had been a cheat in them, it was morally impossible but that in some or other of them it would have been discovered; and, being all miracles of mercy, the more there were the more good was done. (2.) The notoriety of them. He wrought these miracles before them, not at a distance, not in a corner, but before many witnesses, appearing to their own eyes.
2. The inefficacy of these means: Yet they believed not on him. They could not gainsay the premises, and yet would not grant the conclusion. Note, The most plentiful and powerful means of conviction will not of themselves work faith in the depraved prejudiced hearts of men. These saw, and yet believed not.
3. The fulfilling of the scripture in this (v. 38): That the saying of Esaias might be fulfilled. Not that these infidel Jews designed the fulfilling of the scripture (they rather fancied those scriptures which speak of the church’s best sons to be fulfilled in themselves), but the event exactly answered the prediction, so that (ut for ita ut) this saying of Esaias was fulfilled. The more improbable any event is, the more does a divine foresight appear in the prediction of it. One could not have imagined that the kingdom of the Messiah, supported with such pregnant proofs, should have met with so much opposition among the Jews, and therefore their unbelief is called a marvellous work, and a wonder, Isa. xxix. 14. Christ himself marvelled at it, but it was what Isaiah foretold (Isa. liii. 1), and now it is accomplished. Observe, (1.) The gospel is here called their report: Who has believed, te akon hemon—our hearing, which we have heard from God, and which you have heard from us. Our report is the report that we bring, like the report of a matter of fact, or the report of a solemn resolution in the senate. (2.) It is foretold that a few comparatively of those to whom this report is brought will be persuaded to give credit to it. Many hear it, but few heed it and embrace it: Who hath believed it? Here and there one, but none to speak of; not the wise, not the noble; it is to them but a report which wants confirmation. (3.) It is spoken of as a thing to be greatly lamented that so few believe the report of the gospel. Lord is here prefixed from the LXX., but is not in the Hebrew, and intimates a sorrowful account brought to God by the messengers of the cold entertainment which they and their report had; as the servant came, and showed his lord all these things, Luke xiv. 21. (4.) The reason why men believe not the report of the gospel is because the arm of the Lord is not revealed to them, that is, because they do not acquaint themselves with, and submit themselves to, the grace of God; they do not experimentally know the virtue and fellowship of Christ’s death and resurrection, in which the arm of the Lord is revealed. They saw Christ’s miracles, but did not see the arm of the Lord revealed in them.
II. They could not believe, and therefore they could not because Esaias said, He hath blinded their eyes. This is a hard saying, who can explain it? We are sure that God is infinitely just and merciful, and therefore we cannot think there is in any such an impotency to good, resulting from the counsels of God, as lays them under a fatal necessity of being evil. God dams none by mere sovereignty; yet it is said, They could not believe. St. Austin, coming in course to the exposition of these words, expresses himself with a holy fear of entering upon an enquiry into this mystery. Justa sunt judicia ejus, sed occulta–His judgments are just, but hidden.
1. They could not believe, that is, they would not; they were obstinately resolved in their infidelity; thus Chrysostom and Austin incline to understand it; and the former gives divers instances of scripture of the putting of an impotency to signify the invincible refusal of the will, as Gen. xxxvii. 4, They could not speak peaceably to him. And ch. vii. 7. This is a moral impotency, like that of one that is accustomed to do evil, Jer. xiii. 23. But,
2. They could not because Esaias had said, He hath blinded their eyes. Here the difficulty increases; it is certain that God is not the author of sin, and yet,
(1.) There is a righteous hand of God sometimes to be acknowledged in the blindness and obstinacy of those who persist in impenitency and unbelief, by which they are justly punished for their former resistance of the divine light and rebellion against the divine law. If God withhold abused grace, and give men over to indulged lusts,–if he permit the evil spirit to do his work on those that resisted the good Spirit,–and if in his providence he lay stumbling-blocks in the way of sinners, which confirm their prejudices, then he blinds their eyes, and hardens their hearts, and these are spiritual judgments, like the giving up of idolatrous Gentiles to vile affections, and degenerate Christians to strong delusions. Observe the method of conversion implied here, and the steps taken in it. [1.] Sinners are brought to see with their eyes, to discern the reality of divine things and to have some knowledge of them. [2.] To understand with their heart, to apply these things to themselves; not only to assent and approve, but to consent and accept. [3.] To be converted, and effectually turned from sin to Christ, from the world and the flesh to God, as their felicity and portion. [4.] Then God will heal them, will justify and sanctify them; will pardon their sins, which are as bleeding wounds, and mortify their corruptions, which are as lurking diseases. Now when God denies his grace nothing of this is done; the alienation of the mind from, and its aversion to, God and the divine life, grow into a rooted and invincible antipathy, and so the case becomes desperate.
(2.) Judicial blindness and hardness are in the word of God threatened against those who wilfully persist in wickedness, and were particularly foretold concerning the Jewish church and nation. Known unto God are all his works, and all ours too. Christ knew before who would betray him, and spoke of it, ch. vi. 70. This is a confirmation of the truth of scripture prophecies, and thus even the unbelief of the Jews may help to strengthen our faith. It is also intended for caution to particular persons, to beware lest that come upon them which was spoken of in the prophets, Acts xiii. 40.
(3.) What God has foretold will certainly come to pass, and so, by a necessary consequence, in order of arguing, it might be said that therefore they could not believe, because God by the prophets had foretold they would not; for such is the knowledge of God that he cannot be deceived in what he foresees, and such his truth that he cannot deceive in what he foretels, so that the scripture cannot be broken. Yet be it observed that the prophecy did not name particular persons; so that it might not be said, “Therefore such a one and such a one could not believe, because Esaias had said so and so;” but it pointed at the body of the Jewish nation, which would persist in their infidelity till their cities were wasted without inhabitants, as it follows (Isa 6:11; Isa 6:12); yet still reserving a remnant (v. 13, in it shall be a tenth), which reserve was sufficient to keep a door of hope open to particular persons; for each one might say, Why may not I be of that remnant?
Lastly, The evangelist, having quoted the prophecy, shows (v. 41) that it was intended to look further than the prophet’s own days, and that its principal reference was to the days of the Messiah: These things said Esaias when he saw his glory, and spoke of him. 1. We read in the prophecy that this was said to Esaias, Isa 6:8; Isa 6:9. But here we are told that it was said by him to the purpose. For nothing was said by him as a prophet which was not first said to him; nor was any thing said to him which was not afterwards said by him to those to whom he was sent. See Isa. xxi. 10. 2. The vision which the prophet there had of the glory of God is here said to be his seeing the glory of Jesus Christ: He saw his glory. Jesus Christ therefore is equal in power and glory with the Father, and his praises are equally celebrated. Christ had a glory before the foundation of the world, and Esaias saw this. 3. It is said that the prophet there spoke of him. It seems to have been spoken of the prophet himself (for to him the commission and instructions were there given), and yet it is here said to be spoken of Christ, for as all the prophets testified of him so they all typified him. This they spoke of him, that as to many his coming would be not only fruitless, but fatal, a savour of death unto death. It might be objected against his doctrine, If it was from heaven, why did not the Jews believe it? But this is an answer to it; it was not for want of evidence, but because their heart was made fat, and their ears were heavy. It was spoken of Christ, that he should be glorified in the ruin of an unbelieving multitude, as well as in the salvation of a distinguished remnant.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Though he had done so many signs before them ( ). Genitive absolute with perfect active participle in concessive sense of .
Yet they believed not on him ( ). No “yet” in the Greek. Negative imperfect active of , “they kept on not believing on him,” stubborn refusal in face of the light (verse 35).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1 ) “But though he had done so many miracles before them,” (tosauta de autou semeia pepoiekotos emprosthen auton) “Then while he did so many signs before them,” more than the 35 that are recorded in the Gospels, Joh 7:31; Joh 11:47; Joh 21:25, or in their presence, performed so many miracles that gave evidence of His supernatural being, that caused many to glorify God, Joh 3:2; Mar 2:10-12.
2) “Yet they believed not on him: (ouk episteuon eis auton) “They did not believe or trust in him:”.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
37. And though he had done so many signs. That no man may be disturbed or perplexed at seeing that Christ was despised by the Jews, the Evangelist removes this offense, by showing that he was supported by clear and undoubted testimonies, which proved that credit was due to him and to his doctrine; but that the blind did not behold the glory and power of God, which were openly displayed in his miracles. First, therefore, we ought to believe that it was not owing to Christ that the Jews did not place confidence in him, because by many miracles he abundantly testified who he was, and that it was therefore unjust and highly unreasonable that their unbelief should diminish his authority. But as this very circumstance might lead many persons to anxious and perplexing inquiry how the Jews came to be so stupid, that the power of God, though visible, produced no effect upon them, John proceeds further, and shows that faith does not proceed from the ordinary faculties of men, but is an uncommon and extraordinary gift of God, and that this was anciently predicted concerning Christ, that very few would believe the Gospel.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
Joh. 12:37-43. The Evangelists statement of the causes of Jewish unbelief, and of the timidity of many who believed, which prevented them confessing Christ.
Joh. 12:37. , so many, to be distinguished from , so great (Reynolds, etc.).
Joh. 12:38. Report (i.e. the message given to the prophets to be delivered by them) arm of the Lord.Both the teaching and the signs wrought by Christ failed to lead the mass of the people to faith.
Joh. 12:39. Therefore they could not, etc.It seems to be a law of the spiritual and moral life that a wilful disregard of truth, e.g., leads to an inability to be influenced by the truth. The nature remains impervious to it. Just as the prophesying of Isaiah (Isaiah 6.) tended only to harden the hearts of the unbelieving in his day, so our Lords teaching and miracles hardened the hearts of the Jews because of their wilful unbelief (Joh. 12:40).
Joh. 12:40. That they should not, etc. ( ).Describes the result, and not the cause.
Joh. 12:41. When, etc.Better (with the best MSS.) , because he saw, etc. The prophecy was given in consequence of the prophetic vision of the glory of the Lord. Was this the glory of the triune God? (Cyril, see Wordsworth, Greek Testament) (Rev. 4:8-11; Rev. 5:12-14 : comp. Isaiah 6,).
Joh. 12:42. Put out of the synagogue.See Joh. 9:22; Joh. 7:13.
Joh. 12:43. The glory of men.See Joh. 5:44.
Joh. 12:44. Cried ().These words were doubtless uttered in the hearing of His more immediate disciples, and contain encouragement and warning for them. It was a cry from His heart, grieved at His rejection by His own people, and solicitous for the stability of His followers faith.
Joh. 12:45. See Joh. 14:9. See.I.e. behold, contemplate.
Joh. 12:46. See Joh. 8:12.
Joh. 12:47-48. See Joh. 3:17; Joh. 8:15-16. Those who reject Christ shall be self-condemned. The opportunity and means were given them; but they would not (Luk. 10:16; Luk. 19:44; Mat. 23:37).
Joh. 12:49. Of Myself.All through this Gospel Christ declares His unity of will and purpose with the Father (Joh. 5:30, Joh. 7:16-18; Joh. 7:28-29; Joh. 8:26-29; Joh. 8:38; Joh. 8:42, etc.).
Joh. 12:50. His commandment is life eternal.Pro. 19:16; Rom. 7:10. It is so with all Gods laws, material and spiritual. They are ordained to life. And eternal Wisdom speaks in Christs words (Pro. 8:1; Pro. 8:4; Pro. 8:32-36).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Joh. 12:37-50
Joh. 12:37-41. Who hath believed our report?What is needed in order that we may not fall into the error of those who do not believe the heavenly report, who, if not in words, yet in reality reject and despise the Saviour? This is a question of supreme moment for all who profess to be genuine disciples and followers of Christ, children of the heavenly Father. Yet to how many, confronted with the prophetic word, might Philips question be repeated: Understandest thou what thou readest? (Act. 8:30). Can anything be more important? Still are there not many whose energies and thoughts concentrated on other matters are most fruitful, but who in regard to this supreme matter are but as babes in Christ, subsisting on the mere elements of the faith, and never going on to perfection? Is this right? and is it wonderful, when we consider it, that the religious life of the Church is not so healthy as it should and might be, and that the progress of Christs kingdom is retarded? What we all need is an assured faith, and then the arm of the Lord will be revealed to us, the power of the gospel will be manifested in us and to the world. And this assured faith rests on simple elementary truths such as all men, the simplest and most unlearned, may know and understand. There need only be mentioned
I. The sense of sin and our responsibility to God.
1. The sense of sin is universal as humanity. Go where we will, the ideas of right and wrong will be found subsisting, and the deep sense of guilt on account of wrongdoing is expressed in all religions, in sacrificial rites, even in the fetich worship of the barbarian. You cannot escape from this universal belief in the sense of sinfulness among men.
2. And with this comes the sense of responsibility. Conscience speaks within mens hearts, and declares that they are responsible to that Power which rules over all, and that, unless in some way it can be averted, the punishment for wrongdoing, for the transgression of the law of right which governs the universe, will be speedy and awful.
3. The realisation of this fundamental truth is essential for the true religious life. All professed Christians will confess in a general way that they are miserable sinners. But there must be an individual and personal realisation of the fact. Sin must be recognised in all its hideousness and horror in the light of the divine holiness; the awfulness of its indwelling power must be felt by the individual, until he turns from it with loathing, crying, God be merciful, etc. The next step will then be to seek
II. A way of escape from sin and its guilt.
1. The slave bound in fetters sighs for liberty; the shipwrecked sailor, adrift on a spar, with the lonely ocean all around, looks and longs for a passing ship; the sick man turns to the skilful and trusted physician.
2. So do those who awake to a sense of their spiritual bondage sigh for a Redeemer and deliverance; those adrift on the ocean of life, knowing not whither they are being carried, to what awful mystery beyond, long for some ark of safety; the man who feels that a subtle poison is corrupting his soul-life longs for a skilful spiritual physician.
3. And does not the history of the past tell how fruitlessly men endeavoured for themselves to discover a remedy, construct an ark, and gain a spiritual freedom? They still groan in their chains, many of them; the wrecks of their flimsy arks are scattered all along the shores of time, and the physicians they sought have proved spiritual charlatans.
