John 12:37-50, Jesus' Final Call to the Nation

We have come to the conclusion of Jesus’ ministry to the nation of Israel.  There are nine more chapters in John’s Gospel, but 13:1 brings us to the night before He was crucified.  John 13-17 and 21 record His ministry to the disciples, preparing them for His departure.  John 18-20 record the arrest, trials, death and resurrection.  The general assessment is that the nation did not put their faith in Him (12:37).  Isaiah 53:1 was fulfilled in this: they heard the report, and they saw the signs by which “the arm of the LORD was revealed.” 

But Isaiah 6:9-10 was also fulfilled.  The nation could not believe because God blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.  This is a strategic passage in the New Testament.  Jesus quoted it when He was explaining to His disciples why He was now speaking to the people in parables (Matt. 13:13-15).  The Apostle Paul quoted it to the Jews in Rome, as a warning that provides a conclusion to the book of Acts, not long before the destruction of the temple by Rome (Ac. 28:26).  As for Isaiah, the original prophecy was God’s instruction to the prophet.  He was to preach, but they would not understand.  If you read on (Isa. 6:11-13), Isaiah asked the LORD how long this blindness would last.  God’s answer was that it would continue until the cities were laid waste.  He also, however, promised there would be a “remnant;” though the tree was cut down, the stump would remain and be the holy seed.

All those details were about to come true for Israel.  Jesus had warned them several times of the coming judgment in 70AD (e.g. Lk. 19:41-44).  But be sure you note: the promise of the “stump” was also fulfilled.  John, from the beginning of his Gospel, has told us: He came unto His own and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name (Jn. 1:12).  Therefore, even among the rulers many believed in Him (12:42).  On the day of Pentecost there were 120 Christians of Jewish background who gave rise to 5,000 more Jewish believers (Ac. 2:41; 4:4), and from them the gospel would go to the world.

The closing verses of John 12 are both a summary of Jesus’ message to the nation as well as a continuing offer of the gospel.  He reaffirms His oneness with the Father (12:44-45); He reaffirms that He is the defining issue of life: all who believe in Him will be transferred to the kingdom of light, while those who reject Him will bear the judgment of that decision (12:46-48); and He reaffirms that He has only spoken the words that were given to Him by His Father (12:49-50). This continuing message of Christ is for today as well.  What we do with the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection will judge us in the last day.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.