5The Day the Light Went Out  (John 12:35–50)

So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them. But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.” These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.” (12:35–50)

Though human beings often lose control of their emotions, God never does. This is most clearly seen in His patience toward the wicked who continually offend His holiness. God could rightfully destroy all sinners at the very first moment they transgress His law and at all subsequent transgressions. Instead, He patiently bears with them, extending to them the hope of salvation. Even when He has been wronged, His patience is infinitely perfect. The godly Puritan preacher Stephen Charnock described God’s forbearance with these words:

Because God is “compassionate and gracious” (Ps. 103:8; cf. 111:4; 112:4; 116:5; Ex. 34:6; 2 Chron. 30:9; Neh. 9:17, 31; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2), He is “slow to anger” (Ps. 103:8; cf. 86:15; 145:8; Ex. 34:6; Num. 14:18; Neh. 9:17; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Nah. 1:3). God’s slowness to anger, or patience, manifests itself primarily in His delaying judgment on sin; He is “patient … not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9), because “the patience of our Lord [is] salvation” (v. 15). God’s continued patience has caused godly saints throughout the centuries to marvel at His long-suffering. In the words of Arthur W. Pink:

God initially manifested His patience in the garden of Eden. When Adam and Even first sinned, He could have ended the human race by immediately judging those two. Instead, He spared them, even allowing Adam to live for 930 years (Gen. 5:5). This established His long pattern with sinners.

Before His judgment on all humanity by the flood, “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). The human race had become so evil that “the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (6:6) and said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them” (v. 6:7). Yet even in the face of that extreme provocation, God still delayed His judgment. He declared, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (6:3). That was the period “when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah” (1 Peter 3:20), while Noah continually preached of God’s righteousness, calling people to recognize their sin and repent in trust and submission to God (2 Peter 2:5).

Throughout human history, God has shown remarkable tolerance with entire nations of people who rejected Him. In Genesis 15:16 He told Abraham that there would be a lengthy delay in His judgment of the Canaanites because “the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” Similarly, God delayed the judgment on Assyria prophesied by Nahum for a generation or more. “In the generations gone by,” Paul told the pagans at Lystra, “[God] permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:16–17). The apostle declared to the Greek philosophers in Athens that God had “overlooked the times of ignorance” (Acts 17:30); that is, He had withheld the full measure of His judgment for a certain period of time (cf. Rom. 3:25).

More than any other nation, Israel experienced God’s patience. Throughout their history, the people of Israel were, as Stephen characterized the Sanhedrin, “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears [and] always resisting the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51; cf. Deut. 10:16; 2 Kings 17:14; 2 Chron. 30:8; Neh. 9:29; Jer. 7:26; 17:23; 19:15). In Jeremiah God offered this rebuke of Israel: “This has been your practice from your youth, that you have not obeyed My voice…. Indeed the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My sight from their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands” (Jer. 22:21; 32:30). Yet despite Israel’s continual provocation, God, “being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; and often He restrained His anger and did not arouse all His wrath” (Ps. 78:38). “For the sake of My name I delay My wrath,” God told wayward Israel, “and for My praise I restrain it for you, in order not to cut you off” (Isa.48:9; cf. 57:11). In Luke 13:6–9 Jesus told a parable illustrating God’s patience toward His people:

God also is patient with individual sinners. In Romans 2:4 Paul asked, “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” Later in that same epistle, he wrote, “God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” (Rom. 9:22). The apostle’s words to Timothy sum up his spiritual autobiography: “Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Tim. 1:16). Peter reminded his readers that God is “patient toward [lost sinners], not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9; cf. Ezek. 18:23).

It is because of His patience that He has not yet returned in final judgment. As the renowned preacher Charles Spurgeon stated in a sermon on God’s long-suffering:

Nonetheless, the fact that God is slow to anger does not mean that He is incapable of anger, even if sinners may think otherwise. “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly,” wrote Solomon, “therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil” (Eccl. 8:11). Second Chronicles 36:15 describes God’s patience with rebellious Israel: “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.” But eventually God’s patience ended. When Israel “continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets … the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy” (v. 16; cf. Neh. 9:30; Jer. 44:22). God’s patience with sinners will eventually run out, which serves as a sobering warning for those who would abuse it.

Verses 35–50, which record Christ’s final appeal to Israel, are a summary of His entire public ministry. For more than three years, Jesus had presented Himself to the people of Israel as the Messiah and proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom. He had substantiated His claims by teaching with power and authority unrivaled by anyone before Him (Matt. 7:28–29; Mark 1:22; Luke 4:32; John 7:46). He had also performed miraculous works that no one else had ever done (John 15:24). Even so, throughout His ministry Jesus had faced unbelief, hatred, hostility, and rejection, particularly from Israel’s religious leaders. That unbelief and rejection would soon reach its zenith at the cross.

