Let's start today by reading part of last week's passage, John 12:20-26:
(20) Now, there were some Greeks from among the ones going up [to Jerusalem],
in order that they would worship at the festival.
(21) Then, these ones approached Philip-- the one from Bethsaida of Galilee--
and they were asking him, saying,
"Lord/sir, we wish, Jesus, to see.
(22) He comes-- Philip--
and he tells Andrew.
He goes-- Andrew, and Philip,
and they tell Jesus.
(23) Now, Jesus answers them, saying,
"The hour has come,
that he will be glorified-- the Son of Man.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a seed/grain of wheat, falling to the earth, dies, by itself, alone, it abides.
Now, if it dies, much fruit it bears.
(25) The one loving his life, loses it,
and the one hating his life in this world, for eternal life, guards/protects it.
(26) If me, anyone serves, me, he must follow,
and where I am, there, also my servant will be.
If anyone, me, he serves, He will honor him-- The Father.
When these Greeks come to the disciples, seeking Jesus, this marks a turning point in the Gospel of John. That is the signal, to Jesus, that the time of his hour is at hand. And what that means, concretely, is that it is time for him to be crucified. [And note how AJ doesn't describe the actual interaction between Jesus and the Greeks here. That's not the important thing-- what matters, is that they came].
And so that's what he tells his disciples. Jesus is like a seed of wheat, and unless he dies, he will "abide" alone. But if he dies, he will bear much fruit.
And what's true for Jesus, is also true for us. We are supposed to look at Jesus' example, and copy it. We have to hate our lives; we have to die to ourselves. We have to live in service to Jesus, following him.
Jesus then continues, in verse 27:
(27) Now my soul/life has been agitated/troubled,
and what shall I say?:
"Father, save me from this hour" ?,
but for this reason I came-- for this hour.
(28) Father, glorify your name.
As we continue reading the Gospel of John, we should understand that Jesus doesn't want to die. But Jesus, nevertheless, chooses death. He knows that the Father sent him for this hour. He knows that this will bring glory to his Father. And so he concludes, by praying just that. "Father, glorify your name."
Next, we read this:
Then, it came-- a voice-- from heaven:
"I both glorified [it],
and again I will glorify [it]."
God has glorified his name through Jesus throughout Jesus' ministry. And now God will glorify it through his death.
Verse 29:
(29) Then, the crowd-- the one standing and hearing-- was saying,
"Thunder, has happened."
Others were saying,
"An angel to him has spoken."
(30) Jesus answered/responded,
and he said,
"Not for my sake, this voice has happened,
but for your sake.
Now the ruler of this world will be cast outside,
and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, all, I will draw toward myself."
(33) Now, this he was saying,
signifying what type of death he was about to die.
The crowds hear the noise of the Father speaking, but they misunderstand it. Some think they heard thunder. Others, an angel. None of them realize that God was the one speaking. They don't recognize God's voice. And that, is a huge problem. That's a huge red flag. John 8:47:
47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
We had been really happy about the way the gospel of John was going. Huge crowds "gave allegiance to" Jesus after he raised Lazarus from the dead. But we are seeing cracks in this allegiance. Flaws. Last week, they gave allegiance to Jesus as the king of Israel, expecting Jesus to save them from Rome. This week, the same crowd doesn't even recognize God's voice. So what does that tell us about them? They are not "of God." They don't belong to him. They aren't part of God's flock.
Now, this doesn't have to be the end of the world. No one automatically understands who Jesus is, and what he came to do.
And so Jesus responds to their struggle here, by trying to help them. He explains what is about to happen. Jesus will be "lifted up" from the earth-- on the cross-- and he will draw all people to himself. What happened with the Greeks, on a small scale, will happen with the entire world on the other side of the cross.
Verse 34:
(34) Then, it answered/responded to him-- the crowd--
"We heard from the law
that the Christ abides forever,
and how do you say
that it is necessary for the son of man to be lifted up?
Who is this one-- the son of man?
The crowd is hopeless, apparently. When Jesus had talked about being "lifted up," the crowds thought Jesus was talking about an ascension to heaven. Or something? And this doesn't make sense to them. They have heard, and they know, that the Messiah is supposed to abide forever.
Probably, they are echoing Isaiah 9:6-7 (NKJV):
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
If the Messiah is supposed to abide forever, how can "the son of man" be lifted up? And who is this son of man?
