New Thoughts (02/09/11-02/18/11)
For this passage it would be well to consider each verse in its turn for the most part. It opens with something not unlike a sentence passed down. It is interesting that this morning’s Table Talk article covered that point in Colossians wherein Paul speaks of that which God had nailed to the cross on our account, the tabulated list of all our sins and the penalty due. This sentence strikes me as presenting that same sort of list, but captured in summation. Here are your crimes: You have been witness to so much incontrovertible evidence on behalf of My Son, and still you rejected Him, refused to believe in Him. Had this come as the Voice of God speaking, it would surely have chilled to the bone. But, it is written well after the fact, thus serving more as an historical reflection.
At the same time, I am struck by a point made in what I was reading in regard to Isaiah. In the article covering Isaiah in Fausset’s Encyclopedia the author notes that much of the historical material in the Old Testament is written with a prophet’s perspective. True, these are writings that consider past rather than future, but it is the past considered in the light of God’s plans and purposes. It is far different than simply the recitation of dates and events such as we were taken through in school. It is a noting of the significance in those events, and how those events give rise to the present. Even this, we might have heard in some degree in our school experience. But, if we did, what we heard was still a very human perspective, a human cause and effect. The prophetic view of history, however, is looking at God’s hand upon history, sensing the goodness of God in His present actions given the record of His previous actions and the previous actions of His people. I don’t know that I’m expressing that as well as I might.
This has an added bit of interest for me in that I am also involved with a brief study of 1Kings and 2Kings, and these are among those prophetic history texts. It is not just a record of who reigned for how long in which kingdom and in what order. That’s in there, certainly. But, the focus of the author is upon setting the stage so that his readers might understand how it could be that the people of God had fallen on such hard times. How could it be that God had allowed ten tribes to be scattered into the realms of Assyria? How could it be that Judah faced its own exile in Babylon?
These same sorts of questions bother both Jew and Christian to this day. The Jew of today in America is still wondering how it could be that God allowed the Holocaust to transpire, and what sort of God He is, if that is so. Some may be wise enough to cast a prophet’s eye upon that history, to ask not what sort of God would allow it, but what sort of people they had been that He found it necessary. But, it’s more in our nature to suppose that this was a grotesque injustice perpetrated by God than to even suggest that He may have had good reason.
The Christian may have the same kinds of issues. Certainly, it’s the sort of thing that the more activist sort of atheists like to throw out for argument. How could a good God have allowed the likes of a Katrina to occur? How could a good God allow hurricanes and earthquakes and all the other evils manifested by nature? How is it good to allow so many innocents to die in these events? Of course, we would swiftly point out the theological issue of assuming anybody truly innocent. Of course, we would trot out the perfectly valid point that the far greater mystery is why God has mercy on anybody at all. But, the truth is that we face situations in which it is difficult for us to see the goodness of God, and we are quite likely, in those situations, to question.
Where such questioning arises, however, the need is not for God to answer for His behavior, but for us to correct our perspective. The questioning arises for the most part because we have an inflated sense of our own value and worth. It arises because we have set ourselves as the measure, rather than God. He must meet our standards and not we His. It’s a fallacy and we surely know it, and yet we persist in that mindset. But, the answer is to view these situations from God’s perspective, to look upon our history with a prophetic eye. Only to the degree that we can do this can we really make sense of the events of life. I’m not implying that sort of prophetic behavior one associates with the more Charismatic corners of the Church in this instance. That has its validity, but it’s not what I’m talking about here. We don’t need to work up some, ‘Thus sayeth the Lord,’ energy in ourselves to perceive His hand upon events. We just need to remember that His hand is upon events, and then consider the outworking of that reality.
All of this serves as a lead up to a relatively simple point. It strikes me that John is casting exactly that prophetic eye upon the reaction to Jesus in Jerusalem. For those who believed, it must have seemed incredulous. How could this be? With all that Jesus had done, with the incredible power of His teaching, how was it even possible that God’s chosen people – the experts amongst His chosen people – rejected Him outright? How could it be that those who had the most reason to believe instead not only rejected Him but persecuted Him, sought to destroy Him? These first few verses, with the criminal charge laid and then explained, give us the answer to these questions.
I would not be surprised in the least to learn that John had been asking such questions for his own part. He had lived long enough to spend a good deal of time thinking on such things, and he had that period of isolation out on Patmos during which to ponder. Those over whom he served as shepherd may well have had similar concerns. And, as for those who had not been witness to the events, but learned of Jesus by the Gospels, by the Apostles, and by other believers, the questions must have loomed even larger. If this Jesus is Who you say He is, how is it that so few amongst the eye-witnesses recognized this? Thus we find John giving answer to these questions; first acknowledging the fact and then explaining it.
As he begins that explanation, looking upon these events with prophetic insight, he sees older prophets looking back at him. He is not surprised by this, but rather assured. It stands to reason that those who look upon the world through the eyes of God see things in the same fashion, whether those things be in the past or in the future. It further stands to reason that all such men, looking upon the course of human history, must find themselves focused on that which is the pinnacle of human history: the life, death and resurrection of the Son of Man. He came as fulfillment of all which the older prophets had foretold. Having come, He has become the subject of every prophet since.
There remains, I accept, a forward looking role for the prophet in our day, as there must remain such a role until we are arrived at our perfection in Christ. So long as our knowledge remains dim and in part, we have need of those who can clarify what lies ahead, giving us a clearer vision of the kingdom we serve. But, the big picture prophet, he is looking upon history now as the outworking of what the Christ accomplished then. For the old period prophet like Isaiah, that moment was yet future, and thus, they looked upon what history was leading up to. Today, the perspective reverses, and the prophet considers how the accomplished work of Christ is playing out in the history of man since, and how that continued outworking of the Christ shapes both present and future.
So, then, John sees Isaiah back there, pointing to the very events he is describing and providing the explanation for what seemed so difficult to accept. John, in his turn, hears what Isaiah was saying and recognizes that yes, this captured the situation perfectly, and with that, his own troubling thoughts are set at rest. With understanding gained, this shepherd of the flocks of Christ sets forth what he has understood so that we, too, might understand and be at peace, our confidence in this Christ of God undisturbed.
You see, he writes, this unbelief in the face of overwhelming evidence is no more and no less than the word of Isaiah fulfilled. It is further evidence that God is true to His word. It’s worthy of a brief excursion to consider that word, ‘word’: The word of Isaiah, which is in turn the word of the Lord, in which, as John will arrive at telling us, Isaiah was seeing the Word of the Lord. We are considering the Greek term Logos, familiar enough to all who have been in the Church for any length of time. Yet, it is a term that remains somewhat mysterious to us, particularly given its application to the Son of God. He is the Word! We tingle at the thought and yet we have only the vaguest sense of what it means. We get so wrapped up in our Christianese that we’re satisfied to just speak the term and nod knowingly, all the while knowing very little indeed.
There are several aspects of this Logos that could be explored. I am going to focus, however, on one particular aspect, and that is the fact that logos invariably implies thought. Whether it be used in reference to the spoken word, the written word, or the Living Word, this aspect ought to be borne in mind: That word is reflective of thought. Put it more plainly: It is rational. It expresses reasoned, coherent, sober-minded thinking.
As applied to the things recorded by the prophets, it would be well to consider this point. They were not talking nonsense. They were not just babbling on about their latest dream or hallucination. They were moved to speak, act and write as they did by reasoned thought. Truly, they were moved to do so by Reason Himself, by Wisdom.
This same point applies many times over when we consider the Word, and the message He delivered. He was and is the Express Thought of God. He is the manifest Intelligence of the Creator. Recognizing this, that God intentionally expresses Himself so as to make sense, so as to grant us to understand Him; we ought surely to arrive at the understanding that this faith in which we stand is no blind grabbing at straws. We have every reason to believe, even as those whom John is pointing out in this passage. They, too, had every reason to believe, but rejected the Reason. In our corollary position as believers, we must surely understand that real faith is never blind. Blind faith is little different than wishful thinking. But, ours is no wishful thought. Ours is a heartfelt response to conclusive evidence.