This poignant passage records the Lord’s final call to belief, uncovers the fatal causes of unbelief, and lays out the fateful consequences of both belief and unbelief.

THE FINAL CALL TO BELIEF

So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them. (12:35–36)

At the triumphal entry, the momentarily frenzied crowds had hailed Jesus as the Messiah and King. But they viewed the Messiah as an earthly king, a powerful military leader who would overthrow the Romans (cf. chapters. 2 and 3 of this volume). Jesus, however, rebuffed their attempts to force Him into the role of political and military deliverer (John 6:14–15). And when He began to speak of dying (John 12:24), the people abandoned Him altogether; they were unable to grasp the concept of a murdered Messiah (which even His disciples were slow to accept; cf. Matt. 16:21–23). Their hopes were shattered and they rendered their final verdict on Jesus: that He was an impostor and not the real Son of Man (cf. the exposition of 12:34 in the previous chapter of this volume).

But despite their rejection, in His persistent and intense love for them, Jesus extended to them one final invitation to acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior. That invitation not only expressed the compassionate cry of His heart for Israel’s salvation (cf. Matt. 23:37; Luke 13:34; 19:41), but it also delivered a warning (cf. Matt. 23:38–39; Luke 13:35; 19:42–44). Speaking of His impending death, Jesus cautioned His hearers that it would be only for a little while longer that the Light, a reference to Himself as the Light of the World (cf. v. 46; 1:4–9; 3:19–21; 8:12; 9:5), would be among them. Paul described Christ as “the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God” shining in the darkness (2 Cor. 4:6). Soon He would be gone, and the people to whom He came would be plunged back into darkness (cf. 2 Cor. 3:14–16).

Jesus repeatedly used the phrase a little while to emphasize the brevity of His remaining time on earth. Earlier He had said to the unbelieving Jews, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me” (7:33). Jesus told the disciples in the upper room the night before His death, “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’” (13:33), and, “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me” (16:16). The Lord knew that only a short time remained for people to hear and respond to Him. The “day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2) was waning and the darkness was fast approaching. Those who failed to appropriate the light would lose it.

Therefore Jesus exhorted His hearers to walk while they still had the Light with them so that darkness would not overtake them, because he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes (cf. 1 John 2:11). In an era before electric lights, people traveled only during the daylight hours, when they could see clearly and walk safely. The Lord likened those who failed to heed His warning to travelers caught out after nightfall, lost in the pitch blackness of a starless, moonless night. The only way for them to avoid being lost in spiritual darkness was, while they still had the Light, to believe in the Light. The glorious promise to those who do is that they will become sons of Light (cf. 1 Thess. 5:5; 1 John 1:5–7), and radiate the light of God’s glory in Christ into a dark world (Matt. 5:14–16; Eph. 5:8; Phil. 2:15).

The sobering truth is that when sinners persistently reject Him, God may ultimately remove His grace and judge them. Nehemiah records God’s extraordinary patience with Israel: “You bore with them for many years, and admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets” (9:30a). But when “they would not give ear… [God] gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands” (9:30b; cf. Judg. 10:13; 2 Kings 17:13–18; 2 Chron. 15:2; 24:20). In Psalm 81:11–12 God lamented, “My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices.” Hosea records God’s shocking statement, “Ephraim (a symbolic name for the northern kingdom [Israel]) is joined to idols; let him alone” (Hos. 4:17). Because of Israel’s hard-hearted rejection of Him, God abandoned the people to the consequences of their sin. When Israel “rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit,” God eventually “turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them” (Isa. 63:10). Three times in Romans 1:18–32, Paul spoke of God’s wrathful judgment in abandoning sinners to the consequences of their sin (vv. 24, 26, 28). Hebrews 10:26–27 warns that for those who “go on sinning willfully [refusing to repent] after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.”

Those who reject Jesus Christ, never embracing Him in saving faith, will inevitably face God’s vengeance, wrath, and judgment in eternal punishment.

John’s statement, these things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them, marks the tragic climax of the Lord’s public ministry to Israel. The sun of opportunity had set, God’s patience was at an end, and Jesus’ solemn warnings, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come” (John 8:21) and, “You will not see Me until you say ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matt. 23:39) were about to be realized. Unlike earlier incidents (5:13; 8:59; 10:39; 11:54; Luke 4:30), this time “by his withdrawal, his self-conscious hiding from the people, [Jesus] is acting out the judicial warning he has just pronounced” (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 447).

