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Sermon

Jesus’ Rejection Explained

Speaker
David Capoccia
Scripture
John 12:37-43

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

This passage from John 12:37-43 explains why Israel’s rejection of Jesus, despite overwhelming miraculous evidence, should actually strengthen rather than undermine faith. Far from proving Jesus was a fraud, His rejection fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (Isaiah 53:1), demonstrated God’s sovereign judicial hardening of stubborn sinners (Isaiah 6:10), brought glory to God through Christ’s suffering and the extension of salvation to all nations, and exposed the idolatrous love of human approval that kept even believing rulers from confessing Christ.

Key Lessons:

  1. Israel’s rejection of Jesus fulfilled specific Old Testament prophecies, proving He is the true Messiah rather than a fraud.
  2. God sovereignly hardens those who persistently refuse His word — the same word that saves believers also hardens the unbelieving.
  3. Loving the approval of men over the approval of God is antithetical to genuine saving faith and will ensnare people away from salvation.
  4. Jesus’ rejection brought unexpected glory — through His suffering, salvation extended to all nations of the earth.

Application: We are called to examine whether we truly confess Christ before others or secretly hide our faith out of fear of social cost. We must shift from seeking the glory and approval of men to seeking the glory and approval of God, willing to publicly identify with Jesus even at personal cost.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what areas of your life are you tempted to be a “secret follower” of Jesus to avoid social or professional consequences?
  2. How does understanding God’s sovereign judicial hardening change the way you view widespread rejection of the gospel today?
  3. What does it look like practically in your daily life to love the approval of God more than the approval of men?

Scripture Focus: John 12:37-43 — explaining Israel’s rejection of Jesus; Isaiah 53:1 — prophesying that Israel would not believe the Messiah’s report; Isaiah 6:8-12 — God’s purpose of judicial hardening through His word; Romans 10:9-10 — the necessity of both heart belief and public confession for salvation.

Outline

Introduction

Let’s ask the Lord’s blessing on his word. Let’s pray. God, what a wonderful privilege that you have given us your word, that you shine the light of Christ on us through your word. But God, I pray that we would profit from it.

Lord, that you would be pleased in this place and this time and those who hear this message online. Soften hearts, save, free us up to eternal life in Jesus Christ and the experience of that every day.

Lord, let this word not be what hardens sinners in sin. But God, if that is your will, your will be done. I pray, Lord, that you would accomplish now what you determine is best for your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Analogy of Reviews

One of the necessities of navigating modern life is the use of reviews and recommendations. In this country, God has blessed us with an abundance of goods and services of various kinds. But with such a plethora of options available, how does one choose?

How do you decide which product to buy if you’re in need of something? How do you decide which movie to watch or a game to play if you’re interested?

How do you decide which new restaurant to go to or even which new doctor to see? You could just go with the first option available or whatever is closest to you, but that’s quickly going to get you disappointed.

A wiser approach would be to consider what others who have some knowledge or experience with the option have to say about it. In other words, check out the reviews. With reviews, what important information should you consider?

First, who’s making the reviews? Do these people have any special credentials or proven reliability that should cause you to trust their recommendation?

Second, how many reviews are there? Are there only a few scattered testimonies or are there many answers with a firm verdict?

Third, what are the reviews? Is the option recommended? Is it not recommended? Or is it mixed in recommendation?

In short, when something has many positive reviews from many people—even many types of people, both experts and common folk—there’s a good chance that if you go after that option, you will enjoy it and benefit from it.

Now, I say a good chance because many good reviews are not a guarantee that you’ll like or benefit from something. Possibly the majority of reviewers of a certain thing are looking for something slightly different than you are. So they like it, but you won’t actually.

Also, fake reviews, biased reviews, and heavily incentivized positive reviews are always a potential problem. Still, many positive reviews is generally a good sign for you to proceed with something.

But what about the opposite case? What about when something has mostly negative reviews? Well, that’s usually even more helpful for steering you in a wise course, right?

I mean, would you buy a product that has thousands of reviews but only one out of five stars? Would you watch a movie that was rated only 5% fresh out of 100? Would you sign up for a doctor whose reviews are just filled with complaints and cautionary tales?

“When something has mostly negative reviews, that’s usually even more helpful for steering you in a wise course.”

No way, right. The majority message is clear: stay far away.

Now, yes, it’s possible that the abundant negative reviews could be wrong, but what are the chances? Could so many people really be so ignorant and biased as to leave so many misleading negative reviews? And why would you want to get involved to find out in the first place?

The Problem of Jesus’ Negative Reviews

If people generally hate and conclude something is not worth your time, why even investigate when there are seemingly better, safer options out there? This is just common knowledge for the modern day. Why bring this up? Well, something like I just described is the situation for the original audience of John’s gospel.

John writes his account with primarily Hellenized Jews and Gentile God-fearers in mind. These are Greek-speaking Jews and Gentile God-fearers. And these have heard or are hearing from John the good news about salvation in Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah. You should believe in him.

So these Jews and these God-fearers hear this and naturally they would think to check the reviews on Jesus. What do people say about him? What do those with especially valid credentials say about Jesus?

What do they find when they check the reviews? Well, they quickly find that the consensus is Jesus, especially according to God’s people the Jews, is not recommended. The reviews are overwhelmingly negative. Sure, Jesus excited the Jews and got their hopes up for a while, but ultimately the whole nation, which includes the expert religious leaders as well as the common people, refused to believe in Jesus and instead rejected and killed him.

“The consensus is Jesus is not recommended. The reviews are overwhelmingly negative.”

