Jesus came to save the world

Pastor Carol Grace ♦ May 25, 2010 ♦ Leave a comment

The Jews Continue in Their Unbelief

John 12: 37Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38This 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 ” 39For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40″He has blinded their eyes
and deadened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,

nor turn—and I would heal them.”[h] 41Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. 42Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47″As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

As a poet, I learned years ago that the poem must be true, but it does not have to be factual.   The poem must be true to itself, but the facts of the poem are somewhat irrelevant.  If I write about my grandmother’s house, which was white frame, but the poem dictates it be red brick, then it is red brick.

Similarly, I wonder if when Isaiah said “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts”  that was a true statement as far as Isaiah understood, but perhaps it was not factual.  It is difficult for me to accept that Jesus would blind any man’s heart to His glory and His Sonship, and therefore His saving grace, but possibly that is as far as Isaiah understood, and therefore to him it was true.

Jesus speaks as plainly in these Scriptures about His reason for coming to earth as in any other Scripture:  “For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”  Praise God that Jesus came to save the world.  May we step aside and allow Him to do His work.