Sermon Discussion Questions:
1. Have you ever thought, “If God would just show me something clearly, I would believe more fully”? How does this passage challenge that assumption?
2. In what areas of your life are you tempted to seek the “glory that comes from man”? What are subtle ways religious people can appear devoted to God while actually living for human approval?
3. According to Isaiah 53, why is the Servant rejected?
4. How does Hebrews 3:7–8 (“Do not harden your hearts”) shape how we respond to passages about God hardening hearts?
5. Why might a message of repentance actually harden hearts instead of soften them?
In the early 2010’s, the fiancee of a prominent American writer moved from her native Germany to California. Among the many heirlooms she brought with her was a broken 1978 Philips transistor radio, a gift from her deceased grandfather, Walter. She had been raised by a single mother, and Walter, a music lover, had played the paternal role in her life until his death when she was sixteen. The radio had been dead since then as well, and the woman’s American fiance, understanding its significance, tried everything he could to get it working. Nothing worked, and the couple placed it in the back of a bedroom drawer and forgot about it.
Flash forward to their wedding day. Nearly everyone in attendance was there because they knew the famous American writer, and the bride, feeling isolated and homesick and wishing that her grandfather had been there to give her away, asked the groom to take her away from the crowd, into the back of the house, where they could hear music playing. Mysterious music, since nothing was turned on—not computers or stereos or iPhones or any other system—and yet the music was a love song, the kind you would play for the first dance at a wedding.
Finally they found the source: the grandfather’s broken radio, in the back of the desk drawer, working again for the first time in decades, spilling romantic music into their Californian home. A relative told them that she had heard it begin playing just as the wedding ceremony started. It played all that night, switching from love songs to classical music; the next morning it was dead once more, and it never worked again.
In his famous case for presumptively disbelieving in all miracles, the Scottish philosopher David Hume argued that with any supposed witness to the supernatural, however credible they might otherwise appear, it’s always more likely that they are either gullible or lying than that a supernatural event has actually occurred. The Hume rule is set up to be universally discrediting, but if you were looking for someone who would come closest to passing its exacting test, someone with every incentive not to lie or be deceived, the source for this touching not-quite-ghost story is an unusually good candidate. The bridegroom in the story, the American writer, happens to be Michael Shermer, proud atheist, editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, and a man who has spent his entire professional career trying to debunk the supernatural. (Found in Ross Douthat’s Believe, p.67-68)
Shermer, a committed materialist, denies that anything exists beyond the material realm. There are no souls, no afterlife, no God. And yet, as he stands holding his crying wife as this phenomenon plays out before him that his worldview cannot explain, that contravenes his most fundamental beliefs…what does he do? “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” Carl Sagan used to say. Well, how extraordinary must the evidence be before you change your mind?
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When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. Jesus Came to Save the World 44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” - John 12:36-50
The Cause of Unbelief: Men
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. - John 12:36
What things?
Things like, “Now will the ruler of this world be cast out…I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” - John 12:31-32
The crowd listening is confused. They realize that by being “lifted up from the earth” means that Jesus will not be staying around (John 12:34). So, they ask Jesus what He means by this, since they thought that the Christ was intended to stay forever—He is supposed to set up a new government where He functions as the head of State, ruling over the nation and destroying Israel’s enemies. That’s why the crowd has gathered to welcome Him with the triumphal entry.
Yet Jesus insists that while the crowd’s expectations about His identity as the Messiah are right, their assumptions about what the Messiah has come to do are wrong. He does not intend to establish the kind of kingdom they are expecting. In fact, because He intends to establish a kingdom “not of this world,” He won’t be around much longer:
“The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” - John 12:35-36
Jesus’ concluding words: while there is still time, believe!
And so we return, of course, to the burden of the entire gospel of John: belief. Decades from now, you may remember nothing from this sermon series through John, but you might remember that the main theme of John’s gospel is the issue of believing, because it appears in every chapter and so I have mentioned it almost every sermon.
