ath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been
revealed?" The people had habitually, as a people with individual
exceptions, refused to listen to God's voice or to acknowledge His
presence in prophet and providence.

Besides, might it not very well be that the blindness and callousness of
the Jews in rejecting Jesus was the inevitable issue of a long process
of hardening? If, in former periods of their history, they had proved
themselves unworthy of God's training and irresponsive to it, what else
could be expected than that they should reject the Messiah when He came?
This hardening and blinding process was the inevitable, natural result
of their past conduct. But what nature does, God does; and therefore the
Evangelist says "they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should
not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart." The organ for
perceiving spiritual truth was blinded, and their susceptibility to
religious and moral impressions had become callous and hardened and
impervious.

And while this was no doubt true of the people as a whole, still there
were not a few individuals who eagerly responded to this last message
from God. In the most unlikely quarters, and in circumstances calculated
to counteract the influence of spiritual forces, some were convinced.
"Even among the chief rulers many believed on Him." This belief,
however, did not tell upon the mass, because, through fear of
excommunication, those who were convinced dared not utter their
conviction. "They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."
They allowed their relations to men to determine their relation to God.
Men were more real to them than God. The praise of men came home to
their hearts with a sensible relish that the praise of God could not
rival. They reaped what they had sown; they had sought the esteem of
men, and now they were unable to find their strength in God's approval.
The glory which consisted in following the lowly and outcast Jesus, the
glory of fellowship with God, was quite eclipsed by the glory of living
in the eye of the people as wise and estimable persons.

In the last paragraph of the chapter John gives a summary of the claims
and message of Jesus. He has told us (ver. 36) that Jesus had departed
from public view and had hidden Himself, and he mentions no return to
publicity. It is therefore probable that in