37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.
Once again, John sounds the trumpet on the theme of persistent unbelief among those privileged to be both eyewitnesses of Jesus’ miracles and hearers of His Word. These serve as red flag warnings for us as well. The Israelites continuous unbelief of our Lord - even in the midst of His miraculous signs and wonders – certainly demonstrates irrational behavior. Such strong evidence they witnessed of the Christ’s Messiahship and yet they continued to hardened their hearts and turn their backs on the Truth. Sin always presents itself thus – at its very core it is irrational – as it always results in death. Not willing to put their faith in our Lord, not persuaded in the truthfulness of His message – they continued on in their hardness. Not too dissimilar to Pharaoh when confronted with the miracles Moses produced through God’s power. He, too, was unwilling to embrace the Truth. Readers beware – Pharaoh continued to harden his heart and refused to listen – over and over again he was unyielding – until at last the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. We definitely don’t want this – to say the least! We find the following verses in Deuteronomy:
34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. 35 So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses. Ex 9:34-35 (NIV)
20 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go. Ex 10:20 (NIV)
Ezekiel’s words ring in my ears as a wakeup call and plea to us today as well:
30 "Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! Ezek 18:30-32 (NIV)
We are individually accountable to our Creator who loves us with an everlasting love and whose desire is for us to live – both abundantly now and eternally later. He demonstrated this love by sending His Son to save us when we were all yet wallowing away in our sins and powerless to do anything about it – no exceptions. The Bible tells us there is no one righteous not even one:
10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. Romans 3:10-11 (NIV)
Our sins have separated us from God in Whom is Light and in Whom no darkness dwells. Holy and Perfect we all fall short of His glory. Paul tells us in Romans:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23 (NIV)
Scripture tells us the wages of our sin is death – even one sin would prevent us from the holy presence of God:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NIV)
Yet God in His great love and mercy provided a means for our salvation through His Son Jesus Christ:
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
Jesus is our only access to God – He is our only provision for sin:
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 (NIV)
By grace through faith in Christ we receive Him as our Savior and Lord and we are given the privilege to become children of God:
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- John 1:11-12 (NIV)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:8-10 (NIV)
Yet these onlookers of Jesus’ ways and Words held staunchly to their unbelief. Of these King David’s words ring true:
1 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Psalms 14:1-3 (NIV)
May this not be said of us. It is not a small thing to be God’s friend.