John 12:37-43 Who has believed our report....?

John 12:37-43 John provides us a break from the action to give a perspective on all that has just happened. He quotes two passages from Isaiah. John makes two points. Firstly, many chose not to believe in Him despite the miracles He had performed, and the life of Lazarus was a testimony to His power, and therefore His deity. This fulfills Isaiah 53:1. Of course, Isaiah 53 goes on to describe the mission of the Messiah. So it is clear that Isaiah was saying that the suffering servant will not be believed.

          And then John goes on to explain the mechanism of this unbelief, quoting Isaiah 6:9-10. They did not believe because God had hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes. This quotation comes from a passage in which Isaiah had just had a vision of the throne of God, around which the Seraphim called out to one another, "Holy, holy, holy." In response to this vision, Isaiah had cried out "Woe is me, for I am ruined." The problematic aspect of this prophecy is that after this, Isaiah volunteered to go to the people of Israel on behalf of God, and then The Lord told him that He would render their eyes, ears, and hearts unable to see and respond to the message, lest they repent and be healed. Preventing people from recognizing the revelation of God would seem more suited to the adversary than to The Lord.  It almost seems like God is ambivalent about whether He wants the Israelites to repent of their gross immorality, or be judged and punished for it. And during Isaiah's ministry, Hezekiah led Israel in a revival that temporarily postponed judgment on their egregious sins. Perhaps The Lord was reflecting from His eternal viewpoint that He knew that the Israelites' revival would be temporary and that they would fall back into sin. Or perhaps He knew that their repentance was superficial, done in order to curry His favor in their circumstances rather than a genuine change of heart.

          Returning to John's commentary on the events that had just occurred, John notes that Isaiah had just seen the Lord's glory and said these things. And they had just seen God's glory demonstrated in the works that Jesus had just performed. Yet although Isaiah had said that he was ruined, some of these people had rejected Jesus and the testimony of His works, i.e., had rejected the revealed glory of God. And then John goes on to explain that many people actually had believed in Jesus because of the signs He performed, but refused to admit it, because they were unwilling to be put out of the synagogue because of their belief in Jesus. And then he notes that they loved the approval of men more than God. And of course we know in retrospect that this is what led to the crucifixion.

          Perhaps we need to self-examine - when we have seen and experienced the miraculous works of God, are we willing to testify of our faith in Jesus? Or do we love the approval of men so much that we do not? And a deeper question lies beneath this one. Do we believe in Jesus because of His supernatural works, and that we want to receive the blessings that God pours out on His children, or are we willing to change our heart (or allow God to change our heart) so that we are genuinely converted from sin and devoted to Him?