{"id":133,"date":"2004-11-14T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2004-11-14T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2004-11-24T22:56:30","modified_gmt":"2004-11-25T02:56:30","slug":"they-could-not-believe-jn-1239","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/they-could-not-believe-jn-1239\/","title":{"rendered":"They Could Not Believe – Jn 12:39"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em>The book of John opens revealing the Word who existed with the
\nFather (1:1) and was in fellowship with the Father from the very
\nbeginning (1:2). John eventually shows us that within Him was the life
\nand this life was the very light of men (1:4)…for Jesus Christ Himself
\nbeing the resurrection and the life ( 11:25,26) was and is the light of
\nthe world ( 8:12). In a conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus explains
\nthat the worst part, the very condemnation of the world, was that the
\nLight shone in the darkness but men loved darkness rather than light
\n(3:19). This puts us in an immediate problem when we get to John 12:39
<\/p>\n

\n

For this reason they could not believe, because
\nIsaiah [6:10] said "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts
\nso that they would not see and understand with their heart, and turn to
\nme and I would heal them"<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the midst of flashes of light and the thundering voice of God
\nfrom heaven, Jesus' public ministry closes with such somber words and
\nwe're left wondering: Was Jesus' purpose then to save the few and damn all the others to hell by assuring that they couldn't believe?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are some that hold to that position of course. God before the
\nfoundation of the world elected the few to salvation and either damned
\nthe rest to hell or bypassed all the others and let them naturally head
\ntowards hell. Those who have been elected to salvation have been saved
\nbecause God gave them the ability to believe whereas no others had that
\nability since they are desperately wicked and have no desire to seek
\nGod. <\/p>\n

The discussion is much<\/em> longer than a single article, but our purpose is to look at the passage in chapter 12 and ask if Jesus' only goal was to save the few and assure all others would not believe?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Firstly we should try to understand the context of the usage of the Isaiah passage.<\/p>\n

Portrait 1<\/strong>: The disciples sitting around a table
\nwith the living Lazarus and the Lord. We find from other accounts that
\nthis was the house of Simon the leper. Mary, taking expensive oil,
\nanoints the head (Mt 26:6-13) and feet of Jesus weeping and washing
\nthose feet with her hair. What a glorious picture of true worship and
\nin that glorious flash we see the dark contrast of Judas, a supposed
\ndisciple, calling the act a waste of resources in his greed. (12:1-11)<\/p>\n

Portrait 2:<\/strong> Crowds of people shouting "Hosanna!" as the King enters Jerusalem in peace, riding on a donkey<\/p>\n

and weeping (Lk 19:37 -44).<\/p>\n

. In contrast we see those people who had seen the raising of Lazarus bearing repeated witness. (12:12-19)<\/p>\n

Portrait 3:<\/strong> The Pharisees murmuring against the
\nLord that the entire world has gone off to follow Jesus (ironic in that
\nthose people crying "Hosanna!" weren't true believers at all) and at
\nthe same time we see Greeks actually seeking Jesus. Those learned men
\nwho should have known better, in the dark, while the Greeks from
\noutside the covenants come near seeking the Messiah. (12:19-26)<\/p>\n

Portrait 4<\/strong>: Jesus seeks to glorify the Father's
\nname and the Father speaks from heaven that His name has been glorified
\nand He will glorify it again. Such a tremendous event and the people
\nthink it to be the voice of thunder or of an angel. With all the signs
\nthat Jesus performed the people did not believe. (12:27-36)<\/p>\n

Some will point to John 10 that Jesus knows His sheep and His sheep
\nknow Him (10:14) and will respond to Him. Jesus being the only
\nentranceway (10:7-9) into eternal life and greener pastures assures the
\nsalvation of His sheep for His sheep know Him (10:27) whereas those
\nothers who don't believe are damned because they are not his sheep and
\ntherefore can not believe (10:26).<\/p>\n

