John 12:35 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 12:35

Comments

They didn’t have long. In a few days, he would be crucified; he would be gone, in fact, this would be his last, public, address to them. ‘Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.’ That is very dramatic; that bit of translation is almost exactly as William Tyndale translated it - it is an idiom that he created for this. ‘Lest darkness,’ rather like a thief, or an assassin, or a mugger, may come upon you; the Greek verb means: ‘eagerly seize you.’ ‘Less darkness should eagerly seize you.’ That darkness is just there, that darkness of soul. It is like an enemy – it is just waiting to rush over you, and take you over. And the sense here is this: we resist the Lord, as those Jewish leaders did, we push him away, we are obstinate, and we will not believe, and we will not listen – ‘You don’t have long,’ says the Lord – in this context he is soon going to Calvary, but it applies to all of us – ‘You don’t have long, because darkness may, like a sudden approach of nightfall, just rush up and take us.’ But what is the answer to the question? What Christ says to them does not actually answer the question. However, while he does not answer them directly, he tells them exactly what is necessary for them to learn. He says in effect, ‘You have light. I have brought you understanding. I have taught you how you should look at those ancient Scriptures; that they have an eternal, spiritual significance. Listen, correct your wrong understanding.’ For although it is not a direct answer, it is a challenge and a rebuke, telling them just to listen to what they are being told.

Application

This is what happens: God calls and I resist, and resist, and go on resisting. Finally, the patience of God calls time, and what happens, my heart begins to harden. My conscience troubles me, as it troubled those Jews, and I respond to it just by putting up barricades, making excuses, justifying myself as to why I can’t possibly come to Christ, and believe. Then after that, God hardens me. I have resisted, and resisted, and then I suffer judicial hardening, so that my opportunity is gone. That is what is happening to them, and that is what the Lord means here. Once that hardening, or that darkness, comes, you won’t any longer have any glimmer of spiritual need. You won’t think anything of the way of salvation. You won’t be capable of being moved by Christ dying on Calvary for sinners, and you’ll have the very faintest apprehension of future things – heaven and hell – so you won’t fear them, you won’t care.

Sadly, although this applies to unbelievers, in a sense it is the same with believers. We are saved, but we may not be living as we ought to live. We are not serving the Lord. We are not worshipping him at every reasonable opportunity. We are not seeking his guidance in the big twists and turns and major decisions of life – we are pleasing ourselves. As a result, some come to a certain point of their lives where they will never be any different from third-rate believers. By the grace and kindness of God they will still be saved, but It is almost as if they have lost all conscience about it, and can’t be touched any more. It is a very sad possibility.

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John 12:35 Commentary and Bible Study