Despite massive and incontrovertible evidence, the Jewish people had concluded that Jesus was not the Messiah and should be executed as an impostor. In the next section, John gives the biblical explanation for Israel’s shocking rejection of Jesus Christ, showing how it could be that “those who were His own did not receive Him” (1:11).

THE FATAL CAUSES OF UNBELIEF

But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.” These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. (12:37–43)

Skeptics sometimes argue that Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ casts doubt on the truth of His claims. It seems incredible to them that most of the Jewish people, especially the religious leaders who were steeped in the text of the Old Testament, could have missed the obvious implications of His miracles. Such a shortsighted view, however, ignores the power of sin (John 3:19–20) and Satan (John 8:44; 2 Cor. 4:4) to blind people to the truth. Thus, as John reminds his readers, though Jesus had performed so many signs before the Jewish people, yet they were not believing in Him. Jesus’ miracles were unmistakably legitimate, and left no excuse for Israel’s unbelief; the people had hardened their hearts against the truth. Far from calling into question the veracity of the evidence, such unbelief revealed the depth of their depravity (1 Cor. 2:14). Significantly, though they attributed His miracles to satanic power (Matt. 12:24), Jesus’ opponents—unlike modern skeptics—never denied their reality (cf. John 11:47). The fact of unbelief in the face of such irrefutable and powerful evidence makes clear the limitations of apologetics. While evidences can be given for gospel truth, the response of the sinner is not limited to the mind and human reason—salvation requires a regenerated heart, the work of the Holy Spirit (see the discussion of John 3:1ff. in John 1–11, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2006], chaps. 8–9).

John lists two causes for Israel’s unbelief, one divine and the other human. Taken together, they illustrate the interface between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

Israel’s unbelief and rejection of Jesus Christ was not, of course, outside of God’s plan. On the contrary, it was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet as the purpose clause (introduced by the Greek conjunction hina) that begins verse 38. Predicting Israel’s unbelief, Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53:1 (NKJV), Lord, who has believed our report? The answer is, very few (cf. Matt. 7:13–14; Luke 13:23–24). Incredibly, that was true even though the arm of the Lord was revealed to the people of Israel through the miracles Christ performed. The reason they could not believe, as Isaiah said again (Isa. 6:10), was that God had blinded their eyes and … hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and [have God] heal them (cf. Rom. 9:18). Israel’s rejection of Christ was not merely foreseen, it was by God’s sovereign design (cf. Rom. 9–11); it was a judgment act on His part.

In His sovereign grace, God has brought good out of that rejection. As Paul wrote in Romans 11:11, it was “by [Israel’s] transgression [that] salvation has come to the Gentiles.” God’s plans cannot be thwarted by anything sinful people can do (Gen. 50:20 [cf. 45:5]; Ps. 76:10).

Before turning to the second cause of Israel’s unbelief, John inserted the important footnote, These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him. It reveals several important truths. First, Isaiah 6:10, which John had just quoted, referred to Isaiah’s vision of God (cf. Isa. 6:5). That the apostle applied it to Jesus Christ clearly testifies to His deity. John’s statement also shows that Israel’s prophesied unbelief was specifically unbelief in Christ. Further, it reveals that Jesus, in keeping with His role as judge (cf. John 5:22, 27, 30; 9:39), is the one who judicially hardened Israel. Finally John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, attributed both quotes (6:10; 53:1) to Isaiah. That makes it clear that he was the author of the entire book (as opposed to modern critical scholarship, which attributes Isaiah to multiple authors).

Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ was the culmination of years of rebellion, misused privileges, and forsaking of divine truth. The terrible result was that when the truth came in the person of Jesus Christ, many could not believe. Thinking they could see, they were in reality spiritually blind (cf. Matt. 15:14;23:16, 17, 19, 24, 26; John 9:40–41).

But God’s sovereign, judicial hardening of Israel did not negate the culpability of those who refused to believe in Christ. As Leon Morris notes, “When John quotes ‘he hath blinded their eyes … ’ he does not mean that the blinding takes place without the will, or against the will of these people…. These men chose evil. It was their own deliberate choice, their own fault. Make no mistake about that” (The Gospel According to John, The New International Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979], 604). D. A. Carson adds, “God’s judicial hardening is not presented as the capricious manipulation of an arbitrary potentate cursing morally neutral or even morally pure beings, but as a holy condemnation of a guilty people who are condemned to do and be what they themselves have chosen” (John, 448–49).

It is a sobering reality that those who persistently harden their hearts against God may find themselves hardened by Him. The historical record of God’s dealings with Pharaoh illustrates that principle, noting ten times that he hardened his own heart (Ex. 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34, 35; 13:15) and ten times that God hardened his heart (Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17). Isaiah, in one of the clearest evangelistic texts in the Old Testament, cried out, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near” (Isa. 55:6; emphasis added.). God hardened the hearts of those who refused to believe in Jesus (v. 40) so that they could not believe (v.39).

