The Great Sifting: Signs, Sovereignty, and Secret Believers Text: John 12:37-43
Introduction: The Scandal of Divine Logic
We come now to a passage that is a hard stop for the modern mind. It is a theological and philosophical stumbling block, intentionally placed there by the Holy Spirit. Our generation, steeped as it is in the syrup of sentimentalism, wants a God who is a celestial butler, always on call, eager to please, and never, ever offensive. We want a democratic deity who must win our vote. But the God of Scripture is not running for office. He is the one who built the office.
John, under the inspiration of the Spirit, has just concluded his account of Jesus' public ministry. He has marshaled witness after witness, sign after sign. Water to wine, healing the nobleman's son, restoring the paralytic, feeding the five thousand, walking on water, giving sight to the blind man, and culminating in the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. The evidence is overwhelming, the case is airtight. And what is the verdict of the jury? "But though He had done so many signs before them, they still were not believing in Him."
How do we account for this? The modern evangelical instinct is to start making excuses for God, to try and get Him off the hook. We want to say that man's will is the sovereign thing, the impregnable fortress that even God cannot breach without permission. But John does not do this. He does not flinch. Instead, he leans into the scandal. He tells us this unbelief did not catch God by surprise; rather, it was the fulfillment of prophecy. He tells us that for a certain reason, they could not believe. And then he quotes the prophet Isaiah, who tells us that God Himself blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.
This is not a peripheral doctrine. This is the bedrock of a biblical worldview. It is the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty. It is the truth that separates the God who is God from the idols we fashion in our own image. If God is not sovereign over the human heart, then He is not sovereign at all. He is, at best, a frustrated manager, wringing His hands in heaven, hoping things turn out. But the God of the Bible is the one who "works all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph. 1:11). This passage forces us to confront this reality, and in doing so, it sifts us. It reveals whether we worship the God of Scripture or a god of our own imagining.
The Text
But though He had done so many signs before them, they still were not believing in Him, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?” For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, LEST THEY SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND RETURN AND I HEAL THEM.” These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke about Him. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory of men rather than the glory of God.
(John 12:37-43 LSB)
Astonishing Unbelief and Prophetic Fulfillment (v. 37-38)
We begin with the stark reality of their rejection.
"But though He had done so many signs before them, they still were not believing in Him, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: 'LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?'" (John 12:37-38)
John begins by stating the problem: overwhelming evidence met with stubborn unbelief. The signs were not ambiguous. They were not parlor tricks. They were raw, undeniable displays of divine power over nature, sickness, demons, and death itself. Yet, they did not believe. This demolishes the simplistic idea that "if only people had enough evidence, they would believe." Unbelief is not an information problem; it is a heart problem. It is not a lack of evidence but a suppression of it. Man in his natural state is not a neutral, objective observer. He is a rebel, and his reason is a lawyer hired to defend his rebellion, not a judge seeking the truth.
But John immediately places this unbelief into its proper theological context. It happened "so that" the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled. This is a purpose clause. Their unbelief was not a random accident that God had to react to; it was part of the script. John quotes from Isaiah 53:1, the great prophecy of the Suffering Servant. This is crucial. From the beginning, it was prophesied that the Messiah's report, the gospel message, would be met with widespread rejection. The "arm of the Lord," a metaphor for God's saving power in Christ, would be revealed, but many would not see it for what it was.
This tells us that God's plan is not fragile. It cannot be thwarted by human stubbornness. In fact, God's plan incorporates and uses human stubbornness for His own greater purposes. The rejection of the Messiah by the Jews was the very means by which the Gentiles would be brought in (Romans 11). God is playing chess, while rebellious man is playing checkers. And God has never lost a game.
The Hard Saying: Judicial Hardening (v. 39-41)
Here John drives the point home with a second, even more jarring, quotation from Isaiah.
"For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, 'HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, LEST THEY SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND RETURN AND I HEAL THEM.' These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke about Him." (John 12:39-41 LSB)
John says plainly, "For this reason they could not believe." This is the language of inability. It was not simply that they would not; it was that they could not. Why? Because God had actively intervened. He had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. This is a quotation from Isaiah 6:10, from the prophet's commissioning. God told Isaiah from the outset that his ministry would be one that resulted in the hardening of Israel. This is a terrifying doctrine, what theologians call judicial hardening.