John’s purpose statement of his gospel is found at the end, where he tells us that this gospel was “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name,” (John 20:30-31).
That’s what John’s gospel is all about: a record of the “signs” of Jesus given so that you would believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. So, John thinks that in this written account, we have sufficient evidence to reach a conclusion about who Jesus is. But if you are somewhat skeptical person, you may think: Well, sure, that is easy for John to say. He saw all these signs. All we have is a book! If I was there, if I could be a firsthand witness to the miracles of Jesus, it would be a lot easier to believe!
Would it?
Look back up at how this section began. Jesus prays aloud:
“Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” - John 12:28-29
The Father literally speaks audibly so that everyone can hear his voice…and so the whole crowd immediately drops all reservations and comes to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, right? Wrong. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Some people do discern a voice, but believe it is an angel. Despite Jesus addressing the Father directly, and the Father responding directly, not a single person there discerns it. Sometimes, a skeptical person might claim that they would believe if God spoke to them audibly or were to show up in physical form they would believe. But He did. And the crowd a few days later killed Him.
Did Michael Shermer’s strident materialism crack in the face of the dead radio being flipped on? Of course not. Shermer concedes: “No matter how comprehensive a theory is, there will always be a residue of anomalies for which it cannot account.” (Douthat, p. 100). The universe moves in mysterious ways, apparently.
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” Carl Sagan used to say. Jesus is making extraordinary claims—He is the Word of God made flesh, the King of all Kings, the one True Lord. And He does provide extraordinary evidence: He performs miracles, healings, and teaches with clarity and authority. Yet, something odd happens throughout the story: the more clearly Jesus provides evidence…the more resistant some people become, the more confident they are that Jesus is false.
Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him. - John 12:37
We are not neutral observers. Jesus is happy to provide reason and evidence to the seeker and skeptic. But there is more that is needed. We are not only brains, but hearts. And our hearts want what they want. And if our brains receive all the data needed…yet the data challenges what our heart wants? If we do not want to accept it? We will walk away.
Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; - John 12:42
This “belief” that the authorities exhibit is not true, soul-saving faith. Jesus elsewhere teaches us that if we fail to acknowledge that we believe in Him before men, He will not acknowledge that He knows us before the Father (Matt 10:32-33). The people who believe in Jesus here have, I think, come to an intellectual affirmation that Jesus most likely is who He says He is. They think He is right. But they are too scared to admit it: they are afraid of angering the Pharisees and being kicked out of the synagogue. Which could have sufficed for an explanation. But John goes deeper:
43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. - John 12:43
We are what we love. And the reason that the crowd fears man more than they fear God is that they love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. “Glory” literally refers to weight. It is honor, regard, fame, recognition, adoration, grandeur. The “glory that comes from man” is what you receive when you possess what the world believes is important. And the “glory that comes from God” is what you receive when you possess what God believes is important. And those aren’t always mutually exclusive—in fact, often, a life lived for the glory of God will be a life that the wider world believes to be respectable and honorable. But it is that overlap that also makes it so dangerous. You can be a devoutly religious individual—like a Pharisee—and be living exclusively for the glory of man.
How do you know what you love? Ask yourself: who am I afraid of disappointing most?
****He concludes this section by making it clear that He is a bright, unfogged window to God the Father (John 12:44-50). His words, His actions, everything He does is nothing but the Father. So, He has turned the brightness and clarity of who He is all the way up so that now if we reject Him it isn’t because He hasn’t made Himself clear. It is because we don’t like who He is. It is because His revelation of who He is brings with it enormous consequences. But if He is who He says He is, and He is promising you eternal life and salvation, to rescue you from an eternity of damnation and suffering…then isn’t the cost of discipleship you pay now worth it? What does it profit a man if he were to gain the world…yet lost his soul? For what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
The Cause of Unbelief: God
The Bible makes it abundantly clear: when we are trying to find the culprit who is responsible for unbelief, it is mankind. That is why we are all treated as morally responsible for our decisions, and why God pleads with man to repent and turn. But, the Bible is also abundantly clear: the culprit for unbelief is ultimately God. Man is fully responsible for the choices that He makes. And God is totally sovereign and in control of all choices. And both of these are emphasized in this passage. Why do the people refuse to believe? Because they loved the glory of man rather than the glory of God. And also because God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.
