John 12:44-50

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."

The first section of John’s gospel here comes to an end. Jesus’ present ministry was not a ministry of condemnation or judgment, but of peace and salvation. He had not come to conquer in glorious power, but to overcome in glorious humility and suffering. However, before He goes to the cross, He gives His hearers a very stern warning: His message of free grace and salvation is precious beyond compare; and therefore, to reject it will have dire results. For Jesus will return one day; and in that day, He will judge the world in power and righteousness. At that time, the very words that Jesus has now spoken will rise up to condemn all who have rejected Him. Do not despise this offer of free grace, for in the next moment, you might be cut off forever from any further offer of grace, and left to burn in righteous torment for the sins which you have committed against a Holy and Almighty God!

It is foolish and unreasonable for faith to be wavering or doubtful; it is impossible to offer a greater insult to God, than not to rely on His truth. The one who profits from the gospel is the one who believes God and thereby quietly and steadily contends against all the schemes of Satan. If we render to God the honor due Him, we must learn to remain firm in faith, though the world were shaken, though Satan should disturb and overturn all that is under heaven. To look at Jesus and see God the Father is to know Him and to be known by Him. Finally, in the first half of v50, Jesus says that God the Father’s command leads to eternal life. “And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another, as He commanded us” (1 John 3:23).

As we’ve said several times, this fits with the purpose of John’s gospel, which we’ll look at in John 20:31 – “These are written that you may believe [or may continue to believe] that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” From this point on, John will focus on the private instruction that Jesus relays in much detail to His disciples, and the crucifixion and resurrection with which Jesus would fulfill His purpose and mission in the world to glorify God. Amen.