If Jesus is really God’s son and Messiah, how could God’s own people give him such bad reviews? These people had God’s law. They were anxiously looking for the Messiah. If anyone should have believed, it should have been them. And yet they didn’t. Jesus still disappointed them.

So if you’re going to call me to believe in Jesus, even give up my whole life to follow him, even be persecuted to do so, how do you explain Jesus’s widespread unpopularity and rejection by his own religious people? This is a fair question and it is a question that in a way is still relevant today.

Why is it that still so many people, especially the religious, have so little interest in the biblical Jesus? A fake Jesus, the Jesus of their own imaginations—oh yes, they’re interested in him. But the real Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible? No thank you. Why is that? Why was and is Jesus, God’s own son, so widely rejected?

“The Jesus of their own imaginations — they’re interested in him. But the real Jesus, no thank you.”

Setting the Stage: John 12:37-43

We find out the answer again in our next passage. Please open your Bibles to John 12. Today we’re looking at Jesus’ rejection explained. Specifically, we’re looking at John 12:37-43. If you’re using one of our Bibles, that’s on page 176.

Before we read it, remember the context of this passage, especially what we saw most recently in John 12:20-36. Jesus is in Jerusalem for his final Passover, and he has publicly announced the arrival of his hour.

What is his hour? That is the special time of his suffering and glorification—his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. He says, “Now the hour has arrived.”

The confused crowd asks Jesus how he, their Messiah, could go away when they expect that he will soon establish his kingdom, bring prosperity, and remain to rule forever. How can you say you’re going away?

Jesus’ response, which we saw most recently in verses 35 and 36, is to warn the Jews that the time to believe in him is running out. The end of verse 36 says that Jesus then hid himself from them. Our new passage immediately follows.

So let’s now read that new passage, John 12:37-43.

“But though he—that’s Jesus—had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’

For this reason they could not believe. For Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes and has hardened their heart so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them.’ These things Isaiah said because he saw his glory and he spoke of him.

Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in him. But because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men more than the approval of God.”

What we see here is the beginning of the ending of the first half of the Gospel of John.

“Jesus’ rejection by his own people, when rightly understood, should give you even more cause to believe, not less.”

The Structure of John’s Gospel

I don’t know if you remember, but way back in the book introduction sermon I gave for this gospel, I mentioned to you that the book of John has a pretty straightforward structure: a four-part structure. There’s first a majestic, provocative prologue in John 1:1-18. And then there is what is commonly called the book of signs, which goes from the rest of John 1 to the end of John 12.

You can tell by that title what it focuses on. Then there’s commonly what is called the book of glory, which goes from John 13 to John 20. And then you have an epilogue in John 21. So there’s a four-part structure to John.

Our new section comprises the first part of a two-part conclusion to the book of signs. Coming to the end of John 12, we’re coming to the end of that major section. If you just glance at our passage and what comes after it a little bit in John 12:37-43, John summarizes and explains the results of Jesus’ public ministry, especially his miraculous signs.

What is the result? It’s Jesus’ rejection by the Jews in unbelief.

“The result of Jesus’ public ministry is rejection by the Jews in unbelief.”

What follows as the second part of the conclusion, and we’ll see this next time we’re in John, is John 12:44-50, where John features Jesus’ final public appeal to the Jews not to persist in their unbelief but to demonstrate their true devotion to God by believing in God’s sent one.

We’re coming to the end of the book of signs and we’re looking at the first part of the conclusion. Now, why does John pause his narrative to summarize and explain Israel’s unbelief, the Jews’ unbelief? Well, not only because doing so appropriately ties up the record that John has shared thus far about Jesus, but also because of the apologetic problem I alluded to in my sermon introduction.

To this day, religious Jews maintain that Jesus is not the Messiah but was in fact a devilish fraud successfully exposed by the first century rabbis and other leaders of Israel. That was the line of the unbelieving Jews even in the first century when John writes to his original audience.

So they surely are wondering: Is this true? Was Jesus rejected because he was a fake? Was he a charlatan? If not, what else could possibly explain how such a religious people, God’s own people, failed to believe in Jesus, especially when God had apparently made the truth so obvious by miraculous signs?

Though John has already alluded to the answer multiple times in John 1:12, John sets it out again plainly for his original audience and us in our passage, John 12:37-43. And according to John, Jesus’ rejection by his own people, when rightly understood, should give you even more cause to believe in Jesus, not less.

Why is that?

The Jews Ultimately Reject Jesus (v. 37)

John gives us four reasons, and that’s going to be the main idea of our look today. Four reasons why Jesus’ ultimate shocking rejection should cause you not to disbelieve but to believe.

We’ll take a closer look at John’s explanation after examining this introductory assertion, this summary assertion in verse 37. My first point of the sermon outline will be introduction.

The Jews ultimately shockingly reject Jesus. This is from verse 37. Look there again: “But though he had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in him.”

Notice the beginning of verse 37 features a transition word of contrast. In verse 36, Jesus implored the Jews to believe while there was still time. In verse 37, we now see a contrasting reality to Jesus’ expressed exhortation.

Notice the next phrase in verse 37: “He had performed.” This is speaking of Jesus. In the original Greek, this is a perfect participle.

The Meaning of Signs

More literally translated as having done. This verb form describes someone’s ongoing characteristic action in the past with effects lasting into the present. In other words, whatever Jesus did in the past that the author is about to tell us, he did all the time.

The results and the implications stuck around for everyone to see and to respond to. What was that? What was it that Jesus was doing that fits such description?

What we see in the next phrase is that he had performed so many signs before them. Now remember that John, our author, uses the word signs in this gospel to mean miraculous works, sign miracles. Signs is an appropriate term for miracles because these miracles are not only evidence that Jesus is really from God and that his claims to deity and messiahship are true, but also the signs themselves point to what kind of Messiah Jesus is.

