Question:
Answer:
John 12 37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
“Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”
41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
42 Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Jesus did many wonderful miracles of healing and feeding the crowds, but the religious leaders did not want to believe that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. Hundreds of years before, the prophet Isaiah had prophesied that this would be the case. God had sent prophet after prophet to Israel, giving warning messages, but nobody listened to the prophets or cared about what they said. It was not God Himself that blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, but the fact that every time they ignored His warnings, it made them more and more unable to see the truth, and more and more hard of heart, so that they became totally unable to turn back to God, and be healed. This was given to Isaiah in vision, when He saw the glory of the Christ, and prophesied about Him.
But there were also many of the religious leaders that in their hearts believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but they were too weak to stand up and proclaim it, because they were scared to be shunned by their fellow leaders, and be thrown out of the synagogues. They were more impressed by the praise of their fellow leaders, than God’s praise, if they should decide to follow Him.
I trust that this makes more sense now. God bless!
