Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. (John 12:37 NIV)

Today, believers are often mocked for believing in “an invisible man in the sky,” just as children believe in Santa Claus. They imply that serious, intellectually mature people, no longer have such beliefs.[1] They tell us that there are no good reasons to believe in God. What they rarely acknowledge is that there might be less than good reasons to disbelieve.

John tells us that his purpose for writing his Gospel was “…that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31 NIV). So, John is the Gospel of believing.[2]

Interestingly, it is also the Gospel of unbelieving. From the prologue, that tells us that the Word’s own did not receive the Light (John 1:10-11), John chronicles unbelieving, just as he does believing. He tells of seven signs, which are powerful deeds that point to Jesus as the Divine Word. With each of the signs, there is both growing believing and growing unbelieving, climaxing with the raising of Lazarus. After that sign, many believed in Jesus, while the enemies of Jesus were not only unbelieving but determined to put both Jesus and Lazarus to death (John 12:9-10).

It is a marvel that in John 12:37, John tells us of the refusal of those who witnessed the signs of Jesus to believe their own eyes and ears. We ask why? John gives several answers throughout his gospel, including fear and hatred of the light that exposes evil (3:19-21), and seeing in Jesus’ claims about Himself, which for them was a blasphemous claim of equality with God (John 8:58-59, 10:33). In chapter 9, and 12:42-43, many do not believe out of a fear of excommunication.

However, what John says in 12:38-41 is truly a marvel. He claims that, “This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet…” John quotes from two passages, Isaiah 53:1, and Isaiah 6:10.

37 Even after Jesus had performed so many 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 hardened 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.

The citation of Isaiah 53 is often found in the New Testament as a passage fulfilled In Jesus.[3] The citation in John 12:38 centers on the lack of believing in the One who was revealed. The citation of Isaiah 6:10 in John 12:39-40 sees such unbelieving rooted in the will of God, and that is the marvel.

This is a mystery.

We usually associate “mystery” with a puzzle to be solved, as in a crime drama. That is not its meaning in Scripture. Mystery is that which is hidden until it is revealed. Mystery, connected to God’s will, is something we accept, not solve. Unbelief is part of this fallen world, BUT it’s not outside God’s will and purposes, and this is ultimately good news for us.

Hardness of Heart

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts…” What?! This was the great challenge of Isaiah’s calling, and a challenging theme throughout the Bible. It is a far too large a theme to fully explore here, but I will make two observations.

Yes, God hardens hearts, but not apart from our own choices. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but about one half of the time, it is said that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. That is, God did not force a good and wise leader to become hateful and obstinate. He further hardened an already hard heart.
God gives us the freedom to wag our finger to heaven and say, “NO!” But doing this comes with a price. Each “NO” makes it more difficult to say, “YES” to Him. Our hearts harden, and that’s the Bible’s great disease. God further hardens hard hearts for His purpose. In John, hardened hearts crucified Jesus, and yet, there is our salvation.

God is in control.

We should weep at the growing unbelief in our world, but we should not despair. We should be driven to our knees in prayer, yet do so, knowing that ultimately, our Father’s got this! At times in our nation’s early history when belief in God was low, our sovereign God sent the Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening. With God, hope is never lost.

Be faithful to the message.

In John 6, after giving graphic and difficult teachings about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, we are told that “many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66 NIV). Jesus did not “walk it back.” Jesus, in fact, never seemed to avoid controversy, especially about the Sabbath, for political acceptability.

The Second Great Awakening didn’t follow churches preaching Deist-friendly sermons, or, on the other hand, “going soft” on race-based slavery.[4] God moved on His own, and by His Spirit, through faithful believers who were willing to be true to the Good News.

Reliance on church growth consultants or opinion polls dare not replace reliance on the God of history and praying for the power of the Holy Spirit to again sweep through our land. God is faithful and believing in Him in difficult times will always be rewarded, even if we only realize it in the life to come (Revelation 2:10). Perhaps, the fruit of our prayers will be seen by our children and grandchildren.

All of John’s Gospel points to the Great Sign of the cross and resurrection, and calls us to believe in Him for life. If this sign is true, our believing is not a Santa Claus faith and disbelieving is hardly simply intellectually mature. God is at work, keep on believing!

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[1] Usually left out of these mocking attacks is any mention of the long list of intellectually mature and brilliant folks who left atheism and became believers.

[2] John always uses the verb form, rather than the noun. John does not say “faith,” but constantly speaks of active believing/trusting in Jesus. Believing is much more what we do than it is what we have.

[3] Matthew 8:14–17, Luke 22:36–38, Romans 10:16–17, 1 Peter 2:19–25, and Acts 8:32-35

[4] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2narr2.html