The Gospel of John

His Commandment as Life

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 42- 70

Genre:

Track: 042

Dictation Name: RR197X44

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His temple. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and He shall strengthen thy heart. Wait I say, on the Lord. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we wait on Thee, we thank Thee that Thou art the Lord. That nothing is impossible with Thee, that our lives have been filled with Thy miraculous and providential care. Open our eyes that we may see how great Thou art, how total Thy care of us, how certain Thy mercy. That we may day by day take hands of our lives, cast our every care upon Thee, knowing how great Thy care of us is. Our God we thank Thee, in Christ’s name, Amen.

Our scripture is John 12:37-50. Our subject: His Commandment as Life. John 12:37-50.

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

38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

41 These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake 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.

44 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.

45 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.

46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”

In this text John comments on the implication of what had happened. He calls attention first to the fact that although Jesus had done so many remarkable miracles before their eyes yet they refused to believe on Him. They rejected the obvious conclusion about Jesus because His presence threatened their way of life. Then second, the rejection of Jesus was a second fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy. Isaiah foretold the coming of the Lamb of God but his prophesy was neither accepted then nor in our Lord’s day. For the servant of God to become the atonement was not acceptable in Isaiah’s day nor in Johns. They were judicially blinded by God so that in the face of all evidence they denied the Christ and they plotted His death. Now their blinding is basic to our text, we cannot understand it apart from the fact of their blinding. It was both a self-blinding and a blinding by God, for God’s predestination works in the context of man’s will. Since Eden all men as fallen creatures have seen their salvation in their own will. And they have seen the meaning of their salvation in terms of Genesis 3:5 ever man is his own god and savior. Some churchmen insist that God enables man to make all the ultimate decisions, Eastern Orthodox churches have a doctrine of theosis, man’s salvation as deification. Antinomianism transfers the essential law making preogrotive of law making to man, and so on and on. The denunciation of Jesus at His trial and crucifixion was marked by a self-righteous fury. For His enemies Jesus was evil and an enemy of religion and order. Since His day more than a few Christians have in some degree suffered a like animosity. For example, Cornelius Van Til was the target of venomous hostilities and verbally some of his enemies were moved to pornographic language at times of speaking of him.

In the volume edited by E.R. [unknown] Jerusalem and Athens, Critical Discussion on the Philosophy and Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til, some of the contributors while controlled in their language still speak with raging hatred for Van Til. Their temper is superficially scholarly but in reality gives expression to a religious division and a moral confusion at the best. Then third, Isaiah wrote as he did because he saw Christ’s glory we are told. Thus what the religious leaders rejected, the atonement by the death of the Messiah, Isaiah saw as Christ’s glory. John then adds that there were rulers or members of the Sanhedrin who believed in Him but they gave at this time no open expression to their belief. They were careful to make no confession of such a faith yet they be excommunicated. They preferred to Christ excommunicated and not themselves. They preferred as Westcott noted, the praise or glory of men to the praise or glory of God. I read only this morning of a very prominent evangelist who made it clear that he would not speak against abortion because it was a complex issue, but he was going to speak out courageously on the issue of the environment. A good way to curry favor with the establishment.

Then after John had said his piece in verses forty four to fifty Jesus speaks again with finality in a voice of judgment because His words are given in an obvious judgment on all who reject Him. First, Jesus makes clear that this is no localized issue. More is involved than He himself. A judgment on Him is a judgment on God. To reject Him is to reject God. Moreover He goes even further, He says to see Him is to see God. This is very bluntly stated in verses forty four and forty five. In other words the connection between God the Father and God the Son is an inescapable one and to deny the one is to deny the other. A little later in John 14:6 Jesus told His disciples:

“no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

The inseparableness of the Father and the Son and the inclusiveness of approach of the Father by the Son are so basic that their denial is the denial of Christianity. Then second, our Lord tells the people that the world is in darkness. The darkness of the fall and of sin. He is the light of the world who alone can disperse the darkness. He is not a light as the Authorized Version suggests but THE light in His very person. Man being fallen, his normal state is darkness. Then third, Jesus makes clear that the rejection of Him means judgment. But he also says I judge him not because he has come to save the world, not to judge it.

This is an exceedingly important point, the statement in no way diminishes the fact of judgment but rather expands it. Jesus says that His words on judgment cannot be reduced to the local opinion of a controversial figure, they are a part of God’s eternal order. He that rejecteth me and recieveth not my words have one that judgeth him, the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day. The premise of God’s great judgment on the last day is Jesus Christ. In Him they were confronted in Judea with a final judgment over all men and nations. It was not therefore simply the words of Jesus which confronted them but God’s total order. But having said that we must stress the fact: the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day. The Bible is every bit of it God’s word, the word of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and here our Lord says though I will sit as judge at the last judgment it will be the totality of the word that shall judge them. Now that’s a legal point. When you go to court the judge presides but it is the law, the wording of the law, in terms of which you are judged. In verse forty nine our Lord says that I have not spoken of myself. The Father Himself has commanded Him what I should say and what I should speak. The words of Jesus are all the words of God, the words come through the mouth of Jesus but their origin is the Father. No other conclusion can be derived from these words. In verse fifty our Lord says of the Father ‘and I know that His commandment is life everlasting’. Now the word translated as commandment is entole in the Greek and it refers to an authoritive precept or charge or commandment, a law.

