John 12:37-41 - Homiletics

The causes of Jewish unbelief.

The evangelist now turns to the remarkable failure of the Messiah's work in Israel, and proceeds to account for it.

I. THE UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS WAS INEXCUSABLE . "But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him."

1. It is implied that Jesus did many more miracles than the seven recorded in this Gospel .

2. The miracles were done "before them, " so as to leave them without this excuse of ignorance.

3. The imperfect tense of the verb, " believed, " emphasizes the persistence of their unbelief .

II. THEIR UNBELIEF WAS PREDICTED . "That 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?"

1. The unbelief of the large body of the Jewish nation was clearly foreseen centuries before the advent of Christ, as well as their disregard of the evidence of his miracles. "The arm of the Lord."

2. Let not ministers be surprise g that their gospel is neglected or refused, for their Master encountered a similar disappointment .

3. Yet the prediction was not the cause of Jewish unbelief .

III. THE TRUE CAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF . "Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, He 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."

1. God in judgment gave them over to hardness of heart . It is a fixed law that power disused destroys itself. Thus the persistent disregard for religion makes it more difficult to obey or to believe. The callous heart is the effect of willful unbelief.

2. What an obstacle it would have been to a pure spiritual Christianity if the Jews had been received by Christ on their own conditions of a carnal and legal Phariseeism!

3. The apostle does not attempt to explain or reconcile the mystery of God ' s sovereignty and man ' s responsibility, but simply accepts the two facts as standing each on its own impregnable foundation.

IV. THIS PREDICTION EXPRESSLY REFERRED TO CHRIST . "These things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spake of him."

1. The glory was that of the pro-incarnate Word of God .

2. The supreme Deity of Christ is here implied .