John 12:34–50

12:34–36 While You Have the Light. In light of what Jesus has said in verses 23–32, the crowd responds with theological questions (v. 34). They start with the assertion that the OT, which they designate with the term “Law,” tells them that “the Christ remains forever.” The language used in this phrase is very similar to the Greek translation of Psalm 89:36, and the statements in Psalm 89 are based on promises made to David in 2 Samuel 7.

That the crowd raises this point shows they understand Jesus’ claims to be the Christ. The question they pose also shows that they understand what he has said about being “glorified” (John 12:23) and “lifted up” (v. 32)—they know he means he will be killed. The OT does teach that the seed of David “shall endure forever” (Ps. 89:35–36; 2 Sam. 7:13), so it is natural for them to seek more information concerning how Jesus, if he is the Christ, can say he is going to die.

Their final question in John 12:34 indicates the crowd may seek some resolution to the mystery of the fact that Jesus referred to himself as “the Son of Man” in verse 23. The crowd does not understand that Jesus will be crucified and then raised to endure forever, and the disciples do not understand it either (cf. 2:22; 12:16; 20:9). John indicates that the glorification and resurrection of Jesus later enabled the disciples to understand (2:22; 12:16; 20:9), so the crowd is probably asking a valid question whose answer they cannot yet fully comprehend. Rather than answering their question or entering into a theological discussion, however, Jesus tells them that they have enough information to repent and believe, and that they should do so.

Jesus is the light (cf. 8:12; 9:5), and he urges the crowd to recognize that he will be with them only “a little while longer,” and so they should walk while they have the light (12:35). That is, they should turn from their sin and unbelief and trust him before he is taken from them; and when he warns, “lest darkness overtake you” (v. 35), Jesus uses the same terms that John employed in 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The one who walks in the light of Jesus is not overcome by darkness, because the darkness cannot overcome Jesus, but, “The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going” (12:35).

Rather than explaining all of the mysteries the crowd wants to understand, Jesus warns them that the time is short. He has declared, “The light is among you for a little while longer” (v. 35), and then has referenced the opportunity to repent “while you have the light” (v. 35) and believe “while you have the light” (v. 36a). Then John states, “When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them” (v. 36b). This is the crowd’s last chance. The light is fading; night is falling; darkness spreads. The crowd has light for a few more moments, and while they have it, Jesus urges, “Believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (v. 36). By believing in the light, they will belong to the light and thereby be sons of light. If they trust Jesus, the light of Jesus will enter them, never to leave, and the darkness will not overcome them (v. 35) because it cannot overcome Jesus (1:5).

12:37–43 Isaiah Saw His Glory. Given all that Jesus did—feed the hungry, heal the sick, walk on water, raise the dead—how could he be rejected? John explains in 12:37–43 that Jesus was rejected in fulfillment of Scripture.

In spite of all that Jesus did, the crowd did not believe in him (v. 37), in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:1. In the quotation from Isaiah, the first question reflects the way the prophet was rejected in his day. The people did not embrace his message or obey his call to repent and believe. The second question references the way that the Lord brought Israel from Egypt “with a strong hand and an outstretched arm” (Ps. 136:12; cf. Ex. 6:6). The mention of the revelation of the Lord’s arm in Isaiah 53:1 ties the suffering servant discussed in the rest of Isaiah 53 to the new exodus that Isaiah heralded to his contemporaries. The suffering servant did indeed bring about the new exodus, as the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world.

Having referenced Isaiah 53:1, John says of the crowd, “Therefore they could not believe” (John 12:39). Adding support to this conclusion, John prefaces a quotation of Isaiah 6:10 with the words, “For again Isaiah said” (John 12:39). In Isaiah 6 the prophet relates his vision of the enthroned King of Israel, the Lord himself, with his robe filling the temple, surrounded by seraphim proclaiming him to be thrice holy (Isa. 6:1–8). The Lord then commissioned Isaiah to perform the tasks that John quotes in John 12:40 (Isa. 6:9–10), and when Isaiah asked how long such tasks were to continue, he was told they would continue until the exile, after which there would be a seed that would sprout from the chopped-down trunk of the tree of Israel (Isa. 6:11–13; cf. 11:1; 53:2).