4. Still the feeling which prompted to this was true and right. It showed the existence of the sense of sinfulness. Those who do not feel that they are in danger will make no effort to escape. Those who do will make earnest efforts to find deliverance and safety. Is there, however, any way of escape, any means of deliverance? We have seen how vain and futile all merely human attempts have been to bring deliverance. Are we shut up to despair? It is here Revelation meets us with the announcement that
III. The cross of Christ is the means of redemption.
1. That and not less is the claim made by our Lord and His apostles. He was wounded for our transgressions, etc. (Isa. 53:5; 1Jn. 1:7; Eph. 1:7; Rev. 1:5). This is the central truth of redemption. There are other truths most grand and important, other aspects of this divine work necessary in their proper place. This is fundamental so far as sinful men are concerned. Take away this and there remains a beautiful moral system, high above others even in this aspect, but nothing more.
2. And that the atoning purpose of Christs cross is the central and all-embracing purpose so far as man is concerned is shown by this: that it is only when that purpose is realised and personally appropriated by faith that the full blessedness of the gospel comes to individuals. It has always been where faith in this great central truth has been firm and clear that men have entered into truest peace, have become most Christlike, have reached highest heights of attainment.
3. But there must be the personal acceptance of and trust in Christ and His cross in order to this end. A mere general and vague belief can hardly be dignified with the name of faith. True, even though genuine faith be as a grain of mustard seed, it will have power. But it must be genuine and it must be personal. It uplifts the burden of guilt; it frees from the bondage of sin, of corruption. The mountain is removed, and is cast into the sea (Mar. 11:23). When this point has been reached, then it is seen that
IV. The saving power of Christs gospel is the true proof of His Messiahship.
1. Those to whom these things are realities need no further proof that Christ and His message are divine. The proof is within them; and however fierce may be the storms around them, the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within the veil (Heb. 6:19) will hold. And the proof will not only be a personal one; it will assuredly affect others, it will be a test of their sincerity.
2. True, many will pass by or slight this proof, just as the Jews slighted our Lords miracles. But in doing so they will condemn themselves, for examination would have convinced them that the moral miracles effected by the gospel during the eighteen centuries that have passed away since Christs passion never have been and cannot be effected by any other power. A dispassionate historical survey would convince unbiassed minds that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, etc. (Rom. 1:16).
3. Those who despise and reject, who are unbelieving, are in a greater or less degree themselves to blame. They have permitted themselves to be led away by authority inimical to Christ, without making earnest search themselves; or they are shackled by some besetting sin and do not desire freedom; or they are merely nominal disciples of the Redeemer and have not personally known the saving power of His gospel. Such considerations should lead professing Christians to give diligence to make their calling and election sure (2Pe. 1:10). Is it not the lack of this that leads to such feeble, listless confession of Christ, such worldliness in the Church? The wheat and tares are to grow together till the harvest (Mat. 13:30). But make sure that your life is a wheat and not a tare life! For that is the end of Christs atonement. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, etc. (Isa. 53:10). And His seed will yield fruit.
(1) Here is the test of a sincere faith: it works by love, it leads to consecration and self-sacrifice. Those whose hearts are filled with divine love give a holy service. The mother who truly loves her child will do and give all that is possible, apart from what is wrong and evil, for her child. And so in all ranks and grades of pure human affection.
(2) Love to the Redeemer must manifest itself in the same way. But how feeble it is in the case of many when we consider how little is done by the mass of Christians to make known the love of Christ! How many spend and are spent in the service of the world, whilst the service of Christ hardly costs them a thought! Is it not because they have never really known and loved Him, never truly felt the guilt of sin, the need of pardon, the peace of Christ? And are they not thereby cumbering the ground and hindering Christs kingdom?
(3) Were all who profess to be Christs disciples truly consecrated to His service, this would prove the greatest check to unbelief, and not afar, but near, would be the hour when Ho should see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.
Joh. 12:44-50. The declaration of Jesus in view of the worlds unbelief.Of these words Bengal says: He spoke these words in the act of going away, when He had already gone a considerable distance from the men; wherefore it is said that He cried, so that those to whom He had been speaking might hear. Rather it would seem an utterance of His heart in the presence of His disciples, in view of the unbelief of Israela cry to them to witness that He had testified the truth to the unbelieving, since He had not spoken of Himself, but as the Father commanded Him. In these words Jesus declared that He had delivered the appointed message, the reception of which is life to men.
I. The mission of Christ.
1. Light was what the world was longing for, and life was what it above all needed. And Jesus came to earth to be the light and life of the world.
2. And the manner in which He brought light and life to men was by revealing, in Himself, the Father. It was this He was sent to accomplishto speak what God had commanded, to do the Fathers will.
3. And this He could do because He Himself was the revelation of the Father, the brightness of His glory, etc. So that those who see Jesus in reality see the Father, and those who believe on Him believe on the Father who sent Him.
4. And thus He is the light of those who follow Him, who believe on Him. His revelation of the Father was not in vain for all. He became obedient unto death. Had He not turned aside from Satans wiles, then the world had remained in darkness and the shadow of death. But now through Him the light of the divine love, mercy, and wisdom hath for those who believe for ever dispelled the darkness.
5. In this revelation of the Fathers will, and in the doing of it, Jesus brought life to men. His commandment is life. He wills not the death of sinners, but their salvation. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth (Rom. 1:16).
II. The result of rejecting Christ.
1. Whilst millions rejoice for time and eternity in this divine life and light, there are those who will not listen to the Revealer, and who, in rejecting Him, treasure up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. 2:5).
2. In their case the Word designed to bring life rises up as an avenger. Opportunities neglected, entreaties slighted, commands despised, shall rise up in judgment against those who will not hear and believe in the last day. Jesus came to save; but the rejection of His salvation must of necessity issue in judgment.
3. Men who reject the gospel remain in their sins, and thus are unlike God. Clinging to sin, they must be shut out from God, for with Him sin cannot dwell. Rejecting Christ, they choose darkness, and cannot dwell with light. Rejecting Christ, they reject the Father.
4. This, then, is no matter to be lightly thought of or set aside. Christ comes with lofty claims for acceptance before men. The witnesses of His gospel testify to Him on every side. Thus a terrible responsibility rests on those who hear the gospel. It is the part of true wisdom to examine it earnestly and sincerely. Woe to those who refuse to listen or who scornfully reject!
III. Christ has obediently and fully performed His mission.
1. If men reject Christ, it is not because He has failed in any way to proclaim the Fathers will. With that will the Son is in complete agreement, and what He speaks is His Fathers word, His Fathers commandment, which is life everlasting for men. He is the Word, the divine Logos, the very expression of the Fathers mind and will.
2. Thus His mission had been fully performed, in willing submission to the Father. Not His own glory, but the Fathers; not His own work, but the Fathers, given Him to do; not His own words, but the Fathers. Although He was the Saviour of the world, He will not seek to be looked on as the builder of that temple which is being raised in the world; but the Father had given Him, as it were, all the plans and designs; He is the Master-builder who carries out the Fathers designs. He speaks and interprets according as the Father desires, so entirely is His will merged in the will of His Father (Lecher).
3. Christ, then, has done all things well. He can look back on that ministry now closing with the consciousness that the purpose of Him who sent Him has been carried out and His will obeyed.
4. And the path of safety for men is to obey His word as He obeyed the Father. Openly confess Him, undeterred by the fear of men (Joh. 12:43); bend the will to the obedience of faith; overcome yourselves; consent to count all things but loss for Him; and lay hold of the better and enduring inheritance. For the divine commandment is to life; and He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
HOMILETIC NOTES
Joh. 12:43. The fear of men.The ban of the Pharisees made those men afraid, and their fear was more powerful than the attraction toward the household of God. They loved the praise of men. Therefore they could not be perfect in faith. The judgment which John heard from our Lords own mouth (Joh. 5:44, etc.) he would never have uttered concerning a Nicodemus or a Joseph of Arimatha. No, not such weak ones are here meant, who slowly grew in faith and became strong in that hour in which the strong became weak; but those wretched souls who had experienced indeed the enlightening activity of the Light, yet had choked the germ of faith in its springing, because they loved darkness more than light, honour with mentheir carnal Judaic honourmore than honour with God. Notice earnestly therefore that not alone those who have been inimical to the Gospel and stiff-necked in their opposition, but also some who believed, may be hardened, when they deny the power of faith, and do not learn to hate their own life in this world (Joh. 12:25). Yes! the hardening of such as have known the truth, and yet wilfully turn their backs on it, is the most terrible result of all (2Pe. 2:21; Heb. 6:4).Translated from, Besser.
Joh. 12:46-48. The end of rejection of Christ.There is a darkness that will come, come upon all, must come. Men call it night; men call it death. Death is night; death is darkness. We must all die. That sentence is now called commonplaceto such vulgarity have we grown. If a preacher should stand up and say, Man is mortal, he would be said to have uttered a platitudeso have we fooled ourselves away! Yet we speak of spendthrifts and prodigals and persons who do not take hold of life by the right end, but prosper at the bank, in the shambles, in the market-place. Why, we are spendthrifts who have got through these elementary truths that ought to constitute the very capital of Christian meditation and practice. We mustI repeat it at the risk of uttering a commonplacewe must all face the darkness of death one by one. We have wronged ourselves by living much in crowds. It is well for us now and then to know that each for himself alonealonemust die. What preparation have we made for death? There is only one rational and sufficient preparation, and that is walking while we have the light. Christ is the light of the world. Walking whilst we have Christan opportunity of studying Christ, an opportunity of receiving Christ into the heart, an opportunity of serving Christ by all good deeds. If you have made any other preparation for death you are foolish; and the very wisdom you have shown in making other preparation aggravates your folly. You have insured your lifeyou have let your soul go without defence. You have barred all the upper windows against the thiefyou have left the front door of the house wide open. Sevenfold in folly are they who have made every possible preparation for death except walking in that light which sends a glorifying beam through the whole valley of its shadow.Dr. Joseph Parker.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
A PERPETUAL PROPHECY
Text 12:37-43
37
But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on him:
38
that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
39
For this cause they could not believe, for that Isaiah said again,
40
He hath blinded their eyes, and he hardened their heart; Lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, And should turn, and I should heal them.
41
These things said Isaiah, because he saw his glory; and he spake of him.
42
Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
43
for they loved the glory that is of men more than the glory that is of God.
Queries
a.
Did the people believe in order that the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled (Joh. 12:37)?
b.
Was it impossible for the people to believe (Joh. 12:39)?
c.
Did God deliberately blind their eyes (Joh. 12:40)?
Paraphrase
Although Jesus had been doing and was continuing to do a great multitude of miraculous signs in the presence of these Jews, they refused to believe in Him and the word of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled, which he spoke, saying, Lord who has believed our message? And to whom has the saving power of the Lord been revealed and who has understood and accepted this salvation? And Isaiah, prophesying in another place, gives the reason they were unable to come to belief, saying, God has allowed their eyes to be blinded and their hearts hardened when they refused to see with their eyes and perceive with their hearts and turn in repentance and God was unable to heal their wickedness. These words Isaiah prophecied when he saw the Messianic glory, in the temple, and spoke of Him. Nevertheless many of the rulers believed in Him but they would not publicly confess their belief because they were afraid the Pharisees would have them excommunicated from the synagogue. These rulers desired the approval of men more than they desired the approval of God.
Summary
Isaiah is quoted as a commentary on the unbelief manifested by the Jews who were beholding the miracles of Jesus. The half-hearted belief of many of the rulers is recorded by John.
Comment
The writer of the fourth gospel, John, now makes a parenthetical statement and quotes Isaiah (Isa. 53:1 and Joh. 6:9-10) who prophecied Gods foreknowledge of the unbelief of the Jews in the Messiah. John is not saying, nor did Isaiah intend to prophesy, that God predestines that men will disbelieve whether they want to or not. That is, God created every man with a free will to exercise in the matter of belief or unbelief and God will not overrule that free will and force a man to believe or disbelieve. Here, in the prophecy of Isaiah, we stand once again in the presence of the omniscient foreknowledge of Almighty God and are made aware again of our infinite limitations.
In Joh. 12:37 the Greek participle pepoiekotos (had been doing) is in the perfect tense indicating that Jesus had been doing many signs and was continuing to do many signs in the presence of the Jews of Judea and Jerusalem. But the multitudes still refused to believe in Him in spite of the miraculous signs He gave them.
And so in Joh. 12:38-41 John quotes Isaiah, to show not only that God foreknew this unbelief, but the cause for an unbelief so stubborn that it resists even divine manifestations of miraculous signs. Isaiahs prophecy states that unbelief, as an effect, may also be the cause of further increase in unbelief.
Joh. 12:38 is a quotation of Isaiahs cry unto the Lord (Isa. 53:1) of the almost total lack of belief in Jehovahs prophetic message of the coming Messianic gospel. Isaiah denounced the sins of the people in his day and prophecied the downfall and captivity of the nation. But by and large his message was a prophetic message of hope, strength and a glorious destiny for the faithful remnant through whom would come the Messiah and His kingdom. But in the midst of his prophetic message concerning the Servant of the Lord (the Messiah), Isaiah cried out, Who has believed our messagewho has been able to see and believe in the prophesied Saviour of the Lord? In Isaiahs day only a very small remnant believed. Yes, even in spite of many miraculous signs to substantiate that Isaiahs message was from God, many multitudes refused to believe. So, when John beheld the unbelief of the Jews, in spite of the many miracles of Jesus, he claims the prophecy of Isaiah to have reached another stage in its fulfillment. Isaiahs prophecy was fulfilled in his own day, in the days when Jesus was manifested in the flesh and when Jesus was being preached by the apostles (cf. Act. 28:26-28).
And now, after a statement of the fact of unbelief, John again quotes Isaiah to comment upon the effect of unbelief which in itself becomes in turn cause for increased unbelief.
First let us establish that men disbelieve because they will to do so, not because it is impossible for them to do otherwise. To declare that some are predestined to be irresistibly saved and others predestined to be lost when the gospel of Christ commands, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,and If any man would come after me . . .and Whosoever will may come . . . is absurd, to say the least!
Man is a free moral agent. Even in Eden man was given freedom to choose to obey or disobey. God makes known His covenant requirements and then man responds. The holiness of God and His message of salvation is of such a character, coupled with the nature of the will with which God created man, that the more man believes and obeys God, the easier it becomes to believe and obey. And, on the other hand, the more a man rejects and disobeys God, the easier it also becomes to reject and disobey. So it depends upon the way man responds to the message of God as to the effect the message may have upon him (cf. Joh. 3:19-21; Joh. 7:17).