We see this explained to us often in the discourses that have surrounded the signs in John 1:12. When Jesus speaks before or after the signs, he usually speaks in a way that shows the significance of the sign in terms of what it reveals about Jesus.

To say all this another way, Jesus’ miracles are a window of revelation into the glory of God. You want to behold the glory of God? You see it in Jesus and you see it in his signs.

“Jesus’ miracles are a window of revelation into the glory of God.”

The Seven Signs Recounted

Now, how many signs did Jesus perform exactly? We only read here in verse 37, “so many,” which is a non-specific way to describe an abundance. For his part, John has purposefully recounted for us seven miraculous signs in John 1:12. And recall for a moment what these were.

The first sign was in John 2:1-11. Jesus turned water into good wine at a wedding in Cana. The second sign was in John 4:46-54. Jesus healed a royal official’s sick son from afar.

The third sign was in John 5:1-18. Jesus healed a sick man by the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. The fourth sign was in John 6:1-14. Jesus miraculously fed a massive crowd from just a few loaves and fishes.

The fifth sign was in the same chapter, John 6:15-21. Jesus walked on water in the middle of a windstorm. The sixth sign was in John 9:1-7. Jesus healed a man born blind.

And then the seventh and final sign was in John 11:1-46. Jesus raised his four-days-dead friend Lazarus to new life.

Now remember that just one of these signs would be amazing and would be enough. Just one of these signs would be a spectacular vindication of all Jesus’ claims. More than enough evidence that Jesus is God’s son. He is the Messiah. He’s the one you need to believe in.

But it wasn’t just one sign.

“Just one of these signs would be a spectacular vindication of all Jesus’ claims — more than enough evidence.”

Even More Signs Than Seven

It was seven signs. Actually, it was even more than seven. These seven that John has presented, they’re just a curated set of particularly profound miracles among many others. And John has already mentioned that to us in this gospel.

Just to remind you, John 2:23, John writes, “Now when he, Jesus, was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he was doing.” Signs plural. By that point, we had only seen the miracle at the wedding at Cana.

But there were more. There were more that John didn’t tell us about specifically. Same thing in John 7:31.

The crowd asks, “Will the Messiah who is to come perform more signs than Jesus has?” John 11:47, the Pharisees and chief priests, they complain and alarm.

What are we doing? This man is performing many signs. And we haven’t got there yet, but John will tell us in John 20:30-31.

Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

So, back to John 12:37. The Jews indeed were presented with so many signs. These seven and many more abundant signs, probably uncountable signs, so that the truth of Jesus should have been obvious to them.

What therefore should have been the Jews’ only logical response? You got all these signs. They point to Jesus being the Messiah and the Son of God.

John 20:31: “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”

What should you do? You should believe.

That’s the only appropriate response.

Believe. Embrace true faith and persevering devotion and obedience to God’s sent one.

Ongoing Unbelief Despite the Signs

But what in fact is the Jews’ response to Jesus’ many miracles? We see at the end of verse 37, they were not believing in him. Notice the verb form again here.

“They were not believing” is the Greek imperfect tense, which indicates ongoing action in the past. This wasn’t a one-time action. It wasn’t like the Jews started believing and then stopped later. No, this was the continual response to Jesus and his miracles throughout his public ministry. It was unbelief. It was ongoing, willful, stubborn unbelief.

Now, someone might say, “Wait a second. Hasn’t John told us before that actually many Jews did believe in Jesus based on his signs? Isn’t John contradicting himself here?” Well, remember that John uses the term “believe” in a very thought-provoking way in this gospel. We’ll see this again actually in the end of our section today.

“This was the continual response to Jesus — ongoing, willful, stubborn unbelief.”

Basically, John makes clear that many times when people believe in Jesus, they don’t really—that is, they only have a shallow belief, a self-seeking faith which does not persevere under trial and which ultimately does not save.

After all, we quoted John 2:23 earlier. It says, “Many believed when they saw the signs at the Passover.” Remember Jesus’ response to these so-called believers in John 2:24, the very next verse: “But Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men.” I made this point to you before.

But they believed in him, but he did not believe in their belief.

So then, no, John is not contradicting himself in John 12:37. Though there have been some Jews who have genuinely repented and believed in Jesus because of his words and because of his miraculous works, we have true disciples around Jesus. It’s true.

The vast majority of Jews, even the whole nation, from the leaders to the common people, they have reacted to Jesus’ revelation of God’s power and glory with ongoing unbelief. And this ultimately was shocking rejection of God’s Messiah. How can this be? How can verse 37 be true?

Reason 1: Jesus’ Rejection Was God’s Fulfilled Prophecy (v. 38)

How can the Jews see many signs, so many signs over three and a half years and still not believe? I’m glad you asked. John essentially says because I’m going to give you four reasons as explanation. We see the first reason in verse 38.

Number one: Jesus’ rejection was God’s fulfilled prophecy. Jesus’ rejection was God’s fulfilled prophecy.

Let’s reread verse 38. “This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke. Lord, who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Brethren, in one sense, Israel’s widespread total rejection of Jesus should not be shocking to us at all because God foretold it through his prophet 700 years earlier recorded in the Old Testament scriptures.

God foretold that such would happen. John says in verse 38 that Isaiah specifically was the prophet who foretold Israel’s unbelief and rejection of its Messiah. John even points us to a specific passage by quoting it for us: Isaiah 53:1.

Now we read Isaiah 52:13-53:12 earlier in our service.

“Israel’s rejection of Jesus should not be shocking because God foretold it through His prophet 700 years earlier.”