Having quoted these two passages—Isaiah 53:1 and 6:10—John makes a stunning assertion: “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him” (John 12:41). John says that Isaiah saw Jesus when he saw both the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and the enthroned and exalted king of Isaiah 6, and John says that Isaiah wrote of Jesus in these two chapters.¹ For John, the OT is about Jesus (cf. John 12:16).

It is not difficult to establish that Isaiah did indeed envision a king from David’s line who would be closely identified with Yahweh, and through whom Yahweh would accomplish the hoped-for new exodus that would bring about the return from exile (cf. Isa. 9:6; 11:1–16). Nor is it difficult to establish that Isaiah conceived of that Davidic future king’s bringing about the new exodus through his own personal suffering, according to the pattern of the suffering of Joseph, Moses, and David, after which he would be exalted and would bring deliverance.²

John’s interpretation of Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 6, therefore, and his application of these passages to the rejection of Jesus, is perfectly in keeping with Isaiah’s intention. Jesus is the king from David’s line through whose suffering and exaltation God has accomplished the new exodus and initiated the return from exile, and thereby the arm of the Lord has been revealed in Jesus (Isa. 53:1), who has set in motion the redemption that will culminate in the removal of the hardening described in Isaiah 6 (cf. Rom. 11:25–32). Yet in spite of all he did, the people did not believe in Jesus. Remarkably, even their unbelief was a part of OT fulfillment.

John narrates a further tragic reality in 12:42–43. Jesus convinced many, even from the authorities, with the result that they believed in him, but they were unwilling to confess because they feared the Pharisees. Confession in this context must refer to a public indication that one believes Jesus to be the Christ and a willingness to be persecuted along with him. We see that persecution in the statement in verse 42 of what those who did not confess avoided—they avoided expulsion from the synagogue (cf. 9:22).

Those who refused to confess were confronted with a choice: confess Jesus or be accepted in the synagogue, and they chose to be accepted in the synagogue. They were false to themselves, false to Jesus, false to those in the synagogue whose favor they kept, and false to the truth.

John explains the wretched motivation for their choice in 12:43: they loved the glory they received from human beings more than the glory of God. They preferred their reputation among people to being right with God and enjoying his munificence. They chose the temporary rather than the eternal, the paltry instead of the substantial, the unworthy instead of the worthy, folly instead of wisdom, sickness rather than health, failures instead of the Almighty, sinners instead of the holy, the fickle instead of the faithful, the squalid in favor of the splendid, and death rather than life.

12:44–50 To Deliver from Darkness. John related at the end of verse 36 that Jesus had hidden himself, but apparently Jesus surfaced briefly to make one final statement (vv. 44–50). As he did in 5:19–30, Jesus asserts his unity with the Father: to believe Jesus is not merely to believe him but is to believe the Father as well, for, as Jesus explained in 5:19–30, he does only what the Father has commissioned him to do.

In 12:45 Jesus articulates a truth he will restate to Philip (14:9), asserting that the one who sees him sees the Father. Those who see Jesus need no imagination or speculation of what it would be to see the unseeable God. Here again the statements Jesus makes about himself provide the foundation for things John said about Jesus in the prologue to his Gospel (1:1–2, 18), and here too is the foundation for Paul’s description of Jesus as “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15) and the author of Hebrews’s statement that Jesus is “the exact imprint of [God’s] nature” (Heb. 1:3).

A shroud of darkness fell over humanity and all creation when Adam sinned and Satan usurped dominion. Jesus came as light to pierce the darkness, with the result that all who believe in him are freed from having to remain in darkness (John 12:46; cf. 1:4–5, 9; 3:19–21; 8:12).

Jesus had stated the purpose of his incarnation in 3:17: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him,” and he reasserts that reality in 12:47. It was his purpose to come not as judge but as Savior. Those who hear his words but do not keep them (v. 47) will have his word as their judge “on the last day” (v. 48). Jesus has asserted that he will execute judgment at the resurrection (5:27–29), and those who reject him will have his word judge them at the resurrection on the last day (12:48). As in chapter 5, in 12:49 Jesus declares that his message comes from the Father. The Father sent Jesus to speak words of spirit and life (6:63), so when the Father commanded Jesus to speak (12:49), the commandment was eternal life (v. 50). He speaks as instructed by the Father.