Understanding this, we may well have the same question in mind that John is addressing in these first verses. If the evidence is so clear, so conclusive, then how is it that so many fail to reach the conclusion? How is it that with such an undeniable Truth set before them, so many people deny the Truth anyway?
Well, John answers, this is but proof of the reason Isaiah wrote what he wrote. It is further evidence that he was not just writing an op ed, he was laying down God’s message. He, too, was caught out by the sad wonder of having the Message rejected. Who has believed, Lord? I’ve been telling them what You told me, but really: has anybody believed me? To whom have you revealed Yourself? Yes, I know that I can say this, that I saw the Lord high and lifted up. I have said it. But, am I the only one? Amongst all that remains of Your people, is there nobody else who believes, who knows?
Consider the period Isaiah lived through. If I accept that the book bearing his name was truly his work from start to finish, then I accept that he served from the last year of Uzziah on through Hezekiah’s time. As I am currently going through the books of the Kings in a separate study, and have just passed through the coverage of this particular period, it’s hard to imagine a more depressing period in Israel’s history. Granted that the nation had been in a long decline ever since Solomon’s reign, but there had been moments. Every once in awhile, at least Judah had known a king of some worth. No, they were never on a par with David, but at least they tried. But, the tribes to the north: they had become less and less distinguishable from the Canaanites they were intended to drive out of there. They were become pagans, these who had been called sons of God.
How many others had God sent amongst them to recall them to Himself? They had known Elijah. They had known Elisha (and him not dead that many years). They had other prophets sent amongst them to get them to wake up and see what was happening, but they ignored most and killed some, and went right back to doing everything but honoring God. And, God had finally had enough. He determined that they had fulfilled the balance of their sins, and He brought the penalty. Isaiah could only watch from Jerusalem, acknowledging the righteousness of this action, and knowing full well that the same punishment would fall on Jerusalem. For Jerusalem had failed to learn from this example, and instead opted to follow it. Who has believed me, God? Who knows You any more? What’s the point of going on with this work? I make no headway, and the people continue to thumb their noses in Your face.
God answered. That’s the point of what follows in verses 39 and 40 of our text. There’s a reason why they don’t believe, Isaiah. It’s because the can’t. It’s not possible for them. They don’t have the power to believe. Oh! How that grates on our ears, to hear God saying what comes next: I blinded them. I hardened their hearts. I have done this to prevent them from returning to Me to be healed. WHAT? God! How could You? And, again, modesty ought to drive us to the opposite end of that question, staring in wonder at this One who opted not to do the same with us.
How strong is our reaction to this revelation? Consider that even the Message feels the need to soften the blow a bit. “First they wouldn't believe, then they couldn't.” So it is expressed there. See? He was just responding to the behavior of the people. They made the first move. He was just granting them their wish. Honestly, there is that in God’s justice which tends to follow along these lines, and I accept that quite often that’s exactly what we see playing out. Indeed, that’s part of the judgment Paul lays out in the beginning of Romans. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. […] For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions. […] They abandoned the natural function, […] and receiv[ed] in their own persons the due penalty of their error. Just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God an longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper” (Ro 1:25-28).
However, as applied to the present text, this is a dilution of the point being made. When John writes that they could not believe, he writes ouk eedunanto. The latter word here is dunamis, power, that well known bit of Greek from which we get our words dynamo and dynamite. But, there’s that ouk on the front end. Ouk, as Thayer’s Lexicon explains, “denies the thing itself”. Zhodiates explains it this way: Ouk denies that what follows applies. The sum of this is that ouk indicates that what follows simply does not apply. It’s impossible that it should. So, what we have John saying here is that the power to believe does not apply to them. They can’t. They had no power to. There was nothing they could possibly have done to change that fact.
How can that be? Are we not a people of free will? Certainly, we are, and those who disbelieved, to a man, freely chose their unbelief. Yet, as a dear friend of mine once said, God’s will is freer. He’s got the trump card. He plays it only in such a way as manages through consanguinity to align with our own choices, in such a way that our own free will just happens to coincide with His own. But, when He says it’s not happening, I’ve got news for you: It’s not happening, and nothing you or I might think to do is going to change that.
Thus, the impossibility is explained by the reasoned word given to Isaiah that he might in turn give it to us: HE blinded, HE hardened. That’s the fundamental that’s at work in all this. God hasn’t been snookered. As much as we like to blame the devil for all this (and he is quite often, if not always, the means by which the deed is done), we forget that his activities are fully bounded and constrained by the One we serve. Even for him, his choices are of necessity aligned with the plan and purpose of God, else they amount to nothing.
For Isaiah, I don’t know how much comfort was found in this revelation. He’s still faced with a certain futility to his actions. He’s still out there warning a people that will not heed the warning and he knows it. But, at least he also knows that his God knows it.
And then, John also points us to what gave Isaiah the strength to go on: He saw Messiah’s glory on the horizon. He saw glimpses of what God’s plan still had in store beyond this period of awfulness. So, he spoke of Messiah’s glory. I have to suppose that he also saw that Messiah, the very Salvation of God, would face the same exact issues that Isaiah was facing. And, I have to suppose that Isaiah understood on some level that this Messiah he saw was God Himself. Well, then: if God’s got to deal with it, too, I suppose I must as well. But, Isaiah, like Jesus, saw beyond that trial to come. He saw beyond the age of the Suffering Servant with Whom he shared certain of the suffering. He saw the joy that was set before that Servant, and he saw that in that joy was every reason not only for Messiah to continue, but also for himself. For, seeing that joy, Isaiah must also have seen that his place in that joy was reserved with non-rescindable guarantees.
In a way, Scripture reinforces this sense of connection between Isaiah and Jesus. As a starter, they share a similar significance of name. Jesus, as we speak of Yeshua, or Joshua, which is His given name, means God saves Isaiah likewise means the salvation of God. In Isaiah’s case, the name derives from yasha` [OT:3467]: to be or be made free, safe, and Yahh [OT:3050]: which serves as a stand-in contraction for Yehovah [OT:3068]: the Self-Existent and Eternal One. Joshua, by which name our Lord is called, shares the very same derivation. One could certainly write this off as being the most circumstantial of connections between these two, but let it stand. If I return to the recognition that all of Scripture is truly the story of our Lord and Savior, Yeshua the Messiah, and if I recognize that the course of His earthly life in many ways ran as a recapitulation of Israel’s history, then connections such as these, however circumstantial in appearance, are worthy of my consideration.
So, here we have Isaiah, “God saves”, serving during some of the darkest years of Jewish history. He is witness to the fall of the northern kingdoms, as I am studying in other regards. He is witness to the same corruptions of faith which brought Israel’s downfall creeping into the practices of Judah. He is well fit, then, to recognize what must lay ahead for Judah. History itself has provided the prophetic message for all to see. And yet, he sees that they do not see. Who has believed? How can they be so blinded? Ah, my God, but You are in control! It is, once again, the very same sense of sad wonder that John would seem to have felt, that his flock felt, and it is the same answer that restores a kingdom perspective. They are blind because God has made it so. Nevertheless, there are many who believe. Think what is lovely and good, child. Rejoice in the remnant.
There is this other bit of a connection that one might draw between Isaiah and Jesus, as Fausset’s suggests: It is rather interesting that the dawn of Isaiah’s period in the prophetic office roughly coincides with the time in which Rome was being built. Even as he enters into that service wherein he is seeing Messiah’s day, seeing it both in its sorrows and in its ultimate victorious joy, he is living in parallel with that very empire by which the whole of that vision would be brought to pass. Imagine that! From where he lived, that great empire was not even a nation of any note. Rome at that point had no presence on the world stage. Yet, over the years that Isaiah’s vision crossed, that nothing would become the largest empire yet, and would for all intents and purposes rule the world.