The Jews of Isaiahs day responded to his message of repentance, punishment by captivity, and a future kingdom of spiritual salvation by scoffing unbelief. They wilfully and deliberately rejected the demands of God (speaking through Isaiah) because they took pleasure in unrighteousness. They haughtily resisted the promised spiritual blessings of God for their self-righteousness, military alliances, material possessions, and indulgent pleasures. Their unbelief comes first of all because they harden their own heart against Isaiahs message. Then, the message, because it shows evil for what it really is and demands purity, humility, obedience, etc., causes men to love it more or hate it more as their faith increases or their unbelief increases. Furthermore, mans will, the spiritual force within him for good or evil, is a force that increases in power the more it is exercised in either directionfor good or for evil.
So in the hardening of mans heart all factors (mans will, Gods message, the deceitfulness of sin) are involved. It is advisable that Romans, chapter 1 and 2, and II Thessalonians, chapter 2, be read in connection with the truth that men and God both are involved in the hardening of mans heart (cf. also Exo. 7:3; Exo. 8:32; Exo. 9:12; Rom. 9:17; Heb. 3:8; Heb. 3:13-15; Heb. 4:7).
In Joh. 12:39-40, then, John is pointing out first the effect of the materialistic, self-righteous, self-indulgent rejection of Jesus upon the hearts of the Jews. They had blinded their own eyes and hardened their own heart against the message of a spiritual kingdom and a spiritual salvation which Jesus preached (just as their fathers did in Isaiahs day). And with the nature of God and His message such as it was, coupled with their continued willful rejection in the face of continued evidence and appeals we see that God gave them up to the lusts of their heart and hardened their hearts. God was unable to save them because they would not allow Him to save them (cf. Isa. 1:10-20; Isa. 59:1-2; Joh. 5:40-44).
Who is the him of Joh. 12:41? John evidently means to say that Isaiah saw Christ. Isaiah said of his own vision, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple (Isa. 6:1). John, then, is affirming that Jesus is one and the same as the Jehovah God whom Isaiah saw in the temple. This passage is conclusive proof that the apostles did not hold Jesus to be a lesser deity, but proclaimed Him equal with the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
In passing it is also worthy of note concerning Joh. 12:38, that the conservative view that Isaiah is the author of Isa. 53:1-12 is correct. John, who knew more about the Old Testament than the higher critics, does not even say, It is written in the book of Isaiah, but John says, the word of Isaiah the prophet . . . which he spake . . . For John, a Jew, who lived in the first century and had tremendous advantages over the higher critics of the twentieth century in availability of textual material, there was only one Isaiah and that Isaiah wrote the entire book of Isaiah. The liberal, modernistic critics may divide the book of Isaiah into two or three parts all they want, but for John there is only one book and Isaiah wrote it all.
Joh. 12:42-43 (along with Joh. 18:15-16) indicate to us that John was well known and trusted among the rulers and priests. Some may have confided to him that they believed Jesus but would not dare to publicly confess it for fear of excommunication. These verses show again that so much of unbelief is moral and not intellectual. These rulers could see (as did Nicodemus) that Jesus was sent from God Himself for One who did miracles must be a Teacher come from God. But because of cowardice and selfish love for the honor and approval of men, they rejected the approval of God and willfully seared over their own consciences! Westcott says, . . . the conviction found no expression in life . . . such ineffective intellectual faith (so to speak) is really the climax of unbelief (cf. Joh. 9:1-41).
Thus the prophecy Isaiah made by the Spirit of God concerning the hardening of unbelief became a perpetual prophecy. In all generations of mankind when men have hardened their hearts by willful rejection of the spiritual nature and demands of Gods revelation they have fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. It has always been true, further, that when men refuse to have God in their knowledge, then God gives them up to the lusts of their hearts . . . unto vile passions . . . unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting (Rom. 1:1-32). And the more a man refuses, the more calloused and hardened his heart and the more vain he becomes in his reasoning and his senseless heart is darkened and, while professing to be wise, he becomes a fool!
In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (cf. Col. 2:3) and when man loves the honor and wisdom of men more than the honor and wisdom of God he turns his back on an everlasting, sumptuous, soul-satisfying feast in order to eat husks with the swine.
Quiz
1.
Where are the two excerpts from the prophet Isaiah located in his book?
2.
Why did Isaiah cry, Who hath believed our report . . . etc.?
3.
Are men predestined to belief and unbelief? Prove your answer.
4.
How does the gospel harden the heart of some men?
5.
Name five Scripture references that have to do with hardening the heart.
6.
How many authors are there to the book of Isaiah?
7.
Did the rulers mentioned in Joh. 12:42 believe in Jesus or disbelieve?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(37) But though he had done so many miracles before them.The words before them mean in their presence, before their eyes. They refer to the multitude (Joh. 12:34). St. Johns narrative implies, therefore, that the signs of the earlier Gospels were well known. He has himself recorded but six miracles, and all these, with the exception of the feeding the five thousand, belong to the Judan ministry. (Comp. Note on Joh. 2:11.)
Yet they believed not on him.This is the writers comment on the general result of Christs work at the close of His public teaching. This too is said of the multitude, the people as a whole. There were, of course, not a few who were then walking according as they had light, but it was not so with the many. Rejection and not acceptance was the result of Christs personal work on earth; yet rejection accompanied, as on this day, by signs which pointed to a world-wide acceptance. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name (Joh. 1:11-12).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
General summary of Jewish unbelief and rejection of Christ, Joh 12:37-43.
The great body of the people, in spite of miraculous evidence, rejected Jesus; yet a small minority believed without the courage to avow their faith.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
37. Though he had done so many miracles Though the proofs of his divine mission were so many, and were performed before them, yet, John plaintively declares, their rejection of him was positive.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Though he had done so many signs before them still they did not believe in him. This was in order that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, “Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isa 53:1 LXX)’
John stresses here the people’s blindness. They had heard Jesus’ words, they had seen remarkable signs, and yet they refused to respond and believe. But He was not surprised for so the Scripture warned. The wondrous Servant of God spoken of in Isaiah 53 had come, but like the men of old they had failed to discern the hand of God in it. (Of course there had been those who had responded (Joh 12:11) but here the stress is on the majority who continued to be blind). Indeed John sees in this a vindication of Scripture. It was ‘in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled’. There was a divine necessity in it. Afterwards ‘they could not believe’ (v. 39). God was not taken by surprise for He had warned of the situation beforehand.
This is the second time that a decisive rejection of Jesus is spoken of. The first was when many of His disciples would no longer walk with Him (Joh 6:66), even though He is ‘the way’ (Joh 14:6). This one tells us that many in the crowds would not believe in Him, even though He is ‘the truth.’ The third will come in Joh 19:15 when, even though He is ‘the life,’ the Jewish leaders will arrange for Him to be crucified and will rather choose Caesar.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:
v. 37. But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him,
v. 38. that the saying of Esaias the Prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
v. 39. Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
v. 40. He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
v. 41. These things said Esaias when he saw His glory and spake of Him. The results of Christ’s entire ministry, on the whole, had been very discouraging. Neither His words nor His miracles had had the desired result. And in this, as the evangelist here points out, the judgment of God upon unbelief was carried out. He refers to two Old Testament prophecies, both from the Book of Isaiah. In Isa 53:1 the Messiah complains of the fact that His teaching is not believed, and that the arm of the Lord, as revealed in the miracles, is hidden from the multitude. And since the Jews thus, by their unbelief, opposed the gracious will of God in both Gospel and signs, the second prophecy, Isa 6:9-10, found its application and fulfillment. Their eyes were finally blinded, making it impossible for them, to see; their heart was rendered callous to every good impression, making it impossible for them to understand the wonderful message of their salvation. The judgment upon the unbelieving Jews, which had begun in the days of the great prophet, was now finally consummated in the days of Christ. See Mat 13:14; Mar 4:12; Luk 8:10; Act 28:26; Rom 11:8. It was rejection and contempt of the grace of God which characterized the attitude of the Jews: contempt in the days of Isaiah, contempt in the days of Christ, contempt in the days of the apostles; and so the judgment finally struck them in full force. It is a terrible thing for a person to reject and despise the grace of God when it is offered to him, for the time of mercy may Boon be ended, and then comes the time when the Gospel will be unto such a person a savor of death unto death.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 12:37 . At the close of the public ministry of Jesus there now follows a general observation on its results in respect to faith in Him, as far as Joh 12:50 .
] not so great (Lcke, De Wette, and several others), but so many , [118] Joh 6:9 , Joh 14:9 , Joh 21:11 . Comp. the admissions of the Jews themselves, Joh 7:31 , Joh 11:47 . The multitude of the miracles, i.e . the so-often-repeated miraculous demonstration of His Messianic , must have convinced them (comp. Joh 20:30 ), had they not been blinded and hardened by a divine destiny. The reference , however, of is not: so many as have hitherto been related , for our Gospel contains the fewest miraculous narratives, but it lies in the notoriety of the great multitude in general. Comp. Joh 14:9 ; 1Co 14:10 ; Heb 4:7 .
. .] before their eyes .
. .] summary statement.
[118] Comp. on the distinction between the two notions, the phrase current in the classics, , Heindorf, ad Plat. Gorg. p. 456 C.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
V b
ANTITHESIS BETWEEN SELF-HARDENING ISRAEL AND THE WORLD, THAT BOTH STANDS IN NEED OF SALVATION AND IS READY TO RECEIVE IT,OR THE WITHDRAWAL OF CHRIST AND THE EVANGELISTS REVIEW OF HIS OFFICIAL LABORS
(Joh 12:37-50.)
37But though he had done so many miracles [had wrought so many, or, so great signs]45 before them, yet they believed not on [in] him: 38That the saying of Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed [Isa 53:1]? 39Therefore [On this account, or, For this cause] they could not believe, because that 40[omit that] Esaias [Isaiah] said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened46 their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor [and] understand with their heart, and be converted [turn themselves],47 and I should heal48 them. 41These things said Esaias [Isaiah], when [because]49 he saw his glory, and spake [he spoke]50of him. 42Nevertheless among the chief rulers also [Yet even of the rulers] many believed on [in] him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him 43[omit him], lest they should be put out of the synagogue [excommunicated]. For they loved the praise [glory] of men more than [rather than at all]51 the praise [glory] of God.
44[But] Jesus cried [aloud] and said, He that believeth on [in] me, believeth not on [in] me, but on [in] him that sent me. 45And he that seeth [beholdeth] me seeth 46[beholdeth] him that sent me. I am come a [omit a, ins. as] light into the world, that whosoever [every one that] believeth on [in] me should not abide in [remain in the] darkness. 47And if any man hear my words, and believe [keep them]52 not I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him [his judge (with him)]: the word that I have spoken, the same shall [will] judge him 49in the last day. For [Because] I have not spoken of [from] myself; but the Father which [who] sent me, he gave me a [omit a] commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said [hath said unto me, ], so I speak.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The entire section is an epilogue of the Evangelist on the public ministry of Jesus and its result in the Israelitish nation; a result already announced by the lamentation, Joh 1:11. Even the concluding words from Joh 12:44 are to be regarded throughout as an epilogue (according to Coccejus and many others, Lcke, Tholuck, Olshausen, Meyer).
We reject therefore as unfounded 1. the supposition of Chrysostom and all the ancients (among the moderns Kling), that Jesus once more addressed the people publicly in these words; 2. the modification of this hypothesis in Lampe and Bengel, who affirm that on His departure from the temple, in the very act of withdrawal from the Jews, He shouted out these words to them from afar; 3. the conjecture of Besser and Luthardt, who hold that He uttered these remarks respecting the Jews in the presence of the disciples; 4. finally, the fancy of De Wette, who supposes these reminiscences to have grown under the hand of the Evangelist into a regular discourseone, however, not delivered by Jesus. The main support of assumptions of this kind has been found in the , Joh 12:44. But the first word is employed by John in (tho sense of loud, public declarations (Joh 1:15; Joh 7:28; Joh 7:37), and docs not necessarily signify a shout from a distance, or a final, vehement outcry. And as for the aorists, it is not necessary to regard them, with Tholuck, as resumptive Pluperfects. On the contrary, the whole is a resume en gros of the life of Jesus, in which summary the account of the unbelief and obduracy of the great, mass of the Jewish people and its rulers is contrasted with the account of Christs holy testimony to Himself.
Joh 12:37. But though He had done such, etc. Lcke, De Wette: So great; Meyer, Tholuck: so many, so too the E. V. Its proper signification is: such signs as these He did; hence the nature of the signs itself determines whether so great or so many should be understood. The passages Joh 6:9; Joh 14:9; Joh 21:11 certainly seem, as Meyer remarks, to be in favor of the interpretation: so many; yet the generalness of the term is doubtless indicative of quality as well.
Yet they did not believe in Him.In disobedience to the purpose of God in the signs, and to the divine attestation of Jesus.
Joh 12:38.That the word [ ] of Isaiah, etc.It is in the very presence of unbelief and of hinderances cast in the way of the kingdom of God that both Jesus and the apostles most frequently appeal to the word of prophecy. For prophecy exhibits the divine (comp. Luk 22:22 with Mat 26:24), while it demonstrates the fast that oven these seeming contradictions in history must be co-included in the divine counsel, Joh 13:9; Joh 17:2. Tholuck. The passage is Isa 53:1 according to the Septuagint. According to Meyer, Jesus is introduced in this passage as addressing God, . According to Luthardt, it is a lament of the Evangelist and of those like-minded with him, and means the message that we actually receive from Jesus. If, however, we adhere to the context, it is the lament of the prophet, in his own name and that of his colleagues, over his time. But the emphasis is upon the words: that it might be fulfilled.Herewith, undoubtedly, the lament of the prophet becomes indirectly, and as a type, the lament of Christ (comp. Psa 22:1). The prophets might lament over two things: 1. That men did not believingly receive their (the message heard by themthe prophetsor the message which penetrated the ears of the hearers); and 2. that men did not suffer their prophetic wonders whereby they made plain the arm of the Lord, i.e, interpreted the great deeds of God, to be the means of revealing to them these deeds in their significance. All this unbelief which opposed itself to them as an incipient hardening, is now fulfilled in the perfect obduracy manifested by the Jews towards Jesus: towards His preaching and His revelation of the arm of the Lord in His miracles (by the arm of the Lord, Augustine and others incorrectly apprehend Christ Himself); hence the lament of the prophets is also fulfilled in the words of Jesus and His people. The saying is most significantly chosen from the beginning of the prophecy about the suffering Messiah, Isaiah 53. The hardening began to be accomplished in the face of the sufferings of the prophets; its fulfilment is completed in the crucifixion of Christ on the part of the Jews and in the rejection of the Crucified and Risen One.