It is a word of no small importance because in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, it translates law, God’s law. For example, in Psalm 119:86 entole, the purpose of every word and commandment of God is life everlasting. Salvation is by God’s atoning sacrifice and the redeemed of God therefore know that life Himself speaks in scripture’s law and precepts. Westcott commented on this point and I quote:

“The word may find acceptance or rejection but this remains sure: the commandment of the Father, His will manifested in my commission is eternal life. The Father’s commandment not only is directed towards life to quicken or to support it, it IS life. Truth realized is that by which we live. The commandment of God is the expression of absolute truth.” Unquote.

Now when you and I speak we may speak the truth but what we say is not identical with us, we try to make what we say represent what we are, we try to bring what we profess, what we say into line with how we live and how we are and how we think but there’s not an identity. But the point here is that there is a total identity between the word of God and God, between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and His word. So that it is life as our Lord says. I know that His commandment is life everlasting, it is evil to set God’s grace against His law or His commandments against life, there are no contradictions in the being of God. God’s purpose for us is life. His atonement redeems us for life. His commandment is life. As the redeemed of God we are the people of life. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we thank Thee that Thy word for us is life. That Thou hast called us to life, that he that hath seen He has seen the Father, and he that knows Thy word knows Thee, the Father and the Spirit. How great Thou art in Thy providential care for us. Our God we thank Thee, in Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

As you can see, what our Lord says in verses forty four through fifty is an exceedingly important statement and anyone who neglects that passage in discussing the doctrine of scripture is neglecting something very important and central. Because as I indicated our words and our life are roughly in line one with another, not perfectly. But God in His word gives us exactly what He is. Yes?

[Question] What were the, I suppose they were social and financial repercussions if you were cast out of the synagogue that the early Christians faced, would that have basically been an ostracism by the Jewish community?

[Rushdoony] Yes we have excommunication of course in Christianity and both in Catholic and Protestant circles it has meant, now it’s virtually dead, that you are totally cut off from your family and your community. You could not talk to them you were a dead person. In Judaism it meant that as far as they were concerned you were dead and among orthodox Jews to this day the service of the dead is read over or for anyone who has been excommunicated, he is no longer a part of the family, he is a dead person unless he makes amends and is restored. Well that’s the way it was in Judea if you were excommunicated you were the living dead. People didn’t talk to you, did not have anything to do with you. I’ve known of cases among some of the groups like the Amish and the Mennonite where it has different terms such as shunning. It means you can no longer even be treated as a living person. You cannot talk to your wife or your children; you can have no part in their lives. If they see you they look away because you don’t exist anymore. So it was a severe penalty but the alternative was the judgment of God.

[Question] Well these men were afraid to be excommunicated by the synagogue but Christ excommunicated them as well because He said let the dead bury the dead, He considered these men to be dead.

[Rushdoony] Now some of them subsequently became followers. So they must have repented and of course been accepted again. We know that there had to be a number in fairly important places because John himself as we’ll see later was able to get entrance into the high priest’s personal presence and into the court where Jesus was being tried partly because he was a relative and partly because he had friends and sympathizers who were ready to let him in. But they were all silent at that time. Yes?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] That’s right. Yes. That’s a text that very few people are ready to face up to. What they do very often is to say well, he is commanding everlasting life for us but that wrenches the meaning of the whole text. It’s a very, very important text because it’s our Lord’s last words to the people at large before the Last Supper. It’s quite a proclamation on His part because the next episode of course is the foot washing that preceded the Last Supper and the long discourse that accompanied it. Are there any other questions, yes?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Yes it is. Put yourself in their position, everyone wants an easy way out of something and they no doubt thought well, maybe he is going to do something spectacular to reveal Himself and then we can say ‘we told you so’. In other words, they wanted to be off the hook they were hoping for something that would in a sense make inescapable belief in Jesus. Well of course the resurrection came and all they did was to cover that up also. They did not want anything in the way of evidence to come out. They paid off the soldiers who came to tell them what happened and asked them to say ‘tell the people that the disciples came and stole His body’. Well no one could do that with Roman guards and the Roman guards would have probably faced the death penalty if that had indeed happened.

It is interesting that there were no published statements as far as we know denying the resurrection until all the people who were eyewitnesses were dead. For a full generation after they just kept quiet about it and only well after the death of the last of the eyewitnesses did they begin to invent stories to discredit the resurrection. Well if there are no further questions let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father we thank Thee that we can know Thee in Thy word and in Thy son. That Thou hast revealed Thyself unto us unmistakably, clearly and plainly. Grant that having so great a revelation we in all faithfulness follow Thee, obey Thee, serve Thee and rejoice in Thee for Thou art God. Thou art our maker and our redeemer and we rejoice in Thy grace. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.