This is one of the prophetic servant songs in the prophecy of Isaiah. This servant song is probably the one most well known to Christians because it is this servant song primarily in Isaiah 53 that reveals that God’s coming servant, God’s coming Messiah, would be a suffering servant—even one contemptuously rejected by his people so that he might die for their sins and save them.

Isaiah 53: The Suffering Servant Foretold

Listen again to Isaiah 53:1-5. Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised and we did not esteem him.

Surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

The chastening for our well-being fell upon him and by his scourging we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5: “He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.”

Two Rhetorical Questions from Isaiah

In these verses, God’s prophet Isaiah speaks on behalf of future Israel. When future Israel is finally brought by God to repentance, faith, and a clear-sighted view of their Messiah, Isaiah confesses on behalf of that future generation of Israel that inexcusably they did not believe in the past when Messiah came.

Israel did not esteem Christ as he deserved, but instead despised him. They considered him justly stricken and even condemned by God himself.

More specifically, Isaiah 53:1 is quoted from the Septuagint translation in John 12:38. That’s the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which is why there are slight differences.

Isaiah asks two rhetorical questions to God in Isaiah 53:1. First, “Lord, who believed our report?” That is, who believed the amazing message about Jesus when you sent him to us?

This is a rhetorical question with an expected answer. What is the expected answer? No one. Basically no one in Israel believed, even though you yourself, God, gave the message to us so that we might declare it to the rest of the nations. We didn’t believe it when it came to us.

Second, Isaiah asks, “And to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed?” The arm of the Lord is a poetic expression for God’s power put on display, kind of like an arm being flexed and acting.

Thus, Isaiah is asking God, “To whom, God, did you reveal your glorious power? Who really saw and believed when you put your power on display through your foretold Messiah?” The answer again is basically no one.

Staggeringly, Isaiah says, “We in Israel did not see your arm revealed in Jesus, though we should have.” To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

So you see, in one sense as John brings out to us, Israel had to reject its Messiah to fulfill prophecy and to enable the suffering servant to fulfill his mission, even to become one day the basis of Israel’s national repentance, glorious confession, and salvation.

“Israel had to reject its Messiah to fulfill prophecy and enable the suffering servant to fulfill his mission.”

Rejection Vindicates Jesus

In other words, because of Isaiah’s prophecy, Jesus’ rejection by Israel despite all his miraculous signs does not prove that Jesus is a fraud, but instead that he is the real deal. God promised that the Messiah by prophecy would be unfairly rejected. And that’s exactly what Jesus experienced.

“His rejection vindicates him — it does not call into question his claims.”

His rejection vindicates him; it does not call into question his claims. That’s the first reason. The second reason why Jesus’ ultimate shocking rejection should cause you to believe is closely related and it appears in John 12:39-40.

Reason 2: Jesus’ Rejection Was God’s Foreordained Judgment (vv. 39-40)

This is number two. Jesus’ rejection was God’s forordained judgment for sin. Look at verses 39 and 40 again.

For this reason they could not believe.

For Isaiah said again, “He has blinded their eyes, and he hardened their heart so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.”

Now, you may notice the second reason is more profound than the first. For John does not merely say that according to Isaiah, the Jews would not believe in their Christ when he came, but actually in the middle of verse 39, they could not believe.

In other words, Israel’s rejection of Jesus was not simply something that God always knew would happen, but indeed was an act that God himself ultimately caused to happen.

“Israel’s rejection of Jesus was not simply something God knew would happen, but an act God himself ultimately caused.”

Isaiah 6: God’s Strange Commissioning

You may ask, “Wait, why do you say that God caused it to happen?” Well, look at how John quotes Isaiah again. This time, not from Isaiah 53, but from Isaiah 6. You can just listen as I read some relevant verses from that section to you in a moment, or you can turn there.

But before I read, remember the context of Isaiah 6. Isaiah 6 is a recounting of God’s unique commissioning of Isaiah as God’s prophet. This commissioning happens through an overwhelming vision that Isaiah has of God himself sitting on the throne of heaven.

Upon seeing this vision, Isaiah expects to die. He realizes his own sinfulness acutely. He sees the vision of God’s glorious holiness and he says, “Woe to me. I’m undone. I’m dead.” But to Isaiah’s surprise, that’s not what happens. God cleanses, forgives, and commissions Isaiah to proclaim God’s message of repentance and warning to Israel.

Israel at that time, though they had a facade of religiosity, was straying from God and looking to trust in the powers of that time instead of their God. So you have this commissioning of Isaiah to go to this people and call upon them to repent lest judgment should fall. Now that’s a wonderful thing, right?

Isaiah didn’t die. He sees the glory. He’s commissioned. This is all really wonderful. But there’s something else very striking about what happens in Isaiah 6.

Before sending out Isaiah to speak on God’s behalf, God tells Isaiah what the ultimate effect of Isaiah’s message will be on Israel. What will be God’s ultimate purpose in sending Isaiah to God’s people? What is the effect? What is God’s purpose?

Well, listen now to Isaiah 6:8-12. You can look there yourself or just listen. Isaiah says, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I.

Send me.’ He said, ‘Go and tell this people: Keep on listening, but do not perceive. Keep on looking, but do not understand. Render the hearts of this people insensitive. Their ears dull and their eyes dim.

Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.’ And I said, ‘Lord, how long?’ And he answered, ‘Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, houses are without people, and the land is utterly desolate, the Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.’

And did you follow all of that? God tells Isaiah that Isaiah’s preaching on God’s behalf, instead of bringing about repentance and salvation, would only harden people’s hearts so that the people would not turn to the Lord and be healed.

“Isaiah’s preaching, instead of bringing repentance, would only harden people’s hearts.”

