John 12:37-41 May 18, 2014

We’re continuing with our verse-by-verse study of John and we’ve come near the end of chapter twelve. The Greeks have asked for an audience with Jesus which signifies the last hour of His earthly ministry. He knows that soon He’ll go to the cross, but He also knows He’ll be resurrected. This is the way God has chosen to give true life to His children, and anyone who follows Christ will also face death but also has the same promise of resurrection and eternal life. So now Jesus prepares His disciples for what’s coming. Everything since the resurrection of Lazarus has built up to this moment. They don’t understand a lot of what He means, but they do believe in Him. They’ve been with Him since the beginning and seen all His miracles and they know He’s come from God. Many others, however, aren’t convinced. These are the people in chapter twelve. He tells them to walk by the light:

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 38That 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? 39Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40He 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. 41These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

Now, here we’re tempted to start talking about predestination and reprobation and what natural men can and can’t do with spiritual things, but remember that John isn’t trying to prove this. I’m not saying this doesn’t support those teachings, but I am saying it’s not John’s main point and it wasn’t originally a Doctrines of Grace proof-text. The Jews had no trouble with election and predestination. Their big problem is John’s main point: Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. He wants us to know for sure that He is the Messiah so we can believe on Him and have eternal life. So the question we have to ask going into this text is how do the quotations from Isaiah help us believe? The first part of finding that answer is to recognize that it might be problematic that so many Jews rejected Him. These are God’s chosen people. They know the Scriptures. Shouldn’t we respect their judgment as “experts” in this matter and at least wonder about the authenticity of Christ’s claims? I mean, if so many experts say “no” then it’s at least worth considering.

But this is exactly why John quotes these verses. The question is raised: Why do so many Jews reject Him? “Because,” says John, “that’s what’s been predicted.” Let’s go back and read the prophecies: Isaiah 52-53 The first quotation comes from Isaiah 53:1, but we need to start in chapter 52 to get the context. The actual verse doesn’t make much sense unless we get the whole main idea of the passage. We’ll start in 52:1: Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. 4For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. 6Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. 7How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 8Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. 9Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. 10The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. 12For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward. So, this first part of this prophecy focuses on the plight of God’s people and His plan to save them. They’ve been oppressed and they howl to God and He hears them and will come to their rescue. Take careful not of verse ten and think of what it means in relation to our main verse from 53:1. In saving His people, God will bare His arm. Who will He save? “All the ends of the earth will see His salvation.” How exactly will He do this? 13Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

Now, obviously we’re talking about Christ here. God promised a servant who would do what is right and be exalted for it. We know that God is well pleased in His Son and that He raised Him up to a place above every other name. But, it’s also predicted that men won’t see things the same was as God: 14As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Many are appalled at Him, but unless a corn of wheat dies it can’t bear fruit, and do He was marred and shed His blood. This blood is sprinkled on many nations for their atonement. The arm of the Lord is revealed and the mouths of the kings are shut. They see and consider something they hadn’t been shown or told: Christ is our Redeemer! Now this is the prophecy, and this is the gospel. You could say it ends here, but Isaiah has a little more to say, and that’s when we begin chapter 53: 53:1Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? Isaiah says, “God will redeem the nations with His own servant. That servant will be attacked and will shed His own blood. He’ll die. But who believes me? Who believes any of us? Certainly not Israel. God has shown them many things, but they don’t understand what God’s arm really is. They can’t see this suffering servant. They’re looking for something else and they’re going to miss out when He comes:” 2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. “He’s a nobody!” When the Jews see Him hanging on that cross they cluck their tongues because they know this is what God does to heretics. “Jesus,” they would say, “suffers for His own wrongdoing.” 5But 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. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and

the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. They failed to see that Jesus is our propitiation. The reason He suffered and died is not because He was weak; rather, He was obedient and He made the way into the Most Holy Place. It was prophesied that these people would not believe in Him, and when the time came, they could not. The arm of the Lord had not been revealed to them. Now, there’s a second quotation and it comes from Isaiah six: Isaiah 6 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. 2Above 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. 3And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. This is what John means in chapter twelve when he says, “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him” (v. 41). 5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Now, this is the part of the verse that everyone knows. You’ve surely heard this preached as a “missions” verse. You know, “Who will we send? Who will go?” There’s even a song based on these words. The general message is about taking the love of Jesus and preaching His name all across the world. But I want you to note carefully with me the next verses. God appoints Isaiah as His messenger, and this is the message He gives him: 9And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. God’s intention is to harden these people so that they will not be healed. “You’re going to see it and hear it, but it won’t get into your calloused heart. You’ll see, but you won’t perceive. You’ll hear but you won’t understand.” That reminds me of when the Father spoke from heaven about glorifying His name and the people couldn’t decide whether it was a clap of thunder or an angel. And someone might say, “But this verse applies directly to Isaiah and the nation of Israel.” Yes. That’s true. But do you see that John applies it to the Jews who reject Christ? He does all these miracles. No man in his right mind could refute that the case of Lazarus was amazing. No man could see all these signs and still reject. Ah. God has blinded them and hardened their hearts. The more miracles He does the more convinced they become that He must die. It is their part in history to murder the Son of God, and they will not fail in it. It has been predetermined. Judas has his part; they have theirs. The arm of the Lord has not been revealed to them, so they will reject. 11Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 12And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. 13But yet in it shall be a tenth, What’s He saying? “Harden their hearts and blind their eyes until the very last one is gone. Only the remnant will remain. and it shall return, and shall be eaten: This is a prophecy of more trouble to come. Specifically, they would return from Babylon only to be invaded by the Romans. The spiritual application could be that we are at war with Satan, but look at the hope that’s given:

as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Look at the oak tree. When the leaves fall off and the branches are made bare it does not affect the substance of the tree. Its strength is not in its leaves but in its core! “So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof!” Christ says to follow Him. These people reject because God has blocked their paths. The message is that His face is hidden from men until the last one is gone, but God has preserved a remnant to receive the Promised Land because of their core. Jesus Christ is the holy seed. He is the substance of His people. Only a true Israelite will believe and confess and be saved. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, our core. newgracebaptistchurch.wordpress.com