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42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” ~ John 12:42-50
Many believed in the Lord Jesus but were fearful to let others know of their faith in Him. Their fear was hindered by potential rejection. They valued the itinerary of man more than that of God, thus their faith was not lasting. God gave to all of them what they absolutely needed to believe, yet they chose not to believe. In this way “He blinded their eyes and hardened their heart.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is so central to history that no one can afford to ignore Him. In v.44, John writes, “Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.” These are the last words the Lord Jesus says before He eats the Last Supper with His disciples.
On many occasions, the Lord Jesus said He and the Father were one. Like a pot of boiling water, the steam is the same as the water in the pot, just different expressions. In order to be our savior, the Lord Jesus must be God, and vice versa. And, if He isn't our Savior, God is not our Father. The Lord Jesus came to reveal things as they really are, real reality. The last reference in this Gospel of the Lord Jesus as the light of the world is found in v.46.
Again, in v.47-48, the Lord Jesus reiterates the fact that He came into the world to save the world, not to condemn it. When we hear His words and ignore them, He does not punish us for that. He gives us the opportunity to hear, again and again, that we might turn to Him. Though judgment does not come immediately, it will come, if we reject His free offer.
God does not condemn us for what we have not heard, but for ignoring what we have heard. The final judge is the word we have heard, the sayings of Jesus we already know. This means that those who are condemned on that day are self-condemned. They will stand silent before the One who will sits on His throne, rendered speechless by their guilty knowledge of truth they have not received and believed.
According to v.49-50 we all have a capacity for faith, we all can believe truth when we hear it and know it to be truth, but unused faith gets weakened. When we insist on some compromise, we cover our eyes and we turn away from His definition of things, our faith clings to another source which does not and will not deliver that life we truly desire.
The reality the Lord Jesus leaves us with is this: Will we experience true life? Will we experience His life? Or, will we be unable to live by the great promises of the gospel that highlights the fact that God chooses to inhabit our believing lives? Where we close our eyes to truth, eventually leads us to a life He died to free us from. Ours is that daily choice.
