Blind Eyes and Hard Hearts - John 12:37-43
Last week, we looked at how Jesus was committed to going to the cross. He was going to follow through on God’s plan of redemption knowing that it was going to cost him his life.
And if you remember, he was agonizing over the cross, and he said, “‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.”
Christ was totally committed to God’s plan of redemption in spite of the fact that a lot of the people around him flat out rejected him. That certainly made things a little tougher, wouldn’t you say?
But obviously, there was something spiritual going on under the surface. The people of Israel had hardened their hearts towards Jesus.
We’re reminded in this passage of the destructive power of hardening our hearts toward Jesus Christ.
And so we see three things in this passage. First, we see the insufficiency of witnessing miraculous signs (v. 37). Second, we see that it’s insufficient due to the hardness of hearts (vv. 38-40). And yet in spite of all of this, souls are still saved (vv. 41-43).
The Insufficiency of Miracles (v. 37)
The other day, I was telling someone that there was a retired man at my previous church, he was probably in his 70s, but he was a total cornhole hustler. He’d make it seem like he’d never played cornhole before whenever he played someone new, and then would simply dominate them. Turns out, he played cornhole once a week, and played in tournaments but he wasn’t necessarily upfront with his cornhole skills.
In this particular passage, John is helping his readers understand why the Jewish people were not believing in Jesus, who was the Messiah they had been anticipating for so long. But unlike my South Carolina friend Jesus was clear about who he was: that he was the promised Messiah.
The Savior of the World. But Jesus didn’t simply say, “I’m here! I’m the Messiah!” and did nothing else. He performed many signs and wonders that affirmed his divine Messianic claims. But notice what John says in verse 37 with me.
“Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him…”
Jesus had performed miracles, signs and wonders before their very eyes. In the gospel of John alone he turned water into wine, healed an official’s son, healed a lame man, fed the five thousand, walked on water, healed a blind man, and raised Lazarus from the dead. He performed all of those things, and last week we saw where God had even spoken audibly. And again, that’s just the gospel of John. That’s not his entire ministry. That’s not including everything.
Isn’t it amazing to say out loud that most people who witnessed Jesus’ miracles didn’t believe in him? Doesn’t that contradict what we naturally believe? In fact, many Christians pray specifically for miracles so that someone may come to faith in Christ. And even some modern strands of Christianity claim miracles so nonbelievers might put their faith in the Lord.
What we clearly see from this is that we want God to work outside of his ordinary means of grace. God can you please save my friend in such a way that it requires the least amount of prayer from me, they don’t have to ever listen to a sermon or step foot within the church?
We’d much rather have a 10 second miraculous sign that brings someone to faith, than spending hour after hour on your knees in prayer or sending them sermon after sermon to no avail. We can get TV on demand, why can’t we get conversions on demand? We’d even be willing to compromise on a two-day conversion delivery. Wouldn’t that be nice? We want a quick fix.
What does it say about the church that we want a Christianity that requires nothing of us? We want our faith and the expansion of God’s kingdom to be on autopilot. No wonder we’re surprised by true conversions and expect people to remain in unbelief.
But John thinks in the opposite manner. He expects people to believe in Jesus and is surprised when people remain in their unbelief.
Isn’t that the basic tenor of what John says in verse 37? He’s like these people have seen all these miracles performed by Jesus and they still don’t believe in him!
And it is quite ironic because unbelievers constantly say, “I need more evidence. I need to see, touch, taste, or smell God. I need empirical data in order to believe in Jesus.” But guess what? People were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ miracles, signs and wonders and still didn’t believe. So what do we make of this?
Miraculous signs and wonders cannot convert someone. They’re insufficient to save someone.
The miraculous is insufficient due to the hardness of hearts (vv. 38-40).
John is reminding us that even if unbelievers had all the empirical data and were witnesses to incredible signs it’s not how a heart of stone becomes a heart of flesh.
That might be true for most non-Christians that we know, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Jews! Why would the Jews, the people who worship the one true God, had all the proper worship practices in place, why would they fail to recognize their Savior?
Because the Jews believed that the Messiah would just show up and everyone would recognize him and rejoice over him and then he’d save the people of Israel. But the obvious problem is, the vast majority of the Jewish people didn’t believe in Jesus and it was scandalous.