How do we reconcile those two seemingly contradictory threads? Heck if I know. My job isn’t to plumb the depths of the mysteries that God and lay them bare to mechanical explanation. When Michael Shermer appeals to “the residue of anomalies” for why seemingly miraculous things happen, the reason that is unsatisfying is because the primary claim of his worldview is that there is no supernatural spirit or entity or intelligence beyond the physical realm. So, he argues, there must be mechanical explanations for why that radio turned on…I just don’t know them yet!
Christians, however, believe that behind the veil of this physical realm, there is an infinitely wise, eternal, and all-powerful God who transcends our own understanding to an infinite degree. What He has chosen to reveal to us is not the whole of His mind, nor even a fraction of it—for His mind is infinite. So, His ways necessarily will contain mysteries and paradoxes that leave us humbled in silent reverence at how He is capable of doing things that we would never be able to explain mechanistically on some diagram or chart. HE IS GOD! How can we explain how He created from nothing! How can we explain how He exists as a triune being, three persons, one being? How can we explain the dual natures of Jesus Christ, truly God yet truly man? Before the vast ocean of God’s infinitude we are humbled into reverent silence and confess with Paul, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom 11:33).
The Bible speaks from God’s vantage point about the hardening of people’s hearts and from the human stand point. God’s will is inscrutable and unchangeable. Ours is not. And so, even as we examine the divine act of God hardening hearts, we can still say with the author of Hebrews: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,” (Hebrews 3:7-8).
As we turn to investigate how God hardens people’s hearts, we find nourishing instructions for us to consider how we can avoid our hearts being hardened.
**When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
- John 12:36-41**
John understands the cause of Jesus’ widescale rejection by the crowds to be a fulfillment of the ministry of the prophet Isaiah, specifically two verses from Isaiah that we need to investigate: Isaiah 6, and Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 6
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple - Isa 6:1
Here, we see as Yahweh is “high and lifted up” it produces in Isaiah an awareness of His own sin and danger before this holy God. And His confession of sin results in the atonement of his sin. Which propels Isaiah out into mission—I will go! But his mission is a bizarre one. He is sent to the nation of Israel, His fellow countrymen, and His message—which is the whole book of Isaiah—is summarized as one that will result in Israel being more blind, more deaf.
**8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- Isaiah 6:8-10**
What is the message of the book of Isaiah? It is a message of repentance. Repeatedly, God is pleading with Israel through Isaiah to turn from their wickedness and idolatry, to come back to Him so that He may heal and restore them. And that message, just like the ministry of Jesus, is largely ignored. And the more Isaiah pleads, the harder their hearts become. In fact, like Moses pleading with Pharaoh, it is the very act of Isaiah inviting Israel to repent of their sin that hardens their heart.
Isaiah 53
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
- Isa 52:13
Here, we see Yahweh’s servant is “high and lifted up,” just like Yahweh was in Isaiah 6:1. That phrase “high and lifted up” is used only four times in the whole Old Testament. All in Isaiah. All referring explicitly to God (Isa 6:1, 33:10; 57:15), but here it is applied to Yahweh’s servant. Yahweh and Yahweh’s servant share an identity that maps onto our concept of God the Father and God the Son. This is probably why John cites these two passages from Isaiah as being fulfilled in Jesus. When John says that Jesus fulfills these prophecies of Isaiah, he plainly says, “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him,” (John 12:41). That is, Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15); He is the figure seated on the throne high and lifted up in Isaiah 6. And He is the servant, high and lifted up in Isaiah 53. Yet, as we turn to Isaiah 53, His exaltation is very different than what we expect.
