But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
Though he had done so many miracles openly before them, the Jews and their leaders yet would not believe on him nor receive him as Messiah and Savior. Those signs were innumerable and overwhelming, sufficient and convincing evidence of his divine identity and mission as the Son of God, including raising Lazarus after four days in the tomb and the Father answering him with an audible voice from heaven. They refused the evidence because his teachings did not harmonize with their preconceived ideas of a glorious Messiah, and because pride, self-exaltation, prejudice and envy kept their hearts unhumbled and unwilling to admit they were wrong. Their eyes were blinded and hearts hardened not because light was withheld but because light given was refused, until each refusal made the heart harder and more unimpressible, and this free rejection fulfilled what Isaiah foretold without God causing it. Their rejection left them in darkness and under condemnation by the very light they refused, as a warning to all who have light and evidence yet choose darkness rather than come to the light to be healed.
Setting and Plain Meaning
These are words spoken just before betrayal and death, just before crucifixion and death, and they are clear and plain. Though He had done so many miracles openly before them, the Jews yet believed not on Him. The Jewish leaders did not receive Him as the Messiah even after His evident works in their presence, Israel did not believe, and many people did not believe despite the many miracles performed before them and in front of the people.
They refused to receive Him as Messiah and Savior, refusing to accept the light and conviction given to them. The many miracles included just raising Lazarus from the dead, raising Lazarus after four days in the tomb as evidence of His divine mission. They included also the Father speaking with an audible voice and testimony from heaven, even the voice from heaven answering His prayer, which did not move the impenitent.
The signs were innumerable, and no further sign was needed to show who He was. They were clear evidence, convincing evidence of the divinity of His mission, overwhelming evidence of His divine identity and Messiahship and of His true mission as the Son of God. The evidence was sufficient to overcome prejudice, and His works gave opportunity to repent and give Him glory.
Why They Would Not Believe
They would not receive the powerful evidence because his teachings did not harmonize with their preconceived ideas and did not exalt self-exalting human agencies. They expected a Messiah who fit their own ideas, misread the prophecies by applying the glory and power of his second coming to his first, and prejudice and pride kept them from accepting the overwhelming evidence of his divine identity and mission. They preferred to attribute his miracles to the devil rather than admit their interpretation was wrong.
Unbelief arose from unhumbled hearts lifted up in self-glorification, pride, ambition, self-exaltation, prejudice, and envy of his mighty works. It came from satisfaction with their own religious understanding and rejecting the true picture of their spiritual condition. It came from fear and unwillingness to admit they were wrong and yield to the evidence, from pride and fear of admitting error, and from unwillingness to yield. Hearing with unsanctified ears and judging with unsanctified minds and hearts caused the real meaning of truth to be lost.
They had set their hearts against believing and determined not to yield, and nothing would affect the darkness that encompassed them. They rejected truths that would have purified them. They refused to come to the light lest their deeds should be reproved, chose darkness rather than light, denied the leading of the Holy Spirit, made light of the Spirit, blasphemed, and called its working a delusion, choosing to stand under satanic influence rather than see and be convinced. Once they had chosen to reject him further displays of divine power could not convince them, for even clearer evidence could not move hearts made harder by each refusal, and they would have dismissed even a messenger from heaven as Satan. Their unbelief left them in darkness.
They had felt the Spirit drawing them and recognized the divine power attending him, his words and works convinced them of his divinity, and the Spirit impressed their hearts, but they hardened their hearts and refused to accept him. Their powers to discern spiritual realities were perverted by the enemy of truth, shown in continual misrepresentations to make his work severe and trying. Priests and rulers helped turn people from truth toward human teachings, with continual misrepresentations.
Resistance to light grows step by step and brings darkness on the course they themselves follow. Each refusal to receive the light of life makes the heart harder and more unimpressible until eyes are blinded and hearts hardened so they do not see and understand and turn to be healed. Repeatedly refusing the light brought increasing spiritual blindness and hardened their hearts. Plain truth softens a humble, teachable heart but hardens a heart determined not to yield.
Their eyes were blinded and hearts hardened not because light was withheld but because light given was refused. God did not arbitrarily blind them and Christ worked to soften hearts, but people who resisted that work hardened themselves. Their unbelief fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy and reflected their refusal to accept the light and conviction given to them. That prophecy foretold what God knew their free choices would bring without causing those choices or shaping their characters.
The people of Nazareth rejected the evidence because pride and prejudice kept them from acknowledging him as Messiah, since accepting him would have condemned their earlier rejection. His mighty works and divine character increased their jealousy and hatred, and they tried to keep others from hearing him or seeing his miracles. Envy of his mighty works led to desire for his death, and Satan used one of his followers to betray him to his enemies. Their eyes were blinded so they would not receive him as Savior.