Consider how powerful that empire was by the time Jesus was born. Consider how we see Rome used by the writers of the New Testament. Rome was the world power. Rome was, in that sense, akin to Babylon in the Jewish mind. How so? Well, Babylon had been the tool in God’s hand when the time came for Judah’s own punishment, Babylon the place of Judah’s exile. Babylon had also, we might wish to recall, been the place of Daniel’s most marvelous vision of the Messianic rescue to come, as well as Ezekiel’s.
As Rome came to be seen in like fashion in the eyes of the Apostles, the focus we find in Scripture most often seems to have been on the negative. Rome became the byword for the ruling power of this world, and as such, a stand in for the devil. Here was the power of darkness arrayed against our Lord and His light. With the same prophetic vision that served Isaiah’s office, they looked at Rome, but they looked beyond it. They looked at it with God’s perspective, saw it in God’s hands, a tool to serve His purpose. That purpose, to be sure, would serve to rebuke His people, even as Babylon had done. But, that tool, like Babylon would know its own rebuke when its time was through. And, to be sure, the time of Rome would be through. When its time had fully passed, the people of God would still be standing. Salvation, after all, belongs to our God. God is Salvation.
Had John simply left off at pointing out the correlation of current events with Isaiah’s words, it would be but cold comfort to himself and to his readers. Indeed, if that was it, it would be a very strong disincentive to any sort of evangelistic efforts, wouldn’t it? I suppose the Apostles must have had to deal with that sense of futility in their own right. And, to aid them in that effort, Jesus had taught them well. We might recall the parable of the seed and the soils in that regard. The sower, Jesus pointed out, was not responsible for how the soil received the seed. The sower was responsible for sowing, regardless of where that seed was cast.
We are not called to cast our pearls before swine, no, but neither are we to be so selective in our efforts. Our tendency, it seems, is to focus on what we perceive to be the ‘low hanging fruit’, the ones who we might call seekers, who give us cause to believe they might believe. But, I don’t see that Jesus ever gave us cause to develop any such system of selection. That parable was not aimed at getting us to be better farmers, considering more carefully the nature of the soil before we threw our seed upon it. Rather, it was aimed at reminding us not to measure the worth of our efforts on the apparent results. True, it may well be (most likely will be) that the majority of our efforts will appear wasted. We will, if we are sowing at all, find our efforts to be rather fruitless in many cases. We will suffer outright rejection of our message. We will know the disappointments of those in whom the Word appeared to be well received and even growing, but who later just walk away from it. Such a waste of our energies, let alone the sorrow of the kingdom’s loss in that individual. Why God? Why allow us to spend so much precious time on one whose ears are plugged by Your own fingers? But, the great consolation for the evangelist is that even though it appears that there is no fruit coming from the vast majority of efforts, yet the fruitfulness of those very few in whom the seed of the Word has taken root in truth is so great as to more than make up for all the fallow ground.
There is something of that message to be found in verse 42 here. Nevertheless, many believed. And, note this: even amongst the rulers! The message was never so poorly received as it had seemed. Oh, yes, that history which lies just ahead in John’s coverage, and which looms so particularly large in his memories of that time, looks so incredibly bleak. If, as we might well suppose, this text was written after the fall of Jerusalem, it might seem very bleak indeed. Poor Israel! Once again, she finds herself under the loving wrath of God. Yes, I know exactly how dissonant is the sound of those two terms combining. Loving wrath? Well, yes. Yes, I would maintain it is the only sort of wrath God could know, particularly towards those He has declared His own. He has never been thrilled, nor ever shall, with the necessity of punishment. His preference is ever and always that we might repent and be saved. Yet, He also knows our stubborn willfulness and how very much it takes to break through our dull-witted heads.
It looked like the end for Israel. The pronouncements that Jesus had made even a few days ago, the evidence of Jerusalem’s fall confirming His words, the acts of God’s own people towards God’s own Son: Who could imagine God finding room to forgive after all of that? Nevertheless! No! It was not so dark as it seemed. Many believed. God had still preserved a remnant unto Himself. There were, indeed, those to whom He had revealed His arm.
This is nothing unique to Israel’s history, to be sure. The same story has played out repeatedly in the course of Church history. Comes a time when all seems lost. The barbarians are at the gate and the defenders have grown to weak and weary to be bothered with resistance. But, there is always that Nevertheless of God. The darkness of Mohammed is overrunning the region, destroying all evidence of faith as it rolls along? Never fear! The germ of Christian rebirth is preserved and sent beyond reach. The Church grows so corrupt that it seems all knowledge of the Truth must surely be choked out? But, it is not so! God is able to relight the fires. God has His men positioned throughout the course of history, for history is His story, over which He alone holds the pen.
Well, then, before we arrive at the words of Jesus on this occasion, I would point out yet one more parallel between the events described here and the events of Isaiah’s time. As I have noted before, I am working through Second Kings in a separate effort. Yet, as God would have it, those efforts are never truly separate, are they? At any rate, looking at the prophetic eye cast upon Israel’s history in that time, the historian looks upon even the best kings of Judah and recognizes that however much they may have done in God’s name, it was never complete. It seems like the closest to a ringing endorsement the author can manage is, “he did what was right in God’s eyes, except…”. There’s always that bit left undone, that aspect of society that they simply will not challenge.
This, I think, stands in parallel to what we read about these believers in high places. They believed, but they kept it to themselves for fear of the repercussions that would ensue were they more public. The Pharisees would see them not only tossed out of their positions, but tossed out of the synagogue, marked men whom the people of Israel were to have no further association with. The severity of the ban they faced is not, I think, fully clear to us. This wasn’t just ejection from one congregation. This was nearer to the idea of excommunication as practiced in the Catholic church (at least as I understand it). But, even then, by today’s standards anyway, the impact was more severe. After all, the vast majority of Israelites would count themselves as being in good standing with the Temple, and the Temple’s God, whether it was true or not. To be put under the ban meant that anybody of such standing would have no further truck with you. It was shunning made most effective. You were not welcome in the houses of the unbanned. You were not spoken to. You would receive no succor from any quarter. You were unemployable, unspeakable, perhaps even a little lower than the leper (or even the tax-collector). And yes, they kept their silence rather than risk the results of exposure.
I wonder how this might have resonated with those who survived the periods of Roman persecution. If the repercussions faced by these rulers seemed terrible, what shall we say of those later repercussions, when life itself was made forfeit and in most fearsome and torturous fashion? For those who stood firm in spite of the danger, we might have some understanding as to why they found it hard to forgive those who did not. Yet, there were some who counseled a better option, and it would not be at all surprising to learn that this text we are studying was a part of their argument. Were these leaders in Jerusalem condemned by God for remaining hidden in their faith? Certainly they were rebuked and likely disciplined, as well. But, no; I don’t find evidence of condemnation on the part of God. After all, He had already proclaimed that all who believed would be saved.
That said, as we come into verse 43, and into the words of Jesus which follow thereupon, we must recognize that the certainty of salvation does not give us any cause to think our temerity is acceptable. Let me start with the verdict delivered in that verse: They loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. Here, we are not talking that simpler issue of preference and disregard that was explored in considering John 12:25. There, the term for love was phileo. Here, we are looking at agape. We are considering that sort of love that indicates the focus of all one’s will and joy. And what does the Westminster Catechism speak of as the chief purpose, the highest end of man? His highest purpose is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever. That is, in its way, a conceptualization of what the agape sort of love means. God our focus: His glory our purpose, and all our joy found in Him. What John is saying of these rulers is that they had instead lived according to the formula: The good opinion of our fellow man our focus: Glorifying those who set the rules our purpose, and all our joy found in their praise of our efforts.