All the crowd has is questions, and confusion. All they can "hear" is the wrong thing-- a flawed understanding of the law. They can't hear the Father. They can't hear Jesus (John 10:4).
Verse 35:
(35) Then, he said to them-- Jesus--
"Yet a little time, the light, among you, he is.
Walk while the light, you have,
in order that darkness, you, it doesn't overtake,
and the one walking in darkness doesn't know where he is going.
(36) While the light you have, give allegiance to the light,
in order that sons of light, you shall become."
These things Jesus said,
and going away, he was hidden from them.
At the beginning of the gospel of John, we saw that no one first comes to Jesus, getting everything right. Coming to Jesus is a process. There is growth. Ideally, the closer you get to the light, the more everything makes sense.
But what you really want to see, is progress-- like with the Samaritan woman, or the man born blind.
We are at the tail end of chapter 12, and the crowd hasn't made any progress. And Jesus tells them, time is running out. What was okay, early on, will soon not be okay at all. Now is the time to come to the light. Now is the time to give allegiance to the light.
And then Jesus gives a sort of sign-act to demonstrate this (like Ezekiel 4, for example). He "goes away" from them, and hides from them.
This brings us to verses 37-43. In these verses, AJ explains to us why the crowds didn't give their allegiance to Jesus. Why is all of this so difficult? How can the crowds seem so hopeless?
Now, let me be upfront about these verses. Scholars disagree, a lot, about how AJ's words should be understood.
And I'm not really going to get into any of that. I'm just going to give you my reading of it, and you can decide if I'm persuasive or not.
Verse 37-38:
(37) Now, so many signs having done before them, they didn't give allegiance to him,
(38) in order that the word of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, who said,
"Lord, who has "believed" in our message,
and the arm of the Lord, to whom has it been revealed?"
Here, AJ tells us that the failure of the Judeans to give their allegiance to Jesus, despite all of his signs, happened to fulfill Scripture. AJ quotes from Isaiah 53:1, LXX. Isaiah foretold that the people wouldn't believe "our" message. And they wouldn't understand the signs-- and how those signs show the arm of the Lord being revealed [the arm of the Lord in verse 38=the signs in verse 37].
So they "didn't" believe. They didn't believe what Jesus said. They didn't believe what Jesus did.
Verse 39-40:
(39) For this reason they weren't able to "believe":,
because again Isaiah said,
"He has blinded their eyes,
and he has hardened their hearts,
in order that they wouldn't see with their eyes,
and they would understand with the heart,
and they would turn,
and I would heal them."
AJ then pulls out a second Scripture from Isaiah, this one from Isaiah 6:10 (heavily modified). Here, AJ adds that, not only "didn't" they believe, but they "couldn't." God blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, and made it so they couldn't see the truth about Jesus, and themselves.
What does this mean? And why did God do this?
Verse 41 partially answers this:
(41) These things Isaiah said
because he saw his glory,
and he spoke about him.
Isaiah saw Jesus' glory. And what is his glory? What does this mean? Many scholars think that AJ here is talking about Isaiah's vision of the throne room in Isaiah 6:1-7.
Let's read it:
(1) In the year of the death of King Uzziah, I saw the Lord being seated on the throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robes was filling the temple.
(2) Seraphim were standing above him-- six wings.
Six wings on each one,
with two covering his face,
and with two covering his feet,
and with two flying,
(3) and this one called to this one,
and he said,
"Holy, holy, holy, Yahweh of Armies [is].
What fills the whole earth, His glory [is].
(4) and the doorposts of the thresholds shook from the sound/voice of the one calling,
while the house was filled with smoke,
(5) and I said,
"Woe to me,
because I am silenced /destroyed,
because a man of unclean lips, I am,
while in the midst of a people of unclean lips, I am dwelling,
because the King-- Yahweh of Armies-- my eyes have seen,
(6) and he flew to me-- one from the seraphim--,
and in his hand [was] a burning coal with tongs he took from on the altar,
(7) and he touched my mouth,
and he said,
"LOOK! This has touched (upon) your lips,
and your guilt has been turned aside,
while your sin has been covered."
So many scholars hear the words "glory" and "Isaiah" in the same sentence, and they find themselves thinking about Isaiah 6. Which is understandable. But before we run to Isaiah, we should try to answer this question:
"What is Jesus' glory in the gospel of John?"
