12:41-43
John then makes it clear that he believed Isaiah was seeing the glory of Jesus when he had his vision that is recorded in Isaiah 6, and the whole of Isaiah is pointing ahead to Jesus, Isaiah 53 being the most obvious. However, the fact that John quotes from the “unpleasant” verses as well is a warning to us when we just choose the “nice” bits of prophecy. The whole of the word of God is applicable.
John then states that while most did not believe, some did, including people who were part of the Jewish leadership. However, they were not willing to confess openly because they feared the Pharisees. So what did they fear? Being put out of the synagogue, which would mean you would become something of a pariah, an outcast. This also shows that John is using “believe” here in a rather loose sense. The people he is referring to recognised that Jesus was someone special, possibly the Messiah, but were not willing to commit their lives to Him. Instead of loving the glory that comes from God, they loved the praise of men. In an age when our society is increasingly anti-Christian we need to bear this in mind as well. We need to make sure that love God above all else and are prepared to suffer if necessary. The people that John was originally writing for would be in a similar situation. Society was not pro-Christian, and following Christ would involve a cost. There would be a temptation to keep quiet about their faith.
12:44-46
Jesus does not “come alone”. If we believe in Him then we believe in the Father as well. So what are the implications of this? Well, first is that if we just see Jesus as a good man or a good teacher, then we do not really believe in Him at all. We either believe in Him as the Son of God sent by the Father, or not at all. Moreover, when we see Jesus we see the Father. When we see what Jesus is like we see what the Father is like.
Jesus is light and He came as a light, and He calls us out of the darkness. Any thinking that is not based on Christ is dark thinking.
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