Joh 12:39. On this account they could not believe, because Isaiah said again.According to Meyer , therefore, on this account, has reference to what has gone before, i.e. the saying of Joh 12:38 contains the ground for the saying Joh 12:40. On the other hand, according to Theophylact and many others, also Tholuck and Luthardt, is preparative;it announces the cause, i.e. the inability to believe of Joh 12:39 explains why they did not believe according to Joh 12:38. This interpretation seems to be supported by the sequence of the dicta; first Isa 53:1, then Isa 6:10, and Tholuck remarks: After the fact of their unbelief is declared, the reason of it is assigned in the fate of hardening decreed them by God. But their divinely decreed destiny, as a judicial infliction, presupposes their guilt in voluntarily choosing unbelief, as it is also remarked by Tholuck: The fact that the guilt of the parties involved is not excluded in such an actus judicialis Dei in the Scriptural sense, is most plainly set forth by the history of Pharaoh, in which it is said in six places: he hardened himself, and in six others: God hardened him. Moreover it is not necessary to regard Isaiah 53 as the thought-sequence of Isaiah 6; with regard to facts the train of ideas may be inverted, and thus it is doubtless here. Fast upon the follows the as a judgment. Undoubtedly, therefore, is to be explained in accordance with Meyer. As in the prophet the preaching of the prophet was the object by means of which the judgment of hardening should be brought upon Israel, so in the evangelical history it was the manifestation of Jesus by word and deed. That which might and should have been a savor of life to the Jews, became a savor of death to them; and herein was accomplished their judgment of hardening. As the most speaking type of this judgment the passage Isa 6:9-10 is repeatedly cited: Mat 13:14; Act 28:26; Rom 11:8 (comp. Luk 2:34).
The quotation from Isa 6:9-10 varies from the letter of the original text, but in a way that is agreeable to its sense. There the prophet is commissioned to occasion obduracy by his preaching; here it is said, by way of historical report: He hath hardened them. I.e. the secondary or instrumental cause mentioned by Isaiah is omitted by the Evangelist, because in the latter, Christ, in accordance with Joh 12:41, is at once the secondary cause and the author of this hardness. According to Isaiah, God is the author or efficient cause, in His revealed form, His ; according to John, Christ is the author, in His divine glory, as the Christ of the Old Testament. Hence there is no foundation in the text for the assertion of Meyer (and Tholuck) that not Christ, but God, is to be understood as the subject; the interpretation of Morus and others who consider the nation itself as the subject, likewise does violence to the text. According to Meyer, on the other hand, Christ is, in the sense of the Evangelist, the speaker in Isaiah, God the hardener, while has reference to Christ. The assumption that the hardener cannot also be the healer, is a groundless one. According to Tholuck should also be referred to God, having, as a negligence in expression, remained in the first person; Grotius and others, and Luthardt are correct in considering the whole as referring to Christ. The negligence is, however, conscious breviloquence; to be supplemented is: and as it is further written, That I should heal them. This turn, however, has its foundation in the fact that the negation of , etc. is not to lapse into the historical past like the items of the hardening, and that there is present to the mind of the Evangelist a distinction between Christ as the retributive God of revelation and the historical Saviour.
Joh 12:41. These things said Isaiah because [] he saw his glory.Meyer: According to Isa 6:1, it was indeed the glory of God that was seen by the prophet (God sitting upon His throne, attended by seraphim, etc.); in accordance with the idea of the Logos, however, the theophanies are appearances of the Logos. Rather, the Logos who is about becoming incarnate, is Himself one with the of the Father, although this again in the abstract is distinguished from the of Christ (comp. Heb 1:3); and hence too the of God is one with the Angel of the Presence (see Luk 2:9), although Christ again has also His divine-human . His essential estate is the . The seeing of Christ on the part of the prophet was not cognitive (Origen), but visionary (Tholuck). Vatablus and others have, in opposition to the context, referred to God.And he (not dependent upon , the prophet) spoke of Him.
[Alford: of Christ. The Evangelist is giving his judgment,having had his understanding opened (Luk 24:45) to understand the Scriptures,that the passage in Isaiah is spoken of Christ. And indeed, strictly considered, the glory which Isaiah saw could only be that of the Son, who is the of the Father, whom no eye hath seen.Wordsworth: The Evangelist here says that Esaias (Isa 6:1-9) saw the glory of the Son. St. Paul says (Act 28:25) that he heard the words of the Holy Spirit. There is one glory, therefore, of the Holy Trinity: and the glory of the Father is the glory of the Son, and is the glory of the Holy Ghost. (Theoph.) The glory of the Ever-blessed Trinity appeared to Isaiah, when he heard the Angelic Holy, Holy, Holy (Isa 6:3); and the glory of the Trinity is here called the glory of Christ, because Christ is God. (Cyril).There is a remarkable resemblance to this passage in the Book of Revelation (Rev 4:8-11), compared with Rev 5:12-14, where the glory ascribed to the Holy Trinity, and the worship paid to the Holy Trinity, is ascribed and paid to Christ; and is therefore a clear evidence of His Divinity.P. S.]
Joh 12:42. Yet even of the rulers many believed in him.The Evangelist limits and explains the preceding sentence. In relating that many even of the rulers (Sanhedrists) believed on Christ, he cannot mean such people as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea (Meyer). We must appreciate the fact that John distinguishes between the wider sense of the word believe (Joh 8:30) and its more limited sense (Joh 7:5; Joh 20:27). Manifestly, it is belief in the wider sense of the term, inward historical recognition (almost faith), that is here meant. The Evangelist then proceeds to explain how it happened that the great commotion and awakening in the nation did not ripen into a great conversion.
But because of the Pharisees they did not confess (it or him), etc.The counteraction of Pharisaism in its broadest sense is meant. They did not confess, did not come forward with the confession of their belief, for fear of excommunication. But excommunication seemed so frightful to them because they loved honor among men better than any ( emphatically) honor with God. This means in the first place objectively the honor which men bestow by their recognition, in contrast to the honor given by God. This signification is, however, not exclusive of the subjective sense in which we interpret that honor of men to be of a human kind, but the honor of God of a divine sort, 2Ma 14:42; Rom 3:23.
Joh 12:44. But Jesus cried aloud and said.A perfect antithesis to the honor-seeking partyism of the Jews, which was the cause of their unbelief, is now presented to us by the Evangelist in Jesus testimony to Himself, as the expression of His mental disposition or mind. In the first place, the setting forth of the person of Christ was free from ambition; it was a setting forth of the glory of God. He sought singly and alone the glory of God. Belief in Him should be a belief in the living God to the same extent as if it were no belief in Christ, i.e. as if belief in His human, individual appearance were fully merged in the divine glory of revelation of which He was the Mediator. And thus, also, in correspondence with the above, His appearance should be to those who saw Him the image of the appearance of the Father who sent Him.
So, moreover, the sending of Him was free from selfish aims; being designed purely for the salvation of those to whom He was sent. Being, as Light that came into the world, in principle purely a shining of God, so He was, in respect of His aim, absolutely the deliverance of believers from darkness, Joh 12:46.
Further, therefore, the operation of Christ was likewise purely and exclusively of a redeeming species without admixture of a condemning agency. This shining unto salvation and deliverance from darkness is in so great and exclusive a degree the aim of His mission that He is able to say: He that shall have heard My word and not have kept it (which will be proved at the Day of Judgment) shall not be judged by Me. I.e. He came solely and alone (in His one appearance as the Saviour of the world) to save. But the word of God which the unbeliever has not kept, but which holds him fast in the evil consciousness of his unbelief; the consciousness within him of the divine mission that he has slightedthat shall judge him at the last day (the , comp. Joh 6:39-40).
And this is then, finally, purely and absolutely a judgment of God, devoid of any humanly turbid, individual admixture, because He has not spoken of Himself, but entirely in accordance with the of God by which He was conducted;and that, as it regards the purport (the ) of what He said, as well as the form, the human treatment and argument (the ). The , however, is not simply the commission laid upon Him at His sending; it is Gods law for Hima law continually in operation, fitting itself to each moment; it is the voice of God within Him (an individual court of appeal). But as this life-law of the speech of Christ is principally a commandment of God, so it is, in regard to its end and aim, eternal life; i.e. it contains, imparts, is productive of, eternal life; it develops into eternal life in the obedience of faith. And Christ, being fully conscious that He stands, with every word, between the God who has commissioned Him and the eternal life of the soul, says nothing in false selfism, but gives utterance to all things as the Father has told them to Him. i.e. even in expression, His word is thoroughly in accordance with God. So Christ could testify of His works that they were pure from all self-seeking and selfism, as though He vanished out of each one; disappearing first as a principle, in presence of the causal all-agency of the personal God, and then theologically before the aim of bringing salvation to souls as the perfect Mediator. This is one side of the divine-human revelationand this, as a clear mirror, is contrasted by John with the sombre picture of that ambitious, selfish, utterly falsified party righteousness which rejected the Lord. In contemplating this we may not overlook the other side, namely, that this pure revelation of God was accomplished by the very perfection and perfect distinctness of the human individuality of Christ.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The pause between the end of the prophetic and the beginning of the high-priestly ministry of Christ, is marked by the Evangelist with an epilogue, which excites the certain expectation that the close of the second half of the Gospel will also be furnished with its epilogue, as a conclusion to the entire Gospel and also as a companion piece to the prologue (see the Introduction and chap 21)
2. Had Jesus been simply a Prophet, His work would have been accomplished with the announcement of judgment made by Him within the temple after the rulers of the people had tempted Him and hardened themselves against Him within that building (see Comm. on Matt. p. 418, etc. Am. Ed.). But the bond of fellowship with His nation, the bond of high-priestly compassion, now drew Him forth again from His concealment to the hour of the Paschal sacrifice.
3. The grief of the disciple that Israel hardened himself in face of the full and perfect unfolding of the life of the prophetic Christ, Joh 12:37.
4. The pacification of the Evangelist in submissive contemplation of Gods word and providence, Joh 12:38-41. Analogous is the lament of the Prophet and his pacification in which the Evangelist merges himself.
5. The lament of the Prophet (Isaiah 53) abstractly considered. The unbelief of the Jews in the time of Isaiah impenitently opposed itself to the preaching of the prophets as well as to the arm of the Lord,His wonders and signs of judgment. Hence the prophet saw in the sufferings of the prophethood the type of the suffering servant of God, the Messiah. And hence the greatest of the Evangelists, in passing to the sufferings of Christ, reverts to that lament of the greatest of the prophets. He knows that lamentation to have had its perfect fulfilment in the face of the sufferings of Christ and in those sufferings. Isaiah, in prophetic spirit, saw the beginnings of unbelief of the Messianic promise, the beginnings of impenitence and obduracy, the beginnings of the suffering prophethood and of judgment accelerated by the preaching,and depicted the future in advance; John witnessed the fulfilment of all this in the life of Jesus.
6. Unbelief, as an unwillingness to believe, was punished even in Isaiahs time with the inability to believe, the judgment of obduracy. It is the solicitous operation of the word of God which, with a holy and even healing purpose, drives the beginnings of judgment towards their completion. The Evangelist, like the Prophet, becomes tranquillized in adoring this judgment.
7. The Evangelist, with equal meaning, explains the unbelief of the Jews, which brought about the sufferings of Christ, by the introduction to Isaiah 53, and the judgment of impenitence upon the Jews by the vision Isaiah 6. Consequent upon the judgment of impenitence was the destruction of the city, the climax of which was reached by the burning of the temple; Isaiah himself had seen the temple totter at the revelation of the glory of Christ, the house being filled with smoke at the appearance of the seraphim. Hence these are doubtless symbolical angels of fiery judgment, as, in like manner, the cherubim are symbolical angels of divine providence under its historical veil, in great storms especially; an explanation certainly more obvious than the usual interpretation of .
8. Christ, in the Old Testament, the manifestation of the of God, as also the Angel of the Presence (see Notes on Joh 1:14).
9. But the Evangelist is also necessitated to assign the human, ethical reason for that divine judgment in the unbelief of his nation. He therefore repeatedly gives prominence to the inclination to believe, found not only in the greater part of the people but also in many of its rulers. It is a fact of the highest significance that fear of the Pharisees, of the enmity of the Pharisaic party against Christ, was the ruin of everything and prepared for the nation its tragic fate. It is a statement of startling gravity that all the causes of the general apostasy were concentrated in the one sin of fear; and that the different phases of fear: the fear of man, the fear of spectres, the fear of shame and suffering, were concentrated in the one form: the fear of Pharisaic excommunication. Such fearful ruin can the dominion of a Pharisaic terrorism effect. This has been again demonstrated by the history of the Reformation. And the true courage of belief and conviction is as holy and replete with blessing as that fear, in spite of all its pretended holiness, is fatal and damnable. The emotion of fear was, however, grounded on the impulse of ambition, slavish devotion to the honor of Jewish patriotism, irreproachable orthodoxy, Pharisaic righteousness. Yet the ultimate reason of this wordly ambition in hypocritico-spiritual apparel, was the lack of a knowledge and sense of honor with God, the lack of true, inward spiritual life and of a prayerful spirit,spiritual lethargy, spiritual death under the mask of the most fiery life.
10. In contrast to the gloomy picture of fatal and damnable ambition presented by Pharisaic Judaism, which denied the honor of God in Christ and finally blasphemed it and covered it with shame on the cross, appears the bright image of the mind and self-presentation of Christ. He sought nothing for Himself, with human selfism and selfishness, but made His life a pure sacrifice for the glory of God and the salvation of the world. So it is with His personality: it is the pure ideality of His essence as the manifestation of God, Joh 12:44. Thus with the sending of Him: it is the pure ideality of His appearance: the glorification of the manifestation of God, Joh 12:45. With His aim: it is the pure ideality of the transfiguration of the substantial world, of the enlightenment of the darkened world of sin, Joh 12:46. With His operation: it is the pure ideality of redemption, Joh 12:47. With the judicial operation of His word: it is the pure ideality of His coming to judgment, Joh 12:48. So it is with the motive, the aim and even the expression of His word, i. e. the pure ideality of His obedience, life and conduct even to the expression of His word itself, Joh 12:49-50.
11. We may sum up this rsum of the self-presentation of Jesus in these words: Jesus was the pure, perfect, divine-human hypostasis; transparent as crystal in respect of the motive of His life, the manifestation of the Father, hence pure devotion, in His love, to that portion of the world that will receive salvation,the pure outpouring of eternal life. He was, however, just this complete personality because His presentation by the Father was equally distinct with His own presentation of the Father; i.e. He was the complete divine-human individuality, the complete character. And He gave proof of His perfect personality as well as of His perfect individuality because He, in perfect subjectivity, continually transformed the general into the momentary of His consciousness, or kept the will of God in unison with His own will. (Comp. Leben Jesu, II. p. 1292.)
OMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The Evangelists retrospect of the public ministry of Christ and its apparently frustrated result.This retrospect in the light of prophecy.Yet they believed not. The yet of unbelievers and the yet of believers, Psa 73:1 : 1. An antithesis in which the reality of human freedom is expressed; 2. the glory of divine judgment and divine grace; 3. decision for eternity; 4. a contrast, as betwixt heaven and hell.The shocking obduracy of the Jewish nation in view of Christs full, divine revelation of life.How unbelief is changed from guilt to judgment: 1. Unwillingness to believe, as a crime demanding judgment; 2. inability to believe, as the judgment upon the crime.The fault contained in the unbelief of the Jews a warning to all times.The form of their fault: 1. Fear the cause of their unbelief; a. as a fear of excommunication; b. of excommunication by the Pharisees. 2. Ambition the foundation of their fear a morbid delight in the fame of piety, righteousness, orthodoxy, etc. 3. The want of knowledge, of spiritual life and of a sense of Gods honor the foundation of their morbid ambition.The frightful effects of a Pharisaic ordinance of excommunication 1. As displayed in our history; 2. in the history of the middle ages; 3. as resulting from the very nature of such an ordinance.The curse of the fear of man, especially in matters of faith.The ultimate and deepest cause of all evil the want of a sense of Gods glory, Rom 1:21.Unholy party spirit in its fatal effects: 1. Characteristics of such party spirit: mutual belying, deception, exciting, fettering. 2. The fatal effects; a. fear; b. denial; c. universal ruin.The rarity and gloriousness of true frankness in the service of truth.Christ the Glory of God in the Old Testament.That the Jews despised the glory which God gives, was manifest in that they despised Christ, who, in His righteousness, revealed the glory of God.Jesus cried aloud. The solemn protestation of Jesus against the charge of having arrogated to Himself a peculiar glory as a false prophet.The gloriously effulgent picture of the life of Jesus, who rejoiced in sacrifice, contrasted with the selfishness of His contemporaries: 1. They sought their own profit, honor, life, etc.; He lived but for the cause of God. 2. They, therefore, were slavishly dependent one upon another; He stood free in God. 3. They, under the mask of zeal for the glory of God, sought to mar and obliterate the radiant image of His glory; Christ glorified the honor of God and His mercy to His enemies by His perfect joyfulness in meeting shame.Christ the pure manifestation of God: 1. In His essence; 2. in His aim; 3. in His work; 4. in His word.Christ the pure manifestation of God in the clear distinctness of His personal nature.What distinguishes Christs testimony to Himself from all self-praise: 1. His remounting unreservedly to the source of His life, the Father; 2. His single aiming at His lifes goal, the salvation of the world.How the unbeliever is unable to rid himself of the despised word of salvation, bearing it with him, as an inward judgment, to the Last Day, which day shall convert it into an outward judgment also.The Last Day a revelation of inward judgment.Christs clear law of life an admonition to us to make our darkened life-law clear.Christs law of life as the law of His freedom.The Evangelists retrospect of the prophetic work of Christ a proof that His high-priestly and kingly work was yet to follow.The deep grief and the sublime pacification of Prophet and Apostle (Isaiah, John) in regarding the unbelief of their times.
Starke, Canstein: What happens, happens not because it has been foretold, but it was foretold because God foresaw that it would happen.The truth of righteous and divine obduration.
Joh 12:42. Hedinger: Blessed is the man to whom the world, with all her rags of honor, is crucified, and who holds her to be worth no more than a thief on the gallows, Gal 4:16.Cramer: True, unfeigned belief must always be in harmony with a mans confession.Quesnel: Stand we in whatsoever circumstances or situation we may, we are on no account to attach ourselves to them; we must place our dependence on nothing that men can deprive us of, if we desire to obtain and keep that which God alone can give.Canstein: Christ always appeals to the Father when defending Himself against His enemies. So may faithful servants of the word, finding themselves in contempt and adversity, trust in the ministry which they have received from God.
Joh 12:46. The sun is a fair light; Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, many thousand times fairer.
Joh 12:47. A loyal servant of the Word is sent only to bring salvation.
Joh 12:48. Quesnel: It is never permitted to the servants of Christ to avenge themselves on the despisers of their preaching; it is Gods word; at the right time He will judge such conduct.
Gerlach: The guilt of the Jews assumed such magnitude in that they were not only inwardly estranged from Jesus and His revelation, but also, when, by the most glorious miracles, Jesus supported that highest proof (see chap Joh 7:17), they yet turned away from Him.The discourse from Joh 12:44 is not a single one; in order to show the inexcusableness of Jewish unbelief John subjoins a summary of the Lords discourses; many reminiscences of former speeches. With Joh 12:44 comp. Joh 7:16; Joh 5:19; Joh 8:42.With Joh 12:44 Joh 8:19; Joh 14:10; chap. 1.With Joh 12:46 Joh 1:5; Joh 8:12; Joh 12:35.With Joh 12:47-48 Joh 3:17; Joh 5:45, etc.With Joh 12:49 Joh 8:28; Joh 8:38.With Joh 12:50 Joh 6:39-40; Joh 10:11.His revelation was nothing but light, life and love.
Braune: Elisha did twelve miracles, Elijah fewer still, and if we reckon up all the miracles of the prophets we find that seventy-four were performed by them; those of Moses are estimated at seventy-six. But although John chronicles but seven, he remarks, Joh 21:25, that the world would not contain the books that would have to be written if all the deeds of Jesus should be detailed. (Interesting from a theological point of view; homiletically a quantitative numeration of all the miracles would be unadvisable. As to the Number Seven of John the case is of course quite different). And yet the believed not on Him. Awful yet!In sins of conscience the beginning is to fear and flee.Without confession, faith soon wanes and its light threatens to become extinct.
Gossner: We fear the excommunication of men, but not the excommunication of God, of Christ.This fear of an unrighteous excommunication may plunge us into eternal perdition, into the denial excommunication of God.It is possible for a soul to be saved without external communion with the Church, without sacraments administered by priests, if it be unrighteously shut out from them.Let us therefore fear nothing but excommunication from Christ in our hearts, nothing but separation from the love of Christ.Faith is the name of the way that leads from darkness into light.
Joh 12:48. The hearing of Gods word is never without result; a man cannot remain neutral with regard to it; it is either, orfriend or foegrace or judgment.
Joh 12:50. He preaches with exceeding joyfulness who speaks nothing from himself; when it is His (Gods) word and not the preachers babble or work of art.
Heubner: The secret, inward conviction of the divine mission of Jesus makes him so much the more culpable who is ashamed of acknowledging such a conviction.The confession of the gospel, the confession of Jesus, is of particular worth in times when it involves shame.How many dangers and hinderances to free confession there are in high positions! The fear of men, and ambition are the mightiest impediments to outspoken belief.Pharisees. Entire parties may exert an influence in the repression and hinderance of the gospel.To reject Jesus is to reject God.His judging at some future day shall not be partial, as on account of personal injuries inflicted by unbelievers. The unbeliever will be condemned by his own conscience. Unbelief bears its judge within itself.Christ left no particle of His duty undone. So it was no fault of His if men would not believe.
Schleiermacher: There is but one honorand that is the honor which is in Gods sight; there is but one fear which does not debase menand that is the fear that says: How should I do this great wickedness and sin against God? But we do commit sin against God and His Spirit, if we seal up within our hearts what we in their inmost depths account as truth, and put a bar to its outgoing and further operation. For as common property and possession the Lord has endowed us with all spiritual gifts.Some are of opinion that it was the general design of the Lord to turn aside the belief of mankind in great measure from His own person and direct it towards Him who sent Him; others think: All the faith that He demands must be directed to Him and His person alone. Let us avoid the one and the other extreme, whilst we combine the two, for such was the Redeemers intention.In view of His Passion and Death saith the Redeemer: I know that His commandment is life everlasting.
Besser: Perhaps the expression that so frequently and emphatically recurs in the discourses of the Lord, to the effect, namely, that God had sent Him, should also serve to designate Him as the Angel (Ambassador) of the Lord in the Scriptures of the Old Testament.Stier: John knows no other true and full belief than that which makes confession.
[Craven: From Augustine: Joh 12:38. It is evident that the arm of the Lord is the Son of God Himself.
Joh 12:37-38. God predicted the unbelief of the Jews but did not cause it; He does not compel men to sin because He knows they will sin.
Joh 12:39-40. If any ask why they could not, I answer, Because they would notit is the fault of the human will that they could not. They well deserved thisGod hardens and blinds a man by forsaking and not supporting him.
Joh 12:42-43. As their faith grew, their love of human praise grew still more, and outstripped it.
Joh 12:44-45. He signifies that He is more than He appears to be.We believe an Apostle, but we do not believe in an Apostle.
Joh 12:46. He saith to His disciples, Ye are the light of the world, but He does not say, Ye are come a light into the world that whosoever believeth in you, etc.; All saints are lights but they are so by faith [reflection] because they are enlightened by Him.
Joh 12:47. I judge Him not, i.e. not now; now is the time of mercy, afterward will be the time of judgment.
Joh 12:49. He Himself is the Word which the Father speaketh.From Chrysostom: Joh 12:37-38. The prophets had predicted this very unbelief, and He came [amongst other intents] that it might be made manifest.That is expressive not of the cause but of the event; they did not disbelieve because Isaiah said they would, Esaias said they would because they would.
Joh 12:39. Could not, a common form of speech among ourselves; we say, I cannot love such a man, meaning only a vehement will.
Joh 12:39-40. He does not leave us except we wish Him; we begin to forsake first.As it is not the fault of the sun that it hurts weak eyes, so neither is God to blame for punishing those who do not attend to His words.
Joh 12:43. The praise [glory] of God is publicly to confess Christ; the praise [glory] of men is to glory in earthly things.
Joh 12:47. I am not the cause of his judgment, but he is himself by despising My words.
Joh 12:48. That this (Joh 12:46-47) might not serve to encourage sloth, He warns of a terrible judgment about to come.From Litany of the Church of England: Joh 12:37-40. From all hardness of heart, and contempt of Thy Word and commandment, good Lord, deliver us.
[From Burkitt: Joh 12:38-41. The reference is to Isa 6:3; whence a clear argument for Christs divinity may be drawn.
Joh 12:37. Let not the ministers of Christ be discouraged at their want of success, when they consider the small success of our Lords own ministry.
Joh 12:38. Isaiahs complaint of the small success of his preaching, a prophecy of the like success that Christ and His ministers should have under the gospel.The gospel in all ages has met with more that rejected it than have savingly entertained it.
Joh 12:38; Joh 12:40. When men close their eyes wilfully, it is just with God to close their eyes judicially.The infidelity of a people is to be resolved into the perverseness of their own wills, and not to any judicial blindness wrought by God upon them antecedent to their own sin.Gods act of hardening was consequential upon their sinning.
Joh 12:42. Even in times and places where infidelity most prevails, the ministry of the word shall not be altogether without fruit.Fear of men has kept many from believing on Christ, and more from confessing Him.
Joh 12:43. They valued applause from men, more than Gods approving them; no greater snare to draw persons from duty than an inordinate love of their own reputation.How often is the applause of men preferred before the commendation of God.
Joh 12:45. We do not see Christ aright unless we see Him to be truly God.The Father is not to be seen but in the Son.
Joh 12:46. The dreadful judgment denounced by Christ against all unbelievers
Joh 12:46-47. Learn1. Christ and His doctrine inseparable; 2. rejecters of Christ and His doctrine shall not escape the judgment of Christ at the last day; 3. were there no other witness against rejecters, the word preached would be sufficient.The word preached is now the rule of living, hereafter it shall be the rule of judging.
[From M. Henry: Joh 12:37-41. The honor done to our Lord by the Old Testament prophets.Two things said concerning untractable Israel 1. they did not believe; 2. they could not believe.They could not believe because1. they would not, a moral impotency like that of one accustomed to do evil, Jer 13:23; Jeremiah 2. God had blinded their eyes, God is not the author of sin and yet, (1) a righteous hand of God sometimes to be acknowledged in the blindness of those who persist in sin as punishment for preceding resistance, (2) judicial blindness is threatened against those who wilfully persist in wickedness.
Joh 12:42-43. Many professed more kindness for Christ than they had, these had more than they were willing to profess.A struggle between their convictions and corruptions.There are more good people than we think there aresome are better than they seem.The power of the world in smothering convictions.Observe concerning these believers1. wherein they failedin not confessing Christ; 2. what they feareddisgrace and damage; 3. the ground of their fearthey loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.Love of the praise of men1. as a by-end in that which is good, will make a man a hypocrite where religion is in fashion; 2. as a principle in that which is evil, will make one an apostate where religion is in disgrace.
Joh 12:44. Jesus cried [aloud] and said: this intimates His boldness and earnestness in speaking.
Joh 12:44-46. The privileges and dignities of those that believe, they are brought into1. an honorable acquaintance with God; 2. a comfortable enjoyment of themselves.
Joh 12:47-48. The peril of those that believe not; observe1. who they are whose unbelief is here condemnedthose who hear and believe not; 2. the constructive malignity of their unbeliefa rejection of Christ; 3. the forbearance of Jesus toward them; 4. their certain judgment at the great day.
Joh 12:49-50. The authority of Christ1. His commission from the Father; 2. the design of that commissionlife everlasting; 3. His own observance of the instructions thereof.Our Lord learned obedience Himself before He taught it to us.Those who disobey Christ despise everlasting life.
[From Doddridge: Joh 12:42-43. Strange infatuation! that the human mind should be capable of believing that there is a God, and yet of preferring the creature before Him.From Scott: Joh 12:42-43. That will not be accounted true faith which does not overcome [worldly] ambition, and induce its possessors to confess Christ before His enemies.Chief Rulers are especially in danger of prevaricating.From A. Clarke
Joh 12:42-43. Many persons are liberal in their condemnation of the Jews who are probably committing the same sort of transgression under circumstances which heighten their iniquity.It is possible for a man to credit the four Evangelists [the entire Bible] and yet live and die an infidel so far as his own salvation is concerned.
[From Stier: Joh 12:39-40. The predicted judicial hardening [of the Jews] in the fulfilment of which, unbelief itself becomes only a new sign [to us] in proof.The guilt of unbelief rested solely with Israel
Joh 12:37-43. Of the unbelieving there are, according to St. John, two classes1. the unsusceptible and hardened; 2. those who confess not in spite of their [imperfect] beliefHe knows no other genuine, and perfect faith than that which confesses.
