22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.
There is both privilege and responsibility that accompanies revelation from God. What do we do with what we have received? It matters.
“Every revelation of God is a demand, and the way to knowledge of God is by obedience.”
William Temple
In our verses for today Jesus clearly states that those who have been privy to what God has revealed through His Word and through His miraculous signs and wonders yet willfully rejects them are without excuse. Indeed, God tells us through the pen of Paul that there is enough evidence of God’s eternal powers and divine nature in the creation alone to leave man without excuse:
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20 (NIV)
When religious privileges and revelations are misused, man’s guilt is intensified and his condemnation increased. Those Christ spoke to had both heard His teachings and seen His miraculous works – all fingerprints of God – yet continued to remain unbelieving, unmoved. They willfully rejected the clearest possible light and were therefore the guiltiest of all men. What more could He have done for them?
“To see light and not use it, to possess knowledge and yet not turn it to account, to be able to say ‘I know,’ and yet not to say ‘I believe,’ will place us at the lowest place on Christ’s left hand, in the great day of judgment.” John Charles Ryle
We who live in the land of open Bibles and freely preached Gospel should certainly take pause at our Lord’s Words and consider our own lives as well. Revelation must not be lightly regarded - if embraced it helps us toward heaven, if shunned - we only sink deeper into hell. This is not something God merely winks at or takes lightly. We are held accountable to what our ears have heard and our eyes have seen. Our judgment is held according to our light. Luke tells us:
47 "That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:47-48 (NIV)
Earlier in John Jesus tells us:
36 "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent." John 5:36-38 (NIV)
God lovingly still continually seeks to get our attention and draw us to Himself. He is vastly creative in His efforts using everything from nature to the pastor in the pulpit to the waitress at the restaurant to the child in the neighborhood speaking into our hearts over and over again. Margaret Feinberg calls them “sacred echoes”:
“When it comes to hearing from God, I firmly believe the Bible is our source and authority. God's Word is like a megaphone to His people. Throughout Scripture God speaks through kings and queens, princes and prophets, poets and pilgrims. He speaks through weather patterns, barnyard animals and even the stars in the sky. God is not only creative, but He is persistent in getting our attention and communicating with us.” Margaret Feinberg
“(Why does God) bother to speak to us? The truly staggering answer that the Bible gives to this question is that God’s purpose in revelation is to make friends with us. It was to this end that he created us rational beings, bearing his image, able to think and hear and speak and love; he wanted there to be genuine personal affection and friendship, two-sided, between himself and us—a relation, not like that between a man and his dog, but like that of a father to his child, or a husband to his wife. Loving friendship between two persons has no ulterior motive; it is an end in itself. And this is God’s end in revelation. He speaks to us simply to fulfill the purpose for which we were made; that is, to bring into being a relationship in which he is a friend to us, and we to him, he finding his joy in giving us gifts and we finding ours in giving him thanks”. J I Packer