Let's reread John 12:23-26:
(23) Now, Jesus answers them, saying,
"The hour has come,
that he will be glorified-- the Son of Man.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a seed/grain of wheat, falling to the earth, dies, by itself, alone, it abides.
Now, if it dies, much fruit it bears.
(25) The one loving his life, loses it,
and the one hating his life in this world, for eternal life, guards/protects it.
(26) If me, anyone serves, me, he must follow,
and where I am, there, also my servant will be.
If anyone, me, he serves, He will honor him-- The Father.
Jesus' glory, in the gospel of John, will be seen on the cross. That is the moment he is lifted up, and exalted. The cross is Jesus' glory.
So let's reread John 12:41:
(41) These things Isaiah said
because he saw his glory,
and he spoke about him.
What does it mean, that Isaiah saw Jesus' glory?
I think it has to mean that Isaiah saw Jesus on the cross. Isaiah knew that it was God's plan that Jesus be crucified. He knew that Jesus' death would be necessary. And so he foretold that the people not only wouldn't "believe" in Jesus, but couldn't "believe."
AJ had quoted from two passages in Isaiah-- 6:10, and 53:1. And in which one of them did Isaiah see Jesus' glory? I think most scholars grabbed the wrong passage-- I think the answer is, in Isaiah 53.
So let's read from Isaiah 53 (ESV for now):
Who has believed what he has heard from us?[a]
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected[b] by men,
a man of sorrows[c] and acquainted with[d] grief;[e]
and as one from whom men hide their faces[f]
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 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.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;[g]
when his soul makes[h] an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see[i] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,[j]
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,[k]
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah, hundreds of years before Jesus, saw Jesus' glory-- he saw Jesus on the cross. Isaiah knew that Jesus' death on the cross was necessary. Jesus had to be the lamb of God, if he was going to take away the sins of the world. And he had to die on the cross, and be resurrected, if the whole world was going to be drawn to him. The cross, in every way, was God's perfect plan.
Now, let's go back to the original question. What does it mean that the people "didn't" believe, and "couldn't" believe, because God hardened their hearts? Does this mean that Jesus' entire ministry is a sham? That no one could truly, actually, come to Jesus?
Verses 42-43 help us, if we keep reading:
(42) However, despite that, even from the rulers, many gave allegiance to him,
but because of the Pharisees didn't confess [it/him],
in order that, expelled from the synagogue, they wouldn't be.
For they loved the glory of/from man
more than the glory of/from God.
AJ just told us that the people "didn't" believe, and "couldn't" believe, in Jesus. But now, in verse 42, we hear that even out of the most stubborn, resistant people to Jesus-- the rulers-- many "gave allegiance" to Jesus.
And if "many" of them could do this, then everyone could've.
Where does this leave us?
I think the best way to understand this, is that God partially hardened their hearts. Imagine that you are in a canoe on one side of the lake, and Jesus is waiting for you at the opposite end. If you want to come to Jesus, you paddle over to Jesus. The water isn't moving, right? It's not that hard.
When God hardened the people's hearts, that lake, turned into a river. If you want to come to Jesus, you have to paddle upstream. It requires more work; it's harder. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to come to Jesus. If the rulers could come to Jesus, then it's possible for every individual.
But what God did, was make the river current strong enough, that lots of people wouldn't come to Jesus. Instead, they would turn against him, and kill him. And God did this, to make sure that Jesus would end up on the cross, dying for our sins.
So maybe, when you look at Jesus' life, and his lack of success by worldly standards, you're tempted to think that Jesus' life was a failure. That he was a crucified pretender to the throne.
And maybe you wonder if his rejection by the Judeans, should make you reject Jesus as well. Why should you trust someone as Messiah, who was rejected by his own people?
But if you believe Jesus here, and Isaiah, you'll see that all of this was God's master plan. Jesus had to die on the cross for our sins, for us to be reconciled to God. There was no other way. And the only way God could make sure this happened, was by hardening people's hearts.
So we should understand how, and why, Jesus was rejected.
But that leaves us with one final question. How will you respond to Jesus? Verse 44-50 (Gail O'Day was really helpful on these verses):
(44) Now, Jesus cried out,
and he said,
"The one giving allegiance to me doesn't give allegiance to me,
but to The One Sending me,
(45) and the one seeing me, sees The One Sending me.
