Second John 12:35

“Believe in the Light”

John 12:35-38, “Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed.”

“Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.” Here Jesus is talking about himself. The people of his day had a great opportunity to learn truth, to hear and learn the Word of God directly from God himself. But it was a temporary situation because Jesus would go to the cross to die.

This teaches us something about opportunity. God gives everyone the opportunity to hear and believe the truth. But that opportunity will not last forever. God might send a preacher your way to teach you the word. If He does, you should listen to him while you can. No one lives forever and one day that preacher might die and go to heaven and not be in your life any more. It does not matter if you think the preacher is a good preacher or not, a skilled preacher nor not, a gifted preacher or not, a popular preacher or not. What matters is that the truth is given and you receive and believe and obey the truth. If you do not do these things, you will be walking in darkness.

While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. This statement of Jesus Christ is a gospel invitation. Jesus comes to everyone in a personal way to reveal himself to them. When He does that is the moment a person realizes their sins and is convicted of them by the Holy Spirit. And then a person must choose to accept Jesus as their Savior or not.

We will never know the sorrow that the Savior knew when they did not believe on him. The best thing you can do to try and understand it is to think of the person you love the most and experience what it is like for them to reject your love. God is love and God is eternal. God has eternal love to give to each soul. Yet think of all the souls that reject him. Many are called but few are chosen. Jesus was a man of sorrows. Isaiah 53:3, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

When you love someone, you put a lot of effort into their life to help them, to guide them, to teach them, and to protect them. But when they reject all that, what sorrow it can cause. Perhaps at the judgment we will better understand how much God loved all the lost people that rejected him and will better understand how he sorrowed. Believe in the light.

These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. God is a God that hides himself Job 23:9, “On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:” If you turn away from God, God will turn away from you. Perhaps this is why Jesus departed and hid himself from them because they did not believe on him.

In application when you witness to people and they reject you, it is sometimes a good idea to stay away from them in the future. What good does it do to be around those that reject Jesus as savior? Hide yourself from them and you will save yourself much hatred that you would otherwise have to bear. Luke 9:5, “And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them”

John 12:37-38, “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed.”

Why didn’t they believe despite all the miracles that Jesus had done? They did not believe so that the Word would be fulfilled. Jesus came to the earth, spoke to them, did miracles for them, and told them he was going to die for them. They did not believe him so he hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes. Romans 9:18, “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”

With God all things are possible. If God decides to harden a heart nothing can stop that. It makes sense that God would do so to those who saw the very Christ walking this earth and teaching them the word. They did not believe the Word and so he hardened them with the Word.

It is interesting to notice that this verse, verse 40, is a quote from Isaiah chapter 6. John 12:41 says, “These things said Esaias when he saw his glory, and spake of him.” Isaiah saw the glory of God. Why did Isaiah see his glory and these people did not? Well, for one thing Isaiah was a prophet and a believer and these people were not. Jesus set aside his glory when he came to this earth. Why did he set aside his glory? Philippians 2:6-8 says, “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

If you do not want to end up like the unbelievers in John chapter 12 who had their eyes blinded and hearts hardened, then be sure to believe on Christ when he comes to you to save you.

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