This isn’t quite as scandalous to us here in America, in the glorious Commonwealth of Virginia, pretty much all of us are Gentiles! As far as I know, no one here is ethnically Jewish. But what we see in the gospels isn’t the Jews coming to Christ in droves, but the Gentiles! The non-Jews can see Christ more clearly than the Jews can. Again, this wouldn’t make sense to the average Jew because they believed the Scriptures taught that when the Messiah arrived, everyone would know it. But they were wrong!
And so John is addressing potential confusion by simply saying that the Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Jewish people wouldn’t believe the Messiah. It wasn’t going to be that the Messiah was going to arrive on the scene and everyone would immediately recognize him, rather, he’d arrive on the scene and very few would recognize him.
And so he points to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah in order to demonstrate that people had misunderstood how the Messiah would be received by his own people. First he quotes Isaiah 53 which is the passage of the Suffering Servant.
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
That’s the part of Isaiah 53 that’s probably familiar to many of you, but that’s not what John quotes. He quotes the beginning of Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53:1 says, “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
Isaiah foresaw what would happen: He saw that the Jewish people would generally reject Christ and essentially said, “Lord who is going to receive what he says?” He had this prophetic knowledge that the people of Israel would not believe in Jesus. Isaiah knew that Jesus would preach, teach, perform miracles, and Israel not to believe in him. That’s why John tells us that the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled. It was happening! Jesus was doing all of those things and no one was believing in him.
In fact, much of Jesus' ministry was direct judgment upon unbelieving Israel, and none of this was in conflict with the will of God. It was all a part of God’s plan. Just think about it: the people who the Jews detested the most, the Samaritans, welcomed Jesus with open arms! And that’s not an indictment upon the Samaritans, that’s an indictment upon Israel.
It’d be like if you went to your tax accountant for advice and they recommended that you come see me. If you come to me for tax advice we’re both going to jail. But that wouldn’t be an indictment on me, it’s really an indictment on your accountant that recommended me.
Here’s what's scary about this passage: it’s entirely possible for you to grow up in the church, hear the gospel preached over and over again, and fall upon your deaf ears. But ladies and gentlemen, that’s not a statement upon the effectiveness of the gospel, or the depth of God’s grace, rather, that's a statement on the coldness, the callousness, and the deadness of your heart.
Because if you reject the gospel message that’s not on God, that’s on you. You’re responsible for your sin.
You see, the more times you stiff arm the living God, the more times you turn from the gospel of grace, the harder your heart will become. It’s what happened to Pharaoh! The more times he rejected the word of God through His prophet Moses, the easier it got.
The reality is people are dead in their sins. People are spiritually dead. But it goes a little further than that. As one commentator put it, “...when people of their own accord and after repeated threats and promises, reject [Jesus Christ] and spurn his messages then – and not until then – he hardens them, in order that those who were not willing to repent may not be able to repent.”
John says it even stronger in verse 39. “Therefore they could not believe.” Rather shocking isn’t it? The Jews were incapable of faith. They were unable to understand. That’s how hard their hearts had become!
And again, notice the words of judgment that John quotes from Isaiah:
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
Here in verse 40, John is quoting from Isaiah 6. And perhaps you remember Isaiah 6, because verses 8-9 are so inspiring…
“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then [Isaiah] said, “Here I am! Send me.”
And we hear that bit of Scripture and we think, “Good for you Isaiah! Way to go, brother!”
And we will often echo those words, “Here I am Lord, send me!” But do you remember the message that God gave Isaiah?
“Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
In other words, God tells Isaiah, “Thank you for volunteering. Now go preach a message to the people of Israel that they’re not going to receive, but rather, hate.” Isaiah probably thought to himself, “I spoke up too soon.”
I don’t know if you caught that, but that awful message that God tells Isaiah to go preach is what John refers to in verse 40.
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
And what John is telling us is that these passages from Isaiah prophesy of what would happen to Jesus. He too would preach a message that was detested by the people of Israel. His very own people would reject him and the gospel.
John’s compilation of Isaiah should send a shiver down your spine. It should serve as a grave warning to you and me.
Because it’s entirely possible to hear the word preached, and see Christ radically change people’s lives and remain spiritually cold, hard-hearted, and indifferent toward Jesus. Does that describe you?
Are you sitting there, putting in your time because you think it’s the right thing to do, but Jesus Christ, the gospel message, and the truth of the Scriptures you could take or leave?
Is your heart warmed by the world or the things of God?
And yet in spite of all of this, souls are still saved (vv. 41-43).
