Devotional John 12: Spiritual Blindness and the Triumphal Entry Devotional on John 12: why miracles don't convince a hardened heart, the impact of Lazarus' resurrection, and the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies. Topics: Devotional, New Testament.

Devotional John 12: Spiritual Blindness and the Triumphal Entry

Today’s devotional is found in the book of John, chapter 12, and these were my observations.

Observations

1. Miracles and signs are not enough to convert someone with a hardened heart to Christianity. There were many Jews who saw the signs and miracles that Jesus performed (principally, the resurrection of Lazarus), yet they still did not believe in Jesus as the Christ. Jesus even speaks in this chapter about how this happened because many have spiritual blindness. For despite having eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand, they do not do so. They hardened their hearts and blasphemed the Holy Spirit. In other words, no matter how many miracles Jesus might have performed, they were deaf and had closed hearts to receiving Jesus’ words. But this also happened to fulfill the prophecies made by Isaiah.
2. The resurrection of Lazarus converted many people to Christianity. Because Jesus resurrected Lazarus, there was a great division among the people and many Jews came to believe in Him. When Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, many went out to meet Him, to see Him, and to worship Him (even Greeks). Because of this, the Pharisees were even more determined to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus as well, to take away the hope of the people who were starting to believe in Jesus as the Christ.