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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - John 12:37 - 12:41
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The fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy:
v. 37. But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him,
v. 38. that the saying of Esaias the Prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
v. 39. Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
v. 40. He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
v. 41. These things said Esaias when he saw His glory and spake of Him.
The results of Christ's entire ministry, on the whole, had been very discouraging. Neither His words nor His miracles had had the desired result. And in this, as the evangelist here points out, the judgment of God upon unbelief was carried out. He refers to two Old Testament prophecies, both from the Book of Isaiah. In Isa_53:1 the Messiah complains of the fact that His teaching is not believed, and that the arm of the Lord, as revealed in the miracles, is hidden from the multitude. And since the Jews thus, by their unbelief, opposed the gracious will of God in both Gospel and signs, the second prophecy, Isa_6:9-10, found its application and fulfillment. Their eyes were finally blinded, making it impossible for them, to see; their heart was rendered callous to every good impression, making it impossible for them to understand the wonderful message of their salvation. The judgment upon the unbelieving Jews, which had begun in the days of the great prophet, was now finally consummated in the days of Christ. See Mat_13:14; Mar_4:12; Luk_8:10; Act_28:26; Rom_11:8. It was rejection and contempt of the grace of God which characterized the attitude of the Jews: contempt in the days of Isaiah, contempt in the days of Christ, contempt in the days of the apostles; and so the judgment finally struck them in full force. It is a terrible thing for a person to reject and despise the grace of God when it is offered to him, for the time of mercy may Boon be ended, and then comes the time when the Gospel will be unto such a person a savor of death unto death.