“THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE!”

 John 12:36b-43                             (ESV)

The Unbelief of the People

“36b When JESUS had said these things, HE DEPARTED AND HID HIMSELF from them. [37] Though HE had done so many signs before them, THEY STILL DID NOT BELIEVE IN HIM, [38] so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 

    “LORD, who has believed what he heard from us,

        and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”

    [39] Therefore “THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE”. For again Isaiah said,

    [40] “He (the enemy) has blinded their eyes

        and hardened their heart,

    lest they SEE with their eyes,

        and UNDERSTAND with their heart, and TURN,

        and I WOULD HEAL THEM.” (Isaiah 44:18-20)

    [41] Isaiah said these things because he saw HIS Glory and spoke of HIM. [42] Nevertheless, MANY EVEN OF THE AUTHORITIES BELIEVED IN HIM, but for FEAR (of the enemy) of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; [43] for THEY LOVED THE GLORY THAT COMES FROM MAN more than the GLORY that comes from GOD!”  

“THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE!” isn’t because they were unlearned or illiterate, it was because THEIR EYES HAD NOT BEEN OPENED, SUPERNATURALLY, by THE ONLY ONE WHO had the capability of revealing HIMSELF to those who were unable not see!  At the beginning of the focal passages above, JESUS “DEPARTED AND HID HIMSELF from them”.  Why did JESUS DEPART and HIDE HIMSELF from the ones who did not SEE who was in their very midst?  

JESUS KNEW precisely who GOD had CHOSEN from before the FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD (Ephesians 1:4) to be Believers, so no one can decide to come to HIM at a time that is more to their liking!  Did GOD ordain me then to be blameless before HIM?  Apparently not, for my righteousness is but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6 KJV) before a HOLY GOD!  

Some of my friends have YET to demonstrate that they are CHOSEN!  It could be that “THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE”, it is outside of their capabilities!  Maybe that is why GOD CHOSE me, the poor, wretched sinner that I am, to demonstrate HIS ABILITIES and my inabilities to deliver me from this darkness and into HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT (1 Peter 2:9) to a lost and dying world?  

Ephesians 2:8 says “For by GRACE you have been SAVED through FAITH. And this IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD”.  Since “THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE”, it is obvious that the GIFT of GRACE is not accepted by some?  Why would ANYONE deny an eternity in HEAVEN with their CREATOR?  Because their EYES have YET to be OPENED to SEE HIM!!!