Joh 12:50. The commission is, in its ground and aim, according to its design and indwelling power, life everlasting for all who believe.
[From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): Joh 12:46. It is evidently implied that He found all the world in darkness.From Barnes: Joh 12:37. The Jews did not believe as a nation.
Joh 12:42-43. True faith is activeit overcomes the fear of man, it prompts to self-denying duties.
Joh 12:48. Hath one that judgeth him: He will carry his own condemnation with him, his own conscience will condemn him.Learn that1. a guilty conscience needs no accuser; 2. the words of Christ will be remembered by the rejecter; 3. this [rejection] will be the source of his condemnation; 4. the conscience of the sinner will concur with the sentence of Christ in the great day; 5. the word that Christ has spoken will be that by which the sinner will be judged in the last day.
Joh 12:50. His commandment is life everlasting, i.e. the cause or source of everlasting life.The [one] reason of the earnestness and fidelity of JesusHe saw that eternal life depended on faithful preaching.Every minister should have a deep and abiding conviction that He delivers a message connected with the eternal welfare of his hearers; under the influence of this belief he should preach fearlessly.The close of the public ministry of Christ; such a close as all His ministers should desire to make.
[From Ryle: Joh 12:37. Where there is the greatest quantity of the form of religion, there is often the greatest proportion of formality and unbelief.
Joh 12:38. It is a singular fact that the very chapter which the Jews have been most unwilling to believe should begin with the questionWho hath believed our report?If the Jews had not been unbelieving, the Scriptures would have been untrue.Darkness does not blind men so much as light, unless God renews the mind by His Spirit. [Rollock.]Remark how seeing, understanding, being converted, and being healed, are linked together.
Joh 12:42. Many of the Chief Rulers believed: their faith was only of the head and not of the heartthey were cowards.
Joh 12:43. The same miserable motive is still ruining myriads of souls.They were not willing to part with their great places in the magistracy. [Poole.]
Joh 12:48. There will be a resurrection of all faithful servants at the last day.
[From Owen: Joh 12:40. He hath blindedhardened; this He did mediately or by the instrumentality of the truth; the indirect agency of truth when resisted to render the soul insensible to divine love is equally certain and dreadful in its results as though the effect were produced by a direct agency upon the heart.
Joh 12:50. His commandment contains in itself the germ and principle of eternal life, and when received into the soul results in everlasting salvation.
[From Whedon: Joh 12:40. Although God was the unwilling cause of their blindness, it was their wicked will that gave to the cause its effect.Their perverse will transformed His mercy into judgment; his means of softening into results of hardeningthus does the same sun that melts the wax harden the clay.
Joh 12:42. A type fulfilled in nearly every age of advancement and beneficent resolution.
Joh 12:50. Gods divine, authoritative word implanted within our soul is eternal life in its very element and essence.]
Footnotes:
[45]Joh 12:37.[T may be understood of magnitude: so great, such (comp. Mat 8:10, Luk 7:9; Rev 18:17; Gal 3:1), or of multitude: so many (Mat 15:33; Joh 6:9; Joh 14:9; Joh 11:11). Lcke and De Wette decide for the former, Meyer and Alford for the latter. Lange translates such.P. S.]
[46]Joh 12:40.[Tischendorf gives , instead of the of Lach., in accordance with A. B* K. L. X., etc., and also .II., as amended from ].
[47]Joh 12:40.[Tischenderf and Alford give in accordance with . B. D.; the text. rec. reads according to A. D. 2 E. F., etc.]
[48]Joh 12:40.The Future is to be preferred to the Subjunctive , in accordance with the decided preponderance of authorities, Lachmann, Tischendorf. . A. B. D., etc.]
[49]Joh 12:41. [because] is to he adopted in the place of [when, text roc, E. V.] in accordance with [. A. B. L., etc., Lachmann, Tischenderf [Alford, Westcott and Hort].
[50]Joh 12:41.[See Exegetical Notes].
[51]Joh 12:43.[See Exegetical Notes].
[52]Joh 12:47. instead of , in accordance with Codd. [.] A. B. K. [L.M.], etc., Lachmann Tischendorf [Alford, Westcott and Hort], Jesus goes away after uttering this saying. [. T. . . and Verss. give , in this verse; in Joh 12:36, . B. D. L. give .P.S.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
Ver. 37. But though he had done, &c. ] The evangelist being now by course of the history to pass on to the description of Christ’s death and passion, thinks good first to remove this dead Amasa (the Jews’ unbelief) out of the way (that none might stop or step aside for it), by assigning the true cause thereof, their own unmalleable obstinance.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
37 50. ] FINAL JUDGMENT ON THE UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
37 43. ] The Evangelist’s judgment on their unbelief (37 41), and their half-belief (42, 43). I do not regard these verses as forming the conclusion to the narrative of the public ministry of the Lord, on account of Joh 12:44-50 (where see note): but doubtless the approaching close of that ministry gives occasion to them, and is the time to which they refer.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
37. ] , so many: not, so great: see ch. Joh 6:9 , Joh 21:11 .
., i.e. the generality did not; they did not, as a people: see Joh 12:42 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 12:37-43 . In the verses which follow, Joh 12:37-43 , John accounts for the unbelief of the Jews . This fact that the very people who had been appointed to accept the Messiah had rejected Jesus needed explanation. This explanation is suitably given at the close of that part of the Gospel which has described His manifestation.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Joh 12:37 . . The difficulty to be solved is first stated. “Although He had done so many signs before them, yet they did not believe on Him.” A larger number of miracles is implied than is narrated, Joh 7:31 , Joh 11:47 , Joh 21:25 . The quality of the miracles is also alluded to once and again, Joh 3:2 , Joh 9:32 . They had not been done “in a corner,” but , cf. Joh 20:30 . Yet belief had not resulted. The cause of this unbelief was that the prediction of Isa 53:1 had to be fulfilled. Certainly this mode of statement conveys the impression that it was not the future event which caused the prediction but the prediction which caused the event. The form of expression might in some cases be retained although the natural order was perceived. The purpose of God was always in the foreground of the Jewish mind. The prophecy of Isaiah was relevant; the “arm of the Lord” signifying the power manifested in the miracles, and referring to the teaching of Jesus. In the time of Jesus as in that of Isaiah the significance of Divine teaching and Divine action was hidden from the multitude.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
before = in the presence of. Compare Thess. Joh 1:3; Joh 2:19.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
37-50.] FINAL JUDGMENT ON THE UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 12:37. But though he had done so many miracles before then, yet they believed not on him.
They had an opportunity of seeing with their eyes; what the Christ could do. He had even raised the dead in the midst of them, and yet this is the sorrowful statement.
Joh 12:38-40. That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
This passage is very frequently quoted in the Old Testament: it was so exceedingly apropos to the condition of the unbelieving Jews. They were wilfully blinded. They could see it; they were forced to hear it; there was much that even touched their hearts; but they hardened their heart against it, and to this day they remain the same.
Joh 12:41-43. These things said Esaias, when he was his glory, and spake of him. Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
And this is a common disease to this day. There are many who know the truth, who, nevertheless, keep very quiet about it. They do not like to be despised; they cannot endure to seem to be separate from their fellowmen; it is not respectable to be decided for Christ, and to come out from among them, so they love the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Joh 12:44. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
Faith in Christ is faith in God, he that trusts the Son hath accepted the witness of the Father.
Joh 12:45. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
Wonderful expression. Perhaps, we never fully realize it. Christ is seeable. God is not, but when we see the Christ, we do virtually see all of God that we may desire to see: the Invisible hath made himself visible in Christ in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Joh 12:46. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
True faith in Christ sheds light on everything concerning which light is desirable. You shall understand things when you have come unto the right standpoint, when you have gotten to believe in Christ. I wonder not that those who doubt concerning him, doubt about everything; if they will not have this light, how shall they see?
Joh 12:47. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
Under this present dispensation, it is not the time of judgment. The Lord leaves you that are unbelievers to yourselves. He does not come as yet to judge you; there is a second coming, when he will be both judge and witness, and condemner, of those who have rejected him; but at present it is a dispensation of pure mercy. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him. There is a great God above who reckons this to be among the greatest of all human crimes, that they reject his Son. We speak of unbelief very lightly, and there are some who trifle with it as if it had no moral quality at all, but God doth not so.
Joh 12:48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
Look, ye, to that, the gospel which you refuse will judge you at the last day. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the world, saith Paul, according to my gospel, and he that sins against the gospel of love will certainly involve himself in the most solemn condemnation. He perishes that sins against the law, he dieth without mercy at the mouth of one or two witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that sins against love, and rejects the Saviour?
Joh 12:49. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
God at the back of Christ. Omnipotence supporting love. The expostulations of Christ, not left to our will to do as we like with them, but solemnly sanctioned by the royalties of God, so that to refute them is treason against the majesty of heaven.
Joh 12:50. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
The eternal authority of God is at the back of the testimony of Christ. Oh! that men would not be so unwise as to reject it Now in our reading at the 41st verse we met with these words: These things, said Esaias, when he saw his glory and spake of him. Now let us read the passage which gives us an account of Isaiahs seeing the glory of Christ.
This exposition consisted of readings from Joh 12:37-50; Isaiah 6. Joh 12:37-50.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Joh 12:37. , so great) So many. A general Epicrisis [See Append. A statement added to a speech or sentence to make the subject in hand more intelligible].- , before them) so that they perceived them with their eyes.- , they did not believe) There follows something further, they could not believe, Joh 12:39.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 12:37
Joh 12:37
But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on him:-Additional testimony does not produce faith where the heart is wicked and bitter. Jesus said: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead. (Luk 16:31). [John only records seven of these miracles, but often refers to a great number of them. (Joh 2:23; Joh 4:45; Joh 7:31; Joh 20:30). Some of them had a sort of faith in Jesus as a man of God, or as the prophet of Galilee, but they did not confess that faith which believes, trusts, obeys, and devotes ones life to his service.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, he hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
The first part of this passage suggests truth that is exceedingly solemn, something we are very apt to forget. It reminds us that Gods Word has a softening or hardening effect upon the souls of those who hear it. It has been well said that just as the same sun softens the wax and hardens the clay, so the same gospel message may soften the heart of one and bring him to repentance and to definite faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, or it may harden the heart of another and put him into that condition of soul where he will never yield or break down before God and receive Christ, but will die in his sins and be banished from the presence of God for all eternity. It is not a question of the purpose of God nor even of the method in which the truth is presented. It is not that God has designed that some men should accept it while others reject it, that some should receive it while others refuse, that some be softened and others hardened, but it is a question of the individuals own attitude toward that truth.
When God spoke to Israel of old the words quoted here, [Lord], who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed? (Isa 53:1; Joh 12:38). He drew their attention to the fact that He had given them clear instruction concerning the wickedness of idolatry. He had pleaded with them to give Him the first place in their hearts as the one true and living God. They turned away. He sent His prophets to call them back, but the testimony was spurned, and the time came when the message had no effect upon their consciences at all. So God gave them up to hardness of heart because they themselves preferred it. They chose to disobey God. You have something like that in 2 Thessalonians 2 where we have that awful picture of the man of sin yet to arise in this world in the dark days of the Tribulation just ahead of us, which may be much nearer than any of us realize and which, however, cannot break upon the world until the church of God has been taken up. We read of people then who will be left behind in this scene. Some who have heard the gospel over and over again but only to refuse it. And we are told that, For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie [that is, the lie of the Antichrist]: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2Th 2:11-12).
God s heart goes out to all men everywhere. He does not desire the death of the sinner but that all should turn to Him and live. He cries, Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Eze 33:11). But if men refuse to heed His word they will be given up to hardness of heart. The conscience, stirred by the Word, may respond at first and one may feel in his very soul that he should yield to Christ, but it is possible to stifle the voice of conscience, to refuse to heed, until at last conscience no longer speaks but becomes seared as with a hot iron and men are hardened in their sins and die without hope.
Our Lord Jesus Christ had been ministering in grace for about three-and-a-half wonderful years, and had given evidence through signs and wonders that He wrought and the marvelous message He brought to man that He was the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel. But we read though He had done so many miracles, yet they believed not on Him. Miracles alone will never convince if people refuse the Word. No signs, no wonders, no miracles, will ever reach their consciences if they are determined to go on in their sins and refuse to repent.
Abraham reminded a certain rich man who died and was buried of this, when he said of his still-living brothers: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead (Luk 16:31).
What a solemn responsibility that puts upon every one of us who hear the Word of God as recorded here in His blessed Book. If men reject this testimony, signs and wonders and miracles will not convince them. They become hardened in their sins. These people refused to hear the word Jesus brought, and so the saying of Isaiah was fulfilled when he cried out, Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed? (53:1). He was implying that the great majority would reject the testimony of Jesus when He came, and they did. Only a little group received Him. And today that question still comes to us, Who hath believed, and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? Have you believed, dear friend? Have you opened your heart to the Word of God? Has His mighty saving power been revealed to you? Do you know Him as the One who has delivered you from going down to the pit and has given you a place in Christ, free from all condemnation? If you spurn the Word, God has no other message for you.
Thus we read that they could not believe because he hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (Joh 12:40). Was it that God was not willing that they should be converted? Not at all. He yearned for their conversion. He entreated them to return to Himself, but they refused the message and hardened their own hearts against Him. God said, Very well, you can remain hardened in your sins, and the day came when the Word made no more impression on them.
Years ago, I was talking to a little group of boys and girls in a Sunday school in San Francisco. I was trying to illustrate like this, How sad to know, dear girls and boys, each time you say No to the Lord Jesus, your heart gets a little harder. If you keep on saying No, the heart gets harder and harder and harder until by-and-by God calls it a heart of stone. You no longer care about the things of God, but persist in spurning His grace. You will, therefore, die in your sins. So I was pleading with those boys and girls to give their hearts to Jesus in their early days.
