John 12:48, commentary and pictures

He who turns away from Jesus and refuses to receive his teaching already has a judge, for the message he delivered will decide his case in the last great day. He spoke it in intense love as light come into the world to save and not yet to condemn, saying nothing of himself but exactly what the Father who sent him commanded him to say, whose commandment is everlasting life. That spoken word is preserved in the Bible as the firm standard and statute book by which every life, motive, word, work, and secret act is tested and compared, and it will judge all, young and old, small and great. Each will be judged according to the light given in his own generation, for none are condemned for light that never reached them, but greater light brings greater accountability and the truth once received will condemn if it is turned from and refused. To reject that light when urged by the Holy Spirit hardens the heart, blinds the mind to further truth, leaves one open to falsehood and human ideas mistaken for light, and at last makes the very word spoken to save a witness against him unto death.

Setting and Utterance

These words belong to His last lessons to His disciples, sayings the promised Comforter, the Holy Spirit, would bring to their remembrance. He cried them out in intense desire that men receive the truth and live, warning that rejecting Him leaves a judge. During His ministry He does not judge the unbelieving hearer now, for He came not to judge the world but to save the world.

He came as light into the world so that whoever believes on Him does not abide in darkness. Believing on Him is believing on the Father who sent Him, and seeing Him is seeing the Father.

What He spoke was not of Himself or as His own independent message, but what the Father who sent Him commanded Him what to say and speak. The Father's commandment is life everlasting, and He speaks exactly as the Father instructed Him.

Judged by Spoken Word

He who rejects Christ and does not receive His words already has one that judges him, for the word He has spoken will judge him in the last day, the last great day. That word is not His own independent message, for the Father who sent Him commanded Him what He should say and speak, and He speaks exactly as the Father instructed. The Father's commandment is life everlasting, so the words that judge carry the Father's authority and are His message through Christ.

That spoken word is preserved in the Bible, the precious book that points to eternal life and guides feet through this dark world to heaven. Therefore the Bible itself will judge young and old, small and great, professed Christians and every person, in the last day and on the last great day when every case stands in grand review. It tells how to escape the wrath of God and the seven last plagues, how to become perfect Christians, and of the sufferings of Christ and the great sacrifice made so the saved may enjoy the presence of God forever.

God's word is the standard, statute book, and rule of faith and practice by which lives are studied, tested, and compared to decide truth. Scripture must therefore be examined personally and treated as the authority for deciding truth, rather than relying on human assertions or traditions. Visions may comfort God's people and correct those who depart from Bible truth, but they do not establish a new rule of faith.

His words are binding decisions and laws, not optional suggestions that people can safely disregard. People are not to judge, revise, annul, sit in judgment on, or reshape them by human opinion to suit themselves, but must let them judge and guide faith and conduct. They will face judgment before the great white throne and be judged according to their works.

As infallible guide for salvation it plainly sets out the conditions of eternal life, distinguishes right from wrong, exposes sin, directs the right path, and makes wise unto salvation. Studied and obeyed, it guides people as the pillar of cloud guided Israel and as perfect standard of character and duty in every circumstance; ignored and disobeyed, it witnesses against them at judgment. It is the only safe counselor and guide, able to show the provision made for all who come to Jesus.

That neglected word tries lives as the standard, comparing motives, words, works, actions, manner of using time, and even secret acts recorded in heaven. Those who have heard the truth in this land of light but take no interest, diverting the mind with other things, cherished idols, foolish story-books, and idle stories while neglecting and slighting God's holy word, trifle with God. If they come short their cases are decided forever, they are found wanting, it is their own fault, and they are without excuse.

Judgment by Jesus reflects how people have valued and obeyed His words, each person meeting judgment with the character and spirit cultivated in daily life at home and in relationships with others. Jesus, who gave His life for them, pronounces the judgment. If love for the Word is lost, earnest prayer for the Holy Spirit to help understand it and love it more than anything else is needed.

The judging word is as firm as His throne, immutable and unchangeable as His throne though heaven and earth may pass away and earthly things be consumed. It includes all the precepts contained in the law, which Christ by both teaching and example required His disciples to observe strictly. Although the Mosaic system of stoning for adultery has ended, the penalty for breaking God's law has not, and unless the sinner truly repents the final punishment is the second death, everlasting destruction from the Lord's presence.

It will judge every person, and the Bible is the book that will judge Satan and his followers, so casting it into doubt leaves people unprepared. Christ's teachings, the Word of God, are the standard by which every student will be measured in God's examination, and studying and practicing those teachings reforms them and equips them to meet God their Creator and prepares them for service and the higher life. The Bible is the Word of eternal interest and must be received and obeyed instead of the theories and suppositions of men, with diligent and earnest searching and prayer, and happy are those whose faith is founded on the sure Rock with souls riveted to the Rock of Ages.

Light and Accountability

The word Christ has spoken will judge each person in the last day according to the light given in his own generation. No one is accountable for light that never came to him, for condemnation does not come from knowledge never had, and the light never received is not his darkness. Devoted Christians who died keeping Sunday without seeing the Sabbath truth are therefore not condemned for that, and their piety is not denied.

Greater light brings greater accountability and responsibility. The truth of God's Word and the light a person has received will judge and condemn him at the last day if he turns away from it, refuses its guidance, and refuses to live and work according to it. It is not enough to assume that repeating the faithful service of earlier generations is enough. To be accepted as the faithful fathers were, who cherished and walked in the light that shone on their pathway, the present generation must advance step by step with Jesus who is the Light of the world and walk in the clearer light shining on its pathway.