Judgment and Present Warning
Their rejection left them in darkness because they refused light and evidence they had been given and would not come to the light lest their deeds be reproved. They denied the leading of the Holy Spirit, made light of the Spirit, called its working a delusion, chose darkness rather than light, and chose to stand under satanic influence rather than see and be convinced. Their eyes were blinded and hearts hardened not because light was withheld but because light given was refused, and all who have had light and evidence but refuse it will receive sentence of death in the judgment. Clear convincing evidence of divine truth does not turn the impenitent to repentance, and those who reject such light are condemned by it. As a nation their rejection led to ruin, left them like natural olive-tree branches broken off from God, and his departure from the temple marked the withdrawal of God's presence so its ceremonies and services would become meaningless.
The persistent unbelief warns that people continually exposed to incredulity may develop similar unbelief and a spiritually perverted understanding. It applies to those who profess to know the truth but are not sanctified through it, who are satisfied with their own religious understanding and reject the true picture of their spiritual condition. Hearing with unsanctified ears and judging with unsanctified minds and hearts causes the real meaning of truth to be lost, and every refusal to receive the light of life makes the heart harder and more unimpressible until eyes are blinded and hearts hardened so they do not see and understand and turn to be healed. This same unbelief and perverted understanding is the danger facing medical missionary workers through continual association with the incredulous, so their unbelief should not cause surprise. Once they had chosen to reject him further displays of divine power could not convince them, for they preferred darkness to light and would have dismissed even a messenger from heaven as Satan, and their response is compared with that of people who oppose the Sabbath commandment.
So it will be for those united with Christ in doing the work given for these last days and in bearing the last message of mercy to the world. The same unbelief is met today and will continue to be met even though they have seen great power of God wrought in behalf of his people. Satan prepares minds by degrees to be imbued with his spirit and to work against those who bear responsibilities, using every ingenious device and every possible method to lead men to live a lie so that the truth shall not stand to prepare a people through sanctification to stand firm as a rock to principle. His last exploits will be carried out with more power than ever before with learned, scientific scheming to make of no effect the work under Christ's supervision.
Even great works proving the divinity of his mission cannot convince those who have set their hearts to disobey and follow the same path by listening to fables instead of heeding his words. So the words spoken by his ministers cannot convince those set on disobedience of present truth nor lead them to humble contrition, confession of sin, and becoming as little children.
Though he had done so many miracles openly before them, the Jews and their leaders yet would not believe on him nor receive him as Messiah and Savior. Those signs were innumerable and overwhelming, sufficient and convincing evidence of his divine identity and mission as the Son of God, including raising Lazarus after four days in the tomb and the Father answering him with an audible voice from heaven. They refused the evidence because his teachings did not harmonize with their preconceived ideas of a glorious Messiah, and because pride, self-exaltation, prejudice and envy kept their hearts unhumbled and unwilling to admit they were wrong. Their eyes were blinded and hearts hardened not because light was withheld but because light given was refused, until each refusal made the heart harder and more unimpressible, and this free rejection fulfilled what Isaiah foretold without God causing it. Their rejection left them in darkness and under condemnation by the very light they refused, as a warning to all who have light and evidence yet choose darkness rather than come to the light to be healed.
Setting and Plain Meaning
These are words spoken just before betrayal and death, just before crucifixion and death, and they are clear and plain. Though He had done so many miracles openly before them, the Jews yet believed not on Him. The Jewish leaders did not receive Him as the Messiah even after His evident works in their presence, Israel did not believe, and many people did not believe despite the many miracles performed before them and in front of the people.
They refused to receive Him as Messiah and Savior, refusing to accept the light and conviction given to them. The many miracles included just raising Lazarus from the dead, raising Lazarus after four days in the tomb as evidence of His divine mission. They included also the Father speaking with an audible voice and testimony from heaven, even the voice from heaven answering His prayer, which did not move the impenitent.
The signs were innumerable, and no further sign was needed to show who He was. They were clear evidence, convincing evidence of the divinity of His mission, overwhelming evidence of His divine identity and Messiahship and of His true mission as the Son of God. The evidence was sufficient to overcome prejudice, and His works gave opportunity to repent and give Him glory.
Why They Would Not Believe
They would not receive the powerful evidence because his teachings did not harmonize with their preconceived ideas and did not exalt self-exalting human agencies. They expected a Messiah who fit their own ideas, misread the prophecies by applying the glory and power of his second coming to his first, and prejudice and pride kept them from accepting the overwhelming evidence of his divine identity and mission. They preferred to attribute his miracles to the devil rather than admit their interpretation was wrong.
