8th April 2011

John 12:37-50 – Belief and Unbelief among the Jews

• “ASAP”
• This passage contains one of the harder teachings of the New Testament for me.
• “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”
• This passage is also quoted in every one of the other Gospels in connection with the parable of the talents.
• It is saying that God intentional has blinded people so they cannot believe.
• A possible Hebrew idiom would normally make this easier to swallow – sometimes the Hebrew language expresses commentary as intention. In this case, if this was an isolated situation it could be that rather than God intending to “blind their eyes… etc” it is simply commentating on the fact that He has.
• The problem with the Hebrew idiom version is that the idea of God blinding people also fits into the teaching that God hardens peoples hearts.
• Why does God choose to harden some people’s hearts and not others?
• There are forty-six references in the Bible to God intervening in this way.  The fact is that God does actively, purposely, with forethought harden people’s hearts.
• There is a three step process to the God induced “Hardening of a Heart” and we see a classic example of this with Pharaoh's situation.
• Step 1:  God says He will - We are first warned. When He tests us, it is not so that He can find out what is within us but so that He can reveal it to us and we can change. God knew Pharaoh’s heart. The King had displayed a persistent resisting of His will.
• Step 2: Pharaoh Acts - Before God hardens a man’s heart, the man hardens it first. The word used here for calloused means: Fat as grease.
• Step 3: God Acts by hardening their heart.
• Why? The process of hardening our hearts leads to things going terribly wrong. He would rather we respond to His Spirit but if it means He has to take us to the pits of despair then He will do it. Because whilst down there we may finally repent.
• Even if we do not, what happens sends a message to everyone else. Onlookers watch and learn. They learn from our mistake. Either way He is glorified.
• It is not an event – it is a process.
• We MUST be careful not to allow a root of bitterness as the Pharisees and Pharaoh did because eventually that foothold can become a stronghold in our lives.
• If you feel yourself going down that route – repent ASAP.