Consequently, God’s judgment would fall on them—these who would not turn because of their stubborn wickedness and unbelief. Now, surely this pronouncement from God, this strange commissioning from God to Isaiah, provokes a certain question in us.

How Can a Holy God Harden Hearts?

Namely, how can a holy and good God through his prophet choose to harden people’s hearts in sin and unbelief? God not only would allow it, but in an ultimate sense cause it. How can that be for a holy and good God?

This important question has several components to the answer. We could spend many days discussing it, but I can only briefly overview some important components right now. I’ll give you three.

Number one, God is not the author of sin. Neither does he tempt or coerce anyone into sin or unbelief. The Bible is very explicit about this. 1 John 1:5: “This is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” God never does anything wrong and doesn’t lead anyone into wrong.

James 1:13 is even more explicit: “Let no one say when he is tempted, I’m being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt anyone.”

Number two, God is the ultimate sovereign and has complete authority over everything. He has the right and control over everything, including people’s hearts. Didn’t we hear about this in Sunday school? I’ll quote the verse that we talked about.

Proverbs 21:1: “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes.” Romans 9:18 applies this in a salvation context: “So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires.”

Number three, if God so chooses, God is just to withhold saving mercy from sinners and instead sovereignly give over wicked sinners in their hearts to wickedness and therefore to the resulting judgment on wickedness.

“God is just to withhold saving mercy from sinners and sovereignly give over wicked sinners to their wickedness.”

Theologians sometimes call this divine reprobation. God reprobates or gives over sinners to their sin and to judgment. This is taught in the scriptures.

Romans 1:28 contains this teaching. Actually, three times in the passage, you hear the same phrasing. Paul says of the wicked generally: “Just as they—that is, people in the world, sinners—did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper.” Three times in Romans 1, God says of sinners, “God gave them over. God gave them over. God gave them over,” and they did more sin and they became even farther from God.

But Jesus spoke similarly in his ministry. Matthew 13:12-13 records this. In clarifying for his disciples why Jesus speaks to the crowds in unexplained parables, they ask, “Jesus, people don’t understand what you’re talking about. They’re not going to get the truth. Why do you speak to them in parables and you only explain it to us?”

Jesus says in response: “For whoever has, to him more shall be given and he will have an abundance, but whoever does not have even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in parables because while seeing, they do not see, and while hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand.”

What’s interesting is what Jesus says next to his disciples. He quotes Isaiah 6, the passage we just looked at.

In summary, what we’re seeing in Isaiah 6:8-12 is God’s expressed intention to his prophet in holy and sovereign judgment to give the wicked of Israel over to their wickedness. Because these sinners have already demonstrated stubborn unwillingness to hear or believe the Lord, God also expressed his intention to make it even more impossible for Israel to hear and believe and thus be saved. They’ve demonstrated they don’t want it, so now they can’t have it.

In short, God is revealing his purpose to Isaiah of judicial hardening in Israel. This is a judgment of hardening, sovereign hardening from God. How will this purpose be accomplished according to Isaiah 6? Through the preached word of God.

God’s Word: Aroma of Life and Death

Yes, even through the word that calls for repentance and warns of judgment for unbelief. Brethren, here’s a sobering fact. The very word of God that God uses to convict, save, and sanctify his chosen ones is the same word that God uses to harden, to give over, and to judge the wicked.

God’s word will always ultimately accomplish one of those ends for whoever hears it. You say, “Pastor Dave, that sounds really crazy.” Well, doesn’t Paul say the same thing of the believer’s witness in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16?

Paul says, “We are a fragrance of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing.” We’re the same fragrance, but it has a different effect. To those who are perishing, we are an aroma of death. To death.

You ever smelled something that’s dead or dying? What do you want to do? Run away. Get away from that terrible smell. That’s what happens when those who are perishing encounter the aroma of Christ in us. It actually drives them away from Christ. It shouldn’t, but it does. That’s the effect of their hardened heart, their sinful heart.

“The very word of God that saves His chosen ones is the same word that hardens and judges the wicked.”

They run from his word and they run into death. But for those who are being saved, Paul says we are the aroma of life to life. We smell like beautiful life to them, fragrant life to them.

When you smell something that’s good, when you get a waft of something that’s good, what do you want to do? Get closer. God says that’s what happens. The fragrance of Christ, by our witness and by his word, it draws people to Christ to saving faith.

“The fragrance of Christ draws people to saving faith — same witness, same word, two totally different effects.”

Same witness, same word, two totally different effects. Now then, everything we’ve just discussed about Isaiah 6 is true in an even more dramatic way in John 12:38-39.

John’s Application of Isaiah 6 to Jesus

Notice in John 12:39 and 40. Notice in John’s quotation of Isaiah 6:10 in John 12:39, he has slightly altered the original verse, slightly condensed it to make clearer its application to the Jews and to Jesus.

In Isaiah 6, God commanded Isaiah through God’s message to blind and harden people’s hearts. You notice in John 12:40, it says the subject doing the blinding and hardening is he. In context, this must refer to God and perhaps even to Jesus himself.

God through Jesus is the one doing the blinding and hardening. Also in Isaiah 6, the blinding and hardening was expressed as God’s future intention.

But here in John 12:39, notice that the blinding and hardening is said to have already taken place. So you see the implication of that for explaining Jesus’ rejection.

John’s second reason for why Jesus’ rejection by the Jews should cause you to believe and not disbelieve is because God through Jesus was accomplishing a judicial hardening of the Jews. They were already a sinful people who didn’t want God’s message.