The reality is, in order for people to come to Christ, the Lord has to do something. He has to move. Your soul must be quickened by the Holy Spirit. You have to be born again, and that’s something that only God can do. That’s how people have always been saved: by grace through faith.
But what we see is that although a majority of Israel has hardened their hearts towards Jesus, there is still a remnant. There are always a few that are still followers of the Lord.
This is, of course, not something for them to pound their chests and say, look at me I believed, but again, it points to the gracious working of the Holy Spirit. This is what we see in verses 41-43. Look at these verses with me.
“Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”
And obviously, John is making the point that Isaiah saw Christ’s glory and was referring to him. And the irony is that most of the so-called experts missed it. They didn’t get it. But there are always exceptions to every rule.
There were some that believed in Jesus. We know of at least two that were Jewish religious elites that believed in Jesus: Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. But again, those two were the exceptions. The vast majority of Jews religious leaders didn’t put their faith in Jesus. They didn’t believe him. The ones that did believe in Jesus were the outliers.
And so what we see is in spite of all the hostility, the hardening of the people of Israel, there were still some that believed in Jesus. But that’s not really John’s main point in verses 41-43. The big thing that John does in these last few verses is he critiques the believers.
That is, they were afraid to publicly profess their faith. They were scared of the repercussions that may result of them letting everyone know that they believe in Jesus. Again, look at verse 43:
“...they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”
John criticizes the believers because they feared man more than they feared God. Acknowledging their faith in Jesus would cost them prestige and influence. They might lose friends if they were excommunicated from the synagogue.
Worst of all, no one would take them seriously anymore. They’d lose their reputation. But this has been the way Christians have been viewed for most of human history. Christians, by and large, have been socially maligned.
Many of you probably had a similar experience, but growing up around Thanksgiving time, there was always an adult table and a kids table. My sister reminded me the other day of how jealous we all were when my oldest cousin graduated from the kids table to the adults table. He was like a prodigy because he graduated when he was like thirteen.
In case you’re wondering, I’m still waiting to get called up to the adult table, maybe next year.
There’s something about Christianity that permanently puts you at the social and cultural kids table. If you’re a Christian, the world probably won’t take you seriously. Does it offend you if people think you’re ignorant because of your faith? And so many people are willing to do whatever it takes in order for people of status to take them seriously.
We all want our voices to be heard. We all want the powers that be to appreciate and value our input. Who doesn’t want that?
But in order to get there and stay there as a Christian you almost always have two options: either you have to compromise your Christian faith, or you have to remain silent. You cannot bring it up under any circumstances.
And it’s exactly this that John is criticizing, because guess what the Jewish religious elites that were believers in Jesus did: they remained silent. They feared the Pharisees, they didn’t want to be excommunicated from the synagogue, and not to mention they loved their status among men.
Many of you have been through similar situations and most of us, if we haven’t faced something along those lines will at some point or another. But I want to encourage you all. There is another option. There is a third way, if you will. Unashamedly proclaim the truth of Christ. Boldly tell others what you believe.
Can you honestly say that you love God if you refuse to talk about him?
I mean, it’s so interesting to me because I’ve heard people say things like their faith is the most important aspect of who they are as a person… and I think to myself, then why am I just now hearing you talk about it?
This passage really serves as a warning to all of us, because the reality is if you want to pursue sin and darkness, God is going to give it to you.
It’s what Paul speaks of in Romans 1,
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”
Paul says that God gave up the people who were actively pursuing sin.
If you think I’m just going to cheat on my spouse this one time, or hey, I’m young I need to enjoy myself right now, I’ll party live a worldly lifestyle just for a season or I’m just going to feed this little addiction but I’ll break it eventually, if that’s your mentality look out!
Hardening your heart towards God doesn’t normally happen overnight. Typically it’s gradual. It’s one little decision, that leads to another little decision, which leads to another, until one day you wake up and say, I don’t need Jesus anymore.
That’s why confessing your faith particularly in a public setting is so important. That’s why it’s so important for people to stand up here and take vows when they join the church because not only are they joining the church, but they’re publicly confessing their faith in Christ.
You have to be clear about where you stand. There’s no middle road. Either you’re with Jesus or you’re not.
Jesus says in Matthew 10, “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
There will be a day when you will stand face to face with Jesus and he will look at you and say, “he stood with me.” Or he’ll look at you and say, “she wasn’t with me.”
Charles Spurgeon said, "The same sun which melts wax hardens clay. And the same Gospel which melts some persons to repentance hardens others in their sins."
Which are you? Let’s pray together.