I dare say that had you asked these rulers if this was how they felt, they would have denied it vehemently. If you asked the typical believer today if this was how he felt, he would deny it just as vehemently. But, actions speak far louder than words, and a look at the life of that typical believer would, as did a look at the lives of these rulers in Jerusalem, reveal that the true answer was exactly the opposite. We are a people inclined to the praising of Jesus with our lips and denying Him by our actions. I am not suggesting wholesale rebellion is the standard of the church today. I am, however, saying that it is the rare believer who comes near to a consistent living out of the life Jesus commanded. It is a rare believer, indeed, who wears his faith, as it were, emblazoned on his forehead where there is no possibility of the non-believer missing the message.
This goes beyond having a nifty Christian bumper sticker. It goes beyond wearing the T-shirt. It certainly goes well beyond weekly attendance, or even attendance in God’s house more frequently than that. It has to do with how one addresses the world at large, how one lives in the marketplace, the workplace, the schoolyard and everywhere in between. Would anybody have cause to suspect you of being a believer? I’m talking about having greater cause for suspicion than your perhaps having mentioned that you went to church last week. Frankly, a lot of unbelievers could say as much. But, what about your habits? What about your language? What about your general treatment of those around you? Is there evidence that there’s something different about you? Or do you simply try to get along? I’m going to guess that, at least for those of us in whom faith is a reality, the answer is mixed. We have our moments, perhaps, but I don’t know too many of whom I would think the evidence is consistent. I’ve know a few. I would have to say I am not one I would count in that few.
You see, there is a problem that is being manifested with this misplaced concern for approval. We might try to write it off as simply a fearful nature, or an issue with low self-esteem. The truth is, however, that we have very little issue with low self-esteem. We are far more likely to think too highly of ourselves. If it were not so, we would have little concern for what others think of our status as followers of the risen Christ. If it were not so, we wouldn’t give a moment’s thought to considerations of how foolish our coworkers might think it is that we hold to such beliefs. If our confidence is truly and fully in God, what weight to the opinions of man carry with us? But, you see the result that awaits if we do not correct this attitude is that we discover concern for man’s opinions devaluing our faith.
What can it say of our faith, after all, that we remain fearful of the disapproval and derision of our peers? Indeed, why do we even look upon them as peers? They are one of three things, two really: They are either fellow members of the household of God who have not yet been given to recognize that truth, or they are those of which we just read Isaiah’s description: blinded and hardened by God’s own determination, and therefore chaff which will be blown away by the next breeze. We, of course, do not have the insight of God by which to determine which category applies, and so we are commanded to consider them all as belonging to that former category. They are potential brothers. Whether they laugh and sneer or whether they even seek to inflict bodily harm, yet they are no worse than we were ourselves in our day. They are no more beyond hope than were we. Likewise, they are no more capable of managing their own rescue than were we.
If, then, we are faced with a world in need, a world whose Savior lives, but who see Him not, what ought we to be doing? Well, we could consider heeding the commandment that was left with us. Go and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the Triune name of God. Teach them. Train them to observe (do, obey) all that I commanded you (Mt 28:19-20). In the kingdom, that awful adage that those who cannot do, teach, does not apply. If, in the kingdom of God, you do not do, then you have no means by which to teach, for the teaching of a disciple is ever by example. There’s room for the didactic in that, but it is the example that matters. If there is no example for that disciple to follow, then he is no disciple, only a student.
Well, I can’t speak for anybody else, but I can say I stand convicted by this line of thought. I have failed to consider those I meet as candidates for salvation, failed, really to give it much consideration at all. I have inclined myself to just trying to get along with everybody. I can even dress it up with Scripture, and say I am seeking to be at peace with all men. But, where is the love? Where is the love of God which would lead me to be more concerned for those men than for my self-image and safety? Where is the love of those poor, lost men that would tend to make me concerned for their own chance at salvation? Not that there’s anything in what I might say that has some great power to break through their blindness. No. If there is any power at all in what I write, what I teach, what I do, it is Christ alone. If He does not choose to inhabit those efforts, then those efforts are as vain as am I. But, if I shall not so much as make the effort, how then do I have a right to say that I am His? “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Where is the love?
Faith devalued by an overweening concern for what others think; can it be so? Oh, look. I know my faith is not my own, but a gift of God given me in spite of myself. But, there is clearly another aspect of this life of faith believing. There is clearly a matter of personal responsibility that must be addressed in it. We may still have that assurance of salvation ahead, but do we really wish to arrive at our final destination as those saved through fire? When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he was writing to a people granted that same gift of faith. Yet, he saw fit to remind them of this: Our works will be mad evident, revealed by such fire as will test the quality of our work. Such works as are not consumed by that flame will have a reward, but what is burnt up will be to our loss. Yes, we shall nonetheless be saved, but as through fire (1Co 3:13-15). This is the precursor to that most powerful reminder: Don’t you realize that you are God’s temple, that the Spirit of God dwells in you (1Co 3:16)?
Which matters more to you? That you have God living within, or that you have society living without? Whom would you rather have upset with you? Whom would you rather have pleased with you? What profit will it have been to you to gain the good opinion of even the whole world, if it comes at the forfeiture of your soul (Mk 8:36)? Yes, the answers to these questions are obvious. We know what they should be. We also know that things are not always as they should be.
So, God gives us this mirror to look into. We have set before us believers who acted as they did because they were hungrier for man’s approval than God’s. We have another mirror, though: We have the model of our Teacher, Who could say with all candor, “I don’t receive glory from men” (Jn 5:41). Here, then, was His measure of those who came against Him: “I know that you have no love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you reject Me. Yet, you would happily receive another who came with no authority greater than his own opinion” (Jn 5:42-43). And, given this situation, here was the problem He pointed out to those listening: “How, then, can you believe? You receive glory from another and don’t seek the glory which is from the only God” (Jn 5:44)! How can you believe if you’re busy chasing after what is no more than man’s opinion? How can you believe God when you’re busy believing such nonsense? There’s only room for One.
This is the very issue on which Jesus was constantly challenging the Pharisees. You look good, but you’re only fooling yourself. God sees the inner condition, and He’s frankly not impressed. Check the mirror. Which of these reflects your condition: That one over there hiding away his faith, or the One who gives no thought at all to such glory as comes from men? Which one are you: the stealth Christian or the one who speaks and does only as he has seen his Teacher doing? I well know that I can come up with all manner of justifications for the stealth program, and I can come near to convincing myself that it’s an effective form of evangelism. But, the reality is that this is not the way in which we have been taught.
As we proceed into the words of Jesus which follow, I think that will become clear. I think we shall find that while the stealth Christian may indeed be saved, if he is truly a Christian at all, he will be one of those snatched from the fire, barely in the door, and embarrassingly short on things for which the Father can reward him. And yet, we are all Pharisees after our fashion. We are all Pharisees except in those particular places where the Spirit of the Living God keeps us true. Put differently, to the degree that we are attuning our ways to the promptings of that Holy Spirit Who Is our Counselor and Teacher in this life, we are able to steer clear of our naturally, Pharisaic tendencies. But, there remains that in us which can’t seem to help but go wandering off after good intentions of our own devising.
But, those good intentions are never enough. The movement that became the Pharisees began with what we would consider good intentions, but it soon enough ran off the rails. We may be able to point to some good intentions behind the ways we veer from the course laid out for us by the Word of God. We may have good intentions to explain our efforts to make the true faith more attractive to the culture at large. We may have good intentions for focusing on the God is Love message to the exclusion of reminding those who hear us that He is also Holy, Righteous, and as often as not Wrathful, even while He remains that God Who is Love. But, however good the intentions, the intentions are insufficient. Indeed, as with the Pharisees, it is quite likely that what look like good intentions to us are not good at all. If we are having to point to our good intentions, then the changes are very good that our intentions missed the point entirely.