This is not arbitrary. God does not harden innocent, seeking hearts. He hardens hearts that have already hardened themselves in rebellion. It is a divine judgment. It is God giving men over to the sin they have chosen. They loved the darkness, so God turned out the lights. They refused to hear, so God stopped their ears. This is what Paul describes in Romans 1: God "gave them up" to their lusts and their depraved minds. There comes a point when God says to the rebel, "All right, you want it? You got it." And that is the most fearful judgment of all.
The purpose clause is staggering: "LEST they see... and understand... and return and I heal them." God blinded them for the purpose of preventing their repentance at that time. This is a hard pill to swallow for our man-centered age, but it is the plain teaching of Scripture. God has a purpose in judgment as well as in salvation. We must bow before this mystery and confess that God is just, even when His ways are beyond our full comprehension. To argue with this is to put God in the dock and ourselves on the bench, which is the original sin of the Garden all over again.
And lest we think this is some obscure Old Testament concept, John tells us in verse 41 that when Isaiah saw the Lord, high and lifted up in the temple, whose glory he saw was the glory of Jesus Christ. "These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke about Him." The pre-incarnate Christ is the Yahweh of the Old Testament who commissions Isaiah and declares this judgment. The one who blinds and hardens is the same one who came to save. He is Lord of both.
Cowardly Faith and the Fear of Man (v. 42-43)
But the picture is not entirely bleak. There is another category of people John describes, and their condition is, in many ways, just as tragic.
"Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory of men rather than the glory of God." (John 12:42-43 LSB)
Here we have the secret believers, the cowardly disciples. These were not the hardened masses. These were rulers, men of influence, who were intellectually convinced. They "believed in Him." But their faith was a sterile, spineless thing. It never made it past their intellect to their tongue. Why? "Because of the Pharisees." They were afraid of the consequences. They feared being excommunicated, being "put out of the synagogue."
This is the classic fear of man, which the Bible says "brings a snare" (Proverbs 29:25). The fear of man is the beginning of all folly, just as the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. These men were more afraid of the scowls of the Pharisees than the judgment of God. They were more concerned with their social standing than their eternal standing. They were more worried about their reputation in Jerusalem than their reputation in heaven.
John provides the ultimate diagnosis in the final verse. It is a spiritual cost-benefit analysis. "For they loved the glory of men rather than the glory of God." It all comes down to what you love. What do you treasure? Whose approval do you crave? These men loved the praise, the honor, the back-slapping, the respect that came from their peers. They valued the horizontal glory more than the vertical glory. And in doing so, they showed that their "belief" was not a saving belief. Saving faith is a faith that confesses. As Paul says, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). The two are inseparable. A faith that is too ashamed to speak is a faith that is not there at all.
Conclusion: Whose Glory Do You Love?
This passage presents us with a stark and unavoidable choice. It functions like a divine sifter, sorting humanity into three piles. First, there are the openly rebellious, those who see the light and hate it, whose hearts are hardened in their defiance. Second, there are the cowardly believers, those who are intellectually persuaded but who love their comfort and reputation more than Christ. Their faith is a stillborn thing, useless and dead.
And by implication, there is a third group: those who believe the report. Those to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed. These are the ones who have been given eyes to see and hearts to understand. Their belief is not of their own doing; it is a gift, a miracle of sovereign grace. God did not harden them; He healed them. And because they have been healed, they do not fear the Pharisees. They do not love the glory of men. They have tasted the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and all other glories have turned to dust and ashes by comparison.
So the question this passage leaves us with is this: Whose glory do you love? Your answer to that question determines everything. Do you love the fleeting, fickle praise of men? Do you love your reputation, your social circle, your comfort? If so, you are in the most dangerous position of all. You are a secret disciple, which is another way of saying you are no disciple at all.
But if God has worked His grace in you, then you will love the glory of God. You will count all things as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord. You will confess Him before men, not because you are naturally brave, but because He is infinitely worthy. You will not be ashamed of the gospel, for you know it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. May God grant us this kind of robust, confessing, God-glorifying faith.