**14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
- Isa 52:14-15**
The servant’s exaltation is astonishing, but not in the way you’d think. His appearance is marred. It is difficult to even recognize a human being in what He looks like. And because of that unique, jarring exaltation, He will cleanse nations—that is, the Gentiles, those outside of Israel. Israel’s response to the message of repentance? They are blinded by it. They cannot understand it, despite having the patriarchs, Moses, the Scriptures, the prophets. But here, the pagan Gentiles who have not been told about this messianic servant…they see, they listen, they believe, they are cleansed.
**1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
- Isa 53:1**
This is the verse John cites. Among the people of Israel, Isaiah’s ministry has been met with near universal rejection. No one has listened to Him. The “arm of the Lord” is metaphorical language in the Bible to refer to God’s capability and power, here personifying the servant of Yahweh—He is the arm of the Lord. And to whom of Israel has He been revealed? Almost none of them. They reject Him. But notice that Isaiah goes on to explain why He is rejected:
**2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
- Isa 53:2-4**
The servant of the Lord is rejected because He looks like a loser! He has no glory or majesty. He is a “root out of dry ground,”—a little plant that seems to come out of nowhere. He looks so plain, so unassuming that you would forget what he looks like as soon as you saw him. He is not particularly handsome. In fact, He looks despised. He is rejected by the elite. People don’t hold him in high esteem. He is sad and weepy—a man of grief and sorrows. He is so pitiful, that people can’t even look at Him, it is just too uncomfortable. When we stare at Him, we do not see one who looks blessed by God, but cursed. He is smitten, afflicted, crushed, bruised, abandoned, forsaken, alone, rejected, despised. And that just does not look like someone you want as your team captain. You want a winner! Someone who can flex, someone who can persuade, someone who can get a movement going, win an election, build a coalition, who has the vitality and strength to stand up to your enemies. Not someone crying alone in a dark corner. The frail, fledgling plant that is easily crushed with a boot doesn’t seem like it. So, the world turns a blind eye and moves on.
But, for those who have eyes to see, there is a strange glory hidden in the midst of this weakness:
**5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- Isa 53:5-6**
The servant suffers such shame, pain, and suffering not for His own sake or sin…but for ours. It is our sins that have led Him to be pierced, crushed, and chastised. We are the wandering sheep, we are the sinners, and Yahweh has laid on Him, what our wandering transgressions have earned. In Isaiah 6, as Yahweh is ‘high and lifted up’ in all the ways the world would expect a powerful, glorious God to be exalted. The train of his robe fills the temple, six-winged seraphim worship Him, the foundations of the heavenly temple tremble when He speaks. Worldly glory, worldly men would see that and say…That’s what I’m talking about! This is the power and glory I’m looking for, I’ll sign up for this team, I’ll set up my own little throne right next to His where I will sit!
But what is Isaiah’s response in that scene? Woe is me! For I am ruined, I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips…and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! The exaltation of the holiness of God produces terror in sinners. And drives them to the other “high and lifted up” exaltation of Yahweh in Isaiah 53 to explain how ruined sinners can dwell in the presence of a holy God…how their sin can be atoned for.
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” (John 12:32-33).
When Yahweh is high and lifted up, when the suffering servant is exalted, when the Son of Man is lifted up from the earth—two things will happen at once. He confounds the wisdom of the wise and exalts the folly of faithfulness. The first two vows we take as members of this church are:
“Do you believe that without Jesus you are a hopeless sinner who has rebelled against God and deserves his righteous anger?
Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of sinners and do you trust that Jesus’ death on the Cross alone has saved you from your sins?”
The worldly wise, the clever, the morally superior, the super-spiritual, the intellectual elites will look at it and say: That is beneath me. And the low, and weak, and sinful, the prostitutes and tax collectors, those who see something of themselves in the suffering servant, will look at Him upon the cross and say: That is what I deserve.
**For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
- Isa 57:15**