There was one dear little tot there, only five years old (and we sometimes think these little folk take nothing in), whose eyes were fastened on me as I spoke. Her mother brought her to Sunday school and then took her home, and on the way home she had not a word to say. She was thinking of her own dear father who never went to church or Sunday school, who never went to hear the Word of God. When she got to the house, there sat the father smoking his cigar with the Sunday paper spread around him. The little girl darted in ahead of her mother and up into her fathers arms she leapt, and said, Daddy, Daddy, feel your heart! Is it getting like stone? He said, What are you talking about? She said, Well, the man at Sunday school said if you say No to Jesus, you are going to get a stone in your stomach! Have you got a stone there? Oh, Daddy, I hope you havent, for if you have, you cant be saved. The father turned to her mother and said angrily, What have they been telling this child, anyway? Then the mother explained a little more fully. When he saw the tears in the wifes eyes and felt the arms of his little girl about his neck, and heard her saying, Oh, Daddy, dont go on saying No to Jesus, he looked up and said, Well, I think I had better settle this thing. He got down on his knees and yielded his life to Christ. What a mercy he came in time! What a solemn thing it is to say No to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That explains the strong delusion of the last days, and why men and women are given up to hardness of heart. They turn away from God, and at last the time comes when God says, [Very well], Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone (Hos 4:17). God grant that this may not be true of any to whom these pages come. If you are still in your sins and you hear the voice of Jesus calling today, will you not bow before Him in repentance and faith and tell Him that at last you yield your heart to Him and come to Him in all your sin and need, that you will trust Him as your Redeemer?
Isaiah gave this special word of warning, we are told, when he saw His glory. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him (Joh 12:41). When was that? Well, you remember the incident recorded in the sixth chapter of Isaiah, when he said, In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory (vv. 1-3). Do you realize who it was whom the seraphim adored? The Holy Spirit says, [Isaiah] saw his glory and spake of him. Our Lord Jesus Christ was with the Father there in brightest glory. He who was yet to come in to this earth to save sinners was the object of angelic adoration, and Isaiah looked on through the ages and saw Him coming down to die on Calvarys cross. He cried, He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Isa 53:5).
Isaiah saw Him in faith, and that blessed One stood in the midst of Israel and His own people did not recognize Him. He came unto his own, and his own received him not (Joh 1:11). What about you? Have you received Him? Has the message gone in one ear and out of the other? Or has it bowed your heart in repentance before Him? The trouble is, you know, many do believe, but they do not have the courage to come right out and confess their faith.
We read in verse 42, Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. What a foolish thing! Mens praises will pass away. What difference does it make whether men praise or not if one does not have the approval of God? Men cannot do anything for you along spiritual lines. How foolish for people to be concerned as to what others think about it, and yet how many people have refrained from taking a definite step for Christ because the thought comes of some friend or companion, some pal whose good will they esteem. They say, Oh, I am not prepared to commit myself definitely. What will this one or that one think?
I remember when I was a little boy how my mother would draw me to her knee and speak to me so solemnly of the importance of trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. I would say, Well, mamma, I would like to do it, but the boys will all laugh at me. Mother used to say, Harry, remember, they may laugh you into hell, but they can never laugh you out of it. And oh, how that used to go home to me, and it stayed with me all through the years! Yes, men may sneer and ridicule and not understand us as we come out for Christ, but after all, His is the only approval worth having.
Long years ago I read of a conflict that took place between two Indian Rajahs. The one defeated the other and took captive the son of his rival, and the day he was to return to his own palace he prepared to march into the city in triumph. There was a great procession of elephants, cavalry, infantry, and a long line of captives. Among them was the young prince. He was told that he was to walk barefooted and bareheaded. He was indignant and said, What! Go in like that! What will the people think? What kind of faces will they make? The rajah said, You havent heard all yet. You shall carry a bowl of milk in your hand, and if you spill so much as a drop, you will lose your head at the close of the procession. In a few minutes they had brought that bowl of milk, and two guards walked with him, one on either side, and the procession started to move. On and on they went, for perhaps a mile or more, into the presence of the rajah. And that young prince walked along, holding the bowl of milk. It seemed as though he would never finish without spilling some of it, but he completed the ordeal safely. Finally, he stood before the rajah, Well, Sir Prince, what kind of faces did the people make? He looked up and said, Your majesty, I did not see the faces of the people. I saw only my life, which I held in my hands, and I knew one false step would make me lose my life.
These people of old loved the praise of men more than the praise of God, and because of that they did not have courage enough to confess the Lord Jesus Christ before their fellows. They knew He was the Sent One of the Father. They knew He was the Shepherd of Israel, Redeemer of sinful men, but the good opinion of their companions meant more to them than the favor of God. How is it with you today? You remember the Word says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Rom 10:9). And again, our Lord Jesus has said, Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven (Mat 10:32-33).
If you do believe in your heart that God gave Jesus for you, if you have trusted Him, oh, then, do not hesitate to confess Him openly before men. I believe a great many secret believers are without the peace they might have because they do not confess Christ openly. You say, Do you think there really are secret believers? Yes, the Word tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was one, but oh, how much he lost! He came at the last and offered his new tomb that they might bury the body of the Son of God there. Nicodemus was a secret believer. He once he tried to speak out but did not say definitely, He is my Lord and Savior. But he sent a hundred pounds of spices for the burial of the body of the Lord Jesus, and thus identified himself with the Christ who had died. But how much more blessing would he have enjoyed if he had come right out with it while Jesus lived! I believe that many people today, deep in their hearts, believe in Christ and in their homes tell Him they love and trust Him, but they are not honoring Him by making confession before men. They do not have the joy and victory in their lives that they might have if they came out openly and let others know.
Jesus, and shall it ever be,
A mortal man ashamed of Thee?
Ashamed of Thee, whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine thro endless days?
Ashamed of Jesus! sooner far
Let evening blush to own a star;
He sheds the beams of light divine
Oer this benighted soul of mine.
Ashamed of Jesus! Yes, I may,
When Ive no guilt to wash away,
No tear to wipe, no good to crave,
No fear to quell, no soul to save.
Till then, nor is my boasting vain,
Till then I boast a Saviour slain;
And oh, may this my glory be,
That Christ is not ashamed of me.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Joh 1:11, Joh 11:42, Joh 15:24, Mat 11:20, Luk 16:31
Reciprocal: Exo 4:8 – if they Num 14:11 – believe me 2Ch 10:15 – that the Lord Psa 28:5 – Because Psa 78:32 – believed Mat 21:25 – Why Mar 4:12 – That seeing Mar 8:12 – Why Luk 22:67 – If Joh 3:2 – for Joh 3:11 – ye Joh 4:48 – Except Joh 5:40 – ye will not Joh 6:30 – see Joh 6:36 – That Joh 6:44 – man Joh 6:65 – that no Joh 9:18 – General Joh 9:30 – herein Joh 10:25 – the works Joh 10:26 – because Joh 10:37 – General Joh 11:46 – General 1Co 2:14 – receiveth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7
The hardness of men’s hearts prevents them from taking a fair view of the plainest evidences. The miracles that Jesus performed were so many and under such varied circumstances, that it should have been more difficult to doubt than to believe.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 12:37. But though he had done so many signs before them, they believed not in him. The words of chap. Joh 1:10-11 seem to echo in our cars, He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world knew Him not He came unto His own home, and His own accepted Him not. All the particulars of the statement heighten the effect. In the original there is a certain degree of emphasis on He,One so full of power and grace, so divine in majesty, so human in tenderness. Then it was signs that He had wrought, not mere miracles, but things that were the very expression of the Son and in Him of the Father. . These signs, too, had been so many (see note on chap. Joh 6:2); for it is number, not greatness, that in our Gospel is always referred to in this word (chaps, Joh 6:9, Joh 14:9, Joh 21:11). And, once more, the signs had been wrought before them, so that they could not be mistaken (comp. chap. Joh 10:4). Yet, notwithstanding all this, their unbelief had been continued, wilful, as constant as the call addressed to them.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The place which our Evangelist alludes to, is, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Isa 6:3
From whence, a clear argument for Christ’s divinity may be thus drawn. He whom Isaiah saw environed with seraphims, and praised as most holy by them, was the true and eternal God; for such acclamations belong to none but the great Jehovah, God blessed for evermore. But says St. John, it was the glory of Christ that Isaiah saw in his vision, it was Christ whom he called, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts: therefore Christ is undoubtedly God, blessed for evermore. For the Evangelist was not speaking of the Father, but the Son, and cites these words out of Isaiah saw and spake of, if the words of the Evangelist be of any credit. Besides, the angels are too holy to give acclamations belonging to God, to any but him that is God.
Observe here, 1. The astonishing infidelity and unbelief of the Jews, who heard our Saviour’s doctrine, and were eye-witnesses of his miracles; though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. Let not the faithful minister of Christ be discouraged, and overmuch dejected, at their want of success in dispensing of the gospel, when they observe and consider the small success of our Saviour’s own ministry in the hearts and lives of his hearers: yea, though his minstry was accompanied with miracles, and though his miracles were many in number, mighty in nature, clear and obvious to sense, being wrought before their eyes, yet his ministry succeeded not, and his miracles prevailed not: Lord, what little success has the offer of Christ in the gospel met with, from the first original tender to this day! Obstinate infidelity, and cursed hypocrisy, draw more souls to hell than all the devils in hell.
Observe, 2. How the present infidelity of these unbelieving Jews was long before foretold, and prophesied of, by the prophet Esaias, Lord, who hath believed our report? Isa 53:1 That is, our preaching.
Where note, That Isaiah’s complaint of the small success of his preaching, was a prophesy and prediction of the like success that Christ and his ministers should have under the gospel.
Learn hence, That the gospel in all ages have met with more that have rejected it by unbelief, than have savingly entertained it by faith. Isaiah complained before Christ, and his apostles and minsters in every age since, that few have believed their reports.
Observe, 3. That though the present unbelief of the obstinate Jews was long foretold by the prophets of God, yet the prophet’s prediction was no cause of their unbelief, or that which laid them under an impossibility of believing; but the fault lay in their own obstinate wills, with respect to which, by the just judgment of God, they were blinded and hardened, for their contempt of Christ, the promised Messias. When men close their eyes wilfully, and say, they will not see, it is just with God to close their eyes judicially, and say, they shall not see. He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, &c.
Learn hence, That the infidelity of the people is to be resolved into the perverseness of their own wills, and the evil disposition of their own hearts, not to any judicial blindness or obduration wrought by God upon them, antecedent to their own sin: God’s act of hardening was consequential upon their sinning.
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Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 12:37-41. Though he had done so many miracles before them So that they could not but see them; yet they believed not on him That is, in general they did not; being hardened in their infidelity. That the saying of Esaias might Or rather, So that the saying of Esaias was, fulfilled, as Dr. Doddridge renders the clause, observing, It is apparent that the accomplishment of this prophecy could not be the end they proposed to themselves in their unbelief; and consequently that the expression, , must be rendered as above. Thus also Dr. Macknight, who observes, that here, as well as in many other passages, ought to be translated so that, as denoting the event spoken of, and not the cause of that event. Which he spake In the name of Christ and his servants, referring expressly to gospel times; Lord, who hath believed our report? The tidings we bring, the testimony which we bear, especially concerning the great and wonderful humiliation and exaltation of the Messiah, predicted by that prophet in the passage referred to, namely, Isa 53:1, &c., where see the notes. And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? To whom has his power been manifested, so as to conquer those strong prejudices which men have entertained against the appointed method of salvation, or to save whom has it been exerted? Observe, reader, the power of God is only exerted to save those who believe the gospel report. Therefore, they could not believe They were now in a manner utterly incapable of believing, because, by the just judgment of God for their obstinacy and wilful resistance of the truth, they were, at length, so left to the hardness of their hearts, that neither the miracles nor the doctrines of our Lord could make any impression upon them. Because Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, &c. As God is said to harden the heart of Pharaoh in one place, while in another it is said, Pharaoh hardened his own heart; (see Exo 8:15; Exo 8:32; Exo 9:12;) and as we ought to be very tender of ascribing to God any thing that looks like a necessitating influence to impel men to sin, I apprehend, says Dr. Doddridge, that all we are here to understand, by Gods blinding and hardening these Jews, is, that he permitted them to grow more and more prejudiced against the gospel, namely, by withdrawing from them his abused grace. Now these things said Esaias when he saw his glory Namely, Christs glory. See notes on Isa 6:1, &c., where the glory which Isaiah saw is expressly said to be the glory of Jehovah, the supreme God. The meaning is, that Esaias uttered these remarkable words, when, in a vision, he saw the glory of the Son of God, and the manifestations which he was to make of the divine counsels, and described the effect which those manifestations would have upon his hearers, for which reason they are a prophetical description of the men of the age in which Jesus lived.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Third Section: 12:37-50. Retrospective Glance at the Mysterious Fact of Jewish Unbelief.
This passage forms the close of the second part of the Gospel (Joh 12:1-36). The evangelist interrupts his narrative that he may give himself up to a meditation on the fact which he has just set forth. What is this fact? Is it, as some interpreters suppose (Reuss, Westcott, for example) the public ministry of Jesus? The entire partchaps. 5-12is the representation of the public activity of the Lord, while chaps. 13-17 describe His private activity. This view appears to us very superficial. Between these two parts, there exists a much more profound contrast than that of a more or less limited circle of activity; it is that of unbelief and faith, of unbelief in the people and of faith in the disciples. Is it not obvious that the real subject of the following epilogue, that which preoccupies the mind of John and becomes for a moment the subject of his meditation, is not the public ministry of Jesus, but the unbelief of the Jewish people. The question to which John replies is this: How explain the failure of the work of the Messiah in Israel? It is indeed one of the most obscure problems of history. It rose in all its greatness, after the preceding part of the Gospel, before the eyes of the historian and his readers. In the first passage, Joh 12:37-43, Jesus explains the causes of this mysterious fact; in the second, Joh 12:44-50, he shows the gravity of it by summing up its tragical consequences.
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
Vv. 37-50.
1. The writer closes this first great division of his work with a declaration of the failure and success of the miracles of Jesus, so far as the matter of faith in the case of the hostile party was concernedas, at the end of the book, he sets forth his purpose and hope with reference to the recording of them for all his readers. The had been abundant, but this party would not believe.
2. This unbelief is connected in two ways with the prophetic words uttered by Isaiahfirst, as a fulfilment of what he said, and, secondly, as finding its foundation or cause in another statement of his. The two prophetic statements are those declared to have been made in view of the time of Christ. The first and third of these points (Joh 12:38 and Joh 12:41) may be explained in connection with the general view which the New Testament writers had of the Old Testament. They found its whole meaning in Christ, and they thus carried Him, as it were, into every part or sentence of it which corresponded with His experience or work. Their view, in the truest and deepest sense, perchance, was the right one. But the special difficulty here lies in connection with the second point (Joh 12:39-40). The explanation of this point must, apparently, involve two thingsfirst, the responsibility of the individual, which limits the inability to what is moral, and, secondly, the Divine activity, which must be of the nature of a judicial hardening. The literal interpretation of the words, when pressed to its utmost extreme, is contradicted by the general representations of the New Testament respecting the sinfulness of men.
