The answer is in 12:37 "Though he had done so many signs before them, they still id not believe in Him".
The original objective of miracles are for people to believe Jesus as the Messiah - Son of God to save men.
Here are the some points to note:
1. Some leaders still ask for Jesus to perform miracles to prove that He was the Messiah. It was not that Jesus did not, it was that they want Jesus to do according to their wish. They define how God should prove to them that He was God. It is a wonder whether who is God - them or God. If they bother to open their mind to see, they would be able to see the many miracles of Jesus.
2. Some want to make Jesus King to feed their stomachs. The feeding of five thousands, four thousands made Jesus popular with the people. They want to make Jesus King of their own benefits rather than submit to the Lord. When Jesus tell them the truth, they departed from Him.
3. Miracles per se do not prove anything. Devils can also work miracles from man's point of view like healing. The villiages wanted to worship Pual and Barnabas, but Pual rightly point them to God rather than to man. There must be a mesage first and then miracles confirm the message.
4. We must come to know God by God's terms and ways. This leads us to the next question.
Q2 Explain your understanding of "God has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart" 12:40.
If God has indeed blinded and hardened men's heart, then men could not be responsible for their sin and disobedience after all it was God doing the blinding and hardening.
The quote comes from Isa 6:10. Isa 6 recorded the commissioning of Isaiah. He had the vision of the throne of God and he took up the mission to speak to the people that were hard of hearing and understanding. The holiness of God against this disobedience actually increases the contrast and widen the gap.
We have to go back to the original Hebrew of Isa 6:10. If we check the word for word KJV+ against the Strong concordance, the word MAKE was not in the original hebrew. Hence, we find in Brenton's translation, the word FOR is used instead. In YLT, we find the word DECLARE. It means that man is responsible for the choices that he made. In NASB+, we find the Hebrew word H8080, which was translated as Render insensitive by NASB, but in BDB (Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Definitions) it is defined as "1) to be or become fat, grow fat". To become is not quite the same as God rendering. The cause of the becoming is not stated and we should not add in our own thinking and say it was from God.
Nevertheless, it was God who gave the message first and then man refused to listen. If there is no initial message from God and then there would not be a disobedience from man. It is in this sense that 'God made or God blinded' should be understood. Man holds the responsibility of his choice toward God's initiation.
The rejection of Christ by majority of the people was foretold by Isaiah sometime around BC 740 (Death of Uzziah).
There is the promise - so long as they see, understand and be converted, the Lord will heal them. At anytime, might as well be now, we can believe and receive Jesus as who he claimed he is and be rebirthed with eternal life of God.
Q3 Who were the secret believers of Jesus? Why the secrecy? Were they saved?
John cited a interesting segment of believers of Jesus. There were the religious leaders v42. But fearful of ex-communication from the Pharisees, they did not confess their faith publicly. John gave the reason in v 43, they loved the praise of men more than of God.
Were such secret believers truly saved?
I don't know. They were called believers by John. To what extend of believe will one be classified saved - e.g. of the heart and not just of the mind only. Naaman asked God to forgave him of a particular worship act of the King (2Ki 5:18-19) and was granted.
On the other hand, Jesus did had a warning, Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Let God be the judge. We just make sure that we believe in Jesus with our hearts and let Him help us to stand for him at the appropriate time and situation.
Q4 List down the key points of Jesus message.
This is the summary by John of Jesus' key message.
- Believe Jesus as God (12:44)
- Jesus and God the Father are ONE. v44,,45
- Jesus is the light. Believers of Jesus should walk in the light and not in darkness. (See Bible Study 1 John God is Light & Love)
- Jesus came to save the world v47.
- Jesus' message (His word) will be the judge in the last day. Essentially we will be judged by our reception or rejection of Jesus' word. v47-48
- Jesus' word is not from man but from God, His Father, who sent Him. Hence the authority and the power of Jesus' word is as of God.
- Jesus speak as the Father who gave Him.
- Jesus and God's commandment is for everyone, who want to, to have everlasting life. The Way to everlasting life had be opened by Jesus. We just need to choose to believe and walk on it. v49-50
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