And so when Jesus came and he performed all the signs, it didn’t cause them to believe. Rather, it accomplished God’s purpose of judicial hardening. They became even more opposed to God and unwilling to believe in Jesus.

“When Jesus performed all the signs, it accomplished God’s purpose of judicial hardening.”

And this is not too surprising that Israel should be like this because that’s exactly the way Israel was in the days of Isaiah. If they were hardened at Isaiah’s preaching of the word, how much more might they be hardened by him who is God’s word incarnate?

Israel’s Historic Pattern of Rebellion

If Isaiah proclaimed God’s light and the people were hardened, how about the one who is light in himself? No wonder Jesus says earlier in this gospel that sinners love the darkness and flee from the light. When the light of Jesus came, they only fled from him because their hearts were already so sinful.

But this wasn’t just true in Isaiah’s day. This wasn’t just true in Jesus’ day. What do the Old Testament scriptures show us? This has persistently been the case for Israel.

Moses says in Deuteronomy 29:4, “Yet to this day, the Lord, that is Yahweh, has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. You’re still a stubborn and unbelieving people.”

And Isaiah says in summary of Israel’s historical experience in Isaiah 65:2. Actually, Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God.

“Rejection of God’s savior amid overwhelming evidence is no surprise when God gives over stubborn sinners to hardness of heart.”

Isaiah 65:2, I have spread out my hands all day long to a rebellious people. So again, when rightly understood, the Jews’ rejection of Jesus should not be a cause of disbelief, but to believe. Because this rejection, it just means that Israel was following its historic, even biblical pattern.

Rejection of God’s savior amid overwhelming evidence is no surprise when you consider how often God gives over stubborn sinners to utter blindness and total hardness of heart.

Application: Tremble and Give Thanks

By the way, before I go on, I feel like it’s worthy for us to just think a little bit about application there. Is Israel uniquely wicked that they would receive this judicial hardening? Are you less wicked? And is that why you haven’t been hardened?

No. I’ll bring up a parallel passage in a little bit, but what does Paul say in Romans quoting the Old Testament?

Unless God had left us a remnant, we would be like Sodom and would have become like Gomorrah. Why weren’t you given over to your sin? Why weren’t you hardened to receive the judgment? You deserved it just like Israel did, but God didn’t do it.

Why? Because he chose to have mercy on you. Why? We don’t know except that he’s good and it fit his good purpose to do so. So don’t click your tongue at Israel.

“Why weren’t you hardened? Because God chose to have mercy on you. Don’t click your tongue at Israel — rather tremble.”

Reason 3: Jesus’ Rejection Was for God’s Glory (v. 41)

Rather tremble and say, “God, thank you that you didn’t give me over.” The third reason why Jesus’ ultimate shocking rejection should cause you to believe and not disbelieve in Jesus may surprise you. Verse 41 shows number three.

Jesus’ rejection was for God’s glory. Notice what verse 41 says: “These things Isaiah said because he saw his glory and he spoke of him.”

Now to appreciate this verse, we need to clarify some pronoun antecedents. That is, we need to make clear what certain pronouns refer to here. To what do “these things” refer in the beginning of verse 41?

Well, in context, those must be the verses that John has just quoted from Isaiah. Isaiah 6:10 and Isaiah 53:1 are what Isaiah spoke about. It’s because of what follows.

Now, who are the “his” and “him” of verse 41?

Whose Glory Did Isaiah See?

In other words, whose glory did Isaiah see and of whom did Isaiah speak? Well, considering the context of Isaiah 6:10, it’s worth noting that Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 65 say that Isaiah saw the Lord, even Yahweh of hosts in heaven in his glorious holiness.

On the other hand, the one of whom Isaiah speaks in Isaiah 53:1 must be Jesus. It’s the foretold Messiah. And John uses the pronouns so closely together in verse 41 that these both must refer to the same person.

His glory spoke of him. They have to be referring to the same person. But which is it? Is it Yahweh or is it Jesus?

Well, the answer to that question must be one or perhaps both of the following. In verse 41, John may be identifying the pre-incarnate Son of God as the one Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6. After all, Jesus as a member of the Trinity is Yahweh.

I don’t know if that’s a surprise to you, but the God of the Old Testament, Yahweh, is Jesus. Jesus is Yahweh. And one of his designated works as the Son of God and as the eternal Word is to serve as mediator between God and man, even between the Father and people.

We heard in John 1 how Jesus is the explainer of the Father, the revelator of the glory of God. That’s his unique role. Thus, it would make sense in Isaiah’s vision, which is a vision of revelation of God to man, that the Son should be the one who communicates to Isaiah. The Son should be the one that Isaiah sees.

If so, then verse 41 makes perfect sense. The great glory Isaiah saw was indeed the glory of Christ, the glory of Jesus before his incarnation. That makes sense. Perhaps John means to make that connection for his original readers and us.

But even if that is not the case, I don’t know if we can say 100% that is the case. But even if not, surely a second answer must be true. Namely, that in being given prophecy about Jesus, God’s Son, even Jesus’s rejection by Israel, Isaiah was beholding the future glory of Jesus.

“The great glory Isaiah saw was indeed the glory of Christ before his incarnation.”

Just as John the Apostle himself did and just as we do looking back at Jesus.

What Is Glorious About Rejection?

Yes, even in his rejection. You might ask, but what is so glorious about Jesus being rejected? Isn’t that the opposite of glory? Well, not so.

For we’ve already seen in John 12, Jesus says that the arriving hour of his suffering and rejection also means John 12:23, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. These things are intimately tied up. His suffering and rejection is tied up with his glorification.

How is Jesus glorified in ultimate shocking rejection by Israel?