Consider: The Pharisees began with the good intention of guarding against any accidental breech of God’s Law, by establishing boundaries for themselves that were (in their view) far from the line drawn by God. But, in doing so, as Jesus makes clear in His own lessons, they were completely missing the point of the Law. The only reason they thought they could establish such boundaries is because they considered only the most literal, bare-bones reading of the Law. They saw “Thou shalt not murder,” and they set themselves to finding ways to guard against commission of such an act of bloodshed. But, they failed to notice that the command as written was intended to point to a whole category of behavior whose pinnacle, we might say, was that actual commission of the act. It begins, as Jesus noted, with no more than a degraded and degrading view of your fellow man such as would allow you to think of him as a worthless fool. The act is already inherent in the thought, and what sort of legal boundary are you going to try and establish on the thought process? It’s not possible.
The purpose of the Law was to drive us to the Christ, to make clear to us once for all just how dependent we truly are upon the grace of God to save us. Instead, the Pharisees, for all their good intentions, sought to find a way to rely on themselves. Suddenly, those good intentions don’t look so good, do they? In truth, they militated against the very Law they claimed to support from the outset, whether or not those promulgating the tenets of the movement realized it.
In the same way, to the degree that we go about establishing programs and habits and rituals that do not follow the prescribed pattern of Scripture, we are in reality fighting against the very faith we think to support. If we water down the Gospel to make it more palatable to the culture, we do neither the Gospel nor the culture any favors. If we seek to make our services more entertaining and attractive for ‘the seekers’, we have utterly failed to comprehend the power of God. He, after all, is the only Seeker, and if those who come to our doors are truly the sought, then the power of God in preaching and in manifest impact on those in the pews will be more than sufficient to open eyes and soften hearts.
The most we might do by our own efforts and programs is to swell the ranks and maybe fill the coffers a bit. But, we shall have done nothing for the kingdom of God. The pews may be full, but full of unbelief. The bank balance might look good, but that balance will not be on the scales of eternity. Our mission, both as individuals and as a community of saints, must be to seek as best we may, under the tutelage and guidance of the Holy Spirit of the Living God, to live and to teach only as He has shown us.
And with that, I think we can begin to look at what Jesus has to say. I believe that a large part of His message is precisely for those believers hiding away. I believe it is both for those who were hiding in the crowds that day, believing but not daring to admit it, and for those of us today who are rather cowed by the unbelief of the world around us. Let me be particularly clear on this point: Those who were hiding back then were believers, true believers. The text does not indicate anything less about them. Likewise, the more timid in our number today remain true believers. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, and they are in. There is, however, growth. There is, however, fruit which must appear. If there is timidity, we ought reasonably to expect that at some point, the work of God on that timid one will bring forth a certain boldness. But, we are not fit to pass any sentence of judgment upon such a one because they are not so bold as we (if, indeed, we are bold).
The opening words of what Jesus says here point through or beyond Himself to the Father. They also establish a certain and necessary linkage between Son and Father. He sent Me. If you believe in Me, you believe in Him. If you see Me, you are seeing Him. Whoa! The first bits of that are one thing, that last part, though, is quite another. Let me explain my pause.
The first part is really a restatement of something Jesus has said repeatedly, and you might actually want to hear it in the negative: If you don’t believe in Me, you don’t believe in Him. That’s the real message in those words. It’s in line with that other point where He had said much the same regarding Moses. If you believed what he wrote, you would believe Me, because it was Me he wrote about! Here, too, the implication was that since you don’t believe in Him, you clearly don’t believe Moses, either, whatever your lips are saying.
But, that second part: If you see Me, you are seeing Him! Wow! Mind you, this claim was so outrageous that Philip needed to have it repeated to him after Jesus had been resurrected. Philip! Didn’t I tell you that if you had seem Me, you’ve seen the Father? So, why are you still asking Me to show you the Father? What do you think I’ve been doing these last several years? Were it not for the fact that Jesus had already hid Himself (although not so far away as not to be heard – Jn 12:36) they would doubtless have been looking to stone Him for His audacity.
I’m actually more caught up with a different audacity in that statement, though; one I hear Paul echo later. Follow me as I follow Christ. That’s the real message to the disciple. It has to be. Paul, I don’t think, found it necessary to add that qualifying clause, ‘as I follow Christ’. There was really no facet of his activities that was not bound up in following Christ. So, it was really a declaration that his life was a model to be emulated. No, he was not saying we should all become tentmakers. But that we should all go about our vocations with the same spirit as did he? Absolutely! Look at my life and pursue God in the same way you see me pursuing Him.
Honestly, would you advise anybody to do the same with you? Could I really advise my daughter to look at how I live, how I treat people, how I think, how I speak and say, “daughter, if you will but emulate me, it will be well with you in God’s sight”? I don’t think so! Should it be thinkable? Yes. It should be more than thinkable, it should be a fairly obvious thing. Yet, it feels like such an audacious claim to make.
Jesus is claiming an even greater success in the pursuit of His life. You have seen the Father in Me. To be sure, there is another aspect to this claim. In truth, He and the Father are One, so there was a very literal sense in which He could say, look at Me and you are seeing the Father. But, by way of application, I think the point to be taken away from this is that His example, this Son of Man, was perfect. His adherence to the Law of God was perfect, and as such, His resemblance to God’s image was perfect.
Man was created in the image of God, but from Adam onward, we have so corrupted the image that it is often difficult to see so much as a trace of God in man. But, in Christ, this was not the case. He alone had walked in the perfection of what God intended. He had reclaimed all that Adam had lost. He had succeeded in all that which Adam failed. And, here He stood, offering the power of His achievement to all who would believe and acknowledge Him. Yet, these men who believed fell short of acknowledging. “If you are ashamed of Me in this life, I shall be ashamed of you before My Father in heaven” (Mk 8:38). Saved or not, is that really the reception you wish to come home to? Not I!
Now, then: I have been saying that this message is largely directed at those stealth believers. I find reason for this view in verse 46. “I have come as light into the world.” We know from other teachings of Jesus that at least one aspect of this light metaphor is that light cannot be hidden. Darkness cannot comprehend it, cannot overwhelm it and snuff it out. Don’t hide that light, He tells us! Rather let it shine forth like a city on a hilltop, visible for all to see. If those stealth believers in the crowd have heard much of what Jesus has been teaching, then His reminder of His purpose would likely serve to remind them of their own. Let me put the challenge in His words: I came as a light. What are you doing?
Let me set that challenge before myself today. It really is of a piece with some of what I was teaching with regards to Second Kings last Sunday. For, the truth is that we do have an impact on the culture around us, whether it be for good or for ill. The question is more typically asked whether we are impacting culture or culture is impacting us, but the reality is that if it is the latter case, then we are still impacting the culture. We are impacting it by our complicity, by our appearance of tacit approval.
I am put in mind of 2John 10-11, where John gives instruction to the church on dealing with false teachers. “Do not receive him into your house. Do not give him a greeting. The one who does give him a greeting becomes a participant in his evil deeds.” How so, you ask? Quite simply, those who consider you a good judge of Christian character, seeing your apparent acceptance of this false teacher, will quite likely take your politeness as approval of that one. These demonstrations of sociability and hospitality towards such men lends them from your own credibility in the eyes of those who know you.
This same could be said for our reaction to those who promote the things we know ought not be done. If, in our workplaces, we simply go along to get along, then this not only fails to provide light, but it becomes an endorsement of the darkness. For those in the shadows, particularly those who know you well enough to know you are a believer, your silence in the face of what ought to be declaimed as wrong becomes a silent endorsement.