The problem is when we see John's purpose for writing the book of
\nJohn (20:30,31). At no point does John say "I write this so you, being
\nthe drawn sheep of God, you few, may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
\nthe Son of God and that all you others may not believe." In fact, John
\nchapter 10 doesn't end with Jesus telling the unbelievers that they
\ndon't believe because they are not His sheep.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, Jesus points out that He and the Father are one
\nraising the hackles and stones of the theologians. Jesus questions
\nwhich good work was it that resulted in them wanting to stone him. <\/p>\n

The theologians answer that it was not for His good works but
\nbecause He makes Himself out to be God. He then goes onto illustrate
\nthat their problem is not a theological one but if they don't want to
\nbelieve Him, go right ahead, but believe His works that they themselves
\nhave just declared to be good (10:34-38).<\/p>\n

How do sheep get to know a shepherd? Well, the shepherd stands at a
\ndistance from the frightened sheep and pulls up a tuft of good, green
\nand crunchy grass and tosses it a few feet away. The sheep looks at the
\nstranger, looks at the grass and sees that it is good for food, runs
\nover and eats it, then runs back to it's safe position.<\/p>\n

The shepherd then says "Good sheep, oh, you like that good grass
\ndon't you? Here's some more." Picks up more grass and throws it a tad
\ncloser. The sheep runs up and eats the grass and runs back. The
\nshepherd will keep this up, getting the tossed grass closer and closer
\nto himself until the sheep is eating from his hand and it trusts him.
\nIt has become his sheep and he has become its shepherd. <\/p>\n

Jesus' good works are that grass, it was a means by which those
\nunbelievers could wind up believing. They may not have been ready to
\neat out of his hand acknowledging Him as the Son of God, but to
\nacknowledge that His works were good was fine (10:37). This is the Good
\nShepherd at work!<\/p>\n

This being the case, when we look at the Isaiah passage quoted in
\nJohn 12, it is not substantiating some erroneous notion that the people
\nwere forced to not see that Jesus is the Christ, nor that the people
\nhad no choice in the hardening of their hearts simply because they were
\nnever His to begin with.<\/p>\n

We see people, rather, who have been exposed to Jesus' public
\nministry for at least 3 years and at the end of the ministry, they made
\ntheir choice. Some decided on their own profit, some on their own
\nposition and some on their own possibility of royalty. Isaiah spoke of
\nsuch people that they would willfully harden themselves upon hearing
\nthe message, for indeed the words spoken to Isaiah were not hidden away
\nas if they were a sentence, but rather a prophecy of what people would
\ndo and meant to be professed to them.The sentence is that with the
\ncontinued unbelief on their own part, they would be judged and then
\ncould not believe.<\/p>\n

Note the text: In light of all the signs the people would<\/em> not believe in Him ( 12:37) resulting in the fulfillment of the Isaiah texts where the people could<\/em> not believe ( 12:38-41)<\/p>\n

Jesus came into the world to save men (Lk 9:56) and not the few (Jn
\n1:29, 3:16
\n). In His dying on the cross He would cast out the ruler of the world
\n(Jn 12:31) and seek to draw all men to Himself (Jn 12:32). His message
\n(given directly from the Father, Jn 12:49) asked those who believe to
\ncome out of the dark into the light. That first time He came into the
\nworld (Jn 12:46), it was neither to judge nor to condemn…such matters
\nare for the last day (Jn 12:48), not for a day before in history's
\neternity past. It is in that day that men will reap the penalty due for
\ntheir willful rejection of the Father's message and promised one.<\/p>\n

God is an amazing God, giving eyes for men to see and the ability to
\nsee. He also gave eyelids so they, if they so wish, can close their
\neyes.
\nIf they persist in that shutting he gives them over to their desire and
\nshuts their eyes.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The book of John opens revealing the Word who existed with the Father (1:1) and was in fellowship with the Father from the very beginning (1:2). John eventually shows us that within Him was the life and this life was the very light of men (1:4)…for Jesus Christ Himself being the resurrection and the life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThey Could Not Believe - Jn 12:39 - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/they-could-not-believe-jn-1239\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"They Could Not Believe - Jn 12:39 - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The book of John opens revealing the Word who existed with the Father (1:1) and was in fellowship with the Father from the very beginning (1:2). 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