3. The exception mentioned in Joh 12:42 is apparently presented as showing the success which Jesus had gained, notwithstanding the failure just described, and in connection with all that has been said in these later chapters respecting the rulers. The persons here alluded to do not seem to be such as Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea, nor such as Gamaliel. The two former were, probably, not actuated by the motive indicated in Joh 12:43. The last, as Meyer remarks, did not get as far as faith. The word of Joh 12:43 means the glory which comes from men or from God.
4. As to the passage Joh 12:44-50, it is generally held by the recent commentators to be a sort of summary of the teachings of Jesus as given in the foregoing chapters, just as the preceding verses have presented a kind of summation of the results of His work. This is quite probably, though not indeed certainly, the correct view. The verses are introduced as if they might be a new discourse, and yet no occasion or mark of time is given. The thoughts and expressions are, to say the least, more strikingly similar to what has been said before than is the case with any other discourse, and no new idea is presented. The position of the verses alsofollowing the summing up of resultsfavors the view that they are a resume of the teachings, rather than a new discourse; and, on the whole, this view of them is to be adopted.
5. The thoughts of this passage follow each other in the natural order:Faith in Jesus brings the soul into union with God; the object of the coming of Jesus into the world is to bring the light of God, that the soul of the believer may dwell in the light-life which has no darkness, the life like God’s life; as Jesus thus comes to save the world, and not to judge it, He gives forth His teachings, which have been committed to Him by the Father, and they determine the judgment; these teachings which are given to Him as His Divine commission are eternal life, in that, being received by faith, they become the source of eternal life to the soul; in the proclamation of these teachings Jesus speaks in exact accordance with the Father’s communication of His will and of His truth.The thoughts contained in these verses, in the completeness of their setting forth of His message, as well as in the fact that the passage gathers into itself only what has been said in different places before, seem to be the summary of what He gave to the world in this earlier portion of this Gospel.
6. It is worthy of notice that at this point the , so far as they are found in the sphere of miraculous works, cease to be recorded. What remains of the book contains only the which pertain to the region of the words of Jesus. The works are the primary and lower proofs, to the view of this writer; the words are of the higher order. The former are designed to arrest the attention of the world and to bear upon the earlier development of faith. The latter are adapted to the thoughtful and growing disciples, whose minds open more and more widely to the truth. Just in accordance with this character and purpose of the two kinds of evidence, we find that, when the conflict with the world and the public ministry of Jesus come to their end, and the disciples have been growing in the fulness of their belief even to the last days, the outward miracles are no longer mentioned, and the discourses of intimate friendship and love, as between Christ and His Father and the followers of Christ, begin. How can it be fitly said that this Gospel has no progress, or that it ends at its beginning?
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
JUDICIAL BLINDNESS OF THE JEWS
Joh 12:37-41. He, having performed so many miracles in their presence, they did not believe on Him, in order that the word of Isaiah the prophet may be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?. [Isa 53:1] For this reason they were not able to believe, because Isaiah again said,
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; in order that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I shall heal them. (Isa 6:9)
The reader is liable to take up the conclusion from the above Scriptures that there was a constraint on the Jews, so they could not receive Jesus. This conclusion arises from a misapprehension of the prophecies. N. B. Prophecy is nothing but history from a Divine standpoint. God saw just what they would do of their own free will, and revealed it to Isaiah, who wrote it down long before it occurred, just as we write up the history of events after they have occurred. Perhaps you are puzzled with the statement, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts. When God gives light and we refuse to walk in it, He takes it away, and leaves us to the infatuation of the devil in his black darkness. All are practically blind in darkness. The same sun which softens the wax, hardens the clay. Consequently it is impossible for people to reject the gospel without actually receiving hardness of heart. As it is Gods gospel, there is a practical sense in which He hardens all hearts who reject it.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Joh 12:37-43. Failure in Juda.The many signs have failed to convince. The author explains this by the prediction in Isa 53:1, the arm of the Lord being interpreted of Messiah. And the ultimate cause is also dealt with in Isa 6:9 ff. The rule of Gods working is that there comes a time when those who will not obey lose the power of doing so. The situation is similar to that foretold in the story of Isaiahs call. It was the Word of God, now incarnate in Jesus Christ, that appeared to the prophet. But disbelief was not universal, though fear made men keep silence.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
12:37 {9} But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
(9) Faith is not of nature, but of grace.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
7. The unbelief of Israel 12:37-50
This section of the Gospel contains the writer’s explanation of the significance of the events so far in Jesus’ ministry. John first explained the conflict between belief and unbelief, and then He recorded Jesus’ final appeal for decision. This is the final climax of the decision theme before Jesus’ passion. The key word in this section is "believe," which appears six times.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The explanation of Israel’s unbelief 12:37-43
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The majority of the Jews did not believe on Jesus despite the many miracles that He performed that indicated His messiahship (cf. Joh 1:11). John again attributed Israel’s unbelief to God’s will, though he balanced that again with the Jew’s human responsibility in Joh 12:43. He viewed Isa 53:1 as predicting Israel’s rejection of her Messiah. The verse originally referred to the Gentiles’ rejection of Israel, the servant of the Lord. However in another sense it predicted Israel’s rejection of the Servant of the Lord whom He would send. The report or message that the people had rejected was Jesus’ teaching, and the evidence of the Lord’s arm or power was Jesus’ miracles.
"John 12 records the second major crisis in the ministry of our Lord as seen by John the apostle. The first occurred when many of His disciples would no longer walk with Him (Joh 6:66), even though He is ’the way’ (Joh 14:6). In this chapter, John tells us that many would not believe in Him (Joh 12:37 ff), even though He is ’the truth.’ The third crisis will come in John 19 : even though he is ’the life,’ the leaders crucified Him." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:338.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
V. RESULTS OF CHRIST’S MANIFESTATION.
“But though He had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on Him: that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this cause they could not believe, for that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and He hardened their heart; lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and should turn, and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah, because he saw His glory; and he spake of Him. Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. And Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me. And he that beholdeth Me beholdeth Him that sent Me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me may not abide in the darkness. And if any man hear My sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My sayings, hath One that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I spake not from Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He hath given Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life eternal: the things therefore which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto Me, so I speak.”– Joh 12:37-50.
In this Gospel the death of Christ is viewed as the first step in His glorification. When He speaks of being “lifted up,” there is a double reference in the expression, a local and an ethical reference.[6] He is lifted up on the cross, but lifted up on it as His true throne and as the necessary step towards His supremacy at God’s right hand. It was, John tells us, with direct reference to the cross that Jesus now used the words: “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” The Jews, who heard the words, perceived that, whatever else was contained in them, intimation of His removal from earth was given. But, according to the current Messianic expectation, the Christ “abideth for ever,” or at any rate for four hundred or a thousand years. How then could this Person, who announced His immediate departure, be the Christ? The Old Testament gave them ground for supposing that the Messianic reign would be lasting; but had they listened to our Lord’s teaching they would have learned that this reign was spiritual, and not in the form of an earthly kingdom with a visible sovereign.
Accordingly, although they had recognised Jesus as the Messiah, they are again stumbled by this fresh declaration of His. They begin to fancy that perhaps after all by calling Himself “the Son of man” He has not meant exactly what they mean by the Messiah. From the form of their question it would seem that Jesus had used the designation “the Son of man” in intimating His departure; for they say, “How sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up?” Up to this time, therefore, they had taken it for granted that by calling Himself the Son of man He claimed to be the Christ, but now they begin to doubt whether there may not be two persons signified by those titles.
Jesus furnishes them with no direct solution of their difficulty. He never betrays any interest in these external identifications. The time for discussing the relation of the Son of man to the Messiah is past. His manifestation is closed. Enough light has been given. Conscience has been appealed to and discussion is no longer admissible. “Ye have light: walk in the light.” The way to come to a settlement of all their doubts and hesitations is to follow Him. There is still time for that. “Yet a little while is the light among you.” But the time is short; there is none to waste on idle questionings, none to spend on sophisticating conscience–time only for deciding as conscience bids.
By thus believing in the light they will themselves become “children of light.” The “children of light” are those who live in it as their element,–as “the children of this world” are those who wholly belong to this world and find in it what is congenial; as “the son of perdition” is he who is identified with perdition. The children of light have accepted the revelation that is in Christ, and live in the “day” that the Lord has made. Christ contains the truth for them–the truth which penetrates to their inmost thought and illuminates the darkest problems of life. In Christ they have seen that which determines their relation to God; and that being determined, all else that is of prime importance finds a settlement. To know God and ourselves; to know God’s nature and purpose, and our own capabilities and relation to God,–these constitute the light we need for living by; and this light Christ gives. It was in a dim, uncertain twilight, with feebly shining lanterns, the wisest and best of men sought to make out the nature of God and His purposes regarding man; but in Christ God has made noonday around us.
They, therefore, that stood, or that stand, in His presence, and yet recognise no light, must be asleep, or must turn away from an excess of light that is disagreeable or inconvenient. If we are not the fuller of life and joy the more truth we know, if we shrink from admitting the consciousness of a present and holy God, and do not feel it to be the very sunshine of life in which alone we thrive, we must be spiritually asleep or spiritually dead. And this cry of Christ is but another form of the cry that His Church has prolonged: “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
The “little while” of their enjoyment of the light was short indeed, for no sooner had He made an end of these sayings than He “departed, and did hide Himself from them.” He probably found retirement from the feverish, inconstant, questioning crowd with His friends in Bethany. At any rate this removal of the light, while it meant darkness to those who had not received Him and who did not keep His words, could bring no darkness to His own, who had received Him and the light in Him. Perhaps the best comment on this is the memorable passage from Comus:
“Virtue could see to do what virtue would
By her own radiant light, though sun and moon
Were in the great sea sunk.
He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit i’ the centre and enjoy bright day;
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts
Benighted walks under the midday sun,
Himself is his own dungeon.”
And now the writer of this Gospel, before entering upon the closing scenes, pauses and presents a summary of the results of all that has been hitherto related. First, he accounts for the unbelief of the Jews. It could not fail to strike his readers as remarkable that, “though He had done so many miracles before the people, yet they believed not in Him.” In this John sees nothing inexplicable, however sad and significant it may be. At first sight it is an astounding fact that the very people who had been prepared to recognise and receive the Messiah should not have believed in Him. Might not this to some minds be convincing evidence that Jesus was not the Messiah? If the same God who sent Him forth had for centuries specially prepared a people to recognise and receive Him when He came, was it possible that this people should repudiate Him? Was it likely that such a result should be produced or should be allowed? But John turns the point of this argument by showing that a precisely similar phenomenon had often appeared in the history of Israel. The old prophets had the very same complaint to make: “Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The people had habitually, as a people with individual exceptions, refused to listen to God’s voice or to acknowledge His presence in prophet and providence.
Besides, might it not very well be that the blindness and callousness of the Jews in rejecting Jesus was the inevitable issue of a long process of hardening? If, in former periods of their history, they had proved themselves unworthy of God’s training and irresponsive to it, what else could be expected than that they should reject the Messiah when He came? This hardening and blinding process was the inevitable, natural result of their past conduct. But what nature does, God does; and therefore the Evangelist says “they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart.” The organ for perceiving spiritual truth was blinded, and their susceptibility to religious and moral impressions had become callous and hardened and impervious.
And while this was no doubt true of the people as a whole, still there were not a few individuals who eagerly responded to this last message from God. In the most unlikely quarters, and in circumstances calculated to counteract the influence of spiritual forces, some were convinced. “Even among the chief rulers many believed on Him.” This belief, however, did not tell upon the mass, because, through fear of excommunication, those who were convinced dared not utter their conviction. “They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” They allowed their relations to men to determine their relation to God. Men were more real to them than God. The praise of men came home to their hearts with a sensible relish that the praise of God could not rival. They reaped what they had sown; they had sought the esteem of men, and now they were unable to find their strength in God’s approval. The glory which consisted in following the lowly and outcast Jesus, the glory of fellowship with God, was quite eclipsed by the glory of living in the eye of the people as wise and estimable persons.
In the last paragraph of the chapter John gives a summary of the claims and message of Jesus. He has told us (Joh 12:36) that Jesus had departed from public view and had hidden Himself, and he mentions no return to publicity. It is therefore probable that in these remaining verses, and before he turns to a somewhat different aspect of Christ’s ministry, he gives in rapid and brief retrospect the sum of what Jesus had advanced as His claim. He introduces this paragraph, indeed, with the words, “Jesus cried and said”; but as neither time nor place is mentioned, it is quite likely that no special time or place is supposed; and in point of fact each detail adduced in these verses can be paralleled from some previously recorded utterance of Jesus.
First, then, as everywhere in the Gospel, so here, He claims to be the representative of God in so close and perfect a manner that “he that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me. And he that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me.” No belief terminates in Christ Himself: to believe in Him is to believe in God, because all that He is and does proceeds from God and leads to God. The whole purpose of Christ’s manifestation was to reveal God. He did not wish to arrest thought upon Himself, but through Himself to guide thought to Him whom He revealed. He was sustained by the Father, and all He said and did was of the Father’s inspiration. Whoever, therefore, “saw” or understood Him “saw” the Father; and whoever believed in Him believed in the Father.
Second, as regards men, He is “come a light into the world.” Naturally there is in the world no sufficient light. Men feel that they are in darkness. They feel the darkness all the more appalling and depressing the more developed their own human nature is. “More light” has been the cry from the beginning. What are we? where are we? whence are we? whither are we going? what is there above and beyond this world? These questions are echoed back from an unanswering void, until Christ comes and gives the answer. Since He came men have felt that they did not any longer walk in darkness. They see where they are going, and they see why they should go.
And if it be asked, as among the Jews it certainly must have been asked, why, if Jesus is the Messiah, does He not punish men for rejecting Him? the answer is, “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” Judgment, indeed, necessarily results from His coming. Men are divided by His coming. “The words that I have spoken, the same shall judge men in the last day.” The offer of God, the offer of righteousness, is that which judges men. Why are they still dead, when life has been offered? This is the condemnation. “The commandment of the Father is life everlasting.” This is the sum of the message of God to men in Christ; this is “the commandment” which the Father has given Me; this is Christ’s commission: to bring God in the fulness of His grace and love and life-giving power within men’s reach. It is to give life eternal to men that God has come to them in Christ. To refuse that life is their condemnation.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] See Joh 3:14.