TOO SLOW

John 12:37-43
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

The Unbelief of the People

37 But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. 38 This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted:

“Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?”

39 But the people couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said,

40 “The Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts — so that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them.”

41 Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory. 42 Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. 43 For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.


Still today, two thousand years after Jesus was raised from the dead, there are those, both Jew and Gentile, who refuse to see the truth … refuse to believe. It would appear that there comes a time when God shuts the door. He hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh refused to see the plagues as the wrath of the One true God. He refused to hear Moses’ call to let God’s people go.

Rick Warren asked the question last Sunday night whether there was evil in the world. Both presidential candidates, in different ways, pointed to evil in their response. People have been too slow to see and believe. God has blinded eyes … hardened hearts, and we see the evidence of this in the evil that surrounds us.

Is there no hope? Absolutely not! The gospel message still has the power to change hearts, open eyes and save souls. Believers must remain diligent in sharing the good news, always remembering that Jesus is coming soon to set things right for all eternity.