July 23rd, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

The Last Word

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, I bow in worship and praise before You today. What an amazing and awesome God You are.

Read John 12:37-50

[37] Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. [38] This 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?” [39] For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: [40] “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn-and I would heal them.” [41] Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. [42] Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; [43] for they loved human praise more than praise from God. [44] Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. [45] The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. [46] I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. [47] “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. [48] There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. [49] For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. [50] I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

Deuteronomy 18:15-22 is a vital background passage for today. Read this prophecy; think about how it applies to Jesus.

Think Further

This passage falls into two sections, both of which sum up the public ministry of Jesus, which now ends in John’s Gospel. Verses 37-43 are John’s summing-up, addressing the reason why–in spite of verses 11 and 19–few people have believed in Jesus. Then verses 44-50 is Jesus’ own summary, a summary of his message and of what is at stake in faith or unbelief towards him.

You may have spotted how Jesus’ words draw upon the prophecy in Deuteronomy 18. He is the prophet like Moses, charged with a message from God which the people must hear. If people refuse to believe him, they will discover on the Day of Judgment that his words were not those of a false prophet but of the one sent by God himself. This is what Jesus means when he says that his word will be the judge at the last day (48). So Jesus (and John) leaves us with a radical challenge: will we really take his word seriously, and live by it as the truth?

Not to do so is much easier! John’s summary in verses 37-43 underlines the cost of faith. There were many secret believers, he says, who kept quiet for fear of the social consequences of confessing their faith in Jesus (42). The dominant culture was one of unbelief. And indeed it had to be so, says John, because it was prophesied that the Messiah would be rejected by his people (38-40). His rejection and death, we know, is essential to the plan. So what will be the “last word” for us? Will it be the word of Jesus, which we will hold to and confess publicly, or will it be the word of the unbelieving culture which surrounds us, and which will reject us as it rejected him?

Apply

Think this challenge through for yourself: What could you do to confess your faith more openly?

Closing prayer

Lord, sometimes I feel I am a somnolent saint. I shrink from opportunities to faith-share, and I hide Your light from others. I ask for renewed courage and faithfulness.

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