The personal choice involved in rejecting Jesus Christ is illustrated by the rulers who believed in Him. Their faith was inadequate, irresolute, and spurious, as John’s note that because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him (cf. Matt. 10:33), for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, indicates. The religious authorities had already decreed that dreaded punishment, which cut a person off from Jewish religious and social life, for anyone who confessed Jesus as the Messiah (9:22; cf. 7:13). That they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God gives further evidence that these rulers possessed no more than a superficial religion. “How can you believe,” Jesus scathingly asked the religious leaders, “when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?” (5:44). Tragically, they loved their self-exalting religion and their prestigious position in the synagogue and the Sanhedrin so much that they refused Christ. Such love for the world showed that they did not love God (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15). “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Jesus asked, “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26). In contrast, Jesus promised true believers, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:26). The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector shows how far the self-righteous were from God and true righteousness (cf. Luke 18:9–14).

THE FATEFUL CONSEQUENCES OF BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.” (12:44–50)

Since Jesus had already withdrawn (v. 36), the words recorded in verses 44–50 were not spoken on this occasion. John included them here to summarize Christ’s public ministry to Israel, which had ended. The truths they contain emphasize the importance of the Savior’s ministry and the fatal error of refusing to believe in Him. They also reveal several consequences of both belief and unbelief.

Jesus’statement, He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me, is reminiscent of similar statements in 5:24; 8:19; and 10:38 (cf. 13:20; 14:6). It emphasizes the impossibility of believing in the Father apart from believing in Jesus Christ. In the upper room Discourse, Jesus reiterated the declaration, He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me in the familiar words, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9; cf. 15:24; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3). These first two sayings reveal that those who believe in Christ enjoy a personal knowledge of both the Father and the Son (cf. John 14:23).

Jesus taught the truth that He came as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Him will not remain in darkness in such passages as John 8:12; 9:5; and 12:35–36. Those who believe in Him are “rescued … from the domain of darkness, and transferred … to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). As noted in the discussion of verses 35 and 36 above, they become “sons of Light.”

The Lord’s words If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them shift the focus from the blessings of belief to the dire consequences of unbelief. Failure to obey Jesus Christ characterizes unbelievers (3:36; cf. Rom. 2:8; 11:30–32; 15:31; 2 Thess. 1:8; Titus 1:16; 3:3; 1 Peter 4:17); thus Paul describes them as “sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2; 5:6; Col. 3:6). At His first coming, Jesus did not judge such people, since He did not come to judge the world, but to save the world (cf. 3:17; Luke 9:56; 19:10; 1 Tim. 1:16; 1 John 4:14). Yet Jesus will judge unrepentant sinners in the future (Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:16; cf. Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:11–15). The Lord’s point here is that the one who rejects Him and does not receive His sayings, has one who judges him; the word Jesus spoke is what will judge him at the last day. Those who reject the truth Jesus taught condemn themselves (cf. 8:37, 43, 47; 14:24;Matt.7:24–27; 13:19–22);those who refuse His salvation will receive His judgment. As the writer of Hebrews warned, “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven” (Heb.12:25).

Jesus’ words determine people’s eternal destinies, not only because of who He is but also because He speaks for His Father (cf. 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). Therefore, no one can reject His words with impunity. For I did not speak on My own initiative, He said, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life (cf. 5:24; 6:63, 68; 20:31); therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me. Though fully equal in nature to the Father (Phil. 2:6; Col. 1:15; 2:9), Jesus assumed a submissive role during the incarnation (Phil. 2:7; Heb. 5:8). He spoke only the words the Father gave Him (cf. 3:34; 7:16; 8:26–28, 40; 14:10, 24; 17:8, 14), which are unchangeable and absolute (Matt. 5:18; 24:35; 1 Peter 1:25).

As God’s chosen nation (Amos 3:2), Israel had received many blessings, some of which Paul enumerated in Romans 9:4–5: “the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers.” But above all, it was from the Jewish people that the Messiah came (v.5). Tragically, when He came, they rejected Him. They refused to accept His call to believe in Him, and ignored His warnings of the consequences of unbelief. Finally, God hardened them, and those who were unwilling to believe became unable to believe. Having been entrusted with such great privileges, Israel was accountable for much (cf. Luke 12:48). Therefore Jesus pronounced the nation’s judgment in His chilling words, “Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Luke 13:35). A generation later, Israel’s doom would fall at the hands of the Romans. Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed, and the people would be scattered and troubled under divine discipline even to the present. But the story does not end there. Because of His great love for His people, God will one day redeem the remnant of His chosen people, “and so all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26).