John 12:37-43 37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God.
The Lord Jesus left them and hid himself because the Jews wanted to kill him. Although he performed many miracles, they still did not believe in him. The purpose of the miracles is to make people believe, here it says that they didn’t believe even they saw the miracles, This was to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 53:1 “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Isaiah 6:10 also says: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy, the Lord Jesus performed many miracles, the Father spoke from heaven with a voice, the testimony of John the Baptist, and the Old Testament prophecies about the Lord Jesus, yet they still did not believe, is it because the Lord would not let them believe? The Lord wants all people to come to repentance and turn to Him, but they disbelieved, hard-hearted, and were unwilling to turn to God. The Bible tells us that we are saved by grace through faith. There are two aspects to salvation, one is by the grace of God, and the other is by our faith. Some of the rulers believed in the Lord Jesus, but because of the Pharisees, they dared not admit it, for fear of being expelled from the synagogue. If anyone believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Pharisees would throw them out of the synagogue. They did this because they loved the praise of man more than the praise of God.
It is said here that the Israelites were partially hardened, but when the number of the Gentiles, that is, we non-Israelis being saved, is full, the whole house of Israel will be saved. May God bless you all!