Truth is constantly unfolding, and greater light is given to this generation through searching the Scriptures. Refusing that increased light on the Sabbath on the ground that fathers did not see it and kept Sunday leaves no excuse, and that rejected word will judge the refuser. People are accountable for the light, truths, appeals, warnings, and truth proclaimed from the word, and each must answer for how he received it. If not heeded those words will stand against them at the judgment and condemn a life of vanity, levity, and pride, while received they break hard hearts and burn away impurity so the heart may become pure and holy. All who have the light before them in the Word of God but do not follow it face a most solemn and overwhelming judgment determined upon them.

Rejecting Light Consequences

Rejecting truth pressed by the Holy Spirit and repeatedly turning away from appeals hardens the heart and places a person under the judgment of the spoken word in the last day. Rejecting the light God gives and choosing darkness rather than light shuts out further heavenly light, so that people mistake their own ideas for truth and become unable to discern truth. That rejection leaves them vulnerable to falsehood and to choosing darkness over light, with the rejected truth itself judging them.

At the time of the loud cry of the third angel those who have been blinded and have not fully recovered from Satan's snare will be in peril, unable to discern heavenly light, inclined to accept falsehood, with the evidences God has given counting as no evidence to them. After rejecting light they originate theories they call light but which are sparks of their own kindling, rejecting the words the Lord sent while receiving man's words as light and truth. The warning reaches across the centuries to those who deny him to avoid reproach or shame and choose human praise and approval over God's, thereby rejecting eternal life, for resisting light for human favor does not remove the coming judgment.

Those who have had light and privileges, with salvation brought within reach by heaven's infinite sacrifice, yet have not used those gifts, will be covered with shame and confusion of face, having rejected the high path of the just illuminated by the Sun of Righteousness because it is too separated from the world, since self-love and selfish ambition cannot pass the strait gate and walk the narrow upward way. Those who turn toward worldly pleasures, customs, and spirit walk away from God and refuse truth's influence, while those who belong to God hear his words and yield, and a life of vanity, levity, and pride stands condemned. Being saved costs self-surrender and self-denial to become willing subjects of his kingdom in God's appointed way, costing heaven an infinite sum, while being lost happens because a person chooses his own way and will, refuses discipline and captivity to Christ which is freedom, and thinks he can serve at will while working away from Christ when it suits him.

The word spoken to save becomes a savor of death unto death and witnesses against him in the judgment if he chooses darkness rather than light and mammon rather than Christ, and reads the warning to cavil at it, pervert it, ridicule it, and despise it. Rejecting the light and evidence God has given is rejecting Christ, and there is no other Saviour for the one who rejects him. Casting the book that will judge into doubt, turning from the Bible to believe it uninspired, substituting spiritual manifestations and false claims, and setting it aside obscures the standard and leaves people unprepared.

Study and Obedience

The Bible is the Word of eternal interest and must be received and obeyed instead of the theories and suppositions of men, with diligent and earnest searching of the Scriptures and prayer, and happy are those whose faith is founded on the sure Rock with souls riveted to the Rock of Ages. It must therefore be made the study and the rule of life, perused and daily studied, searched and kept in mind and heart, loved above all else and above every other book. It must not be neglected while other books and idle stories are read, nor slighted for foolish story-books, cherished idols, diverting things, and other things that turn the mind aside. If love for the Word is lost, earnest prayer is needed for the Holy Spirit to help understand it and to love it more than anything else and above all else.

Studied and obeyed, it guides as the pillar of cloud guided Israel, as the perfect standard of character and duty in every circumstance, plainly setting out the conditions of eternal life, distinguishing right from wrong, and exposing sin; ignored and disobeyed, it witnesses against at judgment. It must be learned so as to give a meek yet decided reason of hope and to have firmness and decision for the fierce conflict in the coming day of clouds and thick darkness, for without that furnishing with its plain simple truths souls are wanting and cannot stand firm in trial. It tells how to escape the wrath of God and the seven last plagues, how to become perfect Christians, and of the sufferings of Christ and the great sacrifice made so that the saved may enjoy the presence of God forever. As the only safe counselor and guide it shows the provision made for all who come to Jesus and is able to make wise unto salvation, while its truths studied and practiced reform students, prepare them for service and the higher life, and equip them to meet God their Creator.

The Word breaks hard hearts and burns away impurity and what is impure so that the heart may become pure and holy. The way truth is delivered affects whether some receive or reject it, so it should be spoken clearly, solemnly, and earnestly in a way that reaches both understanding and heart. No one willing to be saved in God's appointed way and to do God's will should treat light with defiance, rebellion, unbelief, and stony hardness, but must go alone before God to have them removed and melted and subdued. The prospect of that judgment also calls for reverence toward His great and holy name rather than careless use of Almighty in prayer, for He dwells in unapproachable light whom no one can see and live, and reverence must be understood and practiced.

Visions may comfort God's people and correct those departing from Bible truth, but they do not establish a new rule of faith. Time available should therefore be spent searching the Bible, studying it and keeping its words continually in mind, and living in readiness for Christ's coming to prepare to meet that judgment, lest worldly thoughts and cares crowd out its truth and leave no place for the seal of the living God.

Last Day Fulfillment

The sentence falls on those who have not received him when he comes in the clouds of heaven. The rulers who condemned him will then stand before him, with Pilate and those who mocked him standing before him as well.

The gospel will not be accepted by the large majority before he comes again the second time with power and great glory. Those found waiting for him when he who is our life shall appear will appear with him in glory. They will be made like him in seeing him as he is.

That judgment comes amid the perils of the last days, as the wrath of God prepares to come upon all cities. It does not come all at once but upon one city after another, beginning in certain places with sudden destruction of dwellings and large buildings and of life so that few escape. This calls the inhabitants of other cities to fear and seek repentance, for none are safe in dallying. When the Lord arises to shake terribly the earth he will not cease until his punishing work is done.