“The arriving hour of Jesus’ suffering and rejection also means the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

Five Ways Jesus Is Glorified in Rejection

Many ways, five ways at least. I’ll list them for you briefly. Number one, Jesus is glorified in his obedient humility, faith, and patience as he suffers rejection and death for God’s sake and his people’s sake. Isn’t that something we marvel at? He was humbled to the point of death that he might be obedient to the Father and he might save us.

That’s glory. That’s unexpected glory, but it’s glory. Number two, Jesus is glorified in his accomplishing triumphant salvation for his people through apparent defeat. We’ve looked at that previously from John 12. His rejection actually was the way he was being victorious. That’s glory.

Number three, Jesus is glorified in serving as God’s faithful agent of judicial hardening of believing Israel and through Jesus’s courageous words and works. This is a strange work of God and yet it is a right work. It is a just work and Jesus is faithfully fulfilling it. That’s glory. That’s glory for the Son.

Number four, Jesus is glorified in Israel one day looking upon him whom they pierced and rejected and coming back to him as a nation in true humility, faith and repentance.

“He was humbled to the point of death that He might be obedient to the Father and save us. That’s glory.”

Part of the glory that is to be revealed as part of this rejection is Israel’s reconciliation one day when they confess as Isaiah has outlined in Isaiah 53. We were wrong. We didn’t see it but now we do. What a great God.

Amen.

Salvation Extended to All Nations

Number five. And this is an interesting one. Jesus is glorified in his rejection because through it salvation extended to all nations of the earth.

I alluded to this before, but Romans 9:11. In Romans 9:11, Paul deals with the same apologetic issues that John deals with here, namely, how do you explain Israel’s rejection of Jesus in light of God’s great salvation? In response, Paul makes many of the same points that John makes here and that I’m trying to explain to you, though Paul does it in a more expansive way.

But one of the points that Paul makes in Romans 11:11-15 is that Israel’s rejection opened the gates of salvation in a way that would not be possible without that rejection. I mean, listen to some of the phrasing Paul uses.

Romans 11:11, Paul says of the Jews, “By their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles.” Romans 11:12, “Their transgression is riches for the world, and their failure is riches for the Gentiles.” Romans 11:15, their rejection is the reconciliation of the world. That’s unexpected, right? But that’s glory.

Now, Paul’s other point in that same section is that Israel’s future repentance will be an even greater blessing to the world than their rejection of Jesus resulted in. But we don’t want to miss that earlier point. Israel’s rejection according to God’s good plan turned out to be a glorious blessing to the whole world and glorification to God.

So in these five ways and surely more we have another reason why Israel’s rejection should cause us to believe rather than disbelieve in Jesus. To say it in terms of Genesis 50:20, Joseph’s words to his brothers, “What Israel meant for evil, God meant for good, even God’s glory and the salvation of the world.”

“What Israel meant for evil, God meant for good — even God’s glory and the salvation of the world.”

Reason 4: Jesus’ Rejection Was for Man’s Glory (vv. 42-43)

Now up to this point, I, following John, have been stressing God’s sovereignty side of the explanation for Jesus’ shocking rejection. But there is another side—what Israel meant for evil—which is also an important part of the explanation of Jesus’ rejection.

In verses 42 and 43, we see this other side. And the fourth and final reason John gives for why Jesus’ rejection should cause you not to disbelieve but to believe in Jesus—that’s number four: Jesus’ rejection was for man’s glory.

Jesus’ rejection was for man’s glory. I know that sounds exactly like reason three, but I mean it in a very different way, as you’ll see. Look at verses, or let’s just read verse 42 again.

Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.

Notice how verse 42 begins again with a contrast. In fact, it’s an even stronger contrast than we saw at the start of this passage. Nevertheless, verse 42 says in the New American Standard 95, or even more literally from the Greek, “Nevertheless, to be sure.”

What does John so strongly and emphatically contrast? Well, the general rejection and unbelief of Jesus by the Jews and many who still did believe. In other words, John doesn’t want us to get the wrong impression.

Yes, the majority of Jews did continually reject Jesus, but it’s not like nobody believed. John says many even of the rulers believed in Jesus. Meaning, there were not only many who were not rulers—not rich and powerful—who believed, but also many rulers did too.

Many priests, many nobles, many elders in Israel believed in him. Thus Jesus’ signs didn’t only harden; they also brought about belief.

“Many priests, many nobles, many elders in Israel believed in him. Jesus’ signs didn’t only harden — they also brought belief.”

Many Rulers Believed but Would Not Confess

Yet even this positive bit of news is soon tempered with a concerning reality expressed at the end of verse 42. But because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him for fear they would be put out of the synagogue.

What’s the connection between the Pharisees and the fear of being kicked out of synagogue? Well, remember the Pharisees, those vicious opponents of Jesus, were the popular religious leaders, even the rabbis in charge of the different synagogues all throughout the places where Jews lived.

And if a Pharisee learned that someone had become a Jesus follower, it’s very likely that Pharisee would make sure that person was excommunicated from synagogue. And is that a big deal?

The Fear of Man and the Synagogue

Yes, that’s a big deal. For back then, all local, social, economic, and religious life was run through the synagogue.

To be banned from synagogue would mean to become a social and professional outcast. Was that an idle threat?

Not at all. We saw it in action in John 9:34. Remember the blind man stands up for Jesus. What did they do? They threw him out.

Thus, the prospect of great social and economic loss was very real in confessing Jesus both for the common people but even more so for the great ones and rulers in Israel. Why? Because the more you have, the more you have to lose.

“The more you have, the more you have to lose — even in following Jesus.”