Unbelief arose from unhumbled hearts lifted up in self-glorification, pride, ambition, self-exaltation, prejudice, and envy of his mighty works. It came from satisfaction with their own religious understanding and rejecting the true picture of their spiritual condition. It came from fear and unwillingness to admit they were wrong and yield to the evidence, from pride and fear of admitting error, and from unwillingness to yield. Hearing with unsanctified ears and judging with unsanctified minds and hearts caused the real meaning of truth to be lost.
They had set their hearts against believing and determined not to yield, and nothing would affect the darkness that encompassed them. They rejected truths that would have purified them. They refused to come to the light lest their deeds should be reproved, chose darkness rather than light, denied the leading of the Holy Spirit, made light of the Spirit, blasphemed, and called its working a delusion, choosing to stand under satanic influence rather than see and be convinced. Once they had chosen to reject him further displays of divine power could not convince them, for even clearer evidence could not move hearts made harder by each refusal, and they would have dismissed even a messenger from heaven as Satan. Their unbelief left them in darkness.
They had felt the Spirit drawing them and recognized the divine power attending him, his words and works convinced them of his divinity, and the Spirit impressed their hearts, but they hardened their hearts and refused to accept him. Their powers to discern spiritual realities were perverted by the enemy of truth, shown in continual misrepresentations to make his work severe and trying. Priests and rulers helped turn people from truth toward human teachings, with continual misrepresentations.
Resistance to light grows step by step and brings darkness on the course they themselves follow. Each refusal to receive the light of life makes the heart harder and more unimpressible until eyes are blinded and hearts hardened so they do not see and understand and turn to be healed. Repeatedly refusing the light brought increasing spiritual blindness and hardened their hearts. Plain truth softens a humble, teachable heart but hardens a heart determined not to yield.
Their eyes were blinded and hearts hardened not because light was withheld but because light given was refused. God did not arbitrarily blind them and Christ worked to soften hearts, but people who resisted that work hardened themselves. Their unbelief fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy and reflected their refusal to accept the light and conviction given to them. That prophecy foretold what God knew their free choices would bring without causing those choices or shaping their characters.
The people of Nazareth rejected the evidence because pride and prejudice kept them from acknowledging him as Messiah, since accepting him would have condemned their earlier rejection. His mighty works and divine character increased their jealousy and hatred, and they tried to keep others from hearing him or seeing his miracles. Envy of his mighty works led to desire for his death, and Satan used one of his followers to betray him to his enemies. Their eyes were blinded so they would not receive him as Savior.
Judgment and Present Warning
Their rejection left them in darkness because they refused light and evidence they had been given and would not come to the light lest their deeds be reproved. They denied the leading of the Holy Spirit, made light of the Spirit, called its working a delusion, chose darkness rather than light, and chose to stand under satanic influence rather than see and be convinced. Their eyes were blinded and hearts hardened not because light was withheld but because light given was refused, and all who have had light and evidence but refuse it will receive sentence of death in the judgment. Clear convincing evidence of divine truth does not turn the impenitent to repentance, and those who reject such light are condemned by it. As a nation their rejection led to ruin, left them like natural olive-tree branches broken off from God, and his departure from the temple marked the withdrawal of God's presence so its ceremonies and services would become meaningless.
The persistent unbelief warns that people continually exposed to incredulity may develop similar unbelief and a spiritually perverted understanding. It applies to those who profess to know the truth but are not sanctified through it, who are satisfied with their own religious understanding and reject the true picture of their spiritual condition. Hearing with unsanctified ears and judging with unsanctified minds and hearts causes the real meaning of truth to be lost, and every refusal to receive the light of life makes the heart harder and more unimpressible until eyes are blinded and hearts hardened so they do not see and understand and turn to be healed. This same unbelief and perverted understanding is the danger facing medical missionary workers through continual association with the incredulous, so their unbelief should not cause surprise. Once they had chosen to reject him further displays of divine power could not convince them, for they preferred darkness to light and would have dismissed even a messenger from heaven as Satan, and their response is compared with that of people who oppose the Sabbath commandment.
So it will be for those united with Christ in doing the work given for these last days and in bearing the last message of mercy to the world. The same unbelief is met today and will continue to be met even though they have seen great power of God wrought in behalf of his people. Satan prepares minds by degrees to be imbued with his spirit and to work against those who bear responsibilities, using every ingenious device and every possible method to lead men to live a lie so that the truth shall not stand to prepare a people through sanctification to stand firm as a rock to principle. His last exploits will be carried out with more power than ever before with learned, scientific scheming to make of no effect the work under Christ's supervision.
Even great works proving the divinity of his mission cannot convince those who have set their hearts to disobey and follow the same path by listening to fables instead of heeding his words. So the words spoken by his ministers cannot convince those set on disobedience of present truth nor lead them to humble contrition, confession of sin, and becoming as little children.