Riding the Fence

John 12:37-43. KJ2000.

(37)  But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

(38)  That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

(39)  Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again,
(40)  He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I should heal them.

(41)  These things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spoke of him.

(42)  Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:

(43)  For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

The business world has a phrase for it:  "what goes around, comes around."  By this we mean that by whatever methods you deal with the world, you will suffer the consequences, good or bad.  If you are a kind and generous person, you will discover that the world is kind and generous.  If you are stingy and rude, the world is full of nasty people who are tight with their money.  My father worked in the movie business for many years.  The motto there, often given to would-be stars, was:  "Be nice to the little people on the way up.  They'll be nice to you on the way down."

But what happens if you've been living your life in the stingy and rude way—and then something comes along to tell you that you've been doing it wrong?  God arranges his universe that way, you know.  He wills that all should repent;  so he made his universe such that the ordinary, natural consequences of sin should tend to produce repentance.  The question is, how do we react to those consequences?
Those who made up the crowd here reacted by sitting on the fence.  "Maybe this Jesus is right;  but on the other hand, if I say so, I'll be thrown out."  So they tried to have it both ways.  We often want to do repentance half way.

The Bible here gives the answer to that.  Consider the example of Isaiah:

He saw—and what a sight! He saw the glory of the Lord, a scene in heaven itself.  It was a scene of majesty and power, of awesome holiness and righteousness.  His reaction?

He spoke—the true words of repentance.  He recognized immediately that no half-way measures would do;  in fact, he thought this was his death.  But by acknowledging his sin, and the sin of his people, God allowed him to be purged and his sin atoned for.

That experience—with the revelations given to him—made him write the words quoted here.  Looking into the future he saw this generation, and knew their heart-problem.  He knew that all God had to do to secure an appropriate punishment for their evils was to let them go on being what they were.  

But see how God brings good out of evil!  Out of their failure to see and hear came the spread of the Gospel to all nations.  This too is part of how God constructed his universe.  Both the consequences of sin and the triumph of good are the will of God.