(46) I, [as] light, into the world I have come,
in order that everyone giving allegiance to me, in the darkness, he won't abide,
(47) and if anyone my words, he hears,
and he doesn't guard/keep/attend to them, I won't judge him.
For I didn't come,
in order that I would judge the world,
but in order that I would save the world.
(48) The one rejecting me and not receiving my words has the one judging him.
The word which I spoke-- that will judge him on the last day,
because I, from myself, I didn't speak,
but The One Sending me-- [the] Father himself to me, a commandment/charge he has given--
what I should say,
and what I should speak,
(50) and I know
that his commandment/charge, eternal life, it is.
And so then, the things that I say, just as he spoke to me-- the Father-- thus I say."
When you read about the signs Jesus did, and hear his words, they force you to make a decision about Jesus.
You can come to Jesus, and receive his words, and give your allegiance to him, and publicly confess him as Savior and King (=Christ). You can become part of Jesus' flock. You can choose life.
OR. You can reject Jesus, and his words. You can choose death, and judgment on the last day.
If you haven't made that decision, understand that there is a huge difference between you and the Judeans. God isn't hardening your heart and mind. There is nothing working against you, to make this difficult. God is drawing you to himself. He is calling you. All you have, is God inviting you to join his family, his flock, through Jesus.
So what will you choose? Who will you choose?
Consider choosing Jesus. Give your allegiance to him. And choose life (John 17:3).
Translation:
(27) Now my soul/life has been agitated/troubled,
and what shall I say?:
"Father, save me from this hour" ?,
but for this reason I came-- for this hour.
(28) Father, glorify your name.
Then, it came-- a voice-- from heaven:
"I both glorified [it],
and again I will glorify [it]."
(29) Then, the crowd-- the one standing and hearing-- was saying,
"Thunder, has happened."
Others were saying,
"An angel to him has spoken."
(30) Jesus answered/responded,
and he said,
"Not for my sake, this voice has happened,
but for your sake.
Now the ruler of this world will be cast outside,
and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, all, I will draw toward myself."
(33) Now, this he was saying,
signifying what type of death he was about to die.
(34) Then, it answered/responded to him-- the crowd--
"We heard from the law
that the Christ abides forever,
and how do you say
that it is necessary for the son of man to be lifted up?
Who is this one-- the son of man?
(35) Then, he said to them-- Jesus--
"Yet a little time, the light, among you, he is.
Walk while the light, you have,
in order that darkness, you, it doesn't overtake,
and the one walking in darkness doesn't know where he is going.
(36) While the light you have, give allegiance to the light,
in order that sons of light, you shall become."
These things Jesus said,
and going away, he was hidden from them.
(37) Now, so many signs having done before them, they didn't give allegiance to him,
(38) in order that the word of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, who said,
"Lord, who has "believed" in our message,
and the arm of the Lord, to whom has it been revealed?"
(39) For this reason they weren't able to "believe",
because again Isaiah said,
"He has blinded their eyes,
and he has hardened their hearts,
in order that they wouldn't see with their eyes,
and they would understand with the heart,
and they would turn,
and I would heal them."
(41) These things Isaiah said
because he saw his glory,
and he spoke about him.
(42) However, despite that, even from the rulers, many gave allegiance to him,
but because of the Pharisees didn't confess [it/him],
in order that, expelled from the synagogue, they wouldn't be.
For they loved the glory of/from man
more than the glory of/from God.
(44) Now, Jesus cried out,
and he said,
"The one giving allegiance to me doesn't give allegiance to me,
but to The One Sending me,
(45) and the one seeing me, sees The One Sending me.
(46) I, [as] light, into the world I have come,
in order that everyone giving allegiance to me, in the darkness, he won't abide,
(47) and if anyone my words, he hears,
and he doesn't guard/keep/attend to them, I won't judge him.
For I didn't come,
in order that I would judge the world,
but in order that I would save the world.
(48) The one rejecting me and not receiving my words has the one judging him.
The word which I spoke-- that will judge him on the last day,
because I, from myself, I didn't speak,
but The One Sending me-- [the] Father himself to me, a commandment/charge he has given--
what I should say,
and what I should speak,
(50) and I know
that his commandment/charge, eternal life, it is.
And so then, the things that I say, just as he spoke to me-- the Father-- thus I say."