I had a manager who loved to use the term ‘silent veto’ when talking at group meetings. If you disagree with the conclusions being presented, don’t really believe the schedule is realistic, or some such, and you fail to speak up, you are applying a silent veto, because you will go out from that meeting still holding that opinion, and wholly uncommitted to whatever decisions were being promulgated. There may well be some truth to that, although I find for the most part that those I work with do their utmost to complete their tasks in rapid fashion, and have been trained through years of experience to summarily dismiss any pretense at claiming to be able to schedule the work with any degree of accuracy.
Here, though, I’m thinking of the reverse, though related application. What might be, on a personal level, a silent veto, may have the effect of becoming a silent endorsement. Take that same workplace example. If you know the schedule is utter nonsense and say nothing, then yes, you walk away believing the schedule is nonsense, and your manager wanders off to do managerial things with a sense of accomplishment. But, what about those others around you? If you have not pointed out the glaringly obvious, have even nodded acceptance (or maybe it was just sleepy disinterest), those with less experience have that much more cause to suppose the schedule is realistic and something they ought to see as binding.
This is, at least to my thinking, a pretty benign example. But, look at the case of false teaching. If you face it and refuse to speak out against it, to reject it utterly and forcibly, then the assumption of those with less understanding, who may look to you for guidance, is that you seem to be accepting it. It must be OK. Apply that to the culture at large. However much you decry its practices in the church, what are you saying to it when you meet it in public? If you are convinced that cohabitation without benefit of wedlock is a sin, what are you saying to those who practice that behavior? If you are convicted that promoting promiscuity in our youth, even if it’s marketed as being for their health and welfare, is horrifyingly vile, what are you doing to stop it? Are you at the townhalls? Are you in the face of your school board? Are you expending energy to counter the falsehoods at least for your own kids? Or are you just shaking your head as you read the reports and then getting on with life? You impact your culture. Either you become an agent of change, an agent of light, or you become window dressing for the sins of society, giving them the cover of your silence.
I then come back to what our Lord says here. “I came as light.” I am speaking out. I am making the evil clear, causing what is hidden to be revealed, causing what is false to be understood as false. I will not suffer the hypocrisy to go on unchallenged. I speak what the Father commanded Me to speak, and only what He commanded Me to speak. I command only what the Father commands Me to command. And, if you love Me, you will keep My commands as I keep His. We’re not talking that emotional high sort of love Me, here. I mean, really love Me. If you are a worshiper of God in Truth and not just in lip-service and hand-waving, this is what will mark you out as His. You do what He says. You do what I say.
And, if I take this as my measure, I am terribly far off the mark. Indeed, I find that the nature of society today gives me less opportunity than ever to go at this transformative activity in any tangible way. I drive, for the most part, alone in my vehicle. I sit, for the most part, alone in a cubicle. Indeed, these days, I don’t even do that much. I sit in my back room, staring at a computer screen, occasionally typing some characters in somebody’s direction, or maybe, just maybe, speaking to some disembodied voice in my headphones. This is not conducive in any way shape or form to entering into meaningful dialog or into that sort of relationship which might lend me the credence to, as we say, speak into somebody’s life. But, that doesn’t let me off the hook.
Proactive: I think that’s the key term. Be proactively light. Let me just say that, before we even get to matters of physical effort of some sort, however limited, we need to get at the spiritual effort. This is, after all, our chief weapon in the culture wars. If we want to return to a place of having a voice in the marketplace of ideas, we shall need first to win the spiritual battle. Pray! Pray for the leaders of the culture, whether in the political arena (which we are more likely to remember), or in other facets. Do you pray for the stars of the entertainment sector? I confess I don’t generally think of it. But, can you imagine what might happen if, instead of setting up our shadow-industry for Christians only, we were praying for those who already have the inroads into culture, that God would open their eyes and hearts!
We see it happen on occasion, don’t we? And we get all excited by it. Oh, look! Alice Cooper has come out as a believer. Or, some other well-known counter-cultural figure from our past. You know, it occurs to me that coming out as a believer today is about as counter-cultural as you can get! Nothing could shock the culture more. An engineer that believes in God, I mean really believes in Him, not just goes to church for the social status kind of believes, but really buys into all that? Yikes! It seems like a pure contradiction. A politician who is actually guided by Godly principles as to his policy decisions? It’s all but unimaginable! A teacher who upholds the Lord in public schools! Why, they’d be out on their ears if anybody knew. As for those entertainers, well! It’s shocking enough in their circles to be discovered a conservative. If one were found to be a man or woman of faith on top of that, why, heads would explode!
Can you imagine? Lennon was imagining a world with no religion. I would far rather imagine a world with real faith in a real God, living as He teaches. I would rather dare to imagine an entertainment industry that sought to infuse Godly principles into their audience, rather than seeking to undermine every possible foundation for society. Really. Which would you have, a show seeking to define comedy by longwinded references to one’s private organs, or a show seeking to define comedy that might actually have a grain of a moral to it?
So, I am challenged. I am challenged to pray for all manner of cultural leaders in our society, the pols, the artistes, the teachers and schools, all those who are exercising such influence over our own generation as well as those following on our heels. I am challenged, as well, not to stop there. I am challenged to discover ways in which I can break the silence under God’s leading: to not only become more aware of those times when I can be more actively His representative to the world, but to actively seek them out. To that end, I must commit to praying the more for myself, as well as those leaders.
You see, the impact we seek to have on our culture, or at least we ought to seek to have, is an impact that is simultaneously top down and bottom up. If we pray for our leaders to be better but leave ourselves to continue as is, we fail. If we pray for ourselves to improve but leave the leadership to the enemy, we fail. But: If we are going to pursue the agenda of heaven, that it might unfold more clearly here on earth, we must be prayerful and active on both ends of the spectrum: Seeking to change the culture around us by our own effort and example, being wholly powered by the God Who hears our prayers, and simultaneously praying for those at the top, that they might hear that very same God speaking to them, that they might be brought to the place of not only acknowledging the One Who is Authority, but would actually come to know that same love for Him that we know.
Lord, first of all, I pray that You would forgive my inaction, my willfully having excused myself from much of Your command. I pray further that You would so will and so work within me as to empower my greater obedience. To that end, I would further seek Your reminder in coming days and weeks to what has been upon my heart here. Remind me, Holy One, to pray as I ought, to seek Your will being done, to seek Your breakthrough upon the spirits of those who hold sway over this nation, over this world. God, I am well aware that darkness must indeed come, and must even thicken, and yet, I dare to ask that You might keep the Light on. I dare to ask that You might, by Your own right arm, cause Your name to be exalted in this nation once more. I pray that You might even see fit as to use me as an agent of Your Light, in ways spiritual and material, in ways I may find unimaginable. I ask that You would do with me as You will, however much it may discomfit me, however much it might give me some anxious thought, some nervousness. Let me know You the more as You work in me and through me, Lord. And, may You ever and always find me willing.
We are now arrived at verses 47 and 48. I have to note that, for all the times I have read this passage in the last week or two, it seems as though my thoughts just blank out during verse 47, so that I have but the vaguest impression of what I have just read. This, though the rest of the passage registers clearly. The impression that wants very much to settle into my thinking is that Jesus is giving a pass to believers in that verse. The mind really wants to hear that He is speaking to believers, there; telling them that their disobedience won’t have a cost. But, the mind led by the Spirit, upon hearing such a thing, recoils. Something is not right, there! So, it is not entirely surprising to me that there is this interference being thrown up, in hopes that this misconception might take root. But, He Who is in me is greater than this worldly force of darkness.