Even in following Jesus. These rulers were risking their wealth, their position, their reputation, their power in believing in Jesus. So what do these many Jewish believers even among the rulers end up doing with Jesus? It says they were not confessing him. That is to say, the majority of these believers continually avoided making their allegiance to Jesus known.

They made sure to be only secret followers, even temporarily to deny Jesus if necessary. We see Peter do that later in John’s gospel. And such fear is very understandable, is it not? We don’t face that kind of threat of persecution.

Yet consider our own frequent fears of standing up, speaking for, or acting for Jesus in our communities.

But should we rejoice in the fact that at least they are secret followers? They believe even if they won’t confess. That’s good, right? Well, look at what comes next.

Loving Man’s Approval over God’s

John’s spirit-led diagnosis of what’s really going on in the hearts of these crypto believers, these secret believers. Verse 43, for they love the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

John 12:43: “They loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”

Notice the word “for” at the beginning of verse 43. John is telling us the deeper reason for the believer’s fear and lack of confession of Christ expressed in the previous verse. What is that reason? It’s love. It’s cherishing. It’s having affection for. It’s taking pleasure in something or someone.

What do these believers fundamentally love? The approval of men.

Is Secret Faith Genuine Faith?

More literally, the glory of men. They love the glory of men, John says, rather than or more than the glory of God. That sounds serious. Are these secret believers in Jesus actually believers at all? Or as we’ve seen before in John, is there something critical lacking in their faith?

On the one hand, considering the strong contrast John presents in verse 42, we might want to say, “Well, they are still true believers. Though weak, they don’t reject Jesus outright like the rest of Israel. Surely, that must count for something.” It is significant that they believe.

On the other hand, haven’t we heard this contrast between the glory of men and the glory of God before in John, even from Jesus’ own lips? Back in John 5:44, when Jesus is plainly exposing religious unbelief, Jesus says to the Jews, “How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?” According to Jesus, seeking man’s glory and approval over God’s is antithetical to true faith.

Borrowing a phrase from Proverbs, the fear of man and the love of man’s glory and approval is a serious snare from which, if you never become free, you will be entrapped away from God’s salvation forever.

“The fear of man and love of man’s glory is a serious snare from which, if never freed, you will be entrapped from salvation forever.”

Confession and Salvation: Romans 10:9-10

I already told you that Romans 9:11 parallels our passage in many ways. And it is significant that we see the following in Romans 10:9-10. You may know these verses.

What does Romans 10:9-10 say? That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart, you will be saved.”

Strikingly in these two verses, Paul says that both belief in the heart and confession by mouth are necessary for salvation. What does Paul mean by confess with your mouth?

Does he mean some kind of spoken verbalized sinner’s prayer? A prayer of repentance and trust in Jesus Christ? No, that can’t be it. For then salvation would rest on a work, even you speaking the exact right formula with God, or else you can’t be saved.

No, Paul says, “With the heart a person believes, no spoken prayer is necessary, though a truly changed heart often expresses itself in a new prayer of devotion and repentance to God.” So what does Paul mean by confess with your mouth?

Paul is talking about in Romans 10 what John is talking about in John 12: confession before men in some form or other that you belong to Jesus Christ. If you confess, if you’re willing to confess before man that you belong to Jesus, you will be saved.

Now, don’t misunderstand. Even public witness of Jesus cannot save you.

“Whether you are willing to confess Jesus before men is one of the surest marks of whether your heart has truly been changed.”

No external work can.

Conclusion: Will You Post a Positive Review for Jesus?

Nevertheless, whether you are willing to confess Jesus before men is one of the surest marks of whether your heart has truly been changed, whether you truly do repent and believe in Jesus, whether you’ve shifted from loving the glory of man to loving the glory of God.

So, in conclusion, why did Israel reject its Messiah? How could such a seemingly religious nation do so?

Well, their unbelief represented fulfilled prophecy. Their unbelief was an expression of God’s sovereign judicial hardening for their sin. Their unbelief, from God’s perspective, was ultimately intended to bring glory to God in Christ.

But also from man’s perspective, their unbelief was intended to bring and preserve the glory of man, which was a plainly idolatrous desire that foolishly exchanged eternal life for what quickly passes away.

To come back to our introductory metaphor, these four reasons show that we need not be put off by all the negative reviews we’ve seen or heard about Jesus either back then or today.

God has shown us why the negative reviews are so pervasive, especially from the Jews and supposedly religious persons. From these, we have more reason to believe in Jesus, not less.

But will you repent of your sins, even the devotion to men’s approval and glory over God’s? Will you believe in Jesus, trusting that God will approve you through Jesus’s approval?

If this is true, are you also willing then to prove your faith by posting a positive review for Jesus? I don’t mean that literally, but essentially, figuratively, by your life, are you willing to confess Jesus before men?

Or every time somebody senses you might be a Christian, do you try to evade that? Do you avoid any situation that might get you persecuted or cause you loss for standing up for Jesus?

Will you testify of your amazing Savior’s gospel so that others might believe and be saved? Remember the principle from scripture. God says, “He who honors me, I will honor.”

And remember what Jesus said earlier in the passage, John 12:25: “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.”

“Don’t settle for the glory of men. Seek the glory of God and you will find it and enjoy it with the Son forever.”

Don’t settle for the glory of men. Seek the glory of God and you will find it and you will enjoy it with the Son forever. Let’s close in prayer.

Amen.

Lord, we thank you for your word. I pray, God, that you would help us to meditate on it, to be transformed, to apply it as we ought. Again, we thank you, God, that up to now you have not given us over to our sin and unbelief.

Thank you for your mercy. I pray, Lord, that you would continue to extend it to all those who have heard the message today, that we would believe and that we would grow in our belief for our own joy and your glory. Amen.

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