John
12:37-43 (NIV) Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their
presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word
of Isaiah the prophet:
"Lord,
who has believed our message
and to
whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
39 For
this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40
"He has blinded their eyes
and
deadened their hearts,
so they
can neither see with their eyes,
nor
understand with their hearts,
nor
turn — and I would heal them."
41
Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.
42 Yet
at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of
the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out
of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
NOTE: This is an
interesting group of verses and it is a little like the chicken and the egg
analogy. Is the unbelief the result of the people's refusal, fear, or love of
praise from man, or is their unbelief the result of God blinding their eyes and
deadening their hearts? Or are both reasons true? A deadened heart is usually
the result of prolonged sin. This is one of those truths that is just believed
as God says it, people choose to not believe in Christ despite the miracles,
and people's eyes and hearts are blinded and deadened by God. One does not
precede the other. They occur together and both cause the other. If I had to
choose a precedent, I would argue that our choices lead to blinding by God. And
I would submit Pharaoh as my case. He originally refuses to believe in God
through Moses, and then later we see God hardening his heart which was probably
in conjunction with his refusal to believe. But independent of that, both
happen and it is not worth arguing which really happens first. The real concern
is that refusal to believe makes it harder to believe in the future.
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