As it happens in my particular, habitual order of morning readings, I consider the Living Bible this morning as preparation for these notes. This has not generally been one of my more favored translations, particularly as it is a paraphrase of particularly simplified nature. However, as I came to this troubling passage, I have to say that they seem to capture the sense very well, or at least a bit more visibly than the more literal translations do. Let me quote. “If anyone hears me and doesn't obey me, I am not his judge-for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged at the Day of Judgment by the truths I have spoken.”
So, start with something that should be obvious. It is, I believe, the core factor for why there is that immediate warning of misinterpretation when we think to hear an alibi in this verse: To begin with, God is Just, perfectly righteous in all His ways. For Him to simply give us a pass could not possibly befit such a character, and were His character to be violated, then He is no God at all. This cannot be. Second, we have Jesus Himself telling us that all judgment is given to Him, to such degree that, “not even the Father judges anyone” (Jn 5:22). In that same dissertation, Jesus does indeed tell us that the believer does not come into judgment upon arrival at heaven’s gates, for he has passed out of death into life [already] (Jn 5:24). But, hear the later point: Those who did good come forth from the graves unto a resurrection of life, while those who did evil come into a resurrection of judgment (Jn 5:29).
Well, God being the very definition of good, then the only way to be accounted one of those who did good is to be amongst those who follow His commandments. And, Jesus has just reminded us yet again, that He is that One Who speaks only as the Father speaks, does only as the Father does. He is the Father made visible by example, that we might more fully know our own goal.
Two things should come clear to us from this, as applies to the present passage. First, when He says, “I do not judge”, that is clearly in a different context than when He earlier declared that all judgment is given to Him, with all authority to render and enforce that judgment, I might add. With that in mind, we must hear this passage with Jesus speaking very much in the present tense. We might mentally inject the phrase, ‘at this time’. I do not judge at this time, for I am on a different mission at present, that of saving the world. Thus, I find it of help that The Living Bible opts to enter into verse 48 with a, ‘But’.
This is the second matter for us to clarify in our thinking. We are considering a couplet, a poetic parallelism such as is common to Jewish wisdom pronouncements. It is a common feature in Proverbs, as well as in many of the Psalms and even the prophetic writings. Such couplets may indeed present a pair of contrasting images to make their point, but they often simply present the same point with different imagery, each half of the couplet serving to amplify the other. This is what we have before us: two facets of the same issue.
With these factors in mind, the meaning comes clear of a sudden. The message is delivered to those who hear, but do not obey; those who have had benefit of His teaching, but refuse to accept it. And, as we do well to remember, to hear without obedience is to reject, it is to listen with those very ears that don’t hear that Isaiah speaks of. It is evidence of spiritual deafness, spiritual blindness, and a heart hardened unto the nature of cold-rolled steel. The message, then, is not that there is going to be a skate-save for some, but that there is no skate-save at all. The message is that nobody should be misled by present circumstance.
This, then, is both a message of dread to those who fit the description and a call to persevere for those who don’t. The point is no different than one might find in the book of Proverbs, really. It is this: Those who hate the Lord (as their actions indicate) may appear to be getting away with it. As it appears in this life, it may seem that God just doesn’t care, and evil prospers at the expense of the good. But, Jesus says, that’s a temporary reprieve at best. The day of judgment still lies ahead, and such as these shall not escape justice served.
This is also in some degree by way of explaining certain features of His own earthly ministry that may have bemused those who thought they knew what Messiah was all about. See, they are still looking for this vengeful and heroic captain of military might and prowess to come rescue the land from all its oppressors. Where is this hero? We see only this humble Teacher, a healer, true but where’s the army? Where’s the overthrow of Rome? Where is restoration of the glory of Israel? Where, for all that, is justice even in Israel? The sinful still flourish and the righteous still find themselves struggling. Never mind the misplaced assignation of glory to a mere nation. Has God not said He will not share His glory with another? (A warning, there, for our own sense of holy entitlement as a nation founded on goodly principles.) The point is this Savior is not what they expected, and they’re having a great deal of difficulty fitting what they find in Him with what they thought they had coming.
And the message Jesus provides in answer to this confusion is that He is very certainly that One for whom they wait, but that part of His mission is for another time. The mission at present is to save the world. Time enough later to sit in judgment on those who shall not be saved.
Here’s the thing I think we would like to avoid: This is not just a message to the unbeliever. That’s there, to be sure, and for those in the crowd who were not going to buy what Jesus was giving away, the warning is starkly clear: I have taught you Life and Truth, and your failure to accept Life and Truth will be exposed with stark clarity on that last day. You will not get a pass, and your future is not secured as a birthright.
There is, however, something we who believe ought to hear in this as well. I cannot but think that Jesus is in part addressing those hidden believers that John has mentioned. The message to them and to us is this: It’s not enough to hear the Truth. It’s not enough to accept that the Truth is true. Belief, while a necessary thing for Life, is not the end itself. James caught it. Faith without works is dead faith (Jas 2:20). It is a belief which is purely intellectual, a mind game of no more value as applies to the eternal spirit than, say, the study of higher mathematics, or becoming expert in the writings of Shakespeare. It’s nice and all, but on the heavenly scale, so what?
For those hidden believers, the very fact of their hiding is a failure to really live what they believe. We’re back at verse 46! “I come as light. What are you doing there in the shadows?” This becomes the more critical, as I have already explored to some degree, for those of us in these latter days. I’ll jump ahead a bit, to a point I wish to explore more fully shortly. Jesus said, “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world” (Jn 9:5). Now, we can argue as to whether He is referring to the term of His physical presence, or the grander scale of time leading up to that period of Tribulation. For my part, I think it makes more sense to consider it as applying to the physical, for truly, His is a Kingdom without end and in that sense, He is always in the world, which makes the message rather pointless. In other words, if He is speaking in a sense in which He is always in the world, then it makes no sense to bring it up. Just stop with, ‘I am the Light of the world’. But, He doesn’t. He includes this ‘while’ clause, indicating that this time comes to an end. Indeed, He has made the same point leading into this current passage. “For a little while longer the Light is among you” (Jn 12:35). So, let me hang this thought on the air for now, and I’ll come back to it later: How critical is it for us sons of light to heed our purpose as such sons, now the Light is departed?
This is the most immediate application I see. Those who were hiding themselves in the shadows, as it were, are being commanded to come out and shine. Get out from under those beds and baskets, and let yourselves be known, that the Truth of God may be known in this land plunging into darkness. That can only apply more than ever in our own day, when the darkness has had a few millennia to gather its gloom.
I’ll touch briefly on a couple of passages which might give us some encouragement to make an effort. As a starter, consider the words of Moses as he looked forward to the Messiah. Speaking as God’s voice, he says, “I will raise up a prophet from among your countrymen, and put My words in His mouth. He will speak all that I command Him, and it shall be that whoever won’t listen to My words from Him, I will Myself require it of him” (Dt 18:18-19) For my own benefit, let me stress that last clause. If they won’t listen to Him, I will require it from them. That listening of which God speaks is not the sort of passive listening we are inclined to practice in the pews of a Sunday. It is listening so as to act upon what is heard – exactly the point Jesus is making here: If you hear, but don’t do, if you will not internalize My teaching (by which refusal you reject Me), there will be a price to pay.
Consider also the words Jesus spoke near the beginning of His mission. “This is the judgment [for him who has not believed]: Light is in the world, but men loved their darkness more, for their deeds were evil” (Jn 3:19). Bring that message forward to the moment we are considering in the present passage. There are those who believed, but were too scared of their neighbors to admit it, and Jesus reminds them, “I came as a light in the world.” Reflecting back to that earlier statement, there is a warning to be heard, isn’t there? You can gloss over your reticence however you please, but the reality remains the same: you show by your actions that you love your darkness more, and there’s only one explanation for that: your deeds are evil.
