UnbeliefJohn 12:37-43

John 12:36While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

John 12:37Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him

John 20:30-31Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 12:37Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him

John 21:25Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Seven Signs in John1. Turning of water into wine (2:1-12) 2. Healing of the royal official’s son

(4:46-54)3. Healing of the paralytic at the pool of

Bethesda (5:1-17)4. Feeding of the five thousand (6:1-14) 5. Walking on water (6:15-25) 6. Healing of the man born blind (9:1-41) 7. Raising of Lazarus (11:1-46)

John 12:37Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him

RyleWe err greatly if we suppose that seeing wonderful things will ever convert souls. Thousands live and die in this delusion.

John 12:37Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him

John 12:38 …so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

Isaiah 53:1Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Romans 10:16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

HoskynsThe purpose of his final summary of the public ministry of Jesus is not to deny the whole tenor of his narrative, but to point out that the rejection of the Messiah by His own people ought not to surprise those familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures.

Matthew 26:24The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.

John 12:37-38Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

Isaiah 53:1Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

HendriksenMan never sins cheaply. Nevertheless, the responsibility and the guilt remains entirely on his side. And as it was with Pharaoh, so it was also with Israel.

Isaiah 6:10Make 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.”

John 12:39Therefore they could not believe.

Isaiah 6:8And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Isaiah 6:9Go, and say to this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

Isaiah 6:10Make 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.

PlummerGrace may be refused so persistently as to destroy the power of accepting it. ‘I will not’ leads to ‘I cannot.’

RyleThose whom He is said “to harden and blind” will always be found to be persons whom He had previously warned, exhorted, and constantly summoned to repent. And never is He said to harden and blind, and give men up to judicial hardness and blindness, till after a long course of warnings. This was certainly the case with Pharaoh and the Jews.

John 12:42-43Nevertheless, 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; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

PinkThey preferred the good will of other sinners above the approval of God. O the short-sighted folly of these wretched men! O the madness of their miserable choice! Of what avail would the good opinion of the Pharisees be when the hour of death overtook them? In what stead will it stand them when they appear before the judgment-throne of God? ‘What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’

SpurgeonAre the sceptics so much to the fore that no man will open his mouth against them? Are all the orthodox afraid of the ridicule of the “cultured”? We cannot believe it. The private knowledge which we possess will not allow of so unhappy a conclusion; yet Christian people are now so tame that they shrink from expressing themselves.

SpurgeonThe house is being robbed, its very walls are being digged down, but the good people who are in bed are too fond of the warmth, and too much afraid of getting broken heads, to go downstairs and meet the burglars; they are even half vexed that a certain noisy fellow will spring his rattle, or cry, “Thieves!”