We don’t think that way, do we? Of course, we are not (in our minds, at least) to be counted amongst the unbelievers. So, we may be inclined to write off that warning as being for somebody else. But, I don’t think so. I think it hits just as hard at those who, like myself on too many occasions, tend towards a stealth Christianity. We think it’s OK that we pretty much keep it to ourselves, but Jesus says, no! What you’re doing demonstrates a preference for the darkness, and those who believe in Me may not remain in darkness (v46). Fine, well a quick check on that verse indicates the not is a mee, a conditional negation, as opposed to the impossibility of an ouk. Still, given the privilege of escaping the darkness, what is wrong with us that we still hang out at the edges of that darkness, trying to hide the fact that we are alight?
When I come to the Weymouth translation of that verse, I read: “in order that no one who believes in me may remain in the dark.” I have to say that, however conditional that negation may be, it feels more and more like we ought to understand it as no longer having permission to remain in the dark. Father, may I satisfy myself with knowing I am saved, and just go along to get along until You call me home? No, you may not. I came as a light. What are you doing? I just keep coming back to that point.
While I am in the world, I am the Light of the World (Jn 9:5). But, really, you are the light of the world (Mt 5:14). Why? Because I am gone back to My throne, but I have not left My kingdom to the darkness. I have set you, each of you, to be such lights as shine like that city on a hill. So, don’t you dare go hiding your light away, but let it shine before men! Let them see in your good works that there is a God in heaven worthy of their praises (Mt 5:15-16).
Now, I have to ask you: What might have been, had those who believed and yet hidden away been instead willing to profess their faith? Yes, God is as much in control in this scene as He is in every scene, and yes, history unfolds exactly as He chooses. Yet, there is value for us in considering such alternate histories. There is value in contemplating what might have unfolded from an Israel whose leaders fully embraced their Messiah when He came. Repeatedly, both in Scripture, and in the history of the Church, we see these examples of amazing results coming from just one man willing to really and completely embrace the Word of God. Think about it! Eleven backwoods, uneducated Jews, with the aid of a religiously educated tentmaker managed to orchestrate a spiritual earthquake such as the world has not seen before or since! Mohammed may have numbers, but they came at the tip of the sword. These guys just went out and lived as they were taught, nothing more, nothing less. They simply walked the dusty roads of the world speaking of what God had done.
I was inclined to tack a ‘for them’ clause on that last sentence, but I think that’s a more modern conceit. Look what God did for me! But, such thinking reflects our own narcissism. Far superior to simply stop with Look what God did! Yes, there’s something to be said for noting that if He did something like this on my behalf, there’s surely nothing stopping Him from doing so for you, is there? I think, for example, of Paul’s confession. Me! The chief of sinners, and He saved me! Brother, what do you suppose your crime might be that He would do that, and yet leave you to rot? I tell you, there is no crime so great that He cannot forgive! You may have trouble forgiving, but God? Not so much. If you confess, He is faithful to forgive.
How many remain lost because I have not been so bold as to speak in like fashion when the opportunity arose? How many have I condemned by my remaining satisfied to know myself saved? How might history unfold differently were I to live life according to what my Teacher taught? These are things that demand more than contemplation of me. They demand answer. They demand change. How often, after all, does Scripture remind me that the disciple cannot act as being above the Teacher. If they did this to Me, count on them doing the same to you. If you love Me, if you follow Me, then do as I teach, do as I do. And, you have every reason to pursue My Way, for My teaching is not Mine. It is the teaching of Him Who sent Me (Jn 7:16). I could not possibly do anything more or less than what I see the Father doing. I learn from Him, and I do exactly as He does (Jn 5:19).
That’s the confession of Jesus. It’s also the teaching of Jesus. As you see Me do, do thou likewise. That’s what it means to be a disciple! A student might just listen, take notes, and file away the info for later. But, a disciple! A disciple has found in his teacher one whose life is so powerful, so significant, as to deserve the utmost of emulation. To be a disciple is to steep yourself in the ways of the Master, to learn to think as He thinks, to speak as He speaks, to live as He lives. It is, if necessary, even to die as He dies. He’s that worthy!
Bear all that in mind as you consider those last few verses I noted. I teach My Father’s teaching, says Jesus. For His disciple, this can leave only one course: teach Jesus’ teaching. I do exactly as My Father does, says Jesus. For His disciple, this can leave only one course: do exactly as Jesus does. I came as light to the world, Jesus says. For His disciple, this can leave only one course: shine, baby, shine! Say it loud, say it proud: “I AM a Christian!”
Now, if our earnest desire to be disciples of Jesus is not yet sufficient cause to start really obeying the call of the disciple, let’s consider the power of verse 50, where Jesus gives His own reasons for fealty to the Father. “I know that His commandment is eternal life. Therefore I speak.” Wow! How do you interpret that? How do you hear that?
It’s clearly not that God looks down from heaven, points us out and says, “You! You will live in the highest sense, and you will do it now!” Well, maybe there is that sense to it, yes? After all, it is His call. But, it’s more than that: His commandment is eternal life. What is not said is that He commands eternal life. No! It says His commandment IS eternal life. Lay that next to Peter’s marvelous words when Jesus asked if those of His closest companions were thinking His words too hard, now. “Lord, Who else could we turn to? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68)!
Consider that. His message is Life. His commandments (if we would but follow them) are such as produce Life. After all, He speaks only as He hears from Father, and the commandments Father speaks are such as produce Life. From the outset, that’s been His message to mankind. To Adam and Eve, the one commandment He assigned was, “Don’t eat that.” Why? Because He had Life in mind for them, and had they but obeyed, that Life would have been theirs.
To Israel in the desert, He first laid out the basics, cast in stone, the fundamentals of His covenant with them, and theirs with Him. He then, for His mercy, expounded upon these that His people might understand them in application to real-life situations. Why? That they might have Life. Yes, these Laws which constitute His commandments are beyond the skill of fallen man to keep. Yet, they are the Way of Life. And, repeatedly, He commands those things which will preserve, which will guide the steps of man back to the Way of Life. The serpent staff? Given, commanded, to restore the hope of Life; removed, when man corrupted it into an idol, to restore the hope of Life; recapitulated in the Son to firmly establish, once for all time, the hope of Life.
I am truly caught in the power of that simple message. “I know that His commandment is eternal life. Therefore I speak just as He tells Me.” I obey. I obey, because Life depends on it. Oh, not My Life. I AM Life. But, your life depends on it. If I don’t speak, you may never know, and I couldn’t bear the thought of that. I came that they (you) might have Life, have it abundantly (Jn 10:10). As for those of you who are Mine. I left you hear that those others around you might also have this very same Life in the very same abundance. But, if you will not do as I do, as I instruct, how will they know? Who will they turn to? You see, you now have the words of Life. May I ask: what are you doing with them?
Lord, I am so stirred by this, so convicted. Yet, I know me if not as well as You do then well enough. I know my capacity for setting these things aside and just continuing. Yet, I hear what You are saying in this passage. I hear what You are saying at men’s meeting. I hear what You are saying through our pastor, and there seems to be, no, there simply is a great confluence of message there. Get out of the huddle! Stop hiding in your safety zone! You know, now do!
Father, Holy Spirit, You know me. You know my anxious thoughts are many, and my nature particularly risk-averse. But, this which you call me to is not to be done by my nature anyway. Rather it is a call to greater dependence upon You and You alone. I know that it is You who will and work in me to make me willing, and I pray You work the more in that regard. I want to be willing, Lord. Yet, I know myself unwilling. I know myself weak. Let me, then, in my weakness know Yourself strong. What You were able to do with the likes of Peter, Paul, and even John Mark: there is nothing prevents you from doing so with the likes of me. Let it be, then, my Lord! As You will, so let me be found doing. It seems improbable to me, impossible even. But, You, Lord, are the God of the impossible, the God to whom and in whom that word impossible loses all meaning. Do, then, as You will, and hold me to it!
